In-Game Music

[Caius]

Hello all. I will try to bring those kind of threads which has a lot of thoughts of some years ago.
This thread is about music in the games. Yes, those songs which made you annoy sometimes, because those song were so repetitive or had a bad melody or just they sucked. But there are masterpieces in others games, and I play those games due to the music.

I will bring some examples, and I'd like if you can, post your experiences related to In-Game music.

Recently I, thanks to YouTube, I heard Scouting, which is one of the songs of the good old Tiberian Sun. I felt like OMG!. It gave me a lot of hapiness, maybe because I'm a geek, or because I have been playing Tiberian Sun (one of the best games EVAR) for years.

Rome:Total War doesn't make the same effect as TS does. It has a lot of excellent songs, like the barbarian intro or Mayhem (battle song), but those became repetitive if you played a lot.

So, what are your experiences for In-Game music?

[Craterus]

Final Fantasy VII.

[FactionHeir]

Final Fantasy VII.

Absolutely agree.

also:
NWN (premium module music is great)

[TevashSzat]

The song for the ending credits of Portal.

I don't know why, but I simply love that song

[Martok]

Shogun Total War and Birth of the Federation. Both games' soundtracks are very atmospheric.

[Whacker]

Oh man, I used to just loop the 4 seasonal soundtracks from Shogun on my PC while doing homework in college. There was another track from the Mongol expansion that I enjoyed too, don't remember the name of it.

The Mechwarrior 2 games (Original, Ghost Bear Legacy, and Mercs, ESP. Mercs) were also outstanding, I still have my original mp3s I ripped off of my game cds from years and years ago.

I kinda liked the Deus Ex soundtrack. The Hong Kong streets music was probably my fav... cheesy, but I liked it.

And the Fallout soundtrack, I found a good looping version of the Brotherhood of Steel compound background music. The air raid sirens were just great in that.

Secret of Mana. Dark Lich theme ftw.

Final Fantasy series have always had good music. Apparently many folks didn't like the game overall, but Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, the final boss theme was one I really enjoyed.

Need For Speed 5 soundtrack was good.

Diablo 2 soundtrack was also good. My friend made a few looping versions of some of the area themes so we could listen to that in college as well.

The Wipeout games have always had absolutely outstanding music, but that's really most of what the games were about IMO. XL and 3 are my two favs.

Will post more if I can think of them.

[professorspatula]

I always get nostalgic whenever I hear the 'Stones' tune from the Ultima series. As the years rolled past and new Ultima games were released, it would sound more impressive and epic with extra instruments added. Ultima 7 and U7 Part 2 all had great music.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the Homeworld game, it had a pretty good soundtrack, very atmospheric too.

Here's an old game that had great sound-tracks at the time : Star Control 2. Fantastic stuff! I'd end up staying in Quasi space for longer than I needed to, just so I could hear the tune that played there. There are some fan made updated music files that I used to just listen to when I didn't feel like playing the game.

[FactionHeir]

Oh, and Morrowind

[rajpoot]

Loads of games, but a few that I really really liked above all else, and that are worth mentioning :
TWs (all of them are awesome music, though one does get a mite tired listening to a few tracks again and again), Medal of Honour Allied Assault, Oblivion, Morrowind, Age of Empires 2 and 3 (they have very little music, but the intro tracks are great) and Silent Hunter 4.

[Caius]

Even though I can't hear those songs anymore, I always loved teh Empire Earth songs. They fitted perfectly with the game, and, like I used to say, those songs were "smart". That is because when a fight came, the music suddenly changes to a faster rythm, and when the fight is over, it came back to a quiet rythm.

[drone]

Master of Orion 2 had nice music.

And I do love the MTW soundtrack, of course.

[Quirinus]

Even though I can't hear those songs anymore, I always loved teh Empire Earth songs. They fitted perfectly with the game, and, like I used to say, those songs were "smart". That is because when a fight came, the music suddenly changes to a faster rythm, and when the fight is over, it came back to a quiet rythm.

Yeah, I was skulking around in my computer's disk space when I uncovered my old install of Empire Earth that I haven't played for years. Hearing the menu music alone triggered a Pavlovian response in me, I knew I had to play a few games. Ah, nostalgia.


Hitman II: Silent Assassin: especially the menu orcherstral score, even when I got tired of the game, I kept it installed for some time just to listen to that awesome piece of music.

Call of Duty 4: Specifically, the Chernobyl level is brilliant because of the haunting music. One scene that I always revisit-- when you walk along a corridor that looks out on some sort of plaza, the music plays, and your captain comments: "Look at this place... 50000 people used to live here, now it's a ghost town."

Total War games: Jeff van Dyke is an excellent composer, one of my favourites is his "Melee" from RTW. It really conveys a kind of frantic, chaotic crush of men. I still use that music to set pace when I jog. His work for M2TW: Kingdoms is outstanding as well, "Time and Again" being my fave.

Galactic Civilizations: the first one, that is. I felt the music of the second was a little overblown. In the first one, all sorts of situations had excellent ambient music that conveys the mood well. From the wonder and sense of discovery at the start, to a tense atmosphere of a galaxy teetering at the edge of war, the war-weariness of a long slogging match, to the megalomaniacal blare of a reign of evil..... it constitutes a large part of the reason why, flawed as it is, I still love the game.

Super Mario: the original, very first Mario. Very catchy ditty. xD


aaaand, any Star Wars game.

[Caius]

Even though I can't hear those songs anymore, I always loved teh Empire Earth songs. They fitted perfectly with the game, and, like I used to say, those songs were "smart". That is because when a fight came, the music suddenly changes to a faster rythm, and when the fight is over, it came back to a quiet rythm.

I lied. I wan't aware that some months ago, a guy in teh Interwebz posted all the Empire Earth songs (which are 8). As the guy stated, the songs have name, but he couldn't find it -and I don't want to find them-, but if you have some minutes, and will, there are the soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SicN...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsO_...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkgf...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFXK...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWeX...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFxB...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0_V...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbxP...eature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOdY...eature=related