@Ralizah Thank you for effectively summing up why I almost never listen to music with vocals (choral walls of sound notwithstanding). Even if singing didn't creep me out on a base level, words are too distracting.
I do better with foreign language songs, though, so might check out more NieR music later.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Not only is this featured heavily in the Witcher III but thanks to Geralt's inclusion in Soul Calibur VI it's also the theme for the rather neat Kaer Morhen stage and slightly remixed compared to the original
And since I've ended up humming it all morning and last night
Turns out Priscilla (in the english version at least) is voiced by Tom Hiddleston's (Loki in Thor/Avengers) sister Emma Hiddleston (both singing and normal dialogue)... Rather lovely moment in game while it lasts...
Lastly... I'll eventually get back to DS II: SotFS... so here's an instrumental piece that I've never really listened to fully til now.
It's a shame the boss fight ends up being easy by the time I usually get round to it as the music for it really is quite invigorating
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I was surprising by how elaborate Priscilla's song in the tavern was. Like most other aspects of the game, the attention to detail is astounding.
I'm not restoring Dandelion's Inn next time, though.
And yeah, Hunt or Be Hunted is one of many intense and memorable themes in the game. I hope Cyberpunk is similarly strong on an auditory front.
@RogerRoger Well, words only have meaning because our brains adapt to associating them with concepts. They're still just sounds we've attached meanings to, though. Which is why if you repeat a word over and over and focus on the noise it makes, you can gradually watch as your mind starts seeing it primarily as a noise. It very temporarily loses its automatic association with meaning.
Anyway, if you listen to a song in a foreign language that you're not familiar with, I assume it's the same sort of effect: vocals are perceived primarily as sound, so your brain isn't struggling with the meaning of the lyrics.
Most of NieR's music is done in a sort of fictionalized nonsense language. The voice is mostly another instrument in N:A's soundscape.
Anyway:
Listen to that and tell me you'd get anything done. The vocals in these songs command your attention.
You're very welcome @Arugula though I didn't really do anything 😁
Well so far I only know of the two Samurai tracks (The in game band that Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves' character) was in) for Cyberpunk @Ralizah that are performed by a swedish punk rock band called Refused.
I quite like them though... Never Fade Away more so then Chippin' In
The Folk(?) music of Witcher is rather good as a whole... But I'll admit if Cyberpunk has some neat rock music like that through the majority of the game I'll especially be quite pleased...
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Ralizah Apologies, I missed you tagging me yesterday, somehow.
And yes, that's exactly it. I have absolutely no chance of registering lyrics I don't understand, so the voice simply becomes another musical instrument, although not one of my favourites.
That being said, the song you embedded from NieR does feature some rather lovely vocal work... but I probably could tune them out if I were engrossed in a task, because they're soft and blended quite heavily with the strings and percussion. If they were a piercing falsetto, or brought more to the top of the audio mix, then I might have a problem. You might not have been hoping for such a dispassionate analysis, for which I apologise! Because of the layering, there is a degree of "can't quite hear them properly, so I'll strain to make them out" which could be quite distracting!
But I think I'd prefer the track were it purely instrumental. Reminds me quite strongly of this:
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
With the news that Bravely Default is back, and Revo is doing the music again (they were absent for Bravely Second), I figured I'd post some tracks from the original.
Dunno how good the game itself will be, but the music is guaranteed to be great.
Glad the series is back. Despite my issues with the original, it feels far more like a Final Fantasy game than anything since XII has.
@RogerRoger I can't imagine you're a huge fan of most Sonic music if you don't like listening to singing. Lots of glam and nu rock in the modern 3D Sonic games.
@Ralizah In the standalone title tracks, yes; rarely in the rest of each game's score (it was just Sonic Adventure 2 that committed such a crime, really, and only then for about 50% of its stages). I delete most of them from my playlists and skip to the good stuff, with a few very rare exceptions.
God, I miss out on so much beautiful music by not playing JRPGs! Thanks for bringing these Bravely Default tracks to my attention. I'm already humming along to that prelude tune!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger You should post other tracks you like when you get a chance. They'll be new to me, since I don't play far into 3D Sonic games.
