I’d also like to say that this game has a track titled “no5=KAKU-WEST＊→▲★★KAI”, also known as “Kakusei Houkai”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFBWD2KT6AM
This song plays during the prologue explaining the alien battle that forced the humans to leave Earth. I don’t really have anything else to say about it, just that Sawano’s strange tendency to give his music really weird, virtually unpronounceable titles is alive and well with X. It’s the fifth part of a suite on the first disc of the OST titled “0rCH-SUITE “X””, alongside “Theme X” and “Mono X”. There’s also a rearrangement of Theme X called “no11=RE:ARR.X”, and several songs that are just seemingly random strings of letters and numbers, until you realize that the letters actually spell out a word and the numbers are COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS, like “z15f20i12e09l14d” or just “Z15 Field”. Oh, and the “X” in “0rCH-SUITE “X”” should be blue, like in the game’s logo.
Xenoblade Chronicles X’s final boss theme is called “The Key We’ve Lost”, and I think sounds like what you would get if you combined “The Reluctant Heroes” with “Before My Body is Dry”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLE8-vXeRrw
Meanwhile, the Xenoblade Chronicles final boss theme is split into two distinct parts, for the different parts of the fight. The first part is titled “Zanza the Divine” or just “Zanza”, while the second part is called “The God-Slaying Sword”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6xQyJlt7EE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2z2UPSQdn0
…Yeah, I don’t remember either of these songs very well. They’re both awesome, don’t get me wrong, but at the time I was so swept up in the rush of fighting the final boss that I was really paying no attention to the music. The only reason why I recognize “The God-Slaying Sword” is because the first part played in a trailer for the game I watched a few times. Listening to it now, it actually sounds like a final boss theme you’d hear in one of the Final Fantasy games, while “Zanza” sounds more in line with what you’d expect from the rest of Xenoblade’s music.
I could go on; the Xenoblade Chronicles soundtrack has some 92 tracks I could talk about, while X has 55. However, I have to wrap this up at some point, and the last thing I want to talk about is the ending themes.
First is Xenoblade ending theme “Beyond the Sky”, the only song on the soundtrack composed by longtime series composer Yasunori Mitsuda, and featuring lovely vocals by Sarah Àlainn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nCh8_DOdBI
This song calls to mind many other modern JRPG ending themes, most notably those of Xenogears and the Xenosaga trilogy, each of which has an ending composed by Mitsuda. Like those endings “Beyond the Sky” is a very calming song that manages to skirt the edges of cheesiness by staying true to Shulk and Fiora’s relationship throughout the game, from the start of Shulk’s long journey all the way to the epilogue. I adore this song; I’ve listened to it enough since finishing Xenoblade for the first time that, even after not listening to it for a fairly long time, I still remember the lyrics without needing to look them up.
Finally, this is “Your Voice”, the ending theme of Xenoblade Chronicles X. Given the title and the fact that it’s a Xeno-series ending theme, what do you expect it to sound like? Take a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXndrRRXJfQ
…How did you do?
Maybe you expected it to be like every other ending theme for Xenoblade, Xenogears and the Xenosaga games, and the intro took you completely off-guard. Or you realized that it, like the rest of the soundtrack, was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, so the song is completely in line with what you expected from it. Either way, it’s a pretty awesome song (despite that lovely broken English), and even having not played the game I feel like it encapsulates its style and themes, just like “Beyond the Sky” does for Xenoblade. Comparing the two provides a great basis for examining the differences in tone between the two games; truly, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles in spirit and gameplay only, with a style and story completely its own.
Oh, and I still think “Black Tar” is awesome.
