Game News Project Eternity Kickstarter Update #14: Music with Soul

[Major_Blackhart]

My thing is I don't know why fantasy has to sound so much like that faux epic BS all the time.
It's not inspiring, it's annoying. I'd rather they took it in an entirely different direction sound wise, add to the feeling of the game rather than detract from it as fantasy music often does.

 

[Baron]

http://soundcloud.com/obsidian-entertainment/sets/project-eternity/

Yeah, I was kinda enjoying Prelude before the Skyrim choir kicked in. I don't mind magical music box numbers within which to butcher my way across an exotic landscape on my bloody path to godhood, but if I want majestic crescendo I'll replace the audio files with Zadok the Priest.

I don't mind the Road to Eternity piece. Some of the pauses suggest that the musicians have momentarily lost their place on the manuscript though.

Time for the Destroyer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JH00B8X4Uo

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Still not as good as Basil Poledorous' original work in Conan the Barbarian. God bless that man's genius soul.
Really, I say go for a combination of styles based on location and region.
A combination of prehistory sounding and drums maybe with horns.
Strings are too modern really.

 

[Kahlis]

As a fan of Celtic music, I'm rather disappointed with the generic fantastical orchestral music modelled after every other RPG, then with a few flutes and chimes cheaply thrown in here and there. I was expecting something more melodic and folkish, personally. The tracks in Witcher 1 had a very mystical, but still earthly and interesting feel. This could be from Trine, Torchlight, what have you.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Aztec music is always good I think. Very different what with it's flutey flutes and what not.

 

[Jasede]

Soule may be bad now but let's not forget the man scored Total Annihilation. For that we must thank him. And, of course, the original Morrowind theme was pretty sweet when it was fresh.

 

[LibertyRansom]

Soule may be bad now but let's not forget the man scored Total Annihilation. For that we must thank him. And, of course, the original Morrowind theme was pretty sweet when it was fresh.

Soule did total annihilation? I think that was some of the best soundtrack work I've ever heard...perhaps I judged too quickly.

 

[Kahlis]

He did the Guild Wars soundtracks too, which I always thought had a lot of memorable pieces.

Maybe on contract from Bethesda, they tell him to simplify the chord progressions so that the next gen crowd won't get too distressed while playing the game.

 

[Black]

Why not go for Kirill Pokrovsky (the Divinity guy), Mark Morgan (Fargo managed to get him) or Arcanum-style violin music but instead use this which we've heard thousands of times already? Romero, Mark Knight? Nah, BSH is the way to go.

 

[Balor]

Indeed, I'd much prefer Mark Morgan. This guy is not bad though, but so far those pieces are... unmemorable, quite unlike Torment main and combat themes or Fallout music.

 

[Excommunicator]

I'm not going to get too much into how good the music is as the most important thing is how well it fits the game and we don't know anything about the feel or style of the game yet. I will say that the epic chorus communicates "Epic" and somewhat contradicts the "Mystical" and "Ancient" ideas they wanted. There's not a lot to go by atm, and the main feeling I get is that he's writing music without references, which is what gives the music that somewhat nondescript fantasy vibe. It needs to be written specifically to the content (which they obviously haven't got yet) to be really appropriate, so he's in a tough position there

I think people need to remember that Justin Bell is their in-house composer and that keeping the budget low was a major advantage of bringing him on. He deserves the opportunity to prove himself and I'm glad they gave him the opportunity before looking outside their company for some big name composer. That's how the good composers get discovered

Jeremy Soule would have been perfect for marketing reasons because of how deeply entrenched his music is in the fantasy/RPG genre, but his rates are probably prohibitively expensive these days with the success of Skyrim.

Hopefully Justin doesn't hold anything back in trying to prove his abilities here

 

[Balor]

Let Soule write music for Absolute Annihilation, fully orchestrated - it worked for Total Annihilation.
But for dark fantasy with post-apoc vibe, at least SOME Mark Morgan would be perfect. Perhaps the should hire him to do a track or two at least.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I think the music is quite good. The soft ambiance of the flute creates a transsexual paradise in your mind, while the aggressive tones introduced midway create an auditory experience reminiscent of a thousand virgin anal holes being plundered by sea pirates. The tonal inflection inspired by the background dissonance reminds you of a hot summer day on the beach, with the pleasant aroma of a dead stinking whale carcass drifting up your nostrils. While comparatively, the ambiance of the third piece is like a pleasant fart, wafting across the school grounds from an open window.

