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NeoGAFs Official Game Soundtracks of the 6th Generation: Results and Archive
- Thread starter Dark Schala
- Start date
Wreck-It Ralph
Member
Are people not counting Metroid Prime as a western soundtrack?
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
While it's a western-developed game, Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyoma are natively-Japanese. I can see their points if they associated Metroid moreso with NCL than a western branch. It's unfortunate to some, but other people just see it that way.
Personally, while different cultures have unique musical stylings (ie: there was a very fascinating article on similarities in Japanese composition characteristics and western composition characteristics with respect to pop music but I can't seem to find it at the moment), I just see music as music so it doesn't matter to me either way.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Please refer to this post and vote next time: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=154337887&postcount=100
Edit: I'm not too used to SotY results threads being so controversial, since most people tend to agree on the list, so forgive my terseness. I would admit that i would've liked to have seen more variation, but as it stood for several weeks, the results were fairly predictable considering what is posted in all of the music threads that I've read on NeoGAF since 2007. My hope is, and was at the time of voting, that the archive provided a reference point for people who were unfamiliar with soundtracks outside of their comfort zones. Alas, that didn't happen, and a lot of people didn't vote, so the results ended up matching a lot of the music threads for the past eight years.
I believe AniHawk was saying that the next voting thread that he'd do is Generation 5 (PS1/N64/Saturn/etc). I can't promise that the results won't be similar, but if more people vote next time (and maybe if the thread gets stickied), then maybe we can get around that. Because Planescape Torment.
Games from japan were still the dominant force from that era so the results shouldn't be so surprising, especially in a predominately console community like neogaf.
Augemitbutter
Member
nice. didn't know this thread was already up. didn't expect Shadow of the Colossus to win. it's not my fav. soundtrack ever, but i like it.
also this. Shenmue should have been up there! Panzer Dragoon Orta is another one that is pretty underrated. you won't spot a single bad track on the CD. a perfect listening experience.
What are you doing GAF? No Shenmue in the top 10 is an absolute crime.
also this. Shenmue should have been up there! Panzer Dragoon Orta is another one that is pretty underrated. you won't spot a single bad track on the CD. a perfect listening experience.
nrvalleytime
Member
I can't wait for that thread. Once I started listening again to these soundtracks, I realized many of my favorites were from the PS1 era.
Should be fun.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Another clash of the titans bloodbath, the both of them.
Oh? I didn't know the results were up already, good thing I decided to search.
Haha, I was wondering if I was the only one to vote for Isuka, looks like I was. It's a shame its soundtrack isn't brought up more, but I guess being stuck with a bad game will do that.
I'm sad to see that Guilty Gear just missed out on making in into the top 20, if I put XX higher on my list it would have made it too. Oh well, I still agree with how my list turned out. Hopefully I won't make a last minute vote next time though.
Time to go listen to the music in the archive, looks like I'll be set for a while.
Haha, I was wondering if I was the only one to vote for Isuka, looks like I was. It's a shame its soundtrack isn't brought up more, but I guess being stuck with a bad game will do that.
I'm sad to see that Guilty Gear just missed out on making in into the top 20, if I put XX higher on my list it would have made it too. Oh well, I still agree with how my list turned out. Hopefully I won't make a last minute vote next time though.
Time to go listen to the music in the archive, looks like I'll be set for a while.
Eolz
Member
That's weird, I counted 3 votes for it in the voting thread (including mine), and it was in the preliminary archive as well.
Maybe there was just no time to put it in the archive, or just a mistake?
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Rez - 8 pts, 3 votes.
Think Tiesto meant that it's not in the Top 20 at all.
I haven't had the time to breathe this week, so a lot of the archive editing got postponed to the weekend (one of my helpers has been getting home at like 11pm -1 am from work, and the other got pretty busy with video editing, so we all got busy and can't take care of it, lol). Sorry! D:
I'll respond to posts in the other thread at that time too since I realized folks are still posting in it.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
No worries! This is tough work.
