Something to note about the music in MGR is that it is dynamic. It starts off as an instrumental, and moves into different sections as the fight progresses. And then at key moments the lyrics kick in to heighten the experience of the whole spectacle. From the same OST, a song that includes a lot more shredding is "The Stains of Time."

The protagonist, Raiden, was raised as a child soldier. At a point he "puts away" the psychotic part of himself that revels in violence. Later, he's forced to return to that state of mind in order to muster the strength to stop another global war. "It has to be this way" is more of a statement about how as long as there are people on earth who seek to use violence for their own gain, others unfortunately will have to use violence themselves to ensure peace for those who can't protect themselves.

"The lyrics are interesting. They depict an altercation" lol I love this guy. He sounds so proper.

This is one of my favorites!! Please check out the other OSTs from this game!!

The songs in MGR are plot relevent. "It Has To Be This Way" is about how Raiden and Armstrong are actually very similar. They share ideals and desires for the world. However while Raiden agrees with Armstrong he cant abide his methods. So it has to be this way.

Glad you checked this one out! MGR might be my favourite game of all time, and the music has a surprising amount of depth to it. I love how you picked up on the fact that it doesn't even matter if the song is from Raiden's or Armstrong's perspective. They are both violent people who've come this far for their ideals, and all there is left to do is kill one another. The lyrics are, as you said, kind of dejected, disappointed. They both have come to realise that this is the only way they know how to do things.

I highly recommend taking a look at all of the main boss themes in this game. They're all phenomenal! I would say "Rules Of Nature" is a decent next pick since it belongs to the first boss in the game. The songs themselves may be short but that's because they're played in "phases" in the game. When you first fight a boss you get a loop of the instrumentals, then when the fight reaches its climax the lyrics come in, usually at the chorus. Basically the songs in MGR:R are very dynamic and cool and those of us who've played the game can't get enough of them.

I'm glad you enjoyed the song, Doug! This is one of my favorite games and I listen to the soundtrack pretty often. If you do decide to revisit the OST I would highly recommend Rules of Nature as it's probably the second most popular song from the game. Great video!

The song Dancing Mad by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy VI is one of the best songs in history, not just video games but in general. I will repost this in every game song react made by you Doug, until you react to this amazing song.

Red sun, a Stranger I remain, and Stains of Time are other excellent songs from this soundtrack, heavily reccomend them!

I would argue "Collective Consciousness" is Armstrong's real theme and "It has to be this way" is actually Raiden's theme.

Wow, this makes room for some gorgeous game OST in the future. I'd love something Witcher or Metroid

You'll find a lot of amazing music in the Castlevania series. You mentioned in one of your other videos that you used to have a NES, so you may even have heard the earliest versions of those themes. As a composer you may find it interesting to consider how good the music was given the limited tools available during the 8-bit gaming days, and how those evolved into full, rich scores as the technology became less limiting. Bloody Tears, Cross-a-fear, Vampire Killer, and Dance of Illusions are all amazing pieces. My favourites versions are from the Dracula X Chronicles games, but you may want to check out the many different mixes from the many games in this long-running series.

All of the MGR boss songs are based on what internal confict the Antagonists are thinking, on this song specifically as the final confrontation, It cuts both ways for Armstrong and Raiden beautifully. Perhaps the next song us fans would suggest you check out after all the soundtracks is "The War still Rages Within" it's such an underrated song that wraps up the game for all players. 💯

I second Dancing Mad by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu. Keep up the great content!

Absolutely love your breakdown and perspective on video game music - some of the most impactful musical moments in my life have occurred through experiencing music in games. Thank you for choosing to look into the genre and sharing with us😊🎉

Hell yes! Looking forward to seeing you cover more of the Revengeance OST, I especially love how you paid attention to the lyrics and really dove into their meaning. They play a huge part in evoking a certain feeling in each of the boss fights.

Love watching you delve more and more into videogame soundtracks, so much good music to hear in that world.

