HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! See what I did? I made you HAVE to click on the blog button to see what it contained. Ingenious, yes?
Anyway, I didn't, in all honesty, do this just to be annoying. This is my tenth entry in my blog over awesome things in video gaming and I have decided to showcase my favorite VGM EVAR (yes, with an a). What is it? Guess. What is my favorite game? What is my favorite instrument (actually, you shouldn't know this)? It's Kingdom Hearts! It's the piano! What does this mean? Anyone who has played KH knows of what I speak. It plays on the intro screen. It is in both games. It is Dearly Beloved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3SmD61UGoo
This is the first song I actually listened to in a game simply to listen to it. I used to just leave the menu screen on and listen to the calm piano lull me into a state of complete serenity. Words cannot describe the beauty and pure emotion in this song. After playing the game over four times through, and listening to this song more often than I can count, this song still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, and not figuratively. Literally. A wave of uncontrollable nostalgia flows over me, sending me back to the sweet days of childhood, when nothing could seperate me from Kingdom Hearts and all the hidden beauty and depth to be found within.
-Man, I just love this game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D9aS__W07Q
What's this? Another link?! Yes, there's another version in the game, this time in the form of a music box. And it is just as beautiful. The clinks and clanks are filled with both sadness and hope, beckoning a faint chance to succeed in hardships. This version plays in the more serene moments in the game, and is implemented brilliantly. It is reminiscent of a lullaby you heard a thousand times in your past, and it is engraved in your memory.
-Heart-shaped moon and Disney characters aside, this is one of the most human games out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0H8YHAuaNg
Wait, more? Yes, of course there's more! This is the Kingdom Hearts 2 version of Dearly Beloved. It is more orchestral, and adds a number of different instruments to the fray. It is no less brilliant, adding more depth to the already oceanic one of the first version, though it sacrifices pure simplicity in the process. Still, genious.
-So close to the first game, so close!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfAso4OPmWc
There's more? This is the 358/2 Days version, or Roxas' Dearly Beloved, whatever you choose to call it. Gee whiz, does the composer know how to use the same song but always make it sound different. I've never played the game, and is this the first time I've heard this version. Only one word: Beautiful.
-Couldn't they have come with an easier name? Regardless, I want this game so bad!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe5WV17WyLs
You thought this was over? Haha, not yet. This is the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories version (Rebirth, to be more exact). It's more like the first version, albeit a longer and more ethereal one. Beautiful, as always, and works well in creating a feeling of amnesia, which is really prevalent in CoM.
-Chain of Memories: a game disliked by many, but not me! I loved it!
Finally, just a few links with devoted people playing the song in their own way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amOdUX1Afkg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YI3_6IJXTk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpiqMbGXitQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPmDBVyX4Ek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1cty6cjCec
Well, there you go. If you haven't noticed my love for Kingdom Hearts, you'll get well acquainted with it in the future. Until then, I bid adieu.
Please, comment and tell me: What is your favorite version?