have devs forgotten that music makes a great game?

[maskedarcstrike]

Too much nowadays we see developers making gimmicky peripheals and such instead of making truly great games that break that 4th wall.

What do you think breaks that 4th wall that truly makes a great game? To me I think one thing many developers have forgotten is a great soundtrack. Music is something we hear, we can feel, and that impacts us. Depending on the emotional story situation it can make a mediocre game into truly a great one.

Master composers like Koh Ohtoni of shadow of the colossus and nobuo uematsu prove this. If i spelled their names wrong forgive me.

Developers have forgotten the basics, tight gameplay, great story and above else an excellent soundtrack.

Of course you can't have a crap game with an awesome soundtrack but tell me this, name me one game this current gen that has a soundtrack that truly stands out.

[fullmetalkira]

Metal Gear Solid 4
Portal
Eternal Sonata
Mirrors Edge {main theme}


Soundtracks that could possibly be good:
Final Fantasy XIII
Bayonetta
Brutal Legend

[Sax]

Flower, that music calmed me.

[streetninja]

I don't get how a soundtrack can help a mediocre game become great. I have yet to play a game and believe that the soundtrack made the game special. Sure, there are good games with great soundtracks and bad games with beautiful soundtracks, but the fact that I liked the music of a game hasn't changed my opinion about how good the game is. I'd much rather have developers focus on making games with tight gameplay and a great story before they even think about making a game focusing on the music.

Some games of this generation that have amazing soundtracks are Halo 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Mass Effect, Oblivion, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

[Oreo]

Jun 23, 2009 12:06:02 GMT -5 streetninja said:

I don't get how a soundtrack can help a mediocre game become great. I have yet to play a game and believe that the soundtrack made the game special. Sure, there are good games with great soundtracks and bad games with beautiful soundtracks, but the fact that I liked the music of a game hasn't changed my opinion about how good the game is. I'd much rather have developers focus on making games with tight gameplay and a great story before they even think about making a game focusing on the music.

Some games of this generation that have amazing soundtracks are Halo 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Mass Effect, Oblivion, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Halo soundtrack is EDIT: pretty, but doesn't match the game in my opinion, so therefore is less impressive to me. Mass Effect has little music, and Brawl music is from music in OTHER games. I honestly don't think any of those count.

LIKING the music in the game you play has a pretty big effect on whether or not you can like the game. If the music doesn't match what you're doing in gameplay, it can effect how you enjoy it. You can't have a calm string instrumental when you're in a boss fight. You can't have NO music when you're stuck walking around a world map. It does matter, and maskedarcstrike is right. There are some pretty shitty/mediocre soundtracks out right now and it's holding back some games.

Can you imagine playing Silent Hill or Fatal Frame without the creepy music in the background? Those games would be completely different. Silent Hill 3, while having fantastic music and some lyrical songs put a totally separate feel to the game than the previous two did... but it still fit the game.

Mirrors edge had a fantastic soundtrack and that is partly why I still say I liked that game. The game itself really was mediocre and short, but the music did help push it into a better game for me.

Eternal Sonata had fitting music, maybe not memorable, but fitting to it's story and helped you feel more into the game.

Flower, being a calm flowing game couldn't have had a better soundtrack. If it had any other music that game could have been terrible, especially since there is no dialogue to cover the music.

To be honest, I hated Xenosaga because of the LACK of music. There was a soundtrack... a pretty large one, even. But there are so many sections of the game that have NO music AT ALL, and it made the game and gameplay worse for me.

Some of us are music people, some of us are not. But a lot of us listen to music on a daily basis. And just like you would listen to music to fit your mood, games need to have music that fit their mood in the same way.

I totally agree with this thread. If FFXIII doesn't have fantastic music *Because 12 certainly didn't*, I will be very, very sad.

[Wednesday_R]

The last soundtrack I was really impressed enough with to go out and find was for Call of Duty: World at War, specifically the track that played on the mission Black Cats. Bring on the drums.~

I remember on my first playthough of Shadow of the Colossus, there were points where I literally stopped playing the game just to enjoy the music, and a game had never done that to me before.

I can't wait to play The Last Guardian...

[streetninja]

Jun 24, 2009 11:29:01 GMT -5 Oreo said:

Halo soundtrack is shitty. Mass Effect has little music, and Brawl music is from music in OTHER games. I honestly don't think any of those count.

LIKING the music in the game you play has a pretty big effect on whether or not you can like the game. If the music doesn't match what you're doing in gameplay, it can effect how you enjoy it. You can't have a calm string instrumental when you're in a boss fight. You can't have NO music when you're stuck walking around a world map. It does matter, and maskedarcstrike is right. There are some pretty shitty/mediocre soundtracks out right now and it's holding back some games.

Can you imagine playing Silent Hill or Fatal Frame without the creepy music in the background? Those games would be completely different. Silent Hill 3, while having fantastic music and some lyrical songs put a totally separate feel to the game than the previous two did... but it still fit the game.

Mirrors edge had a fantastic soundtrack and that is partly why I still say I liked that game. The game itself really was mediocre and short, but the music did help push it into a better game for me.

Eternal Sonata had fitting music, maybe not memorable, but fitting to it's story and helped you feel more into the game.

Flower, being a calm flowing game couldn't have had a better soundtrack. If it had any other music that game could have been terrible, especially since there is no dialogue to cover the music.

To be honest, I hated Xenosaga because of the LACK of music. There was a soundtrack... a pretty large one, even. But there are so many sections of the game that have NO music AT ALL, and it made the game and gameplay worse for me.

