Right. Here's a thing that I know a few gamers share with me: turning off crappy in-game tunes to spice things up with your own music.
For example, fiddly RTS games are best played with some early 20th century Jazz, maybe Django Rheinhardt or similar.
Or, when you're feeling apocalyptic, playing Call Of Pripyat is good with a Godspeed You! Black Emperor audio backdrop.
That said, some games I can't have music on at all, like any competitive multiplayer FPS.
Anyone got any others?
Today's racing games usually have crappy music (not like the old NFS games, those game had great soundtracks). So I always turn it off and put some of my own music (no one band, mostly songs that fits the mood like The Cardigans' "My favourite game").
Although the person who put classical music in Burnout: Paradise is a modern genius.
Usually I stick with in-game music, unless it's total crap, in which case I substitute something appropriate. In the case of historical strategy games, I'll queue up period-appropriate classical where possible. Back when I was an avid Gal Civ 2 player, I had a little ritual where I'd begin each game listening to the Gorillaz "Every Planet We Reach is Dead," which seemed appropriate for the colonization phase of that game.
Buying games you aren't going to play is a waste of money (no matter how cheap they are). Forcing yourself to play games you wish you hadn't bought is a waste of time. Both are best avoided.
This reminds me of GTA IV with its brilliant Independence FM radio station that only plays whatever music you put into the corresponding folder. I often found myself driving aimlessly through Liberty City at night while it was raining, listening to some Okkervil River record and feeling all melancholic.
I have a lot of tunes that I drop into Fallout3's folder and use. It's segregated by area or events, like exploration, underground, battle, etc.
I play everything from heavy metal (both genre and the movie), movie soundtracks (Conan, I-Robot, Braveheart), tunes from the older fallout games, Baldur's Gate, Witcher, and so on.
For games I can't substitute the tunes directly like that, I just turn down the game's music and play it via windows media player. I can control the play order and the like with the G15 keyboard.
My tastes in music are mostly classic rock and heavy metal, so I'll load up whatever's appropriate for the game from those genres.
"Unix is user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are.”
Unreal Tournament and some dubstep works out very well.
And I just now discovered that listening to The Sword whilst battling in Baldur's Gate II makes me want to go straight barbarian and drink of the blood of my enemies. Holy shit.
Last edited by SMiD; 22-06-2011 at 08:05 PM. Reason: Edited for badassitude.
I can't play X-com without having The Allman Brothers Band's version of Whipping Post off At Fillmore East playing. I don't really know why, I just do. I think I had the record playing when I first played the game, and now the memories are so connected I can't think of one without the other. Both are masterpieces anyway, so I'm not complaining.
Jim a recommendation for you. My new discovery for the perfect STALKER soundtrack is Russian Circles - Geneva best new guitar-based post-rock I've heard in a long time. And in a genre I thought didn't had anything fresh to offer. Some of it has a bit more of a metal chassis than the blessed GY!BE (though no more so than Mogwai) though it's all pleasing. Russian Circles played here in Bristol last night, I was too tired to go. I regret it.Originally Posted by Rossignol
Last edited by Colonel J; 22-06-2011 at 07:22 PM. Reason: right video added
Funk and Disco make my otherwise static turn-based games way more lively.
Also, it makes all sci-fi games like 80's cult films.
I've found trackmania to be massively improved by the addition of The Prodigy.
Replace in-game music? NEVER.
Well, almost never. I don't always replace soundtracks, but when I do, I prefer jazz, funk, and prog. Mandrill goes great with nearly anything. Or Idris Muhammad. I also had a really, really epic go of KotoR to Yes, once.
Got a bunch of radio station mods for New Vegas. Including one that plays classic 50's rock n roll. Works amazingly well.
Usually whatever was last in the drive because I forgot to take the CD out which could be anything from Earth 2 to Rectal Anarchy. I need to find my CD full of music from old first person-shooters because I've found that goes well with most of the stuff that I play.
I tend to do weird stuff with my music.
I used to put Beethoven or Wagner over Eve fleet fights, as the Eve soundtrack just doesn't fit well with the situation. It needed to be something more grand and with the pace of an eve fight, you had plenty of time to let the music calm you down. This way one can avoid lots of mistakes in game..
I did replace the X3 soundtrack with Eve's by the way. It's a bit ironic, but good space music is good space music..
The same goes for the Civ games. While Civ IV has a good soundtrack, and Civ V's isn't that bad either, they do feel very repetitive. I usually play something that doesn't distract too much, like George Winston. Something clear and without much clutter as a backdrop, nothing too heavy.
When I put on my own music, I prefer something unintrusive, and the reason I replace the music is because it's either plain bad or very annoying. Most of the time, however, I simply turn it off entirely.
Ojos de Brujo makes a great lively soundtrack for shooters.
Xploding Plastics have a lot of excellent stuff for more quirky games.
Eluvium is nice for anything that doesn't involve a lot of murder.
Last edited by Skalpadda; 23-06-2011 at 05:30 AM.
Hmm. The only memorable fusion of gaming and external music for me was completing the seemingly endless 'round the world' cup in Mario Kart: Double Dash to the sound of Juno Reactor. I specifically recall the association between Mona Lisa Overdrive (from 2:18 onwards) and Rainbow Road:
EDIT: Good God that's a large video frame. =/
Last edited by Rii; 23-06-2011 at 05:25 AM.
This! I've been known to play with about anything on in the background when I was playing WoW be it the radio (music or indeed chat),cds (i've been listening to Rome by Dangermouse &Daniele Luppi recently when playing slower paced games) or indeed other game music.
Depends on my mood really
I often listened to other music whilst playing WoW, but I think it's important to note that this wasn't because WoW has bad music - quite the contrary in fact - but rather because even the most atmospheric music leaves one cold after one has heard it for months or years on end. And often (for better or worse; well, worse) you're not looking for immersion in the first place.
When I play CoH I usually listen to Daft Punk, Manu Chao, Bob Marley, The Black Keys and stuff like that. Also I used to listen to James Brown when playing Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
In most first person games not counting TF2 I dont listen to anything besides in game music because it kills any immersion unless it fits the game (i.e. that popular pack of classic 40's music for fallout 3 was awesome) and I like the music in some games like the Elder Scrolls ones, but in multiplayer games like MMO's, RTS's, or FPS's I listen to either metal or IDM/more minimalist electronica like Trentemoller depending on what kind of a mood I'm in and how into the game I am. I also like to listen to audiobooks a lot.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
