Review of Wild Arms Advanced 3rd Original Soundtrack

In the world of gaming, change is an unyielding force. There may be those that kick and scream against it, but time unapologetically leaves things behind. Cruel as it may seem, the passage of time also has a peculiar way of making us see things we couldn't see before, even helping us realize that every transformation isn’t for the better. But perhaps the most damaging idea that can be born out of such reasoning is changing something for the sake of changing it or changing it because one can. Still, the same can be said of the opposite path, the stagnation that can be created by hopelessly sticking to one’s guns out of the fear of failure.

Enter Wild Arms, a series that has never become conformable with such certainties. With role-playing games becoming ever more relevant in the late 1990’s, fierce competition had driven Media Vision’s signature IP from the heights of its PSX debut to its designation as a filler title. Wild Arms Advanced 3rd reflects all the above and then some, being a mishmash of ambitions, successes and failures. Which ones relate to Naruke’s work on the soundtrack? The answer may surprise you.

While it may be more than obvious to anyone that is reading, I am not here to defend the Wild Arms 2nd Ignition Original Soundtrack from its critics. That being said, talking about what Advanced 3rd has to offer without reflecting on 2nd Ignition is, quite literally, impossible since its flaws correlate to what has changed and why. Listening to the 2nd Ignition soundtrack, it’s not long before one realizes the idea of “change” couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. A new console brings new possibilities, but given the fact that the PlayStation 2’s sound capabilities aren't a quantum leap over the original PlayStation, this would be a rather superficial reason to implement a style change. Digging the grave deeper on this being the catalyst is the fact that neither Wild Arms nor Wild Arms 2 pushed the PlayStation's sound to its limits like a late era Final Fantasy.

Given that technological advancement probably had little to do with Advanced 3rd’s new sound, what about the game, or more specifically the world within the game? Obviously, any self-respecting composer is going to take the surrounding environment into consideration, and Naruke accomplishes this effortlessly with instruments like the guitar and its guttural inflection. But with the game having what many fans feel is the most “western” world out of any entry in the series, do the ideas surrounding the “Old West” really lend themselves to such a style any more than they already do? While the various storylines that have graced the games over the years have reveled in blurring the line between good and evil, justice in the real Wild West was probably a lot more cut and dry. No one is going to fault a video game for layering what would otherwise be a simple story, but given the influences that birthed Wild Arms music to begin with, it again seems unlikely that anything in this entry’s world would fuel such a shift. In fact, in presenting an even more authentic western world, one would think that keeping the melody at the forefront of the experience would have been an even greater priority than usual.

However, before revealing one man’s theory on why the series’ music has evolved, let’s take a look at the one-third of the score that doesn't part with tradition. The standard battle theme, “Gunmetal Action” takes a welcome break from the good kind of brashness the defined Wild Arms classics like “Critical Hit!” and “Battle Force” with its serene splendor, as does its accompanying fanfare, but both are highly susceptible to listener burnout. Seriously, if you like these tracks do not play the game. Due to the game’s severely high encounter rate, coupled with the grindingly slow pace of battles, it took me years – and I mean YEARS - to recuperate my taste for these tracks. Personal traumas aside, the song that deserves the most praise is the standard boss theme “Blood, Tears, and the Dried-up Wasteland” which more than makes up for the atrocious “Battle VS Mid Boss” from the second game, teaming with interesting touches throughout. Add to this an agreeable collection of dungeon and town themes and it’s easy to see there are some old-school offerings available here despite the face-lift Advanced 3rd likes to portray as its calling card.

As great as such pieces may be, everything comes right back to the remaining two-thirds of the soundtrack and the abstract architecture it employs. There aren't many tracks that take on this quality the whole way through - it’s mainly used to reach the core “nugget” of melody - but it’s only for these brief pockets where Naruke sounds like Naruke. The flowers and candy version would have me suggest that she may have wanted to take the series music in another direction and nothing more, but the structure of these songs leads me to believe something else is going on. The cynic in me thinks this is all born out of stubbornness, or an unwillingness to examine and correct past mistakes. In other words, Naruke developed a “hit and run” approach with scene/event themes in order to avoid tackling past problems. Why confront something when you can just avoid it? The problem is while the music of 2nd Ignition may have put her on thin ice with some listeners, was the result so damaging that carving a new path was ultimately easier than fixing the old one, the one based around melody?

This is the central question surrounding the Wild Arms Advanced 3rd Original Soundtrack. Given this is the woman who gave us tunes like “Lone Bird in the Shire (Rudy's Theme),” why the facade? I thought this was someone who understood that unnecessary complexity was a road best not traveled, that the music for any given game did not need to be the antithesis of composition as long as it enhanced and conveyed what was on the screen. Where is that Naruke for the majority of this four disc score?

Alas, Naruke seems to have fallen into that trap of “New, new, new!” But why? The problem doesn't really lie with Naruke as much as it does with Wild Arms Advanced 3rd as a whole. While the game may have been well-crafted creation - at least that's what keep telling myself to avoid the fact I found it boring and dry - with nothing outside Naruke’s music moving forward the emotion it exuded from players was almost as bleak as the wastelands of Filgaia itself. Point blank, the whole situation is ironic and is far from honest. This has a lot to do with the game brings to the table musically for obvious reasons, but also makes it’s easy to tell the honest apart from the dishonest, and when two-thirds of the score ends up in the latter category, you’re in trouble. How can one expect the listener to form any kind of a bond with the composer if they believe they’re not being true to their creative forces? 2nd Ignition may have had some ugly moments, but there was never a point where I felt I was being lied to. Sometimes the truth is ugly, but I’d rather have a two disc ugly truth than a four disc lie – something that’s a kick in the pants considering this is where SPE Visual Works gets serious about making unabridged releases. When it comes to lying, I’m done lying to myself that everything a composer churns out is something I have to enjoy. Shoving an experience down your throat in some vain attempt to like based on its creator is a fool’s errand. This is perhaps the greatest lesson Wild Arms Advanced 3rd has taught me, and for that I’m grateful.

Unlike the diamond in the rough that was the Wild Arms 2nd Ignition Original Soundtrack, the Wild Arms Advanced 3rd Soundtrack is a lot like panning for gold. While you may stumble across a few golden nuggets here and there, the fruitless searching in-between makes one ponder the promises that come along in the name of progress. If one can take anything away from such doubt, it’s that change is constant, promises are not always kept and things never stay the same. When it comes to the world Wild Arms music, may the next change be a good one.