ClaDun's soundtrack is great. Really surprised me when I played it back then. It's not surprising that noone voted for it, though. I don't think many people even played it.
I know! I wasn't there at the time, but the exclusion of ClaDun and Sonic Colors baffles me. While different by quite a bit than NieR's or Xenoblade's music, both of those games had quite masterful soundtracks.
NIER's soundtrack (much like the game itself) is one-of-a-kind. The compositions in the game use complex and unusual orchestrations to start, with composition that provides a heft and momentum to every track that a lot of game music (even the best) lacks. That combined with the presence of vocals on most songs gives the game's score a different sound from any other game.
The deeper layer of meaning in NIER's compositions further strengthens the case. The songs themselves and their relationship to the story form a solid thematic core, with the score itself almost operatic in its approach to the material. On top of that, the approach to the lyrics is incredible -- Emi Evans wrote them in invented languages intended to be the far-future "evolutions" of real languages like English, German, and French, giving the words a familiar sound while still keeping their meanings obscure and ethereal. It's a fascinating technique that gives every song a unique depth and mystery (and it's total brain-candy for any linguistics nerd.)
I think that, in all my years of gaming, there are only three or four games ever that I've ever sought out to play specifically because of the quality of their soundtrack. None of the others did I feel as urgently about as NIER. The more time passes, the more I think it's one of the greatest game scores I've ever heard -- easily a challenger for some of the all-time greats.
(There are also three extremely rad arranged albums, including a totally sweet piano collection.)
...
Xenoblade has a nice enough soundtrack, I guess, but in comparison? No contest.
OT: I love Xenoblade's OST so I'm a little miffed that people are saying "Xenoblade's soundtrack is good...I guess" and the like. I think this is the only thread I've seen people talk about the game's soundtrack that way. Maybe because it's being compared?
Anyway, I haven't played Nier and only listened to a couple tracks on Youtube. Gods Bound by Rules (especially at the 1:10 mark) and Song of the Ancients Fate are the only standouts so far, the rest not so much, but I imagine if I played it I'd have a more positive outlook so I won't say too much as it is.
I'm really surprised it took them 3 years to compose Nier's soundtrack though. That's ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome, I mean. Are there any other figures like this for other games?
OT: I love Xenoblade's OST so I'm a little miffed that people are saying "Xenoblade's soundtrack is good...I guess" and the like. I think this is the only thread I've seen people talk about the game's soundtrack that way. Maybe because it's being compared?
Anyway, I haven't played Nier and only listened to a couple tracks on Youtube. Gods Bound by Rules (especially at the 1:10 mark) and Song of the Ancients Fate are the only standouts so far, the rest not so much, but I imagine if I played it I'd have a more positive outlook so I won't say too much as it is.
I'm really surprised it took them 3 years to compose Nier's soundtrack though. That's ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome, I mean. Are there any other figures like this for other games?
I can't remember the name, but I recall something about this for some obscure PS1 game due to how the music was programmed and had, potentially, thousands of possible song combinations that could play.
The reason NieR soundtrack likely took so long is because of this I should mention, as how the music is handled in-game, instruments, vocals, etc are changing commonly, so for each song there's usually several different versions of it, not to mention the whole language thing and the fact a lot of it uses orchestration and such. If I remember correctly, if you compiled every piece of music that plays in NieR, with all the different versions and such, you'd be in the thousands.
Yeah, it's just like Sonic music, for example. There are several different cues within each piece of music to execute a certain portion of that music. So you might have several different audio files recorded for just that one single instance.
Like, if I look at the Sonic Generations data... for the white world music, there's 221 audio files just for certain cues alone (ie: if you run past the level for a certain segment, if you drop out of the area for a second, etc.). That's a whole lot of files and audio splitting and editing for ~10 BGMs alone. So the Song of the Ancients ones in Nier likely have the same thing going on with them. Lots of splitting, editing, and recording for one single cue.
ClaDun's soundtrack is great. Really surprised me when I played it back then. It's not surprising that noone voted for it, though. I don't think many people even played it.
I ended up buying the ClaDun soundtrack when I bought the Half-Minute Hero soundtrack because I was just in that sort of mood. Both soundtracks impressed me a lot in different ways.
But ClaDun's soundtrack was simply a genuine surprise. I didn't expect that level of instrumentation from it.
I know I might get hated for this but I think Xenoblade is really over rated especially the soundtrack. It was a good soundtrack but by no means is it one of the best. Nier on the other hand had a really unique soundtrack that resonated well with the game's atmosphere. The song the lady at the fountain sings is sooooooooo good that I sometimes just spend half an hour standing near the fountain. Its a shame the game was a bit unpolished because the soundtrack of Neir is definitely up there with some of the best.
I guess the Xenoblade Insanity Force didn't get the memo about this thread.
