A View From The Road: Play It Again, Sam

[Shurikens and Lightning]

Mass Effect had an amazing score, Its just that fighting the final boss with decisive battle wouldn't feel right.

But Kotor 2 battles + heavy metal mod = win

While its not an RPG, Call Of duty Modern Warfare and its sequel had some amazing rock songs.

 

[Earthmonger]

Uematsu on the whole is overrated as Hell. After around two hours of FF7 or FF8, I'd start playing the game on mute. The one track of his that has always stuck with me however, is the piece for the City of the Ancients in FF7. Always loved that. So minimalist. So simple. Even a bit haunting.

Here's something I wonder about though:
Drudkh is a Ukrainian Black Metal band. Their first couple of albums had some long ambient bits. This is one of them: The First Snow [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FlR6xQPZdo]

Listen to that, and try to tell me Roman Saenko never played FF7.

 

[John Funk]

Uematsu on the whole is overrated as Hell. After around two hours of FF7 or FF8, I'd start playing the game on mute. The one track of his that has always stuck with me however, is the piece for the City of the Ancients in FF7. Always loved that. So minimalist. So simple. Even a bit haunting.

Here's something I wonder about though:
Drudkh is a Ukrainian Black Metal band. Their first couple of albums had some long ambient bits. This is one of them: The First Snow [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FlR6xQPZdo]

Listen to that, and try to tell me Roman Saenko never played FF7.

I've always preferred Mitsuda anyway.

 

[Earthmonger]

Michiko Naruke [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiko_Naruke] is my second-favourite japanese VGM composer. She's awesome.
Saitama Saishuu Heiki (S.S.H.) [http://www.last.fm/music/Saitama+Saishuu+Heiki] is the first.

 

[Aedes]

Aaah, indeed. The music is always a big part of the game. No words can express the feeling of finally being able to lay your hand on the face of that fricking evil dude if not by an epic song.
Sad MMOs doesn't follow that line. I like to hear the musics but most of my friends put it on mute and turn on their MP3 instead. Breaks the flow imo.

Also, no one quoted this yet... so I will:

John Funk never really liked "One Winged Angel" all that much.

HERETIC! UNBELIEVER!!!

 

[OmegaXIII]

I'm in absolute agreement, some of my fondest Final Fantasy memories involve the truly epic works of Uematsu - 12's music really disappointed me though, the new composer just didn't seem to have the same magic Mr U does

 

[Mistermixmaster]

Nice Casablanca reference =P

OT: I agree, good music can make or break a game, and everyone enjoys epic music =P (if you don't then something may be wrong with you, check in with a doctor ASAP)

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

- snip -

All John Funk wants for Christmas is some proper boss battle music in his MMOGs.

I couldn't agree more. There's nothing like good music to evoke the gravitas of the moment.

And thank you for mentioning Xenogears. I feel that game is under-appreciated.

 

[Jared]

- snip -

All John Funk wants for Christmas is some proper boss battle music in his MMOGs.

I couldn't agree more. There's nothing like good music to evoke the gravitas of the moment.

And thank you for mentioning Xenogears. I feel that game is under-appreciated.

Seriously. Alot of the game, and music is really, really well made and so many people look it over. Its a shame really.

JRPGs though do rock for the music, I still find myself going back and listening to old tunes and feel like I can see the moment I first heard that particular track. Pretty epic.

 

[Mushroomfreak111]

jrpg's DID have excellent soundtracks, but sometimes i have my own music on so i dont notice !

It's impossible for me to play games while listening to music that doesn't belong there! I just find myself less and less focused on the game, until finally I'm not playing at all^^

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

John Funk never really liked "One Winged Angel" all that much.

HERETIC! UNBELIEVER!!!

It does lend itself so well to parodies though.
One of Robot Chicken's greatest moments.

 

[Goodluf]

Damn it Funk, now you made me browse Youtube for the old Final Fantasy songs! Ah, how nostalgic...Ahem.

Now that I think about it, I can't remember any interesting music from non-JRPG games. It's a bit sad really. We really do need some more memorable songs for our games.

I don't really play MMOGs, so not much to say there. Although, adding some mighty boss battle song might not be only good. Part of the reason for the attraction for boss music in RPG, is that you hear then only ONCE in that "epic" battle with the evil beast of evilness after you have worked so hard to get to it.
In a MMOG, you can usually come back to the boss quite effortlessly, hear the same song again and again. After a while, it would really start to annoy you and become dull. That is not the desired effect of the song, quite opposite of it.

Maybe if the would be an option to hear different songs for the same boss, so it would not become stagnant...I don't know.

 

[PurpleSkull]

Ah, growing up on the memories of "Chrono Trigger" or "Secret of Mana" games with their songs have made me appreciate the songs in them. The latter had two great songs for the last two final bosses, Thanatos [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLWc6iG-iuI] and the Mana beast [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vo6hTc5on0]. I still listen to a lot of their songs and even though I tend to brush off JRPGs now, I admit that one would occasionally come around that would have great battle music.

Well, you shouldn't bring up the Meridian Dance music. No game can POSSIBLE have a better boss music. Ever. Period.

