Don’t let this video distract you from the fact that Red Dead Redemption robbed Octopath for best soundtrack in the game awards.

These key changes are UNPARALLELED

I reckon you're right, that Nishiki purposefully leaned into key changes for Octopath. He's said that he wanted the melodies to stick in your head, so he tried to repeat them as much as possible. Changing the key just lets you repeat the same thematic material and thus makes it more familiar and earwormy!

How to compose music for octopath traveler: 1. Find a key 2. Find a second key 3. Think of how to get from one to the other 4. Make melody and harmony

It's so weird trying to think about this consciously. Music just seems like language to me, and these key changes (upward) are like saying "in fact, what's more.."

Octopath Traveler is like the most underrated thing ever. I know it sold well, but no one talks about it. Easy top 5 Switch games and one of the best games this generation. My personal goty and i played gow and rdr2.

From now on, I will exclusively refer to a ii-V7-I as a "funky turnaround".

"What do I mean by foreshadowing? As I mentioned earlier..." YOU ABSOLUTE MADLAD, SLIPPED IT RIGHT PAST ME

8:31 8bit: What do I mean by 'foreshadowing'? As I mentioned earlier.. Hah! Love it

Honestly, Red Dead 2’s soundtrack is pretty good, but it certainly isn’t THIS GOOD. Octopath got totally robbed.

11:08 Nishiki-san has lots of backdoor ii-V's up his sleeve! Love this soundtrack as well as your analysis :)

2:45 Yasunori Nishiki uses Key Change. It's super effective.

13:04 OOF, that one gets me every time. I absolutely adore H’aanit’s theme and I remember how when I heard it for the first time in the game I just sat there listening to it for 5 minutes. Somehow it manages to imbue feelings of celebration, serenity, and melancholy all at once, and the way it just flows into itself so forcefully yet seamlessly puts a huge grin on my face every time.

This game got robbed of respect.

3:14 Suprised Nishiki hasn't been arrested, he's been flirting with a minor after all

Octopath Traveler has one of my favourite soundtracks in a long time.

What do you mean this little change to the music "lays the emotion on *thick*"? *seconds later* "I'm not crying. You're crying."

4:30 I really like random exciting points in the video like this

I wish there was more of this game... more of these characters... I just want more... just give me an Octopath Traveler anime... or manga... or something, I’m not picky. This game just makes me feel emotions.

Common-tone modulation is another cool technique to use to change key. For example, in Twilight Princess’ Ordon Village music, the piece begins in C major and the melody of the A section ends on the tonic C. The melody of the B section also starts on a C, except the chord is Ab major, so the C is now acting as the major 3rd of the chord. One sustained or repeated note (often in the melody) is all that is needed to link two distant keys if the two chords share a common note. It’s a really simple and effective way to modulate imo without having to use the pivot chord technique.

Even as a music graduate, your series of videos have been absolutely invaluable to me. I am looking to write music for games (even if it is simply ends up as a hobby or for small games amongst friends), and the spotlight you shine on so many of these different elements, in some cases teaching and in others even just providing a refresher, is so incredible and has helped me to consider the way in which I would treat my own compositions. Looking forward to your next video :)

4:28 was the best thing that's ever happened in any of your videos. ever. moar plz.

MPT = 0.8. Octopath Traveller follows 8 characters. Coincidence? Yeah probably. And a modulation being a journey from a home to a new place, requires travelling. This could not be more perfect. Great video 8-bit Music Theory!

I'm glad I'm not the only one that appreciates the power of adding the 2nd to minor chords. For a more lush voicing, add another G an octave down from the first - it connects the harmony more firmly to the bass.

TRESSA MAIN FOR LIFE.

I thought something was up when this and the Game Score Fanfare video on Octopath went up simultaneously! Two of my favorite game-music essay channels covering one of the better-designed games of the last year together? Sounds great!

"We're just chugging along in D minor when BAM!" → subscribed

This channel makes me what to get back into writing music

Exactly what I've been looking for recently! Thank you 8-bit!!

everytime I hear tressa's theme I feel so nostalgic

Composer used Key Change. It was super effective!

Please, chap, can we get a video on what makes a song sound like Winter? Some pieces to draw from are Vivaldi's Winter, Megaman's Iceman, Blizzard Man, Cold Man, and Frost Man Stages, Harvest Moon's Various Winter Themes, Chill Penguin and Blizzard Buffalo stages from Megaman X, Earthbound's Winters, Freezeezy Peak from Banjo Kazooie, In a Snow-Bound Land from DKC2, Frosty Frolics from DKC3, the Himalayas Music from DuckTales, Singing Mountain from Chrono Trigger, etc. I would pay money for this.

