Decline There's nothing more immersive than music

[Mexi]

I pity the fool who has never played The Faery Tale Adventure with the music on, especially the daytime travel music:

Why are my ears bleeding? Fuck, that's awful stuff, dude.

 

[Terenty]

Is this thread for promoting cool music? Anyway listen to this



This is how a badass cyberpunk track sounds like. Listen and learn, CDPR (from a Russian game Paradise Cracked)

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

One of my favourite things about infinity engine games is that music doesn't play in a non-stop loop all the time, giving room to ambient sound effects instead. Soundtrack itself is very important but it can get repetitive and annoying if the same track is playing in a loop for a long period of time.

I would say that infinity engine games has my favourite implementation of sound design in any game. the cities in BG and IWD felt so alive even though it's mostly static 2d sprites.

 

[Ontopoly]

Is this thread for promoting cool music? Anyway listen to this

This is a thread to talk about the downsides of using music in a game. I get if you're in town and there's some idiot npc playing the flute but they should keep this stuff out of forests. I like my forests nice and without pianos.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I mute the music in almost every games. It is one of the first thing I do when I start a game and go in the setting menu.

In the past I left the music on in the first 10-20 minutes of playing, giving the game an initial benefit of the doubt, checking if maybe this time the music was nice and it was well integrated in the game, but then inevitably I had to mute it.

There is something inherentely wrong in the way the music is usually implemented in games. Music makes sense if it is used to hilight some specific moments in the gameplay that need to stand out in a specific way. And in order to do that you need that silence (absence of music) to be the default. Very very few games implement music in this way. The most part just uses music as a continuous and repetitive background filler loop.

For pete sake, even if the music is a pure work of art at the level of Beethoven, it became unsufferable if you had to listen it continuously for 80+ hours or whatever is the duration of the game.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

See CRPG Addict.

CRPG Addict is color-blind and tone-deaf; the problem is that his immense arrogance is such that he refuses to acknowledge these debilities affect his perceptions of games.

Actually he stated many times how much he is into music, in particular Jazz. The reason he don't care about music in games is that there it is usually cheap or plainly bad. He stated that he turn off music in games not because he don't like music, but exactly because he care about quality music.

 

[JarlFrank]

See CRPG Addict.

CRPG Addict is color-blind and tone-deaf; the problem is that his immense arrogance is such that he refuses to acknowledge these debilities affect his perceptions of games.

Actually he stated many times how much he is into music, in particular Jazz. The reason he don't care about music in games is that there it is usually cheap or plainly bad. He stated that he turn off music in games not because he don't like music, but exactly because he care about quality music.

No he stated he switches it off even if it's good music because when he listens to music he wants that to be the only thing he does, not a background thing to whatever else he's doing.

Meanwhile I need to switch on some background music in some games that don't have any (Spiderweb RPGs for example).

 

[Mexi]

I mute the music in almost every games. It is one of the first thing I do when I start a game and go in the setting menu.

In the past I left the music on in the first 10-20 minutes of playing, giving the game an initial benefit of the doubt, checking if maybe this time the music was nice and it was well integrated in the game, but then inevitably I had to mute it.

There is something inherentely wrong in the way the music is usually implemented in games. Music makes sense if it is used to hilight some specific moments in the gameplay that need to stand out in a specific way. And in order to do that you need that silence (absence of music) to be the default. Very very few games implement music in this way. The most part just uses music as a continuous and repetitive background filler loop.

For pete sake, even if the music is a pure work of art at the level of Beethoven, it became unsufferable if you had to listen it continuously for 80+ hours or whatever is the duration of the game.

I'd turn it off if they put Beethoven too. That music sucks ass.

One of my favourite things about infinity engine games is that music doesn't play in a non-stop loop all the time, giving room to ambient sound effects instead. Soundtrack itself is very important but it can get repetitive and annoying if the same track is playing in a loop for a long period of time.

I would say that infinity engine games has my favourite implementation of sound design in any game. the cities in BG and IWD felt so alive even though it's mostly static 2d sprites.

They fucked it up in Planescape: Torment, though. Amazing battle theme, but it plays for every fucking stupid confrontation. I would've loved it if they kept it for only bosses.

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

There is something inherentely wrong in the way the music is usually implemented in games. Music makes sense if it is used to hilight some specific moments in the gameplay that need to stand out in a specific way. And in order to do that you need that silence (absence of music) to be the default. Very very few games implement music in this way. The most part just uses music as a continuous and repetitive background filler loop.

This is just what i was talking about. This "music loop" issue is worse in old SNES and PS1 gen games where there's no ambient sound effects and it's just the same short track playing in a loop. E.g:



First 1-2 hours of gameplay: wow ! this sounds great !

after 3-5 hours: Egh ! this is starting to get repetitive...

after 6-10... hours : My ears is bleeding ! shut up !

I can only manage to play these old games on low volume, so i can avoid getting headaches and nausea.

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

There's also tracks which mix both music and ambient sound effects, like in the Might and Magic franchise:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Atmospheric without losing rhythm.

 

[Mexi]

There's also tracks which mix both music and ambient sound effects, like in the Might and Magic franchise:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Atmospheric without losing rhythm.

Yeah, Might and Magic has some really good examples. Ambient mixed with music also works well.



Resident Evil (PlayStation era) is also a very good example of brilliant soundtrack that works well to set a tension.



Those odd "metallic" banging sounds, imo, sounds like a monster trying to break through a metal door or elevator door or something. It's a brilliant track, though.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Silent Hill is also a notable good example of music well designed and incorporated in the game. But these are exceptions.

