Music's Influence in Game Design [Persona]

Sound is the greatest form of feedback we have as creators.
With it we can create and distort ideas and impressions.
But given shape you create a scene, living pieces to engage with.
In games sound has evolved from simple effects, full sweeping movements, and more recently
an element of game design where creative timing can turn small moments of spectacle into grand
moments of action.
Even the slightest of changes at the wrong time and atmosphere is shattered.
And in an RPG, nothing is more important than combat and the sound accompanying it.
The greater the design… the greater the payoff.
But if your sound is weak, then even the greatest of moments… can fall flat.
The challenge then isn’t just making sounds that are pleasing, but also ones that provide
proper feedback to the player while matching the gameplay’s tempo, perhaps even accentuating
it.
But how do you write music for something where the flow of gameplay is at the player’s
pace.
The answer, comes in phases.
Throughout more recent JRPGs, typically within the first minute of battle, the music will
go through 3 distinct phases.
The first, generally the introductory phase, lasts roughly 15-20 seconds, with the 2nd
acting as the core battle theme, ending around the 45 second mark where the 3rd phase, and
the music’s peak occurs.
The slower the music, the faster the shift in phases, and vice versa.
Of course, this is merely an observation, not law.
How a composer conducts their music depends on the product and intended player actions.
So while Lost Odyssey and Pokémon may follower the prior, titles like Bravely Default and
Shin Megami Tensei IV, where battles can end in a matter of seconds, cut straight to their
core high-momentum themes granting players a sense of immediacy to combat so the music
can appropriately match the actions the player is taking.
Even if a player is personally at odds with the music itself, so long as it integrates
well, the piece will generally be considered a success.
How catchy and addicting it is to the individual is just a bonus, perhaps even something that
can be instilled with properly spaced repetition.
It’s disheartening then, to see the recent Persona 5’s core track Last Surprise, while
structurally sound as a piece of music, fails to mesh with the core gameplay in a meaningful
way and in turn does a disservice to itself and the game as a whole.
I’ve even been playing it in the background for the last few sentences to serve as an
example of the track itself…
If you hadn’t picked up on it earlier I can’t blame you.
It took my own sister nearly 20 hours to realize there was even a battle track, something I
had to bring it to her attention just to ask for her opinion of it.
With Persona 3 the series settled into its now formulaic game and music design with little
changes.
It’s main musical contribution being vocals, usually as a small intro before becoming commonplace
in the 2nd phase.
The intro phases were usually quieter and more subdued before taking on a more bombastic
tone and peaking in the 3rd phase.
Portable and Golden chose to forego vocal intros and for good reason, a trend that 5
chose to continue with its sweeping violin, but this intro phase that is meant to build
into the core theme is met not with high momentum, but quieter and more subdued music that as
a result leaves battles feeling hollow and weaker than they would otherwise.
It doesn’t help that the singer’s voice fails to command or grasp the player’s attention
during this segment either.
The third phase acts as the musical peak, coming in at roughly 45 seconds in the track
and that’s where the core issue for this structure comes into play as battles in Persona
5 are built around exploiting weaknesses for all-out attacks that quickly finish battle.
The result of which is a majority of battles lasting between 10-50 seconds.
The only time a player will really have a chance to go over that limit is during battles
where the enemy has the first strike, demon negotiation fails, or the player encounters
a chain battle, which are surprisingly rare, probably only accounting for 15% of all battles
the player will encounter and don’t really crop up till half-way through this 100 hour
experience, meaning the quality of gameplay will have already set in for the player with
little to shift it.
This means almost 80-90% of battles, with variance based on player, will be filled with
music that fails to accentuate the events on-screen, especially All-Out Attacks.
The issue here isn’t so much of the music’s quality, on its own it’s an easy to like
track, but the problem arises from a clash in philosophy.
Persona 5 was built to be more action oriented in its design while making combat faster than
previous entries, yet it made Last Surprise a slower paced song, coming in at roughly
half the tempo of Time to Make History and Mass Destruction.
There is the argument that less is more, and I would be inclined to agree had it been beneficial
to its design, which it fails on repeatedly, and not-clashed with the other battle themes
reserved for bosses, mini-bosses, and event battles, all of which are high-energy and
more in line with Persona 3 and 4’s structural music, a majority of which even opt to abandon
the acid jazz theme that inspired the vocalized battle tracks.
In reality, less is more really only applies to boss battle themes where designers can
guarantee the player will hear each track in their fullest at least once due to their
lengthy nature.
A fantastic example of which is The Genesis from Persona 4’s final boss.
The music is relatively quiet with interrupting brass instruments every few seconds to create
a larger impact as it gradually builds up the theme with drums and violins
before finally subduing itself to create a more unsettling tone in line with the boss
while interlacing smaller interpretations of the main theme before moving into a full
