How important is music in a game?
- Thread starter Ando85
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Properly done music is the third most important element to a game. The only two more important are the gameplay(which includes how it's played), and the sound effects.
If you can find a PC game with independent audio controls for music and sound, listen to a section of a game with the music, and again without it. How much has changed for you?
As for individual scores, I'd have to say the most memorable are older NES and SNES games that were forced to do their best with limited memory. The music from a lot of older Squaresoft(that's how old the games are) games grab me. More recently, I would go with Final Fantasy Tactics, and the Persona series. Mass Effect, Neverwinter Nights, and the older Resident Evil games(I haven't played since 2) had managed to include music to the game to make it more than just background. I know Resident Evil actually had sections of the game without music at all. As mentioned before Left 4 dead and L4D2 had well used music.
If you can find a PC game with independent audio controls for music and sound, listen to a section of a game with the music, and again without it. How much has changed for you?
As for individual scores, I'd have to say the most memorable are older NES and SNES games that were forced to do their best with limited memory. The music from a lot of older Squaresoft(that's how old the games are) games grab me. More recently, I would go with Final Fantasy Tactics, and the Persona series. Mass Effect, Neverwinter Nights, and the older Resident Evil games(I haven't played since 2) had managed to include music to the game to make it more than just background. I know Resident Evil actually had sections of the game without music at all. As mentioned before Left 4 dead and L4D2 had well used music.
It's not so much music, as it is sound design. Sound design is crucial for building atmosphere, atmosphere is crucial for building a sense of place and immersion. And I think we can all agree that immersion is very important in a good game - particularly a story driven one. Therefore I would say that, yes, music is very important.
It seems to me that when a game has excellent music, I notice and it enriches gameplay, when it has good music, it enriches gameplay, and when it has indifferent music, I don't notice. But rarely do games have actual shitty music, so I'm not sure if I'd notice if it was bad. It is essential for a stellar game, but I don't think it's essential for an indifferent or even good one.
Really depends on the game. For RPGs like The Elder Scrolls or Fallout, because you're doing a hell of a lot of walking around just checking out scenery, the music is incredibly important, thus why the music in those two games are so damn good. I think the Painkiller soundtrack is perfect for its' genre too, nothing better for killing undead hordes than some industrial metal.
Well i for one dont agree whith some of you because Bioware RPG's hawe great music, like action/RPG Mass effect had great music, and KOTOR had john williams themes. Also The best ambient ''music'' was in silent hill 2 where i almost wept to insanity buy song in butterfly room and last clash whith two piramidheads... THAT WAS AWESOME(and creepey)!
In the world of video games all music is there for, is for both sound effects and background music. Try playing containment break with a techno or country style music. this would liven up the experience and turn it from scary to weird. So music plays a vital role. pretty sure most everyone will agree. So if you don't notice music in game hum the Mario Theme song or Green Hill Zone.
As a side note, there is a video on youtube somewhere which was part of somebodies university project, it had someone playing Medal of Honour with the default music playing, then playing with some happier music.
When the default music was playing, players were much more hesitant about darting around corners and played a little more cautious.
When the default music was playing, players were much more hesitant about darting around corners and played a little more cautious.
In all honesty, it just has to be not bad. If the game is good and the games atmosphere is good, with a few exceptions, as long as the music isn't immersion breakingly awful we're probably even going to leave with a positive impression of it because of the game.
It can do some fantastic things, a game can be made around it's music (Bastion) but it's much rarer than a game being made around it's gameplay, or setting or visuals or even story. Music is a strong 4th in all that.
We happen to have some very good music (FFX) and that's nice. But we wouldn't miss it like we'd miss gameplay.
Also I would like to note, look just how many games in just 2 pages of thread people have recommended as having awesome music. Either we are exceptionally lucky in the game industry and have the next best thing after the next best thing, or music taste is so wide it's impossible to have a concerted effect around one particular game, or the music is actually just fairly good/average but that's good enough to satisfy this. It's just not that probable that so many games are the very best. If they're all the very best, then doesn't that itself mean the very best is by definition a bit average?
