[07/08/08] Ebben Flow is done and available for download! Click here for a zip of 256k VBR-encoded MP3s (94MB).
Ebben Flow - A Post-Delugtica World Ripe For the Fishing
Join Olos, Claire, and Senegal as they try to make sense of a world now mostly underwater, save for a few dry patches of land known as The New United Islands which they each call home. Vast cityscapes loom in the murky depths and hidden treasures pocket the sea floor which has now become dangerously low to visitors.
Each of the characters you will meet and control have their own agenda in the land of Ebben Flow. Their paths may cross and diverge at will, leading to exciting new tangents and side stories. Several factions desire to rule their local and remote islands, as well as the depths below, and they're not above treachery or chaos to achieve it.
Inspiration
When I think of RPG title themes, my mind goes to places like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. A soft, lilting opener, a crescendo, ending with a looped main theme. It's main purpose is to gradually engage you into the virtual world of the game, leaving you humming some kind of melody while the game loads.
Description I. As this is the introductory piece, it aptly starts off with a rainstick being slowly poured side to side, watery bells chiming away, and a harp playing some nice arpeggios that fade out to an organ slowly gaining mass.
II. The second part is supposed to accompany a montage of visual character sketches, getting more and more frantic as the information is splayed across the screen. A quick piano motif is heightened by strings, percussion, and old school bass leading to a massive explorsion of music that is joined by a different string melody and percussion crescendo leading us to...
III. ...the third part! This is where the title screen would be displayed and the main melody is played over a rousing march. It's supposed to make you feel like you're ready to take on the day, no matter what malady or monster comes around to quash your fun.
Inspiration
Now that you've sat and listened to the title screen and started the game, the story can begin. The world is initially unveiled to the player at this point, their faculties becoming sharp and focused on what it is this game is all about for the first time. Equal parts curiosity and awe are mixed into the presentation.
Description I. A lone marimba and upright bass start things off in a whimsical way, perhaps intoning a "Welcome to wherever we are. Have a looksee around, will ya?" to the player. Soft strings join in for texture before a short crescendo, abruptly ending.
II. As the piece progresses, it has two more crescendos, all corresponding to various plot points in the opening cutscene. A feeling of tension builds as the notes go ever upward with more instruments playing.
III. Finally, after a buoyantly disconcerting synth trip, all tension is released for a third and final time as everything coalesces into a terminal blortz and you're finally given control of your avatar, ready to embark on a journey through this virtual landscape.
Inspiration
Meet Olos. He's a saxophonist. He's currently unemployed, and he's seen better days.
Living in a run-down (is there really any other kind?) shack off a major thoroughfare, largely wasting the days away, his macabre sense of self-worth is yet still more deflated than even a popped balloon. No one wants a solo saxophonist at their wedding, bris, or funeral anymore. Female prospects have dried up more than a pool on the sun. Times...they are tough. Sure, since you're playing an RPG, and he's the main character, things are bound to get supernaturally crazy or else this game would be fairly pointless, but for now...the theme connotates a plaintive malaise.
Description
The music is broken into two parts. First, a progression is built around the mix of a truly dissonant figure, the minor/major 7 chord, as well as a major 3rd interval, G#maj/min7-Emaj/min7(III-I). Second, we alternate again between two types of G#m(add9) chords. A small chamber orchestra bleats out a shuffle rhythm, as if a zombie were slowly making its way through a grave. The charm comes from a surprise Picardy third at the end, bringing hope to our otherwise downtrodden hero.
Inspiration
Meet Claire. She's a starry-eyed, twenty-something destined for greatness. Or so she thinks.
A quiet feeling of dread permeates her soul, however. Despite the high bounds of her optimism she knows it could all be a lie. Left for dead by parents massacred in a great war two decades ago, Claire has found her moral and ethical compass composed of the world aroud her. Scrappy, yet kind, she's sure opportunity is out there somewhere, as long as she keeps looking for it.
