Your favorite OST for a game and recommendations

[Mako SOLDIER]

I would say FFVII, but I think it would just be my immediate and powerful emotional response to it talking, and that won't do you any good if you don't love that game as much.

Sooo, I would have to say Alan Wake. The composition of the score is just stunning, and the licensed songs throughout are so eclectic and thoughtfully chosen. It's definitely the videogame soundtrack that I've got the most listening time out of. That said, I only have the scaled down version from the LCE, so I'm not sure how well the full OST holds up.

 

[DYin01]

Dark souls has this amazing song I cannot stop listening to. >>

I am quite fond of Fallout 3 and Fallout NV licensed soundtrack too. As well as Bioshock 2, Saboteur, LA Noire... I suppose I am into older songs.

As much as I love that song, this is the one that sends chills down my spine (though not just because it's a good piece):

 

[MisterM2402]

Every other OST pales in comparison to Grim Fandango's, it's just perfect.

Spoiler

Glad someone mentioned Grim Fandango; listened to that OST so many times.
All the jazz tunes are excellent, but I also really like the festival music:

And Glottis singing "Rusty Anchor" is just brilliant XD

Oho you're so funny. I admit IX has a good soundtrack but the best FF?

That title goes to Final Fantasy X and it's soundtrack.

Various examples include...

Spoiler

Seymour's Final Battle Theme is an excellent choice (though it's also called "Laughter of the Dead", which sounds so much more badass haha).
Practically every song on that soundtrack is stunning. Even though a whole bunch of them are just rearrangements of Yuna's Theme and To Zanarkand, every one of them has so much character to it.
A few of my own favourites are:

 

[Kococoa]

One that immediately comes to mind is:


Loved that game so much, been waiting for a sequel for way to long.

Another game which has great music and ambience is Sword & Sworcery and this may be a personal favorite from that game:

 

[Nazulu]

My favourite soundtracks still haven't changed, Super Metroid, Total Annihilation and Shadow of the Colossus are still the most atmospheric and exciting soundtracks I've heard.

 

[crono738]

3 pages before someone mentions Secret of Mana. That makes me sad. The games entire OST is freaking awesome.

Spoiler

The tracks from Guild Wars 2 that weren't reused music from GW1 were pretty damn good as well. Considering it was composed by Jeremy Soule, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Spoiler

 

[AgedGrunt]

I don't do favorites; enjoy The Finer Things:

-Frozen Synapse
-Final Fantasy Tactics
-Grand Theft Auto
-GTA III: KJAH
-Resident Evil series (classical period)

 

[MaCaulay]

I absolutely adore the 'Chrono Trigger' soundtrack. It is a little hard to find but if you can get it I would highly recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7xvRqnBRcY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YahK0kMq-_U

P.S. sorry about the average quality of the vids, like I said it is difficult to come by...

 

[Riddle78]

There's a man. His name is Jeremy Soule. He was behind the soundtracks that I loved the most,starting with Total Annihilation,followed up by The Elder Scrolls,then Supreme Commander,and I hear he worked on the Guild Wars soundtrack. Seriously,any music this man touches turns to platinum. Since I can't figure out how to embed videos,and I don't wanna post up links,since people don't like blind links,I'll name a few songs from the games I love that he's made. YouTube em sometime. You'll be glad you did.

-Total Annihilation: The March Unto Death. The song has an air of "Back and forth battle" to it,with the upbeat,happy sounding parts probably belonging to the ARM,with the foreboding segments belonging to the CORE.

-TES III Morrowind: Nerevar Rising. Sweet jesus,this song set the tone for the game,and whenever it kicked in while I was out and about,I generally just sit and listen,before going back to navigating the world...And trying to find that last Daedric pauldron.

-TES IV Oblivion: Reign of the Septims. Yup. Another main theme. Wanna fight about it? Again,a tone setter. The song alone tells you that,yes,you'll be working with royalty and nobility quite closely throughout the game,and yes,things will go south in a big way. And then you get to dance around in the realm of a madgod. But,what else is new?

-Supreme Commander: The main menu theme of the original,not Forged Alliance. I will admit,I have a soft spot for military styled music. Drums you can march to,plus a few addons to make it more awesome. Violins and horns give it some depth. Also,Supreme Commander is the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation,headed by the gentlemen from the now dead like dodo's Cavedog.

-TES V Skyrim: The One They Fear. The Dragon battle songs for Skyrim are not made of sound. Oh,no. They're made of awesome. But this one I preffer because of just how URGENT it is while still more or less saying "Another one? Play with your food,this time,Dovahkiin."

Personally,I hope the boys and girls at Uber get him to make Planetary Annihilation's score. It's going to be the second spiritual successor to Total Annihilation.

Soundtrack that I lov,but aren't Jeremy Soule's work exist,such as whoever made Gothic's soundtrack (I believe it was Kai Rosenkrantz),and Dungeon Keeper's soundtrack. But,at the end of the day,Jeremy makes the most music for games that I love.

 

[Razentsu]

Spoiler: Snip

Oh man, I especially liked that one. I have yet to give SHMUPs an honest try, but damn, music like that certainly has me interested.

I would suggest that when you do come to entering the genre, you read up a little bit (ask the helpful lot at shmups forum) about them first rather then diving straight in the deep end. As the genre is very similar to Darksouls in many respects. IE a healthy minset along with reading up on the fundamental mechanics of the genre is the key to playing with any degree of skill or fun. Then when you play it's just a case of using that knowledge with observation to find opportunities and exploit them as much as you can. Once it clicks in your head and you "get it" they are as addictive as digital crack.

Then like fighters it's just a case of technical skill, choosing the right shmups / game mode for your skill level and preferences will help you enjoy them and not burning out on something too advanced. Exceed Collection, Jamesown, Refrain Prism Memories, Touhou on PC and CAVE's Deathsmiles, Dodonpachi Resurrection and Akia Katana on 360 are good noob shmups especially those Doujin PC examples.The fundementals aren't that hard to grasp its just that no one has written a decent guide compared to FTGs.

Heres some more shmup music that you might like.

Hellsinker a PC Doujin Shmup

Dodonpachi Resurrecton Black Label (360/iphone) PAL 360 version works on NA 360s

Dodonpachi Saidaioujou stage 3 (Arc / 360)

Touhou 12 (Touhou and the doujinshi surrounding the core games are full of these melodies)

Even those Manabu Namiki is mostly a shmup music producer, he works in different genres, the guy just oozes talent imo.

Love that Melty Blood Tune, for me with fighters i'm in love with Skullgirls ATM. Michiru Yamane's (she's behind Castlevania) Jazz tunes complement Skullgirls 1930s artstyle perfectly. For a budget downloadable game it puts many $60 efforts to shame imo.

Spoiler: SKULLGIRLS

Thanks for the recommendations and advice. Yeah, I'd figured a little bit of reading would be very helpful before delving into SHMUPs. From my minimal past experience, I know they can be very challenging and I can also see how they can become quite addictive. I remember easily falling into a pleasant trance-like state when I played Ikaruga long ago. SHMUP feels like a genre that can trigger that 100% focus, 'being in the zone' feeling pretty reliably like rhythm games, and that feeling is always fun.

I already have Jamestown, so I suppose that will be the first SHMUP I finish from top to bottom. I'm also glad to hear it's beginner friendly. I'll probably start playing the Touhou games afterwards, since I'm somewhat familiar with the Touhou-verse thanks in part by the Touhou fighting games, IaMP and Hisoutensoku. XD

 

[kevinsux909]

Heavy Rain, especially after listening to the entire Ethan Mars theme on youtube, Assassin's Creed games usually have good music too, but recently the one game whose music I remember is Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons, mostly for this:

 

[Cabisco]

Having spent the last hour or so pouring through the thread I have come to two conclusions:

1) When you look for it, game music really is made by some very talented people as evidenced by it's high quality and it's a shame it doesn't get more recognition, case in point Civilisation Fours theme song Baba Yetu only winning a Grammy once it was repackaged as not a game song.

2) This thread needs more Timesplitters!

 

[RJ 17]

Final Fantasy 2(4) always had one of my favorite sound tracks. Other than that the OP already stole my other one: Chrono Trigger.