Both sides have taken extralegal measures, climbed over a mountain of bodies on their path, and genuinely believe their visions will reshape the world for the better. Although their minds are somewhat alike on the matter, whoever's singing knows they can never reconcile the opposing direction they are faced. I believe that's what the line "It has to be this way" means; not a complete inevitability of conflict as you hypothesized, but strictly these two and their immovable resolve as it reaches a fatal impasse.

Starting with the best from this OST, in my opinion! And MGS Revengeance is full of banger!

Thank you Professor for this magnificent Daily Doug! It was a very invigorating slice of music!

Awesome! You must check out Nobuo Uematsu next especially with the plethora of all things Final Fantasy! As for Metal Gear, film composer Harry Gregson-Williams created a compelling score throughout the series!

Also damn way to nail the character dynamic right off the bat. Fine work.

Amazing choice! I can’t help but mutter “F**k you Monsoon” when I hear Stains of Time though. Excellent song, infuriating boss. Broadly speaking, the boss songs are from the boss’s point of view, but this one is interesting because it could apply to Raiden too. Given the exchange of ideas before hand the more fatalistic elements are probably from Armstrong, but the more resigned elements could be from Raiden in a duet. Not a metal monday song, but I’d love to see you do Snake Eater for a different side of what Metal Gear can offer when it’s less action heavy, but I love to see this game getting some more love!

As some others have already said, the Dark Souls soundtrack is also amazing and worth checking out. I feel like it would really resonate with you, great compositions and dynamics in those tracks

I can tell you had a blast with this one

You should DEFINITELY check out music from Dark Souls and Bloodborn. Fantastic MASSIVE Orchestral pieces. Gwyn Lord Of Cinder, and Soul Of Cinder are 2 pieces (one Orchestral and the other solo piano) that share motifs, and are a connected piece.

Interesting choice to suggest the Metal Gear Rising soundtrack but NOT Rules of Nature. I highly recommend the music of the classic Metal Gear Solid series, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams

HOLY SHIT!! I swear I've watched so many reactions of this song (and almost skipped yours actually😅) but none of them can decode the song through lyrics and music as good as you do, and you're not even a gamer!! Lol Will definitely come back to see more of you for sure!!

Woooows... this is fire !!! 😀 so good 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

Great work on this series! You've made a new fan! Another good place for video game OST's is Devil May Cry series. Devil Trigger and Devils Never Cry are two of my favorites that I don't think you've done yet.

I can tell he's a real music professor because he sings the notation to the melody, 'I think that it, landed, on A'

The Only Thing I Know For Real is arguably the second most popular from the OST, and I couldn't recommend it more, as the character it belongs to is the most complex in the game.

This is an extended loop. The actual songs (with the exception of The War Still Rages Within) are just under 2 minutes. Otherwise, a great soundtrack to an awesome game.

This theme is actually Raiden's as well. For all the other boss themes, the vocals only come in during the last 3rd of the boss fight, during this fight the vocals only drop out whenever Raiden loses his sword which is a mechanic during the final fight. I didn't notice it the first time I played, but it's a very cool little reference in the game

Amazing ost discovered the music before I found out about what game it is from lol

I'm so impressed with how much some people can take in and how quickly in music. Not that I mean to underestimate someone who is a classical composer, especially since i was in a little orchestra as a kid, but it's still so cool. It's all this audible magic and you're just able to untangle and explain every piece of it, while still seeing the whole, all in real-time.