Almost everything I just heard is so far over my head it hurts, but I can hear the changes in the music still. In fact I did just learn that the parts of songs I really like are called Key Changes, and they just feel...good!

I was actually thinking this was going to be a puzzle game revolving around using an octopus' many tentacles to walk a path.

"Destination key" sounds, appropriately, like something I'd have to find in a JRPG.

Great video, the editing is phenomenal, as well as you clear explanations!

One of your best videos so far. So good! Perfect choice of topic for this OST.

Nintendo needs to give you a kickback, because you may have just sold me a Switch!

I want to thank you for doing these videos. I've been writing music, and watching these videos has helped me so much in developing my writing. I've been rewatching all of your videos since my college roommate is making a game, and I'm writing the music for the game. I've been trying to make a sound track that fits the game well, and these videos have really helped me create that. Thank you so much! I can't wait until your next video!

This has been one of my very favorites from you. I would personally love to see more examples of modulations in the future! Huge fan :)

Holidays got me distracted so missed this video on early post! That's an awesome analysis, really loved the explanation and approach on key changes!

When I realized that Square Enix made this game, I knew from the start that the maker of Final Fantasy series will produce best soundtrack for this game as well, and oh boy my expectations exceeded to my point of fantasy! Marvelous game and hooked so much!

i think this is the only channel that gets me hyped from covering a video game ive never heard of. thanks a lot for the content bro. been appreciating it for a while :)

This video was really great! The humor was on point and the musical theory was spot on as always. Amazing job! :)

Yes! Thank you for doing this video! I noticed how frequent the i minor to iii flat minor change was when I was playing around with some of the character themes and it was great learning more about it (and the other changes) in this video!

I don't really understand the notes behind a composition. I'm just someone who really enjoys game music with leitmotifs and slight changes within a theme that represent the feelings of a character or other small nuances. I'm pretty sure I didn't understand like 70% of what you were talking about but I still enjoyed the video. Thanks 👏

Wow, your videos are so informative and well made. Thanks sooo much man!

The scene at the end of Ophilia's last chapter had me crying my eyes out, and that was certainly helped along by the music. I'm tearing up right now just re-listening to her theme. The "cry chord" indeed.

To put it simple, I purchased a Nintendo Switch and this game after listening to your analysis. I couldn’t resist the retro Square-RPG feel and specifically the amazing OST.

That key change in H'aanit, the hunter though. Great video BTW I'm actually learning about tonicization and chromatic chords in AP music theory currently this video was a great workout for what I'm learning about right now and was definitely a great touch on modulation which my teacher said we would be learning about here pretty soon. I love your content, keep up the awesome work.

Thank you so much for this video - I've been waiting for this day ever since I picked up the game. This is hands down my favorite game soundtrack in a long time, and I'm definitely going to use this video as a reference for all of the musician friends I've been gushing about this game to. Also, can we talk about how incredible the non-stop modulation is in "Decisive Battle II" for a sec? That piece blows me away with its construction - the constantly shifting tonal center, the use of pedal tones (especially right before sudden jumps), its massive, colorful journeys to return back to G minor from all sorts of crazy places, and the absolutely superb orchestration for maximum musical intensity.

I clicked so hard I cracked my screen.

YES! i've wanted an Octopath video for a bit I love this games soundtrack!

Wow. This is like the perfect video for me right now. I have been looking for information on how to add effective key changes to my own music and simultaneously enthralled and inspired by the soundtrack for Octopath Traveler. Thanks dude!

You and Game Score Fanfare both uploaded videos on Octopath Traveler at the same time. Illuminati confirmed?

I saw your video on weird time signatures and I liked it, so I went to your channel, and lo and behold, there was a video on the Octopath music! I love this soundtrack so much. I especially love how well each character's theme matches him/her. I can't even pick a favorite theme, they're all so beautiful.

Thanks for the through illustration, the score of this game is one of my all-time favourite definitely.

Some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard

8-Bit Music Theory finally doing Octopath? I clicked on this so fast.

I seriously have been in awe for a long time about the quality of the videos man! My chord game is so weak that i mostly just nod to what you say and enjoy the video😅 thanks for your awesome work!

Wonderful incite on this amazing soundtrack. I hyped myself on the soundtrack so hard before the game came out and I STILL listen to it like it's ear crack. Thanks for another great video!

This is seriously the best video-game music channel. I already know of all these methods from studying music theory, but you're just really good at demonstrating these concepts clearly while keeping the video incredibly engaging.

that progression at 12:10 in Ophelia's theme has lived in my head for years

OMFG! I LOVE your videos, you just made my weekend

Love that you covered Octopath!

