Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest – Bloody Tears Piano Version

A series with a soundtrack that will be remembered in gamers’ (and series watchers’) hearts for a long time! And what better homage than Bloody Tears, one of the series staple themes that everybody enjoys!

Of course this also increases the pressure to do well on the piece, this started out as a comment by a friend that he’d like to see a cover of it, I checked out some sheets a while back and loved this arrangement, but started to make some changes to the piece. It’s one of the first pieces, in which I made some alterations. Bringing out more of my inner music is something I’m working on – and since I’m not playing classical music, I shouldn’t feel constraint by the arrangements. Let’s see if this will continue in further pieces or it’ll stay with the sporadic improvising here and there where it fits.

Hope you enjoy the piece and I can both recommend the games (played the first, tried some others), as well as the Netflix series!

NieR Automata – City Ruins (Rays of Light) [Piano Score Book Ver.]

2B or not 2B, that is the question that 9S always asks himself.

One of the diamonds released in the last few years, NieR Automata is a game I can recommend to anybody who enjoys a good ARPG, good story or just good music (or is interested in game design). It gets so many things right at the same time, that many games fail to do – without falling into too many of the pitfalls that plague games that try do something different.

The game was recommended to me by a friend and he convinced to play it (was putting it off till I’d play the NieR Replicant / Gestalt), while I was going through some unexpected life changes that left me needing something to vent / unwind, as well as to take a step back at life and appreciate it for what it is. I’m in a better spot now than then, but the game definitely fit and was a help in getting my bearings.

This one’s for you, Marvin. Thanks for always being a bro

Eternal Wind – Piano Opera Final Fantasy III

One of my favorite tracks from one of the best intros I’ve seen in quite a few years. Pretty much the only Final Fantasy game where I watched the intro regularly before playing, just to get into the feeling.

This also started my obsession with not being able to play handheld game (played the DS remake) without head-/earphones.

Been working on this piece for quite a few months, originally planned to be uploaded last month, but it didn’t feel ready. I was working on Matoya’s Cave for a while as well, but it’s dropped for now until I feel up to it. Here’s Kara Comparetto’s cover though if you need some more Final Fantasy fix

Wishing you all a great Spring – until the next piece!