Also, to get it out of the way, here’s “Black Tar”, the battle theme from X. The first part, up until about the 3-minute mark, is the normal battle theme, while the second part plays during fights in Skells:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yfqF0o7XWw
I don’t care what anyone says; I don’t even completely understand why, but I freaking love this song. The rapping isn’t the best, sure, but aside from that I think the song is perfectly suited to be a battle theme. People don’t like this song, especially when it first surfaced on the internet. I loved it from my first time hearing it, and I probably always will at least have some fondness for it.
And now for something completely different:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ3j12pF84o
This is one of the three songs that could be heard on the website for the initial Wii version of Xenoblade Chronicles, and looking back it’s somewhat of an odd choice, considering it appears exactly once, when Dunban rejoins the party while they fight Metal Face at Colony 6. The fact that it only appears in that one cutscene is a real shame considering what an outstanding song it is, even compared to other in-game music. I think it would’ve been great as a boss theme, or even if it occurred just one other time in the game. Alas, it must be confined to that one small part, overshadowed by songs like “One Who Gets in Our Way” and my next sample, “Engage the Enemy”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wdc_cDaUNQ
This song stands as a great example of how the right music can make any scene more poignant than it would be otherwise. It plays during some of the most dramatic moments in the game, not the least of which when Fiora goes up against Metal Face at Colony 9 and he stabs her, and in the ensuing fight against the Mechon. Any other song could’ve played and the scene would not have hit me nearly as hard as it did, even in subsequent playthroughs; music has a profound effect on us as people, and choosing the right song to play to accompany an important scene is vital to that scene’s impact upon the viewer.
Let’s take a look at what is quite possibly my favorite song that I’ve heard from the Xenoblade Chronicles X soundtrack, titled “no2=THEMEX” or just “Theme X”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXqbYWKsBAU
This song plays during the player’s first introduction to the city of New Los Angeles. Obviously I haven’t played the game, and can’t speak to how it suits the scene in question, but the song itself is beautiful, and amazingly incorporates Sawano’s composition style into a sweeping, majestic theme to introduce us to humanity’s only vestige on the hostile, alien planet Mira. Step outside the confines of NLA into the wilderness of Primordia, and this song starts up, titled “N周L辺A”, which is read as “NLA Shuuhen”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB9Fmi1l5F4
A song that evokes images of a wild, untamed land, with low, powerful sounds and a strong orchestra to get across just how vast and dangerous this new planet is, littered with massive beasts that can kill the player characters without a second thought. The part from 2:35 onward is the version that plays at night; more subdued, but still carrying the power of the daytime version. The song is adventurous like Gaur Plain, but in a way that highlights just how dangerous and desperate the humans’ situation is.
