Let's have a somewhat technical talk about vidya music/OST. Are there any genres of music you feel are underused/overused in games? Where do you stand on the opinions that WRPG music tends to be too generic/ambient, or that japanese music gets too over the top/obnoxious?
Let's have a somewhat technical talk about vidya music/OST...
Jackson Reed
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Nicholas Price
I dunno if it's accurate to say that any particular style is under or overused, since vidya has been a thing for decades now. Even if you didn't hear genres like jazz fusion, funk, prog or speed metal in video games right now, those things had an influence on vidya composers in the 80s. Most genres have had their moment, from bluegrass to eurotrance to hip hop.
I think over/underusing is something that is more relevant when it comes to instrumentation rather than musical style.
Aaron Howard
Hotline Miami 1 & 2 had great techno/retrowave soundtracks. To be honest though, I feel the music would only fit certain types of games.
Michael Evans
>certain musical aesthetic will only work with certain visual aesthetic
Well duh.
Adam Davis
I hate orchestra music.
Charles Cook
orchestral*
Jose Young
Most Japanes-made pop music with vocals in video games is cringy as fuck.
Debate me.
Ryan Hernandez
>all this japanese hardcode/speedcode/gabber edm
>never used in games unless it's rhythm
Blake Long
slowly but surly we gonna get more Synthwave OSTs
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Jaxon Brown
In the 90s, J-music was stuck in the 80s.
In the 2000s, they were stuck in the late 90s.
In the 2010s, they're stuck in the early 90s.
Lucas Allen
When you walk away.
Gavin Cruz
>Where do you stand on the opinions that WRPG music tends to be too generic/ambient, or that japanese music gets too over the top/obnoxious?
Somewhat agree on the former, generally disagree with the latter. Sakuraba's music can be annoying.
Jose Peterson
I think there's also other factors to consider, like how soon the music in a game loops, the idea of "cutscene music" versus "in-game music", how some songs are overused in a game and others are underused, and so on.
The Dragon Quest 3DS games, for instance. The North American releases use MIDI rather than the orchestral versions of the track. The orchestral music is better, but in the context of the game it doesn't matter much to me because the constant shift between map/battle/map/battle means I'm constantly only going to be hearing 30 seconds or so of a song at any given time anyway. I usually end up turning the sound off and listening to something else after a while anyway, and just downloading the OST for listening elsewhere outside of the game.
Adam Brown
>Are there any genres of music you feel are underused/overused in games?
do video games with slam soundtracks even exist
Isaac Rogers
>how some songs are overused in a game and others are underused, and so on.
Tracks that only play once or only in one screen boggle my mind, especially if the game otherwise recycles some tracks to death or has a small tracklist.
Evan Morris
It's hard to say anything has been underused as there is some example of every genre being used somewhere, but I think introducing more chill hip-hop can make for very nice ambience. The best in game example would be the Persona series, I really think Lotus juice adds something to the game that wouldn't exist without him.
I do agree each genre has their typical trope for how the music is, but when they hit they really hit. I think overall WRPG music becomes forgettable and the introduction of vocals could eliminate it easily ala Witcher 3. In the same vein JRPG music can get overbearing when the dude with crushed testicles wales into the mic, maybe tone it down a tad and save it for big moments would be ideal
John James
I want electronic OSTs that are actually good and not either generic trance garbage or dubstep.
The soundtrack for that Ghost in the Shell ps1 game was fucking mind-blowing.
Luke Evans
Boggles the mind to think that Sonic has had at least one song in most electronic genres. The only ones missing are gabber, breakcore, and tech-house.
Nicholas Collins
I know it was only made because it was a popular genre at the time, but more stuff like Tekken 3's big beat soundtrack would be pretty cool. Maybe get Fatboy Slim to produce something decent for the first time since Palookaville.
Caleb Gray
a friendly reminder that this is the best vidya soundtrack ever made
The 2nd game tho is a disgrace in every aspect including music
Andrew Bailey
As someone who actually like orchestral music, I hate the way it's often being used now. It seems to just be a generic style to use for anything, without actually adding anything to the moment it plays in the game.
Look at the music in Shadow of the Colossus. It's orchestral but is still really fondly remembered by many people, because it adds so much to the game. The music that plays when you fight a colossi is grand, with loud horns, and a big focus on the drums, giving an extra feel of being up against something massive. And as soon as you find your way onto the colossi the music picks up, and more string instruments are used, to give you more of an airy feel, which enhances the feel of being high up form the ground. When you finally slay the colossi, and it slowly falls to the ground, you don't get treated with a victory fanfare, you instead get this somber choir followed by mellow strings. It helps enhance the feel that what you just did wasn't a good thing. In fact it might actually have been bad.
I don't mind orchestral music being used a lot, since it can fit many settings and moods, but I hate how lazily it is being used.
Adam Turner
I love strong melodies over ambiance, it's something a lot of western games lack.
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Brayden Foster
I'd like for more games to feature some Drum&Bass.
Lucas Torres
Daily reminder that Koji Kondo made ragtime relevant again
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Evan Watson
What's Koji Kondo even up to now?
Michael Stewart
orchestral music is just so forgettable
And it often tries to be too epic and you get tired of that after a while
same can be heard if a song is mimicking the orchestra style
compare these two
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Mason Moore
Idk man that flute solo in FF7's battle theme is still great.
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It all comes down to excecution.
Kevin Mitchell
Chronotrigger had a GOTY soundtrack it can't really be compared to.
Julian Harris
>GOTY
GOAT you mean?
Lucas Lewis
My brother said that the Animal Crossing New Leaf soundtrack sounds like Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It does, and I want more games to sound like that.
