The 'high-water mark for video game music'

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Drumstick
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Drumstick » Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:49 pm

Galaxy's OST must be so good. Only heard a couple of tracks from it (Gusty Garden and now Buoy Base) and they're both magnificent.

My shout for underrated favourites would be:

The Carrington Institute from Perfect Dark. When the outro kicks in as the Skedar reveal themselves, the music reflects perfectly the sudden adrenaline coursing through the player's veins. :datass:

Honeylune Ridge. The most fun tune to end the most satisfying game experience I've ever had. Grinned like a loon all the way through the escape.

Hot Head Bop from Donkey Kong Country 2, a game absolutely rammed with memorable themes. Could have also chosen the Lost World theme, the ice theme... Or anything, quite frankly.

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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by <]:^D » Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:29 pm

Chrono Trigger hands down.
i hadnt even played the game until this year. the music captivates me/moves me. dont know how/why.




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Raydon4
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Raydon4 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:55 pm

Balladeer wrote:Hot take: if you post in this thread without a link or a YouTube containing some great tunes you shouldn't post in this thread.

Raydon4 wrote:Personally prefer 2’s OST over 1’s but I do really like 1’s OST as well. Same goes for gameplay.

I challenge you, then! What are the tracks that, for you, make SMG2's music better than SMG1's? I can think of the excellent Puzzle Plank and that's it. (Also, Cloudy Court is an attempt to recreate the magic of Gusty Garden but without the originality to do so don't @ me.)


Just off the top of my head but I love Sky Station, Fluffy buff(Yes I do prefer this to Gusty Garden), and Yoshi Star.
I would post links but the site won't let me(Probably cause my account's still new)

Now I kinda want to play both galaxy games now.

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Squinty
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Squinty » Tue Jul 09, 2019 1:32 pm

Vermilion wrote:
Squinty wrote:I love the F Zero X soundtrack, it's ridiculous. There's a really good guitar arrange album for it on YouTube.


I always preferred the original Super NES soundtrack.


I've really started to enjoy that one as well.

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The Watching Artist
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by The Watching Artist » Tue Jul 09, 2019 3:15 pm

Drumstick wrote:Galaxy's OST must be so good. Only heard a couple of tracks from it (Gusty Garden and now Buoy Base) and they're both magnificent.

Have you not actually played it? Or 2? :shock:

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Drumstick
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Drumstick » Tue Jul 09, 2019 3:33 pm

The Watching Artist wrote:
Drumstick wrote:Galaxy's OST must be so good. Only heard a couple of tracks from it (Gusty Garden and now Buoy Base) and they're both magnificent.

Have you not actually played it? Or 2? :shock:

No I haven't played either of them, I skipped the Wii entirely. I'm hoping for a remastered released on Switch.

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Balladeer
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Balladeer » Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:04 pm

Drumstick wrote:Galaxy's OST must be so good. Only heard a couple of tracks from it (Gusty Garden and now Buoy Base) and they're both magnificent.

This is very correct.

Right, time to listen some tunes!

Drumstick wrote:The Carrington Institute from Perfect Dark. When the outro kicks in as the Skedar reveal themselves, the music reflects perfectly the sudden adrenaline coursing through the player's veins. :datass:

I thought this was going to be properly bobbins at the start, but then the layers kicked in and it had a bit of a Phendrana Drifts quality to it, which is of course a good thing. I do think this one suffers from its N64 soundset though: would have been belting at the time.

Drumstick wrote:Honeylune Ridge. The most fun tune to end the most satisfying game experience I've ever had. Grinned like a loon all the way through the escape.

If this is underrated then there's something very wrong with the world. Honeylune Ridge >> Jump Up Super Star.

Drumstick wrote:Hot Head Bop from Donkey Kong Country 2, a game absolutely rammed with memorable themes. Could have also chosen the Lost World theme, the ice theme... Or anything, quite frankly.

Mr. Wise, I was expecting you... It takes a while to get going, this one, and frankly the lava's turned up too loud in the mix, but - it's David Wise! Of course the tune is belting. Did it get remixed for DKCTF in some capacity? I feel like that tune's familiar.

<]:^D wrote:Chrono Trigger hands down.
i hadnt even played the game until this year. the music captivates me/moves me. dont know how/why.

Squeenix has always been pretty darn good with their tunes: see Bravely Default mention earlier. Speaking very personally, and perhaps because I didn't get on with the game as a whole, I don't think the CT soundtrack quite hits the heights of some of the others, apart from Corridors of Time natch. This version is better though. :P

My top Squeenix piece is probably this slightly niche FFVI pick, but if I'm picking a track for someone who hasn't played the game, I'd go with this beauty from Octopath.

