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Soundtracks that maintain a leitmotif throughout the score?

cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
Here meaning, the game has a distinct 'main' theme that recurs throughout other songs in the soundtrack.

I can think of a few.

The Silver Case:
tsc.jpg


The melody of the main theme weaves into other tracks.

Main Theme
Investigation
Morishima Tokio
Kill The Past

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus_Ex_Human_Revolution_cover.jpg

Icarus

I could have sworn I heard the main theme a lot in various forms throughout the game.


What are some others?
 
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core

The main theme, "The Price of Freedom" can be heard throughout a lot of the soundtrack.
 
Thanks for teaching me this word OP. I've acknowledged this concept within soundtracks before, but never knew the word for it.

-Ryn said:
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core

The main theme, "The Price of Freedom" can be heard throughout a lot of the soundtrack.
Click to expand...

I want to say FFVII had a recurring theme in its OST as well, but I can't think of what exactly it was off the top of my head.
 
Stereogatari said:
Thanks for teaching me this word OP. I've acknowledged this concept within soundtracks before, but never knew the word for it.



I want to say FFVII had a recurring theme in its OST as well, but I can't think of what exactly it was off the top of my head.
Click to expand...

I want to say it's the overworld theme.
 
Crysis 2's main theme starts out as this eery, haunting ambience, and they add layers as the game goes on until by the credits it's gone from an ominous dirge into a soaring heroic score.

ZombiU's theme does this. You hear variations on it the whole way through, including a pretty epic guitar version.
 
Breath of Fire III has a recurring leitmotif that pops up throughout the soundtrack:

Specifically, The Opening Theme, the second battle against
Garr
, one of the many cutscene themes, a town theme where an important event related to the plot takes place, one of the more important dungeons in the game (The Black Ship), and during the game's ending scene right before the credits roll.

When you hear it, it's usually a sign that something big is about to or has already happened in the game.
 
Probably a no-brainer, but Street Fighter IV exploits Ryu's theme to no end. I must have heard no fewer than three versions of it in IV.
 
In the Halo soundtracks, even Halo 4, you here snippets of the main theme weaved into other pieces of the soundtrack.

Whether it is the main choral choir, the dum, dum, dum, duuuuuuums or a snippet of the piano, you can recognize a bit of the melody sticking out easily.

OP, you are right about Deus Ex HR, Icarus's theme does emerge in other parts of the soundtrack e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGqFYYQwiEc

A really beautiful soundtrack, I really hope Michael McCann returns for Deus Ex Universe (or whatever they are calling it now).
 
I think in the grand scheme of things, especially the further along we go in video gaming history, it would be faster to list soundtracks that DON'T have a leitmotif in them than to list soundtracks that do.
 
Falk said:
I think in the grand scheme of things, especially the further along we go in video gaming history, it would be faster to list soundtracks that DON'T have a leitmotif in them than to list soundtracks that do.
Click to expand...

Which is a shame, especially considering that the amount of time spent with particular characters or themes or places in video games far exceeds that of other artistic mediums which makes them ripe for leitmotific development. Too many OST's nowadays with generic through-composed orchestral bombast, no character.
 
Planescape Torment. The soundtrack was apparently created in a fairly short amount of time by Mark Morgan. He created the main theme then created character themes that were a variation on that.
 
CrunchyFrog said:
Which is a shame, especially considering that the amount of time spent with particular characters or themes or places in video games far exceeds that of other artistic mediums which makes them ripe for leitmotific development. Too many OST's nowadays with generic through-composed orchestral bombast, no character.
Click to expand...

Huh, how are you inferring anything other than "the number of games with leitmotifs exceed the number of games without leitmotifs, especially as time goes by" from my post?

(I could have worded it better :( )
 
DownGrader said:
Huh? I disagree with everything but Super Mario World - the soundtracks of 3D Mario games are usually very varied.
Click to expand...
Did you not notice Super Mario 64's songs also all use the same theme?

And Super Mario Galaxy has a main motif that plays at the start, during level fanfares, varied through several level tunes, and at the end battle and during most of the cut scenes.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is similar, but has three equally recurring motifs (SMG1 theme, SMG2 theme, and Gusty Garden theme).
 
Falk said:
I think in the grand scheme of things, especially the further along we go in video gaming history, it would be faster to list soundtracks that DON'T have a leitmotif in them than to list soundtracks that do.
Click to expand...

Yeah... most soundtracks have a reoccurring main theme it's just that some people simply don't notice.
 
The Wonderful 101 has a specific musical cue that features heavily in most of it's soundtrack that acted as the opening for the theme 'The Won-Stoppable 100'. I did like how they always found an appropriate key to put it in for when it was used in somber pieces like 'Determination' or make even more bombastic in the final battle.

Xenoblade Chronicles had a similar thing from it's title theme, with the added bonus of
the title theme being implemented into the game itself in a very emotional and poignant scene.
 
FFXIII does this. Both the opening theme and the main battle theme find their way into lots of the other songs.
 
More Fun To Compute said:
Planescape Torment. The soundtrack was apparently created in a fairly short amount of time by Mark Morgan. He created the main theme then created character themes that were a variation on that.
Click to expand...

Came here to say this - thankfully the main theme is really strong, because listening to the OST straight through (great for studying) things can get a little samey. And then there's a rock down end-credits song!
 
I've always loved the use of leitmotifs in soundtracks, I love hearing a main theme pop up in new variations throughout a movie or game. The Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Back to the Future series are the prime examples of this :)

Such a shame so few movies have memorable ones these days.
One would think with all the superhero movies we'd get a lot of good new ones but sadly almost all of them just have generic scores. Well except for Kick-Ass which had a awesome main theme.

But on the topic of leit motifs in games, Ni No Kuni has a lovely one.

Main theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyAF5QhW0Uk

Here it is in the victory music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhxeYfeW1Ys

And in the boss theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TZ-Wh3RfbM

And again in another boss theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHVrMl2R2gU
 
A lot of the soundtrack of The Wonderful 101 is based on the same song or sounds similar. And it's all awesome.

K-A-Deman said:
The Wonderful 101 has a specific musical cue that features heavily in most of it's soundtrack that acted as the opening for the theme 'The Won-Stoppable 100'. I did like how they always found an appropriate key to put it in for when it was used in somber pieces like 'Determination' or make even more bombastic in the final battle.
[/SPOILER]
Click to expand...
Yup, that's what I meant.
 
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