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NeoGAF’s Official Game Soundtracks of the Year 2016: Results and Archive

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
The results from NeoGAF's Game Soundtracks of the Year 2016 vote are below. Enjoy! Additionally thanks to Earthpainting for helping to count up the votes and making the archive. Thanks to Noi for helping me out with the thread creation again. Also to Xander Cage and Aeana for administrative stuff (mostly the stickying and unstickying).

Results

1. Final Fantasy XV – 302 points, 28 honorable mentions

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Composers: Yoko Shimomura, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Tetsuya Shibata, Yoshino Aoki, Shota Nakama

Hellfire
Apocalypsis Noctis
Valse di Fantastica

The battle themes, stand your ground, veiled in black and the exploration themes like wanderlust and valse di fantastica are beautiful and fit right in with the high quality of the other themes from the series. I just wish the fantastica theme would stick around a bit longer. Ardyn's theme perfectly fits his characters and the change when things go down is really well done. There's such a large amount of what's there that is great, the variations on the battle theme throughout are epic, the Somnus theme is just as effective as it was when it was first announced that long ago, the Cape Caem theme is just so peaceful to listen to feels like it is from a different game altogether and although in that area to seem like a rest bite in-between the two segments of the story and I also really liked the hammerhead remix towards the end of the game and the other tracks contained in the last 8 or so that play out the soundtrack are just brilliant. Apocalypsis Noctis is up there with my favourites from the series also just helps convey the aspects of the game that were done well when it plays. I also enjoyed having samples of the other entries soundtracks available while traveling long distances, felt like a nod to previous entries done right for me.
Final Fantasy XV's OST's greatest strengths is how it confidently blends a sheer breadth of musical styles while still living up to the grandiose nature of the series' musical legacy.Safe Haven's calming nature only highlights the vivid passion of Valse di Fantastica. Tracks in towns like Hammerhead convey a slow laid back nature perfectly. Relax and Reflect help round out the OST by adding something playful. When combat ensues, combat themes such as Up for the Challenge perfectly encapsulates a riveting battle anthem which borders on the daring while reveling in excitement. It's all these differing styles and compositions that create an engrossing soundtrack that manages to elicit great emotions in the listener.
The soundtrack of Final Fantasy XV is the only one from 2016 that I feel will be cherished years from now. It is full of home run hits and has a surprising amount of variety in both style and instrumentation. Some of these tracks are instant classics and rival some of the best that the Final Fantasy franchise and the gaming industry as a whole have to offer.

2. DOOM – 261 points, 23 honorable mentions

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Composers: Mick Gordon, Bobby Prince, Chris Hite

BFG Division
Rip and Tear
Flesh & Metal

1. Doom : Most people didn't expect the game to be this good, and the OST even less. It could have been some basic remixes, or just some original composition that wasn't memorable or particularly remarkable, but instead we got one of the best heavy soundtracks in years. Some remixes are there, but sometimes well hidden, or really modernized so much it is like a brand new track.
Without falling into the nostalgia of old Doom, Mick Gordon managed to create a soundtrack harsh and hypnotic completely fitting the classic Doom universe, and leading to some synaesthesia moments during gameplay, where the beats sync up perfectly with the gore attacks, with Doomguy flying from a demon to another, all while making the player sweating to avoid damage. Bloody fantastic!
I typically fucking hate djent and even I love BFG Division. Doom's soundtrack works for the same reason Doom's story does: it has a sense of humor. The music in this game is so ridiculous you can't help but smile and play along. This isn't the metal video game soundtrack I want, but I'm still stoked to see people on here and on Twitter and whatnot getting excited about this score. I can only hope it acts as a gateway metal album for many.
I don't really like djent metal on a personal level, but in DOOM it's used to perfection. It fits the game unbelievably well, and it contributes greatly to the feel of constant power and pure badassery the game instills in every corner of its design. Mick Gordon's 8-string guitars provide a feeling of raw brutality that accurately encapsulates what DOOM is all about. When the metal begins, your own song and dance of death and destruction follows soon after.

3. The Last Guardian – 173 points, 9 honorable mentions

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Composer: Takeshi Furukawa

Overture: Lore
Epilogue
Flashback

Furukawa's restraint occasionally gives way to bombast, and those moments are cathartic. Though it must have been difficult to compose in the shadow of the legendary Shadow of the Colossus OST, Furukawa impresses with an intimate set of tracks befitting of the relationship between Trico and the boy. Like the game, the soundtrack can be playful and serious, curious and determined, and melancholy and uplifting. The six or so note main hook that props up throughout the OST is an ear worm.
Finished this recently and it became my game of the year and the soundtrack has grown on me quite a lot. Its beautiful, the way it swoops into moments in the game is really effective similar to the previous games. Its very traditional when compared to those games, Michiru Oshima's incredibly beautiful ambient soundtrack for Ico and Ko Otani had an epic collection of tracks for Sotc filled with interesting instrumentation. Takeshi Furukawa traditional/ classical music for this works perfectly for what this game is trying to achieve like the others did for those. The way it builds especially in those end segments of the game is brilliant and those specific moments when the music kicks in such as the forest track when you reach that enclosure outside or the victorious music that plays as Trico knocks about the knights fits the moments really well. Definitely will play through it again so it will probably continue to grow on me even more than it already has with subsequent play throughs and listens like with Ico and Sotc soundtracks.

