Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an RPG journey that sticks with you in additional methods than one. There’s oodles of clutch boss struggle victories because of its twitchy parry and dodge battle system. The feelings that swell because the get together faces twists, turns, and tribulations by way of its narrative. And, after all, the ever-present rating that accompanies all of it, the attractive (and generally quirky) music looping in my head lengthy after hitting credit. I received the prospect to talk to composer Lorien Testard about the way it all got here collectively.
Oscar Taylor-Kent: Lorien, thanks for taking the time to reply a few of our questions on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33!
I cherished the sport, and the soundtrack actually caught out – I am nonetheless buzzing the themes. How did you become involved with the challenge? What did they inform you about it stepping into?
Lorien Testard: Thanks for having me! I joined the challenge after Guillaume despatched me an e mail – he had found my music on SoundCloud, the place I used to be posting one new track every week. In the future, he listened to a few of my tracks, cherished them, and reached out to ask if I’d be fascinated with composing for the online game he was creating.
Firstly of the challenge, he confirmed me a trailer for We Misplaced (preliminary title of the challenge) and shared some early concepts concerning the gameplay system, the story, and the world he wished to construct. We realized we shared a deep creative connection and an identical imaginative and prescient of what our “preferrred recreation” may very well be.
OTK: Recreation genres will be so totally different from each other – what particularly do you’ve to remember when composing music for an RPG?
LT: In RPGs, I really like the journey and the sensation of touring a protracted highway crammed with stunning landscapes and intertwined tales. These concepts of expedition and adventurous journey have been stored on the coronary heart of the music. I hoped to make the participant really feel like they have been exploring a implausible world stuffed with marvel and secrets and techniques.
OTK: As video games are such lengthy experiences – even brief ones are sometimes longer than motion pictures – do you assume there’s one thing further highly effective concerning the breadth a recreation soundtrack can provide?
LT: Sure, I do assume there’s one thing particular and galvanizing concerning the scope of a recreation soundtrack. Video games are lengthy and immersive experiences, and the music has the time and area to evolve with the participant and mirror their journey. It could possibly construct emotional depth over hours, weaving itself into the world and its characters.
OTK: I really like the method to the musical motifs right here, particularly the usage of vocals within the soundtrack. What are you able to inform me concerning the method, and why was it accomplished that method?
“The voice is the instrument that strikes me probably the most emotionally.”
LT: The voice is the instrument that strikes me probably the most emotionally. It could possibly specific the total vary of what the characters undergo within the recreation, from fragility to anger, from despair to acceptance. I really feel all of the humanity within the voice of a singer, so it felt pure to create music with vocals on the coronary heart of it.
I really feel extremely grateful and fortunate that Alice Duport-Percier agreed to work with me on the challenge. She composed a lot of the vocal traces within the recreation – she has an unbelievable expertise and an angelic voice. Her arrival was a turning level in shaping the tone and environment of the sport’s story-driven tracks.
The voice additionally allowed me to carry lyrics into the songs – and that’s one thing near my coronary heart. I loved a lot writing the lyrics for the sport; it’s a solution to communicate on to the participant, to create a connection and a hyperlink inside the world of Clair Obscur.
OTK: Clair Obscur could be impressed by JRPGs however its French id comes by way of within the visuals and music particularly – do you agree that the music is a giant a part of representing that id for the sport? Are there any particular components of the instrumentation you have been hoping would drive that dwelling?
LT: I’ve listened to French music and French songs my entire life, so all these reminiscences mix into the way in which I hear and compose music at present.
Between my private background, the Belle Époque feeling that comes from the sport’s idea artwork, and the truth that a lot of the songs are written and sung in French… I perceive why gamers really feel that robust French id within the soundtrack.
And one time I had enjoyable pushing that even additional. After I needed to compose the battle theme for the mimes, who put on a marinière, a beret, and carry a baguette on their again – it felt like each an obligation and a responsible pleasure to incorporate the accordion within the track!
OTK: Creativity is a giant theme within the recreation. Not less than two get together members have a deep love of music, others for portray and so on. Did that theming create any further strain, or sense that your music must stand out much more as a core recreation pillar?
LT: The creative themes within the recreation have been a supply of inspiration for me. They helped me discover the feelings I wished to specific within the music of the sport, they usually guided the writing of the track titles and lyrics.
Une vie à peindre, Une vie à t’aimer, and Une vie à rêver are deeply linked to that central theme – each of their lyrics and of their place inside the recreation.
There are additionally elements of the gameplay which are carefully tied to music or portray – just like the Sirène sequence – that meant the music needed to be rigorously crafted to match that stage and make the participant’s expertise as immersive as doable.
However it was truly quite a lot of enjoyable, and I’ve nice reminiscences of composing these songs!
OTK: The music sequence with Ben Starr… How was it working with Ben for that? What’s it like having to weave basically an performing efficiency into a bit of music like that, which on the identical time turns into a core narrative beat?
“From the second I wrote them, I had the need to have Verso sing his track.”
LT: The track Ben Starr performs alongside Alice Duport-Percier is known as Till Subsequent Life.
It’s a track I wrote whereas occupied with Verso. For a very long time, the track was solely sung by Alice, however the lyrics have been carefully tied to Verso’s story that, from the second I wrote them, I had the need to have Verso sing his track someday.
I’m actually glad Ben accepted to affix us on the monitor. By bringing in Verso’s uncooked and human voice, it added the load and weariness of Verso into the track.
