For what it's worth, I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with my list yet.
You see, this was the generation I stopped playing newer console video games to concentrate on high school (and I was in like a billion after-school clubs), so I barely had time to explore a lot of the mid-gen/late-gen console games until last gen, actually. If I played something, it was an SFC game, a PC game, or something like that. I did keep up with soundtracks pretty well, so at the very least, I'm somewhat well-versed in that. I'm happy that Ghaleon has more time to dedicate to the thread because I feel like he has more expertise in this generation than I do. I wish I could say that I have a lot of attachments to this particular generation, but I don't think I do...
Long-story-short, it's going to take me a while to think about this too. Like I said, I'm not writing long-expansive writeups for this one since I don't have the time this month with midterms and a few projects on my backburner, and it probably might be weird if I take up 5-6 posts for a top 10! We'll see, though. I might change my mind during Reading Week.
Interesting. I was the opposite in high school, ha! All I did was play shit nonstop. The PS2/GC/Xbox-era is probably my favorite period of gaming when I really think about it. GC and Xbox are easy for me to make decisions on (and I already have them in my mind), but PS2...I don't know. A top 10 list of JUST PS2 games isn't enough let alone trying to mix it in with the other offerings, but I'll manage!
1. Civilization IV
Is it possible to be the strongest soundtrack of a generation through the powers of one single song out of an entire soundtrack? Normally, I'd say no, except in this case, the song is...
This might just be the single greatest song to ever grace a video game soundtrack. And the only one with a Grammy to show for it. It's the Lord's Prayer in Swahili, it's the main menu theme of civilization IV. It's Baba Yetu. Cultural Victory achieved.
2. Metroid Prime
As I said in the Game of the Generation vote, Metroid Prime came out of nowhere, and it's soundtrack is... unique. The series as a whole has a distinct sound from instruments and tune alone. The heavy synth beats, the whining whistle, the soft choirs. You don't even need to look up the name of the game, you just know it's Metroid Prime.
The main theme really has it all, this is what greets you when you boot up Metroid Prime for the first time, and just from that, you know something special is going to happen. Main Title Theme
In the quiet end of things, the ambient tune of the falling snow at Phendrana Drifts. Phendrana Drifts
And, of course, an old friend drops in, taking a great remix of the Super Metroid boss theme with him. Meta Ridley Battle
What else is there to say? Metroid Prime did a lot of things right, especially the soundtrack.
3. Metal Gear Solid 2
And in the category of cinematic sound, we have Metal Gear Solid 2.
Ever notice how the music while you're sneaking always seems to fit the action? It's because it DOES. Each song has multiple "layers" that it seamlessly can switch between depending on the game state. And I'm a sucker for games that do that.
4. Viewtiful Joe
Like with Metroid Prime, when you hear music from Viewtiful Joe, you KNOW it's from Viewtiful Joe. An upbeat distorted sound, a solid beat and a wailing siren. This is Viewtiful Joe.
The song from the first stage, Joe's theme in all its viewtifulness. Joe the Hero
The boss fight against Fire Leo has a song you might hear a lot... because he's freaking tough to beat. Inferno Lord
And to cap it off, the final boss. The essence of the entire game in one fight... and one song. Captain Blue the True Hero
As an aside... THAT is how you do a final boss theme. The theme of the hero and the theme of the boss mixed together, fighting for dominance. Just like what's going on in the game.
5. Final Fantasy X
There was a time when Final Fantasy meant you could be sure the music would be awesome. Final Fantasy X was from that time. Sporting the usual varied soundtrack, and a surprisingly metal boss theme in "Otherworld" it did not disappoint.
This is a game that has a solemn piano piece... To Zanarkand
And despite the wildly different music styles, it still comes together as a whole. That's impressive.
6. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Wind Waker has several interesting music tracks, and does something neat with the beats of the combat music while you're fighting. The beat will always hit exactly as Link is attacking. Which is pretty neat.
The game opens on a downbeat version of the Legend of Zelda theme. This is the story of how the Hero disappeared, Ganon won and the world was flooded. You know, for kids! The Legendary Hero
The world map theme, which is of course the sailing theme, has that sense of setting out for adventure. As Zelda overworld themes should. The Great Sea
And finally, the boss theme so catchy, it made it into Smash Bros over even the final battle. Everyone's favorite worm-thing: Molgera Listen to that drum. That's a good drum.
7. Dragon Quest VIII
Specifically, the localized orchestral version.
If you like classical style music, Dragon Quest VIII has a treat for you, because it's pretty good at that. With a relatively light soundtrack for a JRPG, it makes up for low quantity in quality alone. It just sounds really good.
Nothing says that better than the opening theme. Another one of those "This... is going to be special." openings. Dragon Quest VIII Overture
The main battle theme is also quite nice. Other games might have gone with a more rock inspired theme, but when you got someone who can do a classical theme like this... it really seems unnecessary. War Cry
And another example of not picking the obvious, for the better. The flying theme, not your average airship theme. then again, not your average airship either. Heavenly Flight
It was an inspired choice by Square-Enix to remaster the Dragon Quest VIII soundtrack for the Western release. It just fits so well to this back to basics simple style RPG. Plus, they actually went all out, picked a theme and stuck with it. Every single song is purely symphonic and that's impressive.
8. Tales of Symphonia
This game, though, picks and chooses styles from all over the place. If there is a coherent theme, it's that bell they keep using...
As per usual by now in this list, here's the title theme. A slow sense of wonder. Tales of Symphonia
But what makes Tales of Symphonia stand out is its plethora of boss themes. It has more boss themes than Dragon Quest VIII has songs in total. And to be completely cliche about the song pick, here's Fatalize. Fatalize
And of course, the semi-final boss theme has to be here. In which you beat down evil anime Jesus. So, you know, business as usual. It can waver and fight
Only picking three from this enormous soundtrack is almost a shame. The flying theme "AVIATORS", the second battle theme "Like a Glint of Light" and some of the character themes could also be mentioned here. So many decent songs.
9. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Did you know that Path of Radiance deliberately tries to avoid using the Fire Emblem main theme until the very end? As such, I'll not mention the end credits song either.
Now the big reason this game is here, is a two-fer. The Black Knight, of course, plays heavily into this, because he's the Black Knight. And his two themes are likely the highlight of the soundtrack. They just fit him so well. The Black Knightand Against The Black Knight
And to go with the other major highlight, the most well known stage music from the game. Crimea Attacks
To pick a different final one, I've always liked Caineghis's theme. He's a king. And a lion. Literally. And the song really does sound like he looks, if that makes any sense. Lion King Caineghis
Path of Radiance does jump onto the list off the power of a very few songs, though, but those that work, work.
10. The Sims 2
Final entry on my list is good old Sims 2. Definitely more in the easy listening or muzak category, but it works pretty well for it.
The main theme of Sims 2 is a pretty whimsical one. Cute in a way, and a catchy song to watch loading screens to. Sims 2 Main Theme
Of course, no The Sims game would be complete without Create-a-Sim, and the song to go with that: CAS - Makeover
It keeps the plucked string sound in the Build Mode song. SimSation
The Sims 2 has a somewhat unique sound as well. A relaxed sound, no hurry, no giant monsters to slay just calm and whimsical. And that's pretty much what a game like The Sims needs.
And that about wraps it up. Of course there are many, many more great soundtracks from that generation, limiting it to ten is difficult, but I think I'm good with these. Kingdom Hearts 2 was there, but I dropped it in favor of Dragon Quest VIII.
This was a little harder to do than the Game of the Generation post. Mainly because I had to go look for examples for the archive. Hope some of these prove useful.
