Your Game Music is Bland and You Should Feel Bad

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Your Game Music is Bland and You Should Feel Bad

Yahtzee speculates that using full-blown orchestras to make a triple-A game's soundtrack doesn't help that game stay memorable.

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[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

If i may comment, a good number of fighting games have great soundtracks, particularly anything that has Daisuke Ishiwatari working on the soundtrack as he creates a distant soundtrack. I do understand the issue because orchestras are only memorable if you have other types of music to counter it.

p.s. Is the J-pop song in Dragon's Dogma really that bad or does Yahtzee just not like J-pop?

 

[Stormtyrant]

One of my favourite background soundtracks I stick on regularly is from Bastion. It's so good (especially Setting Sail, Coming Home). I've never bought a soundtrack from a Triple-A title, however.

 

[Aptspire]

*Mandatory Shadow of the Colossus post here*

 

[RatherDashing89]

...a good number of fighting games have great soundtracks...

"gonna take you for a ride..."

"I can feel it coming over me, I feel it all around me/ I've been waiting for this moment all my life, it's my destiny!"

(I know that's not what you were referring to, I just wanted to ruin everyone's days.)

 

[Random berk]

I remember that scene in Saint's Row 3 with Bonnie Tyler playing as you race to rescue your gang members. I didn't get quite the same effect out of it though, since I managed to got through three seperate vehicles in that drive, the music stopping every time I got out of the car/truck/helicopter.

I'm not a very good driver.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

As a musician and composer, I have to say: I don't think a theme song being "humable" is a very good metric when determining how effective a soundtrack is. By all definition, a soundtrack's job is to compliment, not overburden. In the retro days of memorable, catchy tunes, game soundtracks were the most prominent sound effect - nowadays, aural atmosphere is achieved by so many disciplines that the soundtrack's prominence would act against it.

Orchestrations have produced many memorable game soundtracks, don't get me wrong. I think Halo Reach's is actually the best Halo soundtrack, Super Mario Galaxy has twice provided exhilarating scores, and games like Asura's Wrath and Rayman Origins have provided a uniqueness in full orchestral scores quite unlike their peers.

Not every game needs an orchestral score, this much is true. And simpler is often better, this too is true. But orchestral soundtracks have provided some of the best music in videogames, and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

...a good number of fighting games have great soundtracks...

"gonna take you for a ride..."

"I can feel it coming over me, I feel it all around me/ I've been waiting for this moment all my life, it's my destiny!"

(I know that's not what you were referring to, I just wanted to ruin everyone's days.)

What game is this monstrosity from?

but seriously, Blazblue and Guilty Gear have awesome music

here's a sample from Blazblue

 

[Lumzdas]

You know, I actually enjoy the music in current games. Yeah it's not as memorable, but that's probably because we now have big budgets and the computing power to play quality music, and not old chip-tunes that ran for levels and drilled in to your head. Everyone can hum the theme of Mario mostly because it was a very short loop without many layers that make up normal music.

Extra Credits did an episode on this way back and explained why people think that game music is 'bad'. (Spoiler alert: it isn't)

As for memorable music nowadays? Hell, I still remember music from Bastion, Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, some awesome tracks from Dark Souls, Bayonetta had unique and awesome tracks (Fly Me To the Moon comes to mind).

Anyway, I completely disagree, I find music today to be way better than in ye olde days.

Edit: Whoops, ninja'd.

 

[Casual Shinji]

For a recent game with very memorable and swinging tunes, I shall point to Rayman Origins. Primarily the treasure chest chase music. It got you all juiced up to go for a sprint. The crooning of the underwater levels worked like a charm, too.

 

[elvor0]

Boooo, shame on you Yahtzee, the Halo Games have excellent soundtracks! I mean we all remember this right?


Du du du dunnn, du du du dunnn, du du du duuun de do de

But on topic, yeah we don't get too much great stuff these days, some of it's alright, some of it sorta good, but nothing iconic, aside from the aforementioned Halo theme, I mean where's our new Nobuno Uenmatso for the new generation? I ask mainly because he hasn't done anything since Lost Odessy to my knowledge, and every instrument is his *****.

I suspect the real reason we haven't seen him is because he's actually the devil, and he's busy schooling people in various rock offs.