For you next Metal Gear soundtrack you should do Snake Eater next. I recently just played bass on a few friends’ video game music EP, and that was one I did. Such a fun tune to play on, a lot different from this one though. Kinda like a James Bond theme song.

this is a trip

Please do more OST from this game, I'm sure you're gonna love it. There are tracks with more guitar solos in it too, as you seemed to be expecting for this one. For future Metal Gear Rising reactions I'd recommend listening to The Stains of Time, The Only Thing I know For Real and Red Sun. In fact, if you react to the entire OST I wouldn't mind at all haha. Keep up the good content Doug

You’ve just outdone yourself with spontaneous harmonic analysis, y’all… dayamn

The cool thing about this song is that it can be argued that this is the theme of both Raiden and Senator Armstrong. The lyrics work perfectly from both characters’ perspectives.

very fun

I would like to state that the version you listened to isn't the official release, it's an extended version someone looped.

11:50 hahaha, there was a videogame that tried to stop the cycle of violence several years ago. Didn't turn out that well

I just found your channel through the golden wind review and was delighted to see you do video game music too! If toy would like something that has a high energy flamenco flare to it, please review "Zero" from Ace Combat Zero.

I definitely think that It Has to Be This Way is surprisingly subdued compared to some of the other vocal tracks in the game, with a combination of that sort of resigned disappointment emotion that you picked up on and maybe something about the major key shifting how it feels compared to the rest of the songs. Most of the other songs are comparatively more "upbeat" and "aggressive" all told. If you were to return to the series I would agree that Rules of Nature, the first boss' theme, would give you a taste of the other end of the spectrum of MGR's sound. MGR's vocal tracks all have really excellent and thought provoking lyrics which explicitly relate to the motivations of the bosses as much as if they were dialogue in the game itself. I will agree with someone who commented below that Final Boss' Armstrong's theme is more the song Collective Consciousness, which is full of buzzwords about the American Dream and war economy with a real "saying the quiet part out loud" streak, befitting a corrupt US Senator ("Live in ignorance, And purchase your happiness. When blood and sweat is the real cost Thinking ceases, the truth is lost, Don’t you worry You’ll be told exactly what to do I give my people the lives they need The righteous will succeed"). At that point, It Has to Be This Way, I see as Raiden's Rebuttal (as it accompanies the battle that immediately follows the one where Collective Consciousness was played) trying to cut through the bullshit, because while both he and Armstrong live and die by war, Raiden at least doesn't glorify it and ascribe virtue to it. Despite being the brainchild of Hideo Kojima, a Japanese citizen, Metal Gear as a franchise tends to very closely and astutely examine and often critique American history and war policy, to the point where some have called Kojima prescient for the themes he includes in his games. One one hand, a very flashy and bombastic and action-packed series, on another hand a very philosophically charged game with many keen observations and things to say. Y'know, around the bizarre anime-esque gags.

The vid you watched is an extended version where it loops. There are vids from the composers themselves that don't loop and sounds a bit better Please do "The Only Thing I Know For Real" next. It's from the same game as well

Love your enthusiasm. If you are checking out Videogame OSTs there is a pretty insane amount of composition out there - Check out Hades, the NieR games, Risk of Rain 2, or if you go classic the Final Fantasy games or Chrono Trigger(Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross are often lauded as some of the best OSTs of all time.)

I've listened to this song hundreds of times, but hearing him break down the key signatures and progressions really helps explain its conflicted vibe. The modulation from minor to major and back throughout highlights the inherit danger of fighting a nano-boosted bodybuilder but also sounds super heroic at times, like the wind is at Raiden's back, although still feeling solemn about the constant violent cycle. This is easily my favorite final boss theme, no contest.

Some Dark Souls music would be amasing to have on this channel, it's very symphonic and iconic. I especially want to see Gwyn, Lord of Cinder from Dark Souls 1, it's such an emotional piano piece.

Oh man I wonder what Doug's mind would feel like, experiencing Wagakki Band.

A thing to be noted about the line "nobody is to blame" is that MGR has a theme of people always having an explanation for how this isn't their fault even when it very clearly is - it's always circumstances, or factors out of people's control. It's very reflective of how war and violence work in real life. When you've played the game, it's clear this is an echo of the way people are abdicating responsibility in order to frame violence as inevitable. Raiden does not accept Armstrong's methodology and the bloodshed that will result from it, so they have to be in conflict, as Raiden is one of the few people who does take responsibility for his actions - and thus "It Has To Be This Way". When you're a person of principle in a world without principles, you are going, inevitably, to come in conflict with other people.