4. Furi – 141 points, 11 honorable mentions

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Composers: Carpenter Brut, Danger, Waveshaper, Lorn, The Toxic Avenger, Scattle, Kn1ght

Make This Right (remix)
My Only Chance
Danger 6:24

You know, considering the love the Hotline Miami soundtacks get I'm surprised more aren't talking about the similar synth fuelled Furi and its 80's nostagia kick. Themes often fall comfortably into two categories, music for slow walking towards the next boss and music for fucking up said boss. Bringing together a host of various artists, I think the music this time around by the likes of say Scattle may have been made for the game as opposed to plucked from their existing musical library ala Hotline Miami but don't trust me on that.
Every track's tempo and movement was styled to capture every boss's movement, every boss's trick, and how they wanted to deal with you. Parts of every track is composed in such a way that it loops and changes during phase changes of the fight, or when various attacks are going to happen. In that essence, the pacing of every piece of music is dictated by you, the player. You have the agency to turn the tide of every fight, and you have the agency to thus change how the melody is being played. While other soundtracks of 2016 tried to capture the essence of dynamics, a lot of it is left up to environmental influences or where you are in the town, or if it does happen in a boss fight it only happens after you whittle the boss down to x HP or the music changes outright. With Furi's soundtrack, it's amazing how even the littlest things change with your input. That's the truest piece of player agency I can ask for. Even when you pause the game, it'll tell you who did which song you're listening to in the game at the time.

5. Dark Souls 3 – 97 points, 12 honorable mentions

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Composers: Yuka Kitamura, Tsukasa Saitoh, Motoi Sakuraba, Nobuyoshi Suzuki

Secret Betrayal
Abyss Watchers
Iudex Gundyr

This is the first Souls soundtrack composed primarily by Yuka Kitamura, and she did a great job taking things in a slightly different direction. I was initially a little cool on this soundtrack since it's generally more subdued and less bombastic than a typical Souls game, but is does a great job capturing the game's theme of inevitability and has some real standout tracks. Plus, Sakuraba contributed a few tracks of his own to round things out with his usual bombast.
Easy winner. All the Souls games have fantastic, consistently amazing OSTs after all. And is that main menu / title screen too epic for its own good or what?

6. Pokemon Sun & Moon – 78 points, 12 honorable mentions

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Composers: Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose, Minako Adachi, Hitomi Sato, Tomoaki Oga, Hideaki Kuroda

Battle! (Team Skull Admin)
Vs Red & Blue
Battle! (Elite Four)

Sure, it's another Pokémon soundtrack. But oh, what a Pokémon soundtrack it is. Series highlights abound in most categories, with the game boasting the best Legendary battle theme, some of the best town music in the series, and, in the form of Team Skull's various themes, the finest, funniest tracks to be found in any game this year. Pokémon as a series has some of the best soundtracks in gaming, and I feel it's only right to reward the best in the series with the highest marks here.
When I first heard Ten Carat Hill in the demo, I knew this was going to be a good one. I'm not particularly eloquent at this, so Bewear with me for a while, there's Swalot to cover and I'm feeling enthusiastic... While the main series is no stranger to utilizing leitmotif, Sun & Moon takes the concept to much greater lengths than any of the prior games and uses it in some interesting ways... For me personally, Sun & Moon has surpassed Diamond & Pearl, Black & White/2 and Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire and taken the spot as my favorite Pokemon soundtrack.

7. Fire Emblem: Fates – 74 points, 8 honorable mentions

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Composers: Hiroki Morishita, Takeru Kanazaki, Rei Kondoh, Masato Kouda, Yasuhisa Baba

Alight (Calm/Storm)
Boss C1
Map F

I love how the music is integrated with the game's design, giving each side its own distinct instrumentation; you can instantly tell a Hoshidan track from a Nohrian one. Even the third route has its own distinct soundscape. I didn't think it was possible for a leitmotif to be more tightly woven into a soundtrack than Awakening's Id, but Lost In Thoughts All Alone shows up everywhere.
Fire Emblem narrowly takes the top, surprisingly due to Lost in Thoughts, All Alone. You would think I would get bored with it after 60+ hours of it, but it all pays off when End of All starts over the final battle and Rena Strober's voice fills your headphones (which you should be using cause the music is amazing). The Hoshido tracks also add a new feel to Fire Emblem, with Okami's Rei Kondoh bringing in his amazing compositions. Finally, you get to hear Matthew Mercer sing, which is great by itself.

8. VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action – 51 points, 5 honorable mentions

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Composer: Michael Kelly (Garoad)

Every Day is Night
All Systems Go
March of the White Knights

I can go on, but the majority of VA-11 HALL-A's soundtrack feels like a step back in time in a good way. I feel like I'm playing something on a PC-88 or Sega CD all over again, or even an old Shin Megami Tensei game. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the absolute quality of the samples used on this soundtrack, every theme's tempo, the way each piece progresses, and how each piece works so well in tandem with the game they were produced for. Nothing's obnoxiously loud and stands head and shoulders above the rest and tips the scale in its favour, the pieces don't run together because they don't sound alike, and every piece was composed to suit a steampunk era filled with different subgenres of music. The soundtrack fit the game like a perfect glove. I absolutely enjoyed this soundtrack from beginning to end, and it made, and still makes my playthroughs a pleasure to bartend. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Michael Kelly in the future.
I feel like a lot of games lately are falling victim to this very popular grim, too-serious cyberpunk style and while this game dabbles in a lot of that, it provides a spotlight to something much more unique in the cyberpunk genre and that shows up in spades with the soundtrack. I was expecting a lot of the tracks for this soundtrack to have a much darker vibe but there is just this constant bright and colorful atmosphere to so many songs here that I can't help but fall in love with. It all feels very methodical and nearly every key and every synth displayed never feels like it needs to be more or less than what it needs to be in the context of this game's narrative.

