[NES] Dragon Quest - "Finale" by LeviR.star

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Dragon Quest
Game: Dragon Quest
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Finale
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: LeviR.star

[LeviR.star]

One of the last two sheets needed to finish off the original Dragon Quest. Not much to say about this, aside from:

- the 16ths on page 2 are kinda tricky, so I simplified things a little to make the LH more manageable. Let me know your thoughts
- the original tremolos in m. 32 - 33 have alternating sixths, but I thought that, by moving things around, it'd be easier to interpret. Should I change them back? They're the same chords either way
- is that 2nd layer 16th on beat 2.75 in m. 9 even legal? I had troubles coming up with a sensible solution

[Latios212]

Nice work! A few comments:
- The ascension in m. 5-6 is kinda weird to read with so many flats. I'd recommend respelling m. 6 with sharps instead (outlining B major and D major chords instead of Cb and Ebb)
- Double barline at keysig change at the end of m. 16
- The lower layer in the first half of m. 15 should match the second half - did you adjust this so it'd fall within an octave of the melody?
- The courtesy Ab at the beginning of m. 21 seems unnecessary
- In m. 25 it sounds like the top melody plays a short Bn on beat 4. I'm not sure if that's worth writing in
- I think the LH note in the last measure also plays in sync with the RH instead of being held the whole time?

- the 16ths on page 2 are kinda tricky, so I simplified things a little to make the LH more manageable. Let me know your thoughts
- is that 2nd layer 16th on beat 2.75 in m. 9 even legal? I had troubles coming up with a sensible solution

Neither of these are particularly comfortable to play, but I think they're alright and not too terribly demanding. Since you're already messing with the inversions of the arpeggios anyway, in the first half of m. 17 I'd suggest just writing in an alternating D/Bb instead of what you have as it's somewhat of an awkward reach as you have it now from the Eb-Bb dyad to the high G. This would come at the cost of the G but the Ebmaj7 harmony is already apparent.

- the original tremolos in m. 32 - 33 have alternating sixths, but I thought that, by moving things around, it'd be easier to interpret. Should I change them back? They're the same chords either way

I think this is good as you wrote it, it's much easier to play this way without sounding super different!

[LeviR.star]

Sorry for not getting around to this earlier, it's been a rough couple of weeks for me.

- The ascension in m. 5-6 is kinda weird to read with so many flats. I'd recommend respelling m. 6 with sharps instead (outlining B major and D major chords instead of Cb and Ebb)
- Double barline at keysig change at the end of m. 16
- The lower layer in the first half of m. 15 should match the second half - did you adjust this so it'd fall within an octave of the melody?
- The courtesy Ab at the beginning of m. 21 seems unnecessary
- In m. 25 it sounds like the top melody plays a short Bn on beat 4. I'm not sure if that's worth writing in
- I think the LH note in the last measure also plays in sync with the RH instead of being held the whole time?
- Neither of these are particularly comfortable to play, but I think they're alright and not too terribly demanding. Since you're already messing with the inversions of the arpeggios anyway, in the first half of m. 17 I'd suggest just writing in an alternating D/Bb instead of what you have as it's somewhat of an awkward reach as you have it now from the Eb-Bb dyad to the high G. This would come at the cost of the G but the Ebmaj7 harmony is already apparent.

- ah, I knew there would be issues with that spot. See, I had a feeling it was wrong, too, but I didn't know for sure how to spell m. 6 so I treated it as a diminished chord, no matter how many flats ended up in there
- right, thank you. That key change was a late addition, figures I'd forget the double barline
- I did, but now that you mention it, I think that part should be manageable even when changed to match the original. Thank you for pointing that out
- on second thought, it is a bit redundant, isn't it? Fixed
- I took a closer listen, and determined that the B is the second layer's beat 3 fading out; if I remember right, this caught my attention during the arranging process. So you're correct, it's not worth writing in
- by muting the other two channels, I've confirmed that the note is indeed sustained through
- assuming you meant m. 17, yes, I can do that

The files are updated. Thank you for the feedback, Latios.

[Latios212]

- ah, I knew there would be issues with that spot. See, I had a feeling it was wrong, too, but I didn't know for sure how to spell m. 6 so I treated it as a diminished chord, no matter how many flats ended up in there

It wasn't wrong before, there's just generally not a definitively optimal way to spell things "correctly" when dealing with diminished chords. So go with ease of reading instead - this is certainly more straightforward now.

assuming you meant m. 17

lol whoops we both meant m. 18 but you got it

Changes look good to me! Approved

[Bloop]

Looking pretty good! Mostly some playability things I noticed:
-m9: You could move the R.H. E on beat 2.5 down an octave (like in the original) and put it in the L.H.: the L.H. can easily get there, the R.H. part becomes a bit easier to play and it brings out the melody voice a bit more.
-m19-20: You could actually put the 16th note part of the L.H. in the R.H. instead, I personally find that a bit easier to play and you'll be able to have some space for the L.H. to take a break from the 16th workout. If you wanna keep it in the L.H. though, that's fine too ^^
-m21: The Bb-C 9th on beat 3.5 in the L.H. is quite hard to reach for me in this context. There isn't really a good way to work around that though, so maybe you could just put one of the two notes in parentheses (probably the Bb)?
-m34: It sounds like the L.H. part also plays the triplet + quarter note in beat 2-3, instead of just holding a half note.

[LeviR.star]

-m9: You could move the R.H. E on beat 2.5 down an octave (like in the original) and put it in the L.H.: the L.H. can easily get there, the R.H. part becomes a bit easier to play and it brings out the melody voice a bit more.
-m19-20: You could actually put the 16th note part of the L.H. in the R.H. instead, I personally find that a bit easier to play and you'll be able to have some space for the L.H. to take a break from the 16th workout. If you wanna keep it in the L.H. though, that's fine too ^^
-m21: The Bb-C 9th on beat 3.5 in the L.H. is quite hard to reach for me in this context. There isn't really a good way to work around that though, so maybe you could just put one of the two notes in parentheses (probably the Bb)?
-m34: It sounds like the L.H. part also plays the triplet + quarter note in beat 2-3, instead of just holding a half note.

- hey, great idea! I was so invested in the RH there I had forgotten to check what the LH is playing
- works for me; if the 16th pattern can be shared by the RH in m. 24, the same can be done here
- yeah, I can do that
- I listened to that part again, and while the triangle is sustained as I had previously observed, the Pulse 2 channel is on the same octave and uses the triplet figure, so I'll change what I have to match that

Thank you for the detailed notes, Bloop, the files are updated.

[Bloop]

Awesome, then I'll accept!

[Zeta]

This submission has been accepted by Bloop.

~Zeta, your friendly NSM-Bot