XB's score certainly isn't bad or anything. Taken away from the game, the sheer size of the score tends to work against it -- there are so many tracks, an astonishing number of which are boring or dull. But within the game, it does pretty well on one of the more important tests -- how the music stacks up in terms of time played. Many of the prominent areas (at least in the front half of the game) have nice themes that capture the intended feel of the location and don't wear too thin even over hours of exploring in the same area. That takes some doing, even if there are other soundtracks to similar games that I feel achieve the same goal more effectively (like, say, Final Fantasy XII.)
Also, and this is kind of at best a tangential point to the topic.... Xenoblade has one of the funnier nicely-done things I've noticed in a game recently with regards to soundtrack usage: I love how, when pretty much every major plot cutscene in the entire 80+ hour game uses the exact same cutscene theme, every cutscene has its pacing and dialogue written to ensure that the most dramatic moment happens exactly at the moment where the dramatic emotional swell happens in the theme.
lol if those Xenoblade tracks sound like "crappy anime inspired stuff" then I wish every game sounded like crappy anime inspired stuff. I don't know how you got that impression anyway.
ClaDun's soundtrack is great. Really surprised me when I played it back then. It's not surprising that noone voted for it, though. I don't think many people even played it.
GhaleonQ voted for it! In fact, a few people did. Outside of Nier's landslide win, though, the 2010 thread didn't have much activity or conversation in general. The topic's come a long way since then, fortunately, and I expect to see even more people participating next year.
Okay, some of this is getting a bit silly. I voted for Xenoblade in 2011, so I'll stick up for it.
I agree with charlequin that the one of soundtrack's biggest strengths is capturing the feel of the game's locations, but I would go further and say that many of those songs define the zones. Gaur Plains is so perfect for its zone that it hurts. Marking the first time that the world really opens up for the player, this song's soaring strings and energetic beat push you to scale the nearest clifftops and look down at the sweeping, majestic fields below. Similarly, Mechonis Fieldis that zone. The mysterious, alien sounding electronic soundscape highlights that you're lost in an entirely different world, but even if there's no organic life there, it isn't lifeless and it isn't insurmountable.
The game takes this concept a step further by creating day and night tracks for most of its zones, and none of these feel like throwaway additions. Gaur Plains / Night, is more subdued, but the percussion is given a chance to shine. In fact, some of the night themes are better than their day counterparts. Satorl, the Shimmering Marsh / Night gains a vocal component that makes the piece sound more ethereal and appropriate for its location. And then you have Snowy Valak Mountain / Night, which strips out much of the day theme's instrumentation to create a melancholic and more emotionally resonant sound.
Another distinct strength: the music's variety and range. While I admit that this may render listening to the entire soundtrack in sequential order less than ideal, the inclusion of so many different musical styles and moods is critical for filling out Xenoblade's massive world and lengthy story. Homeland is rustic, nostalgic and comforting with its woodwind and soft acoustic guitar. Xanthe deftly mixes heavy metal with piano, strings, and choir, creating an explosive sound that's appropriately intimidating for a final encounter (encounter specific spoilers:
said encounter takes place in SPACE, and the song seems appropriate for that as well!
). Colony 6 alone has multiple themes to express its evolution throughout the game! The sheer scope of all of this makes a lot of other soundtracks feel "small" to me, for better or worse.
Other pieces that I found to be great (I would write more but I want to go to sleep soon):
I have no problem with people preferring Nier, as most here do, but Xenoblade's soundtrack is not the insipid bore that some of you are making it out to be.
Xenoblade's The Night Before the Decisive Battle is sooooooo underrated. Though I think this is partially the game's fault as it plays fully only once in the game, during a cutscene, and since it's in a cutscene the volume of it is lowered. The cutscene is also shorter than the track...
Prologue B is another one. This one was composed by Shimomura.
Before I played Nier I read a few threads raving about the soundtrack. Yet I thought it strange because all the examples being posted were songs I just felt were boring and I didnÂ’t understand why everyone was raving about it. I must have very different appreciation of music because tracks like Grandma or Gods Bound, although pretty, do not strike me as amazing. Shadowlord was alright, but not something I wanted to rush out and put on my iPod.
Yet IÂ’m glad I played it (besides that it was a fantastic game) because I discovered an amazing handful of songs. KaineÂ’s theme stands out for me, especially the way the chorus goes up and down. The over world theme is great too. PopolaÂ’s Song of the Ancients is good when itÂ’s not drown out in one of its many remixes and just heard as she sings it around town. Wretched Automations made me excited every time I had to return to the factory area. Both versions of EmilÂ’s theme are really powerful and make me tear up almost every time (which was mentioned in the OP).
I suppose the soundtrack is great in that way though, different people can pull different things out of it.
