Video from Youtube user: Video Game Soundtracks
A little while ago, I wrote about a song called “Night of Fate” from “Kingdom Hearts”, and today, I will be discussing another song that stuck with me from this game, the music that plays in the End of the World. The song is also found at the beginning of the game, but here is where it is most effective, in the last level of the game and the place containing the remains of worlds that no longer exist, after they were ravaged by the Heartless. This is a very strange, empty place, most chilling at the beginning and end, with the empty expanse of nothingness, aside from a few bits of stone and a large, bright light when you first enter the world, and the bizarre, narrow hallways towards the end, with images of twisted buildings and trees on the walls that defy explanation. This is a dead, empty place, and the music makes you feel that.
Without this song playing in the background, this place would still be depressing, but it is the music that helps complete this place, making you feel as empty and lonely as the world you are wandering. You know if you don’t act fast, other worlds will share this same fate, and you can’t help but feel a despair as you work your way through this world, a despair and a loneliness that eats at you the longer you hear this music, slow and simple, but filled with sorrow, the vocals filled with the empty sadness that characterizes such a hopeless place. There isn’t a whole lot to say about this music, and there isn’t really a lot to it, but maybe that’s the point. There’s not much left in this world, either. It is the result of destruction, the result of worlds brought to their knees by the Heartless, worlds where countless people once lived, now displaced or simply gone, like their world.
I couldn’t help but just feel sad and lonely when I went through this world. The place is chilling and empty, and it is a much more effective location thanks to the music. It was no wonder this song resonates with me, and it made for a great ending to a wonderful game.
What about you, how does this song make you feel? If you’ve played the game, do you think this world would have been the same without this music?
End of the Duck
I love how haunting and lasting this song is. I think when KH first came out, there was some of misconception about it because it included Disney characters. Like it was supposed to be this silly, happy-go-lucky game, when, as we know, it went way beyond being a “Disney” game. So it was great to immediately introduce the game with a song that says almost anything but “happy.” It let players know that they were in for a very different experience from what they might have been expecting.
So true. This game may have Disney characters, but sometimes it can be downright dark. I’m amazed Square was able to make all the elements of this game fit together so well, the parts that are happy and cheerful and Disney and the parts that are dark and emotional. Somehow, it all works.