Game Soundtracks

[rookie411]

Basically I want to know how important people think the soundtrack is in games. Can you think of any games where the music used has improved the game? On the other hand is there any game that has been ruined by it's soundtrack? What are your favourite songs/soundtracks in games?

One example for me is GTA IV, there were a few radio stations which each played different music and had good songs which made running over police officers that little bit more entertaining. Also FIFA usually has good songs on the menu screens.

 

[OneCatch]

I think that's it's kind of important. Not as much as films, but still.

For example the first Crysis soundtrack was kind of naff, utterly forgettable.
With the sequels they came up with a few fantastic tracks (and menu themes) which gave them more of a unique feel. Gameplay wise they were all pretty similar, but the soundtrack really helped differentiate them.

Crysis 2 had this kind of aggressive, distorted soundtrack that rather fitted the various body/suit horror and apocalyptic nature of the infection of New York:

And the third managed to have a degree of finality and desertedness - fitting with the post-evacuation New York of 2050 or whatever:

--------------

And my absolute favourite examples are the various iterations of the Elder Scrolls theme. It shows just how much you can change the core piece to suit different games:



(I think these are all the right tracks from the descriptions, but I don't have speakers on this computer.)

 

[sextus the crazy]

A lot of JRPGs have been improved by their soundtracks.
Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Eternal Sonata, and a slew of others are more interesting for having such good soundtracks.

 

[Callie]

This thread is amazing, I love the idea of this. Music has by far made a lot of games, main one coming to mind being:


as well as the following which made the boss battles that much better that you didnt want them to end


Was going to add in route 1/lavender town from pokémon, but I'm thinking of too many songs now, I would just keep on going forever..

 

[Aedes]

A lot important, basicaly.
I like this threads. They always comes with a nice reminder of epic musics.

Can't really remember any game where the music sucks but the ones that always pop on my mind when are usually 2 that made the game just insanely awesome.

Spoiler: Okami. The Crowning Moment of Heartwarming follwed by the Crowning Moment of Awesome

captcha: fair or foul
We're not talking about football, captcha. <.<

 

[The Wykydtron]

Game soundtracks are damn important. They elevate a game up to a much higher status regardless of how good it is anyway.

I rarely notice when a game has a mediocre soundtrack or just boring ambient noise in the background. The one exception is Borderlands 2 because for a game so wacky, comedy focused and colourful there was no reason to not go crazy and do some cool music setpieces at least. They make such a big deal of oh there's a licensed song in the intro, this makes us good (I still don't understand the fuss over that, it's nothing special) then there's no music ever beyond that.

Look, if Far Cry 3 can say "fuck it" and play dubstep, seemingly out of nowhere during a mission where your one objective is to burn fields of weed with a flamethrower then what excuse does Gearbox have?

Oh look, I can post the BlazBlue soundtrack. Again.


I would never have been able to have stuck with Makoto as long as I have if her music and stage weren't so fun. Boxing characters are never my kind of thing but Makoto is such a fun character. Every single line she says is great, especially the intro quotes. She somehow forgets the one line of text that serves as the members of the NOL opening line. Only Noel, Makoto, Tsubaki, Hazama (albeit sarcastically) and Jin say it. It's literally 12 words.

"Dispatched, in mankind's darkest... umm, errr *mumble* *mumble* Oh forget it!"

It's like they condensed the whole concept of fun and shoved it into a single character.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Obviously I'm going to say the entire soundtrack for System Shock 2 was also 90s horror-techno (if you can even call it that) and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon get's a spot on this list too. 80s synth is the best synth.

Also I'll pick out this gem from the Starcraft II; Wings of Liberty soundtrack..

 

[Callie]

snip

After listening to this again, I forgot how great that music was. Hans Zimmer is nthing short of a musical genius much like John Williams

 

[Fappy]

I tend to focus on soundtracks a lot when playing games. In pretty much every game review I have ever written I have at least mentioned the quality of the soundtrack. I'll give two examples of recent games I played where the soundtrack had a notable impact on my enjoyment.

SMT IV had an outstanding soundtrack. It had this retro feel to it that's hard to describe and some of the creepier tracks went a long way in setting the mood for some of its darker scenes:


On the other hand, while Shadowrun Returns was a great game in its own right, its budgeted OST was noticeable, repetitive and disappointing.

 

[iwinatlife]

Im happy that ff7 and bastion are already here buuuut

(hard to pick which one of these is better)

and


seemed to have been missing


not even mentioning the very memorable

freaked out so much when I first started hearing this cause I thought I had already beat the game

 

[dscross]

Very important. Three words...Sonic The Hedgehog. The music made those early games!

 

[TehCookie]

A soundtrack is extremely important and heavily influences the tone. One of my favorite examples is Persona 3's map theme change through the game.

Spoiler: Original map theme

Spoiler: Ending map theme

You can tell it's more depressing and serious than the previous song which helps enforce the gravity of the situation your in near the end. There's no difference in the screen, but the song gives you an entirely different mood.

As for my favorite soundtracks, anything by Shouji Meguro is amazing. Chrono Cross is another favorite and if you listen to it on a beach it goes so well with the music. For less mood setting music and more easy listening Katamari [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMH49ieL4es], Metal Gear Rising [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcpGIVbPYrI] and Ar Tonelico [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSUaKHRz44] have great songs.

I never heard a soundtrack that was terrible and made me mute the game, but I consider a forgettable soundtrack to be a bad one. In which I can't name any because I forgot.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

I rarely notice when a game has a mediocre soundtrack or just boring ambient noise in the background. The one exception is Borderlands 2 because for a game so wacky, comedy focused and colourful there was no reason to not go crazy and do some cool music setpieces at least. They make such a big deal of oh there's a licensed song in the intro, this makes us good (I still don't understand the fuss over that, it's nothing special) then there's no music ever beyond that.

Because, you know, using silly licensed music always makes things better. /sarcasm

To be honest, I really disagree with you here. I thought Borderlands 2 had a pretty great soundtrack, far better than the original which was just pretty forgettable. Just because it's a very silly game doesn't mean it should just go over the top with its music, since honestly if they did do that then... I'd honestly say Borderlands 2 wouldn't be as enjoyable. The game is silly and wacky, yes, but it knows there are boundaries to silliness and wackiness and doesn't deliberately push them because it knows if it does the whole experience won't be as good. If it just threw out shittons of silly music everywhere, the whole thing would feel cheap and unfunny, truly...

It's the balance of the silliness and seriousness (both in its soundtrack and in the game itself) that made the whole thing shine.

And I just found the soundtrack genuinely good and great at setting the mood, like I said.

Spoiler: Both in its ambient stuffs...

Both in its ambient stuffs...

Which can really help you feel like you're genuinely alone in this big open cold place:

Or can really hammer in the desperation of the situation, even when not much action is occurring:

Spoiler: And in its more action-packed bits...

And in its more action-packed bits...

Which, well, just make you feel badass sometimes: