How the Tales of Arise soundtrack sets a new direction for the series
As a kid whose first major videogame shocks – and surely life-changing experiences – were titled Golden Sun and Tales of Symphonia, it is no surprise that Motoi Sakuraba is a hero of mine. A legendary composer, well-known for his work on various series (Tales of, Dark Souls, Mario Tennis, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile…), Sakuraba shares similarities with the venerable Nobuo Uematsu, among which their love for progressive rock and the fact that they are self-taught composers.
The first Tales of installment was Phantasia, released in 1995, and its 3-hour soundtrack is a formidable illustration of what the series would be musically for the 25 years to come; arguably, the same statement could be made for the game as a whole, with the birth of the Linear Motion Battle System, and a number of narrative elements that have lived through the series, up until today.
Tales of Arise was released a few weeks ago, and I was a bit concerned before playing it. The graphics, the trailer, the pitch… wasn’t it all a bit too serious for a Tales of game? Do not get me wrong, the series is also famous for its interesting storylines that confront deep characters with a world where good and evil are seldom as clear-cut as they seem to be. But far from dunce Lloyd sleeping in the classroom or lazy Yuri trying to help with a leaky fountain, we get Iron Mask, a slave working in a camp under the grip of the cruel Renan empire – a situation that has been going on for 300 years.
In the end, I can safely say Tales of Arise is an excellent game and a good Tales of. I would criticize some narrative elements, but this is not what I wanted to talk about today. Our question is: how did Motoi Sakuraba adapt to this new atmosphere?
All about that orchestra
The first moment I stopped to listen to the soundtrack came fairly early. Once you start stepping through the desolated land of Calaglia, the game welcomes you with a gorgeous theme that ticks most of the JRPG boxes: epic, melancholic, and heroic.
Now, let’s compare this particular track with two other “starting overworld themes.”
Not quite the same mood, eh? There are two obvious differences.
Calaglia Field is in a minor key, while the others are in a major key.
Calaglia Field is a purely orchestral track – Land of Sylvarant and Comfortable Journey are generous with synths.
In general, I believe the change towards a pure orchestral sound (setting aside the rock component for now) is the most significant in comparison to previous installments. It is true Tales of Berseria (the penultimate episode, released in 2016) already kind of shifted in this direction, with, to some extent, darker aesthetics and music, but if the series is heading that way in the long-run, I think Arise will remain as the decisive turning point.
Motoi Sakuraba mentioned in an interview that it was the first time he had the opportunity to work with a full-size live orchestra; even though all pieces were not recorded that way, he explained how it put a bit more pressure on the rest of the soundtrack to sound even better. This is absolutely a relevant element when thinking about the sound of the game.
The virtue of silence
Another striking moment occurred when I – and I suspect, many other players – first stepped into Elde Menancia. After exploring arid, desolate Calaglia and dark, glacial Cyslodia, the “Land of Green” is a marvelous, heartwarming Haven.
Not only is it a gorgeous piece of music, it features a rare element in Tales of scores: silence. The music spends a lot of time breathing, and as is often the case, the absence of sound grabs our attention even more effectively. Sakuraba did also mention this track as the most memorable in his opinion – being the first overworld theme he composed, we can only imagine the care and love he poured into it.
As we talked about before, the Tales of series usually features tracks where an instrument consistently sings a melody or a phrase and never “shuts up.” Land of Green uses sparse orchestration at several points, goes completely silent to let us process what we just heard and manages to anchor its melody in our mind.
The very beginning of the song is a short succession of two smooth chord changes a fourth apart – two minor chords to create a bit of tension, then two major chords to reassure us. It is simple, beautiful, and striking. I wrote a teeny tiny transcription for those who might be interested:
Violin, guitar… and choirs. Big choirs.
Battle themes are always relevant, perhaps even more so in JRPGs, because you will be hearing them a lot. Tales of Arise does a lot of clever things in that regard: for instance, while exploring the “main dungeons”, the exploration music transitions smoothly to a rock arrangement of the same track when a battle starts. Listen to the two versions of the Glanymede Castle music:
The game’s main battle theme also has two variations.
The first one, which plays during the first half of the game, has the melody switching from the violin, to the acoustic guitar, to the cello, and is a relatively standard Sakuraba take on battle tracks. It reminded me a lot of Glint of Light, from Symphonia.
The second one is arranged to prominently feature a prog-rock ensemble, as expected from Sakuraba – guitar and synths take the lead!
These tracks are not outlandish for the Tales of series, although the use of an actual recorded band makes the juicy prog rock tracks even juicier than, say, Keen-Edged Blade. Which was already pretty juicy.
Then come the lords’ respective battle themes. One could argue they get increasingly dramatic and would fit a Dark Souls boss fight quite perfectly. I do not want to spoil too much of the game, so I will simply use the first Lord’s theme as an example:
How does this track feel? To me, ominous: not only are the melody and harmony quite dark, with frequent use of dissonant chords, but the tragic choirs also play a significant role in this atmosphere. Now, these vocal elements are not exactly a novelty in the videogame world, nor in the Tales of series, but again, we’re used to softer samples, not properly recorded choirs. Besides, the tracks themselves are much more somber than usual boss fights in Tales of games.
Fighting the spirits
The elemental spirits have been a recurring element of the series ever since Tales of Phantasia. They do not always play a central role in the story, but they’re usually lurking around. Well, this is about as spoilery as we will get, but they do appear in Arise – although you can pretty much pass them by and finish the game without thinking about them. Only Efreet/Ifrit will interfere with your progress in the mainline story… but you can also face Gnome, Sylph and Undine if you so wish. As someone who first met them in Tales of Symphonia, though, I can certify they are a lot less pleasant in Arise, and music reflects this change. Here is the Symphonia version of the legendary Phantasia track:
Bread-and-butter JRPG battle track – and an excellent one. Now, let’s compare that to Arise’s celebration of our elemental friends:
You guessed it; they are not merely testing you to check whether you are worthy of their power. They are the incarnation of a calamity, and you’d better be leveled up as hell if you want to take them down. I’m also a big fan of their design, but you will have to play the game to find out more about them.
Once again, the use of threatening choirs is tasty, and remains, to me, one of the most surprising and memorable elements from the ToA soundtrack.
Conclusion
With a live orchestra at his disposal, Motoi Sakuraba was able to explore a rich and deep sound that will remain a milestone in the history of the Tales of series. Heroic brass, melancholic woodwinds, ominous choirs, but also epic guitars and juicy rock organ solos: Arise shows us the whole palette of this glorious composer, who managed to match the new direction set for the series while retaining some of its core musical elements.
What does the future hold for the Tales of series? Luminaria, a mobile game, is set to release early this month. For the mainline series, a bit more patience will be needed… Until then, play Arise, and listen to a lot of Motoi Sakuraba’s music (and purchase the soundtracks if they have been released ;) ).
See you later!