Animal crossing title screen music is like comfort food. It’s a crime that new leaf wasn’t mentioned though. That game has such an amazing overall soundtrack
New Leaf doesn't attempt to evoke the same kind of feeling that WW and Population Growing! manage to achieve. PG and WW feel more like you are a child, or coming back to your hometown after a long time away where everyone just kinda knows you. City Folk is where the change started towards becoming a bit more metropolitan, the instrumentation especially is more modern and focused around motifs, which works for the game as it's not about being cozy at home with your neighbors but is instead more of a city building and planning game.
I've noticed that a lot of Pokemon games use these same techniques for the themes of the starting town. It's so cool how a little touch of bitterness can make a song sound so cozy and homelike.
oooh I hope he does a video about this, the starting town themes and what they have in common! Unless he's done it before, I don't know but I love how the starting themes sound so cozy and kind of bittersweet that you're leaving but it's still home.
The thing I always remember about the title screen theme of the original Gamecube Animal Crossing is that you can't even hear the whole song unless you do a trick. The title screen reloads after a minute and starts the song over before it finishes if you just let it play like normal. But if you open the lid of the Gamecube while on the title screen, a screen pops up to tell you to close the lid, and the song will keep playing, so you can actually hear the whole thing. When I first heard of that trick, it sounded like one of those fake things kids make up on the playground, but I tried it, and it worked, and it blew my mind, both because it worked, and because they'd write a whole song and include it on the disc, only to not play the whole thing unless you do something weird like that.
These are some of the smoothest key changes I’ve ever seen! Really telling when you can hum a melody without even realizing that the melody changed keys lol… can’t wait to use some of these techniques in my own writing
I've always wondered how these games can have very positive / major key sounding themes without sounding overly cutesy or childish. Awesome video!! Makes me want to go back and learn how to play all the different animal crossing tunes
Your closing statement was brilliant. I do a lot of writing about bittersweet optimism of games like AC, Earthbound, and Chulip. Your closing statement is the crux of what I'm talking about with these games. It goes further than just the music and K.K. slider, it's everything! It's why I love them. The first Animal Crossing wasn't a vanity simulator, it was a bittersweet, old fashioned, slow paced, 20th century country living nostalgia trip.
Gosh! That D/E setup at the end of the Wild World theme really does pull at the nostalgia strings. I only really know the music from playing Smash, but the theme music is just so relaxing. Love hearing the breakdown and how each carefully constructed chord is designed to hit just the right feels.
This breakdown is fantastic. Wild World (and its banjo!) especially has a way of putting tears in my eyes without even trying because of its nostalgic quality. It's got major Rainbow Connection vibes, another song that causes me a lot of core feelings and memories.
so pleased to see wild world's theme here. wild world has always been my favorite of the animal crossing games, and its music is a HUGE part of that. i remember leaving my ds on and falling asleep listening to the music many many times as a teenager (TTwTT)
Again, out of my THOUSANDS of subscriptions from the origin of TH-cam itself. THIS channel's uploads are what I care about the most. Thanks for being here.
So many nuanced and beautiful chords and chord progressions in these songs, it's no wonder they feel more complex and nostalgic than their simplistic melodies might imply
oh nice upload timing. i recently rediscovered animal crossing music when i was watching a video, and i was huh what songs is this? ive just been listening to the hourly songs while doing activities, changing the songs every hour. also found a nice browser extension that automatically changes the hourly songs. yeah the music frigin slaps PS: the song i talked about turned out to be 5 PM Rainy from New Leaf
This inspired me to make my own little Animal Crossing style tune. insomnicsy uses the New Horizons theme in some of their video intros, so it was nice to find out where exactly it was from and get a little more insight on it.
You should make a video about gang-plank galleon, specifically the smash ultimate remix. Personally I think it's one of the greatest video game music ever made, it literally has 5 distinct sections! Most music has only 3 (intro, A section, and B section).
Love your videos, man! Been watching for many years. Currently, I'm in the pre-production of original music of mine, and for the past month, I've watched many videos of yours, searching for inspiration. There are so many tools for writing music on this channel, it's amazing! Big thanks for everything you've done! Cheers!
