Must all gaming music suck?

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Sat May 19, 2001 5:54 pm

Is it just me or do most of you get sick of the music after a while? Suggestions for better music:
Planescape: Torment--Nick Cave (Red Right Hand for starters--forget you ever heard it in the movie Scream) and the Butthole Surfers music without vocals (I'm thinking of Bong Song, for one...) for those parts where lyrics would interfere.
I need to think about BG1 and BG2--for some bizarre reason I want to hear Deep Purple's Child in Time during the Irenicus scenes...

The Outsider · Post by **The Outsider** » Sat May 19, 2001 6:16 pm

Sh*t, you want something weird as a background music? Get BioWare to get Tom Waits to write some music. Creepy stuff- listen to the songs "Murder in the Red Barn", "Swordfishtrombones", "Cemetery Polka", "Singapore", "Rain Dogs", amongst others. Oh, and the album / musical score "The Black Rider"- now that's atmospheric.

Vehemence · Post by **Vehemence** » Sat May 19, 2001 7:34 pm

VoodooDali: You must take into consideration that musical tastes for one person can often be very different for another person. I believe that the BG team selected appropriate (if not great) music for the games.

On a personal level, I kinda like the BG and BG2 music and see it as fitting to the theme of the title.

But your welcome to your opinion too

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sat May 19, 2001 11:50 pm

I'm happy that in Fallout Tactics, you can place mp3 files in a custom music directory and get the game to uses this as background music

Even though it is wierd to hear you musiccollection, and then all hell breaks loose with machinegunfire, granedes etc

On a more serious note (

) I would say that most gaming music must be neutral, because there is so much different taste out there, so useing for instance a heavy metal-band ot a techno-band will piss of many people.

Also thoese whom make games spend so much money on it allready, so it might prove a vast increase in money spent to get a "known" band to preforme/make the music.

[ 05-20-2001: Message edited by: Xandax ]

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Sun May 20, 2001 2:10 am

Most game music tends to get neglected.

I think the BG/IWD games do a good job. C&C started off serious commitment to music in games IMHO (though I'm sure you all have your favourites

).

Just look at wargames: they tend to have the direst of background music. I tend to go for the "battle sounds" and put my own music on.

Quake 1&2 were awesome fully loaded so you could play CD's. Deathmatch with the prodigy at full blast -

the other guys never new what hit 'em. I was running a mile a minute, it didn't matter I couldn't hear anything else

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Sun May 20, 2001 8:34 am

Actually, as far as the generic type of game music goes, I think that AOE did the best job. I just keep wondering why they haven't thought of using a well-known musician to do the music? Why not Brian Eno or Dead can Dance or Sonic Youth? Portishead or Radiohead? (I still think that the Butthole Surfers have written some sublime vocal-less music...) There are so many good musicians who've written music without vocals. I think it would make the music a more exciting piece of the overall gaming experience. It wouldn't surprise me if that's the next step, along with using famous actors to do the voices.

Kayless · Post by **Kayless** » Sun May 20, 2001 9:15 am

I think Icewind Dale’s music is far superior to Baldur’s Gate and Shadows of Amn. The music for the Final Fantasy games written by Nobuo Uematsu are the best video game music I’ve heard, save for the Star Wars games that utilize the movies’ soundtrack. Baldur’s Gate and others are fairly bland in comparison but they do all right.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon May 21, 2001 5:06 am

What the hell is happening with Portishead anyway?

I used to play Civ II to classical music, it kind of added to the experience

It's funny how i associate certain music with certain games depending on what i was playing on my stereo while i was playing the game. Wyclef's album (the carnival) was on all the time while i was playing Thief and every time i play the carnival i start skulking around corners and acting cool.

Most recent games are:

Severence-Depeche Mode

Black and White-Mix of Beth Orton and Mos Def

Can't think of any more of hand.

here is a thought people why don't you just turn the music down in said game and play it really loud on your stereo, or out of your DAP like me (

plugigng new gismo)

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Mon May 21, 2001 6:30 am

ROFL Mr S.

