NARRATIVE TEXT:

Name: The Advisor

Age: N/A

Weapon: N/A

Series: N/A

“She doesn't have to die, my leige. Follow my guidance, and you will be reunited with your beloved once more.”



Character Bio:

A mysterious figure who's existence raises nothing but questions. He isn't from or based on any 103rd Corporation property, he is not a selectable character that players can use, and absolutely no data for his programming or code exists in the game at all. Yet, he is not only the guiding hand that has lead Kain down the warpath he's carving, but he is also seemingly the one that gave Kain's player the ability to take the lives of other players outside of the game. He exerts complete control over the now equally-lethal and much more viscious enemies and bosses that populate the game, often directly summoning the latter and actively antagonising the Kingslayers at every available opportunity. He claims to be acting only in the King of Hatred's interests- for the stated role of resurrecting the fallen Queen of Joy- but is that really his only goal?

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IN-CHARACTER TRACK COMMENTARY FROM GONKAKA:

Shinji Namiki: Did you rush this one out the door so you could go drinking like the last Battlemania's boss theme, Denji?

Denji Koshiro: (Laughs) No, no- though the song did come together very quick. I was unsure in the early stages whether Battlemania 2 would include bonus rounds, but I wanted to do a reprise or evolution of NEW RAVE ORDER for the project regardless. I even snuck in some riffs and motifs from Heaven Shatters, as an added bonus. I like many kinds of music, but I am particularly fond of that early 90s “Hyper Techno” sound; I think it fits games that feature high amounts of action very well, and you can't get much more intense or thrilling then a good boss battle. And man, the boss battles for BM2 are very difficult! I still struggle with them now. I wonder if the dev team fed off the energy of the song, as that came before the fights were actually programmed- though the designs and gimmicks had been decided on.

Fumie Saso: How did you feel about the Battlemania 2.1 updated release replacing this in favour of individual boss themes?

Denji Koshiro: Believe it or not, I actually really liked the idea of having themes purpose-fit for each boss encounter- it was something I had initially considered myself, but when the hectic schedule and repeated roadblocks made themselves apparent I realised it would simply be too much work. It was nice to have the room to breathe and do just that for the re-release. They definitely sounded a lot more “game-y”, though; my goal with ANOTHER RAVE ORDER, as with it's predecessor, was to make something that could fit a game, yet still be played in a club and be appreciated by people who don't play games. Hopefully I succeeded!

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DECON'S TRACK COMMENTARY:

This track is proof of two things;

1) The creative muse is a fickle beast who's temper changes with the winds- compared to how much longer every other BM2 song has taken, especially recently, this one came together in barely a day, and barring one crash that didn't set me back at all (thanks, cautious over-saving!) the entire process was smooth and stress free.

2) Always put down inconsequential music doodles if you have the chance- the super cliche Rave Stab Chord Progession™ this track is built around had hung about in my head as a consequence of listening to a lot of tracks that use ones similar to it, so I threw it down in M2K real quick and went "I'm sure that'll come in handy in the future"; didn't expect it to be so soon.

I didn't really know what I was gonna do for the standard boss battle track for this Battlemania iteration; I think I had fleeting ideas at various points, but I've already forgotten what pretty much all of them were. The vague suggestion of a rework of Overdrive Fever has been at the back of my head for a Battlemania 2 follow up over the last few years, in a similar way to how I revisited The Devil's Nearest Neighbours for the original Battlemania, but I've never committed to that idea. It was through pure luck that the aformentioned rave stab chord doodle happened to both be very similar to NEW RAVE ORDER (cos as previously established, that particular kind of chord progression is a staple of that particular genre), and in a key that was compatible with Heaven Shatters, both from the original Battlemania. At that point, it just made sense to run with the luck and make it a "sequel" song to both, in a way. Overall, I'm really pleased with the track- it's short-ish, sweet-esque, no-nonsense oldskool rave type gubbins with plenty of stylistic and sample-based references to the 90s rave scene y'all know I love very deeply. Though I had to make some compromises in how I worked them in to avoid the mix becoming too muddy, I am particularly fond of the vocals during the second half of the breakdown, all of which are from M2K's internal library and were in some places chopped to flow more naturally/be all Themeatic™ and that (speaking of which, they say the following: "The sheer terror is indescribable; torn by war, I just can't cope! The only way to the other side... is through The Door to Heaven...").

Oh yes, on the note of samples; you'll note that this does have external samples in there. Thankfully, PS2's can read professionally pressed/manufactured audio CDs just fine, and there were a few samples I knew I wanted to use here (as well as one that I heard whilst going thru me music library and decided to use in the moment- a nice little bit of serendipity). Those samples are as follows;

two breakbeats from A Trip to Trumpton by Urban Hype (sourced from two different versions of the track: 1 / 2)

a rave stab from Anasthasia by T99

a rave stab from Everybody Dance by L.A. Style

a breakbeat from The Equation by T99

a percussion loop from Roll Out by The Count & Sinden feat. 77Klash