Evergrace (2000)
Composer: Kota Hoshino
Producer: Masanori Takeuchi
Developer: FromSoftware
Requested by NeonMugen. My apologies for getting to this so late, life kicks my ass. I also had a lot to say about this track and the shop in general, so I spent a lot time in my head processing it all to plop on here! What do I even start with...
It's everyone's favourite Double Music, "Buying Goods with Palmira!" You'll see different translations such as "Buying Goods at Palmira," or "Buying Goods with Palmira Ore," but none of those quite fit. The key is the で particle. In the Japanese name, パルミラ片でお買い物, it can either translate to "at" or "with (by means)." So パルミラ片 is Palmira, and to be clear, not Palmira Ore! They're two different items - Palmira Ore is something you sell. でお買い物 means "shopping with these means," so put that together and it's Buying Goods with Palmira. I kept the translation of "Buying Goods" as not to stray from the other translations too much... But the inconsistency bothered me a lot with the other names. I must go against the grain sometimes.
Another going against the grain, you might've seen another video on RU-vid claim that their in-game version of Buying Goods with Palmira is the legit one. Both me and NeonMugen talked about this, and... It doesn't sound like that at all in the game, hence this video was made. The reverb on that video is ramped up so high, it's so weird! I'd really love to know how that person recorded their version. Like I've said in other videos, I capture all my audio through PCSX2 and Audacity, using the Japanese version of Evergrace. I don't think there's any version differences between Japanese/overseas Evergrace in terms of music, but... After learning RUNE and Lost Kingdoms have incredibly different music, my worldview can be considered shattered.
Speaking of another going against the grain/worldview shatter/discussion, I have words to say about the shopkeeper of the shop where this track plays. Some people might call him an elephant, but did you know... In an interview with Ken Sugawara, he's actually based off a baku, a supernatural creature from Japan who eats dreams. So I guess you could call him more of a tapir? A blue tapir.
Interview link here: web.archive.org/web/20021018224332/www.zdnet.co.jp/gamespot/special/eg2/interview/illustration/index.html
Regardless of what he is though, honestly speaking, his design's always made me a bit uncomfortable. The guy was one of the few non-human NPCs in the game, with a long nose and a snide look he reminded me of antisemitic caricatures I'd learned about (especially ones that play on greed). Though if you've played Evergrace, you know he's a fairly generous guy who just likes fashion a lot, but his design's concerns me nonetheless. Talking with another friend about this, themes of orientalism came up as well - appropriating aesthetics, fashion, creating stereotypes from the imagined Orient... And that actually lines up with an interview from Masanori Takeuchi, speaking about how the Middle East and Islam inspired Evergrace's story and character names. Shopkeeper also talks in a blend of kanji, hiragana, and katakana (got to the point where I gave up reading his complex monologue in the novel) which implies a character who speaks with a foreign dialect. It all wraps up into a character who really leans into a bunch of stereotypes from a bunch of roots. Now, how that all ended up in a Japanese game, even though Japan itself was historically included in orientalism? That will probably take 3 more history lessons of Japanese-American media relationships I do not have enough brain cells to talk on right now.
Interview link here: web.archive.org/web/20021122111858/www.zdnet.co.jp/gamespot/special/eg2/interview/producer/03.html
Ultimately, me and my friend are just two people - if you are also passionate about the themes that made up the basis of Evergrace, let me know your thoughts below. If I got something wrong, or you have your own experiences from other games that parallel this, I would love to know. Or somewhere else if you'd like, since RU-vid comments aren't so great. In the end, I guess I just want to say be aware of these kinda stereotypes.
Also, check out my in-game version of Piercing the Heavens here! I've attached some important information bout the Evergrace OST as a whole in the description of that video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Po4d8sOLRyw.html
Actually, that information leads into Indigenous appropriation in Evergrace's OST, so it applies to the stuff I wrote above too. Cross-promo.
And lastly... Thumbnail compiled from a few sources, such as the logo taken from an official wallpaper, and the render of Darius is from the Agetec PS2 Graphic Assets disk. It was also used in beta promotional media for Evergrace. Check out the video of the disk's contents!
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w3Wv75JUjuY.html
Oh my god I wrote so much. If you made it here, thanks for reading.
26 фев 2021
