NARRATIVE TEXT:

Name: Yuna Itoh

Age: 22

Weapon: Digital Camera

Series: Wandering in the Dark: Barnbellow's Estate

“Careful; If you won't pass on peacefully, I'll have to exert a lil' force.”



Character Bio:

Once a spunky parapsychology student attending SJSU, Yuna began to grow weary of her every attempt to prove the existence of ghosts turning up inconclusive at best, and utter nonsense at worst. Her beliefs challenged and her confidence shot, she gravitates towards a mysterious and enormous estate located in England- one which belonged to the unfortunate Barnbellow family, whom the matriarch of snapped and went on a murderous rampage following the untimely kidnapping and death of their youngest son. Upon reaching the mansion, she encounters not only the murderous spirit of Lady Barnbellow, but gradually treads deeper and deeper into long built over buildings and locations the house was constructed around, each containing a being that was drawn to the land by tragedy, ensnared by horror, and eventually corrupted by it. Barely surviving her ordeal with the estate- and doing so only by empathising with all the creatures and beings that inhabit it's pain- Yuna dedicates her life to seeking out hauntings, and trying everything in her power to appease, pacify, or exorcise the spirits there, so that they may go to the afterlife happy and suffer no longer.



Level: The Barnbellow Estate

To call this ageing Edwardian mansion enormous would be an understatement; it's outside visage alone far dwarves any building in the village it is located in the outskirts of. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that much of the inside portion seems a lot smaller then it should do. That is because the house is built around several other buildings, going further and further back in history: as you advance deeper into the centre of the estate, the surroundings change from that of a Edwardian manor to a Jacobean church, then to the remains of a castle from the early Medieval period, and finally a cave containing relics from the Iron Age. And with each change in décor, more and more of the terrain seems to be coated in- and corrupted by- what appears to be blood soaked muscle and sinew contorted into screaming faces...



Boss: Lady Barnbellow

The Barnbellow Family were an affluent- and opulent- aristocracy that, even as World War 2 raged on, continued to live a life of luxury and comfort far away from any points of tactical relevance to the Axis forces. This luxury was shattered, however, when the body of the youngest heir of the family, Daniel Barnbellow, was found in a near unrecognisable state in the village's outskirts. Though the entire family was devastated, it was Lady Barnbellow who took it the hardest, rarely leaving her room and wailing into the early hours for her lost child. Things took a turn for the worst when, as the family played host to a number of equally affluent guests from around the council, Lady Barnbellow emerged from her room brandishing a knife; her grief replaced with rage, and frenzied screams that she knew the very unsavoury truth behind Daniel's passing, she proceeded to brutally murder all of the guests hosted that night- as well as her husband, before simply disappearing without a trace and leaving her other children and the staff to pick up the pieces. Her twisted up form now wanders the abandoned halls of the estate, face twisted into an expression of raw fury, her voice silenced in placed of the incessant scraping of an enormous blade across the stone floor. Though slow to move, Lady Barnbellow hits very hard and wields the large blade in her hands with a deft finesse that's only slightly undercut by the weight of the blade rendering her strikes heavy. Her furious gaze does nothing to make the fight easier; if anything, it might actually be slowing you down, too...

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IN-CHARACTER TRACK COMMENTARY FROM GONKAKA:

Shinji Namiki: I was very excited to work on this one. I'd served as the sound director for various games in the Wandering in the Dark series, with Barnbellow's Estate in particular containing some of what I consider to be my best work. The only real difference in my approach is that I allowed myself to use discernable vocal samples this time- I had a hard rule against recognisable words showing up in the music of BE, so as not to disrupt the atmosphere. Working on this felt like coming home- the track came together very quickly, and very smoothly.

Fumie Saso: I still get goosebumps at that second build-up, with the b-movie sample!

Shinji Namiki: On the other hand, I still feel excited when the section that follows it kicks in- your playing there, as well as your help designing the sound of the drums for the track, has a very “powerful” feel. Denji's violin playing in that section is also very exhilarating- for the grief I sometimes give him, he is very good at his job.

Denji Koshiro: You flatter me, old man.

Shinji Namiki: Don't push your luck.

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DECON'S TRACK COMMENTARY:

I'm trying to think of decent, insightful commentary for this one; all I've got is "damn I went the fuck off on this one tho lads". If you've been keeping up with my work across platforms, you'll know I've been putting a lot of effort and work into Barnbellow's Estate for the last few months- which is part of why it got shortlisted to be represented in Battlemania 2 in the first place- so this is a track I was looking forward to working on from the very start of the project. I initially debated doing a remix of I Hear You Run, I See You Hide for the stage, but the desire to write something wholly original + my noted dislike/difficulty with remixing/arranging things won out over that idea. And I'm really glad it did, cos holy cow, I'm dead proud of the end result. Those of you who are creative types will know that looking forward to working on a specific thing can be a double edged sword, from how stressful the workflow is or isn't to your feelings about the final product; there was a very real possibility that working on this could've sucked, and that I'd be disappointed in the end result. Neither were the case; though I did brush up on some of the usual tech issues (including a program crash- though thankfully only right at the end, when I was doing some extra bits to add to the track in post), the composing process went fairly smoothly, and I'm pleased as punch with the song in it's final state. I'm calling it now; this is a solid candidate for my favourite piece done for this project.

Respect must be paid to sources of inspiration, however; style wise, this song draws from the same hybrid of Devil May Cry x G Darius musical styles as I Hear You Run, I See You Hide- the general style template for the Pursuer Chase themes in the Barnbellow's Estate project- but it's specifically pulling from Cursed Giant and Flock Off! from DMC2 and DMC1, two of my favourite themes from the series. Another major aid in helping me get into "the zone" is this absolutely wonderful Barnbellow's Estate related commission I got from my friend Emily, aka Mushroomminded, who's comic Micoverse you should be reading right now.

I wanna take a moment to thank the project's co-director, co-writer, and illustrator (and my longtime friend and soulmate) Dio for being my rock not just all the time, but especially over these recent times; without her love and support, this project may well have crumbled under the weight of all the bullshit that's gone on behind the scenes, from the numerous technical hiccups down to the personal difficulties; she is absolutely the glue holding this entire project together. It was partially due to her suggestion that the Battlemania series continued past one album in the first place, at that, and I'm really glad she did both because it lead to songs like this, and because the compliments she gives me and pride she shows in what I do both publicly and behind the scenes always fills my heart with joy (there's a reason I call her my official Number 1 Fan after all~ 💛

Oh yes, and the fun fact of the day; the Sympathetic Nervous System is the nervous system that’s in control of a number of the human body’s unconscious processes; it’s main job is regulating and (when necessary) stimulating the Fight-or-Flight Response. No points for guessing why I titled a song for a “stage” based around a Clock Tower inspired “game” that, eh.

This song uses samples from the following sources:

- Hills of the Bronx (Héger Attila, Dobos Attila, András Magyari, Sallai Tibor, Bikics Tibor)

- a sample from LSD Dream Emulator's Sound Data

- Snob (Scratching) (Taihei Sato, Hiro)

- Amsterdam Waar Lech Dat Dan [Maastunnel Mix] (Euromasters)

It also uses the following sound effects from freesound(.)org:

- wind howl (swiftoid)

- Todays Thunder 16-06-2020 (subtax)