I was sitting here, talking on Giant Bomb. Of course, it's Game of the Year time here on the internet, and everybody's talking nonstop about what games they think deserve to be nominated and for which categories. In a thread about ilomilo, I posted that I didn't think that game was going to be something I seriously considered. A lot of people have been praising the music, as it's quite cheery and unique, but I didn't think it compared to many of the best songs I heard in games this year. I posted examples.

Rucks said:

Then the boy heard somethin' he hadn't heard in a long time. Now how'd that go again?..


...yeah, that's it.

Suddenly, a wave of emotion carried over me. I NEEDED to write about this song. So indulge me, if you will, as I ramble about what is probably already one of the most discussed moments of the year. I will be talking about some specific story beats of Bastion, though, so perhaps stop reading if you haven't yet played Bastion. You really should play Bastion as fresh as you can.

Bastion is a weary game. Similar to Infinity Blade, it is about cyclicality. Through its final moments and the New Game Plus, the game establishes that a trust in mankind to not repeat its mistakes is folly. There's an implicit statement that mankind's nature is to war; the Caelondians and the Urans are incapable of resolving their differences without the Calamity, and The Kid is the only one who can resolve them even then.

Build That Wall, of course, is a representation of that conflict, a thinly veiled threat at Caelondia from Ura. Caelondia continues to wall off the City, and Ura keeps "digging their holes." The Urans are somewhat dwarf-like in that they live underground and are technologically advanced; however, there's an emphasis on East Asian visuals and culture in their presentation. Ultimately, I'm not sure that cultural distinction pays off; Caelondia is certainly more European/American, but there's no evidence that either is encroaching on each other's cultures. And, of course, the designer of the Calamity is Zia's Uran father, which carries few analogues within either the cultural or military/political relationship between the West and the East. What the distinction does is establishes the Urans as perhaps more traditional culturally, while our two examples of Caelondians are heavy drinkers with a taste for western heroes (as evidenced by the game's musical score and their use of spirits as an upgrade, among other things.)

Perhaps, then, that's why Build That Wall is minimalistic; while the song is played on an acoustic guitar (associated with the Spanish traditionally and Americans nowadays,) it evokes many elements of slave spirituals, adding to its extracultural nature. There's a popular explanation as to the sweetness of Zia's vocals; she does not know the meaning of the lyrics because she was brought up in Caelondia, and only sings the song because her father sang it. However, The Kid is familiar with the song; I'd requote the bit Rucks says when you first hear it, but it's literally right above the video. Two explanations for that one; either The Kid is familiar with the song before the Calamity or has some limited memory of previous Bastion-based time-loops.

Of course, the game begins questioning whether we're at the beginning of the story or not. There's nothing presented to tell us this isn't where the story probably started, except for that this might not be The Kid's first trip through the world post-Calamity. This...is cool, but ultimately is similar to the Inception-ending mental wankery a lot of folks got really, REALLY into. So let's just assume maybe The Kid knows the song because he's simply familiar with it, but it's been a long time since he's heard it. If Build That Wall is at least known amongst people in the City, its meaning is probably known by at least a few. If Zia does know the meaning of the song, maybe it enforces what we already know from having played the game; she wants to know more about the Ura, and willingly goes with them when the Bastion is attacked.

Ultimately, Build That Wall is Bastion's most human element. It is the element that really gives us insight into the Ura and makes them sympathetic. Without their very human resentment towards the Caelondians, they would be the "faceless victims." This allows us to consider saving Zulf when the chance comes; that allows us to see the Urans accepting The Kid if he does. There's probably a lot more to be said about the song, but right now I'm writing far too much about Persona 4 for class to motivate myself to do so. Hopefully this reminded you of just how awesome Bastion really is. I know I'd kind of forgotten.

One of the finest tracks this year, developers rarely have the confidence to write lyrical tracks for games. So much of Bastion is symbolised by Zia's Song, it was like Supergiant stating "everything that games do wrong, we will do right".

It's an ok song.

I only played Bastion once, though starting up New Game+ briefly to check it out I could see what would have happened had I chosen differently. Made me even happier that I only had to play through it once and insured me that I had made the right decisions the first time.

If you're into the fiction of Bastion, that song is amazing.

I feel that Build That Wall takes on a new meaning at the end of the game if you chose the restoration path in that it's kind've a metaphor for the rebuilding of civilization.

In regards to it being unclear how many times The Kid's been through the Calamity timeline, it's stated in one of the Who Knows Wheres that he's "volunteered for a second tour on the the Wall." What's great about this phrase is that it's still unclear if that was pre-Calamity or it's referencing the game's overarching commentary that mankind is bound to repeat it's mistakes.

For such a minimalist-seeming game, the fiction and meta-commentary gets pretty deep sometimes.

I find it incredible that despite sounding mellow and calm from the outset, the song's lyrics are actually quite threatening and malicious.

@adam1808: Ha, I guess you could say that, and maybe even about the lyrics of the song. As a metaphor for games, building a wall could be seen as "refusing to take in the new with your empire," while digging a hole could be "doing something innovative that'll probably bury you."

@RockmanBionics: Ha, I'm a bit jealous. I went with Restoration, so I saw my decisions totally getting wrecked.

@Ravenlight: That's a good point. When I look back on Bastion a bit more analytically, it's somehow even more impressive. I think the song is fantastic even without the context of the game as it's just gorgeous, but with the context...man. I didn't even consider that during the Who Knows Where; nice catch.

@SuperMeatToy: It's absolutely one of the coolest things about the track, and one of the first things that struck me when I heard the lyrics. I hadn't really thought a lot about what that song did for the game until I wrote this yesterday, though.