Games Soundtrack Appreciation / Discussion Thread

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I usually don't fixate on Soundtracks, perhaps because I tend to focus on Multiplayer games (L4D being the only one I can think of where soundtracks play an important role). In fact, music will usually be the first thing I turn off after an hour or two when I've felt I've heard it all.

But certain tracks from ME3 quite stood out to me which got me thinking about the impact of Soundtracks in games (and I know I am not the first to), and why so many people throw such a huge fuss over them (like those JRPG or Civilization soundtracks and etc). When I hit up the forums, I was surprised that there wasn't a thread dedicated to discussion of soundtracks and their impact in games around here.

So here we go.

Feel free to share any game soundtracks that stood out to you and discuss them!

As certain discussions will most surely cross into spoiler territory, please be considerate of the 'lazy/busy' portion of us that may have not finished certain games and use the SPOILER tags where appropriate.

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I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE CONTINUING FOR IMPROVING YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THIS THREAD!

I initially intended this to be just a humble little discussion thread about soundtracks and their use/impact in games, but it's now evolved into this massive compendium of people's favorite video-game soundtracks (which is just as awesome!). So here are a couple tips for viewing/using this thread.

How to Embed a YouTube video

To embed a YouTube video you use the YouTube tags, but instead of just copy and pasting the youtube link, you have to make sure you only insert the YouTube ID. What is a YouTube ID you ask? What's bolded below is your YouTube ID, basically you need to remove everything in the hyperlink that comes before the ?v= line, as well as the ?v= modifier itself.

So if I were to link that particular YouTube video, I would use the YouTube tags accordingly (remove the spaces in the Tags)

Plugins for Easing the YouTube-embed overload in this thread

Also, browsing some of the pages in this thread may become cumbersome for you OR more importantly the computer you browse it with. Here are a couple tips/plugins that people in the thread have recommended to make your experience a little easier.

I'm real close to reinstalling this.

Take the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiN6t7K7txw thing, and delete everything except what I bolded. Basically, everything including ?v= and the stuff that comes before it, needs to be snipped.

The Mass Effect soundtrack is one of my favorites. The "Noveria" tune from ME1 is nearly trance-inducing. My Shepard in ME2 keeps it on a loop in his quarters.

Regarding The Catalyst:

Indeed. Taken in context, it's a very moving piece. I also really loved the song that played as you watched the outcome of your choice. Despite what anyone thinks of the ending content, the score is powerful.

Since I'm re-playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I've been listening to the soundtrack quite a bit. It's one of those moments when I'm happy I have ears.

What is there to say? They are simply awesome songs. It sums up the entire tone of the game for me: striving for unachievable heights, falling under the weight of one's own hubris, and living with all the damage done in between.

EDIT: Thanks, Pikey

The Journey soundtrack is nothing short of incredible.

Gametrailers did a thing on the Mass Effect soundtrack this week, you might want to watch it.
It's definitely up there as one of my favourites. A few others that stand out as iconic or that I find myself going back and listening to are:

StarCraft:

Unreal Tournament (not just this song, the whole soundtrack is fantastic):

VVVVVV

Diablo 2

The Tristram theme might be more iconic, but the opening bit of this one gets me every time.

Super Meat Boy also had a good soundtrack but I've embedded enough already :d

Thief. For what is mostly a quiet/ambient game, as you'd expect from the sneaking, it does fit in quite a bit of rock, and it fits with the world/environment/setting they made. I think it gives the series a bit of a sharper edge and reminds you it's not just a medieval romp.

BONUS!

Also, The Witcher 2

Yoko Shimomura's soundtrack for Parasite Eve is still the best video game soundtrack of all time in my mind.

The World Ends With You is the only one with tracks I actually have in playlists on my MP3 player, but I understand that's going to be a matter of taste.

One of my favorite songs from any game doesn't even appear in the actual game, but came on a bonus disc in some versions of the game. The song is "The Operative", and it's beautiful.