9. Hyper Light Drifter – 48 points, 10 honorable mentions

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Composer: Disasterpeace

The Sentients
The Midnight Wood
The Refiner's Fire

I actually bounced off this game pretty hard (keep in mind, I played before the 60fps patch) but the soundtrack kept me going. The music here did a far better job of wordless storytelling than the messy pixel art paintings ever did, with a pervasive sense of melancholy and wonder. It often reminds me of G A S or early Aphex Twin. The album is still in heavy rotation at home.
Probably my favourite thing Disasterpeace has done yet, building on the chiptune-y take on something like Boards of Canada that has defined his sound. Goes a long way to portraying that game's unique vision of the post-apocalypse with some amazingly atmospheric ambient synth work with a distorted, lo-fi, analog twist.

10. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End – 47 points, 11 honorable mentions

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Composer: Henry Jackman

The Twelve Towers
Cut to the Chase
A Thief's End

It might not have as much instrument diversity as the previous uncharted games but something about this soundtrack stuck with me far more than the all the others. The music elevates each of the battle sequences with my favourites being "Cut to the Chase", "The Twelve Towers", "New Devon" ,"Brother's Keep " which are kind of fast paced and lively which really helps with my enjoyment. I also liked the more subtle, quieter music like "A normal life" which was really great especially used in the driving sections later on when Elena and Nathan are together.
Sends the series off on precisely the sort of swashbuckling, high-adventure note it needed. The Uncharted series has a proud history of fine scores to match its derring-do, and Uncharted 4 boasts probably the best of the bunch.

11. World of Final Fantasy – 37 points, 5 honorable mentions

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Composers: Masashi Hamauzu, Shingo Kataoka, Hayata Takeda, Ryo Yamazaki, Ryo Shirasawa, Ryusuke Fujioka, Mitsuto Suzuki

World of Nine Woods Hills
Prismelody: Blinded By Light
Labyrinth of Lights

Overall I really love this soundtrack. It's about half and half new stuff /old stuff, with the old stuff being arrangements that are absolutely on point. I love how the culmination of Hamauzu's style over the past few years and influences from his other recent works can so easily be heard in the OST. It's such a solidly made soundtrack, and when you factor in the arrangements it's really is apparent that it's a large work of love that's consistent throughout. The way the aesthetic is kept consistent throughout the game is also really impressive when you consider the sheer number of original tracks and arrangements. I find that it worked its way into my daily listening while at work, and it never fails to absorb me. I love that despite being a fantastic game soundtrack, it's also just phenomenal music on its own. Even when I was in grad school, I was bringing piano reductions of a lot of his works to my composition and piano lessons. Heck, I even dedicated part of my graduate thesis to presenting analysis of his works since they hold up very well in even the academic space. Easily the best soundtrack for a game with Final Fantasy in the title this year by light-years.

12. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – Blood & Wine – 32 points, 4 honorable mentions

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Composers: Marcin Przybyłowicz, Mikolai Stroinski, Piotr Musiał, Percival Schuttenbach, Przemysław Laszczyk

For Honor! for Toussaint!
On the Champs-Désolés
The Mandragora

Blood & Wine, while it doesn't reach the same heights as the original game. It's still a stellar soundtrack.

13. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II – 31 points, 1 honorable mention

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Composers: Falcom Sound Team jdk (Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga)

Awakening
Blue Destination
Transcend Beat

Overall, the approach to this OST fits the game perfectly. Cold Steel 2 has a much more serious, determined tone to it, with the hint of a somber cloud overshadowing almost everything. The situation of this game is pretty dire for the country, and really dire for the main cast. I feel like this mood is conveyed properly through the music, and it really elevates the experience. The title screen music really helps convey the tone of the game immediately. From the lighter colors of music from the first game, there's a much darker, warmer tone present that I found to be sonorously rich. I sat on the title screen for almost a half hour when I started up the game because I loved the title screen track so much. They encapsulated the feeling of the tone of the game so much, just like the first game's title music did.

14. No Man's Sky – 30 points, 9 honorable mentions

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Composers: 65daysofstatic

Supermoon
Heliosphere
Escape Velocity

Say what you will about the game itself, but No Man's Sky has an epic soundtrack. 65daysofstatic, the math rock band behind the game's music, did a stellar job at creating a soundscape that helps define No Man's Sky's tone. A special tool was developed to dynamically generate what you hear in-game in real-time, based on random combinations of musical elements. As a result, you won't be able to find the exact track you hear in-game in the official soundtrack, but you will certainly hear pieces of the soundtrack in-game.

