P-Vock's Music Box: Let's Head to the Plains
Hello and welcome back to P-Vock's Music Box, the blog series where I take you on an auditory journey courtesy of some of the wonderful tunes in my massive music box. You ever have that feeling when you're listening to a tune and it makes you want to do something? Maybe that sad beat makes you want to curl up and die (otherwise known as the perpetual feeling of myself and my fellow Calgary Flames fans), or that funky track makes you wanna just vibe, or that pumped-up fight theme makes you wanna shove a boot up someone's ass. Today, I will give you something to make you want to set out on a vast journey.
I once talked about how Chrono Trigger has my all-time favourite video game OST. Now, I'm going to go a little further. Today, I'll give you the most iconic track from my favourite video game of all time. Ask anyone who knows even a little about me to say any games I love, and I guarantee almost all of them will say the same thing: Xenoblade Chronicles. This esoteric and philosophical science fiction journey is absolutely my favourite game ever, but I can go into why another day. For now, let's talk about the bitching tunes found in this gem of a game.
Some context is in order. Our story takes place on the decaying body of a humanoid titan (stay with me). You begin in a rocky and enclosed area located on the right calf of this giant beast. Before long, our main character Shulk's hometown is attacked by autonomous machines, and his girlfriend is murdered in cold blood. During this brutal inciting incident, Shulk gains the power of a magical lightsaber that lets him see the future, and it tells him to venture to the head of this giant titan known as the Bionis. After a heartwrenching goodbye, our hero recruits his childhood buddy and sets off. You then venture through a dank cave (with an admittedly funky beat playing) and get attacked by a large spider. After you take care of this webbed menace, you emerge from the cave and are greeted by an absolutely gorgeous visual, and some incredible music.
No matter how many times I hear this, I never get used to it. If this can't convince you that video game music is amazing, nothing will. The game is chocked full of tracks that, in my opinion, outshine this one, and that speaks of the quality of this stupid game's god-tier music. This may as well be the official theme of the Xenoblade games as it is easily the most known track from the series. It was used to reveal Shulk in Smash Bros, it was used to help show off the Switch remake as Nintendo marketed it prior to its launch in May of last year, and it has been covered so many times. In fact, let's give y'all a nice jazzy cover that really just gets me going.
The melody is just so damn strong, it never gets old. I have spent hours upon hours vibing to this bop, and I don't think I'll ever stop jamming to this one. If you're doing anything this weekend, I hope it is as awe-inspiring and fantastic as this wonderful tune. As always, thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you next week with another suggestion from my music box.