If you must have something that was in the actual game, here's the main theme of No One Lives Forever, although all the music in this game was great.

the first soundtrack in a game I really *noticed* was Interstate 76. Funkin' groovy, man!

Grim Fandango probably stands out as my all-time favorite soundtrack. Not often you get some seriously hard swinging jazz in your video games!

Ico didn't have a lot of music, but this waltz is one of the best pieces of game music I've heard:

Also, the use of Agnus Dei in Homeworld was brilliant.

I don't think Jeremy Soule has topped the Morrowind theme when composing music for the Elder Scrolls. Everything since then has been too bombastic, but the Morrowind theme is elegant.

Kai Rosenkranz has been doing great work for Piranha Bytes for years.

Besides Journey which was mentioned Bastion was a recent game that had a great music.

Great pull with Morrowind. My favorite parts of Oblivion and Skyrim music has been the reworked versions of that theme. He really nailed it there.

I don't know where the thread stands on Original Soundtracks vs. licensed music but I can't not mention Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

And this may be just my guilty pleasure but I thought Sonic Adventure 2 had some fun music.

Oh man, I miss Interstate '76. Good call with that one, tboon.

Tannhauser:

Agreed. Morrowind remains the standard for music in TES. This is one of my favorites:

And I was tickled to hear this track from Morrowind make it into Skyrim (albeit slightly altered):

Though we can't ignore Skyrim. Despite many of the tracks as being chest-pounding pieces, there are some softer and more thoughtful pieces, too, like this one:

Veloxi wrote:

Edit: Could someone tell me how to show the actual vids like y'all did, please?

[ youtube ] V1CjxQXXA7o [ /youtube ]

But without any spaces. The cluster of letters is whatever comes after the =

Blind_Evil wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

Edit: Could someone tell me how to show the actual vids like y'all did, please?

[ youtube ] V1CjxQXXA7o [ /youtube ]

But without any spaces. The cluster of letters is whatever comes after the =

And if there's parentheses in the Youtube tag, GWJ cannot handle that at all. This has bitten me a couple of times, so just for your information.

There are some songs I really like for games that I've never even played.
Like this one

That album has a spot reserved on my music player and this track is on every phone I own.

My favorite ever is still Total Annihilation. This track in particular.

Thanks for the help guys!

And f*ck, how could I forget TA?! Might be the first Jeremy Soule composition I'd ever heard.

Oohhh, that first track from the Journey soundtrack is awesome.

Veloxi wrote:

Oohhh, that first track from the Journey soundtrack is awesome.

I found that one a little sleepy out of context.

An incredible number of great suggestions in here. I forget sometimes how much amazing music is in video games. One of my favourite game soundtracks of all time is an oldie but still gets me every time. Star Control II:

It was all done in MOD files which was a great track and loop based music format. You could actually open up all the songs and edit them which made for some great remixes. You can actually still download and play the whole game for free and it's my second favourite title of all-time. I still regularly play it and this soundtrack always makes me smile. So much great music came from the MOD/S3M scene.

I came here for two games. Morrowind, but it's good to know I was beaten to the punch. I agree on many of the post-Morrowind pieces being too bombastic.

The other game, Haegemonia: Legions of Iron. There are many beautiful pieces, it's well worth listening to them as a whole. But for now, to get your blood pumping, War Dance is unbeatable.

I think the Halo series has some great stuff as well, Finish the Fight from Halo 3 always gives me the chills.

If you're looking at older games, you really need to know about Turrican II

Oohhh, I love this thread already. I am a HUGE fan of gaming music, and have at least a couple hundred soundtracks. Some of my faves include:

And many more, but I'll just start with these for now.

Edit: Thanks guys!!!

How'd I go so long without ever really listening to a Mario Galaxy song? I didn't know it was fully orchestrated that stuff is amazing. I need a Wii.

Several favorites from my very own "golden age of gaming".

And of course:

Disappointed by lack of mention of Shadow of the Colossus, though I would guess that's an obvious one.

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