Masato Koike
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SeanBird (J-Pop Exchange):
Please tell us about the scoring process behind Hyrule Warriors.
Where in the process do you, as a composer, become involved?
Please tell us more about this experience.
Masato Koike:
At the very beginning stage, when deciding the direction of the
music, MASA – the sound director of Hyrule Warriors – appointed me
as the Lead Composer.
First, he and I talked about the direction the music would take.
Mixing Zelda's orchestra with Warriors' rock; Interlacing Zelda's
arrangements with Warriors' original pieces.
MASA indicated that the orchestral elements and the rock elements
interactively change as the game progresses, and the two of us
decided in concrete terms the method of expression.
When composing, I researched Zelda once again. For example, to make
one piece, half the time I'd spend watching a gameplay movie, and
the remaining half of the time I'd write the piece all in one
stretch.
In particular, the Warriors original pieces were carefully composed
in such a way as to not bring back old memories of Zelda's world. On
the other hand, the arrangements of Zelda's melodies followed the
original, so, they were arranged so as to fully realize the
'Warriors quality'.
I had to be really careful of the interactive elements when
switching between rock and classical parts. Though it depends on the
player when and where parts change, and in what way --orchestral and
rock music have very different qualities.
The musical composition (team) members were me and one other person.
All of the fight music was me; All of the selection screens and cut
scenes were him. That was the way the work was divided.
In the end, there were
tiny exceptions to that. “A Great Evil” was him, even though it was
fight music, and “Hard Linked” was my responsibility, even though it
wasn't fight music.
In Hyrule Warriors, two people, Lana and Cia, appear. Two musical
pieces which are in opposition to each other, and are based on the
images of those two people, “Eclipse of the Sun” and “Eclipse of the
Moon”, are my favorites.
Those women first appear in Hyrule Warriors, and both of them are
deeply fascinating characters. If these two tunes are the sparks
that start everyone becoming interested in those characters, I'll be
delighted.