ReMix:Star Ocean: The Second Story "Solitude in Arlia" 4:20

By Pot Hocket

Arranging the music of one song...

"Theme of RENA"

Primary Game: Star Ocean: The Second Story (Sony , 1998, PS1), music by Motoi Sakuraba

Posted 2010-08-31, evaluated by the judges panel


Mr. Lee, alias Pot Hocket, writes:

"hi all, it's been a while since I've made a remix that I was satisfied with enough to actually submit. there's not much new here in terms of style, but I'd say I've done a better job sticking to the original source material and post-editing it. It should also be louder in general, compared to my previous submissions. I hope you enjoy, and thanks."

He summarizes quite well - this is more excellent, warm, intimate solo acoustic guitar VGM arrangement, and it does seem a bit louder, which is a good thing since I always find myself turning his tracks up in playlists. All of Pot's pieces have a clean honesty to them and lean on the natural beauty of the instrument; the purity he coaxes out of relatively simple, straightforward phrases is mesmerizing. Each fret noise, the details of each strum... everything is exposed, resonant, and meaningful. OA writes:

"I agree that it definitely flows well with the original and new stuff. The Star Ocean: The Second Story soundtrack was one of the first game albums I ever purchased, so it has some good nostalgic memories for me, and though the main melody isn't always from and center, there is a lot of care put into making sure that some aspects are present throughout."

BGC adds:

"Not the kind of song I'm going to rock out to on repeat for 30 minutes or anything, but a very somber, thoughtful, well-performed piece absolutely."

Actually, while I wasn't rocking out, I did loop this myself for more than a few plays, and found it soothing and more Zen than somber - good music for reflection, introspection, or just decompressing. Excellent, mellow take on the the popular 'Theme of RENA,' that offers a fresh perspective on Sakuraba's original.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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avaris
on 2012-09-18 10:17:12

Love the track dude. Been listening to it for months. Awesome choice for your style.

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Crulex
on 2012-09-15 19:09:26

Beautiful and smooth. This is the kind of ReMix I could really chill out to. Pot Hocket is one of those ReMixers that I've noticed can bring out some hard emotion with the way he arranges tunes. Amazing.

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melody
on 2010-09-17 01:40:15

glad to see sakuraba get the proper love :)

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Martin Penwald
on 2010-09-14 16:27:16

Very relaxed and soothing. The guitar has a nice sound to it.

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docnano
on 2010-09-12 09:51:00

Absolutely gorgeous.

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Emunator
on 2010-09-06 21:30:09

Mike, I love this. This is one of my favorite arrangements from you and it makes me extremely jealous that I don't know how to play classical guitar :-) And yeah, I totally expected this to bust out into Time's Scar throughout the song, the similarities are definitely striking. Stellar work man!

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darkmaster987
on 2010-09-04 22:05:11

Very nice. Parts of it also seem heavily inspired by Time's Scar from Chrono Cross - one of the backing melodies matches very closely, and I don't remember it being there in the original.

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Zidane
on 2010-09-03 04:36:41

The subtle details, in the best possible way, make this a stunning remix.

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Vandril
on 2010-09-02 16:21:53

Personally, I like it a lot.

Not like the average song in my collection, but I'm a sucker for softer Piano and Guitar songs.

On another note, I'd love to see more music from Pot Hocket, AND more for this game. Pot Hicket's Remixes so far have a good feel to them, and this game has an amazing soundtrack. Some really heartfelt music as a whole.

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Jillian Aversa
on 2010-09-02 01:32:44

Mmmm, love it! I love all your work, Michael!

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Jewbei
on 2010-09-01 16:10:23

i really enjoyed this its very relaxing ....is it me or when the song starts it kinda sounds chrono cross ish?

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OA
on 2010-09-01 11:17:48

Really nice stuff - great counter writing and performance. I'd love to see Pot Hocket perform live with another guitarist sometime, I think that'd be really nice. :-)

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LostChronos
on 2010-09-01 09:48:59

Did you know that in this game, you could reach level 300 and STILL DIE!!!! It was insane. The final enemy was one I never could defeat...

Great remix. This is one to sleep to. That's a compliment by the way! :sleepzzz:

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Scaredsim
on 2010-09-01 03:40:27

C'est beau! ;_;

Very relaxing song...great chords...

Good work! ;_;

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Radiowar
on 2010-09-01 01:29:06

the volume bump is appreciated. excellent work as usual

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Star Ocean: The Second Story (Sony , 1998, PS1)
Music by Motoi Sakuraba
Songs:
"Theme of RENA"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Mood:
Mellow
Instrumentation:
Acoustic,Acoustic Guitar
Additional:
Arrangement > Solo

File Information


Name:
Star_Ocean_The_Second_Story_Solitude_in_Arlia_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,329,062 bytes
MD5:
64811e83724a5f8fda4ca9efc38e09d2
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
4:20

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