Poll of the Day > How important is Music in the videogames you play?

(+) Yeah! (+)

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I have a weird (maybe) opinion... music is very important that it's not important. Or - musical pieces should enhance or reflect the tone of the game/scene without distracting from it.
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Either way. Some of my favorite games have no music at all, and then you have DiRT Rally which I find almost physically painful to play without my tofu delivery eurobeats.
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In most of the types of games I play nowadays, the music is intentionally mild background muzak that I happily turn off for my own music. So for those games, unimportant.

For something like an Eastern style RPG or something else where music is central to setting the mood, it's very important. Bad music is especially bad if it repeats a lot.
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Depends on the game. It's pretty important in story driven games that are trying to maintain an atmosphere, but there are plenty of other games I play while listening to other things and mute the music anyway.
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honestly i usually play on mute
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It can make the game a better experience, if it adds to the ambient nature and mood, such as the music in Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Uncharted, Red Dead Redemption, Last of Us, Wind Waker, etc. Certain songs can also make the game memorable, like "Your Reality" from DDLC, "Still Alive" from Portal, and "No place for a hero" from Borderlands 2.

It can also turn me away from a game, like Silent Hill 2's ending song, the Twilit battle theme from Twilight Princess, etc.

Moonjay posted...

In most of the types of games I play nowadays, the music is intentionally mild background muzak that I happily turn off for my own music. So for those games, unimportant.

For something like an Eastern style RPG or something else where music is central to setting the mood, it's very important. Bad music is especially bad if it repeats a lot.

I've been playing Secret of Mana on the SNES classic, and one of the things that's offputting is that ear-grating boss theme I here at every corner.
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Can go either way. Some feel like they enhance the situation and kinda pump you up (i.e. Final Fantasy XIV music when bosses are less than 5-10%) while some I don't really notice because I'm too absorbed by the gameplay (i.e. Factorio)
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Quite important. There are some fairly serviceable ports of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D that I refuse to play due to the fact that Doom's BGM is missing and Wolf 3D's intro music* is gone.

* I read that it's actually a Nazi theme, but... I associate it strongly with that game.

The music sets the tone in these games.
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Mediumly important
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Extremely important.
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A game can be good without it, but if it has music, it needs to be good to be a good game.
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MrMelodramatic posted...

honestly i usually play on mute

Same. I turn on the sound for some cutscenes, but I usually just play with subtitles on
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Unimportant, since I usually turn it off after a while especially in games where I like being able to hear enemies more clearly.
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I'm generally of the opinion that its not important, but that great music can really elevate a game.
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Not much. Just isnt good enough often enough to expect it to amount to much from the average game.

Can make a game a lot better if it does happen to be good though.
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Depends on the individual game.
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Music is pretty important. Even if it's not catchy or memorable, music can really set the tone or mood of a scene in a game. I mean, imagine if instead of One Winged Angel, you had the Benny Hills Theme.
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PMarth2002 posted...

I'm generally of the opinion that its not important, but that great music can really elevate a game.

I voted "Can go either way", but I pretty much agree with this post. I enjoy video game music a lot and aspire to make music for video games one day (I just put together my studio, so that's a step in the right direction). I've gone and seen orchestras perform the music of Nobuo Uematsu a few times and constantly hope an orchestra will come through my area playing pieces by Yasunori Mitsuda one day (Chrono Cross is, to this day, my favorite soundtrack). I think great music can really help a game become an even greater game, but, ultimately, unless if the music is absolutely abysmal, it rarely detracts from a game if it's subpar. For instance, I still enjoyed Drakengard on the PS2, even though the soundtrack made me want to fill my ears with cement. If all else fails, you always have the ability to turn off music and just play your own stuff in the background, y'know?

As long as the music isn't ear-grating, then it's fine. But when the music is really great and memorable, it makes me like the game a lot more.
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It's important that the music at least sets a mood appropriate for the game. I doesn't have to be good, but if it is good, it makes the game more enjoyable.
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important
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Depends. Most times I never pay attention, but if its a well done scene like last of us quality, ill notice.
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trodi_911 posted...

Music is pretty important. Even if it's not catchy or memorable, music can really set the tone or mood of a scene in a game. I mean, imagine if instead of One Winged Angel, you had the Benny Hills Theme.

You think 3 discs of build up didn't set the tone?
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MrMelodramatic posted...

honestly i usually play on mute

This. I play portable in noisy environments where I need to hear what's going on, like the back of theaters during rehearsals.
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It depends on the genre.

It's almost a necessity (imo) in platformers, puzzle games and RPGs, whereas in first-person shooters I'll usually turn the music off.
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For my favorite genre, extremely. I play a lot of JRPGs, and I feel that music is incredibly import in those games for setting the mood of places, events, characters, etc.

For all other games, I find it important. Good music can really elevate a game. This includes background atmospheric music

Not that important for every game, but I have to admit that, for example, my opinion of classic Mega Man games is heavily influenced by the music, since they're all pretty samey otherwise. Or maybe the ones with better music just happen to be better overall, I don't know. But the music is definitely something that builds their identify. If you were to play me unidentified songs and show me unidentified screenshots from the series, I'd probably have a much higher success rate naming the correct game based on the music.

I think it's more important in classic/2D games, but sometimes it's still not that important. SMB3 is one of the best games ever, but I don't think there's any standout music. If the gameplay is that good, the music just needs to not be bad/grating.

Moderately important. Gameplay and fun are higher priorities.
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Can go either way. I like the Boss music in UN Squadron (SNES), as each boss has a different theme. As long as the music isnt too intrusive, I dont mind.
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it's surprisingly important. like, it shouldn't be, it's a game, why does it need music? but just about any game that's memorable, the music is a big part of why, and the experience just wouldn't be the same without it.

(maybe it's partially the reverse and the experience of playing the game is anchored in your mind by the music)
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It can make a decent game great, an average game tolerable and a great game downright annoying.
It's very rarely a dealbreaker but it's pretty important.
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Kungfu Kenobi posted...

Either way. Some of my favorite games have no music at all, and then you have DiRT Rally which I find almost physically painful to play without my tofu delivery eurobeats.

I play racing games listening to eurobeat too EXCEPT DiRT Rally. It's kind of really important to hear the co-driver for me I guess, the symbols don't cut it
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