General RPGs' AMVs 22

Hey, no complaining—you guys got a break from these AMV rants last year. Now that we're back in the swing of things on this blog, sort of, it's back to business! Check out these great RPG AMVs!


CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Gustave: For Those Who Come After, Right?, by Zirael
The music used is a deeper and slowed version of The Arrival of the Birds, from the soundtrack of The Theory of Everything.  This is a solid, well-organized AMV tribute to Verso's character and journey, adeptly incorporating dialogue from the game that presents his personality, turmoil, and motivation.  It only lightly connects to the song, but it's an elegant work all the same.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Tomorrow Comes, by Karinscr
The music used is The Call, by 2WEI, Edda Hayes, and Louis Leibfried.  A good all-around AMV here, which pairs the quieter, heavier, and more aggressive parts of its music skillfully to the dialogue, hefty atmosphere, and action of COE33, respectively, to create a stirring representation of the epic nature of the game.  

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Verso: I'm Tired, by Zirael
The music used is the orchestral version of What Could Have Been, by Samuel Kim. As with the last, Zirael has constructed a thoughtful and dramatic tribute AMV, this time devoted to the torment, dilemma, and conclusion of Verso.  It's quite a solid creation that captures the melancholy of Verso, the game, and the existence both portray.  Good stuff.


DISCO ELYSIUM

Disco Elysium: Dancing Queen, by easternCriminal
The music used is Dancing Queen, by ABBA.  This fan animatic video uses a peppy, positive piece of pop music that doesn’t get much play in the AMV world, and which you’d think would be too upbeat in its cadence and tone to really work with Disco Elysium.  But while the heart and soul of Disco Elysium that impacts us most tends to be the heavier elements of its characters and story, there’s a lot about the game and its protagonist that’s fun, quirky, and outright feel-good, and this AMV uses this uniquely enduring bit of disco to remind us of that fact.  Harry Du Bois is a tortured man trying to find himself, pick himself up from the disaster he’s made of his life, and empathetic detective of the human condition who chokes on the pain of the world around him...but he’s also a silly, curious goofball whose playful tendencies both inspire and infuriate his partner Kim, and this music video skillfully marries the appealing cinnamon-bun portrayal of Harry in the storyboard sketches of the game’s progression with the ephemeral but pure joy that ABBA sings of.  And yet, the painful and violent parts of the game also are well-portrayed here, too, rather than shunned, and they somehow work just as well, leaving us in the end with a thoughtful, fun, adept tribute to an excellent game.

Disco Elysium: Liquid Nights, by Miracle of Sound
The music used is Liquid Nights, by Miracle of Sound.  Miracle of Sound is at it again with another great piece that captures the heart of the game that inspired it, combining lyrics and tune to portray the delight, delirium, and despair of Harry Du Bois in a manner that’s as melancholic and groovy as the man himself.  As ever with a Miracle of Sound creation, the music is the star of the show, and all the visual component really has to do is to try to keep up with it, but there’s certainly no denying that it does so with flying colors here, employing the iconic moody simplicity of DE’s visuals and its unforgettable moments and characters, to coordinate with the tribute that the music pays to the game.  Darned good stuff!


FINAL FANTASY

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Just Dance, by Temporal Guardian
The music used is Just Dance, by Lady Gaga.  This is a silly, stupid video using an obnoxious song based around the dumbest part of the game.

Why is it so great


KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1: Monster, by All-So Productions:
The music used is Monster, by Imagine Dragons. This is 1 of those AMVs that I just don't really have much to say about—it's a simple, straightforward, classic-styled music video that does a good job at pairing music to visuals, and it feels right for the game, action, and style. It's just a good, no-frills, bread-and-butter AMV that's fun to watch.


OMORI

Omori: Hated by Life Itself, by Sweggyq
The music used is, as far as I can tell, Sou's cover of 命に嫌われている。/カンザキイオリ. Being that I don't speak (what I believe to be) Japanese, I can't really say for sure if I've got the title or credit on that right, but hopefully that's accurate. Given that the nuance of tying lyrics and visuals together is a significant part of an AMV, to say nothing of the potential of using the subject matter to interpret and explore the lyrics in new ways which require expertise, I don't usually watch AMVs that use songs written in languages I don't know, but obviously an exception can be made for special cases—and I think this warrants such an exception.

This AMV is a fan-animated summary of Omori, depicting with loving care the game's major events from its start to (true) finish, and it's a great telling worthy of such an excellent game. The animation is a collaboration of many different artists, with each one contributing a few seconds to the whole, creating a dynamic effect where the art style changes frequently. This isn't the first time I've seen a video of this nature, but this case is really notable in that the change of style is never jarring, always fluid; most collaboration videos like this jump so drastically from 1 approach to art that it winds up being distracting and even slightly disorienting, but here, there's enough cohesion and care in the flow of one style into the next, as well as the general motion of the video's events, that it comes together into a single smooth project, even as it showcases many different talents—while also remaining pleasingly true to the style and imagery of the source material, too. It's also really solid animation as a whole, fluid and natural. Lastly, while I can't judge the musical component as well as I'd like to due to the language barrier (although I do appreciate the inclusion of the translated lyrics!), the flow of the visuals and their story coordinates excellently to the tone and direction of the music—it's pretty much perfect to a beat, and I can't imagine how much skill and effort had to go into coordinating the art of dozens of collaborators so exactly to the timing set by the music, while also ensuring that the story is laid out and told correctly within the allotted time.

This is 1 of the most sincere and amazing fan works for Omori, or really any other RPG, out there, and it's daunting just to really consider what had to have gone into creating it. Honestly, if the song were in a language I could understand and really sink my teeth into, it'd probably get a rant all of its own, but even if it just misses that, it definitely earns the distinction of the best AMV we see today.