LOL, this seems easier than SotY 2014. Getting people to vote felt like when I used to TA classes and asked the students questions: like pulling teeth. :V
where were y'aaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllll befooooooooooorrrrrre
Interesting. I was the opposite in high school, ha! All I did was play shit nonstop. The PS2/GC/Xbox-era is probably my favorite period of gaming when I really think about it. GC and Xbox are easy for me to make decisions on (and I already have them in my mind), but PS2...I don't know. A top 10 list of JUST PS2 games isn't enough let alone trying to mix it in with the other offerings, but I'll manage!
I wish I could say the same. I feel more fond of eras prior to this era for various reasons (both audio-wise and game-wise), and I don't really have much to say about this one.
I played games from this era years later (like 2008-onwards when I was in undergrad) and I'm still catching up, so I don't know if I'll vote in the games of this generation thread. I don't actually know if I'll vote yet since I don't feel like I have much expertise in this era altogether.
Never had a GameCube until I bought a Wii in undergrad and played GCN games on that.
Piggybacked on someone else's Xbox during high school and played Ninja Gaiden: Black on there.
PS2... well, I started buying my own games at that point and it's like I'd rather save my money on safer options since they were like $50, haha. I did start to import PS2 games to practice Japanese in this era, though.
GBA: bought one for THPS2 when I was in the 8th grade, and didn't play much else until after I got a DS Lite outside of the occasional Japanese game.
Wonderswan... I had one, didn't have a lot to play, so I sold it (and rebought one years later).
Always wanted a Neo Geo Pocket Colour since I played someone else's and I had fun with it.
I knew you guys would break my legs if I didn't add a knuckles rap to the archive. That archive's probably going to be updated much slower than the SotY thread just because it's midterm season for me, >.>
So if I want to vote for Maplestory, an MMO which came out in 2003 (2005 in NA), should I only count the soundtrack as it was on December 31, 2005? And can I only vote for the NA version or can I base my vote on the Korean version (the original version) at that time?
So if I want to vote for Maplestory, an MMO which came out in 2003 (2005 in NA), should I only count the soundtrack as it was on December 31, 2005? And can I only vote for the NA version or can I base my vote on the Korean version (the original version) at that time?
There isn't really any need to specify since it's still in the same era (May 11, 2005 is still within the timeframe, anyway--iirc, that was when MS came out in NA). It'd still go towards the "MapleStory" entry.
The version question is probably something you'd have to ask in the GotG thread, but not here. I don't really mind either way for this thread; as long as the game fits in the timeframe, you should be good.
There isn't really any need to specify since it's still in the same era (May 11, 2005 is still within the timeframe, anyway--iirc, that was when MS came out in NA). It'd still go towards the "MapleStory" entry.
The version question is probably something you'd have to ask in the GotG thread, but not here. I don't really mind either way for this thread; as long as the game fits in the timeframe, you should be good.
I was specifying the era because some of the best songs in the game were added well after 2005, but I figure for the purposes of this list I should only judge the soundtrack based on what it was at that time. If I could count the soundtrack as of today it'd probably be my number 1.
I was specifying the era because some of the best songs in the game were added well after 2005, but I figure for the purposes of this list I should only judge the soundtrack based on what it was at that time. If I could count the soundtrack as of today it'd probably be my number 1.
Ohhh, well, in that case, it'd work like FFXI and WoW. You can only vote for the tracks added to the game up to and including December 31, 2005. You're completely right.
LOL I think I only played MS for like a few months and then my friends got into WoW and didn't bother with MS anymore.
That game was like 3 bucks on Boxing Day along with Lament of Innocence at Zellers. I even picked up FF Crystal Chronicles for $6 and Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter for $5 there, too! PS2 games post-main gen were super-cheap so it was a bit easier to catch up on stuff I missed pretty quickly.
It was okay, but I don't like the PS2 Castlevanias much, gameplay-wise. The music, as usual, is pretty good. Can't fish out links right now because I'm on my phone, but Green Serenade, Legendary Belmont, A Toccata into Blood Soaked Darkness, and Forest of Jigramunt are decent works.
I knew you guys would break my legs if I didn't add a knuckles rap to the archive. That archive's probably going to be updated much slower than the SotY thread just because it's midterm season for me, >.>
Actually those are one of the parts of Sonic Adventure 2's OST that knocks it down for me, It's funny in a cheesy way in game but I'm hardly about to bust out Wild Canyon outside of the game with those nonsense lyrics.
But I'll admit that Dive into the Mellow has a smooth instrumental side, that one I will listen to.
This is one of those games I want to play one day purely for the soundtrack, from what I've heard I'm sure it would earn a place in my top 10 here if I actually had played it, well I suppose it still could but a lot of other games have the context and decade plus advantage of simmering in my mind.
Though I notice that Curse of Darkness is the one that tends to get all the praise and Lament of Innocence doesn't tend to crop up nearly as much.
Still vote! You made something that resembles a ballot, so you can keep going as the voting period goes on. You don't have to do gigantic writeups or anything.
Actually those are one of the parts of Sonic Adventure 2's OST that knocks it down for me, It's funny in a cheesy way in game but I'm hardly about to bust out Wild Canyon outside of the game with those nonsense lyrics.
But I'll admit that Dive into the Mellow has a smooth instrumental side, that one I will listen to.
Sonic, what are you doin' here?
I heard you were on a quest to find the Master Emarooowwd
You know me and you don't get along
I don't think that's the point right now, Knuckles
I know how much the emarooowd means to you
And I wanna help get it back
Stop bein' stubborn and think
Well, I guess you're right
Yuh daaaammmn right, Knuckles
CoD is the better game out of the two, but the problem is that it came out after the character action genre had advanced with DMC, Ninja Gaiden, etc. so it pales in comparison. If you had to play CoD or LoI, I'd probably go with the former since LoI's... special.
See now I've gone straight from the majesty of listening to Shadow of the Colossus OST to Death Chamber, it's like mood whiplash here.
That said, "Yuh daaaammmn right Schala" about that Sax work among other things which I never tend to notice when searching for Emerald pieces, in that sense it's a bit of a shame that the humorously bad lyrics dampen my enjoyment of the track because what else is there is actually pretty good.
Here is an amazing offering I only just remembered, probably Beef's favourite because it involves Chao mauling each other. Okay, serious offering would be Metal Harbour.
CoD is the better game out of the two, but the problem is that it came out after the character action genre had advanced with DMC, Ninja Gaiden, etc. so it pales in comparison. If you had to play CoD or LoI, I'd probably go with the former since LoI's... special.
"what happened to camera angles?", well that alone does not bode well.
Yeah the reason CoD is still on my to do list after a number of years is mostly because its reception on the gameplay front is less than stellar, I think I'd only be able to endure one of them anyway just through the power of Yamane and co alone.
