Pretty damn good. Love how this evolves. The Lead E-Guitar was a bit thin, but the rhythm guitar kicks ass and the other instruments are done pretty well imo. Love the grunge and dark atmosphere of this piece. Good work VDQ :3
Author Comments
~ Done for @LunacyEcho's 'Final Push' of the Newgrounds VGM Challenge ~
The Human Condition, Parts I - IV:
This is the 'Final Push' series of songs I envisioned of, if I made the game I was thinking for it, simply called 'Project: TRIAD'. Essentially, the premise of it was that a group of three very close friends would travel across the world together in search of a means to stop the growing Miasma - a plague created by the elder chaotic gods. In their insatiable boredom of idly watching mankind do what they do best, as "the parasites" they are, despite the small whispers and influences here and there made by them and their 'light-born' counterparts, the gods decide to spread the pandemic across the globe. The gods pit mutated humans against each other in the new torrential, violent environment of Earth. The goal? -- for humankind to vie for the gods' attention and glory, (i.e. an en masse, endless gladitorial event to see 'who would win' in achieving theoretical world domination. . .or rather, the gods using humans as playthings in a sort of game of chess between them.)
The three protagonists, after watching their families suffer and witnessing the sanctuary they tried to protect crumble to dust--it being one of the last human refuges in the UK--decide to commit themselves to completing the chaos gods tasks and finding a way to stop their ceaseless war, or die trying.
This four-part song is the culmination of their journey, to fight the last entity which bars them from ending the Miasma once and for all...
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- Part I: We [Don't] Walk (0:00 - 2:21) -
A combination of a Respite / Sanctuary theme and the Level-Up Shrine / "Tree of Duality" theme.
Synopsis:
You've finally made it, the end of the Corridor. In her own realm, she sits there, laughing at you, finding your endeavour intriguing, futile, and hilarious at the same time. She is the last of the primordial elder gods, after you've already defeated countless others, including her siblings: Tiamat, Leviathan, and Behemoth. She is the last of evil incarnate, known by many names, but she calls herself Ishtar, "The Whore of Babylon"--the entity that corrupted and claimed part of your (the main protagonist's) dying soul in a bid to win the gods' little competition.
Part I, We [Don't] Walk symbolizes the awkwardness, yet subtle respite of being in a place you once called home, where she sits, and mocks you. It's all an illusion, however, and you can feel that knife's edge of fear prickling the back of your neck and sending chills down your spine just being within this place...a place where something is...not quite right. You attack Ishtar, but the wounds do nothing but harm the main character, all while the corrupt vestige of the goddess spins her villian monologue about how you were nothing but a pawn in the game--but if you wish it, she could end your suffering, by fusing wholly with your body.
- Part II: We [Don't] Feast (2:21 - 3:46) -
A combination of a Surprise / Intrigue theme & Growing Hostility / Lurking Aggression theme.
Synopsis:
The Whore's realm is starting to shift and warp constantly, she now fed up with your insessant squirming to continue to fight on. Standing up calmly and instead of allowing you to land blows on her, she actively counters every attack. The stronger you became over the course of the game, and the more full of Sin, the stronger she is.
But you fight on...even when both your friends are mortally wounded.
- Part III: We [Won't] Die (3:46 - 7:00) -
A combination of a Weakness / Danger theme & Prepare for Battle theme; (the instruments and sounds are heavily distorted and crushed to symbolize the last thread broken between the Whore's realm of torture and our world. There's no escape and there's no going back now.)
Synopsis:
With her realm now a simple precipice of weathered ruins, darkness and rivers of blood, Ishtar now gets serious. Ruthlessly killing one friend, she threatens the life of the other. Although you notice and make fun of the fact she's becoming more and more afraid of you--now summoning her children and minions to deal with you--you're dying.
In the final blow she delivers, your friends are gone, and you lie there bleeding to death. Despite that, you feel a growing warmth and comfort within you. As she turns to walk away and peel back into the darkness from whence she came, you crawl to your knees, weapon drawn...
(The very last part is in reverse and combines with the Title Theme string orchestra. It's to signify the shift in tides in the fight, and the goddess' world compressing in full to allow her powers to be used unrestrained, while you gather the last of your strength for the final encounter.)
- Part IV: We [Won't] Repeat (7:00 - 12:51) -
A combination of all the previous parts & a Final Battle theme.