 

[jfrisby]

 

[Ash]

Disabling the music in a videogame is blasphemy (unless the music is very poor) and you should have your PC/console confiscated or burned until you learn.

 

[Mexi]

Silent Hill is also a notable good example of music well designed and incorporated in the game. But these are exceptions.

Hmm... maybe these aren't exceptions and music is a vital aspect...

 

[Gastrick]

Please explain how it says literate under your name but village idiot under mine

Village Idiot doesn't need explaining to. I'm feeling generous today so it means "tech" literate, that's why you don't have that subtitle and instead your current one, because you aren't able to figure out how to use volume mixer.

 

[Ontopoly]

Village Idiot doesn't need explaining to. I'm feeling generous today so it means "tech" literate, that's why you don't have that subtitle and instead your current one, because you aren't able to figure out how to use volume mixer.

I had that under my name once. I'm way past that. Every one is. The only reason I have village idiot is that Infinitron is a corrupt mod who also happens to be a larian cultist. You may be computer literate but you still aren't reading illiterate.

 

[Gastrick]

I had that under my name once. I'm way past that. Every one is. The only reason I have village idiot is that Infinitron is a corrupt mod who also happens to be a larian cultist. You may be computer literate but you still aren't reading illiterate.

you still aren't reading Illiterate

Wow, you backtracked on that fast, I guess "dumbfuck" figured out that typing implies literacy.
Everyone else upgraded to better subtitles that retain the values of the previous subtitles but yours got worse.

To be serious-
I really should think on how I can develop my typing style to be more normal and more comprehensible. I see you're a frequent poster, wish you luck on fixing your tags.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

There's also tracks which mix both music and ambient sound effects, like in the Might and Magic franchise:



Atmospheric without losing rhythm.

Yeah, Might and Magic has some really good examples. Ambient mixed with music also works well.



Resident Evil (PlayStation era) is also a very good example of brilliant soundtrack that works well to set a tension.



Those odd "metallic" banging sounds, imo, sounds like a monster trying to break through a metal door or elevator door or something. It's a brilliant track, though.

Very disappointed you did not use the IMPROVED and SUPERIOR Mansion Basement from the Director's Cut.

Behold, humanoids, blessed perfection:

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Silent Hill is also a notable good example of music well designed and incorporated in the game. But these are exceptions.

Hmm... maybe these aren't exceptions and music is a vital aspect...

Music becomes a vital aspect in a game only if it is well integrated and meaningful. And, as strange as it could seem for many people that consume music as comfort food, music isn't something that the more there is the better it is. Music become powerful and vital if it acknowledges the silence as a vital part of the music landscape too.

Otherwise music is just a background filler. And if it is implemented as a background filler you can just mute it and find something better to listen while playing. And you can always find better music or music that better suits your taste than the one you find in the game (if you have a defined taste). Often this is what I do in many games that require no particular immersion and have repetitive game mechanics: I mute the game original music and turn on my playlist on spotify, at least my music selection is less repetitive.

 

[Ontopoly]

Wow, you backtracked on that fast, I guess "dumbfuck" figured out that typing implies literacy.
Everyone else upgraded to better subtitles that retain the values of the previous subtitles but yours got worse.

Typos happen, man. What can you do, you know? I'm going to convince one of the less corrupt mods to remove the tag one of these days.

 

[Wyatt_Derp]

I do occasionally disable music in-game, but only when listening to other music or podcasts while playing. I'm pretty smart for a redneck, but my brain can only multi-task so much at one time.

Besides, if you disable music all the time you'll miss out on this great soundtrack.

 

[Excommunicator]

It's common on the codex that we end up with a good discussion thread starting from a really stupid OP

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I guess some people are too autistic to enjoy ambient music, perhaps they think music is about being able to isolate every instrument and progression mentally. In that case they might be annoyed by music that is sort of flat and "doesn't go anywhere", like videogame music needs to be, specially in RPGs.

There might be the case that some people can't enjoy ambient music because they're visually impaired. Music, certain kinds in particular, communicate a spatial dimension. Most ways to talk about music involve physical metaphors, although the language always reflects a bias towards a mode of experience that some people may simply not be equipped to understand.

For example, someone posted the Metal Gear Solid warhead storage track, which is a masterpiece of ambiance (sorry I don't have enough PRIVILEGE to rep you). The way it enhances the game is obvious. I haven't played the game in 20 years and I'm immediately transported to an underground military facility, a place cold and dangerous with high ceilings and metallic floors, patrolling guards and secret technology. The tension is palpable, the choir tells us that something of great importance is hidden somewhere and we're slowly getting closer to it. It's clear that the protagonist is very exposed and must progress stealthily and methodically. Basically the music fills all the gaps of imagination that shitty PS1 graphics and archaic stealth mechanics could never reach. The music is not an extra, it's not flavor, it's essential. The entire experience of the game occurs inside the musical space.

There's also the opposite idea to consider. In some people certain faculties may be so finely tuned (also autism) that they can't relax in the presence of music. They may be able to understand the music in isolation, but can't let the music suggest things to them while they focus on a mechanical task. The mechanical task precludes them from making any external associations, or they experience them negatively as a kind of intrusion.

 

[Ontopoly]

It's common on the codex that we end up with a good discussion thread starting from a really stupid OP

The thread creator is great and this conversation has been nothing but off-topic posting of unwanted youtube links.