Very good explanation of the feeling elicited by these themes, I always could "feel" it so seeing it explained makes a lot of sense. I had also noticed the extreme structural similarities between the themes for _Wild World_ and _New Horizons_ but this lays it out exactly. The title themes are also always used as leitmotifs in the game's hourly themes so it provides a vibe for most of the rest of the game. Personally I think that the theme for _Happy Home Designer_ takes what WW/CF did and brings it to the max with the nearly indescribable bittersweet feeling (both composed by Kazumi Totaka too, which could be part of it). I'd hope for another video detailing that and the theme for _New Leaf_ - heck, throw _amiibo Festival_ in there too. Say what you want about that game but the soundtrack is as _Animal Crossing_ as ever.
Seems to me that in the first song the Eb isn't a borrowed chord at all; rather, the song is simply in F Mixolydian. Ab appears to be the only borrowed chord IMO.
You might be onto something, based on his transcription E natural isn't in any of the chords or melody. I do feel like if you were soloing over these changes an E natural would sound better over the first 3 chords at the start of the song but that's obviously subjective
Songs are written in either a major or minor key, that's what you put next to the clef. When soloing over the progression, thinking in F mixolydian might make sense, but on the trascription it would mean that you have to indicate a Bb key on the clef, or its relative minor. The simplest thing a musician would assume by looking at this is that Bb is the home chord, but it clearly is not. In my opinion this is counter-intuitive. It's much easier to indicate F major and let the musician understand that the scale of F myxolidian can be used, since that E is flattened every time. This is a much broader topic. Let's make the example of the most used mode after the trivial ionian and aeolian: dorian. The most common dorian progression is vi - II. Have you noticed that everyone writes it as vi - II? Say we are in A dorian: if one were to follow your approach, you wouldn't write it like this, since you wouldn't indicate a key of Am on the clef, but rather a key of Em. Then the progression would become ii - V. They are both equally valid - the latter doesn't have non-diatonic chords while the first has the II instead of the ii. In my opinion, vi - II makes more sense for two reasons: "home" is indicated very clearly as A minor (which is correct); and the non-diatonic II would act as a signal, like "uh-oh, this is no ordinary Am". In fact, the natural flavour of II is to give that dorian vibe. Let me know what you think.
_Pain from an old wound,_ this video is. Only hearing the melody from New Horizons brings me to tears. The best relationship I ever had was with a girl I played NH with. I lost her for being a complete idiot and now this music is too much for me.
9PM from the original AC will always be my favourite version of the theme. If I had to describe sound of the feeling of being a kid, coming home at sunset and curling up into bed, itd be 9PM.
I know that my question has nothing to do with this video, but I just look at your theory minute videos, and I am amazed at your understanding of music. Do you have contact info? I'm trying to learn theory so I can play by ear and also make it possible to create my own music. I would love to speak with you, if possible.
This is an amazingly analytical answer to the question posed. If you'd asked me, I would've said it's because these all sound like the Golden Girls theme song.
In Australia, this particular theme is very close to a popular advertising jingle for Bunnings Warehouse, a huge hardware store chain. So it makes me want a sausage on bread. haha
Oooh this is a good one, animal crossing game was often full of fun feeling.. game music sets atmosphere so well; im hoping for an ecco the dolphin video.
i don’t understand how you’d even begin to write a piece like the WW title theme, the song is completely through-composed and never repeats any phrases, but has just barely enough melodic cohesion and chord repetitions that it sounds completely normal and satisfying, if not downright catchy. that’s like, an almost impossible feat to pull off
This is an easier answer for me, only because I've been playing AC for at least 20 years now lol. I can barely listen to AC GC's start screen music without tearing up.
What source do you have for these themes having different composers? I was assuming they were all Totaka's. I know for the most recent games he wasn't the only composer, but I haven't found a reliable credits list for individual tracks.
"...Animal Crossing: Wild World, which is - in my mind - the representative piece defining the Animal Crossing sound" LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!!! BASED! BASED! BASED!
gosh the acnh title theme is so good, sometimes it feels like everything has been done before and I'm doomed to V - I for eternity but whenever I see incredible stuff like this, it's so refreshing and inspiring
The first game has the best music, COME AT ME, but I think it's that touch of melancholy that brings everything together between the games. Until you get to New Horizons where they totally abandon their roots in exchange for ostensibly making you God. Worth the trade? Hell no! This series is supposed to be about finding new friendships in the face of loneliness in an unfamiliar place, NOT about who's island castle is the fanciest.
