Part of the reason I enjoy games is for the soundtracks. Modern games that come to mind are Persona 5 and Nier Automata which has do much memorable music. The soundtrack creates an Identity. So many games feel like the sound team doesn’t care if I play my own music instead.
Based. I love his music btw from FF4 to FF9 he’s one of my favs with Lotus Juice and Yoko Shimomura and I agree with him 100%. Movie music is boring as shit and his music is way way better
Music is integral to build the game’s overall atmosphere. At least indie studios still get it: Look at Cuphead, Hollow Knight, Hades, Vampire Survivors, etc.
I get what he’s saying. Game music used to have a much bigger “job” in fleshing out the world that the game presented to you. I remember for example songs like Final Fantasy VII’s Gold Saucer, Chrono Cross’ Termina (Another World) that set the tone of the place you’re visiting: busy, active, crowded and festive. If you take the music out, you have a beautiful yet static, almost frozen landscape - it comes alive with the music. Nowadays the visuals can be so detailed, the worlds so big and busy that the music seems to be an afterthought: it’s just ambient music for the already immersive world of the game. And I believe that has lead to a lot of composers settling for just that: ambient music.
I think on Twitter I once messaged Gareth Coker, the composer for Ori and the Blind Forest, about how beautiful the music on that game is and how there’s a big emphasis on melodies. He replied that the studio specifically pushed for melody-heavy songs, rather than just ambient music that only complements the action. That makes a huge difference.
Although there’s exceptions. I’m playing FF16 right now and the only piece of music I can play in my mind is the beginning of the "special-er“ battle music that’s that final fantasy battle music but reimagined on a big violin - meanwhile I can play the whole vs. Möbius track of XC3
Sea of Stars was such a refreshing game. From the music, to the backgrounds, to the combat, it was like a love letter to 90’s RPGs. You only get that level of quality and love from indie games these days. Games from large companies just don’t have any soul anymore.
There’s a huge budget bloat, which means having to play ever safer to maximize your audience.
The reality is that only small games can afford to be gambles and actually have an identity and a soul.
Big budget games need to be works of incredible craftsmanship like the Arkham games to maintain a soul while being unimpeachable in execution, and you can’t just throw money at the skill problem.
You can however throw money at 10387 consulting firms to make sure you’re aiming for maximum palatability, and inevitably make homogenised pap for babies.
For instance: it’s really telling when even a game that should have been edgy as fuck like Suicide Squad had to lionize Wonder Woman, and only Wonder Woman, because apparently you can’t humiliate her and unceremoniously murder her alongside every other beloved Justice League member.
I would say that a lot of this has to do with survivor bias. Most of the shitty soundtracks were forgotten and buried. Only the really good ones had staying power. So it is easy to convince yourself that the past was so much better because you remember the good and a lot less of the absolute trash that existed back then and compare that cherry picked past to today’s mix of good and bad.
Hell, movie like soundtracks in movies are getting boring. One of the reasons I saw dune in theaters was because I was expecting an awesome soundtrack that used a diverse array of instruments and sounds, not just generic western orchestra
Yeah because One Winged Angel is a banger, iconic, and most importantly DISTINCTIVE. But the lesson video game devs took from it was “orchestra = epic” and here we are today.
That’s why I really enjoy Supergiant games tbh. Bastion, Transistor, and ofc Hades have very distinct soundtracks that are clearly made for their respective games. Persona 5 is also a big one in recent years in the RPG space, where the soundtrack is seamless with the aesthetics of the game.
It’s not all bad; as far as I’m concerned Nier Automata had one of the greatest and most compelling soundtracks of all time. I still listen to it on a regular basis and am floored every single time.
This is going to be a bit of a conservative opinion, but hear me out because i respect both sides of the conversation!
I think the 2016 doom ost sucks. The way he made is original and kudos to him for doing it that way, but i found the end result boring.
I like my metal, but not death metal. And this is what it sounded like to me. The same note over and over and no melody.
That said : the following youtube meme is exactly what this conversation is about and both sides are a-ok!
I like my metal, but not death metal. And this is what it sounded like to me.
You understand the doom ost and make a good point, but I think you need to check out death metal with a better ear/bands.
Not saying you gotta like it, but there’s a lot more notes. Maybe try revocation, it’s a solid middle of the road death metal band (a little tech, but all the instruments share regular as are the song structures)
Ill have to take a listen to those, but dont get your hopes up hehe. I have the same with hardcore etc. After while it all sounds the same to me. Now dimmu borgir has a few really good songs, but they are melodic black metal hehe
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