I have never understood how people can listen to in game music. I've tried before and it's always bored me to tears. In fact, one of my main reasons for playing video games is just to give me an excuse to listen to music and/or podcasts. Music works with anything, I find, although podcasts work best for games without alot of dialogue.
So how many of you actually listen to in game music when playing?
Also, if anyone cares, these are my favorite podcasts. All are awesome.
WTF with Marc MAron--an interview show hosted by comedian Marc Maron: http://www.wtfpod.com
The Nerdist--a panel show hosted by comedians focusing on more "nerdy" topics (although their definition of "nerd" is pretty loose): http://www.nerdist.com/podcast/nerdist/
RISK!--A story telling podcast where people tell personal stories based around various themes. This one is really, really, good: http://risk-show.com/
Mental Illness Happy Hour--If you like things dark, with a sense of humor, this one is good. It's an interview show with people with varying degrees of mental illness hosted by a comedian: http://mentalpod.com/
This American Life--A documentary radio show that is probably the single best radio show/podcast out there right now:http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Anyone have any other suggestions?
Last edited by Juan Carlo; 22-01-2012 at 04:11 PM.
On the other hand, I've never understood listening to something completely different while playing a game. The vast majority of the time the music that's been composed specifically for the game is far more atmospheric and immersive for that game; putting my own things in the background would break the mood and possible immersion, harming the experience to me. Plus there's a lot of good and even amazing game soundtracks that I'll listen to even outside their respective games.
The only exceptions for me have been GTA3's custom radio station and WoW whenever I logged in for a quick daily quest tour (which became a fairly automated routine after a while) and nothing else. Otherwise I'll always stick to whatever the game is offering (and if such a rare case comes up where I actually dislike the music, which hasn't happened so far, I'd rather simply mute the music instead of replacing it).
Last edited by Flint; 22-01-2012 at 04:16 PM.
Give me steam and how you feel to make it real.
^Nah. Even if a game has awesome music, it almost always becomes repetitive after a bit. But quite frankly, I'd say the vast majority of game music isn't that great.
However there are exceptions that I don't do this with: Adventure games (there's too much dialogue to bother playing with outside music), games where immersion is important (ala "Amnesia: The Dark Descent"), games where the music is supposed to be one of the attractions (ala BAstion--althoug I do admit I got really bored with BAstion's music halfway through the game).
However, with certain games (especially repetitive ones and open world games, etc, etc) I don't see how anyone could play them without outside music and not get bored.
But I've never really had a problem with immersion or following stories and I've played pretty much everything with outside music (so much so that I often associate certain games with certain albums/pieces of music I was listening to most at the time I played them).
Last edited by Juan Carlo; 22-01-2012 at 04:19 PM.
I honestly just can't see it that way, or think that one can genuinely become bored with in-game music especially to the point that it's actually bothersome. Even if the music itself is unexciting to begin with, it'll just disappear into the background to support the mood of the game rather than begin to annoy. I'd find that replacing the music with something completely different would severely harm the mood even when not talking about games that are particularly susceptible to immersion, which is a far bigger thing for me than possibly being uninterested by the game's own selection. I prefer having the game's full audiovisual experience, I find it works best for them.
But it's clearly a matter of preferences.
Give me steam and how you feel to make it real.
I only really listen to non-game music or podcasts when playing mutliplayer games. Usually because there isn't any music in them in the first place. Even then I often find that it distracts me from game sound effects that can help you e.g locating weapon fire, which I find help a lot.
I agree with Flint, I can't understand why you would do that, it would totally spoil the experience for me (with most games anyway).
Then again, some people these days play single-player games while chatting to their buddies on Skype (and probably with the TV on in the background and half a dozen browser tabs to switch to every now and again). How you could enjoy a single-player game like this is beyond me.
Then again, people talk during movies...
I'm with Flint on this one - the game soundtrack is an integral part of the experience as far as I'm concerned. The only exception to this for me was WoW, during which I'd sometimes have other music or err... Radio 4 in the background.
Yeah, playing an MMO or building something in Minecraft I can understand, as those are somewhat automated experiences that don't really demand your full attention. I would hate it if that was the only way I could play games though.