15. Oxenfree – 29 points, 9 honorable mentions

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Composers: scntfc

Epiphany Fields
Beacon Beach
Lost Prologue

Oxenfree was one of my most memorable gaming experiences from the last few years. It's a clever game with charismatic characters and phenomenal art direction, with an almost palpable atmosphere thanks to scntfc/Andrew Rohrmann's incredible score. Half of the soundtrack is charming and relaxing, but with a constant ominous and relentless undertone. The other half is, well, hair-raising. I'm always in awe of soundtracks that have a perfect synergy with the games they were written for, and my top three gaming soundtracks for 2016 encompass this well. Oxenfree does steal the show in this department, and there are very few soundtracks that enhance both the pacing of the game and the art direction with the score alone. Oxenfree would be a wonderful game without its soundtrack, but Rohrmann takes it to another level, and the two feel irrevocably intertwined in both a beautiful and deeply uncomfortable experience.
 

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
LTTP Vote

I usually put these in a small list but since there was one winner with the most points, I felt it was necessary to highlight it this year.

NieR

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Composers: Keiichi Okabe, Kakeru Ishihama, Keigo Hoashi, Takafumi Nishimura, Emi Evans (lyricist)

Song of the Ancients / Fate
Kainé / Escape
Emil / Karma

This may be the best soundtrack ever composed for anything, let alone games.

Also, as an aside, I really enjoyed seeing this picture to frame a ballot post in the voting thread by user LandStalker.

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Past Threads

2016 Voting Thread
First to Third Console Generation Voting Thread & Results
Fourth Console Generation Results
Fourth Console Generation Voting Thread
Fifth Console Generation Results (by Nocturnowl)
Fifth Console Generation Voting Thread (by Nocturnowl)
Sixth Console Generation Results and Archive
Sixth Console Generation Voting thread
2015 Results and Archive
2015 Voting thread
2014 Results and Archive
2014 Voting Thread
2013 Results and Archive
2013 Voting Thread
2012 Results and Archive
2012 Voting Thread
2011 Results and Archive
2011 Voting Thread
2010 Results and Archive
2010 Voting Thread

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Discography

Now that GAF has picked its winners, it's time to explore these composers' bodies of work! As you may have noticed, several of the winning soundtracks this year featured more than one composer. We decided to stick to highlighting one composer per winning soundtrack for the sake of brevity (this thread is already enormous), so please know that we're not attempting to snub anyone that wasn’t included.

Yoko Shimomura

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Mick Gordon

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Takeshi Furukawa

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Carpenter Brut

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Yuka Kitamura

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Junichi Masuda

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Hiroki Morishita

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Michael Kelly (Garoad)

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Disasterpeace (Richard Vreeland)

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Henry Jackman

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Masashi Hamauzu
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Typhoon Noruda Samples (Typhoon Noruda)
Theme of the Great Wall (“α” CLOCK)
The Alliance Alive Sample 1 (The Alliance Alive)​

Marcin Przybyłowicz

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Falcom Sound Team jdk

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65daysofstatic

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scntfc

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Emi Evans

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Archive

7th Dragon III Code: VFD
Yuzo Koshiro
The End of the Story is the Beginning
Battlefield
Let's Work!

Abzû
Austin Wintory
To know, Water
Belaenoptera Musculus
And the Earth did not yet bear a name

Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
Kazuki Yanagawa, Daisuke Achiwa, Tatsuya Yano, Hayato Asano, Ryudai Abe, Yu Shimoda, Miyoko Kobayashi, RURUTIA
Scenery of a Town
Spring Wind Skylark
With a Map in Hand

Battleborn
Cris Velasco , Kevin Riepl, Mike Rubino
Montana
LLC
Main Menu

Bravely Second: End Layer
ryo
Battle of Tribulations
Sapp and Piddler's Theme
Battle of Providence

Dark Souls III
Yuka Kitamura, Tsukasa Saitoh, Motoi Sakuraba, Nobuyoshi Suzuki
Secret Betrayal
Abyss Watchers
Iudex Gundyr

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Michael McCann, Sascha Dikiciyan, Ed Harrison
TF29
The Red Queen
Battle for the Future

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Masafumi Takada
ROYAL KNIGHTS
Confront the Enemy
Hope Ster

Tom Clancy's The Division
Ola Strandh
Dark Zone
Amherst
We Are The Division

DOOM
Mick Gordon, Bobby Prince, Chris Hite
BFG Division
Rip and Tear
Flesh & Metal

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Koichi Sugiyama
Memories of a Lost World
Fighting Spirit
Strolling in the Town

Enter the Gungeon
Doseone
Enter The Gun
Gungeon Up Gungeon Down
Oubliette Sting

Final Fantasy XIV: The Gears of Change, Revenge of the Horde & Soul Surrender
Masayoshi Soken
Exponential Entropy
Equilibrium
Brute Justice

Final Fantasy XV
Yoko Shimomura
Apocalypsis Noctis
Stand Your Ground
Somnus

Mobius Final Fantasy
Mitsuto Suzuki
Warrior of Light v2
Chapter 5 Overworld 3
Garland

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius
Noriyasu Agematsu
Tree of Tales
Onslaught
Walkabout

Fire Emblem Fates
Hiroki Morishita, Takeru Kanazaki, Yasuhisa Baba, Rei Kondoh, Masato Kouda
Alight (Calm/Storm)
Boss C1
Map F

Firewatch
Chris Remo
Prologue
North Backcountry
An Unfortunate Discovery

Furi (bandcamp)
Carpenter Brut, Danger, The Toxic Avenger, Lorn, Scattle, Waveshaper, Kn1ght
Make This Right (remix)
My Only Chance
Danger 6:24

Granblue Fantasy
Nobuo Uematsu, Tsutomu Narita
vs Yggdrasil Magna
The Stars High in the Sky
New World Order

