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Composer of the Decade

Nuclear Muffin said:
Winner! Though let's not forget that 4 of those tracks were done by Koji Kondo (Good Egg Galaxy, Gusty Garden, Astral Observatory and I can't remember the other one he did. Might be the end credits, not sure)
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Kondo only did Good Egg Galaxy and the three variations of the Observatory theme.
 
O'Donnell is a good choice. I've never really been a big Halo player but the music is great.

Jesper Kyd is good too. Also Amon Tobin came to mind.

As a single piece/song Jesper Kyd's Venice Rooftops from Assassin's Creed II is what had most impact during gameplay. It really made the chase sequence.
 
A lot of one hit wonders in this thread. A decade is ten years long, guys.
Looking at my gaming shelf for both quality and quantity, I really can't disagree with Marty. His music proves that no matter how big the orchestra is, a lack of a good melody makes it worthless.
 
Shoji Meguro. I wish there were two of him so he could do a bit more per game though!

This was hard. Yoshitaka Hirota, Yoko Shimomura, Jesper Kyd, Motoi Sakuraba, and Mahito Yokota all composed great music for games that I really enjoyed this decade. I also really like some of the music I heard from Masashi Hamauzu, Manabu Namiki, Masafumi Takada, and Go Shiina.

Kyoufu said:
Yoko Shimomura for me.
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I didn't choose her since Parasite Eve is more than a decade old and I don't know if Legend of Mana counts since it came out in Japan in 99 too. Maybe after Last Ranker, Xenoblade, The 3rd Birthday, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII are out, it won't be as hard to choose her.
 
Nuclear Muffin said:
LOL, MGS4's soundtrack sucked compared to 1,2 and 3. Old Snake is the only piece of music that was remotely memorable :lol

Oh and while I'm at it lol @ Halo, one decent piece of music throughout the entire series (The main title theme and it doesn't even sound complete at that!) and it gets labelled a masterpiece :lol
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I dunno, those posted piano tracks from ODST were very nice. Really good.
But I agree the Halo Theme is way overhyped, just listened to it... what? Nice, but nothing that special. Feels like I heard similar stuff a lot of times, sorry guys.

Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack is great.
Rearmed soundtrack is awesome, one mighty fine piece of electronic music.

Also, it's unfair we got so little Final Fantasy, the special OSTs for that were always great.
 
FoxSpirit said:
I dunno, those posted piano tracks from ODST were very nice. Really good.
But I agree the Halo Theme is way overhyped, just listened to it... what? Nice, but nothing that special. Feels like I heard similar stuff a lot of times, sorry guys.
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The primary Halo theme is just a tiny fraction of what comprises all of the music composed for the Halo series, there are a ton of great and very different themes, from the music that often accompanies the Flood, to a lot of the Arbiter's themes in 2, and the somber changes to a lot of the usual themes in 3. ODST didn't even have the "monk chant" theme at all, and it looks like Reach will not feature it either. The monk chant theme is the most iconic, sure, but it's far from the only reason as to why Marty is so respected as a composer.
 
Snuggler said:
If we're talking about this decade, I can't disagree with your choice.
The Halo themes were epic.
"The Light at the End"
Probably one of my fave VG tracks ever.
"Neon Night"
ODST soundtrack was fuckin brilliant, I assume he's back for Reach.
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The Light at the End *goosebumps*

Such a great track. Cannot wait to see what he busts out for Reach.
 
Eh whenever Halo music goes at Video Games Live, I fall asleep.

Russell Brower doesn't compose every Blizzard piece, but he leads the pack. All great music.
 
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Yamaoka is my favourite from the last decade.

Kenji Yamamoto is quite a close second though.

I mean, the prime trilogy, zero mission, metroid fusion + EXCITETRUCK.

seriously. the guy is awesome. I'm amazed I'm the first to mention him.
 
Hitoshi Sakimoto for me.

Vagrant Story (2000)
Legaia 2: Duel Saga (2001) – with Yasunori Mitsuda and Michiru Ōshima
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (2002)
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (2003) – with Ayako Saso, Kaori Oukoshi, and Nobuo Uematsu
Gradius V (2004)
Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity (2004) – with Masaharu Iwata
Final Fantasy XII (2006) – with Masaharu Iwata, Hayato Matsuo, and Nobuo Uematsu
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (2007) – with Kenichiro Fukui
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (2007) – with Masaharu Iwata
Odin Sphere (2007) - with Basiscape
ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat (2007) – with Masaharu Iwata
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (2007)
Opoona (2007) – with Basiscape
Deltora Quest (2007) - with Basiscape
Valkyria Chronicles (2008)
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road (2008) – with Michiko Naruke and Masaharu Iwata
Muramasa: The Demon Blade (2009) with Basiscape
Valkyria Chronicles 2 (2010)

Vagrant Story intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zkh3oy8hJE

Breath Of Fire V: Dragon Quarter intro/trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zYdeKp01-Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsfKK8uYdY4

Final Fantasy XII intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L20Ph_IC514

Odin Sphere intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2SmPRUw4XQ

Opoona intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4t05A6ezZw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mlVA3gI3Pg

Muramasa: The Demon Blade intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCJNBd25nUo
 
Halo? You mean the game series with 2 memorable songs and Breaking Benjamin on the soundtrack? Fuck that shit, I'd go with Shoji Meguro (the DDS town themes especially) or Hitoshi Sakimoto (though I wish he'd vary it up a bit, his work on Gradius V was excellent).
 