Synopsis:
With some unforseen force from within your body, and without Ishtar's aid, you transform (whether in what I considered, for the game, to be your Vice or Virtue state.) Shocked and taken aback by your undying spirit, and the fact that despite her surpressing the power she had let you borrow of hers before this moment, your soul is clawing back to your body. No matter what the Whore does, the two parts reunite. And dialogue ensues, before the final fight.
With multiple endings, you don't know what happens to you or your comrades / lovers in the end--nor the people you've encountered, and either helped, or mercilessly killed. But you do know one thing. . .
The goddess will die, and the Miasma will end.
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* (Final) Battle Music Influences:
- Final Fantasy VIII - "Premonition"; "The Legendary Beast"; "Maybe I'm a Lion"; "The Extreme"
- Lufia II - "Sinistral Battle" (Battle Theme 3) & "The Final Duel" / "Last Decisive Battle" (Battle Against Daos in the Fortress of Doom)
- The Guardian Legend - "Boss Battle Themes #1-3"
- Final Fantasy VI - "Dancing Mad" (In Full)
- Final Fantasy IV - "Zeromus"
* Gregorian Chants in Thanks and Attribution to:
Kevin MacLeod - "Gregorian Chant" (3:14) - https://soundcloud.com/kevin-9-1/gregorian-chant
Hicham Chahidi - "Gregorian Song" (2:23) - https://www.musicscreen.org/Royalty-free/Music/Gregorian-Song.php
* Vox Samples used between Phase III & IV:
Conversation between Copperhead (Vernita Green), Cottonmouth (O-Ren Ishii) & Black Mamba (Beatrix Kiddo / The "Bride") in Kill Bill, Vol. 1
[SIDE NOTE: This is my first time making a song comprised of multiple parts, and made for a theoretical game / OST. This is my second time making my own "vg music", as an original. I tried my best with adding effects and EQ and balancing everything--as I am still learning to work with DAW, melody, harmony, and sound balance. Started making music back in Sept 2020, so although I've had my rounds in the rodeo, still learning. ♥ TY for understanding.
Also the song should be getting faster and faster every Part, (originally was supposed to go from about 120 bpm to 160bpm in tempo, gradually.) Decided to put them all to 150bpm in this combined song so people can enjoy every individual element at a decent pace.]
Whoa!! Well, I’ll tell you one thing—you’ve definitely got the most fleshed-out vision for a video game out of anyone who chose this prompt, so massive kudos to you! The fact that you’ve put so much thought into what each theme represents in terms of the game plot itself really elevate this track to the next level; you can really *feel* the effort that went into this. There’s a ton to unpack here, so let’s break this down!
There’s such an incredible amount of variety here. The mostly ambient first section transitions smoothly into a heavily polyrhythmic second section, then a distorted and atmospheric third section, and finally a wonderfully climactic last final section. A few highlights I wanted to mention were the organ-like arpeggiated melody at 1:36, the cool vocal chop melodies, the reversed bit at the end of the third section, the eighties vibes that emerged in the last section, and the really cool guitar playing throughout! (If that’s a synth, you GOTTA tell me how to get that guitarlike tone.) In fact, there are just so many cool ideas crammed into this one song (Gregorian chants samples?! so cool) that I honestly do feel like you could build a whole game soundtrack out of these—it would be incredible to build this into an actual game somehow!
If there’s one big thing that I think could improve this song the most, it’s a stronger showing in the drums/percussion area. In particular, I would’ve liked for sections like 4:30, 5:22, and (especially) 8:35 to have had stronger, less muted percussion sections! There’s so much that good drums can do to drive a vibe like yours, and bringing them out a bit more I think would make those sections so much more bitingly impactful, given the need for them to be cumulative and climactic. Never underestimate the power of good percussion! There are a couple other nitpicks I could make (e.g. the harp that accompanies the vocal chops seems a bit out of place, and the guitar is a little jarring when it first enters, perhaps due to the short silence before it appears), but none of that detracts from the fact that this is an incredibly well-thought-out, well-executed piece of work.
There is so much awesome stuff in this track that it’s hard to know how holistically to review it; if you want a more in-depth breakdown of a particular section, let me know. Anyways, so now the plot AND the musical themes for Project: TRIAD already exist, what are you waiting for? Go make this game a reality!! :D
Good job, is very nice, i fell the mistery
Credits & Info
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TheVodouQueen 
Licensing Terms
Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.
* Contains third-party samples.
Excercise caution when using it, refer to author comments / contact the author for details.
