Anyone else actually LIKE "I Am the Wind"? (Castlevania SOTN spoilers)

[Edmond Dantes]

For those who don't know, "I Am the Wind" was the ending theme to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on its original PS1 release. Because gamers are bitchy and Konami is like a comic book company and will cater to any demand, the later releases all replaced it with some generic BGM from a later CV game.

Honestly, to me the song always felt like it fit. After all, Castlevania SOTN was a game with some very somber undertones. Alucard was coming back to a home he had abandoned, which brought about sad memories (remember the dream about his mom?) and in some endings results in him losing the only people who actually count as "friends" in this game (Richter in some endings, Richter AND Maria in others) and even when you go through the whole game, he still has that talk with his dad where he finally corrects the misconception that had fueled all of Dracula's hatred... and then Alucard has to go (and to be honest I always got a suicide vibe from that, except in the ending where Maria follows him). Then that song plays.

Perfect.

It wasn't until years later that I found out "I Am the Wind" was actually controversial, and I could just NOT understand why. Indeed, I never really heard a convincing explanation for it. But considering many people were okay with its replacement, I can only guess gamers have the artistic sensibilities of a mudkip (to borrow a phrase from Yahtzee Croshaw) and wanted the ending credits music to be upbeat and thrilling even if it results in complete tonal dissonance. These people must've just loved the ending to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, in which a tragic ending is interrupted by the James Bond theme.

Of course, gamers hated Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty as well and that was probably the most brilliant thing ever. Its no wonder companies like EA think gamers are just muscleheads who will like anything with action--time and again we prove them right! (To be fair, moviegoers who buy tickets to Baysplosion fests aren't any better).

Sigh....

So yeah, any supporters of "I Am the Wind" please stand up. I had to get all that off my chest.

[bb_hood]

I think its OK, and it does fit.. but Im not crazy about the song.
Alot of people do like it, I know that. You are not alone.

[celerystalker]

I like it. I think it suits the ending well, and its mixture of western soft rock and eastern themes makes for a pretty unique listen.

[Aussie2B]

Yes, I am an unapologetic Cynthia Harrell fan, haha. I like all the songs she did for Konami (which is like...3 songs, haha).

But "I Am the Wind" is undeniably pure cheese. The lyrics are like something a 13-year-old would come up with, and it's musically campy too, with the Kenny G-style sax noodling. For me, it's no prob because Castlevania was designed to be campy in the first place. If anything, SotN is too serious on the whole. But I would imagine most people who are angered by the song were newer to the series than myself and are too uptight to appreciate a little cheese, instead expecting the closing credits to have more dramatic, gothic Yamane music.

[Alianger]

It's a pretty cheesy track, with sappy and pretentious lyrics, a predictable arrangement and it doesn't fit well with the rest of the OST.
Your strawman of people who don't like it doesn't describe me, but I know there are people like that in the "community" so I can't say it's completely false either. After all, if you search for rpg music on YT (which tends to have a softer vibe) the battle themes always seem to have a disproportionate amount of views.

Is this really thread worthy though? People like different kinds of music, I'm pretty sure the majority of people in the world don't even like Castlevania music, but it's not something to get pissed about.

[Aussie2B]

You know, I wonder if it was really fan backlash that resulted in the removal of "I Am the Wind" or if it was actually a matter of limited time licensing. I was curious about it, and from what I looked up, it seems like some later releases of the OST removed both "I Am the Wind" and "Nocturne" (the other vocal song with actual lyrics; the one the fairy sings, though not in the US PS1 release), with some sources citing legal reasons. Speaking of "Nocturne", I've never played SotN on anything but PS1, so I don't know what song replaced "I Am the Wind", but I think that'd be a better replacement than some random instrumental track. That way you could still have a vocal song, it'd fit better with the rest of the OST, the lyrics still reflect Alucard's journey, and it's got a somber tone. Not that I think "I Am the Wind" NEEDS replacing, I'd just pick that as the replacement before anything else, if it was legally possible. Then again, Konami put "Nocturne" back in the game for later US releases, even with dubbed lyrics, so it'd be redundant to hear it both mid-game and during the credits.

[InsaneDavid]

Is this really thread worthy though? People like different kinds of music, I'm pretty sure the majority of people in the world don't even like Castlevania music, but it's not something to get pissed about.

Yeah man, there's too many damn active threads at Digital Press! I just can't keep up!!

[Edmond Dantes]

Yeah man, there's too many damn active threads at Digital Press! I just can't keep up!!

Thanks. That was the best laugh I had all day!

[BlastProcessing402]

I like it a lot. Yeah, it's cheesy, so? Cheese is the bacon of dairy.

I don't like the replacement music on the PSP version, it's just not fun.

[tomaitheous]

That 80's jazz cheeze is... HORRIBLE. I hate that stuff. The concept of the song itself doesn't bother me, it's the execution of it. Terrible stuff. Might as well used some random Micheal Bolton song; would have worked just as well.

[JSoup]

Had to pull it up, as I had no memory of it at all.
I'm sure I would have loved it when the game was new. That was sort of the era for that kind of thing being new to people, so even really bad examples of vocal tracks got an 'oh, wow!' pass. Hearing it now, I don't think I'll be adding it to my VLC music list any time soon, but it seems decent enough for a game ending.

[MetalFRO]

Yes, I am an unapologetic Cynthia Harrell fan, haha. I like all the songs she did for Konami (which is like...3 songs, haha).

But "I Am the Wind" is undeniably pure cheese. The lyrics are like something a 13-year-old would come up with, and it's musically campy too, with the Kenny G-style sax noodling. For me, it's no prob because Castlevania was designed to be campy in the first place. If anything, SotN is too serious on the whole. But I would imagine most people who are angered by the song were newer to the series than myself and are too uptight to appreciate a little cheese, instead expecting the closing credits to have more dramatic, gothic Yamane music.

This is a great synopsis. I also quite like "I Am The Wind", perhaps BECAUSE OF the cheese factor. The "Kenny G-style sax noodling" is actually part of the draw, and is, musically speaking, well played and reasonably good. But yeah, totally juvenile lyrics, but a good vocalist, a mildly earworm-quality melody, and just the right amount of schmaltz. Definitely a very 90's song, maybe painfully so, but in a good/fun way. No shame.

Cheese is the bacon of dairy.

I love this analogy, and will have to steal this quote at some point

[BlastProcessing402]

I love this analogy, and will have to steal this quote at some point

Steal away. Sincerest form of flattery!