RPGFan's Rhythm Encounter RPGFan
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- Leisure
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Join the staff of RPGFan as they discuss the wide world of RPG music both old and new.
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130 - RPG Safe Spaces
While RPGs have no shortage of high-energy moments requiring intense strategizing, quick reflexes, or simply a box of tissues for the more emotional moments, it's important to have downtime between those to balance everything out. This episode is about "safe spaces" in RPGs, and our panelists did not always choose the kinds of song we expected of one another. We enjoyed hearing the various ways each of us wanted to represent safe spaces through a variety of musical means, and we'd love to hear your favorite music in this vein as well!
Featuring: Mike Salbato, Audra Bowling, Gio Castillo, Tin Manuel; Edited by Paul Dennis
Links for this episode
YouTube: Final Fantasy XV "Uncovered" TrailerRhythm Encounter 104 - Like a Dragon: Rhythm! | RPGFanTracklist0:06:31 - Maiden in Black (Shunsuke Kida) - Demon’s Souls0:10:51 - Yohan Romantic (Spencer Bambrick) - Eternights0:26:48 - By the Campfire (Norikazu Miura) - Suikoden Tactics0:28:23 - Our Terms (Takafumi Imamura) - Final Fantasy XVI0:49:20 - Brink of Time (Yasunori Mitsuda) - Chrono Trigger0:51:44 - New Serena (Yuichi Kanatani) - Yakuza 41:23:30 - Song of the Ancients / Hollow Dreams (Keiichi Okabe, arr. Keigo Hoashi) - NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...1:26:57 - Stand By Me (Ben E. King, perf. by Florence and the Machine) - Final Fantasy XV2:00:30 - Audra's Bonus Track!
Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.
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129 - Level One: RPG Beginnings
Previously on Rhythm Encounter, we have talked about some important first impressions, namely some of our favorite intro themes, and even title screen music. But what happens next is just as important: the opening hours of an RPG can really set the stage for what's to come. When thinking about our favorite games, it's fun to think back to how they began, and how well the mood and world is established through the narrative, characters, and of course, the music. Today we're sharing some of our favorite early game tunes that were instrumental (sorry not sorry) in getting us into some great games.
Featuring: Mike Salbato, Michael Sollosi, Patrick Gann, Wes Iliff; Edited by Paul Dennis
Tracklist0:06:23 - Reminiscence (Miki Higashino) - Suikoden II0:08:11 - Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World (Yasunori Mitsuda) - Chrono Cross0:31:30 - City of Bells (Ken Nakagawa) - Atelier Iris ~Eternal Mana~0:33:32 - Caravan Crossroad (Kumi Tanioka) - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles0:57:24 - Autumn’s Rise (Deniz Akbulut) - CrossCode1:00:14 - Garland Office (Yoshitaka Hirota) - Shadow Hearts: From the New World1:16:50 - Unary Game (Shinji Hosoe) - 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors1:19:04 - Pledge of Demon (Hidenori Shoji) - Yakuza 01:51:57 - Sollosi's Bonus Track!
Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.
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128 - Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Do we at RPGFan like Final Fantasy VII? Off course! That's why we're ready for…a reunion of tracks from across the expansive (and still growing) FFVII universe. The timing here is intentional to celebrate the fantastic music associated with FFVII as we all get ready to enjoy Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Join our panel of savvy veterans and one newcomer SOLDIER: First Class news editor as we celebrate our favorite music from this (sub-)series in all its iterations and, of course, fight against Shinra. We hope these tracks will get you ready to battle on!
Featuring: Mike Salbato, Hilary Andreff, Audra Bowling, Kyle Cantelon; Edited by Jono Logan
Tracklist0:07:40 - Those Who Fight (Nobuo Uematsu, arr. Shiro Hamaguchi) - Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII0:11:33 - Judgement Funkadelic (Nobuo Uematsu, arr. Sean Schafianski) - MATERIA: Final Fantasy VII Remixed0:31:49 - Crazy Motorcycle (Nobuo Uematsu) - Final Fantasy VII0:35:23 - Dear to the Heart (Nobuo Uematsu) - Final Fantasy VII0:54:29 - Why (Yoshihiko Nishio & Ayaka) - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII0:58:52 - AVALANCHE (Nobuo Uematsu, arr. Mega Ran) - Black Materia 1:24:56 - Bombing Mission - Infiltration (Nobuo Uematsu) - Final Fantasy VII Remake OST Plus1:31:43 - Advent: One-Winged Angel (Nobuo Uematsu) - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children2:04:01 - Mike's Bonus Track!
Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.
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127 - Music of the Year 2023
It's finally time to celebrate the music of the (last) year! As you know by now, a great deal of incredible games released in 2023, and with them, many notable soundtracks. Our panel today brought some of their favorite songs of 2023, featuring music from some Square Enix heavy hitters to some lovely indie titles and others in between.
As usual for Music of the Year, this episode is longer than usual, as each of us picked one more song than usual, giving us a total of 12, plus two special bonus tracks from Rhythm Encounter's co-founders. It still isn't enough to cover it all, but we packed in as much musical greatness as possible! What are some of your favorite songs and soundtracks from 2023?
