The videogame music thread

Here's where you can discuss and share music from videogames
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Stalkedbycats
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Stalkedbycats »

Going over the list of songs featured on the podcast so far, I noticed a distinct lack of titles from the Ace Combat series. You'd think including at least one measly track from them somewhere in there would be a foregone conclusion but I guess if you want something done right, you have to write insufferably entitled forum posts yourself:

With that little quarrel out of the way, I really can't recommend the Ace Combat Zero soundtrack enough. While the story might be just as much ridiculously cheesy and ham-fisted anime nonsense as in any other game in the series, for some reason, it still managed to cut through my well-kept cynicism and made me get swept-up along with it. Aside from various personal reasons at the time, I think the excellence of the soundtrack was a huge part of that. Even though the, I think, uncontroversially best title on the soundtrack is certainly the titular "Zero", I (and my inner hipster) will have to go with "Near the Border", the track playing over the credits, as my personal favourite. You want to see what borders mean up close? Sure, Pixy. I may not really understand what that even means but just, y'know, be safe, buddy.
PS: I don't understand why Flamenco (?) influences aren't a bigger part in more action game soundtracks.
Yacobg42

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Yacobg42 »

Furi is a game with exceedingly few lines of dialogue. It's a through and through boss rush, only broken up by stretches of contemplation (and a mostly superfluous narrator, but I digress). The bosses, therefore, have to rely on other means of conveying their personality.

The track I picked here, The Toxic Avenger's "Make this Right," comes during a pitched battle with a disconcertingly angelic opponent. She bears a strong resemblance to Overwatch's Mercy, and is initially not at all aggressive. The song plays on this concept, with distorted and synthesized female vocalizations that, with a little tweaking, could make for a fun and upbeat mix to be played at a rave. Furi won't let you fully indulge, though. Even while dodging through her bullet hell-like attacks, "Make this Right" feels intentionally off somehow. It hints that your opponent isn't the typical evil of a video game baddie, and makes your eventual victory feel somewhat hollow. That lingering feeling of self-doubt persists through much of the rest of the game.

Sam_What

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Sam_What »

I'd like to request a track from Vincent Diamante; a song that brings me right back to nature!
After many months of University, I at last had the chance of travelling to my dear girlfriend after 4 painfully long months. It was early June and the whole summer was ahead, but I had only two weeks to spend with her before a long sentence back in my remote home of Ireland. Across the mountain we walked for hours, through the forests and across the plateau.

Eventually we stopped to rest on a rock overlooking her home city of Sofia and I felt so free; the sharp wind cooled me from the blaring sun and Vincent Diamante's Lazy Daydream sang in our ears. The song reminds me so vividly of sitting atop that mountain, feeling time stop as I watch the clouds drift overhead and hold on to that fleeting moment of peace. The realisation that I had a meagre few days left with her came through the saddened tone near the song's end, but this piece from Flower has a home in my memory as my summer daydream.

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Suits
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Suits »

Not sure if this sort of thing is welcome in SoP, as technically its not taken directly from the game but it's wicked.

It's a remix pretty much done solely with the SMW game sounds.

It's all great but the two stand out sections are at 4:10, 9:00 & 13:50. Ignore the silly modern pop song interpretation in the middle, or not I suppose - it's just not to my tastes.

Thought I'd share, just in case anyone else is into this sort of thing.

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ratsoalbion
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by ratsoalbion »

We're happy to feature remixes and covers, less so tracks which are 33 minutes long!
:lol:
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Suits
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Suits »

ratsoalbion wrote:We're happy to feature remixes and covers, less so tracks which are 33 minutes long!
:lol:
:lol:

I'll see if I can edit the download into more suitable chunks :lol: .
nickturner13

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by nickturner13 »

Not sure if this song counts as it's an actual song as opposed to a piece of music...

But as far as I can tell this was written specifically for the Crusader Kings II soundtrack, and then I discovered it recently through playing Cities:Skylines, on the in-game "radio" which just seems to play songs from other Paradox games.

Love everything about this track, from the main vocal melody to the background choir effect.

Maybe it's almost cutting a fine line between Nickelback and "cool", but I like to think it's on the side of the latter.

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Flabyo
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Flabyo »

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, by Trevor Morris from Dragon Age Inquisition.