Some of us are music people, some of us are not. But a lot of us listen to music on a daily basis. And just like you would listen to music to fit your mood, games need to have music that fit their mood in the same way.

I totally agree with this thread. If FFXIII doesn't have fantastic music *Because 12 certainly didn't*, I will be very, very sad.

To each his own but I can't take you seriously at all on this topic. How can you say Halo has a shitty soundtrack and say Mirror's Edge has a fantastic soundtrack? Mirror's Edge's soundtrack consisted Still Alive and remixes. It doesn't help that Still Alive isn't even that good of a song.

In games where the atmosphere is important like Fatal Frame and Silent Hill music is important, but I still don't think the music made the games great. Sure, they were good and helped the game, but I don't think that they made the game.

Unlike you and maskedarcstrike, I don't play games and put a lot of importance onto the music of games that I play. There are exceptions like rhythm games where music is a major factor and storylines are less important.

I'm not saying music isn't needed or shouldn't be good in games, but usually it isn't the most important thing imo.

[Phoenix]

Jun 24, 2009 11:29:01 GMT -5 Oreo said:

Halo soundtrack is shitty.

Ya whaaa? Halo has one of the best soundtracks out there, it's probably the only thing about the game that deserves all the hype and praise it gets. Listen to this for example


Music is definately important, it can make a medicore game great and make a great games epic.

There are a lot of games I probably wouldn't have liked as much if it had a weaker soundtrack. Almost all the FF games, Valkyria Chronicles, Halo, KotOR, F-Zero GX... in fact every game in my top 10 is helped by an incredible soundtrack that helped to make the game something special.

It's worth remembering that a soundtrack doesn't neceserally have to be memorable, but it can help change the way you think of the game. For example I can't imagine loving Ahto City on KotOR 1 as much as I did if it didn't have that music that played there.


You might not realise it, but music can have a massive impact on how you experience a game

[phillip00]

Halo soundtrack is shitty.
_____

I know you've already gotten alot of shit for this, but honestly, the Halo soundtrack is one of the best for a videogame. Martin O'Donnell deserves a little more respect than you've given.


And I don't think devs have forgotten that music is a big part of a game. A great game usually has great music. MGS, God of War, Halo, Civilization. All are great games with great music. I think it goes hand-in-hand.

[Oreo]

I like halo, but not nearly as much as the next person. Yeah the music is beautiful, but to me it doesn't match the game and I don't care for it because of that.

And I'm pretty f**k**g sick of halo, so I'm bais.

And Mirror's Edge is NOT all remixes. For some reason everyone thinks that because that's all they can find in torrent download stuff. I have the ACTUAL soundtrack that is about 25 tracks long. There is more than just 7 remixes on that cd.

And Still Alive? Wtf? That's not from Mirror's Edge.

[Clone]

Halo soundtrack takes you out of the game, It needs a more rougher tone to mix with that violence.
Some games cant mix music and violence well, so don't take it seriously.

Hitman and Classical music fits so well because well it reflects on 47's personality on being efficient and proper no matter what. Classical blends with the beauty of the game. Beauty is deadly.

Halo's soundtrack does not mix well with the environment around it and the situation going on. Sure there are times were it goes off and you feel like a badass killing grunts and brutes but really, is that all you feel? I felt that when playing Halo but when other soundtracks played, I pretty much completely overlooked that there was a song playing.

I just think Bungie can do a better job on their soundtrack.

But again, this comparison goes for a lot of games with such violence.

Also if this doesnt make sense, dont get on my balls, its late, im tired, fuck you lol

[phillip00]

No offense, but you not know that Still Alive is the theme song from Mirror's Edge kinda makes me doubt that you own the soudtrack lol.

[Phoenix]

Jun 25, 2009 4:53:40 GMT -5 Oreo said:

And Still Alive? Wtf? That's not from Mirror's Edge.

Still Alive is the name of the main theme of Mirror's Edge, not just Portal

[revrevs]

So mediocre games with great music, how about about Dragon Quest VIII? Personally I loved the game it was the only Jrpg worth playing on the ps2, and I mention it only because most chatters disliked it. Getting back to topic, by gimmicky peripheals do you mean cues? I've been noticing more sound cues in todays games than ever. It's a sign that the gaming business is transforming into the movie business which could be good or bad. Only time will tell.

Oh and the Halo soundtrack...You guys need to listen to your game music. If anything the Halo theme is one of the most recognized tunes in gaming and that doesn't mean it's terribly good or that its entire soundtrack was amazing.

Look into the Medal of Honor series. I know, great music doesn't come to mind, but I always come to back to the Medal of Honor Frontline soundtrack. I keep saying to myself "there has got to be something better than medal of honor's music!" all in vain. Can't think of anything better.

[streetninja]

Jun 25, 2009 4:53:40 GMT -5 Oreo said:

I like halo, but not nearly as much as the next person. Yeah the music is beautiful, but to me it doesn't match the game and I don't care for it because of that.

And I'm pretty f**k**g sick of halo, so I'm bais.

And Mirror's Edge is NOT all remixes. For some reason everyone thinks that because that's all they can find in torrent download stuff. I have the ACTUAL soundtrack that is about 25 tracks long. There is more than just 7 remixes on that cd.

And Still Alive? Wtf? That's not from Mirror's Edge.

It sounds like because you're biased against Halo you can't appreciate the game's music. It might not fit the game's action like a glove but it is pretty good.

Just because Portal has a song called Still Alive doesn't mean that Mirror's Edge can't. Also, there are two music CD's for Mirror's Edge and I was particularly talking about the remixes one.