Masashi Hamauzu (little side project)
 

Hey

Hamauzu has been sighted working on a little side project.

Oolongtea

Any comments about this?

Any chance of a translation or summary for those of us that don't speak or read the Moontongue?

Um, all I know is this:

He wrote this music:


Hamauzu music

From my extended knowledge about Hamauzu harmony, I can really say it's Hamauzu! This piece of music is the proof: oolongtea[1][63].mp3
In one of the other pieces he ends in first inversion of the tonal chord: oolongtea[1][61].

He uses the usual instrumentation of piano + violin. Some pieces sound like Musashiden II others sound like Saga Frontier II.

Oolong is supposed to be a tea from China, I drink it a lot.

Some of the samples are so short you can use them for a buzzer for msn.

Technically speaking, this is still game music. It has something to do with making tea.

Is there actual text to confirm his involvement or are you making the assumption based on the similarity in style? Does the game have anything to do with Square Enix or a subsidiary?

katchum, how'd you come across the fact that Hamauzu composed this? The game doesn't have any credits, and I didn't see his name anywhere. Naoshi Mizuta did the tunes to another game Gotmail did a while back (I ripped it), so Hamauzu doing one as well doesn't surprise me, but I'm just curious where the info came from.

It's an escape-from-the-room Flash game, the usual kind of game Gotmail makes. This one was actually pretty easy compared to the stuff they usually make. Beat it in less than twenty minutes and there was only one step that made me go "wait what."

Anyway. The game's an advertisement game for Suntory oolong tea. For the main part of the game, you make a cup of tea. And I really mean make here: you start by harvesting the tea leaves and processing them before you actually get to brewing. There's some frame story with a board meeting, probably where someone is explaining the process of making tea and then you actually act out the steps.

Or maybe you harvest and brew the tea during the meeting in a sign of ultimate disrespect for the ineffective salaryman of a manager who is dragging your unit down with him :D

Thanks for the summary! Katchum, I'll definitely check the track out, all kidding aside.

Ahh, fascinating. Based on your info, Hamauzu's involvement seems much more plausible. I learnt about Naoshi Mizuta's involvement in The Shochu Bar a while ago but I didn't realize that it was ripped. Thanks for that. Is the Internet game Elebest, composed by Square Enix's Ai Yamashita and Masayoshi Soken, also related to this company (and if so, did you ever rip it)?

Got confirmation Hamauzu did the music: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/s...uzu/index.html. His most recent post mentions there mentions the game.

And with that:

> download Oolong Tea Story ~Searching for Delicious Tea~ (Game Rip) <

Just a straight extraction from the Flash file that I tagged with track names and stuff. I'd guess the archive katchum posted has the same tracks, but I couldn't download it ("temporarily unavailable"), so I just ripped the music myself. Nine tracks, none more than forty seconds long, 3.6 MB total. Good times.

Never heard of the game until now, but it looks like a different developer. I'll check it out and see if I can rip it. I'm always up for Flash games done by higher profile composers.

Well, I have something official to announce too. I love you, CHz. I really appreciate you and Katchum making this obscure work known.

Even if there wasn't any official confirmation of Hamauzu's involvement, the music has his voice stamped all over it.

And next up:

> download Elebest (Game Rip) <

Another really short rip: 10 tracks totaling 4:14 in length. I actually really like the style here and wish the tracks were longer.

This is the first Flash game rip I've made where the extracted audio files actually had names, so I just stuck with those for the track names. Also, two of the tracks were actually tagged! This is why tracks 2 and 10 can definitely be credited to Soken, whereas the other eight are up in the air. Yamashita might have done them all, but I have no way to be sure.

Awesome stuff CHz, I'll be sure to check these two out. ;) Nice (ear) skillz, too, katchum!

So, it is not until someone posts in Gamingforce it's announced. Okay. ;)

Wonderful! Thanks again.

Personally, I'm inclined to say tracks 1, 4, and 6 are Soken too -- they're very much like Mario Basket 3 on 3 in terms of style. Tracks 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9 are maybe Yamashita.

Where I got the info from?

I have my French Hamauzu fan base site: Noctaventures.com doing all the work for me. Just wanted to promote some Hamauzu music.

Which means the info comes from Squaremusic, which also means it comes from SEMO, so...

Anyway, the link CHz gave definitely confirms Hamauzu's involvement.

This Hamauzu fan is delighted, and wishes to thank you very much!!!

Great find...I can really use some peaceful tunage right now.

Well I'm an idiot. Turns out PQTN announced it at SEMO even before this thread was made but I somehow skipped an entire page of posts. :p

I checked out Hamauzu's blog via a scattershot translation a-la Babelfish. :p
Not only did he mention Oolong Tea Story, but also that the Sigma Harmonics page was up.

So I went there, and...

...Oh crap.
...Oh Crap!
...OH CRAP!!!
HAVE YOU HEARD THAT TUNE YET?!? :o

If not, I have it Freecordered for you RIGHT HERE:
Sigma Harmonics (website version)

...now maybe the thread title should be expanded... ;)

^

Now THAT'S more like it. I didn't even know he was working on another project besides FFXIII. Something more to look forward to...

And pretty soon, too. Sigma Harmonics should be released this summer in Japan!

Thanks for the rip, squaretex, although I'm surprised you only discovered the website today! :p In any case, I can feel a FFX vibe in this sample, which is indeed rejoicing.

I was away and busy this weekend. :)

And I can see what you mean by it sounding like FFX. It kinda makes me think of a sadder version of "Thunder Plains", flavored with a bit of the Dirge of Cerberus feel.

My Hamauzu fan-boy is going crazy right now! Thanks for all the music and keeping us up to date!

I knew about Sigma Harmonics a while ago. You guys should keep an eye on Nobuooo for game music news.

I never even knew that website existed!
Thanks, new bookmark! :)