Music of the Week #529

It’s a Holiday so I better not be late.

November seems to be passing faster than October and Elden Ring is getting closer. I really want to tie up some loose ends of my own for writing my thoughts on games but all my writing attention is focused elsewhere, and I’m afraid I’ll be plenty distracted wanting to actually play something over writing what I have already played when I do get some extended time off. Oh well, time will tell. December feels like it’ll be a busy time in terms of how I can effectively engage with my pasttimes and still keep myself in working condition.

This week’s tune is special as it is a tune that anyone whose played TTYD will remember. The original Paper Mario’s underground segments were mostly optional that could be ignored aside from finding the warp pipes to previous towns but TTYD integrates the Rogueport as its own segment of the town as there is another large community of people living down here and is also the means to access the other parts of the game’s world. I always enjoyed this immensely as it isn’t the usual dank underground theme but something else entirely, it feels lived but still unexplored. I hum many themes from TTYD but this is one of the tunes I hum the most at random times.

Music of the Week #528

Almost on time.

Like I said before, there’s a lot of work to be done, let’s get a move on. That Riot RPG by Airship Syndicate literally just came out and I feel really bad because I’ve delayed talking about Battle Chasers for almost a year or two now because I wanted to get more varied screenshots of it to post but I might just need to push on ahead sooner or later.

This week’s tune is Prof. Frankley’s theme, a wonder into the expanding world of Mario where Goombas can apparently live long enough to not only have functioning families, they can also establish universities and gain tenure. Frankly is the person you will automatically teleport to once you update your titular macguffin and he offers clues as to how to get there. He’s a rather frequent side-character all things considered and also has a very characteristic theme that really sounds out the braniac he is. His trash can is also a life saver that has rare enemy taunts that you missed out on which will undoubtedly save a ton of completionists from restarting the game after missing a unique tattle.

Music of the Week #527

I can at the very least try and keep this within the same week.

Things are going to be busy until at least 3 more weeks before things can quiet down. Every day we move closer to Jojo Part 6 though, and I’ve just barely managed to start playing another game to be talked about sometime in the future. Also did you see the Elden Ring gameplay trailer? Holy shit.

Finally we get to a longer track, and it’s one of the themes you’ll be hearing most after your battle themes. Rogueport is the Toad Town of TTYD and stands as your hub world without the need to make your from Goomba Village to the town proper. Like Toad Town, it functions as the gateway to other towns but Rogueport is technically closed off to the rest of the world and your means of transport is not done by foot but by sewer pipes and by your usual means of transports like boats, trains, and even blimps this time around. Each chapter tends to open up a new part of town but Rogueport only consists of around five screens with one of them only being there to show off the blimp and train. It feels smaller than Toad Town but it definitely has its own dangerous charm to it. When I was younger the noose at the center of town and a goomba who talked about credit card fraud really flew over my head. While technically Rogueports east and west side really open up part of their maps with more intricate portions, the east in particular resembling Dry Dry Outpost, I felt like it could have used one more screen. But the nature of Rogueport isn’t only on the surface as it also has a extensive community beneath it.

Music of the Week #526

Back to being late again

Not much excuse here, I was really busy trying to get ahead of some work before things start getting time-crunchy after Thanksgiving. I tried to start some new game within the small window of free time I had but I barely got anywhere after the intro.

One last tune before we start to getting some real tracks that you can hum for more than 10 seconds, the Chapter Introduction tune that opens the start of every new chapter. It usually plays during the warp pipe transition leading to the chapter’s new area. If nothing else, TTYD color coded theses particular warp pipes for at least 2 or 3 pipes whereas I only remember the first Paper Mario doing this for the Shiver City pipe.