1. Metroid Prime; This game's soundtrack is absolutely perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about it. Phendrana Drifts Downed Frigate
2. Metroid Prime 2; While not quite as perfect as the first Prime's, this game's soundtrack still has some standout tracks, and even the less memorable stuff did a great job at setting the mood. Torvus Bog Submerged Temple
3. Metroid Zero Mission; Much like the game itself, the music wasn't simply remade with higher quality assets, but instead completely reimagined. And just like the game itself, they did a fantastic job with it. Kraid's Lair Norfair
4. F-Zero GX; Intense and rocking, the music in this game is perfect for the balls-to-the-wall speed of F-Zero. Very few things get me pumped like F-Zero GX's music. Lightning Fire Field
5. God of War 2; The music in this game is like metal, if metal used an orchestra and a choir instead of electric guitars. It really gets you in the mood to tear shit up, just like Kratos. Typhon Mountain Phoenix Rising
6. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; Despite the noticeably midi-sounding samples, the music in this game nevertheless manages to set the mood. It's all very somber, I think. Faron Woods Midna's Desperate Hour
7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker; In contrast to Twilight Princess, Wind Waker's music is largely delightful and upbeat, yet it's equally good. I had trouble deciding which game would go first, and Twilight Princess won out, but only just barely. Title Theme The Great Sea
8. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow; The haunting tone that this game manages to set through the GBA's tinny speakers is impressive. Castle Corridor Clock Tower
9. God of War; Not much to say about this that I didn't already say about its sequel. Zeus' Wrath Divine Title Theme
10. Sonic Adventure 2; It's so cheesy and I love it. I admit, it made my list entirely because of these two songs. City Escape Live and Learn
NOTE: Incomplete. Making this list ended up being a trip down the memorylane so it's taking a bit of time. I'm leaving it unfinished, will return to it tomorrow. Just want to post it so I don't lose all my hard work (yes, I know I could copy-paste it to some text-file, but bleh, I'm too lazy for that atm).
I'll try to keep the Top 10 as a single-game-per-franchise deal and overall only games I've played
1. Shadow of the Colossus
Prime example of how music can enhance the whole experience in profound ways. Shadow of the Colossus simply wouldn't be the magical experience it is without this soundtrack. The resting-places of the colossi are filled with eerie, haunting melodies that fit the environments and fighting against the colossi have suitably epic and tailored-to-each-colossi combat music to go with the experiences.
2. Kingdom Hearts II
It's no secret that Yoko Shimomura is probably my favorite composer ever. The Kingdom Hearts series is a big reason why. Ranging from fun, light-hearted tunes to blood-pumping combat BGM and emotionally charged, dramatic themes, there's so much variety & quality that it would be hard to not like the OST.
3. Final Fantasy XII
The sense of adventure is strong in FFXII's soundtrack, without forgetting some more dramatic & bombastic stuff when situation so requires. Funny thing, I've used FFXII's OST as BGM for many other games with similar exploration of fantastical worlds (Sacred 2's exploration was so much better with FFXII's OST).
4. Beyond Good & Evil
BG&E's OST is one of those that create a sense of place, distinct personality & belonging to the world as much as the visuals. Christophe Heral should do more VGOSTs than just the few Michel Ancel projects he's done so far.
6. Gitaroo Man
This soundtrack is first & foremost fun. All kinds of awesome swingin', rockin' & jammin' tunes that are as fun to play as they are to listen.
7. Okami
A fun, whimsical yet dark, dramatic, atmospheric & serious when need be OST. Absolutely massive OST with very little in the form of bad compositions. The only downside to the actual soundtrack release is that it features pretty much every possible soundfile from the game (not voice acting), so it's sometimes hard to listen to when it has these 5-20 second short clips of music meant for some (often one-time) specific event in the game. But even then, even those short tingles aren't horrible sounding, just make the OST listening a bit bleh when you just want to get to the meatier themes & melodies.
8. Amplitude
I know licensed OSTs are a bit frowned upon on these lists, but Amplitude not only features some in-house tracks, many of the licensed tracks have been remixed for the game + it has quite a lot of generally unknown artists/bands that outweight the Garbages, Weezers & Slipknots of the soundtrack. And what an OST it has. Such a diverse set of trackes yet they all fit the vibe of this particular rhythm game.
Shades of Blue
Uptown Saturday Night
Everybody Says Hi (Metro Remix)
Super-spröde
Cool Baby
Kimosabe
Synthesized
9. Unlimited Saga
This isn't all that good of a game, but Hamauzu still did his best and created a superb OST.
Killer7
Another OST where the game itself isn't anything too maginficent quality-wise (though it is an interesting concept & experiment), but the OST has some killer tunes (pun intended ;P ) that are sometimes as weird as the game itself.
Front Mission 5
God of War
God of War II
Gradius V
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Ar Tonelico II
Final Fantasy X
Grandia III
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Musashi: Samurai Legend
Kingdom Hearts
Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
Drakengard II
Interesting. I was the opposite in high school, ha! All I did was play shit nonstop. The PS2/GC/Xbox-era is probably my favorite period of gaming when I really think about it. GC and Xbox are easy for me to make decisions on (and I already have them in my mind), but PS2...I don't know. A top 10 list of JUST PS2 games isn't enough let alone trying to mix it in with the other offerings, but I'll manage!
Spent an inordinate amount of time in GT3, Fighters, RPGs of all stripes, and a couple MMOs. It was after the gen 6 grace period of 06-08 that my play dropped into the toilet for a few years. New job, new relationships, new position, and things in gaming...changed, and not for the better, and certainly not to my taste.
But it will make for an interesting dogfight past that #1 I mentioned, if only from the sheer number of entries like you alluded to.
1. Guilty Gear XX Daisuke Ishiwatari The Midnight Carnival Writhe in Pain Awe of She Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead)
Blazingly awesome shredding speed metal in a game full of metal references? How can anyone not love this? The compositions are rock-solid (pun intended), full of personality and energy, and I'll never get tired of listening to this soundtrack. One of the finest OSTs ever made. Daisuke Ishiwatari sure is a multi-talented SOB.
2. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness Michiru Yamane Abandoned Castle Baljhet Mountains The Cave of Jigramunt Young Nobleman of Sadness
Next best thing to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (which is the greatest OST of all time, it is known), this unfortunately mediocre game still has an amazing soundtrack featuring Michiru Yamane at her best. From the "classicvania"-styled upbeat rocking tunes to the epic baroque and orchestral pieces, the quality is strong all the way through and consistently fits perfectly the Castlevania aesthetic. Truly a game where the soundtrack overshadows the game itself by a light-year.
3. Wild ARMs: Alter Code F Michiko Naruke Warrior's Whistle Murdering Princess Filgaia War Demon
The fantasy/western hybrid is back in full whistling glory! In this 3D remake of the PS1 classic, the OST also got a completely new version. In addition to new versions of the classic themes, it also featured a significant amount of new tracks. I was disappointed by some of the remade themes, as I often preferred their original version on the PS1, but some of them are actual improvements and the kick-ass new songs make up for it. "Murdering Princess" (linked above) is probably my favourite new track, and I could listen to War Demon all day...
4. Panzer Dragoon Orta Saori Kobayashi, Yutaka Minobe Anu Orta Veniya Ancient Weapon Gigantic Fleet
The Panzer Dragoon style of music found in Zwei and Saga (though the original game's OST is also amazing, its style was actually quite different) is so epic, unique and fresh, and Orta is no exception. It really fits the vaguely apocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy setting the games are known for, with a lovely Eastern folk tinge mixed with a more "futuristic" electronic sound. The closing song, with the vocals sung in the invented Panzer language, is absolutely stunning (first link above).
5. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem Steve Henifin Black Rose The Gift of Forever Gateway to Destiny The Chosen The Somme
It took me some time to fully appreciate the genius behind this OST. Steve Henifin composed the music for the original Legacy of Kain, which is one of my favourites, and ED's music is a lot more subtle and less "epic" and bombastic in scope, as the game demanded a soundtrack of a more sombre and ambient nature, but overtime I really got to appreciate how well-crafted it is. Eerie, moody and incredibly atmospheric, it not only suits the Lovecraftian tone of the game perfectly, but it gives me shivers even when listened to on its own. It gets better on every re-listen, even. Steve Henifin is really the underrated composer and deserves a lot more recognition.
6. Wild ARMs 3 Michiko Naruke Advanced Wind Migratory Birds / Wandering Bird Scoundrels Gunmetal Action
Naruke does it again. Like the previous games, this OST is strongly inspired by Ennio Morricone's western style, featuring the iconic whistling along with more bombastic catchy tunes to go along the adventure.
