Decline Bethesda Appreciation Thread

[Surf Solar]

Well, as soon as tracks from game soundtracks start to "work on their own" as you put it, something is wrong imo. They should integrate into the atmosphere of the game, not be like "oh its that track again". But maybe that's just me.

 

[Azazel]

Don't get me wrong, the Skyrim soundtrack is solid and integrates well into the game. But as something to listen to on its own it's actually fairly weak because of the sheer amount of repetition in most of the songs (I could barely tell one theme apart from the next half the time). I always saw Oblivion's soundtrack as being very similar to Morrowind's, but I feel it has a more convincing sense of atmosphere and ambiance to it, as well as more varied instrumentation. But I can see how for Jeremy Soule the goals would be a bit different between the two "styles" and how they reflect changes in his approach over the years.

The thing that pissed me off about the Skyrim soundtrack is how incredibly lazy it was, listen to it a couple times and you realize that half the tracks are remixes or samples of Morrowind. It's got some fantastic stuff, but there's just so much laziness in it.

 

[DraQ]

Calling those you disagree with neckbeards and claiming some people didn't mind it. Ah, the great arguments, I missed them so much.
You forgot:
- you should force yourself to like new stuff because otherwise you'll only play old stuff and that's not cool only uncool people play old stuff
- new is innovation
- change is always good
- bethesda invented first-person and RPGs

Subtly improved.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Well, as soon as tracks from game soundtracks start to "work on their own" as you put it, something is wrong imo. They should integrate into the atmosphere of the game, not be like "oh its that track again". But maybe that's just me.

say this again in front of chrono trigger and chrono cross.
please, do it.

 

[Gurkog]

The intro tune to the PS1 chrono trigger rerelease was freaking awesome

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Oh wow I only just realized 'Prey 2' has Bethesda Softworks as a publisher. Good, good I can't wait for the shitty open world on an alien planet where you can put rubbish bins on nasty alien heads to avoid detection. http://humanhead.com/games-prey2.html

That game is completely dead:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...cks-lie-that-prey-2-was-only-ever-just-a-demo
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/15/arkane-making-prey-2/

Is it just me, or Bethesda the worst for outright lies?

Edit: Not just lies, manipulative lies.

 

[Jick Magger]

Is it just me, or Bethesda the worst for outright lies?

Edit: Not just lies, manipulative lies.

 

[RK47]

Heh. Their PR is immaculate.
And journalists give them free pass anyway.

 

[Excommunicator]

I seriously cannot think about a single good thing about Oblivion, even the music aside from 2 or 3 themes was meh. It's probably not the worst game ever made, but it certainly is one of the worst games that I've ever played. No other game known to me is so completely deprived of any challenge or sense of accomplishment.

Really? I think Oblivion might have the strongest soundtrack. There are tons of memorable themes. Morrowind's is probably still my favorite, but uh, Skyrim next to Oblivion? Really? Skyrim is mostly just ambient stuff, good for what it is, but man I downloaded and listened to the soundtrack... sleepiest 3 hours of my life.

Oblivion music has always been far behind Morrowind for me. Not so much in a technical way but creatively I think it just wasn't as fertile, probably in part due to spreading it out over an extra 20 minutes more than Morrowind's GST and perhaps approaching it as if it is an extension of Morrowind's soundtrack without giving it much identity of it's own. No point thinking too much on anything put into that game anyway.

Initially I was unimpressed by Skyrim's soundtrack but after repeated listenings there is some good stuff in there that you can spot if you are interested in doing so. It's hard to spot when you have 4 hours of music to listen to and which is written almost entirely in a softly pleasant, atmospheric way. That sleepiness you experienced is probably as much a symptom of his way of orchestrating instruments into that soft, spongy mass as it is the musical content. It works for being atmospheric but it can fail to engage you and really does make you feel sleepy after a while.

And while we are on the topic, I can't stand his combat music. Either in Morrowind, Oblivion or Skyrim (or other games for that matter such as Supreme Commander) it all sounds like the same annoying drums and strings. You pretty much can't differentiate them (maybe they are derived from the same couple of songs, I don't care to find out) but they feel highly repetitive even stressful to listen to because of that repetitiveness. To make things worse the games don't even let you turn off combat music without turning off the exploration music as well. Typical Bethesda design.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Heh. Their PR is immaculate.
And journalists give them free pass anyway.

I've read journalists getting a little snarky about their shit.

Todd Howard - "Actually, the radiant AI in Oblivion wasn't all that complicated."

Game Informer - "We try and digest this bombshell of a revelation as he tells us more about the improved AI in Skyrim"

 

[Gerrard]

The improvement in Oblivion was that they added music for towns/dungeons, instead of just combat/everything else (and I think each town had its own music? or was that in Skyrim only).

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

"improvement" and "oblivion" can't stay in the same sentence.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"improvement" and "oblivion" can't stay in the same sentence.

Uninstall.exe is an improvement to Oblivion.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

that'd be like stopping cutting yourself after you bled to death already.