Oh my god, this song. No, wait, too soon. Gotta set things up first. Hang on.

I’m not a big fan of self-flagellation on blog posts, so let’s keep that to a minimum. Schedules have been busy and I haven’t been posting as much as I should be. We’re gonna fix that. There you go.

Going forward, Mondays should mean music posts. My catalog has expanded in the last six months or so and there are all sorts of songs that I’m excited to talk about. And I had to start with this one.

I’ll be doing a full review of Trails of Cold Steel at some point, but it was something of a revelation to me. The Legend of Heroes was a series I’d always heard about but never really played (Ys and Wild Arms are also on that list). Taking a chance on Trails in the Sky produced tremendous returns, so much that I jumped out of order in the series to play Cold Steel with its modern things like “voice acting” and “refined game mechanics.” I loved it. Any JRPG fan should give it a look.

Into the Abyss is the Old Schoolhouse theme from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. It’s a mysterious recurring dungeon that you explore periodically throughout the game, and this track grew on me with each visit. It’s such a perfect fit: a curious, soulful tune with a quirky piano and strings that hit you right in the gut. I’ve been listening to this a ton in the last few months, probably to the point of annoyance for certain roommates (although Michaela doesn’t seem to mind).

Music to My Ears covers soundtracks or individual songs from video games. You can view all posts in the series by clicking here.