Featuring: Mike Salbato, Hilary Andreff, Michael Sollosi, Patrick Gann; Edited by Jono Logan
Pat's Picks0:05:05 - Toto’haha (Yasunori Nishiki) - Octopath Traveler II0:08:38 - The Apotheosis (Brandon Boone) - Slay the Princess0:11:21 - Celestial (Toby Fox Remix) (comp Ed Sheeran, arr Toby Fox) - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC
Mike Salbato's Picks0:38:00 - Dedicated to Moonlight (Masayoshi Soken) - Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker0:43:44 - World Map (Reo Uratani) - Meg's Monster0:45:53 - Colgera Battle (Manaka Kataoka, Maasa Miyoshi, Masato Ohashi, Tsukasa Usui) - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Bonus Track 1: Stephen Meyerink1:11:33 - Normal Battle I (Yasunori Nishiki) - Octopath Traveler II
Michael Sollosi's Picks1:17:30 - Preserved Realm (D’Anthoni Wooten) - Dave the Diver1:20:56 - Ascension (Masayoshi Soken) - Final Fantasy XVI1:25:04 - Mr. Top Player (Shigeyuki Kameda) - Street Fighter 6
Hilary's Picks1:48:14 - The Way I See (Andrew Jeremy) - Coffee Talk Episode 2 - Hibiscus and Butterfly1:54:46 - Down by the River (Borislav Slavov) - Baldur’s Gate III1:57:05 - Lux Tizer (Norihiko Yamanuki) - The 7th Saga Soundtrack Composer’s Edition
Bonus Track 2: Derek Heemsbergen2:33:17 - Main Theme (Tsutomu Narita?) - Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.
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126 - Build Your Own RPG Soundtrack
We're kicking off the new year on Rhythm Encounter with a brand-new kind of episode: Building a soundtrack from pieces of other games. We distilled our imaginary RPG down to eight core musical moments — title, overworld, town, dungeon, battle, emotional, final boss, and ending, to be specific — and pulled a song for each from eight different RPGs. While we were all prepared to justify how eight disparate tracks made sense together, the resulting "soundtrack" was more cohesive than we expected!
We hope you like this musical experiment, because we already have plans for a future sequel. Stay tuned!
Featuring: Mike Salbato, Hilary Andreff, Gio Castillo, Lucas Greene; Edited by Paul Dennis
Tracklist0:07:45 - Breath of Fire IV ~Opening Animation~ (Taro Iwashiro) - Breath of Fire IV0:09:13 - Quatera Woods (Yukihiro Jindo) - Falcom Field Zanmai (originally Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim)0:31:51 - Hateno Village (Yasuaki Iwata) - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild0:37:35 - Pyramid (Yuzo Koshiro) - Actraiser Symphonic Suite0:58:34 - Battle 1 (Yasunori Shiono) - Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals1:01:32 - The Sandy Beach of Gumbo (Noriyuki Iwadare) - Grandia1:25:52 - On Blade’s Edge (Masayoshi Soken) - Endwalker: Final Fantasy XIV1:30:11 - Journey’s End (Rich Douglas ft. Jillian Aversa) - Shadowgate (2014)
Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.
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125 - Long Time Listener, First Time Caller
To celebrate the new year, we put together a special episode before we return to our regularly scheduled topics, with a short episode full of music dedications. We were inspired by the idea of radio DJs who take listener calls and offer up dedications on air, so we polled the RPGFan staff, asking them for songs and written dedications to read on the episode. We both offered some of our own as well, so we hope you enjoy everyone's heartfelt messages and musical choices.
Featuring: Mike Salbato, Hilary Andreff; Edited by Paul Dennis
Links for this episode
Prelude / Crystal Theme (Final Fantasy) - Harp and Strings cover by Patti Rudisill & Paula BressmanMy Mind | Final Fantasy VIII Piano cover by Sebastien SkafOverClocked ReMix: The Legend of Zelda "Zelda Heineken"Tracklist0:05:31 - Wind Crest ~The Three Trails~ (Takahito Eguchi & Noriko Matsueda) - Piano Collection Final Fantasy X-20:10:11 - Boss Battle Theme (Shigeki Sako) - Vay0:14:56 - Prelude (Nobuo Uematsu, cover by Patti Rudisill & Paula Bressman) - Final Fantasy series0:23:32 - A Sailor Never Sleeps (Masayoshi Soken) - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn0:31:20 - My Mind (Nobuo Uematsu, cover by Sebastien Skaf) - Final Fantasy VIII0:36:17 - New Days (Shoji Meguro) - Persona 40:39:59 - Land of Radiant Flowers (Revo) - Bravely Default0:47:17 - Zelda Heineken (Main Theme) (Koji Kondo, arr. & perf. by Mattias Holmgren) - The Legend of Zelda0:52:33 - Overworld Theme (Koji Kondo) - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.
Get in Touch:RPGFan.comRPGFan ShopEmail us: music@rpgfan.comTwitter: @rpgfancomInstagram: @rpgfancomFacebook: rpgfancomTwitch: rpgfancom
Customer Reviews
rutkin2
At first I thought this would be too niche for me, and that I wouldn't enjoy listening to tracks from RPGs I'd never played. But the shows work really well. The music is awesome, and the discussion lively.
AWESOME
I always thought I was alone in loving RPG music. Great podcast, my to-listen and to-play list grows ever longer with each episode.