Have to agree with the OP's choice of Martin O'Donnell, his soundtracks are consistently amazing and interesting with loads of memorable tunes.

A few of my faves outside of the main Halo theme that everyone knows:

Brothers in Arms
Enough Dead Heroes
A Walk in the Woods
Covenant Dance
On a Pale Horse
Peril
Heretic, Hero
Impend
In Amber Clad
The Last Spartan
Earth City
Unforgotten
Halo 2 Epilogue
Sierra 117
Deference for Darkness
Traffic Jam
Neon Night
Skyline
No Stone Unturned
ODST Finale
 
Honorable Mention:

1064433-asuka_ohta_large.jpg

Asuka Ōta

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004) – with Kōji Kondō
Yoshi Touch & Go (2005) – with Tōru Minegishi and Kazumi Totaka
Animal Crossing: Wild World (2005) – with Kazumi Totaka
New Super Mario Bros. (2006) – with Hajime Wakai and Kōji Kondō
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006) – with Tōru Minegishi and Kōji Kondō
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) – with many others
Mario Kart Wii (2008) – with Ryo Nagamatsu
Wii Fit Plus (2009) – with Tōru Minegishi, Manaka Tominaga and Shiho Fujii
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009) – with Tōru Minegishi, Manaka Tominaga, and Kōji Kondō
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) – new themes and music by Shiho Fujii and Ryo Nagamatsu
 
OP gave the only correct answer. I was prepared to object if you'd named anyone but Marty.

ArachosiA 78 said:
I don't know...video game music has pretty much sucked for the past decade. Nothing catchy or memorable.
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Get out of town.
 
snap0212 said:
AKIRA.jpg


Akira Yamaoka is my favourite. The Silent Hill 2 Soundtrack was just too awesome...
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I can think of few other composers whose music has been influential on the level of Yamaoka's. He defined Silent Hill, and thus a huge part of the survival-horror soundscape, with his music - today the two are practically synonymous. Furthermore, his contributions to the series have kept a very high standard across the numerous installments. He is definitely my pick, although there are many good composers out there. =)
 
I can't believe I'm saying it, but I might have to agree with Marty being the one. A lot of people get hooked on the chanting stuff in Halo, but when you really listen to the scores, there's some beautiful stuff in there. Halo 3 and ODST had some incredible tracks, and the little pieces done for Reach (in the teasers) gives me high hopes.

I never though I'd be choosing someone outside of Japan, but Marty wins for me.
 
djtiesto said:
Halo? You mean the game series with 2 memorable songs and Breaking Benjamin on the soundtrack? Fuck that shit, I'd go with Shoji Meguro (the DDS town themes especially) or Hitoshi Sakimoto (though I wish he'd vary it up a bit, his work on Gradius V was excellent).
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Have you ever listened to the ODST soundtrack? o.0

To answer the OP, I would have a tough time choosing between Jesper Kyd, Koji Kondo, and Yoko Shimomura.
 
Pydte said:
I can think of few other composers whose music has been influential on the level of Yamaoka's. He defined Silent Hill, and thus a huge part of the survival-horror soundscape, with his music - today the two are practically synonymous. Furthermore, his contributions to the series have kept a very high standard across the numerous installments. He is definitely my pick, although there are many good composers out there. =)
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that's why he was my tip too. he ended up defining the series, more so than any other composer i can think of. every one of his soundtracks for the series are brilliant, whatever you think of the games themselves, and he's the only person who worked on all of the games if i'm right.

Marty is a huge part of the Halo franchise, but so are many other people at Bungie. he arguably isn't the first name to come to mind like Yamaoka is with Silent Hill.
 
You should probably put that person in the thread title, because otherwise you're going to have a lot of Masafumi Takada fans wondering why the hell this isn't a Takada thread.
 
glaurung said:
Hans Zimmer.

Halo music is - frankly - boring and unimaginative.
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Welcome to the new world of video game soundtracks - the more it sounds like it's trying to be a movie soundtrack the better.

You wanna find actual musicality, heart and an ounce of originality and not just technical imitation you need to look at the indy scene these days - guys like Nifflas and Thomas Dvorak are keeping me semi-interested in music in games.

And why are people laughing at the guy that said game soundtracks have sucked for the past decade when half the people here are listing game soundtracks that were made more than 10 years ago or at the very best 2000 or 2001 (games I had to look up to know that they came out this decade)?
 
I can't even remember what the Halo Theme sounds like to be honest.

No, for me it's either Kō Ōtani (Shadow of the Colossus), Harry-Gregson Williams (Metal Gear games) or Jesper Kyd (Assassin's Creed II).

I can't decide.
 
Mr. B Natural said:
Welcome to the new world of video game soundtracks - the more it sounds like it's trying to be a movie soundtrack the better.

You wanna find actual musicality, heart and an ounce of originality and not just technical imitation you need to look at the indy scene these days - guys like Nifflas and Thomas Dvorak are keeping me semi-interested in music in games.

And why are people laughing at the guy that said game soundtracks have sucked for the past decade when half the people here are listing game soundtracks that were made more than 10 years ago or at the very best 2000 or 2001 (games I had to look up to know that they came out this decade)?
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People could easily pick Yuzo Koshiro, whose best stuff this decade is all handheld-based and in the latter 1/2 of the the decade.

Also, I'm fairly certain that people are just naming guys from games they liked recently.
 
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