Music of Xenoblade Chronicles

The music of Xenoblade Chronicles consists of 99 officially released pieces of music as well as 54 remixes, split across several official releases. Manami Kiyota was the lead composer; ACE+, Yoko Shimomura and Yasunori Mitsuda also contributed to composing music for the game. Sarah Àlainn sang the ending theme.
The music of Future Connected is partially distinct from that of base Xenoblade Chronicles (and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition), in the sense that several tracks play in one which do not play in the other. However, the overlap in music between the two is significant enough that treating them together is more appropriate than treating them separately; unless otherwise specified, "the music of Xenoblade Chronicles" will refer to both the base game and Future Connected in the following article.
==Functionality in-game==
Slightly under half the tracks were used in cutscenes, with the remainder being split among music that plays in the overworld outside of battle ('area themes'), that which plays during battle ('battle themes'), and music that plays in menus ('menu themes'). There is, however, overlap, particularly with regards to the battle themes: it is very common that the music of a scripted battle begins playing in the preceding cutscene. In most areas, there is separate music that plays during the day and the night; areas for which this is not the case are usually interior in some way, such as and . (The main exception is Colony 6, whose music changes depending upon the level of reconstruction.) Area themes that play specifically during the day may be energetic or calm depending on the area, although those that play during the night are always relatively subdued.
Area themes that play during the day are typically named after the area in which they play. If an area has a separate night theme, it is always distinguished by suffixing "(Night)" to the name. Battle themes and cutscene themes have no overarching naming schemes.
===Priority===
In Xenoblade Chronicles, different enemies use different battle themes. However, it is possible for multiple enemies which use different battle music to be engaged in battle at once. To determine which music should play, the game uses a priority system: internally, each enemy has an associated number stored with their music, and the enemy with the highest number is the one whose battle music has priority. The following is a general ordering of which battle music tends to take priority, ordered from highest to lowest priority:
* A Tragic Decision, Zanza the Divine, and The God-Slaying Sword
* Visions of the Future (if a Vision tag has been shattered earlier in the fight)
* Enemies Closing In (if a party member is incapacitated or at very low )
* Other boss/story fight themes (chiefly An Obstacle in Our Path)
* You Will Know Our Names
* Fogbeasts
* 'Standard' battle themes (Time to Fight!, Hostile Gazes, , etc.)
==Musical style==
Much of the music was recorded live; there are some pieces that use synthesised instruments, and the tracks have varying instrumentations and styles, including full orchestra, string quartet, and more avant-garde rock-inspired music.
Unlike many other games in the series, Xenoblade Chronicles uses motifs to a very limited extent. Their main usage is in area themes, where the day and night themes of an area (and the Colony 6 area themes) are often (but not always) remixes of one another. In cutscene and battle themes, their usage is rare.
==Track titles==
When the track titles were first released alongside the Xenoblade Original Soundtrack in 2010, there was no English translation provided, and therefore they were typically referred to by transliterating from the original Japanese.
Official localisations for some tracks were provided in the Xenoblade Chronicles Special Soundtrack in 2011, and the rest of the tracks were localised in 2015 with Xenoblade Chronicles 3D. However, not all localised names were adopted immediately by English-speaking fans; even years later, some tracks (in particular 'Unfinished Business') are still frequently referred to by their localised titles (in this case, 'Unfinished Battle') by English-speaking fans.
Some of the localised names were reformatted in the Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Original Soundtrack to be closer to the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Original Soundtrack's styling. The only affected songs were the night themes as well as Ending Theme - Beyond the Sky, which became merely Beyond the Sky.
==Changes in Definitive Edition==
In Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, almost all of the battle and area themes in the game were redone. Specifically, all of the tracks from the 3rd and 4th discs of the Xenoblade Original Soundtrack, as well as Engage the Enemy, A Tragic Decision, Zanza the Divine, and The God-Slaying Sword, were redone. In all cases, this meant rerecording in higher quality, although almost all tracks were slightly altered from their originals; many had the balance of their instrumentation changed (e.g. A Tragic Decision), some received new instruments or melody lines (e.g. An Obstacle in Our Path), and a small number even had existing melody lines significantly changed (e.g. ). The game includes the option of playing the original or redone versions of the music.
In addition, several new tracks were composed for Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected:
* Bionis' Shoulder
* Bionis' Shoulder/Night
* Time to Fight! (Bionis' Shoulder)
* Fogbeasts
* Gran Dell
* Gran Dell/Night
* Roar from Beyond
* Beyond the Sky (Acoustic Arrange)
===Event Theatre glitch===
Due to a glitch, when viewing cutscenes through the Event Theatre in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, some cutscenes will have no music. Other cutscenes have the ordinary music replaced with the area theme of the location where the cutscene is set. The reason for this is unknown.
