Frederic struggling with the medium

I previously wrote about Frederic: Resurrection of Music. I’m glad I did, because I had forgotten that the game is also available on Nintendo Switch, where we can play with touch controls. It makes our life easier. However, since I bought the game on Steam anyway, I decided to install it today and give it a try with the computer keyboard. It was quite the hellish experience! It’s so annoying to play. I read that, instead of using ‘asdf’ for the left hand and ‘wer’ for the right hand, people used ‘hjk’ for the right hand while keeping ‘asdf’ for the left hand. As for me, I hit all the wrong notes, thank you very much. Maybe I also hit all the right notes in the wrong places and the wrong notes in every other place. The fact is, I didn’t get the Musicality result at the end of the level and therefore couldn’t move on to the next one. 

Enter the mouse! Do you think it’s ridiculous to play a rhythm game with a mouse? I agree, but I hit those notes, all right!? I cleared the game on ‘too easy’ and ‘normal’ difficulty. Now I’m working on the ‘hard’ mode. If the Steam Deck has touch screen support, maybe it could be a nice game to add to your library. It’s very fun, if you happen to enjoy Chopin and don’t mind weird remixes. I found them very refreshing, albeit a bit nonsensical. I didn’t know I could use the mouse for musical things. It was almost like experiencing a very hard boss fight using the controller: shaky hands, and a slight discomfort in my right hand. Serves me right. I didn’t pay much attention to the story this time, but there’s a little story between each level, fully voiced. I still enjoy this game, even after all these years.

It’s a bummer that the game left the Apple store for some reason. The developer, Forever Entertainment, is still registered there but the game isn’t available anymore.

https://vimeo.com/1048387268

The musical instrument mouse was effective for the normal difficulty during Nocturne Es-dur Op. 9 Nr. 2, but not for the hard difficulty, which required some keys to be pressed simultaneously and featured speedy transitions that a mouse simply couldn’t handle. There are limits! Bottom line, playing with a mouse is possible to an extend, especially if you’re just aiming to see this short game through. I could say it was a cozy game if not for the hassle with the controls.

#casualGames #chopin #classicalMusic #foreverEntertainmentSa #fredericResurrectionOfMusic #gaming #mobileGames #nintendoSwitch #pcGames #pcGaming #rhythmGames #steam #steamRhythmFest #VideoGames

Yesterday I watched the selected games on the Steam Rhythm Fest. I’m interested in some games and at least two were already on my wishlist, mostly indie titles. Suddenly I saw a game I didn’t know existed for PC. Frederic: Resurrection of Music is a music game I’ve played on my now deceased iPhone around its release date in 2012 or 2014. I don’t remember exactly, but I saw it on the App Store and decided to buy it. It was such a joy to play! The touch screen made it very easy to tap the notes at the right moment. There was a little story about Chopin’s ascension to rock-stardom and the levels worked like battles against several cool opponents (like bosses) that Chopin met along the way. I’m writing this from memory, so please exercise caution. The art was stylized and the music included in the game was remixed with rock, pop and hip-hop elements but still retaining the original melodies in a recognizable state. 

The classical pianist Maria João Pires, who now has the beautiful age of 80, came to mind when I installed the game. When she released her Nocturnes in 1996 she already enjoyed international recognition for her solid career. However, the Nocturnes, released by Deutsche Grammophon, was the album that propelled her out of classical music circles. My mother bought the CD and we listened to the beautiful opera together. Before I started the game, I tried to channel a tiny little bit of Maria João Pires into the tip of my fingers. It didn’t go well at first, but with some practice and perseverance I got good at the game. I just had to wait for the moment the little music notes reached my digital keyboard and tap them at that exact instant. My sense of rhythm was nonexistent but the melodies I was very familiar with. 

I don’t remember if the Revolutionary Étude, op. 10, nr. 12, was included in the game but I’m almost sure it was one of the last bosses. Oh man, I nailed it like Seiros nailed the skies! If it wasn’t the Étude it was something else super hard to play and I got it anyway because I remember having finished the game with great scores and then I played it all over again. My favorite interpretation of the Revolutionary Étude is from Vladimir Horowitz and fortunately it’s on YouTube. I love how the right hand notes softly hang in a bliss while the left hand flies in a pattern of hasteful perfection. It’s like if we’re running away from oppression and still singing. We can still sing. 

Which platform should I choose to play Frederic again? I don’t think I can see myself playing on my laptop keyboard but I may try. I already mess up when I’m writing text and to play games with combat I prefer to use a controller, so I barely use mouse and keyboard outside of visual novels anyway. My younger self is telling me I’m the untrvest person in existence. I resurrected my Nintendo Switch and there it is! Frederic: Resurrection of Music and Frederic 2: Evil Strikes Back! And I can play with the touch screen on the Switch. Also, the game is so cheap and it offers simple fun so I think I’ll add it to my Steam library as a record of my weird game choices.

https://swordofseiros.wordpress.com/2024/08/20/the-resurrection-of-frederic/

#blaugust #blaugust2024 #chopin #classicalMusic #fredericResurrectionOfMusic #gaming #nintendoSwitch #pcGaming #rhythmGames #steam #steamRhythmFest #VideoGames

Check out #RhythmRabbit at #SteamRhythmFest from today till the 27th!

🎮 Try the demo & Wishlist the game:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2346450/Rhythm_Rabbit/

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