MGR is an amazing game! So nice to hear you reacting to one of their songs! I'd recommend The Hot Wind Blowing if you want to make more stuff from this game!

since the PS1 the music for Metal Gear games has been outstanding in every way

Please do all the other songs... Rules of Nature, Stains of Time, Red Sun, The only thing I know for real... All masterpieces

It feels very visual kei! You hear Versailles. They're a Japanese visual kei symphonic power metal band. I think you would enjoy it!

What a coincidence! I was just listening to this soundtrack! Something important to remember about videogame music is that it's very contextual and that goes double for the vocal boss tracks in Metal Gear Rising. The game only plays the instrumental parts of the song except during specific climactic "scenes" where it switches to the vocals which often have lyrics related to the story. If you want to gain a better understanding of how videogame music works I recommend watching a video of the first boss fight in Metal Gear Rising Revengence against Metal Gear Ray either as a separate video or on your own time. It has its own boss theme "Rules of Nature" that's just as excellent and iconic as "It Has to be This Way" and being the first boss you shouldn't have to worry about spoilers or missing much context. There's a lot of great music in videogames but there's also an incredibly wide variety in it. You've mostly been sticking to rock and heavy metal which this channel usually focusses on but different genres and games usually have different genres of music. A great example is the modern Persona games which each have a different colour and music motif associated with them. Persona 3 features the colour blue heavily and has a lot of hip-hop and rap music, Persona 4 uses yellow and has a peppy J-pop-esque ost, and Persona 5 is red with a jazz focused soundtrack. Than in the spinoff games that feature the casts of the different games crossing over and meeting each other they have the singers return as well and songs that feature elements from all the different musical motifs together. I think it would make for a very interesting video to see you listen to the music from the different Persona games side by side! My recommendations are: Mass Destruction (Persona 3) Reach Out to the Truth (Persona 4) Last Surprise (Persona 5) All of the above are the regular battle themes that you hear in roughly the same context across the different games so their differences really stand out. A great example of what I meant by the genres crossing over is "Break Out of..." the main theme of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax which is a crossover between the casts of Persona 3 and 4. I have loads of other videogame songs that I'd love to recommend but this is already a really long comment. Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying discovering so much great videogame music for the first time!

Since we're on crazy videogame music, I'd like to recommend basically the entire soundtracks from: - "Ultrakill", personal favorites: "Keygen Church - Tenebre Rosso Sangue", "The Death of God's Will" (for the full experience listen to the "full mix + voicelines" version), and - "Furi", personal favorites: "Toxic Avenger - Make This Right", "Toxic Avenger - My Only Chance", "Danger - 6:24". And for the non-videogame-market, I'd like to recommend the band "Apocalyptica", who basically do rock and metal with 4 cellos plus the occasional drums or guest singer.

The best part about the OST is how it tells you more about the bosses, like instead of bloating the game by a few hours, they compact ii all into the boss music

The thing about the music in this game is that it is made to represent the ideology of the enemies you are fighting. So the fight is not only against the individual but against his ideology. And the more enemies you defeat, the more their ideology begins to make more sense. this song is the grand finale because the song does not represent the enemy you are fighting against If not, it represents your character and accepting that he is no different from the enemy you are fighting.

I'll add mine to the chorus of voices recommending the whole soundtrack. In particular, a Stranger I Remain is my favorite track.

Hey Doug! New to your channel and loving watching your reactions to different games and anime ost! Do you take requests? Because I think you'd find some amazing tracks you'd enjoy in the Ace Combat ost. Keep up the amazing content dude! :D

My favorite part about Metal Gear Rising's soundtrack is how the music is synced to the fights in the game, starting off with the instrumentals and vocals only kicking in once you reach a certain point in the fight, Metal Gear Rising is a great journey.

