Our Life, Our Scars - PSO2NGS Melody

[@Cathy5614]

Our Life, Our Scars is my favorite song out of all of Phantasy Star. It's not the first duet of PSO2 or even the series as a whole but the way it's executed is absolutely fantastic. I did not want to constantly interrupt the song with analysis comments so I made this Music video instead. I hope you like it! When I beat DFA a year ago for the first time I cried by the time Garoa pushed my character. For the longest time I couldn't explain why I had such a strong reaction to it. I did not like the story back then all that much and the 5th chapter, the one everyone likes, wasn't out yet. No explanation I toyed around with in my mind made any sense so after a few months I just gave up trying to make sense of it. Then, when replaying the game on a fresh account for my New Player Guide, I rewatched all the cutscenes in chronological order. That's then it finally clicked and I realized that the reason it made me cry is because I subconsciously cared about these characters. The entire Ver.1 Story all led up to this and DFA tied everything together. Outside of the obvious ties to the story, world and characters, this Song still has some Meta narrative implications to chew on. NGS is a Reboot of PSO2. The name "New Genesis" literally translates to "New Beginning". It is a New Beginning for PSO2 and the game refers to itself as "reboot" internally. This isn't a Datamine thing, you can just open your steam folder and see the name written on the NGS dedicated folder. With that in mind, throughout the Song you can hear the vocalists ask "Where is our beginning?". This can be interpreted as a in-universe question. "When are ARKS finally going to start living without having to fight?". Or something along those lines. It can also be interpreted as a meta question. It's been nearly 2 years (back then) and it still felt like NGS hasn't really started yet. Because of the rushed and frankly botched launch, the first two years felt a lot like trying to catch up wit how the game was supposed to have launched. And then Version 2 is when the game has finally "began". Despite the Song still using staples in music theory like "refrains", the lyrics always change. With each loop the vocalist representing Manon becomes more determined about what action to take and less "clouded" by doubt and grief. This further cements the story progression within the song and adds a emotional layer to the fight rarely seen in the series before! The composer, vocalists and everyone else who's involved in the creation of this Song really knocked it out of the park and created a Quest I will remember this game by forever. I'm really glad I found this franchise and am able to enjoy this game~ Thanks for reading my Wall of Text. I hope some of you share my enthusiasm about this! Don't forget to check twitter.com/Neverusage. They're the artist I comissioned the Thumbnail/Ending Art from and they're doing a lot of fantastic PSO2 Art! Take Care everyone~

[@Oishimaru]

I always enjoy your music analysis videos :) This quest and chapter 5 really made me feel excited about the future of the game :) I will forgive the Filler chapter (Chapter 6) because I know they are cooking >O> But really looking forward to the future of the game, and even more so after Line Strike got announced and knowing what quests are in store for June / July. While I am not particularly adept to card games, I will definitely try it, and it is always nice to have an extra in-game activity that may have the potential to make the game more lively and appealing to a wider audience! Let's hope Dooming can chill down a bit soon :v

[@Oishimaru]

Also, this is indeed a great song! Looking forward to what they will throw at us in the future o: Dalion's Theme, while not necessarily on the same level, was an pretty nice instrumental though c: One thing I always look forward to when new maps and bosses are released, are BGMs! Kinda hope we are able to get more soon o: And new Concerts, someday ;-; I am assuming they are waiting for the release of certain story piece before making new concerts make sense, or that's what I wanna believe :v We got new music discs with anniv, though >o>

[@cosmosofinfinity]

Love your passion. The music is consistently next-level, and boss fights intense. Your interpretation of "where is our beginning?" is one I never thought of before. Do you play the game with Japanese audio? And when is your karaoke version of this song coming?

[@Cathy5614]

If I had to sing this myself I'd absolutely ruin it lmfao! And yeah i play with JP voices on but the songs are english regardless~

[@aimsm.9329]

I appreciate the evolution of baby NGS Cathy with baby Aina and apprehensive Manon

[@SleepyTaiki]

This was amazing, 100% one of my favorite videos on the topic of NGS. I genuinely got chills at so many parts of this video, and your analysis made it even more impactful. I'm really at a loss for words, I'm unsure of what more to say. That was amazing! I really do love the story of this game, and I'm happy to have gotten a pair of my friends into it recently, they're enjoying it just as much as I am.

[@teru-nanashi]

incredible video!! i've been a fan of your techter content since classic but your recent ngs content is absolutely fantastic!!! inspired by this video i listened to dark to light for the first time in a long while and absolutely bawled my eyes out, thinking about classic pso2's story and what pso2 meant to me (coming upon it at a difficult time in my personal life, how it has enriched my life be it through the people i've met through it, how the absolutely cerebral gameplay which tickles all the right parts of my brain got me through hard times, and how the game's story and metanarrative has touched me quite unlike any other) and while i haven't got such a reaction from Our Life, Our Scars (still teared up a little from when I listened to it the first time, and now again after rewatching this video xP) i look forward to, one day, returning to this video once the dust has settled to think back on ngs as it was (and maybe bawling my eyes out again xP) lastly, i just want to say how much i treasure your content for managing to be critical while also being able to put out videos like these which express appreciation in a way that seems to come from a place of geniunity, especially for a game like ngs (wish more of the game's content creators would let themselves be vulnerable like this!!!) (apologies for the wordy comment and probably bad english but much love and wyatb!!)

[@VanitysEmptiness]

Your editing skills really are something else Cathy since it really helped capture the moments that run parallel to the story itself. The song really felt like the perfect way to close out the first part of the story and I'm just glad you can appreciate it as much as some of us do as well. I want to hope we can get more like this as we wait for Ver.2 to continue panning out on the horizon~ Thank you for the video!