7. Golden Sun Motoi Sakuraba The Snow-Covered City Sandy Deserts Lalivero Ruins
Golden Sun's OST is the typical 16-bit RPG OST, which is actually a very good thing. Upbeat frenzied battle themes, lovely peaceful village themes, sombre and eerie dungeon themes, Sakuraba can do it all and more. His insanely long list of credited games is a testament to that, and somehow he still manages to produce quality output. Golden Sun remains one of his better OSTs, IMO. The iconic battle theme is so well known already that I decided to list some of the less appreciated (but no less great!) tunes above.
8. Soul Calibur II Junichi Nakatsuru, Yoshihito Yano, Asuka Sakai, Rio Hamamoto, Ryuichi Takada, Junichi Takagi Under the Star of Destiny Brave Sword Braver Soul Chasing Death Maze of the Blade
I'm probably one of the rare ones who prefer Soul Blade's OST (the arranged PS1 version) to Soul Calibur, but that doesn't make the Calibur soundtracks bad by any means. On the contrary, the Soul Calibur games retain much of the sweeping grandiose orchestrations. It was hard to limit myself to just one from the franchise, but I picked SC II because... I'm not entirely sure, really. xD
9. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 Kurt Harland Sarafan stronghold Overland (battle) Sarafan stronghold (battle)
While the dark ambient/darkwave style of Soul Reaver is generally more focused on mood and atmosphere rather than catchy ear worms, I still found myself humming some of those tracks as I played the game. Kurt Harland's style is quite unique and I really loved how the in-game music would change on the fly depending on the situation. For instance, the same song would suddenly quicken and become more frenzied during a battle, only to settle back into its calmer version after dispatching the enemies, completely seamlessly.
10. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Sotaro Tojima, Hiroshi Mitsuoka Awake Aquarius The Sinking Old Sanctuary
What can I say? It's classic Castlevania music so of course it'll be good. Not quite as amazing as Yamane's output, but still chock full of ear worms and beautiful haunting pieces, and I dig their renditions of classicvania themes such as The Sinking Old Sanctuary (from Castlevania Bloodlines) and of course the iconic Vampire Killer.
Spent an inordinate amount of time in GT3, Fighters, RPGs of all stripes, and a couple MMOs. It was after the gen 6 grace period of 06-08 that my play dropped into the toilet for a few years. New job, new relationships, new position, and things in gaming...changed, and not for the better, and certainly not to my taste.
But it will make for an interesting dogfight past that #1 I mentioned, if only from the sheer number of entries like you alluded to.
Yeah, if anything, that's one of my bigger fighting game periods since... you know, arcades before they died here. honestly, Elite Beat Agents/the Wii release got me into newer consoles and handhelds again, so that was neat. I don't necessarily dislike last generation just because I had more time to play stuff, but half of that stuff comes from previous generations, so I guess that defeats part of the point.
Some games have changed to a point that it isn't to my taste (moreso this current generation, but I'm at a point in my life where I don't have as much time to play stuff consistently!), but other games are kind of the same as they were in previous generations. It's just unfortunate that they're either stuck in a certain territory that has a language barrier for monolinguals or multilinguals whose language experience doesn't include that language, or you have to dig a fair amount to find something you like.
PS2 era... pretty sure I just ducked out of console games since my mind was generally on irl stuff. I wouldn't be too surprised if that happened for this era, too, since I noticed that I'm not buying as much lately.
See now I've gone straight from the majesty of listening to Shadow of the Colossus OST to Death Chamber, it's like mood whiplash here.
That said, "Yuh daaaammmn right Schala" about that Sax work among other things which I never tend to notice when searching for Emerald pieces, in that sense it's a bit of a shame that the humorously bad lyrics dampen my enjoyment of the track because what else is there is actually pretty good.
Here is an amazing offering I only just remembered, probably Beef's favourite because it involves Chao mauling each other. Okay, serious offering would be Metal Harbour.
"what happened to camera angles?", well that alone does not bode well.
Yeah the reason CoD is still on my to do list after a number of years is mostly because its reception on the gameplay front is less than stellar, I think I'd only be able to endure one of them anyway just through the power of Yamane and co alone.
I asked Beef. He said he didn't like that theme, and he also said that I should never trust an owl. I'll edit Metal Harbour in later. Might replace Pumpkin Hill with it because I don't want to let Deeper go yet. >_<
Go with CoD if you ever get a chance. Listen to LoI's soundtrack.
Ever since I had a GAF post disappear on me after working on it for quite a while and editing in hyperlinks a few years ago, I decided to just write things up in a document instead and keep it backed up on Google Drive. It's poopy to lose something that you put a lot of time into and you don't have much time in the first place. -_-
Finally finished my list (edited my post above).
This was fun to do, though. Re-listening to some of those not only made me all nostalgic, but it made me change my initial order around. Some of those OSTs were even better than I remembered.
Sorry for the many, many examples for some titles, but the games had to be properly represented.
Edit: Added some more stuff and some explanations, you know for layout reasons.
What's horror game without good atmospheric music? This one tops them all, though. It was Silent Hill 3 that made me immediately buy a soundtrack while the credits still rolled, but this one slightly wins above even that. Aside from all the environment music that's just there to creep you out and very succesfully does so, there are some very nice character themes in here that deserve some spotlight. It just all works very well in the game and in my opinion the top spot should belong to an OST that's part of a game instead of just playing alongside it. Coincidentally this is also what earned it the top spot on my list in the Games of the Generation vote. Sadly, because of the many atmospheric tracks it doesn't work as well when I put the YouTube links here, so this only gets a few examples. No worry, though, I compensated that by including a ridiculous amount of examples for my #2 choice.
Hmm...maybe I overdid it a little with all the examples down there. But going through the soundtrack I just wanted to highlight all of these. The main attraction are certainly all the different battle themes (of which there are quite a few), but the general environment and character BGM is quite nice as well, even though it's not as memorable, at least I forgot about quite a few of these. But since I'm the boring guy that always loves the battle themes in RPGs the most, this is the game OST for me.
This soundtrack has such a unique styles in its music, and I guess in everything else as well, while always staying that small bit shy of being way too cheesy, it's simply amazing. And with all that it manages to incorporate many styles, there's something for everyone. And sorry, I just had to put that "bonus" there.
One of the rather rare examples of shitty games with great soundtrack. It's almost a shame Hamauzu was wasted on this game, but at least it can be remembered for something positive. Nowadays that I'm more used to Hamauzu's music through the FF XIII trilogy, I can certainly recognize a few similarities, but that shouldn't distract anyone from this one.
Final Fantasy's got great soundtracks, what else is knew. Since I'm sick of all the Ivalice music anyway, this one gets the place. Very nice atmospheric pieces always with the hint of the religious undertones of the game. And of course the excellent "To Zanarkand" they kinda already spoil in the title screen.
The choice for electronic music. I guess "Beyond the Bounds" is the standout track here, but everything else also does a good job at giving you a kind of eerie feeling to work with the somewhat strange setting and story of the game.
They overdid it a bit by using the symphonic version of this soundtrack on the Western version. The original one actually seems a bit more fitting. But it still does a good job of going you a feel of the vast world (umm...I'm not just saying that because of that one song title) and just the general feeling of adventure and in this special case the hint of fairy tale. And in the end, I'm always a sucker for all those short jingles they keep from the old games. I hope they never replace those.
From the excellent, excellent Main Theme to all that background music, MGS2's music just does a great job at making you feel like you're in some kind of spy/agent movie.