It can do some fantastic things, a game can be made around it's music (Bastion) but it's much rarer than a game being made around it's gameplay, or setting or visuals or even story. Music is a strong 4th in all that.
We happen to have some very good music (FFX) and that's nice. But we wouldn't miss it like we'd miss gameplay.
Also I would like to note, look just how many games in just 2 pages of thread people have recommended as having awesome music. Either we are exceptionally lucky in the game industry and have the next best thing after the next best thing, or music taste is so wide it's impossible to have a concerted effect around one particular game, or the music is actually just fairly good/average but that's good enough to satisfy this. It's just not that probable that so many games are the very best. If they're all the very best, then doesn't that itself mean the very best is by definition a bit average?
Not to mention Jeremy Soule's stuff. If you listen to the soundtracks of KotOR and Morrowind back to back, you can really tell it was done by the same composer and orchestra at about the same time (Like, speaking of John Williams, when you listen to the Phantom Menace and Harry Potter back-to-back). Fantastic stuff.Mauler said:
Regarding Halo's music being awesome, I second that. Might be one of the first uses of music in a video game that really caught my attention.elvor0 said:
That necessitates take a view of 'best' as a very small percentage of a total, rather than exceeding a very high standard of quality - which, technically, is the more accurate way of using best, but isn't necessarily what people mean in this context. Even so, it might be - I mean, there's a lot of games out there, and while a fair few names have been bandied about here, they're still a very small percentage of games, and probably fit within the top bracket of games with high musical quality.BrotherRool said:
But yeah, so much good stuff - a lot's been brought up, a fair bit of which is on my iPod. Nowadays, if a game catches my eye, one of the first things I do is check the composer.
i find it to be important depending on the game. games like the AC series i don't find it as important, simply because you are, for the most part, in major cities that are full of people and their constant talking and moving around, though it's good for some dramatic scenes or chases, like when looking for the keys in revelations and brotherhood, i don't really notice it that much. on the other hand in a game like Neir, where there's not much talking aside from the party members and those conversations last 30 seconds at most, the music can be soothing, depressing, or dramatic depending on what's going on and i absolutely love it. the boss fight song is nice and dramatic, and the sad/bittersweet songs always get to me.
boss battle music:
a sad song:
and some peaceful travel music:
i love Neirs' soundtrack...
boss battle music:
a sad song:
and some peaceful travel music:
i love Neirs' soundtrack...
It depends a lot on the type of game. A really stellar horror game is done well with virtually no music, and the art of making silence important in a game has been all but lost.
Having said that, some games have a soundtrack that makes you want to play it, like Dynasty Warriors for PS2.
And having said that, a bad music score or shitty menu music can eviscerate a quality gaming experience. Nothing worse than playing an okay game, but the music is so awful you want to puncture your ear drums.
Having said that, some games have a soundtrack that makes you want to play it, like Dynasty Warriors for PS2.
And having said that, a bad music score or shitty menu music can eviscerate a quality gaming experience. Nothing worse than playing an okay game, but the music is so awful you want to puncture your ear drums.
Plenty of games benefit from it, others don't need it.
I couldn't imagine playing Elder Scrolls or Fallout 3+ without the music.
Mount and Blade is the same whether you have sound or not. And I mean sound, not just music.
I couldn't imagine playing Elder Scrolls or Fallout 3+ without the music.
Mount and Blade is the same whether you have sound or not. And I mean sound, not just music.
It is incredibly important. Hell, Final Fantasy gets Orchestra's doing their music, one of which i'm seeing in two weeks. The music for the FF is so memorable i'd say it's one of the main highlights of the entire series.
Music helps to set tone, atmosphere and to make the player feel certain emotions.
Music helps to set tone, atmosphere and to make the player feel certain emotions.