Video game OSTs

[Heart of Darkness]

Mother 3. With a strong (250 strong) library of songs for just one game, and you have one of the best OSTs to grace gaming.

Seriously...just listen to "F-F-Fire!!," and you'll see why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzaGC5Qoy8I[/youtube]
Granted, it's a remix, but it's still awesome nonetheless.

 

[duchaked]

As much as I don't like Leona Lewis, the song she did at the end of Avatar was very good.

OP: Okay, as for best soundtrack, I'd go for either Timesplitters or Ocarina Of Time. I can't find fault with a single song in their repertoire.

Spoiler: I mean, just listen to the Timesplitters main menu themes!

Agreed, the TimeSplitters soundtrack was awesome

Indeed. And back in the day before Free Radical was gobbled up by Crytek they used to put out the OSTs for free on their website.
My favourite from the 3 OSTs has to be "Scrapyard" from TS2. Why? Because it's a distorted ************ that will kick your ass! It's instruments are very hard to identify, and it has a fucking COWBELL SOLO!

Linkage to da awesomeness

oh yeah I remember finding the TS music box a looong while back
http://www.tsmusicbox.com/

wish there'd be another TS game coming =[

 

[Maltyz]

Silent Hill

 

[Mozared]

Heroes of Might and Magic 4's water theme [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7VRWpr1UHw]. I yet have to meet someone who doesn't love that one. All HOMAM music is wicked sick, but the soundtrack to game number four truly has something special.

Also, there's this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAKJ4XKSKFw], with the part everyone (who'se played SC) knows starting at 3:54 (or 4:30 if you want to skip the 'intro').

Last but not least, Warcraft 2, 3 and WoW all have some memorable songs for me. This one [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K82bvaAMemA] is just effing nostalgic and while less impressive, the music from the main menu [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZAXwQ_Kyco] has also left a mark on me. Moving on to Warcraft 3, songs like Human theme [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXajx7l4VxE] are a completely different style but still manage to really grab me, even if it's in a completely different way. Doomhammer's Legacy [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PomX6iTT39I] reminds me of the first time I did the Orc campaign (of which the first few levels are about 'stranding' on a completely new land and exploring it) which is, again in a different way, very nostalgic. Then, moving onto WoW, the theme song, Legends of Azeroth [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqsazZUbt9s], is another one that I will never forget. And if you've skipped over all songs in my post so far, I just dare you to listen to The Shaping of the World [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhrxGCMzRL0] and *not* find it epic. And this is the point where I have to stop myself from posting the other 28 songs on the OST album because literally every single one of them gives me shivers. Instead, I'll just stick to The Sin'dorei [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCe4uisTtbo] from the game's first expansion, a song which explains the entire Blood Elf race in its three main emotions - beauty, melancholy and wickedness.

Anyway, thanks for the post OP - you've given me another opportunity to re-examine part of my roots and the reason why I love these franchises so much. I'll leave the thread with saying that if a game developer allows players to play eight races and gives them such a strong background and culture that people really feel they 'belong' to any one of them, how can you not respect him?

 

[Chris^^]

I'm ashamed to say that the Halo series have, in my opinion, a fantastic soundtrack.. I mean Breaking Benjamin's 'Blow Me Away' in Halo 2 is just superb and really creates the feel for the battle..

 

[Tankenstein]

Vampire the masquerade, it had many great songs such as:

Spoiler: Vesuvius

Which was playing in a nightclub called vesuvius.

Spoiler: Downtown theme

Which was (as the name suggests) the music when you were in downtown LA, really brings out the atmosphere of the games.

 

[ethaninja]

Ah man there was an awesome fantasy styled game I used to play that had the best main menu song. Either that game or the Baldur's Gate song.

 

[Vuljatar]

Morrowind
MGS3
World of Warcraft
Halo 2
Total Annihilation


And possibly most of all, Freelancer. If you have not played this game, you should.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o36TtNZO5Y0[/youtube]

 

[Mackie Stingray]

Chrono Cross (...) Xenogears. JRPG's always have the best composers.

You may want to consider that these two games share a very important feature. Yasunori Mitsuda wrote the music for Chrono Trigger, Radical Dreamers*, Chrono Cross, and Xenogears. I believe also Xenosaga, though I'm too lazy to verify.
So yes, Japanese RPG companies tend to put a lot of effort into their soundtracks, but credit where credit is due. Mitsuda's brilliant.

* If you haven't played this, it means you haven't heard the music. You may cry now.