Game soundtracks that overdelivered

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This isn't even a competition in my eyes. Who would of thought a relatively low budget spiritual successor to the Drakengard series would wound up creating one of the greatest if not the greatest OST's in video game history.
 
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Differences in Social Status

Lost Forest

Advancing Through the Wilderness

Everyday Tranquility

Wasteland of Faraway Places

Tanza

Okay so here's a random B Tier PS2 RPG follow-up to a random B Tier PS1 RPG. Nothing about it really seems remarkable. Curious who the composers are...Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakamoto. What? Super weird circumstance these two gods are collaborating for the first time here on Legaia 2. These tracks are sooo good. Who at Sony tricked them into thinking they were working on some AAA gem? Anyways, Sakamoto shines the most with his tracks; what a god.
 
MilkyJoe said:
Life is Strange has some fantastic acoustic music.
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This gets my vote. The moment Max steps out of the classroom for the first time and pops in her earbuds, I knew I was going to love the music, even if I still thought the game was pure cheese.*

*it was the restroom scene minutes later that made me LOVE the game
 
The Toy Story 2 game had some great music, (The N64 version's music sucked though thanks to cartridge space limitations) though I think it's also a pretty fun collectathon platformer in its own right, although it is very easy.
 
Nier should be up there, it's a truly beautiful soundtrack for a kinda underwhelming game. Hopefully automata will fix it's shortcomings.
 
Fasty said:
My suggestion comes straight from the podcast... The Mario and Sonic at the Olympics series. I mean, check out the music to the Uneven Bars event

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTb9Gws8xdY
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Oh hey, it's literally the first time I've ever seen someone who isn't me talk about Mario & Sonic's original music on GAF. London 2012 in particular is a gem.

Canoeing
Badminton
Beach Volleyball
Football (and as long as we're here, Football 2016)
100m Swim
Opening

Also a bunch of great public domain mixes in each game, on top of the franchise stuff.
 
Medal of Honor (1999) - MoH: Airborne. In a series where dialogue and cutscenes are almost non-existent, the story in each game is told through the beautiful scores composed by Michael Giacchino. Very surprising for an FPS WW2 series.

I was also recently surprised by The Division's soundtrack. I thought that was very good.
 
Stairouais said:
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Kaze No Notam on ps1. A freaking hot air baloon game.

Discovery
Solitude
Turning Point

Artdink <3
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Ryuji Nishida must have done this. His work on Carnage Heart soundtracks back then was just as great, but I may prefer NOTAM after giving these a listen. Sublime and just as great as the weird stuff from Tail of the Sun.

Speaking of Artdink, why not listen to A-Train 5's music? Fully live orchestrated score by Koshiro Nishida, way better than you'd expect a lesser-known city sim game to have. It's one of the best soundtracks Artdink's produced and easily their most impressive. Even still I think A-Train 6/2001 sounds even better, which is why their recent soundtracks disappoint me so much (all sequenced orchestral with none of the complex arrangement and whimsy K. Nishida once provided).

Totakeke said:
It's hard to be surprised by videogames nowadays but this one did blow my mind when I realized what I was listening to.
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A lot of people don't know how talented and experienced Go Ichinose is. He was the main musician behind Pokemon games throughout Gens III and IV, and now he's designing puzzle games with his cool music accompanying.
 
DemWalls said:
A serious contender for the best soundtrack of this generation (and beyond), hands down. But I think the game is excellent too, so I didn't mention it before.
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Ah, now saw the edit in OP! FURI is great game too so just ignore my post everyone.
 
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Game nobody has ever heard of with one of my all time favorite title menu themes in the history of video games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6CJoSx1lZE

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Humble little Wizardry-like on the DS. Some of THE most ridiculously good battle themes I've ever heard. Like what the FUCK was the composer of this game on when he wrote these masterpieces?!