==Official releases==
===Xenoblade Original Soundtrack===
The Xenoblade Original Soundtrack is the most complete official release of the music of the main game of Xenoblade Chronicles, containing almost all of the music used in that game. It consists of 91 tracks split across four discs. The soundtrack was released on the 23rd of June, 2010, only in Japan.
The first two discs primarily include cutscene themes and menu themes, while the 3rd and 4th discs contain area themes and battle themes. The music in the latter two discs is broadly arranged in gameplay order, with the area themes arranged in the order that a player would be likely to encounter them (those that play during the day preceding those that play during the night), and with battle themes interspersed roughly evenly throughout. (There are some exceptions, such as playing after Agniratha, Mechonis Capital.) The ordering of the music in the first two discs is similar, with the tracks broadly being placed in the order of specific cutscenes in which they play.
Some tracks were shortened for the Xenoblade Original Soundtrack, such as A Tragic Decision and Intrigue, both of which have sections that play in-game that do not play in the OST.
===Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Original Soundtrack===
The Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Original Soundtrack is a complete official release of the music of , consisting of the Definitive Edition remixes of applicable tracks as well as all tracks which were not remixed. In addition, it contains the 8 new tracks used in Future Connected. The soundtrack is set to be released internationally on the 2nd of August, 2023.
The contents of the soundtrack are also included as part of the Xenoblade Chronicles Original Soundtrack Trinity Box.
===Xenoblade Chronicles Special Soundtrack===
The Xenoblade Chronicles Special Soundtrack includes 12 tracks from Xenoblade Chronicles and was initially released on a single CD in Japan on the 10th of June, 2010. It was also released on a CD in 2011 with the Australian version of the game, and was made digitally available in August of 2011 via Nintendo of Europe's Club Nintendo website.
==="The Music of Xenoblade Chronicles 3D" Video Series===
On April 8th, 2015, Nintendo uploaded five promotional videos with arranged versions of several tracks from the game. Main Theme was rearranged by Sachiko Miyano, while , You Will Know Our Names, Engage the Enemy, and were rearranged by Tomori Kudo. Oddly, these songs were not present within Xenoblade Chronicles 3D itself. 
===3DS Jukebox===
In Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, the Collection Mode included a 'Jukebox' feature which allowed the player to listen to music tracks from the game, with the number of available tracks increasing as the player advances through the story. The full set of available tracks is the same as that of the Xenoblade Original Soundtrack; tracks from the first two discs (with the exception of ) are marked with a red gem, tracks from the 3rd and 4th discs are marked with a green gem, and (unique for being the only track on the OST which does not play in Xenoblade Chronicles 3D) is marked with a blue gem.
The Jukebox is notable in that its track list was the first time that many of the tracks of the game received official localisations into English, as the Xenoblade Original Soundtrack was only available in Japanese.
===Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Sound Selection‎===
The Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Sound Selection is a selection of 20 tracks from the music of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, released on the 29th of May, 2020 in Europe, Japan, and Australia as a part of the Collector's Editions of the game in those regions. All tracks on the Sound Selection had either been remastered for the Definitive Edition or were otherwise new to it.
===YouTube crossfade video===
On April 4th, 2023, a crossfade video featuring snippets of songs from the Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Original Soundtrack was released on Procyon Studio's YouTube channel to promote the upcoming album.
The tracks included were:
* Main Theme
* Colony 9 (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Time to Fight! (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Hometown (Definitive Edition ver.)
* An Obstacle in Our Path (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Engage the Enemy (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Gaur Plain (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Frontier Village (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Eryth Sea (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Alcamoth, Imperial Capital (Definitive Edition ver.)
* You Will Know Our Names (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Valak Mountain/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Mechanical Rhythm (Definitive Edition ver.)
* The Fallen Land/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Mechonis Field (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Agniratha, Mechonis Capital (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Zanza the Divine (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Beyond the Sky
* Bionis' Shoulder
* Time to Fight! (Bionis' Shoulder)
* Fogbeasts
* Gran Dell
* Roar from Beyond
* Beyond the Sky (Acoustic Arrange)
===Twitter crossfade videos===
On April 2023, several crossfade videos featuring snippets of songs from the Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Original Soundtrack were released on Procyon Studio's Twitter account to promote the upcoming album. Unlike the video posted on YouTube, these were shorter and focused on each composers' contributions, along with one for the album as a whole. Listed below are the tracks included.
General crossfade video:
* Main Theme
* Colony 9 (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Time to Fight! (Definitive Edition ver.)
* An Obstacle in Our Path (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Engage the Enemy (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Gaur Plain (Definitive Edition ver.)
* You Will Know Our Names (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Hidden Machina Village (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Zanza the Divine (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Beyond the Sky
* Time to Fight! (Bionis' Shoulder)
* Gran Dell
* Roar from Beyond
* Beyond the Sky (Acoustic Arrange)
ACE's crossfade video:
* Gaur Plain (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Gaur Plain/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* An Obstacle in Our Path (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Valak Mountain (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Valak Mountain/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* A Tragic Decision (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Zanza's World (Definitive Edition ver.)