Oh yeah, Bravely Default had gorgeous music. I'm glad the Switch can hook up to a TV, since I always felt like the sweeping soundtrack was wasted on the tiny speakers of the 3DS.
@Ralizah Will do (once I've escaped from this rabbit hole of stunning JRPG music you've thrown me down)!
Even when a handheld has okay-enough speakers, I always try and use headphones, even for older systems like my Nintendo DS which, contrary to popular opinion, could produce some pretty great sound. Otherwise yeah, a proper television sound system for the win.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Haven't played Bravely Default myself @Ralizah... Those tracks are rather good though! Wicked Flight in particular but Love's Vagrant and the prelude are also quite good
... That Sonic Forces track you put up last week is rather good too @RogerRoger which I'll admit is more of a surprise to me as I only really remember the main themes from the Sonic games I've played 😂
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Don't worry, you're not alone; a lot of folks will hum along to Sonic music whilst playing, only to then forget it once they've moved on to the next stage. It's only because the main themes are used in trailers and as "press start" introduction cutscenes that they stick in people's heads.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy That D:OS2 track is pretty. Understated, too, so I bet it fits into the background well. Is the rest of the soundtrack similarly decent?
As to BD... yeah, the music is awesome. Although Wicked Flight always makes me clench up a bit, because the boss fight it's set to was... brutal. The game is still one of the hardest JRPGs I've ever played, weirdly enough. I even had to dial down the difficulty from Hard to Normal halfway through because I kept getting my face stomped. Never had to do that before.
@RogerRoger The emphasis on music is one of the things I love about the JRPG genre. There are SO MANY good JRPG scores.
Another favorite is the legendary Yuzo Koshiro's work on Etrian Odyssey.
For example, the often atmospheric, chilled out labyrinth themes...
...to the sexy, sometimes funky town themes...
...to the epic, violent battle and boss themes.
Sorry if I overdid it with the links. But the music in this series is seriously amazing. Even the older DS-era chiptune OSTs are fantastic. Like the boss theme for EO3, which sounds like he tried to use a Sega Genesis sound chip to compose thrash metal:
It's funny you mention Pathologic, because, just earlier, I was eyeing Pathologic 2 on Steam. It's apparently a more modern and expanded version of what the original tried to accomplish in its day (I'm a bit ashamed to say I'd never heard of it until recently, despite trying to have a thorough working knowledge of weird cult classics across the medium).
@Ralizah No apology necessary, that Etrian Odyssey music is all fantastic! I think it speaks to the general quality of the music in all Japanese games, and how it always seems to have a language of its own. A lot of what you've just linked is similar in structure to my favourite Sonic soundtracks (funky hub town themes, crazy overdriven boss battle music, etc.) and all has a tune, something you can whistle or recognise later on. Conversely, a lot of Western game soundtracks have become more Hollywood and, unfortunately, therefore more generic in recent years. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception had some actual tunes accompanying its set pieces, but then Uncharted 4: A Thief's End comes along and everything becomes moody musical wallpaper (even the iconic "Drake's Theme" was watered down and absent from the main menu).
Made me chuckle when you described the town themes as "sexy" because yeah, when listening to them, I half-expected a refrigerator repair man to walk in. I think Japanese composers are braver in that respect; they're not afraid of blatantly telegraphing a specific intent or tone. There's a lot of Sonic stuff I don't think twice about listening to, but that others have made comments about when overhearing.
I'll get to linking some of my top picks once the screenshot competition has settled down tomorrow!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Solea Completely agree. I get that some modern games are deliberately trying to mimic Hollywood (and, if that's the case, go right ahead in chasing a certain style) but as somebody who listens to nothing but soundtracks, I quite like the variety game music can bring to my playlists.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Ralizah Okay, as promised, here are a select few favourites from modern Sonic the Hedgehog games. Just know that, for every track I'm sharing here, there are dozens more! I've tried to pick a representative selection, otherwise we'd be here all day and I'd crash the forums with YouTube video links.
