Song of Hope –Piano Solo–

Track 6-25: Song of Hope –Piano Solo–

Agnea’s Song of Hope was originally a gift from Gil, and this version for solo piano represents the first time he plays it for her. She then continues her travels in order to flesh it out with lyrics.

At this stage, though, the track is nothing but Agnea’s theme as a solo piano piece. The melody of the Song of Hope isn’t in there yet. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I simply didn’t want to undermine the impact of the Song of Hope during the last battle. If I’d put the melody in this track, it would have been like giving away the punchline—a spoiler letting people know that another melody is played on top of Agnea’s theme. Plus, this track appears in Chapter 2, so the player would only have heard Agnea’s theme one time, risking extra confusion.

As for the other reason, note that Agnea receives this song from Gil as a present and then resolves to gather appropriate lyrics for it as she continues her travels. The right time for these efforts to bear fruit can only be the moment of the last battle, and I decided that was also the right time to add the Song of Hope melody to go with the lyrics the player has collected.

Incidentally, this reminds of the time I visited SQUARE ENIX CAFE Osaka with director [Keisuke] Miyauchi right after OCTOPATH TRAVELER I was completed. When he asked me if there was anything I’d like to try in a potential sequel, I gave him a passionate pitch on adding vocals.

Some time later, as I was getting ready to start working on this soundtrack, I was sent an overview of each traveler. Agnea’s storyline featured vocals prominently, and there was a note basically saying, “As per your request,” haha!

In other words, since he went to the trouble of preparing a music-focused storyline, the music had to follow the course of the story down to the last detail, and I took great care on the presentation in order to stoke excitement at the last battle. For a composer, moments like this do involve some pressure, since you have to achieve results, but they’re also an honor and a privilege.

Translation: Matt Treyvaud