History doesn't seem to look too fondly on Dragon Age Inquisition, which seems a little unfair to me. Yes, it got a bit too fetch quest grindy in places, and was ultimately overshadowed by The Witcher 3, but it had fun characters, some very human and progressive story elements, and it had 'Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts'.

I love it when games throw you a curveball, and this is one of the greats. Up to this point you've got used to venturing out with your party to stick pointy objects into the bad guys, but suddenly you find yourselves thrown into Dangerous Liasons in the games version of the court of Versailles. Someone at the ball is planning to assassinate the queen, nearly everyone there has motive, and you have to sort everything out using just your wit and guile. I think it also has the largest number of different possible outcomes of the main storyline quests too.

The music for the quest builds slowly over time, and has a bit of the same feel as Ramon Djawadi's Game of Thrones score. It's quite different to the standard fantasy movie sweeping score of the rest of the game (which is good, just not great).

(There's a similar quest in Witcher 3, but the difference there is that Geralt knows how to play the game, he just doesn't bother unless Triss or Yen make him).
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Good Shot Janson
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Good Shot Janson »

Despite its cheesy FMV cutscenes and goateed Generation-X villain, Command and Conquer Tibetan Sun is a bleak, dismal, depressing game. This is a world that has been raped by an alien organism that drives the fires of the global economy as quickly as it drains the planet of nutrients. The few people left alive or without mutations must live in ever shrinking inclusion zones at the poles...all the while seeking new and efficient ways to slaughter one another. Its a terrifying world Westwood Studios has created, and lacks the whimsy and charm of the series previous entries (much to its credit.) As a player, this was a world I had given up on. I wasn't fighting for a cause, or to save something...no matter what James Earl Jones or the Matrix's Cypher told me. I fought because in a dying world, it was the only thing left to do.

The soundtrack does a decent job all around at scoring a future without a future, and one track in particular perfectly encapsulates this decay. It also sounds like it could have come straight from the grooves of an ambient Brian Eno album, which I also like very much. This is "Ion Storm."

spoopycharlotte

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by spoopycharlotte »

I'd like to request a song from a game which is basically Earthbound, if it grew up to become a heroin addict - Lisa: the Painful.

Summer Love - Lisa: the Painful OST

Lisa: the Painful is an extremely dark game which deals with themes such as child abuse, drug addiction and the eradication of females from the human species. You play as Brad, a loveable loser with a terrible past who finds a baby. Given that this baby is female, in a world where there are apparently no females left, she is a rare commodity, and he goes to great lengths to protect her, learning to love her like a daughter. One day, his home is ransacked and the girl is stolen. Brad then goes on an epic quest with a band of merry screw-ups to get the girl back in one piece.

With a dark sense of humour and a corking soundtrack, not to mention the fact that it was developed by one guy using RPG Maker, Lisa: The Painful simply doesn't get the credit it deserves. The soundtrack is one of my favourites and I particularly like the song Summer Love. It stands out because of how relaxed it is, when a lot of the other soundtrack tunes are quite manic. However, the peacefulness also underscores the fact that there is not much going on in this post-apocalyptic world except violence, and the men trapped there are just rotting away.
thegreenflea

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by thegreenflea »

Although I'm not as active on here as I sometimes would like to be, I listen to Sound of Play just about every week while I am driving long distance to one place or another for work. Every time I listen, I hope to one day arrange it to be on the show to talk about my personal favorites (I have a ongoing mental list show the opportunity arise). Also, the recent talk about doing the Final Fantasy games has definitely piqued my interest as I have played through just about all of them and I'd enjoy going into detail my most recent slogged through the original on NES.

As for requests for the show, I'm going with a theme of indie games that go for a throwback 8 or 16 bit style, which is my favorite style, so these games hit me in the sweet spot.

Cave Story was the first throwback game I remember playing. A college friend told me about it when we lived in the same dorm. Although it was originally in Japanese, the site from which I acquired it had a patch to translate the entire game into English. At this time, the game was free to download and I still have the same files on an external hard drive. The game is fantastic! Great platforming, a touching story, upgradeable weapons, secrets to discover, and multiple endings. As with some of the other more recent games in this throwback genre, it was all created (music, graphics, and all) by one person: Pixel. The track I have chosen acts 2 fold: one as a later level in the game but more importantly as the title screen when the game starts. I opened and played this game so much that I get excited just hearing the opening cords knowing such a grand experience is about to begin.


