An Overdue Perspective on... The End in the Stars

One of the things which has both surprised and impressed me about The Old Republic compared to the other MMOs I have dabbled in is its consistency with its main menu music. It is not unusual for an MMO to change the music with each major expansion or update, and yet SWTOR maintained Clash of Destiny for almost a whopping eight years.

The reason why this surprises me particularly so is because BioWare had previously given themselves a very appropriate expansion to update the menu music alongside everything else. Knights of the Fallen Empire just changed so much of the game, for better or worse, and it was the first time that they were properly promoting the game’s storyline since launch. It would not have been too surprising to learn that the menu music would be updated as one of the many changes.

Not that I minded the piece remaining in situ for so long. It's a great piece of music, and I am such a fan of it that I am currently using a segment from it as my ringtone. 

With Onslaught, BioWare decided that the time was ripe to replace Clash with a new piece of music. Even while it was on the PTS, the new composition received a markedly lukewarm reception for a couple of reasons. One of the most notable issues people had with it was its lack of a slow build-up meaning that the piece opens immediately with a loud choral chant. Since Onslaught's release, more than a few people have been asking for it to be removed and Clash of Destiny reinstated.

The thing which I always found rather irritating about it was that for quite a long time we did not know its name. It was just “the new menu music” or “the Onslaught music” or some other generic description. Identifying pieces of music is something which SWTOR has struggled with for some time as pretty much every single orchestration bar the ones included as free downloads or on the Collector’s Edition CD have been released months if not years after they were first heard in-game.

Music from expansions has pretty much exclusively been released to celebrate something to do with The Old Republic or Star Wars in general. Five pieces including the Oricon and Yavin themes were released in 2016 as part of the #SWTOR5 celebrations. Pieces of music from Fallen Empire were released in the build-up to Eternal Throne, while pieces of music from throughout 5.0 and Onslaught were released on May 4^th this year.

So, seven months after it made its way onto the menu, we learned what this replacement for Clash of Destiny is called. The End in the Stars.

I am absolutely baffled by this name. While it may yet have some connection to SWTOR's current storyline (possibly 6.2's final (final) end to Vitiate's schemes?), it is too specific to really work for future expansions. Clash of Destiny at least is a practical enough name to work for any period of the game's lifespan. Who knows? Maybe The End in the Stars is intended to be the first of a number of different menu themes, in which case it would only apply to Onslaught. 

I do not really have a lot to say about the actual piece. I think it is decent as a composition and I do quite like its melody, but even I must agree that it is not as satisfactory as hearing Clash of Destiny was. Then again, Clash has had the advantage pretty much since day one. Its numerous variations can still be heard in-game at various points in cutscenes, including in Eternal Throne and at the end of the Republic Onslaught storyline. As such, it has made itself known in more ways than just being “the menu music”. The End in the Stars is so far “just” the menu music, and it has yet to become more than that.

I would certainly not be opposed to hearing it in a different setting. Sometimes even a mediocre piece of music can become “great” in the right environment, and SWTOR’s menu is just not that environment right now. This is primarily just because the player-base is so used to its predecessor that several pieces of music would likely have struggled to suit in its place.

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SWTOR has given us a few pieces of music which I believe will be remembered as part of the legacy of original Star Wars video game music. Chief among these is Clash of Destiny. I do not get the impression right now that The End in the Stars will be remembered anywhere near as fondly in the years to come. Maybe things will change, and it will indeed evolve to become as iconic for SWTOR as its predecessor was. 

I sadly doubt it.

For now, though, this is what we have. Whether or not we will see it changed again any time soon is anyone's guess.