Do you think each gym leaders should have their own battle theme?

[aGoodCabinet2]

Like Julia could have a High School Cheer theme mixed with electric guitars

Shade's could be one of those horror chases themes from indie horror games

 

Radomus could have big band jazz

 

And the circus trio could have a Circus themed battle song

 

Also, what I usually do is analyze the gym leader's specialty and field. And right before battle, I change the leader theme in the game's files to something more fitting.....am i the only one who does this?

Edited October 5, 2017 by aGoodCabinet2

[Chase]

I am a huge fan of leitmotifs, or certain musical phrases that are found in the entire score, so if we were to have multiple themes it should be with the caveat that a leitmotif is present in every one. Gym Leader themes unify a diverse cast. And there's something about that that pleases my ears. You know?

 

Caveat in consideration, a cinematic rock theme for Titania would be sick. And I liked Shade's distorted Johto Boss Theme back in the day. Count me in.

[Dreamy]

I don't think it's necessary as such, but I do think it would be awesome. Each one should still sound like a pokemon battle theme if you know what I mean.

There's a custom music pack that basically does this over in the mods section, but I've never properly got to try it out in game because it was made after my original playthrough, and it incompatible with the modified versions I've used/am planning to use for subsequent playthroughs.

I think it would be sweet if in the final version of reborn, each major character (leaders, rivals, meteor admins etc) had their own theme, though it might take a while to pick them all out. I guess it would also inflate the filesize a bit, but I doubt anyone cares all that much about that, the game is still small compared to most others.

[Filthy Casual]

I am a fan of the Paper Mario series. In that, each boss had an individual theme. It made them feel unique, as well as match their unique themes. As such, while it's not necessary, I think it would be really cool to see. Here are some thoughts I have for boss fight themes:

 

Julia:

Spoiler

 

 

Shelly:

Spoiler

Some of you may think this one is a bit too upbeat for Shelly, but I like to think this one because she's trying really hard to emulate her brother.

 

 

Serra:

Spoiler

 

 

Samson:

Spoiler

 

 

Ciel:

Spoiler

 

 

Adrienn:

Spoiler

This one I like to think has two boss themes, one for each phase of the fight.

 

When the fog is up:

Spoiler

 

When the fog is down:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Also, as a couple bonuses:

 

Amaria

Spoiler

 

 

Lin (or whatever the final battle is, as we still have no clue what that mysterious voice in the temple was):

Spoiler

 

 

Edited October 5, 2017 by Filthy Casual

[J-Awesome_One]

Terra's Theme would deff be this. xD

Spoiler

 

 

[Commander]

This is not an easy question to answer as it has to do with a couple factors but ultimately I don't believe you should give individual themes to all the leaders. First off, you will increase the game size A LOT. I didn't add that many and HC is about 1.5 times the size of regular Reborn just due to that. That's not the thing I want to talk about. Something I do want to talk about is what battle themes represent. A battle theme is a method to label of a group of people who serve a role usually applied to bosses. Most bosses share a theme with other bosses in I'd say almost all RPGs.

 

Individual themes are used to represent plot significant characters. Usually they are one who drive the plot and are one of the four or five most important characters in the game. I know someone mentioned Paper Mario, but Paper Mario is a very short game with only about 10 bosses. That's a very small amount compared to the average RPG's 30-60 range. That's why games usually make themes to group and represent bosses through that. Also, an issue with using a long and done is that it could make themes forgettable. Personally if I hear a theme I like, I love knowing I'll hear it again in the future.

[Monochrome_Complex]

As much as I would LOVE this it's simply too much of a size burden. It'd be awesome if every leader had a spin on the typical leader theme like a change in tempo or instruments or remixes to suit their character more(Julia's being more peppy and fast tempo'd, hardy's being more guitar driven and heavy) but alas this like mentioned above would increase the game's size too much. 

 

Terra and shade already have their own gym themes(bring back shade's pre-16 theme plz), so it technically has happened to some extent already. 

 

Personally in addition to the terra/shade one i'd have 3 gym themes: one for the more lighthearted gym battles(julia, shelly, ciel, adrienne), which ep16's gym theme fullfills. A more serious theme for the leaders who are more intense or serious(cory, kiki, radomus, florinia) using the older gym leader theme. I feel the 3rd one sort of covers the middle ground(aya, serra, luna, samson), maybe using a zinnia remix since tonally it sort of fits between the two.

 

As for personal picks of alternative themes from other games(just for fun), I feel this one fits Julia well, it totally sounds like her.

 

Spoiler

 

 

This one fits Corey well, the vent noises even fit him using poison gas for his field! The name is a bit messed up considering his fate though

Spoiler

 

 

This one for Kiki. I had trouble deciding between it and Ketsui no toki, which also fits her well. Ironically the song is called Aya lol.

Spoiler

 

 

For serra, the opening notes sound kind of crystaline and the violin hints at her sadness and regrets. The guitar gives off a sharp toughness which you expect from ice, beautiful but hard and sharp.

Spoiler

 

 

I really like this one for Luna

Spoiler

 

 

Edited October 5, 2017 by Monochrome_Complex

[Alistair]

Even without taking size into consideration, that would be a bit problematic. By adding a new theme for every gym leader, you would make sure that every one of them is heard only a single time. And I think it would make them less impactful and wouldn't work well in a game like Reborn.

 

Leader battles are steps evenly distributed along the game. Generally, they mark the end of an episode. In other words, every time you hear the Leader theme, and every time you power through that fight, you know you've progressed one step further in your journey and are one step closer to beating the league.

By changing the theme every time, you may make every fight (taken individually) feel more 'special', but you would also weaken the storytelling purpose of having a gym leader battle as the closing act of each episode. In my opinion players should hear that theme every time they face a leader, so they instantly realize it's that time again, their last true test of strength until next episode is released. 

 

The only current exception to this (other than Terra, whom I am intentionally ignoring) is Shade's theme, and it works for 3 reasons. First, Shade is a bit special even by leader standards, so it make sense for him to have a unique theme, more than it would for the others. Second, he and his gym are designed to be ultra sp00py and unsettling, so his theme should be equally sp00py. Third, his theme is really just the usual leader theme but reversed, so it doesn't really break the mold.

The other exception I'd be willing to hear, would be the Meteor Admin theme playing during Corey's battle if you outed him before the battle. I believe that would make sense, and suit him more than the current leader theme does.

[Guest]

Hello! I'm the guy that created the custom theme mod pack, which can be downloaded separately for the game. You can insert your own song choices with this mod as well, since all it does is individualize each trainer type in the .dat file. This mod will be updated soon with the release of e17, with more individualized themes, but I do recommend giving it a try to see if you like it! 

[Tapu Fufu]

No, but they should have their old gym theme back. It fits the gym battles more than Meteor boss battles.