Hymns of the Wild: The energetic guitar plucks accompanied by light short chord bursts and a percussive arpeggio give this piece a feeling of intimacy and closeness. Because it uses similar techniques, I hear similarities with Pikmin music. This is a really beautiful piece when all those percussive elements are woven together with the string swells. I also love the story that your cover image and title implies that there are different emotional connotations attached to each of your tracks with this being the “love” theme. The flittering airiness of this piece paired with the dorian/minor flavor of the melody fits a bard-like love theme vibe really well.
Thrill of the Hunt: I like that this starts out the same as the previous track, further proving that these are meant to be for a branching decision point. The sudden contrast of the style makes it very clear that the player either made a very wrong decision, or someone is very fired up about something! The use of the same theme with the heavy rock instrumentation is what helps this track feel cohesive with the other. I appreciate the return to the original instrumentation briefly before playing a non-diatonic note adding dissonance as a warning before the loud war part came back in. I think I am partial to the Hymns of the Wild version, but I certainly think this is impressive that you were able to make something work that is in such contrast to the original style! Great work and thank you for sharing!