So yeah, many people think each game's main theme is a cheesy, rock-type affair. Those songs do exist, and are basically used for promotional trailers, other marketing and the game's opening demo reel. They'll occasionally return to accompany the "epic" moments of gameplay but, when they do, they're quite often in instrumental form, with orchestral strings and trumpets taking the place of the vocals and accompanying the guitars and drums. Some are good, others are less-than-good. I won't cover them here.
What I will do is show you this, which is from Sonic Colours and is actually listed on its soundtrack as the game's main theme. It plays over all menus, sub-menus, results screens and the world map (far more often than "Reach For The Stars", the pop-rock Cash Cash song associated with the game which many would mistakenly identify as its main theme).
Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Forces and a handful of other games have similar musical structures, heavily reliant on classical themes throughout (the latter of which used the London Symphony Orchestra, whereas I believe it's traditionally been the Tokyo Philharmonic).
As far as gameplay scoring goes, the music becomes largely dependent on the level's theme (so if it's a snow level, things sound stereotypically wintery or use Christmas bells, etc.) but there's a general rule of needing to be fast-paced, which often leads to techno, pop or rock influences. About 50% of the time, however, the tracks are built around a classical core, even if they aren't subsequently performed by an orchestra.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) may be widely considered to be a disaster of a game, but its music is almost universally praised, with its most popular track being from the Crisis City level.
There are some exceptions to this fast-paced rule, however. Sonic's gameplay might be all about speed, but you can still create some really chilled stuff with a fast-ish tempo. Check out "Sea Bottom Segue" from the Wii U exclusive Sonic Lost World.
Randomly, one of the smaller spin-off storybook games, Sonic & the Black Knight on Wii, got a ridiculous amount of time and attention paid to its soundtrack. It combined dozens of artists from across Sonic's history and got them to compose a bunch of level themes each, leading to a wide variety of styles being represented. My favourite is Richard Jacques' piece "Shrouded Forest" (which also handily represents a dramatic style which often accompanies boss fights, even though it isn't from one itself).
I suppose things do frequently descend into what people would expect to hear, given the common reputation of the modern games, but even in its most "wall of noise" moments I can enjoy trying to separate out the various layers of each track in my head. I'm often finding new things in the background of some pieces, like this pure techno from Sonic Forces (which, fair warning, is the audio equivalent of drinking six espressos).
Apologies; I probably sound like a bit of a defensive snob about all this, but I genuinely do adore the franchise and that adoration is largely thanks to its music, which has been defining and influencing my overall tastes since I was in the single-digit age range.
I'll just leave you with this closing cutscene score. Thanks for reading my rant.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
That Crisis City track is rather great! And so is Sea Bottom Segue. Love it. I'll admit I'm a sucker for string instruments in particular and both of them have a great melody 😁
I'd say so @Ralizah. As you put it's quite understated and most of the tracks I've heard so far (I've only heard a few and don't wish to spoil anything) share a similar sort of understated approach at the moment.
I said before when I posted some screenshots from this in the respective thread that you even get to choose an instrument (out of a Bansuri, Tambura, Oud or Cello) in the character creation and from a quick peak there are a number of song/themes that have alternate versions to go along with this choice so... Certainly be interesting to hear those alternate versions when I get to it!
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Solea Hey, we like what we like, right? Not only is art subjective, but it's a journey to find what personally resonates with you; some of us are lucky to find it early in life, whereas others are still searching long into adulthood. Doesn't mean I won't occasionally go off, exploring for new things, but I'll always find myself coming back around to my starting point.
@Solea Heck yeah, the Sonic Advance trilogy is awesome! Great choice! I also agree with you in saying that Sonic Advance 2 is the best of the bunch. I like the simplicity of the first, but the third got a little too complicated, needlessly so. Very steep difficulty curve, as well.
There were a couple of halfway-decent tunes they managed to squeeze out of the GBA. I quite liked it when they got ambitious and added choral chanting to Chaos Angel Zone, but otherwise it's the staple stereotype music that has aged the best, like the various boss tunes (both original and returning), Secret Base and the Ice Paradise Zone. Not what I'd immediately reach for, but nice enough.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
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