A relaxing and melodious song from MapleStory, with some nice clarinet action doing the main melody, or at least parts of it. I feel like the easy path would’ve been to use flutes for that, because forests = flutes, I guess. Instead they do some of the background harmony. The entire MapleStory soundtrack is pretty good in itself.
I don’t know anything about MMORPGs, but MapleStory is the first one I heard of that was in 2D. I dislike a lot of 3D games that are action-oriented: interacting with a 3d environment on a 2D screen, where being somewhat accurate is a requirement, is too stressful to be worth it. Is that a weird hang-up to have?
Listen below or load the mp3 of “Ellin Forest” in a new tab/window.
2 Comments
That one was excellent. There was more stuff in the background than usual; I heard a whole woodwinds section — emulated if not actual. And as for being weird about games: I don’t like playing them at all. I don’t mind watching someone else play them, but I have never been comfortable with fast-paced and timing sensitive activity using my hand controllers or keyboards.
There are some 3D games where being accurate, like with jumping and landing, isn’t a huge issue. I don’t mind that. One of my favorites, Super Mario Galaxy, is almost entirely based on being accurate with the 3D maneuvering. Don’t know how to explain that one.
I think the woodwinds are real. The sound feels too nuanced to be electronic, but who knows.