Video Game Music

[Anya]

I never used to be one to download video games OSTs, but lately I've been paying a bit more attention to the music in video games. I know just about everybody loves Nobuo Uematsu and The Black Mages, but there's more out there, obviously.

What game OSTs do you have, and who are some composers that you really like?


Right now I'm listening to the Mass Effect 2 OST, composed by Jack Wall. I wasn't a huge fan of the ME1 music, but just about everything of ME2, including the music, captivated me.

[Tomodachi]

Well, for starters. There's music, then there's video games music. I always try to separate them, You listen to both for enjoyment. Videogame soundtracks have a nostalgic feel to them, well to me anyways. I'll mostly get an OST because, yes, I like the music. It also holds that nostalgia in my mind. I think the more recent games kinda have a bit too overly produced sound to them. I tend to stay in the psx era and down when it comes to OST's.

A few composers I like though are:

Michiru Yamane (Castlevania: SOTN)
Jun Irie & Nazo Suzuki (Gunstar Heroes)
Michiru Oshima (Legend of Legia)
Koji Kondo (LOZ)
Hiroto Saitoh (Esp.GaLuda)
Kenichiro Fukui (Einhander)
Nobuo Uematsu (FFIX)
Toshiko Tasaki, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Masaki Kurokawa (Persona 2)
Shoji Meguro (Persona FES, Portable, and Persona 4)
Meguro Masashi (Persona 3)
Hideaki Kobayashi & Fumie Kumatani (Phatnasy Star Online)
Hitoshi Sakimoto (Valkyria Chronicles)
Yasunori Mitsuda (Xenogears)

So all in all, I love Videogame music.

[Anya]

I adore Hitoshi Sakimoto. I started loving him with FFXII, when I thought it was Nobuo who was doing the music, I later found out why the music had a different feel to it than I was used to. I've noticed that most composers have particular instruments they like to use, Hitoshi seems very fond of harps and wind instruments (flutes in particular, I believe).

One artist I used to hear EVERYWHERE and I'm REALLY getting sick of is Motoi Sakuraba. He's done the music for the Tales of... series, Star Ocean, Radiata Stories, Rogue Galaxy, Baten Kaitos, Infinite Undiscovery, Valyrie Profile 2 and a bunch of other stuff. Every time I hear an organ, I think of him.

[ican'tfeelfeelings]

You both have pretty good taste in vidya music. I suggest listening to the Demon's Souls OST by Shunsuke Kida if you haven't already. "Theme of Maiden Astraea" is particularly good. The soundtrack really stands out in game, as there pretty much isn't a soundtrack until boss fights. Makes for a more climactic feel.

Aside from that, the Metal Gear Solid series has some amazing music, with various composers.

[Anya]

Originally Posted by ican'tfeelfeelings

there pretty much isn't a soundtrack until boss fights. Makes for a more climactic feel.

Reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus--which also has a great OST.

[Ehsivar]

Bolded are my all-time favourites and advisers of musical guidance.

Nobuo Uematsu- Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack
Nobuo Uematsu- Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack

- What more can really be said about Nobuo Uematsu? The man is a master of every musical craft, and has the power to perfectly exhibit every emotion in the most honest, and direct way. For me, he has best exemplified this on Final Fantasy VII, but especially Final Fantasy IX.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVEv8ANo0dA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUkgnLzQcY8


Yoko Shimomura- Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete (the first three games)
Yoko Shimomura- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Original Soundtrack
Yoko Shimomura- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

- Yoko Shimomura is an Uematsu-level (yeah, I went there) composer who's also at the top of her game. I first heard her work on Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and she's was great at creating a wide range of musical styles for one soundtrack, even then (the first Booster's Tower is one of the coolest, most original vg pieces, in my opinion). The Kingdom Hearts soundtracks are always very fantastic, emotive, and damn near neverending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMMEauNVGr0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REbvDD0Rz6w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbAh3QIZP7o


Yasunori Mitsuda- Chrono Trigger Original Soundtrack

- This soundtrack, to me, cannot really be categorized. Mitsuda really took an original take in every direction on this soundtrack, and really influenced my bass playing with his high profile basslines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uODZV...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWlKN...eature=related