The House In Fata Morgana
Mellok'n, Gao, Takaki Moriya, Yusuke Tsutsumi, Razuna Aikawa
Cicio
Tarantula
Ciao Carina

Hyper Light Drifter (Bandcamp)
Disasterpeace
The Sentients
The Midnight Wood
The Refiner's Fire

I am Setsuna
Tomoki Miyoshi
Beginning of the End
Loss
No Turning Back

Inside
Martin Stig Andersen
Submarine
Shockwave
Mind

Kirby: Planet Robobot
Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa
Resolution Road
Re: Green Greens
Star Dream Soul OS

The Last Guardian
Takeshi Furukawa
Overture: Lore
Epilogue
Flashback

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
Falcom Sound Team jdk (Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga)
Awakening
Blue Destination
Transcend Beat

Megadimension Neptunia VII
Takeshi Toriumi, Takeshi Abo, Tsutomu Narita, Sayuri Kan, Kenji Kaneko, Nobuo Uematsu, Yoshitaka Hirota, Chihiro Fujioka, Chiyomaru Shikura, Shinya Miyahara, Hiroaki Suzuki, Shinichi Yuuki, SHIKI
Encounter of Destiny
Will Be Venus
Planet's Odyssey

Mighty No. 9
Manami Matsumae, Ippo Yamada
Main Theme
Trinity
Burning Military Base

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
nK, rdein
Assault
Alone
The Lovely Queen

Monster Hunter Generations
Reo Uratani
Arena
Gammoth
Mizutsune

No Man's Sky
65daysofstatic
Supermoon
Heliosphere
Escape Velocity

Oxenfree
scntfc
Epiphany Fields
Beacon Beach
Lost Prologue

Paper Mario: Colour Splash
Takeru Kanazaki, Shigemitsu Goto, Fumihiro Isobe
Cherry Lake
Sunglow Ridge
Golden Coliseum

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice
Noriyuki Iwadare, Toshihiko Horiyama, Masami Onodera, Masakazu Sugimori, Akemi Kimura
Pursuit ~ Cornering Together
Mr. Reus ~ The Masked Magician
Investigation ~ Core 2016

Pocket Card Jockey
Go Ichinose
Start Running Rope
Homeland's Hope
Yes, Come on Solitaiba!
[/
Pokken Tournament
Hiroki Hashimoto
Magikarp Festival
Haunted House
Dragon's Nest

Pokemon Sun & Moon
Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose, Minako Adachi, Hitomi Sato, Tomoaki Oga, Hideaki Kuroda, Morikazu Aoki
Battle! (Team Skull Admin)
Vs Red & Blue
Battle! (Elite Four)

Quantum Break
Petri Alanko, John Kaefer
Suite for Time and Machines
Dodging Bullets
Beth

Samorost 3
TomᚠDvořák
Mandragora
Mushroom Picker Dance
Going on an Adventure

Salt and Sanctuary
James Silva
Sanctuary
Dread
Exploration

Shadow of the Beast
Ian Livingstone
Grass Plains of Karamoon
Arid Wastes
The Wrath of Aarbron

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
Jake Kaufman
Mermaid Factory (Counterfeit Mermaids)
Tassel Town
Hypno Baron's Castle

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Ryota Koduka
Tokyo
East Madness
Polytheist Alliance

Star Fox Zero
Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Yukari Suita, Hitomi Kurokawa, Naofumi Harada, Rei Kondoh, Keiki Kobayashi
Star Wolf
Sector Alpha
Corneria

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness
Motoi Sakuraba
Absence of Light
Irrepressible Dignity
Field

Stardew Valley
Eric Barone
Pelican Town
Music Box
Overture

Steins;Gate 0
Takeshi Abo
Messenger -main theme
GATE OF STEINER
Amadeus

Stellaris
Andreas Waldetoft
Creation and Beyond
Distant Nebula
Infinite Being

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Kazuaki Yamashita, Yuichi Nakase, KOH, Cube Juice, Akihiko Nakamura
Reincarnation
Dream☆Catcher
Beastie Game

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Henry Jackman, Alex Belcher, Greg Edmonson
The Twelve Towers
Cut to the Chase
A Thief's End

Unravel
Henrik Oja, Frida Johansson
Mountain Trek
Snowfall
Credits

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartending Action (bandcamp)
Garoad
Every Day is Night
All Systems Go
March of the White Knights

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – Blood & Wine – 32 points, 4 honorable mentions
Marcin Przybyłowicz, Mikolai Stroinski, Piotr Musiał, Percival Schuttenbach, Przemysław Laszczyk
For Honor! for Toussaint!
On the Champs-Désolés
The Mandragora

The Witness
John Cage
Weapon Crafting
JPOP rhythm minigame
Boss Battle 2

World of Final Fantasy
Masashi Hamauzu, Shingo Kataoka, Hayata Takeda, Ryo Yamazaki, Ryo Shirasawa, Ryusuke Fujioka, Mitsuto Suzuki
World of Nine Woods Hills
Prismelody: Blinded By Light
Labyrinth of Lights

World of Warcraft: Legion
Russell Brower, Neal Acree, Sam Cardon, Glenn Stafford, Edo Guidotti, Jason Hayes, David Arkenstone
Kingdoms Will Burn
Anduin
Demon Hunter

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA
Falcom Sound Team jdk (Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga)
Next Step Towards the Unknown
Sunshine Coastline
Crimson Fighter

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
Shinji Hosoe
Pod Room
Initiation
Quondam Monitors
 
I thought TLG's score was more affecting than FFXV but I'm guessing more people played XV and Doom. Either way they are all incredible works and deserve to be on that list

Great job!
 