I have to confess something: I haven't played this game. In the last thread I argued for only including music you actually know within the context of the game (to some people's dismay), and here I am putting this on the list. Call me a hypocrite, but I really like the soundtrack. And I like Shinji Hosoe, whenever I notice his name attached to a game, it's always has great music (see: 3D Dot Game Heroes or 999).
This isn't really on the list for the actual music in the game. I'm not even such a big fan of it, but it isn't really my kind of music anyway. But the way it's constructed inside the game is very special and really makes you appreciate it a lot more. Since this vote is about music in games, it deserves a spot. Also, that's why my first linked track isn't just a track from the OST, but a gameplay video of the first stage, so you can better understand how it all works within the game.
Don't let yourself be fooled. This soundtrack might be evoke happy feelings and that's certainly why I like it so much (even though, I have to confess I forgot about it at first when I put together my list), but the game behind it is brutal and honestly didn't get very far into it yet because I find it too hard.
A licensed soundtrack? Yeah, well, that's why it only gets an honorable mention, well, because of that and because there's so few tracks. But damn, it's basically the game with a licensed soundtrack that everyone immediately remembers when he thinks of the game (the Tony Hawk games are another example). The small track selection might be a reason for this, but it's also because punk rock music is the perfect fit for the hectic action.
This was the victim of the slightly better music of its sequel. I don't want to put multiple games of one series in my top 10, so this had to move to the honorable mentions list. Could I have voted for the soundtrack of the PSP port, it might have been the other way around, though. The female part adds some great tracks!
Honestly this went down a few spots when I listened to it again. I didn't remember most of the character themes and damn, most of them are pretty awful. But the music for the race tracks is excellent as always in F-Zero. A little less "metal" than its predecessor, but still enough to get you in the right mood.
Hell yeah, Crazy Taxi Offspring tracks! That soundtrack is pretty special to me. I feel like I was in the right place at the right time for that one. Even more awesome when playing the game in an arcade... and then it got to Dreamcast the year later and you could finally play it at home! :O
And I hope I gave you some ideas for your 10th soundtrack (CAVE!!!)
Finally finished my list (edited my post above).
This was fun to do, though. Re-listening to some of those not only made me all nostalgic, but it made me change my initial order around. Some of those OSTs were even better than I remembered.
This is a pretty good and varied list, too. I was in the middle of adding a bunch of SNK stuff to the archive's rough draft and then went back and added a bunch of ArcSys stuff. And I enjoy the Orta ending theme too.
Alter Code: F is still on my bucket list. A friend gave it to me for Christmas a year ago but I haven't gotten around to it yet (in fact, I started his gift of Grandia III to me first, haha).
Goodness Schala! I have to commend you for doing another one of these so soon. I got so excited when I entered this thread that I blacked out, and when I woke up it was suddenly dark outside. I looked down at my hands and realized that I had spent four hours writing for my picks.
If you guys feel in the mood, you should do some writeups, even small ones. I love love love reading them!
N64 isn't even elligible, lol. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
This has always been a favorite of mine – the most consistent Kirby soundtrack for sure – a peppy, joyful soundtrack with some of the Kirby series’ best melodies. It is also the most atmospheric Kirby soundtrack, in my opinion: listen to the echoing chimes and bells in ”Quiet Forest,” or the rhythmic whirring and clanking of ”Factory Inspection.” Almost every level sports an infectious rhythm and melody, from the sunny, busily-backed ”Aqua Star” to the impossibly groovy upright bass in ”Ripple Star”. Seriously. I could listen to “Ripple Star” all day. I don’t think there’s a single track in this whole soundtrack that I actively dislike – it’s ear candy in every sense of the term.
10. Persona 4
Persona 4’s brand of irresistible pop rock made for an arguably less interesting soundtrack than Persona 3’s, but a catchy one nonetheless. ”Pursuing My True Self” is a bombshell opener with its boom-boom drum claps and electric organ, and the Engrish doesn’t stop there. The melancholy ”Heaven” and the jazzy (and, in context, rather sad) ”Never More” stand out amidst a handful of vocal tunes. I also had ”Signs of Love” set as my ringtone for a good while, so there’s that. Shoji Meguro got to bare his rock fangs too with tracks like ”I’ll Face Myself –Battle-” and my personal favorite, ”Fog.” It’s very fun, stylish, accessible music, and for all of its imitators in the last few years, there’s still nothing quite like it.
9. Sonic Adventure 2
Video game butt rock at its very finest. ”Live and Learn.””Escape from the City.””Metal Harbor.””Mission Street.””Crazy Gadget.” The list of fun rock romps goes on and on, each complete with melodies that have remained with me more than a decade after I played this game on my Gamecube in middle school. I remember replaying the last level of the main story over and over again to listen to ”For True Story,” the game’s strange, darkly synthesized, kinetic final boss theme. And no conversation about this game is complete without Knuckle’s bizarre themes, all of which combine cool hip-hop backings and hilariously garbage rapping, like in ”Wild Canyon,””Meteor Herd,” and – God help us all – ”Pumpkin Hill.” From Jun Senoue and company comes a soundtrack that is so bad it’s good. It is also, at times, just straight up catchy, head-bobbing good. No conversation about the brief history of game music is complete without this famous, roughly hewn diamond.
8. Custom Robo
This is my one real dark horse in a sea of rather conventional picks. I don’t see people give this soundtrack much credit – in fact, it’s been criticized for being rather forgettable. I personally disagree (of course… it wouldn’t have made my list otherwise!) but I can certainly understand why this kind of music would be written off. Let me offer some overview and, perhaps, some concessions. This soundtrack is highly electronic and often uses elements of house and lounge music. It is also somewhat repetitive by nature, perhaps made to fit the mold of “video game music.” But rather than a sterile, perfunctory soundtrack, as one might expect from a futuristic robo-battle game, composer Takayuki Nakamura turned in an odd, understated soundtrack with moments of surprising warmth, resulting in a slew of charming little earworms.
”Stray Dog,” for example, moves at a quick 8/4 clip – at least, I think it does. The eighth note almost seems to ghost away, and the desynchronized piano, synth, and bass lines lend to an interesting, off-kilter feel, but not in an uncomfortable way. The piano and driven drum backing give the piece a chill, contemporary, east-jazz feel, and serve as a point of familiarity. ”Dear,” with its distant bells, flute, and slight funk guitar backing, evokes an oddly warm feeling of home. You also have area tracks like ”Echoes of Youth” and ”Love Lab II.” It’s admittedly difficult to put the appeal of repetitive music like this into words. They both have this sort of quiet, cool groove to them. I’m fond of the particular percussion soundfont in Love Lab, which resembles the smacking of congas, as well as the little crunchy drum sample, and I like the chord progressions, even though the songs themselves don’t have much progression at all. ”Do Your Best!” is my favorite of the area themes, particularly for its intriguingly dissonant bridge, which eventually incorporates a sizzling, distorted saxophone.
The battle tracks offer more conventional synth outings, but there are some cool toe-tappers like the pre-battle track, ”Are You Ready,” or the stomping heartbeat drum and bass in ”Panic Cube.””Aurora,” an event song that plays before one of the game’s final battles, is an anomaly among its peers, a powerful track full of finality and tension in its staccato snare hits, buzzing bass, and forceful thrums of string. And ”Forest of Nostalgia,” a track that plays during a long revelatory sequence towards the end of the game, may be the strangest and most fantastic pleasure of them all – a sinister, dreamlike brass and string track complete with, of all things, a nighttime forest soundscape. It feels like a slow, downward spiral, somehow simultaneously ominous and intriguing, a perfect complement to the game’s unspooling of its central mysteries. Custom Robo’s credits roll to ”Samsara,” which reminds me a lot of the recent Shin Megami Tensei IV with its somber tone and haunting synthesizer melody and vocoder portions.
