Octopath Traveler II OST - Ku, Land of the Scarlet Sunset - Yasunori Nishiki (Piano)

Octopath Traveler II OST - Ku, Land of the Scarlet Sunset - Yasunori Nishiki (Piano)
Song: Ku, Land of the Scarlet Sunset / 朱き晩陽のク国
Original Artist: Yasunori Nishiki / 西木 康智
Video Game: Octopath Traveler II / オクトパストラベラーⅡ
Piano arrangement by eLEDiem

Hello! Here's my arrangement of the Ku theme from Octopath Traveler II. I've been really busy lately, but I love this song and this game so much I just had to make this arrangement. :) The song itself is very short, so I ended up playing it one time through as it sounds in the original and then doing a lot of variations for fun.

Original Song ~ 0:00 - 1:38
This is my attempt to faithfully replicate the feeling of the Ku theme (Day version) on piano. 0:26 was one of my favorite sections to play because I always have a lot of fun with three-hand parts and that piano riff in the original is just beautiful. 0:50 was interesting trying to capture the drums and erhu on piano xD Drums translated pretty well with a rhythmic left hand and right thumb/index finger. For the erhu vibrato and slides, I wasn't sure what the most comparable technique was on piano. I tried tremolo but that didn't feel quite right, so I tried emphasizing the erhu part mainly via dynamics.

Sparkly Variation 1 ~ 1:38 - 2:48
I wanted this section to keep the flowiness and drum patterns from the first part, but create contrast with higher octaves and a much lighter, bouncier feel. I also tried introducing some right hand staccato counter-melodies and sparkly 2-octave arpeggios which are setting up for faster versions which span across the whole piano in the 3rd variation.

Serious Variation 2 ~ 2:48 - 3:13
This section is a return to the lower octaves and mainly a way to transition to Hikari's theme. :)

Hikari Interlude ~ 3:13 - 3:38
I really wanted to reference Hikari's theme in this arrangement since the Hikari and Ku themes sound really good together, and because I'm a huge fan of mashing up related leitmotifs. For example, Apex of the World, the final map theme for one of the routes in Fire Emblem Three Houses, is one of my favorite battle themes since it remixes a lot of important themes used throughout the game (Edge of Dawn, Spirit Dais, Fodlan Winds) and cranks up the energy to 1000.

Epic Battle Variation 3 ~ 3:38 - 4:17
Speaking of cranking up the energy to 1000, I thought it would be really interesting to imagine an intense "battle" version of such a relaxing song. Even though such a version of the Ku theme doesn't exist in Octopath Traveler II, I was once again really inspired by how a lot of battle themes in Fire Emblem often have two drastically different versions (e.g. Calm/Ablaze in FE Awakening, Calm/Roar in FE Fates, Rain/Thunder in FE Three Houses, etc.).

Ending ~ 4:17 - 4:52
I guess this is the calm after the battle lol. I thought returning to a peaceful interpretation would be a good way to finish the song.

#オクトパストラベラーⅡ #octopathtraveler #octopathtraveler2 #octopathtravelerii #朱き晩陽のク国 #Ku #西木 康智 #YasunoriNishiki #Piano #Instrumental #videogames