Leave Time For Love

February 28, 2021

[The] journey that led to the final boss was also a predetermined journey to a certain ‘loss.’ In order to save the world, the hero had to lose something that they loved. In that final [trial], when I tried to express the fear of ‘the moment when it all ends’ and ‘the thoughts towards a loved one’ simultaneously, that’s when that melody came out of me.

Hiroki Kikuta
Interview with Destructoid

The first question is, why are we leaving time for love at the Mana Fortress?  The likely answer is that we’re coming to the end of the game, and despite how fun it is to see “Heck Hound gets whacked!”, we’ll have to say goodbye to Popoie and each other, as we end the adventure.  The piece does have a “hurry up” quality to it, though the final dungeon may have demanded something more ominous. Maybe I’m just corrupted by the Lullabies of Mana cover: