Okay y'all. Hit me up with your favorite videogame music.
Some of my favs:
"Summer Scouts" from We Know the Devil (2016), composed by Alec Lambert.
https://aleclambert.bandcamp.com/track/summer-scouts
The minimal composition and noisy/low-fi use of synths fits the game perfectly.
"Build That Wall", from Bastion (2011), composed by Darren Korb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz8c17upEwM
This song is diagetic which I think is pretty awesome, and actually serves as a key point of characterization and worldbuilding.
Augh, I misremembered the release year, that game was 2015
@starkatt the entire plok soundtrack
@boots Can you link to a particularly good one?
@boots Okay this is pretty rad.
@boots The percussion is holding up its weight better than pretty much everything I can think of from this era.
@starkatt transistor soundtrack https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-zA1jRmAYfU
@kyzh I was just about to share one of my favs from Bastion.
@starkatt I'm still to play Bastion.
So far I've tried to avoid listening to the sound track not to spoil the game.
Should I listen to it anyway?
@kyzh Definitely play the game first if it's on your list.
@kyzh It is possibly my single top game ever in terms of interesting narrative.
@starkatt it is on my list, but I dont know when I will get to play it
@starkatt Oh, gears. You have uncorked the deep one.
First up, "Mission to the Deep Space," Motoi Sakuraba. This is the Star Ocean 3 rendition, but it's appeared in every SO and is one of Sakuraba's signature tracks. Sakuraba himself has a history of composing for television as well as video games, so his skills are heavily refined.
@starkatt From orchestra to eight-bit, here's Disasterpeace's "Sync," from the FEZ soundtrack. Located in precisely one room in the entire game, even hearing this takes some discovery, but this piece is so evocative of the feeling of the overall experience that I could listen to it for hours.
@starkatt That one's a little slow, though, so let's pick up the pace a bit. Here's Aeropolis from F-Zero GX. I don't have much to say here, besides "don't listen in the car, or you will get a ticket."
Listening to this past about a {6} is a good way to go flying, often without warning.
@starkatt (( Here's a cut without the game effects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De7XH0sVcbg ))
@starkatt Too fast? Let's slow down a little. Better yet, let's let the world move around us. Here's the Ur-Quan Masters rendition of the quasispace theme, "Through the Angle of Space." Passing a {9} easily, this is one of those tracks that makes me feel like, "I'm sitting perfectly still; try to keep up."
@starkatt Okay, absolute zero too chill. Let's warm up just a little, back to normal winter temp, a high steppe with some winds and percussion. Kula World was a very underappreciated PS1 era game, known in the states as Roll Away, with a lot of good trance and ambient tracks. This one's "Arctic," but they're all good tracks, Bront. =n.n=
@literorrery Okay I want to get the entire Fez soundtrack now. This synth is glorious and pure.
@literorrery @emanate I really don't know what to say about this beyond: this is really good.
@emanate @literorrery What is Risk of Rain? I've heard it mentioned a bunch but don't know what it's about, and this track is making me want to play.
@starkatt @literorrery @emanate AHJFSGFSAGHFLASFHA only one of the best games to come out of UW
@emanate @literorrery @starkatt I've played it so much, heck
Now I want to play it again thanks y'all
@vahnj @emanate @literorrery Hmm. I looked it up and "roguelike action platformer" doesn't sound super my jam at the moment? Right now I kinda want easy games, and those words read "hard game" to me.
@starkatt @literorrery @emanate that's fair, it's definitely a difficult game
@starkatt @emanate Risk of Rain is a platform-adventure game, available on Steam, with a difficulty curve fixed to _time_, so the faster you play through it, the easier it is; it gets harder based on how long you take to complete it. Brilliant mechanics. I've seen Em do terribly beautiful things to it. =n.n=
@starkatt hmmmm
Romancing Saga has a lot of good music
As does Secret of Mana
The Wild Arms main theme is great
Legend of Legaia has real good battle music
I guess my brain is in jrpg mode about this haha
@starkatt "The Wing Sings, For The Journey" from The Legend Of Mana. Composed by Yoko Shimomura
@starkatt based on previous submissions that hit some good marks, this one mobile game called PinOut might be up your alley: It's Very Synthwave.
@neonNeptunian I really like the way the vocals and the synth are playing off of each other in this.
@starkatt If remixes are okay, this just came out and is pretty great all through:
@starkatt Also, because i'm me, I gotta cite the ABZU soundtrack. The way it's divided up is frustrating to me because of how it's several moments tied to one track (and the music is very much tied to individual moments), but... a lot of it chokes me up.
(also, half of the track titles are an obscure reference to a Babylonian water-based creation myth. <3 )
@neonNeptunian That was lush and pretty :)
@starkatt ...And the other half are scientific naming for various marine life. :B
(this is the Enûma Eliš case, but also does things to my head, so you get two):
@neonNeptunian Ugh, youtube compression isn't doing favors to this one.
Still very nice, though :)
@LexYeen Is there a particular track you'd recommend? I'm going through a lot of people's suggestions.
@starkatt ChronoTrigger, "To Far Away Times/Outskirts of Time" by Yasunori Mitsuda -- https://youtu.be/jeOE2nt7R78?t=2h10m46s
The entire soundtrack is pretty great, but that's a gem all on its own.
@Soreth This is understated in a way that's really nice.
@starkatt The whole Bastion sound track is super important to me. ♥️
Also, from the new Zelda Breath of the Wild game, the first Divine Beast Va Ruta's dungeon music took my breath away and filled my eyes with tears. (...granted, I'm very susceptible to emotional responses from music. ^^;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU1faH3ersw&t=1m20s
I set the video to start at the point you pass the first challenge of the dungeon. After completing each of the 5 challenges, the music changes slightly.
@starkatt In this video, all of the versions of the song are represented, one after the other.
When I was first playing through this dungeon, the music just completely sucked me in. It was at this moment that I realized I was playing a masterpiece, and from there on, I could not put it down. The soundtrack was a large part of that.
@mawr I was watching my partner play that section, and for me too that was the moment when I realized just how inspired the composition in that game is.
@mawr Oh gosh listening to this again I didn't notice the changes as you progress. This is incredible.
@starkatt I didn't realize it either until I looked up the track list and found 5 separate tracks for what I'd assumed was a single song.
It was so subtle in the game that with each added element, I just assumed it had always been there.
I cannot even put words to how amazing I think this composition was. I'm just speechless. It worked so well.
@mawr Oh wow I definitely didn't see her hit this tempo change. Holy shit.
@mawr (I had to leave before she finished the dungeon)
@starkatt I've actually been doing a running thing of VGM recommendations! If you're still wanting some, look at #FelthrysVGMSelection.
Preferably with links to where I can listen to it.