Board 8 > 2017, the best year for game... soundtracks?

(+) Yeah! (+)

A lot has been said about what a monumental year this is for games, particularly Japanese and independent games, but game music has been pretty great too! Nier: Automata follows up on what made the first Nier soundtrack so special; Zelda's use of a dynamic, non-diegetic score is a great pairing for the sprawl in Breath of the Wild; Horizon: Zero Dawn sounds like a folkloric techno-apocalypse; Gravity Rush 2 is light and breezy but knows when to use bombast; Persona 5 unsurprisingly oozes style, and features the best vocal tracks in the series; and Prey, man... Prey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TRdx2tbUFI

Prey is fucking great.

I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting, or haven't even heard. But guys, 2017 is pretty great.

Also, game companies have been really great about getting this music out so people can hear it. Soundtracks as pre-order bonuses for Steam/PS4 games, or full Spotify playlists available near launch. It's so smart.
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What's so special about a non-diegetic score? That's like 99.5% of them
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I'm not sure how a game could even have a diegetic score unless it's a rhythm/music game or you're fighting Ultros

Persona 5's is one of my favorites. Ever. It's so good.
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2000 would probably be best. FF9, Diablo 2, Skies of Arcadia, Majora's Mask, Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Dragon Quest 7, etc.

Nier : Automata had an amazing OST though.
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I learned a new word today
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Paratroopa1 posted...

I'm not sure how a game could even have a diegetic score unless it's a rhythm/music game or you're fighting Ultros

Really? I've always felt the 3D Zelda games have a score that heavily reflects the player and the world, where elements from the player (like the instruments in OoT, MM, WW) or the environment bleed into the OST, sometimes explicitly like when you're manipulating music but more often implicitly.

ben10kenobi posted...

2000 would probably be best. FF9, Diablo 2, Skies of Arcadia, Majora's Mask, Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Dragon Quest 7, etc.

Got any favourite songs in particular? I'm familiar with FF9 and MM, and while I've played all the cRPGs, I wasn't wowed by the music. Maybe I wasn't paying attention.
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iiicon posted...

Really? I've always felt the 3D Zelda games have a score that heavily reflects the player and the world, where elements from the player (like the instruments in OoT, MM, WW) or the environment bleed into the OST, sometimes explicitly like when you're manipulating music but more often implicitly.

Yeah I guess that's true - although I think it means expanding the meaning of what it means to be 'diegetic' to some extent. Thinking about it I guess a lot of 3D Zeldas do have a lot of music that has a source, either explicitly (playing the ocarina to make songs) or implicitly (castle town theme in OoT for instance).

I don't know what diegetic means and I'm not going to look it up

:|
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Diegetic - Music or sound coming from an on-screen/actually-inside-the-world source

Non-diegetic - Music or sound coming from nowhere

I don't know how familiar you guys are with Mark Brown's videos, but he made a great one on Breath of the Wild's music and I recommend checking it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FWVKu1gnWs

The Tarrey Town sidequest is my favourite thing in the game for reasons he highlights
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Horizon, Zelda, Nier, Persona and now Prey all have pretty fantastic soundtracks.

I imagine RDR2 and Super Mario Odyssey will have fantastic soundtracks as well. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as well if it actually makes it out this year.

Other than those, I'm willing to bet they'll put a lot of effort into Battlefront 2's soundtrack now that they have a campaign to deal with but we'll have to wait and see. Could easily be generic crap as well.

Those ones seems like the standouts to me. But yeah, it's turning out to be a pretty exciting year for video game music.
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iiicon posted...

Really? I've always felt the 3D Zelda games have a score that heavily reflects the player and the world, where elements from the player (like the instruments in OoT, MM, WW) or the environment bleed into the OST, sometimes explicitly like when you're manipulating music but more often implicitly.

This isn't what diegetic means
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Zelda games are still like 90%+ non-diegetic, mind you

SwiftyDC posted...

Persona 5's is one of my favorites. Ever. It's so good.

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ben10kenobi posted...

2000 would probably be best. FF9, Diablo 2, Skies of Arcadia, Majora's Mask, Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Dragon Quest 7, etc.

Nier : Automata had an amazing OST though.

how do you list 2000 as #1 and leave out the GOAT Chrono Cross

Vagrant Story has a couple solid tracks too, like Dawn of Lea Monde.

Heck, Valkyrie Profile came out in 2000 as well, which is arguably Sakuraba's best soundtrack.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

how do you list 2000 as #1 and leave out the GOAT Chrono Cross

Vagrant Story has a couple solid tracks too, like Dawn of Lea Monde.

Heck, Valkyrie Profile came out in 2000 as well, which is arguably Sakuraba's best soundtrack.

I thought Chrono Cross was 1999 for some reason. But, yeah, that's still my favorite VG soundtrack.
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iiicon posted...

Got any favourite songs in particular?.

My favorites from that year would be -
Chrono Cross - Put the whole OST in here. Yes, even Gale. Favorite would be Another World overworld theme.
FF9 - overworld, battle theme, You're Not Alone
Diablo 2 - Rogue Encampment, Tristram (yeah, I know, recycled from D1, still), Wilderness
Skies of Arcadia - The battle themes (#2 especially), title screen track, Delphinus Theme.
Majora's Mask-Astral Observatory, Clocktown, Final Hours, Song of Healing.
Icewind Dale - Intro, Easthaven theme.
etc,etc.
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