 

[Pink Gregory]

But surely using licensed music is going to end up equally if not more expensive than comissioning a score? Is drawing on popular music the only way of engaging today's gamers? I don't think that's true, but that's what he seems to be implying. A well-chosen piece of licensed music can be incredibly effective, but I don't see why that should be the only effective option.

Good incidental music isn't intrusive; well-done it interweaves with the aesthetics to create a memorable experience, rather than just memorable music. That's one of the reasons why I prefer Red Dead Redemption to Grand Theft Auto. I couldn't hum the tunes or melodies to you, but I'd rather that than a popular song from the real world.

 

[RatherDashing89]

What game is this monstrosity from?

Don't say I didn't warn you...

On topic, I've always thought Halo's music was very memorable. Mario Galaxy, as mentioned above, has a lot of new tunes that anyone who has played the game will recognize immediately. In fact, hearing Galaxy's music never fails to make me nostalgic for the game and remembering just how happy the game made me. The music is inherently connected to the masterful gameplay in my mind.

Assassin's Creed 2 doesn't have memorable music, but not every game has to. AC's music sets the tone perfectly--it's one of my favorite soundtracks to have playing in the background while I'm wargaming or DM'ing.

 

[Kargathia]

As a musician and composer, I have to say: I don't think a theme song being "humable" is a very good metric when determining how effective a soundtrack is. By all definition, a soundtrack's job is to compliment, not overburden. In the retro days of memorable, catchy tunes, game soundtracks were the most prominent sound effect - nowadays, aural atmosphere is achieved by so many disciplines that the soundtrack's prominence would act against it.

Orchestrations have produced many memorable game soundtracks, don't get me wrong. I think Halo Reach's is actually the best Halo soundtrack, Super Mario Galaxy has twice provided exhilarating scores, and games like Asura's Wrath and Rayman Origins have provided a uniqueness in full orchestral scores quite unlike their peers.

Not every game needs an orchestral score, this much is true. And simpler is often better, this too is true. But orchestral soundtracks have provided some of the best music in videogames, and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.

Arguably, I'd take that one step further: in many games (and quite certainly AAA titles), if it was the music that stuck in your head for days afterwards, then the rest of the game sucked. Hard. Any competent game should be compelling enough to not have its limelight stolen by its soundtrack.

Exceptions apply, of course, with funnily enough Halo being a notable exception. Its theme is both hummable, and excellent soundtrack.

Spoiler: YT vid

 

[martyrdrebel27]

i think it was a bad choice to try and call out Halo, of all things...

dun dun dun duunnnn dun dun dun duuuuun dun dun dun duuuunnn.....

 

[Mistilteinn]

If i may comment, a good number of fighting games have great soundtracks, particularly anything that has Daisuke Ishiwatari working on the soundtrack as he creates a distant soundtrack. I do understand the issue because orchestras are only memorable if you have other types of music to counter it.

p.s. Is the J-pop song in Dragon's Dogma really that bad or does Yahtzee just not like J-pop?

It's so damn corny, so cheesy, that it gets stuck in your head. It does so to the point that you end up admitting that it really isn't that bad of a song. And to be honest, it really is better than what they put in Dark Arisen, ie. an operatic flavored minute-long opening piece.

But on topic, I have to agree that there really aren't many stand out tunes nowadays. I'm trying to come up with any recent titles I've played that were neither ambiance or average orchestral pieces, and I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with many. Journey stands out, but that's outright biased for me to say, as I consider it to be a perfect marriage of music, gameplay, and story. I will say that SSX3 and SSX: On Tour are probably two of my favorites for rock/pop/hip-hop/rap/whatever-else soundtracks, although they're snowboarding games designed to be ridiculous, playing it fast and loose with the laws of physics (and hell, On Tour's design is based in punk-rock with "Run to the hills" playing during the opening).

 

[nodlimax]

One song that always comes to my mind when talking about video game music is this awesome piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVawf1l5zc0

This is taken from the german credits of Thief 2. This song is also played two times during the game in certain areas but only in the german version as far as I know. After hearing this I looked for the band I became aware of Subway to Sally and many other bands who play similar music....

And I have to agree that many games do have forgettable music......unfortunately. Because I really like good music.

But there are also good examples for music. The first piece I heard related to World of Warcraft for example was a the piece "A call to Arms" and this is the kind of piece that sticks to your mind.

And of course the portal song is awesome as well.