Not from a game, but total floating island music:
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oh yeah that’s plausible. hammered dulcimer is cool
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https://musescore.com/user/29606925/scores/6285842
maybe more effusive than necessary and i can’t really speak to how on the mark it is, but gives me some reference points as someone with pretty weak but not nonexistant grasp of music theory
im a little nervous that by poking at what makes the “mystical”/“exotic” vibe im just going to rediscover orientalism or whatever. im not sure where the line is on that
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first pass at a taxonomy no one asked for
Floating Island Type A: Magical Mystery Island (The JRPG Mode)
What it feels like: This is a paradise with a long history you can feel but don’t know anything about. In three to thirty hours the crystal at the core of the island will be removed or corrupted by the dark lord and it will crash to Earth.
The following Attributes increase your Magical Mystery Island Score:
- Mallet instruments (e.g. marimba, glockenspiel, hammered dulcimer, gamelan), especially if you have more than one, especially if they’re in both the rhythm and melody or accompaniment
- The song opens with an ostinato with minimal backing. Uses either mallet instruments or pizzicato strings (mallet instruments are more exotic/islandy, pizz strings are more ‘enchanted’ like a magical forest)
- A vocal or woodwind pad as backing, for that ethereal quality
- A sitar or acoustic guitar
- VI and VII chords, minor cadences? This is the limit of my ability to grok stuff by ear.
Examples in thread:
- Chrono Trigger - Corridors of Time
- Zwei2 - Floating Island “Ilvard”
- Xenogears - Shevat, the Wind is Calling
- FFXIV - Landlords
- Lunar: The Silver Star - Vane
- Howie Lee - Birdy Island
Floating Island Type B: Techno-Ish (The Platformer Mode…?)
What it feels like: Floaty feeling. We can put music on CDs now. You can roll a ball around in 3D. You would find this in either a Lifeformed OST or xXRazorfistXx’s Ball World Adventures for Dreams, which we all know and have played
The following Attributes increase your Techno-Ish Score:
- Techno/dance-ish/808 beat appears somewhere
- Most of the instruments are synths
- Higher BPM than Type A
- Yeah this is a lot less homogenous than Type A and harder to generalize about but it’s a category, it’s real
Examples in thread:
- Gimmick - Sophia
- Jumping Flash - Jump in the Grasslands!
- Nidhogg - Clouds
- FFXIV - Miracle Works (Now you may wonder why it’s in the Platformer Mode. I don’t know)
- The mod files L posted
Magic Knight Rayearth - The Floating Gardens of Earia kind of bridges Type A and Type B in addition to just being kind of bonkers and beyond categorization
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ethereal forgotten city in the mist
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well miracle works is a dungeon song so theres action in it
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yeah okay this is Type C to me
Yes, this is the first one that came to my mind before opening the thread.
Jumping Flash! 2 - World 1-1
But this is probably my favorite floating island song.
Skies of Arcadia - The Dark Rift
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This rules
You cant post that first joy tay arrange and not follow up with this one
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Touhou is platformer flavor maybe
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Here’s the version of the Angel Island music that counts imo:
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Floating Island Type C: Sealed and Forgotten Power (The Cinematic Mode)
What it feels like: “Ethereal forgotten city in the mist.” Often serves as a prison for an ancient power which must not fall into mortal hands. This is an unfortunate association but it’s very “early Harry Potter film score” (or maybe “Ring theme from LotR”) rather than something more videogame-y.
The Following Attributes Increase Your Sealed and Forgotten Power Score:
- Dark, moody ambient pads
- An entire string section and it’s giving majesty and foreboding
- Glockenspiel and pizzicato
- “Sound effects”
- Avoids strong melodic resolutions
- Very quiet and minimal drums which mostly establish atmosphere rather than any rhythm
Examples:
- FFXII - To the Place of the Gods
- Destiny 2 - Mists of Memory
- Twilight Princess - City in the Sky
- Skies of Arcadia - The Dark Rift
Floating Island Type D: The Affront to God (Final Fantasy Exclusive Mode…?)
What it feels like: This is an industrial monstrosity that should not exist. I don’t think this kind of track is exclusive to Final Fantasy at all it just happens to be the only one to like to make them float…? makes you think, prove me wrong, etc
The Following Attributes Increase Your Affront to God Score:
- Industrial sounds
- “Computery” sounds
- Sawtooth
- “Driving” beat
- Some “fantasy” elements like strings or harps but they’re subservient to the machine
Examples:
- Final Fantasy V - Musica Machina
- Final Fantasy VI - Floating Continent
you would think Black Omen does this, but it doesn’t.
Transistor - Forecast is kind of a mix of Types B, C, and D. way to show off, and ruin my very normal and healthy new hobby…
Floating Island Type E: This Will Make You Cry (Chiptune Mode…?)
What it feels like: Nostalgic, wistful, a little ghostly. It’s as if the floating island has already fallen and you’re remembering its lonely past.
The Following Attributes Increase Your This Will Make You Cry Score:
- Strong focus on melody
- A lead with portamento or low attack, or that sounds like either a piano or woodwind. That sounds like a lot of disparate things and yet…
- Few “exotic” elements compared to Type A
- All of the examples below are chiptune or adjacent and I don’t think that’s essential to this but it’s a thing and I don’t understand why. This category might be dubious
Examples:
- Final Fantasy III - Eternal Wind but not its covers in later games, somehow
- Cave Story - Moonsong
- Joy Tay - [Alternate] Hidden Palace Zone
- Lifeformed - Swimming While It Rains (maybe?)
Perfect Cherry Blossom - The Capital City of Flowers in the Sky is kind of a mix of Types B and E? is this anything? have i gone too far?
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definitely howard shore moreso than john williams in the ff12 and d2 instances (also thematically – nethicite is analogous to the ring)
turtles all the way down
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it’s very funny how much this is playing Type A and B at once, which makes sense because this is world map music (rpg) for a sonic-like (platformer). you called your track Floating Island and you did the Corridors of Time glissando at the top, twice. don’t think i don’t see you…
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wonderful thread~!! and very helpful as someone writing a story set on a Type A, gotta have a vibes playlist
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