 

[J_C]

 

[asper]

I wish they would drop all that orchestral stuff. Who decided that is how fantasy music should sound like?

This is how I would like music in fantasy games to sound like: www.ancientfm.com

Of course it should be background music, mostly instrumental and not intrusive. This is why orchestral stuff is so popular in the mainstream: it's an easy fix for setting mood - but at lot of other possibilities are never explored. How about solo lute melodies in the background... ? Gregorian chanting? Solo instrumental music?

The more pronounced pieces you can hear on that radio startion, with singing, would be great as main themes and such.

See King of Dragon Pass as another example of very good, original and fitting fantasy music:

http://soundcloud.com/stanlepard/sets/king-of-dragon-pass-soundtrack

 

[Davaris]

Conan the Barbarian: The Musical (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBGOQ7SsJrw

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Soule may be bad now but let's not forget the man scored Total Annihilation. For that we must thank him. And, of course, the original Morrowind theme was pretty sweet when it was fresh.

 

[EG]

Needs less "WE ARE. WE ARE EPIC. EPPPICC."

 

[l3loodAngel]

Who did skyrim theme song? It's actually one of the best songs for trailers and can inspire limited people to do some Majestic things. It's also strange that we have a shitload of Skyrim players, but no one recommended it.

The combat is going to be visceral in PE so the theme song must be appropriate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcHxg9l5Bk

 

[nihil]

The Icewind Dale piece is pretty cool. I'd love that on the path to some final battle, where the game just keeps throwing shit at me that I barely survive.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

meh. do not liek...
fantasy music = boring pathetic shit.

with few exceptions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZOuy4YM0AI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaWWW50va6w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxo28lYtHBc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHzYefK3C0A

 

[Infinitron]

LOL at calling the Thief soundtrack "fantasy music"

 

[kaizoku]

I'm not going to get too much into how good the music is as the most important thing is how well it fits the game and we don't know anything about the feel or style of the game yet. I will say that the epic chorus communicates "Epic" and somewhat contradicts the "Mystical" and "Ancient" ideas they wanted. There's not a lot to go by atm, and the main feeling I get is that he's writing music without references, which is what gives the music that somewhat nondescript fantasy vibe. It needs to be written specifically to the content (which they obviously haven't got yet) to be really appropriate, so he's in a tough position there

I think people need to remember that Justin Bell is their in-house composer and that keeping the budget low was a major advantage of bringing him on. He deserves the opportunity to prove himself and I'm glad they gave him the opportunity before looking outside their company for some big name composer. That's how the good composers get discovered

Jeremy Soule would have been perfect for marketing reasons because of how deeply entrenched his music is in the fantasy/RPG genre, but his rates are probably prohibitively expensive these days with the success of Skyrim.

Hopefully Justin doesn't hold anything back in trying to prove his abilities here

I just hope they fix the artwork/portrait issue.
Otherwise, if the man tries to draw inspiration from it, the music will end up sounding like elevator music.


Justin Bell did an excellent job on the pitch music, while it bordered on the epic tones (to captivate the EPIC!!!1 fanbase) he also avoided falling into it too much (as a futile attempt to appease the codex).

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

Mystical

Ancient

Emotive

Is Yanni a stretch goal? It needs MOAR METAL!

Actually, it was much better than I was anticipating from that description. I'd like to see less Oscar-bait "soaring," however, and a bit more low-key sounds for the majority of the game (in the mood sense, not the tonal sense). Although I personally don't really like when intense music is used to heighten emotional moments, as it feels like cheating; either the story justifies the emotion or not. Except for battle - battle music should all percussion, all the time. Or mostly, most of the time. Or whatever, as long as it melts faces.

 

[Surf Solar]

I fail to find any "soul" or passion in these pieces of music.

 

[EG]

Please, God, tell me why we use vocal synthesizers in this shit.