I think its more about how their specific conflict reached a point that necessitated violence, even if it does breed more violence in the future

A lovely bit of musical storytelling in the line about new life rising from the blood-stained sand: there are some *very* electronica sounds that fade in over the latter half of that line, that appear more prominently in a (previous) track titled "I'm My Own Master Now". This other track is the accompanying music to an early boss fight in the game, that pits Raiden (the protagonist and player character) against a (somewhat) primitive AI housed in a robot dog. During this fight, notably, the AI and Raiden quip at each other about free will and the meaning of existence on an individual level. Later on in the game, Raiden befriends another robot dog, who ends up providing a key assistance during the final fight against Senator Armstrong. To me, the storytelling implied is that through the arms race driven by the never-ending cycle of violence that humans seem to be trapped in, a potential new form of life has arisen or is arising. While they will have to contend with the same cycle of violence as us humans, the resolution in a major key for the line lends an air of hope that their presence might allow both humans and themselves to finally break free from the cycle.

Should do 'Heavens Divide' from Peace Walker 🤟🏻

"I feel new life will be born beneath the bloodstained sand" could also refer to AI technology being used to break the cycle of violence, computer chips are made from material derived from sand. Metal Gear Rising's protagonist (who was previously hurt by AI) forms a bond with a talking robot dog which proves essential in defeating the antagonist.

Pretty crazy song

Please check "Stains of Time" and "The only thing I know for real". They're both themes from Metal Gear Rising's Soundtrack. By the way, I love your work!

Good job on the breakdown, Doug! To answer your question, I don't think the game itself treats violence as an inevitable cycle, and Kojima, tge principal creativr directoon behind the game series, writes in a manner very crutical of the military industrial complex. In this case, the kyrics are definitely about the Point of View of Armstrong, who views conflict as the essential state of human nature.

You should also do some music from Undertale, which has a highly acclaimed soundtrack. I'd say do do the songs Hope's And Dreams/Save The World, as they share many motifs of past songs in the game and are 2 connected pieces. Besides that, Heartache, Undertale, Dummy, Death By Glamor, and of course Megalovania among plenty others.

You are so preceptive! You got the whole point of the fight between Raiden and the Senator just by the lyrics! Just like you did for Vergil and Bury the Light! Yes, it is a matter of the ambiguity of the good and the evil of human beings, and please, do cover the rest of the Vocal Tracks OST, the lyrics always add to the emotional side of the plot, all of them are masterpieces but "The Only Thing I Know For Real" is one of my absolute favorites! ❤️

The song is from the view of Raiden - if you'd like to listen to the counterpart to this song (Armstrong's viewpoint) listen to Collective Consciousness 😊

It would be interesting to hear you analyze "Apotheosis" by Austin Wintory. It's from a game called "Journey," which was nominated for a Grammy Award for its soundtrack.

I wanna see him react to "The Only Thing I Know For Real" which is also from metal gear rising

on a technical level, there are gameplay integration reasons why the design of those boss battle songs are so 'blocky' and easy to loop. Same reason they jump all over the place, when the game devs plug the sick riff or intense Block of the song to give impact to a specific part of the fight, just to go back to the regular song; less obnoxious a transition when the song changes all the time anyway. The begining of the fights are just half the song without lyrics looped, then when the battle progresses, they make the whole loop, and at the last stage of the fight they add the lyrics to the loop so the player knows at wich stage of the fight they are in without thinking about it. Super cool music design elements to play around when composing for games.

I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy the title song of Metal Gear Solid 3. If i remember correctly it's called snake eater.

I am so excited for him to listen to guilty gear, that'll really surprise him I reckon. Marvel vs Capcom 2 soundtrack goes pretty unrecognized I feel but is so amazing.

"It's never ending, this is relentless". Yep, you just summed up Metal Gear Rising. And I suggest you watch "A Stranger I Remain" next from this OST.

If you liked this, you should check out other music from this series of games. I would put forth “Snake Eater” by Norihiko Hibino and sung by Cyntihia Harrell from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

you got it right, these lyrics are based on the villain's lines, as a player I believe they are said not for you to agree, but for you to prove that the villain is wrong.

Slayer: Angel of Death....coming soon?

Someone should make Doug watch the entire cutscene of Armstrong and the boss fight itself.

MORE FROM THIS GAME

I'm not seeing it enough, so I'll say PLEASE listen to The Only Thing I know For Real I don't want to explain the character too much before you hear the song, but he's arguably top 3 characters in all of gaming And please, note that his lyrics are unlike any other character, where when he is disarmed he loses the lyrics, whereas other characters get their main lyrics when the battle reaches the point of a "stage 2". It's incredibly relevant to his storyline and in understanding the genius of the song more fully.

Doug, you gotta do something from the new Moon Safari. take a look at Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse

I know you did this for Metal Monday, but in terms of further exploring Metal Gear's (non-metal) music, you really should listen to both "The Best Is Yet To Come" (MGS) and "Snake Eater" (MGS3). Some of the greatest vocal songs every composed for video games, and just amazing songs overall.

The entire soundtrack is worth a listen, my favourite is by far Stains of Time

yeah the metal gear series has a lot of social comentary for instance , metal gear solid 1,wich came out in 1998, ends with naration, that is pointing out that, despite an agreement from 1970 to disarm all atomic bomb arsenals, to this day there are still a lot of them. chilling how a over 25 yeah old game is still relevant.

I'll stump for Guilty Gear again, while I think the most obvious song to check is the title theme of Strive, Smell of the Game, I believe you'd like Necessary Discrepancy best off that soundtrack. They are all songs meant to be songs and the lead game designer is the writer for all the tracks, the main artist and the main storyteller; it's a love letter to rock/metal in the a fantastic way

Raiden and Armstrong are kindred spirit... It's why the song sound so apologetic...

Great song. I'm hoping Doug checks out Guilty Gear sometime.

I kinda want to see your reaction to Megalovania from Undertale. The composition is super complex and absolutely deserves its position in the zeitgeist.

5:35 The song is looped twice for the mix since its rather short. It doesn't really play this way in game, as its a part of a dynamic score which loops different parts many times over the course of the fight, so that players dont run out of song to fight to.

This man is making the mother of all omelets Jack he can't threat other a few eggs

12:05 To fully understand these lyrics you really need to play the game, listen to all the other voss songs, and go on a philosophical jurney with this game about cuting cyborg's spines out with a sci fi machete. Long story short: the lyrics are spoken by Riden, who realises that he's not so different from Armstrong, but also knows that Armstrong still needs to be stopped. A sort of 'right motives wrong methods' type deal. The violance breeds violance but it has to be this way is more of a statement that bad people will always exist, and that good people will always opose them. The song is then followed by 'The War Rages Within' in the very end of tge ending, which underpins the general message of the game. Because the song was made for the game, it is somewhat incomplete without it, like a movie soundtrack. It reinforces the messages and gives context to the villains and the protagonists. It is thus probably the best game soundtrack made, maybe ever.

This is a great analysis of even the entire Metal Gear franchise. It's a series that uses military fiction to demonstrate exactly how unnecessary war is at its core. Even Hideo Kojima, the original MGS director has openly admitted that he is very anti-armed conflict. While that isn't a controversial standpoint, it allows for overt and genuine overtones of anti-war sentiments weaved within its cool guy tactical espionage plot.

This guy should react to the ULTRAKILL ost (EX: versus, duel, death's oddessy, ect)

This game's soundtrack is really different from the Metal Gear Solid series. Some people really like it. It's not a Metal Gear Solid game per se, but it's in the same universe. It was a really fun hack n slash game, different genre in that sense too. Had great mechanics and looked stunning.