So the question is: is it inherently nostalgic at the time of it’s release, or are people just finding it nostalgic after the fact due to their personal relationship with it years later?
Nostalgic isn’t exactly the word I would’ve used at the time but the Wild World/City Folk theme always stirred a unique feeling in me from the first time I heard it
And somehow video game music composers are not real composers. There is a classist and elitist view of professional composers thinking that video game music is just computer garbage and not real music
Great analysis! Just a heads up, since you said it so much in the video, "borrow" isn't pronounced how it looks. It's pronounced "BAH-row." I googled it to make sure it wasn't just my local dialect.
@@partylikeits1066 He says it how it's spelled, like bore. I remember there were a few years when I started saying the first syllable of "buried" the same as "burrow" because they're spelled the same and thought I had been mispronouncing it. Only after a few years did I look it up and realize my original pronunciation was correct. I figure something similar is going on here.
@@stevenjones8575 he's Canadian, the way he says it is the standard pronunciation of borrow in Canada. Think about the stereotypical Canadian way of saying "sore-y" for sorry, it's the same as that, there's nothing "incorrect" about it
Animal crossing title screen music is like comfort food. It’s a crime that new leaf wasn’t mentioned though. That game has such an amazing overall soundtrack
Yeahhh I'm a bit disappointed too when I didn't see new leaf on the timestamp 😥 But hey...maybe it is for another video?
The new leaf 7am track though
Funnily enough, New Leaf has my favorite OST of the entire franchise, but its title screen is my least favorite... 😅
I would love to see a full video on new leafs soundtrack. Especially the more bittersweet nighttime tunes like 7pm and 1am
New Leaf doesn't attempt to evoke the same kind of feeling that WW and Population Growing! manage to achieve.
PG and WW feel more like you are a child, or coming back to your hometown after a long time away where everyone just kinda knows you.
City Folk is where the change started towards becoming a bit more metropolitan, the instrumentation especially is more modern and focused around motifs, which works for the game as it's not about being cozy at home with your neighbors but is instead more of a city building and planning game.
I've noticed that a lot of Pokemon games use these same techniques for the themes of the starting town. It's so cool how a little touch of bitterness can make a song sound so cozy and homelike.
oooh I hope he does a video about this, the starting town themes and what they have in common! Unless he's done it before, I don't know but I love how the starting themes sound so cozy and kind of bittersweet that you're leaving but it's still home.
@@DogOnAKeyboardI believe he has one on pallet town.
The thing I always remember about the title screen theme of the original Gamecube Animal Crossing is that you can't even hear the whole song unless you do a trick. The title screen reloads after a minute and starts the song over before it finishes if you just let it play like normal. But if you open the lid of the Gamecube while on the title screen, a screen pops up to tell you to close the lid, and the song will keep playing, so you can actually hear the whole thing. When I first heard of that trick, it sounded like one of those fake things kids make up on the playground, but I tried it, and it worked, and it blew my mind, both because it worked, and because they'd write a whole song and include it on the disc, only to not play the whole thing unless you do something weird like that.
A lot of vgm (historically) is just parts taken from full songs and arranged differently
Always the best when 8-bit Music Theory uploads
I know, I couldn't tell you just how excited I get when I open up discord and see a notification next to the 8-bit server. it's crazy.
These are some of the smoothest key changes I’ve ever seen! Really telling when you can hum a melody without even realizing that the melody changed keys lol… can’t wait to use some of these techniques in my own writing
I've always wondered how these games can have very positive / major key sounding themes without sounding overly cutesy or childish. Awesome video!! Makes me want to go back and learn how to play all the different animal crossing tunes
Your closing statement was brilliant. I do a lot of writing about bittersweet optimism of games like AC, Earthbound, and Chulip. Your closing statement is the crux of what I'm talking about with these games. It goes further than just the music and K.K. slider, it's everything! It's why I love them. The first Animal Crossing wasn't a vanity simulator, it was a bittersweet, old fashioned, slow paced, 20th century country living nostalgia trip.
Gosh! That D/E setup at the end of the Wild World theme really does pull at the nostalgia strings. I only really know the music from playing Smash, but the theme music is just so relaxing. Love hearing the breakdown and how each carefully constructed chord is designed to hit just the right feels.
