I didn't watch the video so that I don't spoil myself too much, but I listened to the music because I couldn't resist as a musician (and I remember I still have have to finish my write-up for the
first area theme...). For this I scrolled down so that I could only see the timeline, but not the video itself; this helps me when I just want to concentrate on the music.
I don't know what was shown when the pieces played, but here is my personal opinion on just the music.
(Sorry for the long text)
-0:35: This sounds very good and this is the piece that makes me think the music played in cutscenes could be great. The melodies, chord progression, variations of rhythm with the ongoing crescendo, the atmosphere that really captures how the people struggle but slowly build up their existence on the new planet,... one of the best pieces, if not my favorite piece so far.
-2:27: This sounds a lot like pop music, but this isn't inherently bad. This piece is actually quite good for creating an upbeat and bright atmosphere, but I wonder how it will be used in the game with the vocals. Maybe a city? Some high sung notes around 3:18 make me think it will be cutscene only, though.
-5:39: Sounds very sci-fi-ish, but nothing I'd want to listen to outside of the game. The "oohooh"-vocals that you can hear after a few seconds don't fit imo, neither for area music, nor for cutscene music.
-7:00: I guess this is rather for upbeat scenes, but this rather reminds me of licensed music in video games. I love playing bass, so I like the short bass solo around 7:48 as a musician but I think this is unfitting for video game music. I don't know what happens after 8:20. This might be good for a song you hear in the radio or in a music bar, but for a video game? Unfitting, imo. This piece also loops, which makes it sound like it's not necessarily for a cutscene...
-10:17: This beginning of this piece actually sounds quite good and very promising. The guitar with the reverb/delay effect and the slow drum rhythm create a laid-back atmosphere. It would be great to hear it when you explore a vast area with a beautiful, blue sky and the sun shining...Then the vocals kick in. They are even more noticable because the instruments only play rather quiet melodies in this part, especially around 10:58. This kind of ruins the atmosphere and it just sounds like a pop song. But it gets good again at 11:19 when the vocals blend in with the music with the long notes and they restore the atmosphere I like about this piece. To me this is an example of how vocals can go with VGM.
...Too bad I read that this song is actually from
one of Sawano's albums, so I guess this won't be in the game, or else he would be called lazy by others for using existing music. This was very promising, though...
-12:23: Judging from the spoken dialogue, I guess this is a song for funny scenes, kinda like "Riki the Legendary Hero". I think it's good for comic relief scenes.
-13:08: This sounds like area music. Most of the time there are just quiet notes and sounds until the strings kick in with lots of staccato notes (short, interrupted notes). Eugh. There are many situations where staccato fits (e.g. when there is high suspense like in
"Encounter" from Metal Gear Solid), here it doesn't fit at all. I hope this isn't played in an area. If used wrongly, staccato notes make the music wear out very quickly and here this can happen if this piece is played during exploration because then you would hear and -notice- it every couple of minutes while running around in an area for hours.
-15:33: WTF is this. This type of music isn't always bad (there are games that use this music quite well), but here it's just so out of place. And it gets worse at 15:48, 16:02 and 17:30 with the vocals. I think this just destroys every atmosphere regardless of whether it's a cutscene or not. At 16:29 it builds up a bit of a sci-fi atmosphere but it's thrown away after a few seconds. Atrocious.
-18:51: Sounds kinda exotic, but most of the time the instruments and sounds are just in the background. This can be good for atmosphere, but this also makes it forgettable if there isn't something that gives the piece an identity, like a specific melody. This is what's happening here. I wouldn't want to listen to this outside of the game.
All in all, I've got to say I'm disappointed. On one hand the music captures the sci-fi-ness of the world very well, but on the other hand there is nothing that really stands out with a "Wow"-like effect. Nothing I'd want to listen to outside of the game, except for maybe 2 or 3 pieces. And I'm not very fond of the frequent use of singing here. If done right, it can compliment the music, but for me that's not the case here.
The previously released tracks are not bad, but they also contain sometimes grave mistakes from a composition perspective that just made me shake my head, even after listening to them for like the 30th time.
There will be many parts where the music compliments the game very well, but I think there also will be parts where it even drags down the game. And the thought that this might happen in this game kind of makes me sad as someone who loves and primarily listens to video game music.