Our last entry was a song from a game that I would have put in a list of “Bad Video Games with Really Great Soundtracks”. Maybe not on the level of Sonic 06, but then again, what is? And this time, the song of choice is one that’s well made and does a good job of setting the mood for when it’s played. And that’s twisting a knife in your gut and bringing a tear to your eye.

I should also mention that this entry will contain SPOILERS!!! for a key moment in Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2. So if you haven’t beaten that game yet, you may want to skip this one. Otherwise, you probably already know what I’m talking about.

Day 18: Music that pulls at your heartstrings – Beyond Memories (SRW Original Generation 2)

The goal of many a video game music track is to aid in further investing the player’s emotions in the story. And there are many tracks that do the job to extreme efficacy. I won’t lie, I can usually hold my own in emotional scenes, but there are plenty of times where I felt my heart sink and my eyes tear up. There was even once where I outright cried, at the end of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The raw emotions of the scene combined with the powerful vocals of Why just…broke me.

And Super Robot Wars has what I would call a close second. A very close second, mind you. While the audio quality of OG2 isn’t as good as it’s prequel due to more songs being put in the same amount of memory, that doesn’t detract from the pieces themselves. And Beyond Memories is a song that will give you an emotional wring-out whenever it plays.

Two moments in the story stand out to me, at the climax of Operation Plantagenet and the end of the battle within the Earth Cradle. Those who know the story know what I mean. But of the two, I’d say the emotional knife got twisted a bit further was the former incident.

Operation Plantagenet was a joint operation between the Earth Federation Forces and the remnants of the Divine Crusaders, the Neo DC. Formerly enemies, the two armies arrived at an armistice to fight against a common foe, aliens who call themselves the Inspectors. The goal of this operation was to drive the Inspectors out of their last stronghold on Earth and back into space. And in spite of a coup that took place in the Earth’s government and the military, the crews of the Hagane and Hiryu Custom managed to liberate an important research lab as part of the operation.

But in the final phase of the operation, things go completely sideways. A combination of traitors from within the Neo DC and surprise reinforcements from a rouge force that allied themselves with the aliens inflict critical damage on our heroes, with the Hagane taking a shot directly to her bridge and propulsion systems. Her Captain, Daitetsu Minase, has no other choice than to call a retreat, but with enemies everywhere, it doesn’t look like all of the mech pilots will make it.

Then mysterious creatures known as the Einst appear and attack the Inspectors and their allies. Adding to this, the Neo DC commander rams his ship into the commanding alien mechs, sacrificing himself just long enough for the Hagane, Hiryu Custom, and all of the mech pilots to escape.

After they’re clear from the battlefield, the Hagane’s XO, Tetsuya Onodera, asks Daitetsu what his next orders are…but there aren’t any, nor will there ever be. Despite rallying his crew and the mech pilots in the critical moment of the fight, Captain Daitetsu’s wounds from when the Hagane was attacked were fatal. While the ship was speeding away to safety, he succumbed to them and passed.

Operation Plantagenet technically succeeded in it’s original goal, to drive the Inspectors back into outer space. But that came at the cost of many lives, including one of the bravest men in the entire OG series.

Captain Daitetsu was an excellent commander who truly cared for every man and woman serving under him. And the fact that he survived the previous game’s events left me completely unprepared for what happened. Combine that with Beyond Memories playing in the aftermath of the battle and during his funeral, and…jeez.

And I’ll be ending things on that note. After this, I think our next entry needs to be something that gets your blood pumping. See you there.

Live your way out…aye-aye, Captain…