Jun Chiki Chikuma- Bomberman Hero Original Soundtrack

- Forget everything you know about drum and bass music and focus your attention on this. This soundtrack is chill, frantic, ambient, and completely worthy of being one of the most essential electronic music albums in the past twenty years. "Zip" must be noted as a particularly awesome track, for being a tripped-out elevator music anthem to chill to. "Fatidic" is also pretty important too, if you like the idea of a super slow, bluesy, desert prison jam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RS6KdpD64g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fArCL-aNA

Akifumi Tada- Bomberman 64 Original Soundtrack

- This soundtrack's much more different from Chikuma's work. These songs are still very dnb-influenced, but the melodies are much more organic and meandering ("Blue Resort"); some are also quite energetic, like the music to the first battle with Sirius.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9-ZhO2-L3Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3rROqsZnTs


Treasure (or Enix)- Mischief Makers Original Soundtrack

- This is one of the more odd examples of what can be taken as straightforward electronic music. Granted, the soundtrack consists mainly of synth, heavy electronic drums, and synthesized voices. The best way to describe it would be "cartoonish superhero music," though even with that tag, it's still some incredible stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Y0W...B7B50D&index=6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hm7A...B7B50D&index=8


Konami- Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon Original Soundtrack

- Take traditional Japanese music, mix in some decidedly subtle hip-hop undertones, and you've got this. This is a fantastic album from start to finish, and is full of energetic life. It's mostly a good mix of traditional-sounding Japanese music (which is a plus), but there's also a few odd tracks like the Impact theme, as well as a rocky-type of song that plays during the final castle area ("Gorgeous Musical Castle, part 2"). This has, and always will be one of my favourites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zeWtwG0VFA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EF3z...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nCd8...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZQzu...eature=related



Imagineer Sound Team- Quest 64 Original Soundtrack

- Medieval music, and electric-symphonic-sounding stuff dominate this album. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Godspeed You! Black Emperor has a slight hand in this. Overall, a lovely album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdNPl...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G92I4aogcuM


Tomoko Sasaki- NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Original Soundtrack

If I had to pick out a trifecta of vg musicians, I'd pick Uematsu, Shimomura, and Tomoko Sasaki. Miss Sasaki's here to write a soundtrack to your dreams and nightmares, and she does just that in exacting fashion. Again, like Uematsu and Shimomura, she has a cornucopia of musicality and creates lush soundscapes throughout the three discs of the newest NiGHTS soundtrack. From ambient to orchestral to cabaret, Sasaki has it all on this astounding release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70G6TTBeDS4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF0DP...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEv-V...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAShP...eature=related


Masato Nakamura- Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Original Soundtrack

- Seriously, I don't know who doesn't love the old Sonic games. Not only were they fun and thoughtful as hell, but the soundtracks were as well. What we have here is blatant videogame music orchestrated in the lushest of fashions that has inspired many a gamer-musician over the years. Can any of you say "Chemical Plant Zone"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LYB7iLZNWE

[13itch]

My friend played the theme song for Mortal Kombat when we were goin to lunch one day. Asked her why she had it. She said it just really got her hyped. So I listened. It was true. So I downloaded it and now listen to it when I work out. :D

[Sam]

I'm actually developing a video game soundtrack of my own for my RPG. The RPG isn't near completion, but I happen to think the soundtrack is the best part.

http://eclipstice.com/Battle.mid

This is the main battle theme for the game. Give a listen if you have some time. I would prefer that you use Windows Media Player as the quality may differ through other products (it sounds fine on a RMXP loop). Also, the fanfare at the end was written by Liam.

[Omega Arc]

I really like Tenpei Sato, he is the composer of the songs of several games from NIS, like Disgaea, Phantom Brave, Soul Nomad, etc; of those I downloaded Phantom Brave's, Makai Kingdom's and Soul Nomad. Ar Tonelico (also Ar Tonelico 2) has an awesome OST, specially the vocal hymns, same goes for Mana Khemia's OST, those three are composed by Ken Nakagawa and Daisuke Achiwa. Hmm I'll post more if I can remember.

[Ehsivar]

Originally Posted by Omega Arc

I really like Tenpei Sato, he is the composer of the songs of several games from NIS, like Disgaea, Phantom Brave, Soul Nomad, etc; of those I downloaded Phantom Brave's, Makai Kingdom's and Soul Nomad. Ar Tonelico (also Ar Tonelico 2) has an awesome OST, specially the vocal hymns, same goes for Mana Khemia's OST, those three are composed by Ken Nakagawa and Daisuke Achiwa. Hmm I'll post more if I can remember.

I forgot about Phantom Brave. That soundtrack is lovely.