This breakdown is fantastic. Wild World (and its banjo!) especially has a way of putting tears in my eyes without even trying because of its nostalgic quality. It's got major Rainbow Connection vibes, another song that causes me a lot of core feelings and memories.
I would play New Horizons late at night when it came up, and I often let the themes lull me to sleep. Perfectly cozy, engaging, and relaxing.
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@@benjamindover8221max pfp spotted in 2023
@@benjamindover8221 🤣 mmmmkay.
@@sodicious JC Denton pfp*
@@benjamindover8221 it was still popularized by maximillian
This video makes me want to play New Horizons again.
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@@benjamindover8221reply to more cummentz plz
@@benjamindover8221Screw off
@@benjamindover8221 Dumba**?
me too, i havent played in like a year
Wild world theme evokes tears whenever it touches my ears
I was just thinking to myself how nice it would be to have a new one of these to watch with my coffee
This video taught me some interesting things, really love the Animal Crossing musical vibes, it's interesting to see how they are achieving this
Genuinely think this is one of your best videos. I was completely gripped the whole time and it was SUPER well explained 💃🏻
I need this man to breakdown Pokémon Gen 4
When Animal Crossing has been YOUR game since Elementary school, and now you're 30, and its genuinely hard to watch this without crying 🥲💚
so pleased to see wild world's theme here. wild world has always been my favorite of the animal crossing games, and its music is a HUGE part of that. i remember leaving my ds on and falling asleep listening to the music many many times as a teenager (TTwTT)
Almost as interesting as the music is the way 8-bit says the word "Borrowed"... 😂
Ikr 😂
Interesting you upload this and the last few weeks I’ve gotten back into AC after a long hiatus
Animal Crossing is 100% comfort music. I got the first game when I was 11, and here I am playing New Horizons a few days a week at 30.
Again, out of my THOUSANDS of subscriptions from the origin of TH-cam itself. THIS channel's uploads are what I care about the most. Thanks for being here.
New Leaf music is so good, probably my favorite of the series.
14:05 this reminds me of the motif from jubilife village from Legends Arceus -- same kind of homely feel
I fucking love this niche ass channel.
how have I never noticed before that you're canadian
So many nuanced and beautiful chords and chord progressions in these songs, it's no wonder they feel more complex and nostalgic than their simplistic melodies might imply
watching 8-Bit Music Theory
as a video game music fan with no background in music theory: "Mmmhmm... yeah... ah... I know some of these words."
I don't even know where to begin learning all of this theory. I want to start somewhere but it seems very daunting and overwhelming.
oh nice upload timing.
i recently rediscovered animal crossing music when i was watching a video, and i was huh what songs is this?
ive just been listening to the hourly songs while doing activities, changing the songs every hour. also found a nice browser extension that automatically changes the hourly songs.
yeah the music frigin slaps
PS: the song i talked about turned out to be 5 PM Rainy from New Leaf
7pm is also a great one.
@@dizzynarutofan100 ohhh yeah absolutely agree
This inspired me to make my own little Animal Crossing style tune. insomnicsy uses the New Horizons theme in some of their video intros, so it was nice to find out where exactly it was from and get a little more insight on it.
I feel like that "stanky" ending a run on borrowed notes and a minor twang has been a thing for these games since the original Sims soundtrack
Absolutely superb analysis here! Absolutely love your choice of video topic! Keep up the awesome work!
11:23 reminds me strongly of the Styx song "Don't let it end"
Definitely
so comforting i adore the ac ost
You should make a video about gang-plank galleon, specifically the smash ultimate remix. Personally I think it's one of the greatest video game music ever made, it literally has 5 distinct sections! Most music has only 3 (intro, A section, and B section).
Love your videos, man! Been watching for many years.
Currently, I'm in the pre-production of original music of mine, and for the past month, I've watched many videos of yours, searching for inspiration. There are so many tools for writing music on this channel, it's amazing! Big thanks for everything you've done!
Cheers!
Very good explanation of the feeling elicited by these themes, I always could "feel" it so seeing it explained makes a lot of sense. I had also noticed the extreme structural similarities between the themes for _Wild World_ and _New Horizons_ but this lays it out exactly. The title themes are also always used as leitmotifs in the game's hourly themes so it provides a vibe for most of the rest of the game.
