nice time signature too! actually is it the first instance of 7/4 (or 7/8 depending on how you interpret it) in undertale/deltarune? can't think of anything else off the top of my head, all other weird time signatures i can think of are either 5/4 due to alphys or the second/third sanctuaries

raise up your bat is naturally the highlight of the chapter 3 soundtrack for me. the melody is great, both sets of lyrics are great, the lost girl leitmotif is incorporated beautifully as the chorus of the entire thing, oh and for some reason there's quite a few parts that sound like megalovania and justice from undertale yellow. one of the rare lyrical pieces in deltarune so far, and toby knocked it out of the park (though was anyone expecting otherwise?)

chapter 4 has an even stronger soundtrack in my opinion, with several top-tier songs, but i'd like to highlight the third sanctuary and its ridiculous yet fluid time signatures. the song as a whole has a really driving energy to it, and that 23/8 part. truly the peak of the song. there's like at least three different ways to feel the rhythm in that section and i can switch between all three of them on the fly. the part at 1:47 is also quite fun to follow along with. i like to count it as 12/8, 11/8, 10/8, 12/8, 11/8, 11/8, 11/8, 12/8. has a really nice push and pull feel to it.

to highlight some less popular songs: paradise, paradise has a nice melody, especially at 1:22. as does old wooden rafters, which is seriously low on views considering how good it is. and ever higher is just cheerful and fun, especially the section starting at 1:05.

can we also talk about how masterfully guardian uses leitmotifs from from now on? the main dark sanctuary leitmotif appears in a bunch of different forms. first the narrower, darker-sounding version associated with the titans, extended in a 3-3-3-3-2-2 rhythm. then the original, wider version in its original 3-3-2 rhythm, bringing in a big burst of hope for the "chorus" of the song. (also the guitar that introduces that section is so cool!) then at the end of the song, we pair up the wider intervals with the extended rhythm for a determined feel that's not fully hope, but also not fully despair. absolutely insane how the same leitmotif can be manipulated into taking on three very different tones in one cohesive song.

but that's not even the leitmotif that i find the coolest here. a motif more unique to from now on is transformed into something much different-sounding in guardian. these are the only two tracks i could identify this motif in, and it's kind of hard to even realize they're the same motif at first because the rhythm is quite different, and the two just don't sound anything alike in the context of their respective songs. truly an amazing final boss theme to end off the gameplay of the new chapters.

...man that's a lot of stuff i wrote. can you tell i like the new songs a lot? say what you will about toby TAKING TOO LONG, the final result is worth it!

BERDLY?!?!?!

(think they'll still enthusiastically accept berdly's invitation in chapter 4 though, just to mess with him if nothing else)

my initial thought was that it actually didn't use that many leitmotifs: just spamton's two motifs, the world revolving + power of neo, and dummy!. but that's actually more leitmotifs (5) than hopes and dreams (4: once upon a time A and C, your best friend, and snowdin town), chaos king (3: card castle, lancer, legend), and attack of the killer queen (3 or 4: queen, maybe another queen motif somewhere?, berdly's 2 motifs), assuming i have everything correct! (i'm counting each distinct section of a source song as a unique leitmotif.)

watched the linked video for the first time, though i'm sure i've seen it plenty of times in my recommendations. i didn't consider melody A'' to be a variation of melody A, but i suppose it kinda makes sense. i assume this was one of the more influential analyses of big shot's leitmotifs?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baphomet

Baphomet is a deity allegedly worshipped by the Knights Templar that subsequently became incorporated into various occult and Western esoteric traditions. The name Baphomet appeared in trial transcripts for the Inquisition of the Knights Templar starting in 1307. It first came into popular English usage in the 19th century during debate and speculation on the reasons for the suppression of the Templar order. Baphomet is a symbol of balance in various occult and mystical traditions, the origin of which some occultists have attempted to link with the Gnostics and Templars, although occasionally purported to be a deity or a demon. Since 1856 the name Baphomet has been associated with the "Sabbatic Goat" image drawn by Éliphas Lévi, composed of binary elements representing the "symbolization of the equilibrium of opposites": half-human and half-animal, male and female, good and evil, etc. Lévi's intention was to symbolize his concept of balance, with Baphomet representing the goal of perfect social order.

...huh

ralsei is the one trying to maintain the balance of light and dark, i suppose

*google translates the title*

...yeah

ah, that little detail! what's even more intriguing is that it's only the first two bars of the theme

it's not an easy question for me!

i'll highlight two from undertale: first, it's pretty cool how waterfall is kind of a "leitmotif bridge" between ruins and another medium / core. too bad snowy isn't connected in the same way

more notably: the way don't give up uses the variation of the ruins leitmotif from an ending / undyne's neutral death theme is pretty amazing. with pretty much the exact same melody and rhythm, it manages to go from depressing and emotional to inspiring... and emotional.

for deltarune, i'll highlight two from chapter 1 and one from chapter 2. i like how field of hopes and dreams, as the very first "proper" area theme, heavily emphasizes the don't forget leitmotif, using it in a cheerful, upbeat way.

as for one of the very last songs in chapter one, the way chaos king just blasts you with the legend section C in a refreshing burst of determination and hope that contrasts nicely with the rest of the theme... yeah even in chapter 1, despite lacking the various improvements of chapter 2, toby fox absolutely nailed it with everything music-wise.

and as for chapter 2, the way berdly's theme is incorporated into attack of the killer queen is both surprisingly subtle (especially since it actually takes up more of the song than queen's own leitmotif(!)) and, just, pleasant to listen to. in particular, i love the way they changed around the rhythm for section B of berdly's theme.

man, that transition segment in finale where asriel's leitmotif plays...

i would certainly like to participate in that kind of stuff (assuming i have something valuable to contribute in a given discussion)! maybe you could trial it for a few days and see how things go?

hello! not planning to visit here particularly often (i'm much more active on !kirby@lemmy.world), but i figure i'll check back here from time to time. here and also !deltarune@lemmy.fmhy.ml.

i would like to participate in discussion questions whenever i can, though, so: narrator chara is a classic! has some interesting evidence, but more importantly i think it a. makes chara's character more interesting and b. makes the narration another "meta-infused" element of the game, in line with other stuff such as the save system.

i'm sure there are various other theories that i'm a big fan of, but this is the only one that comes to mind right now so yeah