Best Musical Score in a game...ever!

[Nosense]

Touhou music anybody?

^This

All other entries are lackluster. I can listen to nothing but Touhou music and arrangements for the rest of my life and still die happy.

 

[Ice Car]

Touhou music anybody?

^This

All other entries are lackluster. I can listen to nothing but Touhou music and arrangements for the rest of my life and still die happy.

This even more.

Also, dBu makes some really kickass remixes. I don't think I've ever found a single remix from them I've disliked one bit. More than half the songs on my iPod are from this game, or remixes from dBu.

 

[Parkway91]

Red Dead Redemption. Blows my mind.

 

[InsoFox]

Guys. Monkey Island 2. Jeez. Not only is it full of great themes, it's massive, sprawling, makes ambitious use of the iMUSE system. And the updated versions on the remake are pretty damned great, too.

 

[Zeraiya]

I'm sure there are many great soundtracks but I just can't remember any of them.

The only good soundtrack I can remember at this moment in time was Alice: Madness Returns. It was very fitting and quite creepy. I loved it.

 

[mikey7339]

FF VI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36TdZx8VgbA

Also FF VI

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

No, no, no. The answer to this always has been and will always be Chrono Cross. The sooner people recognize this, the soon we can stop having these topics.

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Both those games are up there, but I would have to go with FFIV.

On a similar note, why does Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack always get overlooked?

 

[vrbtny]

Halo 1-3

GONG!! Congratulations you have fallen into the most common pitfall when recommending a Halo OST. It was is fact Halo 3 : ODST.

 

[bificommander]

Not an original composition but:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAiJgdjKArg

 

[staika]

I am always reminded of this song, This was the first song I ever had to listen to multiple times because I couldn't stop.

 

[DanteLives]

Tony Hawk 2

Beat me to it....

 

[Valiance]

Mechwarrior 2 series (in particular: Mercenaries)

Sadly although the composition is good it was put together without the use of a real orchestra. If someone were to put these pieces of music to a real orchestra and have them performed, well, that would be one life dream to cross off of my list.

This is a very underrated soundtrack. Mechwarrior 2/GBL/Mercs had fantastic music.

Musical "Score" is tough to pick. I assume by "Score" the OP means orchestral piece, in which case he should look up most of Nobuo Uematsu [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Soule]'s stuff.

If I have to with orchestration, I'd go with the Total Annihilation soundtrack... Here's one song from it.


If NOT going with orchestration, it's really hard. I love a lot of video game music, and a lot of great musicians come to mind, but here's one I haven't posted in these threads yet...I usually post Alexander Brandon or Frank Klepacki or David Wise or something, but here's some TOMMY TALLARICO!



This song fucking ROCKS, and I mean HARD. The sweep/swell at 0:27-0:28 to lead into the main riff really kicks it off, and it feels like a punchy and upbeat electronica track. It has great layering - feel the drums at 0:50 and the powerful string/pad section that comes up after to back up the main mix, building up to the 0:59 breakbeat into a funk guitar solo. I just, I don't even know what to say - the sheer amount of talent on display here is ridiculous. And the volume/power behind the organ chords at the end are beastly too. Did I mention this came out in 1994, when using this kind of music in videogames was not commonplace at all? Did I also mention that the composer is the co-creator of Video Games Live [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Games_Live]?

 

[Rhythm]

Lots of individual songs and themes being posted above but as the question is best musical 'score' in a game I would have to go with the soundtrack to heavy rain. It's so good I often listen to it whilst traveling and at work.

 

[mikey7339]

Lots of individual songs and themes being posted above but as the question is best musical 'score' in a game I would have to go with the soundtrack to heavy rain. It's so good I often listen to it whilst traveling and at work.

I didn't want to inundate my post with a massive amount of songs, but here are the two playlists if you want to take the time to listen:

FFT - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOAqsR7Ahy0&feature=BFa&list=PLFE525923AD7D9986&lf=mh_lolz

FFIV - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P87fQ-XFV40&feature=mh_lolz&list=PL900972C767F11975

 

[Fasckira]

Either Chrono Triggers "Frog Theme", FF8's "Dollet Landing" or FF7's "Cid's Theme" (the slowed down one that plays when he aborts the rocket launch).

 

[L3W15 M]

Metal gear solid has a really good one
Also final fantasy's tend to be good.
Other than that Brutal legend but thats just my preferred genre of music it could quite easily disappoint other people.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Halo 1-3

GONG!! Congratulations you have fallen into the most common pitfall when recommending a Halo OST. It was is fact Halo 3 : ODST.

Surely when relating anything to Halo, ODST must be the game we use? A severely underated masterpiece with a score to match.

But I'm going to have to be different and say it has to be Solatorobo's soundtrack, something I just managed to aquire from the Japanese Collector's Edition:

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm gonna go with Bastion as well, just because it's fresh in my mind.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Legend of Mana is a tough challenger. It's a unique, damn good game, and rare to boot.
But its generational half-brother in Chrono Cross might be up to the task.

Apart from the obnoxious battle music, EVERY locational track is distinct, appropriate and the style is like no other. (The Fort Dragonia music is mysterious, subtly energetic, and haunting.)

 

[mireko]

Nocturne, imho. You've got some of Meguro's incredibly badass tracks alongside remixes of earlier MegaTen tunes and works by other composers. One thing I adore about the soundtrack to this game (and most of Atlus's games, really) is that the melodies tend to be clear, weighty and visible, so it doesn't end up like pompous, flavorless Hollywood-style orchestrations. Interestingly, it doesn't end up sounding minimalist either.

Nocturne is also interesting in its use of electronic music alongside the ordinary stuff. Fits elegantly with the strange world the characters inhabit. There's also the fact that Atlus is one of the very few developers who can use rock/heavy metal elements without it devolving into boring-as-all-fuck "shredding" or melodies with no heft whatsoever (looking at you, Sakuraba..).

But because I don't feel like singling out one to put in this post (or filling it with youtube links to crash your flash plugin), here's something from LSD: