JohnnyDelRay said:
Another thing that comes to mind, the Extra Credits episode a while back about game soundtracks. Why are they so much more 'memorable' and amazing from the 8 and 16-bit days? Because of the limited sounds and instruments that could be programmed into each game, they had to rely on making the melodies really catchy and stick in your mind, and also to not get annoying. This took a lot of work and ingenuity of course.
But does that mean that nowadays, we shouldn't have the beautifully composed, layered orchestras that accompany games like Final Fantasy and Mass Effect, or Jesper Kyd's atmospheric sounds? That option is to us, and does it not succeed in creating emotion when used effectively? Do you want to go back to 16-bit sounds? Ok, I myself remember soundtracks from games I played in those days, very guilty of it in fact (hardly remember themes of these days longer than a few months after putting a game down, except for Skyrim), but I'm glad we have the technology and continue to push it. There's nothing wrong with pushing these boundaries, people!
The thing is that the "rules" for creating good music have remained constant. Additional tools have certainly empowered game music, but it's interesting to note that a lot of the best video game music is modern arrangements of those 8 and 16-bit classics. Having authentic instruments playing those pieces absolutely makes them better, in my book. But they were composed so gracefully in the first place that they don't hinge on modern technological capacities in delivering music within video games, and there's no doubt a lot of modern games suffer from a lack of good music -- especially the ones in a place to deliver something amazing.
Many of the biggest games of our generation have failed to deliver memorable music. God of War, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and so on. These are games that have earned a lot of attention, money and gameplay hours, but they don't have a musical experience that's just as effective outside of the game. In comparison, games like The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy have extremely memorable music that carries the meaning of its original context outside of the game experience itself.