Xenoblade's The Night Before the Decisive Battle is sooooooo underrated. Though I think this is partially the game's fault as it plays fully only once in the game, during a cutscene, and since it's in a cutscene the volume of it is lowered. The cutscene is also shorter than the track...
Prologue B is another one. This one was composed by Shimomura.
I like The Night Before the Decisive Battle - as well as many other songs from both soundtracks. Unfortunately, everyone has different tastes and I can't please them all I tried to keep it to a selection of 5 comparable tracks from both, but there's always going to be someone out there screaming "WHY U NO INCLUDE DIS SONG?"
Well I enjoyed Xenoblade's soundtrack while I was playing it, but never felt inclined to listen to it outside of the game. While I have listened to Nier music for probably more hours by far than I have played the game.
Doesn't seem like much of a face-off honestly. I wasn't very into Xenoblade's OST, while NieR's is one of the best of this whole generation, and probably ever.
This is a tough one, because I played and beat both games and loved both of them. Gaur Plains is stuck in my head for all time. I think I have to give it to Nier though, because of listening to Devola (or was it Popola) singing every time I approached her in the village, or the emotional impact of those songs during major scenes.
Xenoblade sounds like run of the mill JRPG music to me. Can't even comprehend how it could be compared to something as unique and immersive as Nier's music.
Xenoblade sounds like run of the mill JRPG music to me. Can't even comprehend how it could be compared to something as unique and immersive as Nier's music.
Like the game itself, there's nothing quite like it.
I'm a big fan of some of the gentler, non-vocal, pieces in the soundtrack:
For instance, This Dream which I find very poignant given its context within the game.
Many of the remixes on the later spin-off albums are fantastic too, a particular favourite being the "Rain Of Light" remix of Kaine's theme on the Gestalt promo EP (which sadly I cant seem to find on YT anymore), so I'll have to make do with the Lost Forest Remix off of Echo, which I think actually manages to improve on the original. Again part of its power to me comes from association with Nier's story. This forest is truly lost, just an barren desert where a final pyrrhic battle takes place between the wolves and the people of the mask.
I usually never like vocals in game OST's. They often sound cheesy and can ruin the song. But I somehow love the vocals used in this game's soundtrack. Maybe because they're so haunting and mysterious. You don't undertand one word but it still reaches to you somehow.
I usually never like vocals in game OST's. They often sound cheesy and can ruin the song. But I somehow love the vocals used in this game's soundtrack. Maybe because they're so haunting and mysterious. You don't undertand one word but it still reaches to you somehow.
One of the best parts of the soundtrack is how a lot of its music is multilayered through the game's context. My favorite (The Ultimate Weapon) doesn't introduce vocals until the player progresses far enough in the game's sequence. Until then it's just a haunting and faint & melody playing in the background that becomes progressively more complex and pronounced as the player explores that specific area. I think The Ultimate Weapon specifically shifted between JUST the vocals at points and the piano in the background at others, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
I loved Xenosaga 3's soundtrack. Yuki Kajiura was the best thing that happened to the series after Xenosaga 1's NO MUSIC and Xenosaga 2's rather mediocre soundtrack (of which there were only 3 good tracks, two of which were Kajiura's). Monolith should get her again for their Wii U game.
Xenoblade is just another FF, Halo, Mass Effect, or whatever. The score works, a few tracks will produce familiarity outside the game, etc. But that's it, it feels like it is something that was just another part of the game
Nier on the other hand produces a very different feeling. You listen to it and even without knowing the scenes, the emotions from it are still present. We can also add in stuff like creating its own language and using that to even better convey, but Nier is simply the best soundtrack for a game I have ever listen to.
Xenoblade is just another FF, Halo, Mass Effect, or whatever. The score works, a few tracks will produce familiarity outside the game, etc. But that's it, it feels like it is something that was just another part of the game
Nier on the other hand produces a very different feeling. You listen to it and even without knowing the scenes, the emotions from it are still present. We can also add in stuff like creating its own language and using that to even better convey, but Nier is simply the best soundtrack for a game I have ever listen to.
Exactly my take. Xenoblade like many big RPGs has a few standout tracks. Nier"s OST is unique. Another rpg I feel that has a unique OST is the Persona series.
Not that the Xenoblades' OST is bad or anything, but it's quite unfair to pair it with Nier, who have the best OST to come in a video game in a long, long time (if not ever).
The sheer amount of feels it can evoke, the way it mix with the gameplay and the environment, it's an accomplishment of a life time, and I'm not even being hyperbolic.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Nier. No other videogame soundtrack can compare to it and I honestly doubt there ever will be one that can.
Xenoblade had a nice soundtrack, but nothing stood out as being truly unique - it could have come from Final Fantasy or any other traditional JRPG series. As with most JRPGs there are a few astonishing tracks worth listening to, and a whole load of dull filler that never makes my playlists.
They were both voted as best soundtrack in their respective years here on GAF, and both have great song selections.
