Tone Setting Music

[Soviet Heavy]

Not really a "best music" thread, but one with a more specific goal in mind. Music is a fantastic way of creating tone for a game. The ones I find best are usually low key, more atmospheric movements that help emphasize the visual component.

Case in point, Hazardous Environments, or The Valve Intro Song.

This tune just works so fucking well to create atmosphere. It isn't even exclusive to Half Life, as it has become synonymous with Valve itself. It's alien, it has a steady beat, and it feels strange. It conveys a certain apprehension, but also a curiosity. Whatever is in store, it is going to be a little weird.

Another song that does the tone setting exceptionally well is Welcome to Rapture.

Not only does this help establish the music of the game's violin motif, it also works much the same as Hazardous Environments in drawing you in. It has that sense of wonder, that Rapture is a marvel, but the harshness of the strings and the minor key it is played in also works to present the scarier side of things.

So those are my two examples. What are yours? How does the tune work to convey the tone of the game? What does it imply to the listener, what will they interpret from the song?

 

[darlarosa]

OMG the song used in the trailer for Rule of Rose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te_No0dapPY

It's actually one of my favorite trailers...it sets everything up really well

 

[ChupathingyX]

The Dynasty Warriors music never fails to set the mood.

Whether you're fighting in a rage filled battle fuelled by vengeance and depression [http://youtu.be/sgpgYwVGcCU].

The morale is high, the enemy is on the run and your commander is yelling "CHARGE!" [http://youtu.be/nlHfbKrg3sY].

The era is coming to a close, both sides are ready, and the the final battle [http://youtu.be/F-3O7yoHyP4] is about to begin.



Or just simply surfing through the game's encyclopedia. [http://youtu.be/DSSMtYakH3Y]

 

[The Madman]

World of Goo's entire story is pretty much just a combination of music and level aesthetics, yet because the music was so gloriously ambient it worked brilliantly.

Spoiler: Brooding, foreboding, strangely eerie, almost frighteningly intense.

Spoiler: Wistful, sad, full of regret yet still strangely hopeful and determined.

Great use of music for setting mood in a game that otherwise would have little. It was a puzzle game after all, not exactly a genre known for their ambient gameplay.

 

[daveman247]

hmmm, the menu music for max payne/ max payne 2 set the tone perfectly for the game

 

[Antari]

The best mood setting music I've come across to this day is Syndicate Wars. The music in the game was easily the biggest mood component to the game. Few have been able to equal or best it. Amon Tobin comes to mind as a modern example of excellence in this field. I could go on but I think I'll stop there before people start pointing at my nostalgia glasses.

Spoiler

 

[Loop Stricken]

I'll be honest here. I never knew the Valve theme music was an actual track.

Otherwise, and damn you for making me find and listen to this again:

Opening music to Katawa Shoujo.
Too many feels!

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

The menu themes for Dawn of War really set the mood of the races

Deep low tones and lots of percussion for the brutal orks.


The imperial themes are broadly similar but the Guard is more marching cant with lots of brass than the more religious chanting with a singular horn of the Space Marine theme.

 

[bafrali]

This plays right after Gordon defeats Antlion Guard.This is while they are still being chased by combine and harassed by antlions under the shadow of citadel which is about to explode and take out the city they are in. It is depressing to say the least.

 

[Dryk]

Don't even get me started on this tune, if you do you've been warned

ADVENTURE HO

Also


And

This one presents the ye olde space adventure tone they were going for perfectly, especially when paired with that opening text

This tune just works so fucking well to create atmosphere. It isn't even exclusive to Half Life, as it has become synonymous with Valve itself. It's alien, it has a steady beat, and it feels strange. It conveys a certain apprehension, but also a curiosity. Whatever is in store, it is going to be a little weird.

Unfortunately I never got that, because when I was playing Half-Life for the first time and it came up I started checking to see if Steam was trying to open something else in the background

 

[Alternative]

One Wing Angel sets the tone for Sephiroth quite nicely. Although im a sucker for ominous Latin chanting.

 

[Joccaren]

Anything by Two Steps from Hell, Audiomachine, Immediate Music - ect.

As trailer music, the whole point of it is to set a tone.
For an example of such, the ME3 "Sword" Space battle to "Protectors of the Earth" by Two Steps from Hell:

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

If only the actual scene in game could have set the mood like that.

 

[Kahunaburger]

No mentions for Homeworld? Homeworld, then

Excellent use of both classical music and original music.

 

[Freaky Lou]

I sincerely doubt many people are listening to every theme in this thread.

Still, it'll be nice if someone hears this one:

Spoiler

I also really love Planescape: Torment's entire soundtrack.

Spoiler

[youtube=
ixv_jRI6VqY]

Also, the Metroid Prime menu theme, but I'm sure everyone knows that one. With the alien scrabbling and the glass tube sounds?

 

[Sean Hollyman]

From the Metro 2033 soundtrack, you can sense the hoplessness, and the baby crying...

 

[Mr.Governor]

No doubt,Illusive man's theme from Mass Effect 2
I really felt like I was talking to a very powerful but mysterious man

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Get some headphones, sit on the floor, out in the open, with your eyes closed at night and listen to this. Even I get a little uncomfortable, lol.

 

[xplosive59]

I'll be honest here. I never knew the Valve theme music was an actual track.

Otherwise, and damn you for making me find and listen to this again:

Opening music to Katawa Shoujo.
Too many feels!

Agreed. The entire soundtrack for KS is excellent for mood setting though, my favourites being Painful History, Moment of Decision and Red Velvet.