Hello, Fire Emblem fans… After investigating the music possibilities, I decided to open a debate with a great question and a poll about:
- Base Game: Lex Talionis/Tactile
Unlike the ROM Hacking, which is limited to MIDI compositions made by any MIDI music-editor program, Lex Talionis and Tactile engines offer diverse and much more possibilities to insert modern music with modern soundfonts/VSTs… Just like we would hear in modern Fire Emblem games such as PoR, RD, Awakening, Fates, Three Houses and Engage… Not to mention the music like we would hear from other non-FE related games with other genres, that are also ambiented in the medieval era or they are in the fantasy genre… With the more advanced technology that we have, meaning more possibilities to choose the music that will play when playing the fangame… This leads us to these options:
1. The easiest ones
- 1.1. Using a modernized FE Soundtrack (PoR, RD, Awakening, Fates, Echoes, Three Houses, Engage): Most of these FE games have iconic music, from calm to epic ones, which most of them considered good. It’s just finding which one fit the fangame.
- 1.2. Using a rearranged/remastered Soundtrack of any old FE games (FE4 Genealogy of the Holy War, FE5 Thracia 776, FE6 The Binding Blade, FE7 The Blazing Blade, FE8 The Sacred Stones, FE1/3/11/12 Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem): Because of the nostalgia that the original OST of these games can cause on some fans, there are fan rearranged versions of these musics to fit to the modern era. Even there were official Premium Soundtracks that were made… (FE6 The Binding Blade for example) to sound like a modern song, not to mention some Fire Emblem official rearrangements made for Super Smash Bros, for example…
- 1.3. Using a modern Original Soundtrack/Rearranged old Soundtrack from non-FE related games, that also are ambiented in a medieval era or in a fantasy genre: There are many other games that include iconic soundtracks that make the fans feel that they are truly in a medieval era, perhaps in an old Kingdom… Or a fantasy myth… It depends on the games that the player played. Music from other RPG ones fit better, such as Tear Ring saga and similar games, although music from other game genres may fit in the fangame…
- 1.4. Using a generic medieval music that is not notably used in games: There are some medieval music, orchestral music and fantasy music found in Internet. It’s just finding one that may fit in the fangame depending of the situations.
2. The hard ones:
- 2.1. Creating and using AI-Generated music: Today, the power of the generative AI is immense, enough to generate the music that the user wants, that’s why most of people think that it’s easy to generate the music with just some words as the prompts to generate music… However, the real difficulty here is using the most precise prompts, because beginners may feel that the generated music may not fit the fangame and they must refine their prompts to make the music better to fit in the fangame. However, the most expert AI users who dominate the correct prompts can generate the most iconic music, even with the power of making a fangame brillantly iconic because of the good music inserted there with this method.
- 2.2. Creating a music manually from scratch. Currently, it’s the hardest of the methods. Consists on either using any music editor to make any music or using real instruments to make a music, with the help from other people… The difficulty here is that the the person must be a good music composer, study most of music areas such as music scores, notes, beats, and the most important, the harmony of the music. But, in return, the music has the major chance of becoming the most iconic one, associated to the fangame that is going to be planned to make with it…
(It’s most important to read everything above to answer well the poll)
Having said all this, which is the best music type to insert into a Lex Talionis/Tactile fangame?
- Modern Fire Emblem Music (PoR, RD, Awakening, Fates, Echoes, Three Houses, Engage)
- Rearranged/Remastered old Fire Emblem Music (FE1, FE2, FE3, FE4, FE5, FE6, FE7, FE8, FE11, FE12)
- Modern Original Soundtrack/Rearranged old Soundtrack music from non-FE medieval games
- Generic medieval music found in Internet that is not notably used in the games
- AI-generated music for the fangame
- A music created 100% manually from scratch.