Tower of Heaven is a game I played on PC that is meant to look like a Gameboy game. It's about a person who finds and begins to climb a tower to get to heaven (oddly enough). As you progress, a voice begins to talk to you setting up rules that if you disobey, you instantly die. These rules can very from touching blocks on a certain side, only moving in a certain direction, not moving when touching the ground, etc. As you succeed despite the ever growing list of rules, the voice gets frustrated and the game becomes quite philosophical. Without going into any further, it's an excellent and fun platformer which won't take a lot of time once you get the hang of it (~30 minutes). It's well worth the time especially given the soundtrack, done by flashygoodness; it hits all the highs and lows that the rest of the game delivers perfectly.


Once I saw the first trailer for Hyper Light Drifter, I knew I had to play it. It carried all the air of mystery and wonder that a Hayao Miyazaki film does and then, when I finally got to play it, it delivered an excellent, strategic brawler. Various weapons & upgrades help but there is almost no place you can just run into swinging and win. You have to know your skill-set and be able to move and attack when the openings occur. Very little story is conveyed except through imagery which leaves a lot of gaps for the player to fill in. I loved everything about this game. I've heard a lot of complaints on it's difficulty but I never found especially hard and even found the game very forgiving in where it respawns you after untimely deaths. I cannot recommend it enough. I've picked the sound from the trailer and opening of the game, composed by disasterpeace, as it articulates the tone of the game better then my words could ever do.
Kid Skitzky

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Kid Skitzky »



Like the game, the Planet Coaster soundtrack is sheer bliss from start to finish. Fans of the RollerCoaster Tycoon series will be familiar with Planet Coaster's core gameplay loop: design your park, build coasters, have fun. But the amount of freedom Planet Coaster gives in making your dream theme park is beyond that of any park management game I've ever played. In the 40 hours I've spent with it, I've made coasters looping through underground cave systems. I made a park built on clouds that float in the air. Right now I'm working on a park based on the human body. Everything about Planet Coaster is pure, unrestrained fun. So it's only fitting to accompany that fun with an equally uplifting soundtrack. Hearing it brings me back to the child-like wonder of seeing Disney World for the first time. It invokes the awe of visiting a magical land filled with cotton candy and funnel cakes. For this song specifically, we hear the melody whistled over a guitar, followed by syncopated hand claps, trumpets, and a group of vocalists to give it a rich texture. It is cheerful and filled with optimism. A remarkable piece.
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JaySevenZero
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by JaySevenZero »

Kid Skitzky wrote:Like the game, the Planet Coaster soundtrack is sheer bliss from start to finish.
I really like that track, gonna have to check out the rest of the soundtrack now! :D
Azure

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Azure »

I recently found this pair of brilliant podcasts and I must admit that I'm entirely won over. While marathoning Sound of Play, however, I noticed that there has only been one track from the Monster Hunter franchise in Ep. 51, so I thought I would add a suggestion.

Every monster in the Monster Hunter games has its own theme, but none of them have stuck in my head as consistently or as long as long as the track for Ceadeus. While not my favorite fight in what is probably my least liked entry in the series due to the camera and dodge difficulties in a 3D underwater environment, the first section of the music for the fight is absolutely beautiful and stirring, alone describing the majesty of a mythical tribal sea god. The second half, entitled Moonquake, follows the calm and regal prelude with a track with that alternates between eliciting a war chant against an enraged and destructive oceanic monstrosity and a lament and apology against the circumstances leading to the regrettable action of slaying what amounts to a tribal diety, sung in the game's fictional Wyverian language.

The version I included is the orchestral cover from 2012; it's a bit long at 10 minutes, but if it is considered for inclusion on Sound of Play, there is a natural lull at 6:06 at which it can be ended - the last bit is nice, but mostly embellishment on the original track.




Another suggestion that I would be proud to make would be a track from a little blocky voxel-based 'roguelike' dungeon delver created by Robot Loves Kitty, Legend of Dungeon.




Composed by a musician named David Dirig, the music in this game is rather interesting, as you never actually hear any whole track from the album within the game; instead, the 18 tracks are portioned up and applied to different objects and enemies within the game and the music remixes according to your proximity to various elements. In effect, it sounds quite nice and also occasionally serves as a handy monster warning or a telltale hint to a secret panel for a close listener.
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by ratsoalbion »

Hi Azure, welcome along and thanks for the requests.
:)
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ratsoalbion
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by ratsoalbion »

Special request!

