Although we have a thread for the music, I want to dedicate another to the ambience certain pieces in Final Fantasy IX create. This came up in one of my posts yesterday and I wanted to explore the topic in more depth - and to see what others see when they listen to the music.
Listen to the following pieces and cast your mind back to the setting. What does the music tell you about the place? How does it make you feel? Is the city friendly? What is life like there? Who lives there?
Border Village ~ Dali
Kingdom of Bulmecia
Sleepless City ~ Treno
Secret Library ~ Daguerreo
Souless Village ~ Branbul
Try to avoid looking at any other posts before you create yours.
I shall put my comments in a spoiler. I don't want to influence anyone else.
Listen to the following pieces and cast your mind back to the setting. What does the music tell you about the place? How does it make you feel? Is the city friendly? What is life like there? Who lives there?
Border Village ~ Dali
Kingdom of Bulmecia
Sleepless City ~ Treno
Secret Library ~ Daguerreo
Souless Village ~ Branbul
Try to avoid looking at any other posts before you create yours.
I shall put my comments in a spoiler. I don't want to influence anyone else.
Border Village ~ Dali
The music tells me that Dali is a very quiet place, friendly and serene. It is populated by young and old souls, all of them living in harmony. An old man sits alone in a shop somewhere dreaming about his love Maria, the woman he never did ask to marry him; another tends to his garden, pondering over how to keep each plant healthy; children play in a group, sharing their imaginary world. The air is still. The temperature and light of the sun is perfect.
Kingdom of Bulmecia
This is the theme of a place that was once prosperous, but now lost. The halls are still grand and statues and relics still decorate the halls, but no one lives here. There is splendour, there is history, but the slightest sound creates an echo, highlighting the emptiness and the tragedy of a lost civilisation.
Sleepless City ~ Treno
A lot of mischief goes on here! The music makes me think of kids chasing one another through the streets, teasing one another, running rings around Garnet.
Jesters and gluttons walk about, enjoying extravagance. Splendid buildings filled with splendid things lie in the city. The golden glow from its lights cause those who pass to stop and look, pondering over how they might buy the place. Theatre groups live and perform in small zones, making others laugh. Some of their jokes are clever, some aren't - some men laugh because they are drunk; not because they understand what's actually going on! Around 1 minute 50 seconds in, where the volume of the piano increases, I see a man playing the piano. He's a jolly fellow and performs at a restaurant where women and men lavish in good food and wine. The women all wear lovely dresses and lean over the tables flirtatiously. The piano player is in a world of his own, lost within his music. He has perfected the piano, and he takes pleasure in that, but it's not about being a good performer - it's about feeling jolly whilst doing it. He bops his head enthusiastically.
Secret Library ~ Daguerreo
The music makes Daguerreo feel like a very friendly place, filled with quiet scholars who read avidly, gathering tidbits of information. Occasionally, one finds a new fact and marvels at it, jumping quietly, reservedly, in a secret corner. A few people walk around, visiting one shelf, then another, getting a feel for the books.
Souless Village ~ Branbul
A very mysterious place, I sense. There is sadness here. Everything is still. There's beauty, perhaps a few tall sculptural towers or trees, but very few people; any people who may exist here are lifeless. They don't speak, don't meet your eyes. They go about their lives mechanically, lost in some sort of dream, lifeless.
The music tells me that Dali is a very quiet place, friendly and serene. It is populated by young and old souls, all of them living in harmony. An old man sits alone in a shop somewhere dreaming about his love Maria, the woman he never did ask to marry him; another tends to his garden, pondering over how to keep each plant healthy; children play in a group, sharing their imaginary world. The air is still. The temperature and light of the sun is perfect.
Kingdom of Bulmecia
This is the theme of a place that was once prosperous, but now lost. The halls are still grand and statues and relics still decorate the halls, but no one lives here. There is splendour, there is history, but the slightest sound creates an echo, highlighting the emptiness and the tragedy of a lost civilisation.
Sleepless City ~ Treno
A lot of mischief goes on here! The music makes me think of kids chasing one another through the streets, teasing one another, running rings around Garnet.
Jesters and gluttons walk about, enjoying extravagance. Splendid buildings filled with splendid things lie in the city. The golden glow from its lights cause those who pass to stop and look, pondering over how they might buy the place. Theatre groups live and perform in small zones, making others laugh. Some of their jokes are clever, some aren't - some men laugh because they are drunk; not because they understand what's actually going on! Around 1 minute 50 seconds in, where the volume of the piano increases, I see a man playing the piano. He's a jolly fellow and performs at a restaurant where women and men lavish in good food and wine. The women all wear lovely dresses and lean over the tables flirtatiously. The piano player is in a world of his own, lost within his music. He has perfected the piano, and he takes pleasure in that, but it's not about being a good performer - it's about feeling jolly whilst doing it. He bops his head enthusiastically. Secret Library ~ Daguerreo
The music makes Daguerreo feel like a very friendly place, filled with quiet scholars who read avidly, gathering tidbits of information. Occasionally, one finds a new fact and marvels at it, jumping quietly, reservedly, in a secret corner. A few people walk around, visiting one shelf, then another, getting a feel for the books.
(I haven't actually been to this place in the game, so it would be interesting to know how accurate that is!)
Souless Village ~ Branbul
A very mysterious place, I sense. There is sadness here. Everything is still. There's beauty, perhaps a few tall sculptural towers or trees, but very few people; any people who may exist here are lifeless. They don't speak, don't meet your eyes. They go about their lives mechanically, lost in some sort of dream, lifeless.
(I haven't been here yet either!)