Even though I can barely read notes, and hardly understand these keychanges and minor and major chord talk, these videos are always fun to watch and I love learning something new about music through your analysis. Keep it up, these are great!

I listen to the Octopath soundtrack almost every day! The music... it’s my favorite of any game in recent years!

Been a silent follower for a while but your content is top notch. Always look forward to your videos!

Awesome episode! I'll be watching this a few times! Thanks

Thank you so much for your wonderful video. Your videos motivate me on self-learning music theories!!

I've watched this video at least 20-30 times. Full on changed the way I write and think about music. TY 8bit

This video taught me more about music theory than not just my university theory classes, but also your other videos. Not sure what it was, but something about the way you described things in the video made everything click so perfectly together.

This channel is absolutely brilliant!

Its always a good day when 8-Bit uploads.

Really great examples of ways to modulate! I'm going to have to check out the end credits music and see how all those keys relate and are prepared!

Amazing video! This video for some reason makes me want to learn what these ideas mean!

I want to have my compositions used for video games someday. This is so informative and humbling. Amazing content as always.

This just hypes me up for Octopathe Traveler 2 and the mobile game that is coming out.

I've been wanting to see you focus on modulation for a while now. You really did the subject justice here. Modulation is such a cool technique. I see it in anime themes sometimes to great effect.

Thank you for this, man. Keep up the good work!

It's one thing to be a musician, to have a relative knowledge of music theory and a ear for notes and the such... Having musical techniques explained is another altogether... I loved that video mate...it's amazing how instructive it is

Great video! Those key changes are so damn awesome.

Damn I just subbed a few days ago, love this channel!

Thank you for your videos. I improvise for Dance classes (ballet and modern) everyday with no formal music training. I've beat my head plenty of times reinventing the harmony wheel and was really yearning for a resource on methods of Key Changes a few years ago, so finding this now is a godsend. thank you.

This is something I love about How Amusing!: the second part may have all those key changes that can be chained one after another, but the first part is hilariously disorienting: It begins in Dm and maintains the whole chord for 11 bars, and at the end of the 11th appears an A7 that seems to be going to do a small flourish but suddenly you're met with a whole bar of Gm - G diminished that emphasizes the A chord as if it was to modulate to A major....... but nothing happens? There's no melody at bar 13... Then the oboe does a small melody that's cut again by the fanfare, that this time becomes longer and emphasizing even more the A chord, which leads you to think it's going to do a grandiose melody but now it seems it's going to be in Dm, the usual key. The music builds up but at bar 18 it stops one bar before it should have, as if something had happened... and there's only accompainment and you're like ????? what the hell's happenning? Suddenly the next bar you're in F, which, being the relative major is normal tha... WAIT IT'S F MINOR, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? WHY IS IT MINOR? WHERE'S THE MAJOR? And before you can process it, the Fm turns briefly into F major to act as the Dominant to Bbm, finally arriving to the proper music... only for it to last four bars and then launch itself down back again through that series of related chords 8-bit Music talked about.

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.. but it sound intelligent. I like it^^ (My music skills are worse than fingernails on a chalkboard)

my brain hurts because music theory is complicated but what I can tell you is that this game’s soundtrack is gorgeous and I’m sad I only found this game now

11:20 Ophilia the Cleric's theme is one of the most moving character themes I think I have ever heard. It tells us so much about the character just by its clever musicality and I am absolutely blown away

10:41 you can barely hear a hyrule field-like passage. zelda is everywhere!

Now this soundtrack is pretty fricking epic

I can already tell OT's soundtracks are awesome and after watching your straight sharp analysis, I began to realize that this is not just awesome, it's grandiose!

Would have loved a video on Bravely Default and Second, but Octopath does just well too.

Wow! That was a super good video! Thanks for doing that!

13:30 Excellent transition, sir!

So glad you did this video! I could never put my finger on why OT music is so memorable but this did it.

Point of clarification after re-watching this: Olberic's theme uses a pivot chord as well. The Fm section is preceded by an E diminished, which serves as the ii chord in D natural minor, and the vii chord in F harmonic minor.

Man, I love this channel, now that I have sadly left music school, it helps me keep my brain up to music theory (and to the english key signatures, being a french classical musician ^^) in an entertaining manner ! Also, I like how cheery you sound ! Keep up this amazing work please ❤

OMG! YOU AND GAME SCORE FANFARE RELEASED AN OCTOPATH VIDEO AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Man, i have no idea what the fuck you are talking about but i really enjoy watching through the videos anyway. Just understanding the purpose and nuance between music is really interesting. Also, I really like the small edits that you have started to implement. I think it adds a lot of small quality of life and improves the videos a lot!

I don't know anything about this game, but this might be my favorite video yet. I love cool modulations, and these were very cool.