Can I have your favourite 'feel good' / happy tunes from videogames please?

I'll need at least eight jolly tracks, the ones which are guaranteed to perk you up, make you dance in your seat and grin from ear-to-ear.

The deadline for these particular selections is Monday 13th February - thank you!
:D
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by gallo_pinto »

I've got three! My favorite sub-genre of video game music is the jolly, grinning ear-to-ear music.

Undertale-Hopes and Dreams

This one was on a previous Sound of Play, so I understand not wanting to play it again. But it is so joyful and empowering. It perfectly captures the tone at the end of a pacifist run of Undertale. You (the protagonist) have found a way to stay true to your ideals, connecting with and befriending characters who had wanted to cause you harm. You got this far because you were able to be good. This song comes up over the final boss and lets you know that it's that goodness that will be the key to your success in this fight.


Rhythm Heaven Fever-Monkey Watch

This is a song where smiling monkeys high five each other over and over. Each monkey is so happy after the high five that they spend the rest of the song doing a happy dance. Every once in a while there are punk rock monkeys who join in. They seem like they might be too cool for all of this, but once you high five them, they dance right along. What's jollier than that?


Persona 4 Golden-Shadow World

This song is the reason I picked up Persona 4 Golden. The harmonica riff at the beginning lets you know that you are going to be having fun with this game.
Sam_What

Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Sam_What »

I just finished listening to Sound of Play 79 - thank you so much Ryan and Spencer for featuring my request from Flower! I can confirm that there were no ghetto blasters up on that mountain with me and I am in fact now working and living over here in Sofia!

Anyway, thanks again guys! I'm usually a week behind on all the podcasts, so this may be a bit late, but I always make the time for SoP!
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Mechner
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Mechner »

Hi,

Thanks for including one of my requests in your show =)

Love this podcast, not many podcasts out there deal directly with game music.

So here is another submission for your approval.

The Place I'll Return Someday - Final Fantasy 9 (Nobuo Uematsu)



This title track is interesting for me, as it was the last game in the Final Fantasy series, that Nobuo Uematsu composed soley on his own, and it was the first in the series, that I played. I remember my dad bringing my sister and I, to the now, long defunct "gamesworld", as it was our birthday weekend (Our birthdates are two days apart). My sister, picked up the abominable, "Mary Kate and Ashley's Mystery Mall". I picked up, "Final Fantasy 9" based solely on the fact I thought the screenshots looked cool (I think I got the better deal), funny, as my sister ended up playing "Final Fantasy 9" more than "Mary Kate and Ashley's wondrously... drab.... outing".

Simply put, "The Place I'll Return to Someday" draws you in, and sets the up the game from the get go. Beautifully arranged "Midi" flutes, in a Medieval Baroque style. Utilising the Dorian Mode to its full extent. A touch of mystery and intrigue, as the flutes lightly tip-toe around each other, evoking a sense of wonderment and strangely, nostalgia, for a world you've never been to, ultimately culminating, in the feeling of returning home.

Final Fantasy 9 is a gem and probably the best of the series, but sadly few really talk about it, with its older brothers influence.

In a way this reminds me very much of "The best is yet to come" from MGS, which I would have been playing around the same time, it must be the Celtic vibe.

Nobuo Uematsu did stellar work on Final Fantasy 9, and the soundtrack is well worth a listen.
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Re: The videogame music thread (also Sound of Play submissions)

Post by Jobobonobo »

When you mentioned ye were doing a happy song special, one track instantly leapt to my mind.

While it might not have the wow factor of the Galaxy games, Super Mario 3D World is a worthy addition to the Mario series. The four player co-op led to some great nights in with friends and it had just enough invention and charm that it was a real highlight of the Wii U library for me. One thing that I always adored about it was its jazz laden soundtrack which offers a fun, breezy counterpoint to the sweeping majesty of the Galaxy titles. There is one track in particular that immediately burrowed itself into my brain and refuses to budge, however and that is Athletic 2 by the one and only Koji Kondo himself. Also referred to as Chainlink Charge after the rather infamous first level in which this tune plays, this piece shows that Mr Kondo still has it in him to create short, catchy little ear worms that will remain in your head after the first listen. Here's to hoping Super Mario Odyssey has similar classic toe tappers in its soundtrack.

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