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
I understand the Archive isn't exhaustive but character limits are a thing on this forum. If someone wants a soundtrack replaced with something else let me know, or I'll just use this post to supplement material.

Also, this is probably my final soundtrack thread on this forum. I've asked someone else privately if they would like to take over and it's up to them to accept or decline. If not, I'll open the floor up to volunteers but I am still waiting on an answer.
 

Menitta

Member
lol I never got around to voting. Oh well. Though there were barely any soundtracks that stuck out in my mind. I'd probably say DOOM or Pokken.
 
I don't understand the love for JRPG music, and at this point, I'm too afraid to ask why people love it.
There's a lot of great JRPG music out there, but I think most of it is found in smaller titles like Cold Steel II rather than bigger stuff like FFXV.
Also, this is probably my final soundtrack thread on this forum. I've asked someone else privately if they would like to take over and it's up to them to accept or decline. If not, I'll open the floor up to volunteers but I am still waiting on an answer.
Noooo we'll miss you :(
 

Thoraxes

Member
Also a shame I didn't get to Shantae this year, since it came so late. What I heard from there was really good stuff too!

I don't understand the love for JRPG music, and at this point, I'm too afraid to ask why people love it.

There are some well-written posts about them that have been highlighted with some short snippets above! The full posts go into a lot a detail (like two of mine for instance!).
 

spiritfox

Member
Oh my little blurb made it in. That's kinda embarrassing. Thanks for the hard work again this year! I'm sorry you can't do it again but I hope the next one is as popular.
 

mrmickfran

Member
Wow, is the FFXV soundtrack really that good?
I'm of the opinion that FF's last great soundtrack was FFX.

The few songs that I heard from FFXV were great. But shame on you for snubbing FFXIII's soundtrack.

Also, this is probably my final soundtrack thread on this forum. I've asked someone else privately if they would like to take over and it's up to them to accept or decline. If not, I'll open the floor up to volunteers but I am still waiting on an answer.
:(
 

Famassu

Member
There's a lot of great JRPG music out there, but I think most of it is found in smaller titles like Cold Steel II rather than bigger stuff like FFXV.
Eh? There's no such divide. FFs & other bigger budget SQEX games have top tier OSTs like Falcom's games do. "Most of" good JRPG music is not at all tied to smaller budget games.

Wow, is the FFXV soundtrack really that good?
I'm of the opinion that FF's last great soundtrack was FFX.
I don't really see how you can like FFX's OST and not like at least a big portion of XIII trilogy's, XIV ARR's and XV's OSTs. XII's is also top tier stuff, easily in the Top 5 of FF soundtracks. (EDIT: XI's is also supposedly great, haven't really listened to it all that much myself since I haven't played the game much.) There's no argument you can make that those aren't great soundtracks or that there's some kind of clear decline in quality. Maybe you don't like the different apporaches & musical styles that people other than Uematsu have to composing their music, but they've done absolutely incredible job of creating fantastic music for each and every FF post-X that are in no way inferior to X or FFs prior to X.
 

Crayolan

Member
Didn't vote cause I didn't particularly love any soundtrack from the games I played that released last year. Looking forward to hearing the music for Doom and TLG when I eventually get around to playing them though.

Also, this is probably my final soundtrack thread on this forum. I've asked someone else privately if they would like to take over and it's up to them to accept or decline. If not, I'll open the floor up to volunteers but I am still waiting on an answer.

Ya did good.
 

Mcdohl

Member
There's a lot of great JRPG music out there, but I think most of it is found in smaller titles like Cold Steel II rather than bigger stuff like FFXV.

What do you mean? Like composition-wise? No way.

I don't see how Cold Steel II's OST gets close to big Japanese titles like FF, Persona, Fire Emblem, Dark Souls, etc.

Unless you meant that you personally find it better, in which case, opinions and stuff.
 

LordofPwn

Member
Personally didn't think FFXV's soundtrack was all that great, but I think I didn't enjoy it only because I couldn't play Florence and the machine while driving in the car.

Doom is a great soundtrack. I actually enjoyed it more once I found out it was on Spotify. Start up some rocket league and stream doom soundtrack. Great time.

Calling it now, Zelda BotW wins best soundtrack 2017.
 

Thoraxes

Member
Personally didn't think FFXV's soundtrack was all that great, but I think I didn't enjoy it only because I couldn't play Florence and the machine while driving in the car.

Doom is a great soundtrack. I actually enjoyed it more once I found out it was on Spotify. Start up some rocket league and stream doom soundtrack. Great time.

Calling it now, Zelda BotW wins best soundtrack 2017.

There is a ton of good shit coming out this year. Way too early to tell, heh. Though Zelda's stuff is quite good so far!
What do you mean? Like composition-wise? No way.

I don't see how Cold Steel II's OST gets close to big Japanese titles like FF, Persona, Fire Emblem, Dark Souls, etc.

Unless you meant that you personally find it better, in which case, opinions and stuff.
All of Falcom's stuff is exceptionally made, and is easily up there with the best in terms of composition.
 

