Epic Music = Good Game ?

[pasc]

Well since I had the experience of playing mostly games which music I enjoyed and which also happened to be games I would describe as good, I wondered if anyone could prove me wrong.

Examples:

Metroid Prime Series
Rockman Series (including Zero, Exe, ZX etc)
Hotel Dusk & Last Window:SoCW
Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright)
Time Hollow
Final Fantasy Games (Quality may vary, but these games are among those that cannot be qualified as bad in comparison to many other games)


Examples that disapprove of the Epic music=epic game formula:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Sonic 06 (esp final boss)
- Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard.
- Wet
- Cheetahmen

 

[emigre]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HplgXxaKu5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vZH-jJf9-w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sgnFikzIFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DfzxdyfRO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNEcBbzX2m4

When we talk about epic video game music, Ys must also be discussed.

 

[Evilman]

Phoenix Wright was the first game that came up to my mind. I don't play that much but I played The Last Story last summer and I really enjoyed it. Music was awesome, I really liked it.

I have to say Kingdom Hearts also. I played Kingdom Hearts Dreams Drop Distance just some weeks ago and music rocked there also.

 

[pasc]

I guess I shoud have been more clear:

I love hearing examples from you guys that approve of my theorie (btw, would have listed kh, but I wasn't so sure if most ppl here would agree...).

Keep posting them !

The point of my post however was to list games that aren't working with the "epic music always means epic game" idea.

 

[ilman]

Sonic 06...

 

[Law]

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard.

It's one of my favourite games, and has an excellent sound track with a consistent theme. It also has good writing and pretty good dialogue, with funny man Will Arnett voicing the main character.

However it is a terrible game. Graphically it feels like it's stuck between console generations, the gameplay is stale third person cover shooter with occasional power ups being the only real "special" thing about it, the game will throw waves of respawning enemies at you, and often spawn enemies behind you. At the end it's just a slog to get through, moving slowly from cover to cover whilst you try and blindfire at enemies.

 

[Taleweaver]

I'm pretty sure I remember a Zero Punctuation review where Yahtzee kept ranting on another game that sucked terribly in aspects X, Y and Z...and then adding "music was good, though" (I think the referenced game was 'Wet', but I'm not sure).


On the topic, I can't give any examples. This for a simple reason: music is the last thing I really notice in a game (and that is a non-handheld game...on the go, I play with all sounds and music muted). In order to stand out, it either really has to add to the gameplay (kinda like braid's music kept pace with the gametime) or I have to play the game long enough to actually notice it.

And I don't tend to play games long if I don't enjoy them.


As for great games with great music: Unreal 1. The level design was already brilliant, but the music just gave it that extra bit of greatness.



EDIT: almost forgot: I just started playing Silent Hill 2. I gotta say that the music is what actually MAKES this game great (I'm not that far yet. But if it wasn't for that music in certain rooms, I'd be bored to death from all that walking around).

 

[Deleted-236924]

Didn't Cheetahmen have good music?

 

[Blaze163]

Some games have a great soundtrack but literally nothing else going for them. Sonic 2006's final boss music was beyond epic, but the game sucked so much balls that one brief moment of glory wasn't anywhere near enough to redeem it.

Good graphics and music can help a game, but when you get down to brass tacks, a game's fate is decided by its gameplay.

 

[leic7]

"Epic" is really kind of a strong word... I think the tunes in some parts of Xenoblade and The Last Story are not bad, but overall those games aren't very good by my standards. YMMV, though.

 

[The Catboy]

Most of my favorite video games have hardly any music in them, but the music they do have really do make those moments more intense.
So I guess good music does improve the quality of the game.

 

[Gahars]

Apparently there's a quote out there that goes, "Music is 60% of the movie"; it's absolutely crucial to setting the tone and gripping the audience. For a demonstration of this, a recent Half in the Bag review referred to The Importance of John Williams. All the power of that scene is mitigated by the awkward ambiance.

Well, I think it's fair to say that applies to games, too. Great games often have great soundtracks and scores because that music helps make them great in the first place.

 

[Ethevion]

Great games often have great soundtracks and scores because that music helps make them great in the first place.

I second this. One of my favorite parts of a game is the music (excluding racing games). I can't imagine a Final Fantasy boss fight without music.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

In my opinion great music can make a game that much better, but a game can be pretty awesome with no music as well.

The flip side of the coin I would also have to say is that horrible music can make a good game almost unplayable.

 

[jargus]

Sonic and the Black Knight: Game had kickass soundtrack, but terrible gameplay, almost Sonic 06 bad.

 

[Midna]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=HplgXxaKu5c

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7vZH-jJf9-w

When we talk about epic video game music, Ys must also be discussed.

You picked the worst versions of those two songs

 

[emigre]

You picked the worst versions of those two songs

I don't care.

 

[pasc]

Apparently there's a quote out there that goes, "Music is 60% of the movie"; it's absolutely crucial to setting the tone and gripping the audience. For a demonstration of this, a recent Half in the Bag review referred to The Importance of John Williams. All the power of that scene is mitigated by the awkward ambiance. Well, I think it's fair to say that applies to games, too. Great games often have great soundtracks and scores because that music helps make them great in the first place.

Ok pal, you did it again ! Agreed to 100%

I don't know where this quote came from (what is your real life job anyways ? Philospoher and Science interested Person 24/7 ? )

 

[BORTZ]

I think the gameplay and music have to work in tandem. Its a really fine balance, but one cannot carry the other.

 

[Eerpow]

If there's something music does for me it's giving games tons of replay value. There are countless of games I occasionally pop in because of the music, just recently I was itching to play some DKC2 because I had some of the tunes in my mind.