It’s an odd soundtrack with a niche appeal, but there are a lot of songs here that I haven’t been able to forget. It fits snugly into the portrait of the game itself – critically middling, working off of a story full of anime tropes that slowly pulls back the curtain on a somewhat darker and more interesting plot, by-the-numbers at times but quirky and endearing at others. There’s a slightly off kind of cool at work here. It’s probably not going to make many lists, if any, but somehow it has wormed its way into my heart.
7. Persona 3
While I may have enjoyed playing Persona 4 a bit more, Persona 3’s soundtrack wins over for me for its style and ingenuity. This game kicked off an aesthetic trend of pop and hip-hop influence in the JRPG world, and its influence is due in no small part to Shoji Meguro’s work here. The light synth touches and guitar work on the well-known ”Burn My Dread,” along with Meguro’s now-ubiquitous rock breakdown, remain among my favorite moments in his work. I can’t help but tap my feet to the jazz-lounge feel of ”When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars,” or the horn-flared disco (and spoken French, of all things) of ”Changing Seasons.” Even Meguro’s straight rock feel here feels more inspired than in his later work – ”Master of Tartarus” thumps and hisses with crunchy drums and chugging guitars, and I really like the harmonizing guitar lines in ”Unavoidable Battle.”
Returning to this soundtrack also reminded me of how much more I appreciate it when Meguro uses orchestral elements as complements to his organic instruments rather than a frontline, such as in ”Memory of the Streets” and ”Living With Determination,” both of which wisely keep focus on their piano and guitar leads but benefit from Meguro’s use of strings. All of this comes to a head in the excellent final battle theme, ”Battle for Everyone’s Souls,” in which Meguro brings all of his tools into the fold in a suitably powerful finale that reflects the party’s grueling, determined, against-the-odds struggle with the game’s omnipotent antagonist. This is a unique soundtrack that converted hundreds of thousands of people into Persona and Meguro fans, and honestly, to be one is quite likely to be the other. Meguro is being milked dry by endless Persona spinoff projects – may he forever remain free from poor Sakuraba’s level of musical exhaustion – and at the end of the day, I feel that this work remains his freshest.
6. Halo 2
While the first Halo soundtrack established some of Halo’s key themes, such as the universally-recognized “monk chant,” Halo 2 is where Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori really expanded Halo’s musical universe and came up with some of the series’ strongest, most emotionally-stirring leitmotifs. If you gave me two seconds with the cello lead in the latter half of ”The Last Spartan” or the plucked strings of ”Peril,” I would recognize them immediately. Like Meguro’s stylish, youthful rock style is to the Persona series, O’Donnell’s command of the ethereal (“High Charity”), surging (”Reclaimer”), and wistful (my favorite song in the entire series, “Unforgotten”) defines Halo. Although Halo 4 has a very good soundtrack, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when I found out that O’Donnell and Salvatori were no longer working on the franchise, and I heard that sentiment quite a bit from non-video game music nerds too. I can’t recall another blockbuster Western game franchise with this level of melodic, memorable compositions.
5. Tales of Legendia
Go Shiina is a name that I instinctively trust – he has yet to disappoint me, and I hope he never will. He has a real knack for lush, gorgeous orchestral compositions, usually throwing in some rock or jazz-inspired surprises as well. While I learned about him through his work on God Eater, a soundtrack which I greatly enjoyed, I can’t deny that his work on Legendia is superior. The playground of the epic JRPG gives him a lot of room to breathe. ”Forest of No Return” is a regal piece that resembles a classical string suite in parts. ”Sunlight Filtering Through the Trees,” with its pretty oboe and piano leads, paints a tranquil and mysterious picture – I really like the small, sudden pauses that interlude each progression, giving the piece some resonant weight. I’m also a big fan of the game’s Broadway-esque ballads, particularly ”A Firefly’s Light,” and yes, that includes Donna Burke’s English version, ”Hotarubi.” Yeah, the lyrics kind of suck, but Donna Burke turns in another strong vocal performance and I’m a sucker for Burke on Shiina’s tracks. They tread a fine line between moving and cloying, but the sheer beauty of the instrumentation and performance always pulls me back towards the former feeling.
The aforementioned “surprises” here come in the form of some fantastic jazz numbers. ”A Cheerful Bandit” is two minutes of pure bliss, complete with unbridled trumpet and saxophone, deftly-played congas, a breakdown for a round of slick piano and guitar solos, and some really cool, highly rhythmic drum kit work. ”Big Sister Honwaka” is a laid back strut that showcases a groovy interplay of flute, trumpet and violin, and even has time for a little bit of swing. And speaking of violin, my absolute favorite song on this soundtrack, perhaps tied with “A Cheerful Bandit,” has to be ”Chasing Shirley,” a jazz-influenced song featuring a clear, bright violin lead on top of funky slap-bass. The drummer turns in a great backing and the pianist’s comping is spot-on. I can’t get enough of these jazz songs, and I wish there were more. It’s a fantastic treat in what is already a very strong soundtrack.
4. Final Fantasy X
This remains my favorite Final Fantasy soundtrack, dense with winning music. The soundtrack is full of moments that aurally capture the beauty and tragedy of the events that unfold on Spira. While ”To Zanarkand” has received some flak in the face of its popularity, I can’t help but be moved every time I hear it. Fans have articulated their love for individual soundtrack darlings hundreds of times over, from the tranquil, homely ”Sight of Spira” to the sorrowful, memorable ”Via Purifico,” to the soaring, exciting ”Attack.” While I am largely a fan of the remastered soundtrack, ”Wandering Flame” is a perfect melding of organic and synthesized qualities that has unfortunately received undue treatment in modernization; the bass clarinet in this original version is absolutely perfect. ”Battle With Seymour” is Uematsu unleashing his proto-Black Mage – I love the electric organ and the crashing gongs. ”Someday the Dream Will End” perfectly encapsulates the game’s romantic and elegiac flavor in a sweeping melody.
I don’t want to belabor the point with this soundtrack. As far as I’m concerned, it deserves the love that it often receives.
I’ve read everyone’s comments on this series as voting candidates, including the criticisms that the series, replete with remixes, is an unfit and unfair nomination against soundtracks of original compositions. It is a perfectly valid criticism. With that said, this is my favorite of the Smash Bros. soundtracks not necessarily because of its remixes, but because of its original music. The Melee opening and menu theme remain two of my favorite leitmotifs in all of gaming. They are, perhaps, insulated in their spots because of childhood nostalgia, but that magic somehow remains for me today. I still get excited over the tense hi-hat hits in ”Battlefield” and the majestic, climactic horn march in the latter half of ”Final Destination,” and these two tracks have retained their power for me over hundreds of hours of play. There’s some awesome rockers in ”Multi-Man Melee 1” and ”Metal Battle,” and an irresistible groove in ”Trophy.” I love these songs to death and have probably listened to them more than in any other video game ever – their staying power is enormous.
And if, perchance, you want to include remixes, Melee’s offerings are quintessential. I feel like a lot of remix culture and current incarnations of these tracks were formed off of Melee’s mainstays. ”Fountain of Dreams,” with its grand, operatic feel, is an absolute classic. ”Corneria” swells with triumphant trumpets and whirlwind violins. ”Mute City” is, like, super dope. ”Fire Emblem” is still the best rendition of “Together We Ride” in existence, which is at once a testament and a crying shame.
Look, Melee is one of my all-time favorite soundtracks like how my favorite food is a burger (stay with me for a moment!). Yes, a burger isn’t really anything complicated or earth shattering in cuisine. But nothing is more satisfying than a juicy, tasty burger, and that’s what Melee’s soundtrack is to me: immensely satisfying, every single time.