orchestra that builds into the track’s peak with a rendition of Reach out to the Truth.
The track is carefully guiding the player’s perception of battle and granting gravitas
towards moments that often line up with the flow of battle and grant a sense of wonder.
One of the benefits of the Persona series’ music has always been that, even if you don’t
personally find the track appealing, it’s at least appropriate and helps line up the
player’s perspective on gameplay with the developer’s wishes.
I’ve been pretty harsh on Last Surprise so far, after all this is a heavily subjective
opinion, one many will likely take as criticism for the product itself as a whole, so to take
a more objective approach on something most, if not everyone, can agree on, I want to point
you in the direction of Persona 1.
When Atlus decided to recreate Persona for the PSP, series composer Shoji Meguro decided
to scrap the original compositions in favor of a soundtrack more in line with the music
of Persona 3 and 4.
While the music was catchy at first, there was such a disparity between the tempo of
music and the game itself that it not only failed to integrate with its story, but the
gameplay as well, especially with the battle track Lone Prayer.
To serve as an example here is the original’s battle track…
And this is Lone Prayer, the track that replaced it…
The original may sound more generic, but it integrates more efficiently than Lone Prayer,
making it sound more like a misplaced pop music anime intro than an actual combat piece,
and due to Persona 1’s immensely high encounter rate it can quickly become grating on the
ears, only exacerbating the problem through repetition and pushing it beyond most player’s
limits.
A problem solved in Persona 3 by simply having enemies visible on the map so encounters occurred
based on the player’s mood.
Even using the on-disc DLC to forward-fit Lone Prayer onto Persona 5, where such changes
to combat occur, it fails to mesh well due to their structural and thematic differences,
yet 3 and 4’s music, where those discrepancies are nonexistent, integrate exceedingly well.
3’s perhaps even feeling more appropriate than 5’s own music.
Shin Megami Tensei IV’s A2 battle track fits surprisingly well, but the victory tune
fails to line up with the on-screen actions.
For the sake of comparison, if Last Surprise was too subdued, then Lone Prayer is too bombastic.
Going so far as using the same principals in newer music and trying to retrofit it onto
a separate phase structure and different style of JRPG that find itself closer to traditional
Shin Megami Tensei gameplay, without ever questioning if it works.
It seems more like somewhere down the line the composer arbitrarily decided to make music
that simply sounded cool rather than asking themselves for what purpose their music served
and if it accomplished this task.
It’s almost as if no one playtested it to find out, and in the end it’s left what
is supposed to be the definitive and enhanced edition of Persona 1 feeling more lethargic
than its PS1 counterpart.
Really the solution should’ve been to include both soundtracks, a benefit that let’s players
influence the game’s tone and atmosphere for a self-optimal experience while catering
to fans both old and new.
This issue was so severe it’s not hard to think it was partially responsible for the
devs opting to simply remaster Persona 2’s music instead of creating an entirely new
soundtrack.
Essentially improving what was already a Grade A music.
Persona fails to do anything meaningful with both Last Surprise and Lone Prayer, the latter
moreso than the former, because they lack a purpose that aligns with their game’s
design structure and never quite hit the right notes to push it above and beyond into something
greater.
Making it feel at times as though the composer was just going through the motions.
Oddly enough, Persona 5’s track Life Will Change, a piece reserved for infiltrations
and the final dungeon is more suitable for Last Surprise’s role, than Last Surprise
itself.
With clever design, Life Will Change as a battle tune doesn’t have to lose meaning
or become grating on the player’s ears.
It could even be swapped out with Last Surprise or Rivers in the Desert for the final dungeon,
letting players know that this final trial was beyond what the previous boss had to offer.
What the better choice is all comes down to playtesting.
When such stellar tracks are so heavily mismanaged, they end up feeling more throwaway than vital
to the experience, something a composer will never want.
Perhaps Persona 5 will too see a portable re-release or DLC that places it more in line
with 3 and 4’s enhanced counterparts, introducing new content and music that help improve the
experience for the better, instead of having it feel like a lackadaisical affair.
Music is so vital to any experience that it’s often the key aspect we as fans frequently
find ourselves returning to, each with our own personal stories and moments attached
to them based on our encounters with their source material.
I write this video not out of some perceived contempt for the series, but a desire to see
it at its best.
When a track fails to make a positive impact, the product isn’t reaching its full potential
and at worst can negatively impact the experience, perhaps even to the point of becoming unsalvageable.
But with the right track, and the right timing, you can take even the greatest of moments
and push them even further beyond.
Perhaps even improve upon what some may already consider a masterpiece.
Hey, thanks so much for watching.
I hope you had a good long think about what was said here today, even if you disagree
with it, for which you can shout at me in the comments.
I hope you all enjoyed last night’s Gal*Gun stream, it was a blast to do.
Be sure to stay tuned for future updates.
I’ll see you in the next one, much love!

Music's Influence in Game Design [Persona]

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