General RPGs' AMVs 8

It’s that time again!


As always, if you find any of these videos pleasing, be decent enough to hit the Thumbs Up button, and/or even better yet, leave a positive comment. The world has more than enough terrible, clumsy, careless AMVs, and we must cherishingly encourage and gently cradle those few, precious fans capable of creating something worthwhile.


FINAL FANTASY

Final Fantasy 8: I Just Wanna Run, by YuniX2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1GYJosKZjM
The music used is I Just Wanna Run, by The Downtown Fiction. This one’s kind of odd, really. YuniX2 crams this AMV full of visual effects (it’s obvious she’s experimenting), and a lot of the time these effects make the video rather neat where it wouldn’t actually be particularly engaging. At the same time, though, like most AMVs containing an overabundance of cinematography and editing tricks, they get to be a little much at times, being distracting or even a bit annoying. And yet, she’s skillful enough at following the music’s beats and flow and matching them to the visual element of the AMV that most of this problem is largely reduced. Ultimately, I think the end product is pretty good, and does deserve some praise.

Final Fantasy 9: I Still Remember You, by SirMichaelValentine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXyrnj2dMPo
The music used is I Still Remember, by Blackmore’s Night. Although it starts to weaken toward the end, this AMV uses the song quite well, letting its soulful tune and singing meld well with the ever-powerful visuals of the game. Nothing to really say beyond that; this is just a generally good video.

Final Fantasy 9: Viva La Vida, by YuniX2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLahbRSo_L4
The music used is Viva La Vida, by Coldplay. More good stuff from YuniX2, this video has her characteristic ability to match scene actions and scene changes very well to the song’s lyrics and tune, used to great effect to make the character of Kuja into an avatar of the singer. This time around it’s basically a video using FF9’s footage to tell the story of the song, and it all works surprisingly well to this effect--Kuja’s actions and expressions and so on work very well with the words and emotions of the deposed ruler whom the song is about, sometimes predictably because Kuja’s generally a good fit since he’s haughty, arrogant, and regal in a self-styled fashion, and sometimes surprisingly because the scenes weren’t really meant to imply what the song does but still work for it nonetheless. While I feel that the latter half of this AMV doesn’t have quite the strength and relevance in its scene selection as the video’s first half, this is a neat, interesting, and of course well-made AMV through and through.


KINGDOM HEARTS

Kingdom Hearts Series: Song of Storms, by Maddy Jayde: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO2vt_FRdys
The music used is a cover of Song of Storms, from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The cover is performed by LilyPichu, found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKHsN1Nr97E. You may notice I don’t really ever put up any KH AMVs in these little rants. The reason for that is that I generally don’t watch them. Not because they’re never good (although that’s very close to true), but more because of the sheer number of the things--there’s probably twice as many KH AMVs in existence as there are for every other RPG I’ve played put together. But this one happened to show up during my reviewing The Legend of Zelda AMVs (because of the song used), and I find it pretty impressive. It elegantly uses the song to go with its visuals, and the words that Maddy Jayde puts to this tune are very elegant, even beautiful, and they enhance the use of the song with the visuals. This is an AMV that’s actually very good to watch twice--once to take read the lyrics along to the music, and then to watch the video for itself with those lyrics known.


MASS EFFECT

Mass Effect Series: N7, by FatalFrameStudio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN2W7AGuF98
The music used is Event Horizon, by I am Waiting for You Last Summer. Simple, quite, elegant, powerful, and epic--the song matches Mass Effect very well, and FatalFrameStudio makes the scenes match the song just as well. This is a tribute AMV that captures the events and heart of the Mass Effect series very well, and is a real pleasure to experience.

Mass Effect Series: The Call, by Tales2TellU: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDekS9XtuWo
The music used is The Call, by Regina Spektor. While I can’t say I feel particularly strongly one way or another about the pairing of Female Shepard and Kaiden, this video is a pretty decent one. It’s a little slow and over-emotional, but then so is the song, and overall it does what it intends to, which is to showcase the (potential) love between Kaiden and Shepard, fitting them to the song and fitting the song to them.


VALKYRIE PROFILE

Valkyrie Profile 1: Jar of Hearts, by SarcasmYAY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvmXduUHePg
The song used is Jar of Hearts, by Christina Perri. This is a very small one, but I think it accomplishes the feeling and ideas that it sets out to, and it cuts from the song well, so it doesn’t leave you feeling like it’s supposed to continue. The creator works well with the slow, heavy tone of the song, knowing how to effectively let the game’s video run its course, but also employing good scene selection when necessary, and there’s no denying that the lyrics fit well with the characters shown and backstory of Valkyrie Profile 1. It’s very rare to find such a brief AMV that doesn’t feel like it’s missing something, AND has some skill and meaning to it, but SarcasmYAY’s given us a great example of the term “short but sweet” with this one.


THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU

The World Ends with You: Fooled by Your Emptiness, by Yodizzle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iifyQqI3RCE
The music used is a remix of Room for Happiness, by Kaskade. The remix is also done by Kaskade. While I am reluctant to give credit to any individual who willingly calls him- or herself “Yodizzle,” this is a definite winner. The song coordinates with the visuals well, lending and combining its meaning and emotion with that of the game itself, and the scene editing helps to emphasize this connection. Yodizzle adds to the theme with dialogue taken from the game, emphasizing the meanings of the song, the game, and the amalgamation that is this AMV, and does so expertly, inserting the dialogue in when it can have great impact, while at the same time carefully avoiding letting it distract from or drown out the song. Good, good stuff, and it’s a nice change of pace to have a quality AMV whose song is slow and gently takes its time.