2. Mother 3
To me, Mother 3 is the consummate JRPG experience: a journey through another world full of humor, wonder, and heartbreak. Its soundtrack is both eclectic and enormous, with over 250 individual tracks. I could spend pages and pages talking about the a wide palette of musical styles and emotions that Shogo Sakai plays on here, but for the sake of time, I’m just briefly going to pick and choose, most certainly skipping over quite a few really great pieces.
There are some real sucker punch tracks here, like ”Confusion,” one of my favorite songs on the soundtrack – a simple, beautiful solo piano melody. Anyone who has played the game will probably vicariously see a flash of lightning and hear thunder upon the first few notes. ”Sunflowers and Illusions,” which hangs on unresolved intervals, evokes nostalgia and yearning. And the post-final boss song, ”It’s Over,” is remarkably affecting in its slightly warped, off-key rendition of the game’s main theme.
Mother 3, like Earthbound before it, is a celebration of music. When I walk through the endgame dungeon and suddenly show up in a bathroom with this chill tune playing in the background, or when Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1 suddenly shows up during a key moment, or when Beethoven drops in a boss fight with a classically-trained ghost, how can I help but laugh in awe or grin ear-to-ear at each unexpected wonder? Mother 3’s soundtrack is so diverse, so unpredictable, but always such a pleasure, whether it’s making me feel happy, sad, or something more complicated.
1. Shadow of the Colossus
I spent a good deal of time flip-flopping between this and Mother 3 for number 1. But while Mother 3 holds a dear place in my heart, at the end of the day if you asked me what the most outstanding soundtrack of this generation was, I’d have to give it to Ko Otani’s work here. Shadow of the Colossus remains a triumph not just as a game soundtrack, but also as music, plain and simple. It is a soundtrack that worships silence and, when the time is right, delivers moments of thrilling intensity.
The ”Prologue” is a flawless introduction to the Forbidden Land – mysterious, awe-inspiring, lonely. It is the moments of silence that truly make this piece, seizing the attention of the listener in its own bated breaths. The string runs at 1:00 send shivers down my spine without fail, and the escalation of the piece is heavenly, ending on a note of rare hope. ”Sign of the Colossus,” with its low string and woodwinds and the echo of drums, is a remarkably simple and effective tension-builder. ”Silence” and ”Creeping Shadow” are magnificently eerie pieces – one somewhat spare, the other quite dense – that sustain a sense of mounting fear. There are some reprieves in what is a rather emotionally heavy collection: ”Prayer” is a prettily-chorded piano piece, and ”The Farthest Land” is a point of comfort and familiarity in its reverberating, ethnically-instrumented waltz. ”Swift Horse” is perhaps one of the album’s few moments of real triumph (in tone, not in execution). “Swift Horse” doesn’t show up in the game, however, as far as I know, which is rather telling.
Each of the game’s battle themes is a violent, fierce affair, an aural embodiment of each struggle with the game’s towering, fearsome monsters. ”Opened Way” is the quintessential Shadow of the Colossus tune with its powerful string melody, blaring brass, and bone-shaking drums. I love the quick, interval opening of ”A Violent Encounter,” along with its cymbal-crashing climax. ”Counterattack” is simply awesome, an invigorating, heroic war cry of a theme. The final colossi theme, ”Demise of the Ritual,” works well as a point of contrast – a grim final battle in a long, dogged journey.
The ”Epilogue” is a mournful ending that musically parallels the “Prologue.” For its overwhelming buildup and climax towards the middle, it ends much the way the “Prologue” began – in slow, ebbing waves of string, punctuated by silence. Finally, the clouds break with ”The Sunlit Earth,” led by a beautiful, arpeggiated piano line. With it, the listener leaves the Forbidden Land on a note of hope – an aurally peaceful, satisfying conclusion.
Ko Otani’s work with Shadow of the Colossus is heavy with the burdened fate of its protagonist, immense with power, mystery, and silence. I don’t think gaming has seen a soundtrack quite like this one since its release, and for its utterly sublime highs, I have no qualms with calling it the best soundtrack of its console generation.
Honorable Mentions: if I did this I would utterly be screwed for school
Axel with the bomb ass posts, co-signing the need for more write-ups, even if it's really short all it takes is a sentence of contextualizing to improve the odds of getting a click.
Good looking out on that Custom Robo pick too, understated excellence is the perfect way to describe what I'm listening to right now, had no clue these games had worthwhile music and I love being introduced to new stuff.
01. World of Warcraft - World of Warcraft's soundtrack has to be one of the most unforgettable soundtracks (and not because I've played it for thousands of hours). Each track managed to capture the majesty and wonder of each zone they played in. The grandeur of Stormwind is nothing without first hearing the chorus as you enter the main city gates. The magical forests of Ashenvale with trees that tower above the highest buildings accompanied by the soothing sounds of the harp help create the air of mystery. The boom of horns as soon as you enter Gehennas' lair was the sound you heard when preparing for the first ever raid encounter.
Looks like it's time to compile a big list of game soundtracks to re-listen to. Loving the Curse of Darkness recognition though. It usually gets overlooked due to the questionable quality of the game, but the music is still fantastic.
For what it's worth, I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with my list yet.
You see, this was the generation I stopped playing newer console video games to concentrate on high school (and I was in like a billion after-school clubs), so I barely had time to explore a lot of the mid-gen/late-gen console games until last gen, actually. If I played something, it was an SFC game, a PC game, or something like that. I did keep up with soundtracks pretty well, so at the very least, I'm somewhat well-versed in that. I'm happy that Ghaleon has more time to dedicate to the thread because I feel like he has more expertise in this generation than I do. I wish I could say that I have a lot of attachments to this particular generation, but I don't think I do...
Long-story-short, it's going to take me a while to think about this too. Like I said, I'm not writing long-expansive writeups for this one since I don't have the time this month with midterms and a few projects on my backburner, and it probably might be weird if I take up 5-6 posts for a top 10! We'll see, though. I might change my mind during Reading Week.
I can somewhat relate to this, albeit in a different way. While this was my very first generation where I started taking an interest in playing games, I can't really say the attachment is there. I suspect it's partially because I associate quite a lot of these soundtracks more with studying for exams than with their actual games. I abstracted them from their context and meaning, and essentially transformed them into background music. Seeing as you and others seem to be going through this process now, I hope the same thing doesn't happen to you guys. I guess the best way to prevent it is to avoid homing down on specific systems, eras or series while you study, and compile a playlist with a wider spread for when you study. ...This is of course highly un-useful advice given the nature of this thread, and I suggest everyone disregards the entirely last paragraph.
After carefully reassessing my list, I've changed it greatly:
1. Shadow of the Colossus
A masterpiece from Ko Otani.
2. Metal Gear Solid 3
A true labor of love from the unsung hero of MGS soundtracks, Norihiko Hibino. HGW does a reasonably good job, but it's Hibino's tracks that get the win, with their 60's and light James Bond-like flair. The healing tracks are the just the best.
4. Katamari Damacy
One of the most eclectic, creative game soundtracks out there. Inseparable part of the game experience.
5. Xenosaga
Most consider Mitsuda's Chrono Cross followup a disappointment, but it is his most mature work yet, and sounds wonderful thanks to the London Philharmonic. Listen to the Sleigh Bells label album release and not how it's used in the game.
6. Metroid Prime
Kenji Yamamoto delivers a more than worthy sequel to his classic Super Metroid soundtrack.
7. Dragon Quest VIII
Koichi Sugiyama wonderfulness being pumped out by a live orchestra. What more could you want?