 

[E-Dogg]

Good thread, but i really feel like the theme from Monkey Island (1/2) needs to be here: I've been humming to this tune the last 15 years of my life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA8ghBfSmW4&feature=fvwrel

 

[TrevHead]

Spoiler: Snip

Oh man, I especially liked that one. I have yet to give SHMUPs an honest try, but damn, music like that certainly has me interested.

I would suggest that when you do come to entering the genre, you read up a little bit (ask the helpful lot at shmups forum) about them first rather then diving straight in the deep end. As the genre is very similar to Darksouls in many respects. IE a healthy minset along with reading up on the fundamental mechanics of the genre is the key to playing with any degree of skill or fun. Then when you play it's just a case of using that knowledge with observation to find opportunities and exploit them as much as you can. Once it clicks in your head and you "get it" they are as addictive as digital crack.

Then like fighters it's just a case of technical skill, choosing the right shmups / game mode for your skill level and preferences will help you enjoy them and not burning out on something too advanced. Exceed Collection, Jamesown, Refrain Prism Memories, Touhou on PC and CAVE's Deathsmiles, Dodonpachi Resurrection and Akia Katana on 360 are good noob shmups especially those Doujin PC examples.The fundementals aren't that hard to grasp its just that no one has written a decent guide compared to FTGs.

Heres some more shmup music that you might like.

Hellsinker a PC Doujin Shmup

Dodonpachi Resurrecton Black Label (360/iphone) PAL 360 version works on NA 360s

Dodonpachi Saidaioujou stage 3 (Arc / 360)

Touhou 12 (Touhou and the doujinshi surrounding the core games are full of these melodies)

Even those Manabu Namiki is mostly a shmup music producer, he works in different genres, the guy just oozes talent imo.

Love that Melty Blood Tune, for me with fighters i'm in love with Skullgirls ATM. Michiru Yamane's (she's behind Castlevania) Jazz tunes complement Skullgirls 1930s artstyle perfectly. For a budget downloadable game it puts many $60 efforts to shame imo.

Spoiler: SKULLGIRLS

Spoiler: shmups snip

Thanks for the recommendations and advice. Yeah, I'd figured a little bit of reading would be very helpful before delving into SHMUPs. From my minimal past experience, I know they can be very challenging and I can also see how they can become quite addictive. I remember easily falling into a pleasant trance-like state when I played Ikaruga long ago. SHMUP feels like a genre that can trigger that 100% focus, 'being in the zone' feeling pretty reliably like rhythm games, and that feeling is always fun.

I already have Jamestown, so I suppose that will be the first SHMUP I finish from top to bottom. I'm also glad to hear it's beginner friendly. I'll probably start playing the Touhou games afterwards, since I'm somewhat familiar with the Touhou-verse thanks in part by the Touhou fighting games, IaMP and Hisoutensoku. XD

Yeah Jamestown is a good beginner shmup, it's easy and good for getting you into the right mindset for appoaching them. (try to beat Gauntlet mode without using a continue. That's known as a 1 Credit Clear and what many ppl in the genre aim for) Also because it's widescreen you have alot of space to move around you don't need use any of the bullet dodging techniques of std 3:4 ratios where getting trapped in the side of the screen is easy. Touhou are noob friendly also, but it's worth noting that they have slower pacing that of shooters, ie long boss fights and alot of dead time between enemy waves.

Since you liked Ikaruga, You should check out the Exceed Collection, as Exceed 2nd used the same bullet switching mechanic. And Exceed 3rd is simlar to Touhou but with faster pacing and a very agressive style of play. Blue Wish Resurrection and BWR plus are freeware and good noob shmups too, (its how I and many others got into the genre) it plays like a CAVE shmup but the bullets move slowly which is great for teaching your eyes and brain bullet patterns.

BTW you're spot on about shmups putting you in the zone, I find the faster paced ones do it for me personally, Stage 5 of Mushihimisama Futari 360 Original Mode is a fave, so are Nomltest FS and Kenta Cho's freeware games, (Dangun Feveron in MAME would be another if I didn't suck at it so much).

 

[Dubiousduke]

Metroid Prime

Halo: ODST

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Bastion

 

[lovest harding]

The first game that comes to mind is:

Spoiler: Phantom Dust

 

[grijp01]

The soundtrack of Halo 3 ODST was great.