Nocturnowl
Member
I'm actually still going through the late lists of the voting thread, so here I am journeying through the "short" posts of Schala when I'm teased with some intriguing sounding "treacherous woods" only to have my ears assaulted by the abominable Sonic Chronicles Central City, I can't imagine many worse tracks to have caught me off guard, why Princess? WHY?!
And if this wasn't a cruel joke then yeah one of your links leads to that.
Not that you really need to go back and change that now.
And if this wasn't a cruel joke then yeah one of your links leads to that.
Not that you really need to go back and change that now.
Awesome list. This thread will be a great resource when looking for more game soundtracks to listen to. 1 and 2 are already some of my favourites, so i'm glad to see them getting recognised.
I wished Twilight Princess had scored a bit higher. If only because I think it deserves more recognition than Wind Waker; which I think is pretty bland in comparison.
I wished Twilight Princess had scored a bit higher. If only because I think it deserves more recognition than Wind Waker; which I think is pretty bland in comparison.
So nice to see Metroid Prime up there, no shame losing to a Symphonic gaming masterpiece.
Prime 1 definitely has the most consistently great Soundtrack of the Trilogy. Prime 2 has some amazing tracks (Sanctuary Fortress/Quadraxis and Submerged Torvus Temple, but some very forgettable ones too (Agon and most Dark World ambient tracks). Prime 3 has another good consistent soundtrack with some highlights in Bryyo, Elysia, The Valhalla and The Homeworld, but its highs do not reach Prime 1 or 2.
Prime 1 definitely has the most consistently great Soundtrack of the Trilogy. Prime 2 has some amazing tracks (Sanctuary Fortress/Quadraxis and Submerged Torvus Temple, but some very forgettable ones too (Agon and most Dark World ambient tracks). Prime 3 has another good consistent soundtrack with some highlights in Bryyo, Elysia, The Valhalla and The Homeworld, but its highs do not reach Prime 1 or 2.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I think it's because for a lot of people, Twilight Princess qualified as a Wii-era soundtrack. I know it does for me, simply because I had gotten it during the Wii's launch and I didn't play the GCN version. Therefore, in the event that you didn't vote for Twilight Princess this time, if we hold a Gen 7 vote, Twilight Princess is allowed to be in contention.
I don't really think that soundtrack is bad, either, compositionally. If it had better samples or was done with a live orchestra, it would sound much better than it already does. This is pretty clear when you listen to that 25th anniversary arranged soundtrack that came with Skyward Sword, or listen to any other orchestra perform pieces from the game.
Going on a tangent, but this is the case for a lot of soundtracks, anyhow. I had brought up the Mega Man Zero arrangement albums in my writeup, and I genuinely like the treatment that stuff like Awakening Will got on the Resonnant Vie album. Even the treatment Departure got on the Mega Xross Mixx fan album is decent. (I didn't bring up Esperanto on the Mega Rock Carnival fan album because it's something that everyone remixes at some point.)
It's a bit disappointing that I didn't get to properly go through my favourite arrangement albums of that generation since I ran out of time. There were a lot that I liked, and I hoped to have at least communicated that I liked the Mega Man Zero albums, the FF10 Piano Collection, Suikoden III music collection, Hiroyuki Namba Suikoden music collection, the feel/Go Dream image album, Persona 4 Reincarnation, all the Suikoden Celtic albums, a few Falcom super arrange albums, the Dark Chronicle arrange album, etc. Lots of really good arranged albums in that era.
Sorry, owl! D: This is now fixed. Here is the track for your perusal. Like I said, it sounds really good despite being a track you'd expect to hear with respect to forestry (though maybe that's because I've played enough RPGs cross-linguistically to notice that it genuinely is a trend regardless of the subgenre).
