As a child, I never really liked animated musicals very much, mostly because most of the songs were annoying to me. Seriously, very few, if any of these songs, were good in my opinion. I guess that's why I took to gaming as much as I did. I didn't want to hear the princess sing about how she's waiting for her knight, I wanted to see the knight kick ass! No, I don't want to hear the comic relief characters sing about friendship, I wanna control the hero as he tears through the bad guy's armed forces!
No, I don't want this!
I want this!!!
But as I grew older, my measurement for what made a good story changed. I understood that a story about a robot fighting bad guys was fun and all, but I craved something more. I began to crave character development. I wanted good guys I could do more than root for, I wanted to identify with them, to see what made them tick. I wanted to know more about the good guys AND the bad guys. I wanted to know what motivated the villain, I wanted to know how the hero felt on his journey. I wanted so much more, not just out of video games, but in all my entertainment as well. That's when I started appreciating the musical more, because I saw it as a medium that explored AND explained emotions via the power of song. Movies like Lion King and Hunchback of Notre Dame became some of my all time favorites. But, what about video games?
I've always been a defender of video games as an art medium. Video games use the power of music to help convey the mood. Most boss battle themes are fast paced, to set the mood that you're fighting for your life. In an RPG, a town's theme tends to be relaxing, to help you feel like you're somewhere safe. In a sports game, the music is fast and exciting. In a puzzle game, the music tends to be somewhat teasing but relaxing, to help your mind focus more. But, are there songs?
Yes, there are songs, but too few musicals. Video games tend to limit themselves to one, maybe two songs, if there are any at all. The few, few exceptions out there are the games where songs play an integral part of the game play, mostly the rhythm genre. Parappa the rapper was a game that had no less than six original songs, all of them rap. The game was a rhythm game, where you pressed the buttons according to the rhythm of the song. These rap songs were about ordinary things, like cooking classes, karate, or waiting in line to take a poop. Not joking.
Kick, punch, turn and chop the door
Or I will fall to the floor!
In the rain or in the snow
I got the funky flow
But now, I really gotta go!
There is also, of course, a game whose very unique premise deserves some attention. That game is called Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. The premise? It's an RPG, and a musical. Instead of cutscenes, there's musical numbers. And of course, there's also a Villain Song, because you can't have a musical without a villain song. Here it is:
Though the genre of the musical RPG is...barely existent, I must also point out that songs in RPG's tend to be excellent. How do RPG's make use of the songs? They tend to be a little creative with the way they employ these pieces of music. Some games, like Final Fantasy 10, use songs in certain scenes, like the famous 'Makalania woods scene' where Tidus and Yuna...well, if they didn't have sex underwater, they sure came close to doing it. Here's the scene:
And then they had sexy times. But we don't get to see it, because this game is rated T for teens.
And some other RPG's, like the Kingdom Hearts series, use songs as their opening cutscenes, to help set the mood for how the rest of the game is going to be, fun, but confusing as hell. I'd like to share with you the intro to the first game in this series, Kingdom Hearts for the Playstation 2:
Songs can be used to not only establish the main theme of the game, but also the mood for certain scenes. No, I am not saying that all songs in games are good, because admittedly, there are a few stinkers out there. I find it disappointing that more games do not use the power of song as a way to tell the story.
However, I understand that the musical is a genre where the story is told through not just visuals, but sound as well. The Villain song is where the villain explains his/her motivations and scheme. The I Want song is where one of the heroes explains what she/he wants out of life. And you know what? Like a good novel, the RPG has one element that the musical does not: time. A musical has two hours or so to show the whole story, but the RPG does not. An RPG can take at least ten to twelve hours to tell its whole story. And let's not forget that most RPG's consider twelve hours to be child's play; most RPG's take twenty to thirty hours to complete! And since there are sidequests, some take fifty, sixty, even a hundred!
The RPG has plenty of time for things like monologues, exposition, and visuals that convey the story. Why waste two minutes on a song, when you can spend twenty five on a monologue? The RPG has time, and lots of it. And if you're playing an RPG, you expect a very deep, very satisfactory story, with good game play that will keep you hooked for hours.
However, I also believe that video games have the right to present their story in the way the developers feel it best. And if a developer feels that a song would help convey the scene better than any monologue can, I say, why not? One of the greatest scenes in a video game I've ever seen is one that's found in the game Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. It is a scene where Luna, the main female hero, is singing about how she feels nervous. It is a scene that nearly got cut, but the director and developer fought to keep the scene in. And I am glad they did, for this scene is too amazing for words. Watch it here:
The feels!
I think that music is a powerful tool that can do more than just set the mood for the game. I believe that music, especially songs, can help tell the story, sometimes make the story better. I wish to see more musical RPG's out there, more original songs for games. I love music, and I love video games.
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