Raydon4 wrote:Just off the top of my head but I love Sky Station, Fluffy buff(Yes I do prefer this to Gusty Garden), and Yoshi Star.
I would post links but the site won't let me(Probably cause my account's still new)

Let me get those links for you friend! With Sky Station I do get the appeal, but like Fluffy Buff (that's the name!) it feels (to me, personal taste etc. etc.) like a pale imitation of the previous game's greatest hits. Yoshi Star was the tune that made me decide SMG2's music was worse than 1's. :P I just don't get the appeal I'm afraid!

Drumstick, if you're following along here's another belting one from the original: Bowser's Galaxy Reactor. So ominous. Of course, if you're still hoping to play them, maybe don't listen to the last level's tune? :shifty:

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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Drumstick » Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:06 pm

I'm pretty sure the lava isn't quite so prominent in the HHB mix when playing Red Hot Ride...

Following that post I did listen to some more Galaxy tunes. Some very, very good, some a little more on the meh side.

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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Balladeer » Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:28 pm

Eh, they can't all be winners. I think that's the reason I'd put DKCTF above Galaxy actually: Galaxy's highs are far better, but it's not consistently excellent in every level, whereas TF barely puts a foot wrong.

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Cal
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Cal » Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:28 pm

more heat than light wrote:Does anyone here simply listen to old game soundtracks? Does the music ever stand up without the game backing it up? I guess it's a bit like listening to film scores, something else I've never really understood the appeal of.

Anyway, discuss. :-)


Yes. The three OSTs for FF XIII, III-2 and Lightning Returns - but mostly the orchestral stuff. The more rock/pop music I can do without, but the fully-orchestrated music is superb.

Masashi Hamauzu was the main composer across the three games (although not so much on LR) and he developed a number of consistent, stand-out themes - not least of which was the central FFXIII theme. The absolute pinnacle of this is 'Fabula Nova Crystallis' which distills his lush orchestration and ear for a catchy melody beautifully. His various reinterpretations of reoccurring themes are always way above and beyond the call for a simple game soundtrack and, imo, are cinematic in quality - especially a track like 'Lightning's Theme: A Distant Glimmer'.




Exquisite. And I can now play both on piano. I learned a lot about alternative chord voicing!

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Met
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Met » Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:17 pm

>ctrl-F "Nier"

"0 results". C'mon guys...

Also, at the risk of sounding like a broken record: the Final Fantasy XIV soundtrack is extremely solid, and has, at least at some point, held the record for the most unique compositions in a video game. A lot of the songs are just rearrangements from previous games, so it's cheating a little bit, but I'll throw down a few of my favourite original ones below:

Answers - The main theme from 'Final Fantasy XIV' and 'A Realm Reborn'


Dragonsong - The main theme from 'Heavensward'


Revolutions - The main theme from 'Stormblood'


And some boss music:

Oblivion - Shiva's second phase


Freefall - Nidhogg's second phase


Revenge of the Horde - Nidhogg's third phase, and a version of the song 'Heavensward' using the dragon's language instead of normal chanting


Locus - General boss theme for the Alexander series of raids.


Metal - Boss theme for Alexander 4 and the first phase of Alexander 8


Metal (Brute Justice) - Alexander 8's second phase


Equilibrium - Sophia's second phase.


Wayward Daughter - Tsukoyomi's second phase


Sunrise - Suzaku's second phase


Revelation/Riot/At Both Ends - Just all of Susano's fight


Beauty's Wicked Wiles - Lakshmi's theme


eScape - Omega 11's boss theme


A rearrangement of 'Maker's Ruin' from the ending of ARR - Omega 12's boss theme


From The Heavens - Omega 12's Savage exclusive phase


Also I'll wrap it up with the current level 80 dungeon themes from Shadowbringers, and the ending sequence theme. Big ol' spoils.

Mortal Instants - Amaurot


The Long Fall - The Twinning dungeon theme. A mash-up of 'eScape' from the Omega raids and 'Shattered' from the Crystal Tower raids as the whole dungeon itself has a little bit from all of the raids so far.


Shadows Withal - Akadaemia Aynder


Tomrrow And Tomorrow - theme for the ending sequence of Shadowbringers

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Tafdolphin
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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by Tafdolphin » Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:27 am

Yeah, NIER is definitely a contender


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PostRe: The 'high-water mark for video game music'
by rinks » Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:23 am

I’ve only just heard, but Barrington Pheloung died last month.



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