I hadn't cleared my history out, so Nocturne was in there since someone had linked it to me within a day or so of doing my writeup. The links are very similar at the end of the strings, so of course I mixed them up.
(This is where we blame Beef.)
Well, I did have big shoes to fill since Nert handled these threads before he got busier, and GhaleonQ knows more about soundtracks than I do (but doesn't have as much time to spare for bigger writeups like before -- but he still has quite a big role in these threads). So I hope that I've been doing at least as good a job as they did.Yeah no worries, it's not really surprising.
Without your work there would be a lot less discussions and discoveries for soundtracks here
Sparrowhawk
Member
Great list! Just wish that Dragon Quest VIII had been closer to the top.
Augemitbutter
Member
nope, it's just that the best OSTs weren't from the west. pretty easy. also no examples listed.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I have updated the archive with all of the games that had gotten numbered votes.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can fit all of the honourable mentions in since, as you can see, I had to take one of my own posts from later in the thread to complete the rest of the archive.
Not reserving enough posts in a thread should be something I should work on, but since this was a generational award system, that's something I should learn for the next time we do this. Additionally, I won't add as many games that no one will vote for beforehand and should keep an archive of stuff people do vote for growing during voting instead, since I've noticed that no one really uses it during voting time outside of maybe like 4-5 people (which is fine, just a bit disappointing from my end but understandable when I look at it from another perspective).
Anyway, enjoy the archive. Let me know if there are any problems or if I should replace some tracks with others. The easiest time I had was copy/pasting links from other people by quoting them, and Jucksalbe helping out with reducing the character count from each post. So if you did that, thank you SO much. I appreciated it. And even if you didn't do that, it didn't take a lot of time to fish out links from YT (especially if I'd played the game before).
Unfortunately, I don't think I can fit all of the honourable mentions in since, as you can see, I had to take one of my own posts from later in the thread to complete the rest of the archive.
Not reserving enough posts in a thread should be something I should work on, but since this was a generational award system, that's something I should learn for the next time we do this. Additionally, I won't add as many games that no one will vote for beforehand and should keep an archive of stuff people do vote for growing during voting instead, since I've noticed that no one really uses it during voting time outside of maybe like 4-5 people (which is fine, just a bit disappointing from my end but understandable when I look at it from another perspective).
Anyway, enjoy the archive. Let me know if there are any problems or if I should replace some tracks with others. The easiest time I had was copy/pasting links from other people by quoting them, and Jucksalbe helping out with reducing the character count from each post. So if you did that, thank you SO much. I appreciated it. And even if you didn't do that, it didn't take a lot of time to fish out links from YT (especially if I'd played the game before).
Thanks for putting together that archive. It's really damn huge, and I hope it can serve as something people will refer to even after a few years (provided the YouTube links still work by then). I can't imagine how much work that took, I felt exhausted just putting together my vote.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Thanks for all of this hard work, Schala.
It's a wonderful source, so I hope people are using it.
It's a wonderful source, so I hope people are using it.
Kuro Madoushi
Unconfirmed Member
While I can't really argue with the list; how Noriyuki Idaware isn't in the top there is a mystery to me.
Nocturnowl
Member
This track was actually quite worth notifying you for the switcheroo, now I still need to continue on going through the previous threads late votes, sloooow progression for me right now.
Yeah I'm up for blaming Beef, he is the main spreader of the Chronicles calamity after all.
Crumbs, I didn't even notice how big it had gotten until I just looked back.
Mountains of music.
I almost find it concerning that whenever I listen to something from the gen before this my mind is subconsciously ranking it in advance of the next thread that may occur this year, Gaf music threads have broken me.
Jawbreaker
Member
Ugh, looking back, I should have placed Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on my list somewhere. I just remembered how incredible the soundtrack for that game is.
PositiveYorae
Member
Despite these results...I strongly believe that bof: dragon quarter's soundtrack is sakimoto's best work. Too bad I didn't get to vote (I've just been recently approved).