I tend to listen to the in-game music. The problems you're describing are more to do with terrible sound direction than the music itself. Space Marine had a fairly good soundtrack, but the sound direction was incredibly poor which lead to repetitive sections and irritating bits of music scattered around. It'd be really epic... only for nothing to happen, as an example (the start of the last mission, with Titus disembarking from the Thunderhawk is a good scene for what I mean).
In MMOs, I used to love tavern music (oddly enough, I don't drink) as it was often cheery or really beautifully composed. This went for The Witcher as well, with its few tavern pieces being some of the best in the game.
But yeah, generally I leave the music playing and I'll even buy a game for the soundtrack. I absolutely adore Dynamedion's work on various series - The Settlers, Anno, Drakensang - because their work compliments the games so much. I've even considered picking up ArcaniA simply because they did the soundtrack for it. Kirill Pokrovsky did some utterly amazing pieces for the Divinity series, and whilst I've only really played Divinity 2, I loved how beautifully it worked with the game. It was atmospheric when it needed to be, it was charming, lifting, encouraging... and even downright cheesy at one point. Lind Erebos' work for Katauri's King's Bounty (the same tracks were used across all three, but each version added new ones) had some amazing stuff, too. Heck, I even managed to get through Keepsake thanks to its stunning music.
I don't think much of Bethesda's audio mixers, though, as the music barely seems to play in Skyrim and in FO3 it wasn't particularly exciting (maybe due to Inon Zur). Even Obsidian's New Vegas left a lot to be desired in that regard. Soule does great themes but his in-game work seems largely forgettable to me.
Example of Dynamedion's outstanding Settlers work:
In game music for me. The key point being that it's background music. I'm not sitting there listening to music, I'm playing a game. I'd rather have music composed to complement the game rather than my own music which would distract. Exceptions being multiplayer or high score-type games that aren't designed for immersion.
I think that sound and music design is every bit as important as art and mechanics design. I can't imagine ever playing a game without it's own soundtrack.
Depends. I have a playlist on Spotify for playing TF2.
I tend to listen to my own music for most sim / management games (e/g: Cities in motion).
But for action games, I tend to stick with the original score. Unless it is dire.
If I can concentrate on a podcast whilst playing a game, the game is not doing a good enough job of keeping me engaged.
Originally Posted by CROCONOUGHTKEY
Back when I played WoW I used to play Rammstein, especially on battlegrounds. It would just singnificantly improve the atmosphere. Also while playing CoD4 I would listen to death metal bands like Children of Bodom, Kalmah, Dark Tranquility & Entombed.
I think OP is missing out alot. Lots of games have set piece specific music which really bring to life the scenes they accompany. Alot of JRPGs like the FF series have awesome boss battle music, area specific music, world map music, character music etc. etc. and very effective it is too, even though back in the day it was all just MIDI. IMO it just isn't the same if you substitute it with your own.
edit:
I did, however, used to play that "LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR" song on loop when i played CS. Actually I stopped after one 2 hour session. It got way too repetitive. I also looped Linkin Park stuff when I played Raven-shield online. That seemed to work fine but I never really got a really strong connection between the two so i don't get any association really, when playing or listening. But now i am beset by nostalgia...and I think it would be really cool if somebody released a new, realistic Rainbow Six and maybe i could loop Numb (also Linkin Park) in the background or something to hopefully get a Miami Vice vibe. Now THAT would be awesome.
Last edited by hamster; 22-01-2012 at 06:18 PM.
I can't stand JRPG music. Way too prominent.
I'll listen to the in game music. If I don't like that, I'll turn it off and listen to nothing. Don't really see the point in trying to do two things at once, inevitably one will suffer from the lack of attention.
BF3: The chatter of my clanmates.
SC4/CiM/Tropico4: My music collection set on "random." Anything from Willie Colon to Frank Zappa to Siouxsie Sioux.
Generic RPG tavern music is not what is played in real life taverns where people drink.
Not sure about that. Depends on the game. That example from The Witcher is clearly just a piece of game music that happens to play when you're in a tavern, so your point stands on that one.
Humorously enough, the place where I'd most likely here a lot of fife-heavy small-ensemble music is in the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 42nd Street, because sociologists determined at one point or another that period instruments were the most calming of all possible musical choices when people are pissed about having to wait on their respective commutes.
If I were hanging out at a bar, however, it'd be all top 40 hits.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