Personally I think that the theme for _Happy Home Designer_ takes what WW/CF did and brings it to the max with the nearly indescribable bittersweet feeling (both composed by Kazumi Totaka too, which could be part of it). I'd hope for another video detailing that and the theme for _New Leaf_ - heck, throw _amiibo Festival_ in there too. Say what you want about that game but the soundtrack is as _Animal Crossing_ as ever.
Seems to me that in the first song the Eb isn't a borrowed chord at all; rather, the song is simply in F Mixolydian. Ab appears to be the only borrowed chord IMO.
You might be onto something, based on his transcription E natural isn't in any of the chords or melody. I do feel like if you were soloing over these changes an E natural would sound better over the first 3 chords at the start of the song but that's obviously subjective
Songs are written in either a major or minor key, that's what you put next to the clef. When soloing over the progression, thinking in F mixolydian might make sense, but on the trascription it would mean that you have to indicate a Bb key on the clef, or its relative minor. The simplest thing a musician would assume by looking at this is that Bb is the home chord, but it clearly is not. In my opinion this is counter-intuitive. It's much easier to indicate F major and let the musician understand that the scale of F myxolidian can be used, since that E is flattened every time.
This is a much broader topic. Let's make the example of the most used mode after the trivial ionian and aeolian: dorian. The most common dorian progression is vi - II. Have you noticed that everyone writes it as vi - II? Say we are in A dorian: if one were to follow your approach, you wouldn't write it like this, since you wouldn't indicate a key of Am on the clef, but rather a key of Em. Then the progression would become ii - V. They are both equally valid - the latter doesn't have non-diatonic chords while the first has the II instead of the ii. In my opinion, vi - II makes more sense for two reasons: "home" is indicated very clearly as A minor (which is correct); and the non-diatonic II would act as a signal, like "uh-oh, this is no ordinary Am". In fact, the natural flavour of II is to give that dorian vibe.
Let me know what you think.
I remember it feeling so satisfying when I learned how to play the original’s title screen music. Still absolutely love it.
That clip that goes along with the patreon plug is perfect!😂
this really helped my understanding of jazz harmony!!
_Pain from an old wound,_ this video is. Only hearing the melody from New Horizons brings me to tears. The best relationship I ever had was with a girl I played NH with. I lost her for being a complete idiot and now this music is too much for me.
9PM from the original AC will always be my favourite version of the theme.
If I had to describe sound of the feeling of being a kid, coming home at sunset and curling up into bed, itd be 9PM.
Very well done as always 8-Bit, thank you
You're gonna make me cry. Well done!
i can hear the canada in your voice
hearing the early ac music is making me so emotional
I know that my question has nothing to do with this video, but I just look at your theory minute videos, and I am amazed at your understanding of music. Do you have contact info? I'm trying to learn theory so I can play by ear and also make it possible to create my own music. I would love to speak with you, if possible.
This is an amazingly analytical answer to the question posed. If you'd asked me, I would've said it's because these all sound like the Golden Girls theme song.
Yet my favorite was New Leaf theme 😢
In Australia, this particular theme is very close to a popular advertising jingle for Bunnings Warehouse, a huge hardware store chain. So it makes me want a sausage on bread. haha
The original original theme has another chord right before the b theme The one for the N64. You should check it out
Oooh this is a good one, animal crossing game was often full of fun feeling.. game music sets atmosphere so well; im hoping for an ecco the dolphin video.
i like your funny words magic man
jokes aside, this video will really help, i want to make an animal crossing style game at some point in the future
i don’t understand how you’d even begin to write a piece like the WW title theme, the song is completely through-composed and never repeats any phrases, but has just barely enough melodic cohesion and chord repetitions that it sounds completely normal and satisfying, if not downright catchy. that’s like, an almost impossible feat to pull off
6:26 that's just boogie woogie (the F7 with the melody) slightly in different order. No wonder it sounds so uplifting
You’re doing the lords work, thanks! 🔥😂
YES
The Dm to Gm move in the GC theme. I actually understand what this part of the piece is saying. o_o
This is an easier answer for me, only because I've been playing AC for at least 20 years now lol. I can barely listen to AC GC's start screen music without tearing up.