(I've just been recently approved).Earthpainting
Member
Slowly going through the archive when I have a quiet moment and want to have something on in the background, but I already have one big take-away from this thread. I should give the Shadow Hearts games another shot.
I don't vote for games I haven't played, because I find context very important to how well a piece of game music works. You can argue that you should be able to judge it as a standalone piece, but that is not the authentic experience these tracks were made for. I'd be missing out on some layers and subtleties. Either way when I tried it, Shadow Hearts felt a bit dull and the PS2 was absolutely flooded with mediocre JRPGs that were draining my interest in the genre during that era. I gave up on it maybe 30% through and never bothered to check out its sequel. Shadow Hearts 2's music is making me think I should probably give it another shot. Should I give the first game another shot, or cut my losses and hop straight into the second one?
I don't vote for games I haven't played, because I find context very important to how well a piece of game music works. You can argue that you should be able to judge it as a standalone piece, but that is not the authentic experience these tracks were made for. I'd be missing out on some layers and subtleties. Either way when I tried it, Shadow Hearts felt a bit dull and the PS2 was absolutely flooded with mediocre JRPGs that were draining my interest in the genre during that era. I gave up on it maybe 30% through and never bothered to check out its sequel. Shadow Hearts 2's music is making me think I should probably give it another shot. Should I give the first game another shot, or cut my losses and hop straight into the second one?
You should definitely give the first one another try first. If you really still don't like it, skip it and try the second game, but the first one is very different, especially in its atmosphere and it's a pretty short game as far as I remember (20-30 hours?). It's just not very pretty.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I agree: if you're not digging SH1 on your replay, go forward to SH2 even if it is a direct sequel. It has a more refined battle system and lots of additions to make the Judgement Ring more meaningful, and its tone is quite different from the first. Shadow Hearts 1's claim to fame is essentially its atmosphere and perhaps its soundtrack and introduction of the Judgement Ring concept (and also carrying stuff on from Koudelka).
I would certainly argue giving it another shot before moving on to the next one.
=============
I also wanted to say that, since this thread is slightly relevant to the 2015 voting thread, I've already started on an archive since I had time to start reviewing albums while studying. Much easier to compile! That said, there isn't much to review so far. PS Nova's soundtrack is nice. I'm holding onto listening to Zestiria's since I haven't played beyond the intro for that game. I already know Legend of Legacy's is awesome but the album itself got delayed. Valkyrie Crusade is ok, but PSNova's the better Sakuraba album. What I've played and heard from Final Fantasy Legends: Toki no Suishou sounds all right (it also has very nice background art; some reminiscent of Chrono Cross's art). Apotheon sounds cool, too, and I can't wait to dig into the game later on.
And Ori and the Blind Forest and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse's albums are pretty hot.
Lots of neat stuff so far this year to potentially vote for.
...As for this thread... I actually have to say that while I as looking for samples with Bean, we were both genuinely surprised with how good some tracks on the Wario World soundtrack were. I'd never played the game, and I don't think he had either, so it was pretty neat to hear something like Pecan Sands and get something that sounds great and has really great samples + bassline. It's a cool track, and I sort of want to look into the game.
I also have to play Wild Arms Alter Code F and Dark Cloud 2, already.
I would certainly argue giving it another shot before moving on to the next one.
Yeah, if there are other tracks you wanted me to pick instead of those three, let me know. I'll replace them.
=============
I also wanted to say that, since this thread is slightly relevant to the 2015 voting thread, I've already started on an archive since I had time to start reviewing albums while studying. Much easier to compile! That said, there isn't much to review so far. PS Nova's soundtrack is nice. I'm holding onto listening to Zestiria's since I haven't played beyond the intro for that game. I already know Legend of Legacy's is awesome but the album itself got delayed. Valkyrie Crusade is ok, but PSNova's the better Sakuraba album. What I've played and heard from Final Fantasy Legends: Toki no Suishou sounds all right (it also has very nice background art; some reminiscent of Chrono Cross's art). Apotheon sounds cool, too, and I can't wait to dig into the game later on.