GamerJM

Banned
VA-11 HALL-A's is fantastic, but I'm disappointed my two other favorites of the year, Persona 5 and Pokken, didn't make it at all. I also personally find FF15 to have one of the weakest OSTs in the series (especially coming off the fantastic FF13 trilogy). I should have voted but I was too lazy to. Ah well. Good list still, and lots of good song choices!
 
Eh? There's no such divide. FFs & other bigger budget SQEX games have top tier OSTs like Falcom's games do. "Most of" good JRPG music is not at all tied to smaller budget games.
I wasn't wowed by XV's OST, so this isn't really going to move me. I think XIV is the latest SQEX OST that I've genuinely enjoyed since XIII.
What do you mean? Like composition-wise? No way.

I don't see how Cold Steel II's OST gets close to big Japanese titles like FF, Persona, Fire Emblem, Dark Souls, etc.

Unless you meant that you personally find it better, in which case, opinions and stuff.
We're inherently talking about opinions, no shit. Falcom's music is some of my favorite in the Japanese industry, along with what Atlus does in the SMT and Persona games.
 

wamberz1

Member
Glad to see FURI in top 5. I could listen to that soundtrack allllll day. Cannot wait for whatever the next big "synthwave" game is.
 

mrmickfran

Member
There is a ton of good shit coming out this year. Way too early to tell, heh. Though Zelda's stuff is quite good so far!

This year is going to be between Zelda, Nier, Persona, Mario and Sonic Mania (as well as Project 2017)

It's gonna be a fucking bloodbath
 
VA-11 HALL-A's is fantastic, but I'm disappointed my two other favorites of the year, Persona 5 and Pokken, didn't make it at all. I also personally find FF15 to have one of the weakest OSTs in the series (especially coming off the fantastic FF13 trilogy). I should have voted but I was too lazy to. Ah well. Good list still, and lots of good song choices!

Persona 5 will likely see a place on the 2017 list considering it's releasing in the West then. Gaf doesn't exactly have a significant import community, so the people who would vote for it for 2016 would have been minimal on here.
 
Furi being in the top 5 is about the best you can expect from it even if it was my #1. Fantastic soundtrack, one of the reasons I'm completing the later bosses is to hear new songs.
 

Thoraxes

Member
Yeah it's shaping up to be a good year for video games. And I see it being a close call but I think Zelda will take it.

Even with only late/potential localizations, we have Persona 5 and Tokyo Xanadu, with potential Ys VIII and Etrian Odyssey V too. That's a hell of a little quartet of stuff we could be seeing all of in 2017 for western releases of already known Japanese games. ATLUS/Falcom stuff I know, but those all had great music too! The full Persona 5 OST just came out too!

This year is going to be between Zelda, Nier, Persona, Mario and Sonic Mania (as well as Project 2017)

It's gonna be a fucking bloodbath

I am SO looking forward to them all! Maybe I should start a blog or something dedicated to doing music write-ups or previews, haha. I really love what i've heard from all of those so far, and I think it could be really cool to highlight that stuff in a well-written manner!
 

GamerJM

Banned
Persona 5 will likely see a place on the 2017 list considering it's releasing in the West then. Gaf doesn't exactly have a significant import community, so the people who would vote for it for 2016 would have been minimal on here.

Okay, but the soundtrack is fairly easily accessible even if you haven't played the game yet.
 

Blizzard

Banned
I'm surprised Civilization VI didn't make it at all since I loved the soundtrack. I'm bookmarking the thread to check out other stuff though. Thanks for running this!
 

spiritfox

Member
I'm surprised Civilization VI didn't make it at all since I loved the soundtrack. I'm bookmarking the thread to check out other stuff though. Thanks for running this!

This forum is too console leaning unfortunately. Stuff like Stellaris and Planet Coaster were good too but not enough people here played and voted for them.
 
This year is going to be between Zelda, Nier, Persona, Mario and Sonic Mania (as well as Project 2017)

It's gonna be a fucking bloodbath
Persona will win or I riot.
Okay, but the soundtrack is fairly easily accessible even if you haven't played the game yet.
Why would I vote for the OST for a game that I haven't played? I mean I could, but I'm not going to bother, and I doubt many other people would want to do that either. We'll vote for it in the year that more of us play it.
I'm surprised Civilization VI didn't make it at all since I loved the soundtrack. I'm bookmarking the thread to check out other stuff though. Thanks for running this!
It's an interesting OST. I really like some parts of it (Arabia, America, Japan and a few others), but I'm not too hot on a few other regions. But you'd need to rustle up more PC gamers to vote to see a game like that represented.
 

Famassu

Member
Personally didn't think FFXV's soundtrack was all that great, but I think I didn't enjoy it only because I couldn't play Florence and the machine while driving in the car.
How much have you listened to it outside the game? I was a bit disappointed in it myself as well after having played through the game, but then I listened to it in its entirety from start to finish when I got the OST blu-ray and other than the latter half having a few tracks that start to sound a bit samey due to motifs being repeated (without enough change in the arrangements) and some tracks perhaps not being all that complex and not having strong, memorable melodies, it is otherwise filled with a lot of great tracks outside just the typical few battle tracks that get posted each time FFXV's OST is discussed. FFXV just doesn't utilize a big portion of its OST well in the game itself, from exploration themes playing far too rarely and being often stopped by combat & other things to some stuff kind of just drowning in the cutscenes.
 
Okay, but the soundtrack is fairly easily accessible even if you haven't played the game yet.