Description
Claire's theme is largely constructed around a vacillation between two chords (much like Olos) - Fm and Ebm. A group of violins play the ascending melody, throwing in various arpeggiations of it as the piece goes on. The percussion prefers quarter or half note beats to keep the tempo down and let you soak in the strings. Things end on another full blortz of all strings and then a high note confers the end.
Inspiration
Meet Senegal. Well, it may be hard to actually meet him, as he's the shadowy, odd one of the bunch.
A mix of the feral Gau and mysterious Shadow from Final Fantasy VI, Senegal's not from around here. In fact, his homeland, known only as "Chirrum," disappeared from the face of the earth centuries ago. No one really knows his lineage or nationality, but his long, unkempt hair, battle scars, and prowess with just about any kind of weapon definitely pegs him as a combatant. His motivations are unclear and his desire to help fluctuates with the passing of time. He's a crazy fellow, yo.
Description
A departure from the other character's themes, we have a jazzy little number replete with a swing hi-hat and walking baseline. Horns play a major role in the melody, although a sitar breaks things up for a while, taking over main melodic duties. It's a jaunty tune with a slight minor breakdown, all fed through a minor harmonic scale. The drum solo near the end is very jazz club, and more than a little excessive, but it just sounded too cool to let go.
Inspiration
The quintessential theme of any RPG that requires transportation on foot is that of the Overworld's. You'll be hearing this one even more than the battle theme unless the enemy random encounter algorithm is ridiculously overbearing, so it's gotta be jaunty; a theme that gets you moving and has a cute little melody on top of it.
Description
Piccolo provides the main theme atop a violin/cello/bass string rhythm and a marching drum beat. Piano arpeggios in the background are just outright ripoffs of ideas I've heard in many RPG soundtracks. Tubular bells provide a bit more "epic".
Inspiration
An enemy approaches! Start the battle theme! Whip the heroes into a lather! All good RPGs have that ritualistic conflict known as battle, and while the swords and spells are being wielded to take out the enemies, an onslaught of music fills the voids between menu clicks and fight animations.
Description
Announcing the charge are some horns and orchestral hits to signal evil is afoot. A descending progression gives away to a hyperkinetic piano riff and a different rhythmic progression heretofore nigh on my most ridiculous to date. The theme is multi-part and racous so as not to get too old too fast. It is revisited after a quick flurry of minor second intervals down the piano, however, which signifies that while a perilous fight is at hand, victory can still be had.
Inspiration
After all that adventuring through the land of Ebben Flow, it's nice to be able to duck into a town for some much needed respite from all the randomly encountered enemies plaguing the dangerous lands that abound. Another idea heavily-borrowed from my adventures with old-school RPGs, "Riveria" hails from the Dragon Warrior-style of composition with a thick layer of modern pop sensibilities.
Description
In total soft rock spirit, "Riveria" consists of a piano playing some lovely chords, a bassline, some lite drums, and a English horn, sometimes doubled for harmony, playing a soft, little soothing melody. It's driving enough to keep you going while checking out the townspeople and shops, and yet still comforting enough to evoke the safety of a city.
Inspiration
When your party has had an exhausting day of monster-slaying, gold-acquiring, and treasure-hunting, they need a theme that not only puts them to sleep, but also celebrates their accomplishments. "Laissez Affaire" is a short theme that doesn't overstay its welcome, but brings with it enough fanfare to champion the night's precedings.
Description
Strings play a melodic lark over a punctual drum beat ending in a full orchestral blortz. Some pizzicato violin notes and a reverse cymbal add flavor and character.
Inspiration
It appears you've stumbled into a dungeon, cave, evil temple, demon tower, vortex of chaos, or other foul-tempered den of iniquity. Cue the moody interior music!
Description
Echoic harp and spare bass kick off your descent into the unknown. In general, this theme is one big mood piece of strings and insistent bass with a woodwind melody that lightly flutters above it. Dynamic it is not, so it sits in the background, allowing you to lose yourself in the exploration, occasionally being spooked back to reality.
