Half-Masked

(The following is a post I made on video game music in the Bob and George forums. Since I recently did a comic about my favourite game soundtrack ever, I felt like posting it here too, so you can truly understand what an obsessive dork I am about this sort of thing. I won’t go into too much depth about these OST’s, because let’s face it, there’s not enough room on the internet for my mad ramblings on video game music. I was also considering posting youtube links for each song I mention, but I don’t think it’d be hard or inconvenient for any of you to do a youtube search yourselves.

I consider this list mandatory listening material for anyone serious about appreciating video game music:)

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Halo 3:

Wasn’t too big on Halo 2’s soundtrack, but that was due to the instrument choices and sound quality more than the composition. As if Marty O’Donnell telepathically knew of my complaints, he took that music which resulted in a resounding “meh” from me, and improved on it in Halo 3 until it was up to movie-standards…. and added some new tracks that kick just as much butt. A lot of modern FPS games tend to use overblown, John Williams-ey music that sounds like it’s trying too hard and not hard enough at the same time. But something about Halo 3’s music blossoms in otherwise unfertile soil. I was really impressed with this one.

COMPOSERS: Marty O’ Donnell, Michael Salvatore
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: “Choose Wisely”, “Infiltrate”, “Black Tower”, “Wake Me When You Need Me”, “Tribute”.

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Soul Calibur III:

I like how Namco’s composers used actual instruments, and then based the themes around those. They were bragging a lot about how the game’s sound was “THX-certified”, and they’ve got every right. Half of the time, the synthesizer stuff accompanying the woodwind instruments and such are almost convincingly real. It also has the best intro music I’ve heard in a fighting game.

COMPOSERS: Junichi Nakatsuru, Keiko Kobayashi, Ryuchi Takada.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: “Hour of Destiny”, “Fearless Eyes”, “No Regrets”, “Ephemeral Dream”, “Path of Destiny”.

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Shadow of the Colossus:

I don’t even know how much of this is done with an orchestra, or is just clever sound-work, but I don’t care. If a lot of it isn’t done with real instruments and musicians, it’s the closest any game soundtrack has come to replicating that kind of sound experience. It doesn’t hurt that the compositions are just mindblowing, some of the most incredible music put to the art form.

COMPOSER: Ko Ohtani
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: Picking the best tracks from this game is kind of like choosing the wettest rain-drop, or the snarkiest Something Awful forum member. You really couldn’t go wrong even picking songs at random.

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Phantasy Star Online, Ep. I & II:

Sonic Team may not have the best handle on making a smooth and intuitive gameplay experience, but their music team is top-notch. From a longing, nostalgic feel of the level themes, to the catchy synth-stuff of Pioneer 2, to the edge-of-your-seat monster encounter and boss battle songs, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better soundtrack in a Sega game.

COMPOSERS: Hideaki Kobayashi, Fumie Kumatani.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: “Cry, for IDOLA the Holy”, “Mother Earth of Dishonesty PART 1″, “After The Story 2″, “Revolution To The Origin PART 2″, “”The Whole New World”.

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Chrono Trigger:

Oh come on, this one really should not go without saying. More amazing than how utterly perfect the music in this game is, it was Yasunori Mitsuda’s first gig for video game composing! And he worked himself so hard to make sure it sounded as awesome as it does, that he developed stomach ulcers and had to be hospitalized, while Nobuo Uematsu rounded off the last few tracks. Talk about devotion.

COMPOSERS: Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: “Chrono Trigger”, “Tyran Castle”, “Peaceful Day”, “Secret of the Forest”, “Undersea Palace”, “Corridors of Time”, “Schala’s Theme”. (YES, I listed 7 instead of 5, shut up.)

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Chrono Cross:

I hated this game. I hated the battle system, I hated the characters, and I hated the story, which is the most impossibly convoluted in any video game, putting even the Metal Gear series to shame. But Mitsuda swung another one out of the park with the music. It’s about the only thing I’d consider salvageable in this mess. A mostly celtic, acoustic affair, with some very heart-rending compositions. Like Halo 3, Chrono Cross has a gem of a soundtrack buried deep in a pile of crap.

COMPOSER: Yasunori Mitsuda
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: “Chronopolis”, “Singing Emotions”, “Radical Dreamers”, “People Seized With Life”, “Life ‘Faraway Promise’”.

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Final Fantasy Tactics:

One of the most depressing games ever also has one of the finest video game soundtracks accompanying it. This was back when Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata still had a wad of talent to shoot, before setting a new low for Final Fantasy music with FFXII.

COMPOSERS: Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masaharu Iwata
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: “In Pursuit”, “Run Past Through The Plain”, “Tutorial”, “Apoplexy” “Staff Credit”.

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And just about everything Nobuo Uematsu has ever done:

Except for the last boss battle track from Lost Odyssey. I don’t know what went wrong there.

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You know what, throw in just about any Mega Man game soundtrack in here as well.

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Coming up: my favourite movie soundtracks.

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~A.H.