How Important Is Music To You In A Game?

[Outright Villainy]

Another great example: Would Amnesia: The Dark Descent be the same if it did not have a soundtrack?


I mean, LISTEN TO THAT. There isn't even a scene to go with it, and it still gets my heart pumping! Imagine if you were playing the game at night, with the lights off and your headphones on and you got to the part where that music comes in. Cheap colon cleansing, that's for sure!

That's my main reason why I haven't played that game yet. <:-( I'm a coward.

Don't forget the more ambient tracks, which are CREEPY AS HELL. Seriously, the soundtrack is like 60% of the reason I'm scared witless in that game. It builds the tension to a boiling point before your next monster encounter.

Anyway, soundtracks have huge appeal to me, and can really add a lot to a game. I think it's the main reason I'm not getting into painkiller that much when i bought it recently, since the soundtrack is so bloody awful, it seems to make the game feel more boring than it is. I'll probably make a custom one myself soon or something. On the flipside, if I'm playing something like Zelda, and all I'm doing is walking from one end of the main field to other, I'd enjoy myself because of the aural bliss streaming into my ears. So yeah, it has a huge effect on me. But I'm a musician, so it's not really that surprising.

 

[JemothSkarii]

I think Soundtracks (music and sound design) are VITAL to a game, listen to this:
To those who have played the game, what would it be like without it? Wouldn't be my GOTY if it was gone.

 

[Vegosiux]

Music is more important in games than graphics are, if you ask me.

 

[SongsOfDragons]

Playing games in silence is...unnerving. I've played very old games that only had beeps and honks as sound effects, and it's weird. The noises make you jump - especially the ambient sounds of Minecraft, for a newer example. Even something like Link's Awakening with, what was it? 8-bit music? was fantastic in comparison. So I would put forth the argument that creating an atmosphere with congruent music for the situation is part of making a particular game a good experience.

Link's Awakening, the Oracle Zelda games, Golden Sun I and II and a lot of Legacy of Kain music are the ones I have, along with one or two tracks from other games.

 

[MisterDyslexo]

The soundtrack doesn't take any sort of priority, but as anyone can tell you, it can elevate a 3-star experience into a 5-star experience. I mean, how many of us ever whistle the Dark Woods theme, or have a soundtrack from a game on our MP3s?

The Persona series in particular has been very memorable in thanks to its soundtrack. KOTOR is another prime example. I have the entire Dantooine music in my head and can listen to it whenever I want :3

Kirby, Fallout, Halo, Metroid, and Mass Effect (I think Bioware in general) all are other favourites of mine. When you hear a song and think "Wow, thats such a Kirby song", you know its made an impact in the game. Hell, I loathed FFXIII, it gave me cancer, but I still have the soundtrack on my MP3.

I don't think anybody could say that without the music in any of those games I've mentioned that the experience would've been the same.

Or in Battlefield 3, in its super-hated single player it had one of the best soundtrack moments I've ever experienced.

In one mission, you're part of a three man squad chasing down a guy carrying a portable nuke through Paris. It's the most hectic mission in the game. You are constantly running, running, shooting and running some more. It's super hectic, cause if you don't stop the nuke, Paris will explode. At one point, one of your buddies dies in an explosion. Naturally, you turn and stop for a moment, but since you have a job to do, you have to turn around again and you have to keep running even faster. Now, instead of some crappy upbeat Hans Zimmer thing, the game does something amazing. It mutes all other sounds. You don't hear anything any more. No gunshots, no shouting, just this:
And you just keep running.

I'm soooooo glad somebody put that there. For not knowing the guy, and really not giving a shit, that ambient atmosphere created by the music really is a bit touching.

Now if only the game didn't need to rely on the soundtrack single-handedly to emote >.<

 

[karoliso]

The AC soundtracks are a landmark on how soundtracks are supposed to work. Imagine Kydd's thought process:

"Okay, this game is about a killer dude running on rooftops, killing guards and completing missions... what do do?"

Instead of writing action schlock, he decided to focus on the aspect of exploration and the wonder of experiencing an ancient city in rich detail. Instead of the music pushing you on, it calms you down. When you climb a roof, you actually stop to look around and appreciate the wonders around you, because the music is telling you to relax, take your time and enjoy yourself. I swear that Kydd alone has actually changed the way people play AC dramatically.

Couldn't agree more. AC is a prime example on how video game soundtracks should be treated. One unappreciated video game soundtrack comes from the MMORPG Lineage II. It had a wide range of tunes ranging from this:


to this:


All the tracks made the game very memorable. Very few MMOs nowadays treat their soundtracks the same way.

 

[go-10]

is what immerses me with the story and game play and makes me want to play the game a second time without it I just don't feel any pull to play it through more than once assuming I finish it at all