Mid-boss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b28c9blyoi0

Battle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIXedqHyWNY

You hear that shit every single time you get into a random fight! How are you even supposed to focus on slaying when your face is melting?!
 
dark10x said:
An old example has to be Soukaigi on PlayStation. Really not a great game but I thought it sounded quite unique. It was composed by the same guy behind Secret of Mana's beautiful soundtrack but with an actual band this time. Has that 90s game sound, though, which I secretly love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO7nSb9evnQ&index=3&list=PL74A294E9C891A8C2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqDjbQInDPA&index=14&list=PL74A294E9C891A8C2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5tQZtN7eSk&list=PL74A294E9C891A8C2&index=12
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Good call, I remember when I first heard this soundtrack I was blown away. Still haven't played the game cuz I heard it was crap. But man that OST is amazing.

True Fire said:
NieR of course
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Took way too long for this to get mentioned, but it seems to be getting the love it deserves now.

Anyhow, some more additions:

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: has a great soundtrack, especially since it was the first mainline Metal Gear without Harry Gregson Williams since MGS1. Such a great OST, they still used parts of it in Phantom Pain. For a portable entry to the series that most people skipped, it's friggen amazing. Not to mention one of the best boss fight songs of all time.

Peace Walker Main Theme
Snake finds Chico
Love Deterrence

Drakengard 3: great OST, low budget and average gameplay. Hell even if the only amazing track on the OST was This Silence is Mine, the game would STILL have over delivered based on that track alone. So good.

Decendeus
The Black Song
This Silence is Mine

Lunar 2 fits too, because while I thought the original Sega CD Lunar had a great OST, Lunar 2 just completely destroyed it. It's a shame that most people know the PSX version of these tunes more than the Sega CD ones, because the original instrumentation was just better in every way. Noriyuki Iwadare is one of the unsung great in the industry, and Lunar 2 is probably his masterpiece.

Field to Tomorrow
Footsteps of the Decisive Battle
Lucia's Decent - Sorrowful Memories

And finally Tenchu. Tenchu was a great game, but holy crap it's soundtrack blew me away, the OST was done by Noriyuki Asakura of Rurouni Kenshin fame, and it worked, and worked well. Hell, I was barely able to play much Tenchu 2 because it didn't have music in the levels, it drove me nuts. I could post the entire soundtrack and feel good about it.

Battle with a Fierce Enemy
Cross the Checkpoint
Execute the Corrupt Minister

So there we go, I'm sure that someone will also eventually bring up Shenmue 2, but here's a song that over delivered in a soundtrack that over delivered.

Waves in the Morning Haze
 
Dan-o said:
This gets my vote. The moment Max steps out of the classroom for the first time and pops in her earbuds, I knew I was going to love the music, even if I still thought the game was pure cheese.*

*it was the restroom scene minutes later that made me LOVE the game
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the piece of music playing after Max saves Chloe's dad where she's on the bus and the whales are beached... Then Bam!
 
Undertale has no business having an OST that is that good, considering as a game it was almost entirely made and composed for by one amateur in Gamemaker and FL studio.
 
If you didn't know who Toby Fox is (which unless you were super into homestuck chances are you didn't), Undertale's soundtrack feels like an unexpectedly amazing experience you'd never expect from a tiny indy game that looks like it looks.

Diketmbe Mutombo's 4 1/2 Weeks to save the world had an amazing soundtrack much better than any flash game designed to sell deodorant had any right to.
 
Gnomist said:
Katamari Damacy. I had no idea what to expect but it sure wasn't the eclectic mix of amazing songs that it had. You got a bit of everything in this game. Some favorites of mine were:

The simple piano version of the main theme at the start menu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUJrhs5jH1A&index=3&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu

The big band swing number that feels like a Japanese take on Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_olRp55Zs0I&index=10&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu

The Frank Sinatra-esque Que Sera Sera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhlW2roqg7Y&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu&index=12

The super chill bossa nova number Katamaritaino: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qfm2WRY8Us&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu&index=14

And this feel-good song that sounds like an elementary school choir singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-1JHvQbspM&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu&index=16

I look forward to the next soundtrack that surprises me like this one did.
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There is no OST out there that can deliver more than the Katamari Damacy's. This is the truest bestest answer to the OP's question.
 
Sonic 06's soundtrack is so good, that you can almost imagine the game they envisioned. It makes it that much more painful that the game turned out the way.
 
Banjo kazooie nuts and bolts had amazing orchestral versions of classic banjo themes, as well as great new music. Banjo land in particular is awesome. Also the jazz band in 3d world and mk 8i s top tier
 
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