Wagner comes on and you start inventing Superconductors and parachuting troops into Tenochtitlan

Anatres · Post by **Anatres** » Mon May 21, 2001 8:13 am

I can't stand any of the music so I just turn it off

. Besides, I don't hear background music in my day-to-day life anyway. And if you do, what movie are you in (I want some!!!

)

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Mon May 21, 2001 9:10 am

Originally posted by Gruntboy:
<STRONG>ROFL Mr S.

Wagner comes on and you start inventing Superconductors and parachuting troops into Tenochtitlan </STRONG>

Thoese where the days

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 21, 2001 3:57 pm

The most interesting gaming music I've ever heard was from a guy who used to work at Microprose, and has also done some stuff on the side for the GodGames folks. Can't recall his name offhand (I'll have to look it up), but what makes him stand out, to me, is his use of 15th century European songs. They sound so alien to our culture nowadays that these songs invariably create quite a mood. He used 'em in several products, most notably that Magic: The Gathering debacle.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue May 22, 2001 5:13 am

Still remember all that stuff do you Grunt, i am impressed.

Quake was also quite good with a bit of Brahms or Tchaikovsky

Vehemence · Post by **Vehemence** » Tue May 22, 2001 6:01 am

Heh, I still remember playing the Theme to Speed Racer (here he comes, here comes speed racer...) while playing Need for speed against my friends at a LAN bash. The adrenalin rush alone was fast! But man, did I ever handle those corners! What a feeling!

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 8:20 am

A bump, since it is a good topic, i would like to hear some opinions on gaming music in general

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 8:31 am

Bumping up old topics now Sleep

Well music have come a long way. Look at any of the sport games by Activision. Well ok, so skateboarding isn't exactly a sport. But the music is impressive.

Also games like GTA2 and 3 have little distractions with their music. The most memorable from GTA2 being the somewhat disturbing but none of the less enjoyable punk song "Taxi Drivers Must Die!" It's different to say the least but surprisingly adds to the game. Especially when the taxi's keep interrupting your car chases.

However I'm going to have to give the old Civ game a road test with the classical music in the background.

Timekeeper · Post by **Timekeeper** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 8:35 am

When a thread is nearly a year old, it's not considered a bump. It's considered Raise Dead.

I never really thought much of adding music to games. Now, I'm thinking otherwise. A little Cusco, some Mozart, Wagner and Bach, maybe some alternative and pop. If I could just find a way to put some mp3s into SoA...

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 8:35 am

Originally posted by Tamerlane
Bumping up old topics now Sleep [/ b]

What can i say, a bit of nostagia

Well music have come a long way. Look at any of the sport games by Activision. Well ok, so skateboarding isn't exactly a sport. But the music is impressive.

I take it you are referring to Tony Hawks?

However I'm going to have to give the old Civ game a road test with the classical music in the background.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 8:36 am

Th music for each game should be taylored to that game and genre. For instance, the amount of time Square puts into the FF series music is incredable, and some of the finest music in the gaming industry. at the same time, though, the music for Alien Vs. Predtor one was amazingly approprieate. It set an atmosphere that was hard to beat. Annother game with an amazing track is Metal Gear Solid.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 9:15 am

The BG/IWD series did a pretty good job with music. Just about everyone digs the tune in Kuldahar. The battle music in dragon's eye fits the theme.

FIFA soccer 96 for SNES has great music. awesome funky tunes.

Halo for the Xbox has the best music I've ever heard in a video game. The game plays like a movie and the musical score fits it perfectly.

I usually listen to Rakmaninoff when playing age of empires. His piano concertos possess a frenzy similar to the style of play in the game. The music just fits well when you realize you need to perform tasks on six different areas of the map simultaneously and you can't figure out where to start.

Otherwise for the most part, I turn the music off as it usually annoying.

Another cool thing with the xbox is that you can take tunes from cd's and copy them onto the harddrive of the xbox. In some games, the music options support using tunes you copied onto the harddrive. In this fashion, you can't complain about the music because you can use your own.