 

[jtesauro]

I know exactly what you mean. My answer to this problem was to raid with Powerglove playing in iTunes. Nothing like a heavy metal version of Fight On or Omnishred when the Curator comes stomping your way.

Admittedly, I also played the Halo soundtracks in the background while I played WoW far more then i should have. I regret nothing.

 

[Tharticus]

I think my most memorable Boss Battle music is this: Pokey Means Business. Of course that music title isn't official.

The game is underrated sadly.

 

[Jory]

I couldn't agree more.

Music is so important, but I did find myself having to mute sounds during boss battles to hear what the hell the raid leader was saying so it could get in the way.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Yeah, even the most run-of-the-mill JRPG tends to have a good soundtrack.

ex.- Blue Dragon

Also: SWEET! Someone else who liked Chrono Cross! Although Funk likely doesn't find it superior to Trigger, like I do. I mean, the whole switcheroo thing just clinched it for me as superior.

 

[John Funk]

Yeah, even the most run-of-the-mill JRPG tends to have a good soundtrack.

ex.- Blue Dragon

Also: SWEET! Someone else who liked Chrono Cross! Although Funk likely doesn't find it superior to Trigger, like I do. I mean, the whole switcheroo thing just clinched it for me as superior.

CT is one of my favorite games of all time. I think CC is a great game, just an awful sequel.

I liked CT's approach to time travel "Eh, let's not worry about paradoxes or anything like that, WE'RE SAVING THE FUTURE." It was simple and easy to follow. And then Chrono Cross came along and was all "NOT SO FAST, GUYS. WE'RE GOING TO NOW DEAL WITH THE RAMIFICATIONS OF ALL THIS TIME TRAVEL AND THE REPTITES LIVED BUT THEN THEY DIDN'T SO THEY WENT BACK IN TIME AND YOU WENT FORWARD IN TIME AND WE'RE ALL GOING BACK AND FORTH AND IT'S CA-RAAAAAAZY."

And then they shut down Prometheus

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Yeah, even the most run-of-the-mill JRPG tends to have a good soundtrack.

ex.- Blue Dragon

Also: SWEET! Someone else who liked Chrono Cross! Although Funk likely doesn't find it superior to Trigger, like I do. I mean, the whole switcheroo thing just clinched it for me as superior.

CT is one of my favorite games of all time. I think CC is a great game, just an awful sequel.

I liked CT's approach to time travel "Eh, let's not worry about paradoxes or anything like that, WE'RE SAVING THE FUTURE." It was simple and easy to follow. And then Chrono Cross came along and was all "NOT SO FAST, GUYS. WE'RE GOING TO NOW DEAL WITH THE RAMIFICATIONS OF ALL THIS TIME TRAVEL AND THE REPTITES LIVED BUT THEN THEY DIDN'T SO THEY WENT BACK IN TIME AND YOU WENT FORWARD IN TIME AND WE'RE ALL GOING BACK AND FORTH AND IT'S CA-RAAAAAAZY."

And then they shut down Prometheus

It's mostly because of Chrono Cross's characters, and they way they're presented for me. You remember Greco, the psychic Luchadore, right? And Draggy! And the big butt mother. And Pip. And Poshul. And Skelly. And Pierre. And all those great characters.

The time travel was perfect in Trigger. Honestly, I'm STILL not sure WTF happened in Cross. I was like 10.

 

[John Funk]

Yeah, even the most run-of-the-mill JRPG tends to have a good soundtrack.

ex.- Blue Dragon

Also: SWEET! Someone else who liked Chrono Cross! Although Funk likely doesn't find it superior to Trigger, like I do. I mean, the whole switcheroo thing just clinched it for me as superior.

CT is one of my favorite games of all time. I think CC is a great game, just an awful sequel.

I liked CT's approach to time travel "Eh, let's not worry about paradoxes or anything like that, WE'RE SAVING THE FUTURE." It was simple and easy to follow. And then Chrono Cross came along and was all "NOT SO FAST, GUYS. WE'RE GOING TO NOW DEAL WITH THE RAMIFICATIONS OF ALL THIS TIME TRAVEL AND THE REPTITES LIVED BUT THEN THEY DIDN'T SO THEY WENT BACK IN TIME AND YOU WENT FORWARD IN TIME AND WE'RE ALL GOING BACK AND FORTH AND IT'S CA-RAAAAAAZY."

And then they shut down Prometheus

It's mostly because of Chrono Cross's characters, and they way they're presented for me. You remember Greco, the psychic Luchadore, right? And Draggy! And the big butt mother. And Pip. And Poshul. And Skelly. And Pierre. And all those great characters.

The time travel was perfect in Trigger. Honestly, I'm STILL not sure WTF happened in Cross. I was like 10.

See, that's the problem I have with CC - a game with so many characters means that it's hard to really characterize them all, and in most cases they just gave them accents or weird verbal tics. They weren't fleshed out nearly as well as, say, the more focused cast of CT.

And yeah. Chrono Cross' plot is convoluted as balls. I only remember a few things like SAVE POINTS ARE EVIL and WAY TO GO CRONO & COMPANY, YOU BORKED THINGS UP GOOD.

I still love the game though, and it has absolutely stellar moments.