[@Syngrafer]

This is without a doubt the best video you've ever made. Incredibly emotionally resonant, I felt goosebumps several times throughout this and almost got a bit emotional at parts. Such a wonderful edit! You've come so far with your skills in video editing!

[@Yuniferi]

This is a masterpiece. Well done.

[@WingsOfDust55]

As usual, an incredible work with these videos. While I wasn't as emotionally charged as you were, by the time we reached that point in the story, combined with everything else done to spruce up the story a little more with the side talks (despite the obvious limitations still present to this day) I felt like this was a worthy final super fight for the beginning of the adventure in NGS. Of course with what happens after we defeat Aegis this also places the seeds of what's to come and future revelations. Despite my own personal feelings on some elements, I still look forward to where the story will take us in the future, and I look forward to another of your videos for more of the songs in the game. Be safe out there and Shine On, ARKS

[@wandererchannel9953]

This is perfection!!

[@StormCrusher94]

The not yet battle tested Cathy (starting look) looks cute. Now reading your song analysis, yes back then it really fels like the game was empty, though as you said yourself, subconsciously you cared about the charcters and the story, so it might be safe to assume that dislike NGS skipped the story. Overall the game has a smoother feel in movement compared to base, the attacks for some classes though need still work or additions (though the Tech arts customization is trying to fix that it seems).

[@mirumizure]

There was a GEDEC talk (Japan's sort-of GDC) by Hideaki Kobayashi that discussed how Dark to Light was composed - there were liner notes as to how the lyric back-and-forth was written, and its intent being a culmination of the player and characters' journey. Our Life, Our Scars seems to be a continuation of that philosophy. The song's impact perfectly fits the turmoil and conflict Manon experiences as an "observer", and her resolve to break free of this limit with Aina (and others') encouragement.

[@Cathy5614]

Yes! Dark to Light is also fantastic like that! The male vocalist sings for Ash (player character) while the Female vocalist sings for Matoi, Hitsugi and Harriet. I might do a video like this one for Dark to Light too~

[@Elli_PSO2]

So manon has all these questions that we are the answer for

[@NoireCPU]

I really enjoyed this you did a awesome job on it

[@RamixTheRed]

Yknow, I do think I have to disagree on the take that the second singer is Aina, I've always been on the Aimee=Meteorn train, especially because of the line "Gather meteorn", as well as the fact that the segment around 8:26 actually reuses the melody from the end of Meteorn's Song (HOLD IT STEADY WOAH-OH - THROUGH THE BATT-LE A-HEAD) Ofc it's hard to really ascribe song-based characterization to a total blank slate (even by the standards of blank slate MMO protags) and song symbolism is never really 1:1 "Oh yea this singer is this character 100%" but I do think it's worth pointing out how for most of the story for Part 1, Aina is just as lost as Manon is (albeit in an entirely different way), so the Meteorn/Guardian/Whatever being the one to provide guidance does seem more in line with their role at this point of the narrative

[@Cathy5614]

I agree that the song can be interpreted that way. To be completely honest i made the "creative decision" to make it Aina's singing because in the alternative I'd have to leave her out entirely which didnt feel very fair to her. This also allowed me to backload most of 909 related content to the moment where they because ARKS Prime, or True ARKS as the JP script calls it.

[@PikangsFutaba]

Love what you did, and for me it hit even harder last year when The Battle of Halphia Lake UQ was released, as not only I got invested in the story at that point and felt how everything was setting up that epic battle for the UQ (of course, in the story they skipped the first half and puts Aina and Manon with you for an easier version of the second half), I felt emotions when Garoa appeared, not to mention that Dark Falz Aegis got to be a victim for my frustrations of both the game story AND my situation at work being frustrating so... yeah, it became my (digital) punching bag to set free my frustrations to keep my sanity intact, and listening to the lyrics... no wonder why this song is my favorite so far in New Genesis (the same goes to it's rendition for Halphia Lake Interception/Counter Attack Part II... is still baffles me that the UQ version of Malignant Aegis was just for limited time, but it is what it is).

[@Zeomantic]

Good stuff!

[@TheDrewBlue]

Flawless.

[@n1ghtwanq908]

NGS has such a good story if it weren't for a 3months gap between cutscenes. Great stuff, Cathy!

[@Cathy5614]

Ikr! if the story released as a faster pace it'd be so much more enjoyable! As soon as you remove the wait between them they're well paced and easier to pick up on things! Thank you for the compliment!

[@silo1991]

nice video tribute to EP1 of NGS . BTW i wonder when devs implemented facial expressions in cinematics ? so far i just notice that in the last cinematic of the last chapter when MC , Aina and Manon fist clash . which react with OG as NGS faces

[@Cathy5614]

I noticed furing some cutscenes, even as early as Chapter 1, my character would use the "angry" expression during cutscenes. Its customized to Something else too so its rather unfitting for when thry use it 🤭

[@RamixTheRed]

I think the feeling on that first day that the DFA UQ dropped is gonna be hard to top, ngl It's a weird situation where the slow release schedule and everyone clamoring for more story content made it feel even MORE impactful. If a new player goes through the whole story now it likely won't be the same just cause for them it'll probably have been a day or two instead of like, a whole year in the making

[@ryandonnelly5099]

This has made the game make so much more sense

[@andysnyder3844]

Didn't know you play sub the dub isn't that bad in this game you got me thinking to play the game again but in sub thank you the video was well done