Edmond Dantes
06-12-2016, 05:59 AM
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.
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.