8. Gitaroo Man
GITAROOOOO MAAAAN
9. Jet Set Radio
Upbeat Sega quirkness.
10. Street Fighter III: Third Strike
Despite lacking the classic SF2 themes, it's full of personality and really gets you pumped up for the street fightin'.
I'll have to go to YouTube and listen to a couple of songs, which I will only do because of that song. I'm compiling a list of games that I haven't played to remind me to go check them out on YouTube, time permitting.
Even if the archive doesn't have tracks/is unfinished, there are a bunch of game titles in there already (though we still have to add some more since we didn't go through the PS2 list yet, but I'm definitely not adding 3600+ games to the archive; just ones that people vote for and/or are notable).
At this juncture, I added as many arcade/PC games as I could remember playing back then, but I might have to remove some because I might not find the OST on YT.
I can somewhat relate to this, albeit in a different way. While this was my very first generation where I started taking an interest in playing games, I can't really say the attachment is there. I suspect it's partially because I associate quite a lot of these soundtracks more with studying for exams than with their actual games. I abstracted them from their context and meaning, and essentially transformed them into background music. Seeing as you and others seem to be going through this process now, I hope the same thing doesn't happen to you guys. I guess the best way to prevent it is to avoid homing down on specific systems, eras or series while you study, and compile a playlist with a wider spread for when you study. ...This is of course highly un-useful advice given the nature of this thread, and I suggest everyone disregards the entirely last paragraph.
Yeah, I've tried to make it so I listen to a few soundtracks per generation now, and I make some of it either car music since I like driving around for no reason, and exercise music. But I've usually listened to game music out of context and just sit down to listen to them trying to put them to what it would be like in a game so it isn't too bad.
I just hope it doesn't get to the point where it is background music. At least I'm almost finished school! I hope.
Ugh....several times now I thought of a soundtrack that I wanted to add, almost ready to look for links until my brain slowly realizes "wait, this is from the PSX/Saturn generation". I was pretty close to adding Daytona USA, and that's not even close to a 2000 game. I swear everything older than 10 years just becomes a blur.
Ugh....several times now I thought of a soundtrack that I wanted to add, almost ready to look for links until my brain slowly realizes "wait, this is from the PSX/Saturn generation". I was pretty close to adding Daytona USA, and that's not even close to a 2000 game. I swear everything older than 10 years just becomes a blur.
1. Shadow of the colossus
Every single one of them! 2. Final Fantasy X
To zanarkand, People of the north Pole, Besaid village, A fleeting dream 3. Ratchet and clank
Veldin, Kerwan, Novalis 4. The elder scrolls III Morrowind
Nerevar Rising, The Road Most Travelled 5. Ico
You were There 6. Final Fantasy XII
The Dalmasca Eastersand, Giza Plains 7. God of war 2
Main Title, Death of Kratos, The end Begins 8. Dark Cloud
Opening Theme 9. Sly 2 10. World of Warcraft
Stormwind, Thunder Bluff
1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Jeremy Soule - 2002 Nerevar Rising Over the Next Hill The Road Most Travelled
I found this game incredibly immersive, and ending up buying it on both Xbox and PC. I think a large part of the amazing atmosphere that this game had was due to the sublime OST by Jeremy Soule. While I do agree with the criticism that the soundtrack is too short, all that is forgotten when you take those first steps out of Seyda Neen and that majestic soundtrack really opens up. Highly recommended.
Difficult choice because unlike the Games of the Generation thread, here there is no need to have played a game to listen to the soundtrack.
Still I'll opt for the games I've actually played back then or recently, though I havent finished some of them. I need to add that I view the music rather as an add-on than listening to it exclusively while ignoring the gameplay. So what is the best genre for this? Fighting games!
Everyone was into Third Strike. While that game had great soundtracks too, it is Second Impact that had actually some of the best SFIII OST among the 3 installments.
Composer: Yuki Iwai, Hideki Okugawa
Sharp Eyes (Ibuki's Theme) Crowded Street (Yun's Theme - better than 3S version) Tomboy (Elena's Theme)
While KOF 2000 may have changed the gameplay to the dismay of some, it has undisputedly some of the best soundtracks. Still remember the haunting theme from the first encounter with Kula Diamond.
Beauty and the Beast (AOF Theme) KD-0084 (K' Team Theme) Terry 115 (Fatal Fury Theme) Ice Place (Kula Diamond Theme)
Whole OST basically, but I mention just some of the songs
Best musical experience in a video game ever while playing. Best melding of music and gameplay
Composer: Hideki Naganuma
Sneakman Bout the City Rock it On Funky Radio Magical Girl (Composer:GuitarVader)
Gameplay was from mediocre to bad, but OST was one of the best in the Sonic franchise. Now that I think about it, it was the music that made game more tolerable to play!
Composer: Jun Senoue, Naofumi Hataya (with JS for Mystic Mansion)
Sonic Heroes - Main Theme Stage 3 - Grand Metropolis Stage 4 - Power Plant Stage 8 -Bullet Station Stage 12 - Mystic Mansion
OST list is from PS1 but I put the track of the newer consoles.Same as #8, one of the most scary soundtracks and atmosphere ever. Too bad for the not so polished gameplay. But in hindsight it was a good horror game back then.
Heroes is a bit of a controversial game, but it's probably got my favourite Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack, which, as anybody who's following the series will say, is saying a lot. I feel like Seaside Hill is starting to reach Green Hill levels of association with the franchise and I don't have a problem with them re-using it as often as they do. But the soundtrack is just filled with fantastic and varied music beyond that, like the powerful guitar melodies of Ocean Palace (good on Sonic Team for giving that track love as well in Generations), the eeriness of Hang Castle and the pure intenseness of Mystic Mansion. I've always loved how that particular track is timed in such a way that it plays a different segment depending on where you are. Plus it's got plenty of that cheesy lyrical Sonic shit that you either love to hate, or hate to love.
It's probably the best and most iconic soundtrack among the Ace Attorney library (the GBA ones at least, the overall prize would go to Investigations 2) and the music is so incredibly well timed in the game, as well as being very strong standalone as well. It just works so well.
The second Sonic game to make my list, and it probably has more standout tracks than Heroes. I just prefer the music in Heroes for one reason or another. This is a soundtrack that's basically defined by Jun Senoue's guitar riffs, but it has plenty of really nice sombre tracks too. Every time I listen to this game's soundtrack, I can hear all the badly voiced cutscenes come back to me. I'm going to say that's a good thing.
This game's acapella soundtrack is definitely among the more creative music in the era. It's a shame I didn't find this game to be that great, because the humour is on point, which is displayed in its silly music.
While it's not the best of David Wise and does have a few misses, there are some real standout tracks in the GBA version of DKC3, which I fear may have been overlooked by the people who played these games on SNES. Stilt Village is actually one of my favourite pieces of music in the DK Country series and while DKC1 and 2's GBA ports took a hit from the inferior GBA sound, 3 somehow manages to be great despite that.
There's something oddly charming about low quality voice samples coming out of the GBA's shitty speakers, and this game really brings that point home with its music. Plenty of great melodies in there as well. Over all, I'd say it's a very weird soundtrack, which goes hand in hand with how weird the game is. The world needs more Warioland.
Sonic Adventure 2 makes the list because it's probably the king of cheesy Sonic music. It's the game where both Escape from the City and Pumpkin Hill originate from, plus it has some pretty great tracks as well as the ironically good ones. I don't rate it quite as highly as Sonic Heroes or Sonic Adventure, because I personally didn't find the music to be as memorable. Basing the music around the characters rather the environments does work though, and my boy Knux has a sick flow