LOVE AND ALGORITHM APPEASEMENT AND LOVE AND ALGORITHM APPEASEMENT AND MORE LOVE!💜‼️🤠
How is nintendo stealing all these brilliant composers?!!
Thank you.
Great episode, thanks. 😎🤓
Have I mentioned I love your channel?
Thanks
YES
Huh, I think Penelo's Theme from FFXII is built on the exact same bones as that first Animal Crossing theme.
What source do you have for these themes having different composers? I was assuming they were all Totaka's. I know for the most recent games he wasn't the only composer, but I haven't found a reliable credits list for individual tracks.
I thought this would be about more than just the title themes.
Saying that a game's music keeps you from playing it isn't typically a compliment
New Horizons apparently inspired the chord progression to Playing God by Polyphia
8:06 isn't that a C7(sus2) chord, instead of a C7(sus4)? it has a D in it but no F
I love that that animal crossing character is obviously phoebe bridgers lol
Edit: maybe...
Okay but which songs are the best Smash Ultimate songs to pick when going to Smashville and Town & City stages?
"...Animal Crossing: Wild World, which is - in my mind - the representative piece defining the Animal Crossing sound"
LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!!! BASED! BASED! BASED!
This channel is the shit!
What does the pixel text on the keyboard say? NOPE? ROFL?
2:58 a sus chord?
Why didn't you talk about the New Leaf theme?
Pat Metheny vibes
gosh the acnh title theme is so good, sometimes it feels like everything has been done before and I'm doomed to V - I for eternity but whenever I see incredible stuff like this, it's so refreshing and inspiring
The first game has the best music, COME AT ME, but I think it's that touch of melancholy that brings everything together between the games. Until you get to New Horizons where they totally abandon their roots in exchange for ostensibly making you God. Worth the trade? Hell no! This series is supposed to be about finding new friendships in the face of loneliness in an unfamiliar place, NOT about who's island castle is the fanciest.
Oh I'm coming at you alright.
With a hug because I agree. But that's mostly nostalgia talking.
The way he's saying borrowed as boarrowed is killing me.
So the question is: is it inherently nostalgic at the time of it’s release, or are people just finding it nostalgic after the fact due to their personal relationship with it years later?
Idk how to define nostalgic but when i played the original way back in 2001, i remember finding the music very comforting and homey
Nostalgic isn’t exactly the word I would’ve used at the time but the Wild World/City Folk theme always stirred a unique feeling in me from the first time I heard it
Good question. For me it's the latter, I played the original as a kid in 2003. So it's nostalgic for me in that sense.
And somehow video game music composers are not real composers. There is a classist and elitist view of professional composers thinking that video game music is just computer garbage and not real music
Personally I think New Horizons is the weakest of them all. Despite the amazing craft and decor everything on the island feature.
Inn😅 Mill
Except that's NOT what "nostalgia" means. "nostos" means "homecoming". It's the painful longing for a home you haven't seen in a long time.
New Leaf skipped
2:59 I'm sorry, a B flat 7 WHAT chord?! 🤨
dunno, sounds pretty sus to me
Is there such a thing as synesthesia but with tastes rather than color? 😂 I'm diagnosing you
Great analysis! Just a heads up, since you said it so much in the video, "borrow" isn't pronounced how it looks. It's pronounced "BAH-row." I googled it to make sure it wasn't just my local dialect.
Sounds normal to me. I think he probably knows the word borrow it's not exactly uncommon
Breaking news: some people have different accents to you
@@partylikeits1066 He says it how it's spelled, like bore. I remember there were a few years when I started saying the first syllable of "buried" the same as "burrow" because they're spelled the same and thought I had been mispronouncing it. Only after a few years did I look it up and realize my original pronunciation was correct. I figure something similar is going on here.
@@stevenjones8575 he's Canadian, the way he says it is the standard pronunciation of borrow in Canada. Think about the stereotypical Canadian way of saying "sore-y" for sorry, it's the same as that, there's nothing "incorrect" about it
@@Calyylac That makes sense. Didn't know he was Canadian. Thanks.
yeah ok but isabelle and ankha bro 😩😩😩💦💦💦
How Camel by camel by Sandy Marton was written
masterful compositions...
Omg my fav game!!🎉❤
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please tell me you've listened to final fantasy 16's soundtrack
I love your videos so much. Every time I sit and watch a few I get so inspired. You put the fun back into theory for me