Interview Valhalla Gamers talks with Feargus

[Spazmo]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

<a href=http://www.valhallagamers.com>Valhalla Gamers</a> are the latest to have an <a href=http://www.valhallagamers.com/index.cfm?nbdPage=Reviews&Process=Read&Article_ID=505>interview</a> with one-man PR machine <b>Feargus Urquhart</b>. They shoot the poop with 'ol Fearg about Obsidian Entertainment's upcoming Star Wars sequel Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords.
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<blockquote>ValhallaGamers: I read in another article that Jeremy Soule is not composing the music for KOTOR2. Given the tremendous job he did on the original, who is the composer this go round?
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Feargus Urquhart: This time around it is going to be Mark Griskey who is a composer for LucasArts. They’re composing over an hour of new music for The Sith Lords. Star Wars music is something he is intimately familiar with and we have all the confidence the world that he will pick up perfectly where Jeremy left off.</blockquote>
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I'm awful glad about that. Whenever I play a game that Soule composes for, I get horrible NWN flashbacks.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPGDot</a>

 

[Vault Dweller]

http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4404

Edit: Apparently, RPG Dot's Kristophe is smoking something stimulating and reposting old news.

 

[Whipporowill]

Yeah. That Kristophe has been posting pretty funky and rpg-unrelated stuff for a while... and what's with this weird battlecry "Ungawa"? WTF?

 

[Spazmo]

Err... yeah, it's Kristophe's fault.

 

[Shevek]

Ugh, a d20 game with a cap at 30 or, worse still, no level cap. I can't say I am terribly pleased about that. I hope they balance it well...

 

[Voss]

Its not necesarily a big deal...

First, Jedi are so absurdly overpowered in d20 compared to anything else that levels
become irrelevant really quickly.

Second, if we're lucky it will be one of those 'you can get to level 30, but probably you'll finish the game in the mid-teens' sort of deal.

 

[Anonymous]

Mark Griskey

Games Credited
Gladius (2003), LucasArts
Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter (2002), LucasArts
Star Wars: Racer Revenge (2002), LucasArts
Star Wars: Obi-Wan (2001), LucasArts

As a side note, Jeremy did Morrowind's music too, and BG, and Icewind Dale. This guy is like a magnet to shitty RPGs or something.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Everyone praised the music in Icewindale and started sucking his dick after that, he probably thinks hes some bigshot now.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Jeremy didn't do BG. Where the hell did you get that one from, Patrick? Jeremy did Dungeon Siege and Total Annihilation.

 

[geminito]

I actually liked his music in Morrowind and Icewind Dale... It wasn't the most amazing stuff I've heard, but it was good at adding to the setting and mood of the games. But after a while, it just had to be turned off. When other people in the apartment start humming the music long after I've turned off the computer, it's time to disable it.

Does anyone know who the guy that did Might & Magic 6's music is? What he's done lately? The music in that game was the only great thing about it.

 

[suibhne]

Mark Griskey

Games Credited
Gladius (2003), LucasArts
Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter (2002), LucasArts
Star Wars: Racer Revenge (2002), LucasArts
Star Wars: Obi-Wan (2001), LucasArts

As a side note, Jeremy did Morrowind's music too, and BG, and Icewind Dale. This guy is like a magnet to shitty RPGs or something.

Gladius has fine music. I assume the other titles were cookie-cutter SW music; they were sure as hell cookie-cutter SW games.

I like Soule's work in both Morrowind and IWD. Soule had no involvement with the BG series, however. You might be thinking of Inon Zur, who did the music for ToB (fabulous) and for IWD2 (considerably less than fabulous).

I think Soule's best work to date might have been the music for KotOR, though. Count me as one of the folks who's disappointed he's not handling the score for the sequel. I definitely don't go for all of his stuff - the music for Dungeon Siege is basically generic high-fantasy crap, like elvish Sunday brunch music - but the music for KotOR was one of that game's high points for me and I wish they'd stuck with Soule.

 

[Anonymous]

Jeremy didn't do BG. Where the hell did you get that one from, Patrick? Jeremy did Dungeon Siege and Total Annihilation.

It was Dark Alliance (both 1 and 2), not the PC ones.

Here are some other 'greats':
EverQuest Online Adventures (2003), Sony Online Entertainment
Unreal II: The Awakening (2003), Infogrames
Rugrats in Paris (2002), Mattel Inc., THQ Inc.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Electronic Arts

 

[Whipporowill]

I think Soule has done pretty good things as well as some very mediocrate ones. I'm among the ones that really liked the music for Kotor - it felt they way it was "supposed" to feel to someone who grew up with the original films. The IWD music was inspiring but DS was not, Morrowind had like ONE nice tune and the rest was crap.

The problem with having one guy monopolize the whole game soundtrack biz, is pretty obvious. Everything will wind up sounding rather the same - as that might be why he's hired in the first place. They companies know they'll not get something atrocious - but everything above that is a bonus?

Hah.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Unreal II's music was pretty good, actually - unlike the rest of the game.

 

[suibhne]

The problem with having one guy monopolize the whole game soundtrack biz, is pretty obvious. Everything will wind up sounding rather the same - as that might be why he's hired in the first place.

This is one of the things I like about the BG series, actually - the variety of music. I dig the music in all three (BG, BG2, and ToB), but each title has a score which is totally distinct not only in content but also in style. Inon Zur's soundtrack for ToB is one of the best things about that title, in my opinion - totally the second coming of Basil Pouledoris, a striking contrast to the mushy fantasy crap in so many other titles.

Speaking of departures from the norm, I was also very pleasantly surprised by the music for ToEE. Despite being electronica, I thought it was great stuff and fit nicely with the setting. At least Atari made one good decision about that game.