My Castle Town – DELTARUNE Chapter 2

About game/music

This is “My Castle Town” from RPG “DELTARUNE Chapter 2”(2021)(official website), created by Toby Fox.
This is composed by him as well.(Bandcamp/Youtube/Twitter)

The story is about a world where monsters and humans (only Kris?) live together, and the main character, a human, wanders into a strange world at school.
Like UNDERTALE, the game continues to use a unique battle system that you can win without killing enemies by winning their hearts.

This song is played when you revisit the castle town held by Ralsei, which you visited in Chapter 1.
The enemies that Kris’s party fought have moved to this town and are running stores, making it a lively contrast to previous chapter.

Analyzing

Overall

• There are some points where the harmony part moves in contrast to the main melody, clearly impressing upon the listener that there are multiple layers to the music.
• No accidentals, # or ♭ etc, are used until the 40th bar (except for the dominant in the 16th bar), which makes the music easily familiar to the listener.

bar 63

• bII-V
  • so-called “pathetic cadence”
  • examples;
    • Lancer – DELTARUNE Chapter 1
    • My Castle Town – DELTARUNE Chapter 2
    • Battlefield – Death’s Crossroad – Etrian Odyssey NEXUS
    • The Reverberation Ensemble – Library of Ruina
      • bII is in first inversion form, so-called “Neapolitan sixth chord”.
    • Theme1 – Limbus Company
      • bII is in first inversion form, so-called “Neapolitan sixth chord”.

bar 64

• V+ (other TABs include this)
  • It contains augmented 5th.
  • It sounds quirky, droll, and euphoric.
  • examples;
    • Lancer – DELTARUNE Chapter 1
    • My Castle Town – DELTARUNE Chapter 2
    • Phantom Train – FINAL FANTASY VI
    • The Night of the Ball – Fire Emblem: Three Houses
    • Hearthome City – Pokémon Diamond/Pearl
    • Driftveil City – Pokémon Black/White
    • Cascarrafa – Pokémon Scarlet/Violet
    • Shop – UNDERTALE