After composing Squaresoft's Soukaigi for PSX in 1998, Kikuta, dissatisfied with the way RPGs were going, left Square to set up his own company Sacnoth. In 1999, serving a director, scenario writer, and composer, Kikuta and his team produced Koudelka, a turn based strategy RPG with horror elements. Kikuta has a very interesting background, he studied Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Cultural Anthropology, started out as a mangaka and an animator. He applied as a composer to Falcom and was rejected. He then applied to Squaresoft under Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito. He served as a debugger for Final Fantasy IV and Sound Effects for Romancing Saga. The music reel he presented during his interview was released as an album in 2006 [Kikuta's Lost Files]. I highly recommend reading his interviews and they give a fascinating insight into his creative process and philosophies;
Back to Koudelka, the story takes place in a fictitious Welsh Monastery over the course of All Hallows Eve and All Saint's Day in 1898. Koudelka is a mystic who is drawn to the monastery by a mysterious voice. There she meets Edward, an adventurer, and James O'Flaherty, a bishop. The three travel through the monastery to uncover a dark history. As a game you control Koudelka to explore the grounds of the Nemeaton Monastery. Several other characters cross their path, including a thief, two housekeepers and a seven year old girl. Random battles involve a grid based system where all three characters engage enemies. The survival horror elements of the game meant that there are no merchants or money system, items had to be found or dropped by enemies. Weapons broke, and magic levelled up in similar ways to Final Fantasy II's magic system.
Thankfully I was able to play this game before its sequel Shadow Hearts came out. Koudelka is much more serious in nature than its later counterparts. Though as a game it has a few forgivable minor flaws, the story is the game's true gem. The characters interact with each other as they move through the monastery. Kikuta did some incredible research into this game - it makes various nods to famous people and artists from history, such as Caravaggio, Michael Meyer, Copurnicus, Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) and Roger Bacon. The relationship between the characters James and Edward is often comical. The two have a love of poetry which at first they find they cannot agree on tastes, until they find a mutual appreciaition of Shakespeare. It is probably worth noting here that the character of Edward is based on Lord Dusany; Kikuta references this even in the name of his company [which in turn is the name of the best weapon in Koudelka - Dusany's short story with the sponimous magic sword "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth"]. The story dives into the world of the occult and alchemy, and the narrative has some rather disturbing and occasionally touching moments.
Kikuta's score for Koudelka is somewhat limited. The scenic pieces are not especially memorable, and the entire exploration of the monastery is left to ambience or complete silence. The opening theme Requiem is performed by Catherine Bott.
Bott, a British soprano, performed in Gregson-William's score for Kingdom of Heaven, and is part of Shiro Sagisu's 'special choir' for the Evangelion Rebuild scores, Bleach and Berserk Golden age films. I share a video of her performing Bach;
Koudelka's soundtrack contains a piece composed by Maurice Duruflé and arranged by Nick Ingman. Ubi Caritas et Amor. I don't believe it was actually used in the game, but it may have been intended as a title screen music.
Kikuta composed four battle themes for the game. Waterfall [Battle], Incantation Again [Boss], Patience and Kiss Twice [The Final Battles]. The first three were performed as progressive rock pieces arranged by Naoki Akimoto at a Live Event and are featured on the original soundtrack. Here is Kiss Twice;
Finally, my favourite piece is a string quartet piece by Kikuta and arranged by Ingman. It is used during a particular event scene where the characters encounter the 'voice' that summoned Koudelka to the Monastery, tying their fates together, as well as fleshing out James' character.
I remember having a save file just for this event, before I eventually getting the score a couple of years ago. Ultimately Koudelka was a financial disaster. Though the game was a massive four disc package, the first disc was over after an hour of gameplay. The reason for this was down to the lengthy cutscenes and FMVs that were fully voiced over and motion captured. There was barely any advertising for the game, but it did see a release outside of Japan in both America and Europe. The fusion of survival horror and RPG, though a innovative idea, didn't sink in with the gaming mainstream at the time, though the game has since gained a cult following. Kikuta left Sacnoth, which was bought out by Midway games who continued the game's story loosely into a 20th Century setting in the form of Shadow Hearts on PS2. The franchise saw three games before folding in 2007.
Kikuta has since gone on to compose several titles as a freelance composer, including Concerto Gate with Kenji Ito, and more recently Soul Calibur V with the Eminence Symphony Orchestra.
Kikuta's contributions to this score reflect on the fanchise's previous styles, while at the same time, several track do give nods to Koudelka's style. The Wandering Seer has similar percussive styles to Incantation Again.
I will conclude this post with Kikuta's Theme for Kilik. This one is performed by Eminence and is my favourite character theme from SCV.
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