izigame.me

I hate you microsoft I hope you get eggshells in your salad for what you did to tango-works
Music is meant to illicit feelings in you. Perhaps more abstract feelings that one might expect, sure, but it doesn't limit the emotions its supposed to illicit in the listener, if anything it intensifies them. I, personally, am a big music nerd, (anthony fantano be damned) and have always felt a connection with sound. as someone who deeply appreciates music, I can say with certainty that the ambieance of this world in correlation with its soundtrack are perfectly balanced. it makes it easier to fully appreciate how this world came to be, and it feels like as you move to the beat, the world of the story, the characters, are in your hands.
Hi fi rush is a game that lives and dies through its soundtrack. no really, its a rhytham game, so the first thing you would need to know is that all the songs are bops, and the beat-em'-up' bayonetta-esque gameplay makes it so that no time is really wasted on thinking and more on feeling the beat, so that the timing of your punches properly correlates to the soundtrack. so it really is a BEAT em....UP. even without the action part, when you're going from one place to another pasively in the story, everything moves with the beat, you do, it is the main constant in how you will feel and interact with the world. the closest thing I can think of in terms of emotional pallete for this game, is like its an interactable album.
frank sinatra made the first album. its true, Polyphonic made a great video about that. it was an album meant to illicit the story of a 'character' within the album, and this is why its also the first concept album. the concept behind hi-fi-rush is, trust creativity, and we will find a better way to live our lives. it may be juvenile, it may be a distraction, but from that we could figure out how to grow and mature as people into a brighter future.
hi fi rush is about growing and maturing from that point of origin, and we see that the most with chai. his immaturity is meant to coax us into liking him despite his flaws, and makes you happy just seeing him around the cast. because you know that he has more depth than he shows, he just hasen't really explored it yet, or found it. just like how there's always more depth in music and why we listen to it than just 'it sounds nice'. not to say its not something people do not because 'it sounds nice', more that its something people do because it fulfills the human spirit in a more profound way than one might imagine.
in every creative sphere, there is always cooporation to make sure that things come out the right way. with every peice of media there are editors, producers, fellow critics that understand your vision and are willing to execute on this one vision. every single one of the characters-either protagonist or antagonist-either possess the toxic traits or good traits that make them a key asset or negation to your team. these toxic/good traits are what move the story foreward, but their role in Chai's (the player characters) life, make it so that each one is metaphorically analagous to a creative partner or detracter.
Spoilery section:
lets start with the player's character, Chai.
Chai: the creative spirit. he is the artists drive to constantly make a name for themself, to feel enthusiastic about their art. everyone revolves around chai, because he is their driving force forward. but, this makes chai also very self-centered, dismissing what other people is saying as long as he gets to be a 'rockstar.' its not that chai is only in it for the money, or the fame, its that he has a naive outlook on the creative process that makes it so he gets entranced by the idea of being a rockstar. it is implied that there's more to his backstory than just this, and considering how much the game balances already in terms of character growth + literally everything about the gameplay, I really really don't mind.
chai's companions:
Peppermint is a producer. she's a headstrong, sassy, and slightly abrasive young gal. she gets exasperated with other people easily, but still cares about them deeply enough to keep on supporting them. she's the technical adviser, which many producers happen to be, and make sure that chai-the creative spirit-dosen't go off the rails. she may be extra, but she cares.
Macaroon is reliable anchor that the project woulden't be the same without, because he does so much heavey lifting. he is a kind, tired, sweet guy, who just wants to do right by his friends. he makes sure that everyone doesn't go out of control, but is happy to side-step if he needs to. he is a supporter in the most traditonal sense, which segways into:
CNMN, who is a robot that got made by macaroon. metaphoricaly he is the systematics person, the data analyst, making sure whatever is rational is rational. he's adorable, very frank, a realist that doesn't overtly critiscise like Peppermint, buts just is very frank. he gets Managed by Macaroon, because Macaroon is meant to be the person that makes reliability a reality, and CNMN is reaiable for the skill set he's attained.
??? (spoiler): headstrong managorial strategist. while everyone else is working internally to help solve their creative issues, she has more experience elsewhere that makes her an invaluable asset to their team, because she's be on the outside, so she knows how to make their internal struggles have outside reactions.
Chai's bad guys:
Rekka is a person on the lowest end of the ladder in the corporation that preaches 'hustling', whether she actually does it or not is irrelevent, she has implemented it to be a part of her ego to the point that she says she's doing work, while really she's fulfilling her ego.
Zanzo is the ideas guy that's impulsive and doesn't actually know how to get anything done. doesn't stop him from using his power to feed into whatever flahsy thing he can think of next though.
Mimosa is the producer thats so vain already, that she just needs more excuses to feed into that vanity. she thinks she's gods gift to earth, so she will be a star
Roquefort is the guy who cares about money above all else, will put on a facade of niceness to gain it. wants power, doesn't care about anything else.
Kale is the combanation of all of them. I'll let him surprise you :)
this is all meant to say one thing and one thing only, if you want to experience the ecstacy of creative triumph, play hi-fi rush.
it is everything about creativity, and microsoft has forgotten about everything. well, I say microsoft, but I really mean vandelay from hi-fi rush. (different name, essentially the same company.)
(there's spelling errors prob, thats fine with me.)