* The God-Slaying Sword (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Bionis' Shoulder
* Bionis' Shoulder/Night
* Fogbeasts
* Roar from Beyond
Kenji Hiramatsu's crossfade video:
* Engage the Enemy (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Enemies Closing In (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Hostile Gazes (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Visions of the Future (Definitive Edition ver.)
* You Will Know Our Names (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Mechanical Rhythm (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Irregular Bound (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Mechonis Field (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Central Factory (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Agniratha, Mechonis Capital (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Agniratha, Mechonis Capital/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* The End Lies Ahead (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Time to Fight! (Bionis' Shoulder)
Manami Kiyota's crossfade video:
* Tephra Cave (Definitive Edition ver.)
* In the Refugee Camp (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Colony 6 - Rebuilding (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Satorl Marsh (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Forest of the Nopon (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Frontier Village (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Eryth Sea/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Alcamoth, Imperial Capital (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Sword Valley (Definitive Edition ver.)
* The Fallen Land (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Hidden Machina Village (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Bionis' Interior/Pulse (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Zanza the Divine (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Gran Dell
Yoko Shimomura's crossfade video:
* Main Theme
* Prologue A
* Prologue B
* Colony 9 (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Colony 9/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Time to Fight! (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Hometown (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Hometown/Night (Definitive Edition ver.)
* Unfinished Business
* Shulk and Fiora
* Epilogue
Yasunori Mitsuda's crossfade video:
* Beyond the Sky
* Beyond the Sky (Acoustic Arrange)
===Composer and artist uploads===
People involved in the music of Xenoblade Chronicles have made posts to social media featuring covers of tracks they were involved with. Examples include Manami Kiyota, who has posted to her Twitter short piano covers of Satorl Marsh (Night)https://twitter.com/manamikiyota/status/1402846337759023104 and In the Refugee Camphttps://twitter.com/manamikiyota/status/1535160138369478656, and Sarah Àlainn, who posted a partial cover of Ending Theme - Beyond the Sky to her YouTube channel.
==Unreleased music==
Unlike the music of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country, short jingles that play in the overworld or in menus (for example, that which plays when the party discovers a for the first time) have not been included on any official release of the game's music. The list of jingles is as follows:
* Collectopaedia Category Complete
* Collectopaedia Area Complete
* Location Discovered
* 
* 
==In other media==
* The original version of the track You Will Know Our Names is playable in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 under certain circumstances. You Will Recall Our Names and Those Who Stand Against Our Path are named after Xenoblade Chronicles tracks.
* Several tracks appear in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (and/or Future Redeemed) in some form:
** Shulk and Fiora, Time to Fight! (Definitive Edition ver.), Colony 9 (Definitive Edition ver.), Colony 9/Night (Definitive Edition ver.), and Fogbeasts, as well as the Collectopaedia Category Complete and jingles, play in-game.
** Various tracks in the music of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are remixes of Sword Valley (Night), , and Time to Fight! (Bionis' Shoulder).
** Motifs from Engage the Enemy, , , Alcamoth, Imperial Capital, , and Hometown appear in other music tracks in XC3.
** is mentioned by name (in a music context), and You Will Know Our Names is referenced in field dialogue. You Will Know Our Names - Finale is named after You Will Know Our Names. A is named after .
* Several tracks from the Xenoblade Original Soundtrack are playable in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, playing on the and (in Ultimate) the stages. In addition, the Xenoblade Chronicles Medley was arranged for these games and can play under the same circumstances. Finally, an excerpt from You Will Know Our Names is used as Shulk's .
* In Super Mario Maker, plays as the course completion jingle when using the Shulk costume.
* In , when the player is using the themed skin, the background music in-game switches to Time to Fight!, , and You Will Know Our Names (depending on how many players are left in the game). The ending theme also changes to Colony 6 - Future if the player achieves a Tetris Maximus and Gaur Plain (Night) otherwise. In all cases, the arranged versions of the tracks from the Definitive Edition are used.
* Remixes of You Will Know Our Names and Engage the Enemy were made for Project X Zone 2. Chapter 6 in this game, which focuses on Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenosaga characters, is called 'You Will Know Our Names'.
* You Will Know Our Names and were each performed on both day 1 and day 2 of Nintendo Game Music Live!, a series of performances of Nintendo music by rock band and big band as part of the Nintendo Switch Experience event on 14/15 January 2017.
* Several tracks from the game's music were arranged into the and performed at the 2011 PRESS START concert.
* Beyond the Sky is available in Karaoke JOYSOUND for Nintendo Switch.https://twitter.com/PROCYONSTUDIO/status/1686621646256582656
==References==
==External Links==
* Manami Kiyota's notes on recording the music for Definitive Edition
* CHiCO's notes on producing music for the game and recording for Definitive Edition
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