Same with the Splatoon soundtrack. I want more games to sound like energetic 90s alt rock.
Nolan Perez
For lack of better terms, more games need to not be afraid to have full on active music with lyrics. Don't get me wrong, instrumental music, and music that fits for 'into the background' is nice, but appropriate use of actual fucking lyrics and I dunno, general attention grabbing can make shit really memorable.
Easton Morales
My favorite vidya song
Joshua Edwards
What we need is more focus on percussions and wind instruments.
Nathaniel Lewis
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This is my favorite
Ryan Watson
I personally think that the Chrono Trigger one is more "generic", and is more beats over substance (not saying its bad by the way). But that said, it fits better for a normal battle theme to me, where as the FFVII one is a bit too "grand" for a normal battle, and would have fit better as a boss theme. Where as the boss theme fits better as a normal battle theme.
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But then again music taste is subjective.
Jose King
I know people on Sup Forums hate horizon zero dawn for some reason but some songs are really interesting playing around mechanical/strange sounds mixing with a lot of drums, don't know their names and the ost is like 4 hours ... don't really want to search
Wyatt James
Elijah Sanchez
The trumpets and flute working together in general.
FF has great combat and boss themes.
William Hall
I'd like more video games to have dynamic soundtracks. And not just changing to a faster-paced track in danger. I like how FTL seamlessly transitions between explore and battle tracks because the battle track is a layer on top of it.
Connor Evans
How do we make video game music great like it used to be, Sup Forums?
>western vidya music then
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>jap vidya music then
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John Robinson
At least it did until 11, guess that's what happens when you give your iconic composer the boot.
Nicholas Nelson
Even FF13 has a pretty cool combat theme.
I forgot the boss theme though so I guess that one isnt great.
Kevin Nguyen
We can't. Western devs took too much inspiration from Hans Zimmer. Jap music can still be good (see Guilty Gear)
Aiden Murphy
the craziest thing is, that jap track came out a year before that western track
Carson Bailey
>Click the first video
>Wow this sounds like garbage
>MFW 8 seconds in
It's almost as if they were parodying other western 'composers'
Jackson Jackson
So you agree with me? This is what I meant. that in CT it feels more casual - as it should, after all there are battles on every step
Andrew Morgan
>underused
EUROBEAT
>overused
Orchestral stuff can be good, but it has to be really exceptional to stand out, otherwise it sounds bland.
I think Child of Light did orchestral really well.
Evan Stewart
I haven't played Chrono Trigger but I gotta say that battle theme would get really grating over time.
On a side note does anyone else think the FFIX FMV tracks are fucking superb? Some of the absolute best music in the entire franchise.
Landon Peterson
EDM in fighting games. I want to beat the shit out of the other player without feeling like I'm in a gay nightclub, thank you very much.
Jack Campbell
Tim Follin was a fucking musical genius desu, he was writing fucking fullblown progressive rock on an NES soundchip for Solstice's title screen.
Jack Young
The only good work Hans Zimmer ever did was Lion King and the MoS theme. Through his music alone he understands Supes better than Zach The Hack
Isaac Walker
If you like Tekken 3 check out DMC2's ost
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Jayden Ward
Not enough new orleans jazz (is that what it's called?) in vidya.
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Thomas Bell
It's insane how great that soundtrack was for 1989 desu. Other JRPGs didn't start to get that level of sound quality until nearly a decade later.
Dylan Walker
>I haven't played Chrono Trigger but I gotta say that battle theme would get really grating over time.
Not when the song is quieter than all the attack sounds going on
Also bear in mind that link is a rip, so it has different balance when you play it on console, flatter where it needs to be
Juan Hughes
I like pathologic ost
Who would have thought that trip-hop would fit game like that
Jaxon White
>still wanting your vidya music to have a genre
Cooper Reyes
Drakengard's soundtrack is literally just diet Evergrace
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Evan Gomez
I think one of the reasons is that it's extra work you have to do, besides just writing the music, and lyrics and quickly become cringe, for a lack of a better word. Also, having someone sing in the in background, while a conversation is going on, can quickly become annoying.
Yes. I personally think the FFVII one is the overall better piece, but it's used wrongly, and doesn't fit its purpose, while the Chrono one fits its purpose way better. Great music can be used wrongly and as such feel out of place.
I haven't played FFIX yet, but it has one of my favorite battle themes, and the sound they managed to make with many of the tracks where nice. The whole intro for the Final Battle is just great.
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Landon Rivera
Fuckin love talking about video game OST's. I love the fact that classical music is alive and well in the media industry. While most pieces must accompany a visual media, it makes it all the better when they can stand on their own.
My absolute favorite has to be CoD Blacks Ops OST by Sean Murray. He manages to encapsulate the era of the Cold War while continuing the themes of a dark and gritty story he had first in CoD WaW.
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The intro to the Pentagon really does capture the grand scale of the building, patriotism of America, all while hyping you up for a simple meeting.
I regularly listen to Vidya OST's, after all they are made to be listened to 100 times in some cases.
Ayden Hall
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underrated desu
Jason Martin
Good shit
Elijah Smith
I need more vidya IDM.
Cooper Price
What do you guys think about Runescape music?
Especially Ian Taylor's - so everything before 2006
This one is my favorite youtube.com
shitty converted piano version: onlinesequencer.net
Juan Nguyen
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>not wanting feeling like in a gay nightclub
What are you, gay?
Jonathan Gutierrez
Evergrace's OST is unironically one of my favorite albums ever, and I haven't even played the game.
Landon Bailey
>Armored Core is no longer about cyber dystopias with an electronic ost
I'm so tired of "apocalypse" being the theme or setting for everything.