OTK: The battle system in Clair Obscur options timing components like parries, which have their very own sound cues to clue the participant into when to reply. On the identical time, many battle music items are large and highly effective in and of themselves. Did it’s important to assume a lot about how your music could be interfacing in opposition to participant enter on this method?
LT: Sure! It took quite a lot of fine-tuning for us to steadiness all of the audio components within the recreation so that every one may shine at its full potential.
The best way the sport sounds is admittedly because of the unbelievable work of the whole audio staff. They used quite a lot of methods to ensure every little thing – from voices to music to sound impact – may weave collectively and provides every ingredient its second, in probably the most pure and seamless method doable.
So an enormous shoutout to them, they made all of it work!
OTK: I can also’t cease occupied with the sequence with Sirene – a complete dungeon the place you are always surrounded by musical efficiency and dance. How was it approaching that part of the sport, about halfway by way of, specifically?
LT: For Sirene, I obtained the idea artwork very early on, which actually guided the music creation for that stage. With the sirene on the heart of the Colosseum and the participant slowly circling round her till they lastly meet, the primary feeling I wished to specific was softness.
Due to the sirene’s allure and her story, I think about the whole surroundings to be crammed with tenderness by way of the music and her voice emanating from her and being heard in a different way relying on the participant’s development.
I began composing the piece on classical guitar, performed fingerstyle to seize an intimate expression. After I added the low whistle, I discover that instrument has an extremely smooth tone, and it evokes me the sensation of wind slipping by way of the partitions, making the garments of the ballerinas and dancers of the extent gently transfer.
Lastly, we added the siren’s voice, spatialized within the stage in order that the sound feels just like the voice [is] coming from her on the planet.
OTK: On prime of those splendidly emotional moments backed by your just-as-emotive rating, there are positively moments of caprice as nicely, just like the bopping Gestral Seaside music. How did you discover shifting these modes, and the way did you method the sillier, whimsical stuff?
“For the Gestrals and their chaotic, goofy power, I imagined what it would sound like in the event that they have been those creating the music that defines them.”
LT: There’s quite a lot of distinction and many alternative scenes for example musically in Clair Obscur, so I wished to have enjoyable with it. I really like a lot the Gestrals!
I attempted to not overthink issues, I loved writing humorous music and experimenting with totally different concepts as I composed.
For the Gestrals and their chaotic, goofy power, I imagined what it would sound like in the event that they have been those creating the music that defines them. It made the entire course of actually enjoyable.
After I noticed these Gestrals tracks in-game, like Megabot #33 or the Gestral Service provider. I cherished the quirky and excessive power feeling they gave me!
OTK: In addition to ‘Creativity’, ‘Efficiency’ is one other large theme of the sport. There is a second in the direction of the top the place a personality has to play piano with out actually desirous to. Is {that a} feeling you may relate to? Is that theme of ‘having to carry out’ one thing you are in dialog with musically at instances within the recreation?
LT: It’s not one thing I experimented with whereas creating this OST. I really feel extremely grateful to have had the prospect to compose for Clair Obscur, to carry this world and its characters to life by way of music. Over these 5 years, I felt an awesome sense of pleasure all through the method. Generally blended with issue, nervousness and stress after all, however now, trying again, what stays is generally a deep sense of bliss and good reminiscences for having lived this expertise.
OTK: With the collected soundtrack, what’s there to remember for a produced authentic soundtrack combine versus the way you would possibly hear the tracks in-game?
“Gamers can relive the whole journey by listening to the eight-hour soundtrack from begin to end.”
LT: The complete recreation soundtrack is obtainable now on all streaming platforms. It’s made up of 154 tracks that comply with the journey of the Expedition – from their departure in Lumière all the way in which to the top of their journey.
After I was placing the soundtrack collectively, I actually wished to maintain the sensation of that journey in thoughts. So the order of the tracks carefully mirrors the development of the sport. That method, gamers can relive the whole journey by listening to the eight-hour soundtrack from begin to end!
I approached it like a full album expertise. I spent quite a lot of time listening to the transitions between every track to ensure every little thing flowed seamlessly. It took many iterations earlier than I used to be pleased with the movement and the rhythm of the entire album
I’m additionally actually pleased with the ultimate runtime of the OST and every act. That took quite a lot of modifying and preparation, however I really like the way it all got here collectively!
OTK: Did you look to many different RPG recreation soundtracks for inspiration? Do you’ve any specific favourite RPG soundtracks?
LT: I attempted to not take heed to different soundtracks whereas engaged on Clair Obscur, to remain as shut as doable to my very own instincts and to what I used to be feeling for the sport.
However I’ve cherished online game music and listened to quite a lot of it after I was youthful – Zelda, Xenoblade, Nier, and Joe Hisaishi’s work [a film composer best known for his Studio Ghibli scores and collaborations with Beat Takeshi], together with all of the French music I’ve grown up with. That music has been a part of my life for years, so it’s formed the way in which I hear and write music.
OTK: Lastly, should you may summon any instrument to your facet with pictos energy, however just one – which would it not be?
LT: Haha! For the gamers, the reply is definitely hidden within the recreation!
Sandfall gave us the unbelievable honor of naming NPCs and diaries after the builders, they usually let me select how I wished to be represented on the planet of Clair Obscur.
You’ll find me within the recreation taking part in the track “Aux lendemains non écrits” with my instrument of alternative!
The Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack is obtainable now throughout quite a lot of digital platforms by way of Laced Information. Want some assist? We have Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ideas to assist get you began!
