Music is a tool. Same as a hammer, music can be swung idly without much skill and still do its job. Yet in the hands of a master, it can create memories to last for entire generations. Music surrounds us-- in our cars, our businesses, our events and our idle times are all filled with someone's creative tune. Most of the time music is meant for background noise-- something to set the mood of what we are doing or watching so our ears won't need to dawdle. At least, most of the time.
In my last article I detailed how Killer Instinct manufactured its characters through music--its pounding beats and stylized theme grew characters to their max potential with hardly a second of dialogue. Yet what if we slowed it down? Set the pace for what lies beyond the borders of our narrow vision? Used our ears to draw out the tale the author wishes to tell?
Enter: Warframe, a game truly one-of-a-kind where you can play as an interplanetary space ninja killing clone armies, robot legions, space zombie hordes, and worse--much, much, worse. Yet for all the praise Warframe receives for its gameplay, I noticed a different reason to love it--Warframe's story.
In December, the developers of Warframe--Digital Extremes--released "The Second Dream," a mini-story within the game which is designed to provide one specific piece of information--"Who is the player?" No spoilers here, but it would be too little a praise to call the answer incredible. Many players outright melted upon the reveal, with one notable YouTuber breaking into tears. The quest was one of legend for its answer, its presentation, and, to me most notable of all, its music. The soundtrack for "The Second Dream" is simply titled, "The Second Dream." It plays at the exact moment when the game changes forever for the player, and is a masterpiece of not just scene-setting, but, surprisingly, storytelling.
To fully understand how the song, "The Second Dream," captures the story, one must understand the players in it. The main side of "good" in the game is the player's faction, the Tenno. The Tenno are the aforementioned "space ninjas" that are so powerful the entities who created them described them as "Warrior-gods." The Tenno have no "leader," only a guide who goes by the name of "The Lotus." Without spoiling any part of the story, just know that in order for the Lotus to be who she is required an incredible sacrifice, a sacrifice she did for the sole sake of the Tenno. The Tenno are many, numbering in the high thousands, but the Lotus is a singular character devoted to keeping them safe and protected in the cold dark of the far future.
Now knowing the basics of the story, have a listen to "The Second Dream." Pay very close attention to which instruments are used and what parts of the choir sing and when.
At the beginning you hear an Erhu--a Japanese string instrument based on pinching rather than plucking. Its raspy, foreign sound letting the listener know they are entering a world far different from our own yet, it is backed by violins. The world is ours, but marred, overtaken by change. Then come the Taiko drums, the drums of war, leading the listener into the dark that is this strange new world. A world overtaken by death and war, where no one is safe. Yet then in the dark comes the solo female vocalist, a Lotus flower blooming in the dark, showing that there is still beauty, hope, and goodness left in the forsaken future. She sings, calling out into the darkness. Who replies? A choir of children--her children--singing her song in refrain and in tandem aside the drums of war. Her children are warriors--warrior-gods, even--fighting for the only good left in a world marred by war, dread, despair and hate.
Warframe is a game like no other--evolving, reshaping and improving every day. Many love it for its gameplay, still others for its community, while others for its art style. Greatest of all, though, is its story. Warframe tells a story of hope in dark times, of how the weight of the world can be pressed upon a child's shoulders and the child will still stand defiant and strong. It might be for show, but it is not for money. This is a project of passions for its developers-- and though the process of development may sometimes be a nightmare, with the community at their backs as they practice their craft, we know it is not so much a nightmare as it is a lucid, Second Dream.