True, but I would also assume that most people don't go looking around at soundtracks for games they haven't played. Looking them up on youtube would also lead to the possibility of track titles spoiling events in some games (Cold Steel 2 in particular has a track that spoils a major endgame event), not to mention youtube comments where some like to comment about what happened when a track is playing.
 
Deus Ex Mankind Divided not even making the top 15 speaks volumes, I guess.

Much like its predecessor and pretty much all of McCann's work he makes good but forgettable ambient sci-fi music.

His Enemy Unknown and Human Revolution soundtrack could have swapped places and I doubt players would notice much difference besides the title themes.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Why would I vote for the OST for a game that I haven't played? I mean I could, but I'm not going to bother, and I doubt many other people would want to do that either. We'll vote for it in the year that more of us play it.

We've had this discussion year-in, year-out. On one hand, the whole point of video game music is to support the medium, that being video games, hence it really should be judged in context of how it works in the game. On the other, it's also completely possible to judge music on its own merits, whether it comes to composition, production values, how it works standalone, etc. And it really isn't possible to expect any one person to have played every single piece of entertainment released in a year.

I don't think GAF votes have had any clear guideline saying you have to have played a game to vote on its soundtrack, but it also is generally what most people gravitate towards when voting, hence it does turn into a popularity poll of sorts, with more niche games getting 'overlooked' just by sheer fact you can't make up that number of warm bodies.

I mean, yeah, bemoaning the fact Cold Steel 2 isn't represented is fine and all, but it is what it is. What does amuse me though is when people bring up niche titles being overlooked, when they pretty much fall into that same issue of essentially being out-of-sight, out-of-mind, just with different titles.

There's a lot of good music out there to be discovered. Always has been, always will be.
 

ar4757

Member
VA-11 HALL-A's is fantastic, but I'm disappointed my two other favorites of the year, Persona 5 and Pokken, didn't make it at all. I also personally find FF15 to have one of the weakest OSTs in the series (especially coming off the fantastic FF13 trilogy). I should have voted but I was too lazy to. Ah well. Good list still, and lots of good song choices!

Just wait til next year on P5, it'll be there 1000% sure of it.

Also very proud of Valhalla, what a great ost
 

LordofPwn

Member
How much have you listened to it outside the game? I was a bit disappointed in it myself as well after having played through the game, but then I listened to it in its entirety from start to finish when I got the OST blu-ray and other than the latter half having a few tracks that start to sound a bit samey due to motifs being repeated (without enough change in the arrangements) and some tracks perhaps not being all that complex and not having strong, memorable melodies, it is otherwise filled with a lot of great tracks outside just the typical few battle tracks that get posted each time FFXV's OST is discussed. FFXV just doesn't utilize a big portion of its OST well in the game itself, from exploration themes playing far too rarely and being often stopped by combat & other things to some stuff kind of just drowning in the cutscenes.
Is the soundtrack available on Spotify? If so I can try listening to it more. I spent 120+ hours in FFXV and I don't remember ever thinking "Wow, this is a great track"

Thumper also has a cool soundtrack.
Virginia was meh.
Amplitude was disappointing.
I enjoyed the World of Final Fantasy soundtrack but I also got to hear the best version of One Winged Angel in it.
 

Korigama

Member
Much like its predecessor and pretty much all of McCann's work he makes good but forgettable ambient sci-fi music.

His Enemy Unknown and Human Revolution soundtrack could have swapped places and I doubt players would notice much difference besides the title themes.
Hmm, personally I found his work on Human Revolution more memorable than what I've heard of Mankind Divided so far (of which I can't remember anything at all at the moment).

I considered giving an honorable mention to Doom, but then I concluded that most of the music worked better for me in the moment while playing than really being songs that I would find myself listening to or recalling well on their own.

Not too surprising about Xrd -REVELATOR- not making it, as unfortunate as it is, but found Nights of Azure not ranking more disappointing. Didn't really remember anything specific to Zero Time Dilemma's soundtrack (as opposed to reused or remixed tracks from previous Zero Escape games) beyond Carlos' theme.
Wow, no one voted for Let It Die? That surprises me. I probably should have lol.
They did, it just didn't rank.
 
Hmm, personally I found his work on Human Revolution more memorable than what I've heard of Mankind Divided so far (of which I can't remember anything at all at the moment).

I considered giving an honorable mention to Doom, but then I concluded that most of the music worked better for me in the moment while playing than really being songs that I would find myself listening to or recalling well on their own.

Not too surprising about Xrd -REVELATOR- not making it, as unfortunate as it is, but found Nights of Azure not ranking more disappointing. Didn't really remember anything specific to Zero Time Dilemma's soundtrack (as opposed to reused or remixed tracks from previous Zero Escape games) beyond Carlos' theme.

Yeah, HR was more memorable than Mankind Divided for sure. Just used HR and Xcom because they came out within a year of each other.

But like, if you told me this was from Human Revolution I'd believe you and I have over 100 hours in to XCOM:EU/EW

Don't get me wrong, I love this type of music and I love sci-fi but when I had to rank my 3 FAVORITES of the year, Mankind Divided was easy to pass up for me.
 

jb1234

Member
Is the soundtrack available on Spotify? If so I can try listening to it more. I spent 120+ hours in FFXV and I don't remember ever thinking "Wow, this is a great track"

Unfortunately, no. The only Japanese game company that puts their albums on Spotify is Falcom (and bless them for it).
 
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