And Ori and the Blind Forest and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse's albums are pretty hot.
Lots of neat stuff so far this year to potentially vote for.
...As for this thread... I actually have to say that while I as looking for samples with Bean, we were both genuinely surprised with how good some tracks on the Wario World soundtrack were. I'd never played the game, and I don't think he had either, so it was pretty neat to hear something like Pecan Sands and get something that sounds great and has really great samples + bassline. It's a cool track, and I sort of want to look into the game.
I also have to play Wild Arms Alter Code F and Dark Cloud 2, already.
No need to replace any of them, you pretty much picked the best tracks in the game. Great job!
Ah I found an error regarding Dynasty Warriors 5. The soundtrack is actually for Shin Sangoku Musou 4. For some strange reason, Japanese entries of the series are 1 behind the western release (Dynasty Warriors). It also had more composers than I calculated.
This should be the correct soundtrack:
Toru Hasebe, MASA, Michihiko Shichi, Yasuhiro Misawa, Masato Koike, Hidehisa Nakazono, Ayumu Igarashi
http://vgmdb.net/album/7532
Anyway sorry for that. Completely forgot about searching for its alternate name even though I cropped my own picture for it :/
This should be the correct soundtrack:
Toru Hasebe, MASA, Michihiko Shichi, Yasuhiro Misawa, Masato Koike, Hidehisa Nakazono, Ayumu Igarashi
http://vgmdb.net/album/7532
Anyway sorry for that. Completely forgot about searching for its alternate name even though I cropped my own picture for it :/
Eolz
Member
I don't know if that's already the case, but did you already think you and/or some other members to make a sort of a "OST only" community thread? Could be nice to include archives and be a good discussion point before the Voting thread later on.
Nocturnowl
Member
Still can't play either, oh it hurts.
I wont dare listen to Ori without the context personally.
The good news is that if you do look into it you'll only have to spend a few hours powering through it, not a particularly strong game on the whole but I do recall liking its platforming puzzle rooms, that and spinning piledrivers.
Otherwise its as average as they come, at least they salvaged the one track I did quite enjoy to be remixed for Shake it/Shake Dimension.
I can't say the soundtrack rings much of a bell for me outside of its recurring main motif.
A community thread idea was thrown around a couple of years ago if I recall, never got off the ground but i'm always up for seeing how it would play out like when you just need to gush or even rant about a soundtrack new or old you could dive in there to do so.
Axelstream
Member
I am exceptionally late to this thread, but a huge thanks and kudos to Dark Schala and company for putting together an incredibly comprehensive thread here. I found out about a lot of soundtracks this time around -- recently I've been listening nonstop to the Katamari soundtracks, which are wonderful, and even better at putting me in a good mood. I've been slowly making my way through the Archive as well, finding a bunch of gems in the process thanks to all the people who voted!
nrvalleytime
Member
Bumping this today - if you're looking for good work music, this thread is a good place to start.
Always impressed at the good choices.
And I'm still angry you people didn't list Dragon Quest VIII's symphonic soundtrack higher. A pox on both your houses!
Always impressed at the good choices.
And I'm still angry you people didn't list Dragon Quest VIII's symphonic soundtrack higher. A pox on both your houses!
Man I'm really disappointed (in myself) for not noticing/voting for this. I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye out for whenever the next one hits.
Was kind of surprised to see SotC first and Prime second. Mostly SotC. Also that there Soul Calibur 3 wasn't mentioned at all (though I admit that I've noticed people don't seem to like at as much as the other games).
Was kind of surprised to see SotC first and Prime second. Mostly SotC. Also that there Soul Calibur 3 wasn't mentioned at all (though I admit that I've noticed people don't seem to like at as much as the other games).