Inspiration
No longer forced to walk on foot, an airship/airplane/spaceship/helicopter/flying contraption of some construction has been found and it's time to take to the skies (a.k.a. the "New Sea") on your recently-acquired steel/wooden/polycarbonite/fleshy steed.
Description
My initial impetus for this was, of course, Setzer from Final Fantasy VI, the dashing airship playboy gambler. Thematically, however, "New Sea" falls more in line with earlier airship themes from Final Fantasy mixed with more modern FF fare. While it is similar to an Overworld theme for the air, the tempo is faster to signify your increased mobility, and the bridge slowly ascends into an almost chaotic miasma of organ, your entrance to the "New Sea" concluding forthwith.
Inspiration
The game is called Ebben Flow, so you'd expect to go underwater at some point, right? Good guess, because once you've figured out a way to plumb the murky reaches of the sea this theme will become your new friend.
Description
To change things up a bit, the percussion and rhythm instruments for this theme are significantly different from the others. The drumkit is skittery, the main rhythm is provided by a trippy banjo and a pan-happy acoustic guitar, and melody lines are handed down by an equally-heavily-FXed Irish fiddle.
To achieve a more underwater-y feeling, the guitar rhythm pans around the stereo field, and just about every instrument has some kind of echo on it. In addition, "Sieve" follows a much more strict verse-chorus progression, much like a pop song, and it even has a bridge with a small percussive breakdown.
Inspiration
Not all of life is considered happy. The opposite of happiness is sadness, and it wouldn't be a good RPG if it had no sadness/death theme. When the chips are down and things look bleak, or there's just a quiet serenity needing to be reached, look to "Trickle."
Description
To be honest, this is more of a sadness-on-the-road-to-hope kind of theme. The musical composition does an abrupt flip-flop to mark this event. It does this by changing gears mid-piece, transitioning from a solo piano melody with string textures as rhythm to a piano rhythm texture and string melodies.
I tried to make the chords and scales used more on the dark side to evoke a more hopeless tone, but the mix of major and minor, in general, seems to make for a more enjoyable piece.
Inspiration
This is it. It's the final clash between good and evil. Both sides have prepared for this encounter since the beginning of the game and all bets are now off. It's on. Who or what is "Gnostis"? If only the game existed, you could find out. Instead, you'll have to imagine the epic war waged presented by this theme.
Description I. Restraint is thrown to the wind, much like caution, on this theme. Rocking basslines coupled with rocking guitars and pounding drums play a demonic riff that's not only driving, but positively devilish. The first part is a bit of a warm-up with an off-kilter conflict between bass and drums, each playing off the other in an attempt to become dominant. Each wins once, only to come together with strings and electric guitar in a the second, and final cosmic struggle that results in a super megaton explosion of galaxian properties.
II. In its aftermath a new world is born, nothing like its predecessor. A rigidly beating bassline lurks while strings carry the melody along to a new struggle. Caustic synths eke out over the battlescape. Finally, a triumphant call to arms is established and the end of the war is nigh. Dissonant chords signal the unveiling of a new paradigm...
Inspiration
The final story unfolds as our plucky protagonists finally find out the secrets behind the world of Ebben Flow. Created to play over the end cutscene as well as the credits, it all comes down to this. Strings, percussion, bass, guitar, marimba, and several woodwinds are all used to saturate your ears with melodic and rhythmic bliss. RPGs were created solely for themes like this to exist.
Description I. Strings crescendo to a lone guitar plaintively ringing out. A beat emerges and strings belt out a triumphant melody while the basslines pump along. The vacillation between two chords continues along valiantly until the second section.
II. The intro is replayed, strings rising in volume only to die out and reappear again. A transition to a stronger beat, lead by the main drumkit, brings in another guitar to provide more texture. More strings and even a marimba come in later to add to the soundscape as we travel through the end credits. Woodwinds play a theme atop everything as we ride into the third, and last, section.
III. Eventually, instruments begin dying off as the beat changes a little and becomes more and more subdued. The drumkit exits and we're left with only strings as they gradually die out as well ending in a small crescendo from a lone flute and violin. Then...nothing. That's all. The End.
