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[BennyBlanco]

When I think about games with the best OSTs it’s always Japanese games. Zelda series, FF series, F Zero, Castlevania, etc.

What western games have the best OSTs to you? Not counting licensed soundtracks.



AoE2 soundtrack is amazing front to back.



Morrowind and Oblivion had some great shit





Max Payne was great through all 3 games




Witcher 3 had such an amazing OST and it was used so well in the actual game.

What else you got?

 

[Elysium44]

Days Gone.

 

[Punished Miku]

Off the top of my head, Morrowind, Starfield, Mass Effect 1, Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, Lords of Shadow 1, Citizen Sleeper, Mirror's Edge, Streets of Rage 4 (French composer), Prince of Persia (2008).

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Halo 3 ODST is a good one.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

When I think about games with the best OSTs it’s always Japanese games. Zelda series, FF series, F Zero, Castlevania, etc.

What western games have the best OSTs to you? Not counting licensed soundtracks.



AoE2 soundtrack is amazing front to back.



Morrowind and Oblivion had some great shit





Max Payne was great through all 3 games




Witcher 3 had such an amazing OST and it was used so well in the actual game.

What else you got?

Welp.. you got what I wanted to post when entering the thread, AoE II and Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim. Though I'd add the first AoE too, it has one of my favorite tracks in there, this is soooo fire imo:



One of my absolute favs from AOE II:



I used to jam out to the AoE II soundtrack all the time at work.. or in the shower or whatever.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Bigger western studios tend to focus on generic music that feels like it'd belong in a movie, so I find most of that pretty dull. I'd have to go with indies instead for this, and I'll go with CrossCode, which is unbelievably good:









Easily one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.

 

[NightmareFarm]

Modern DOOM games.

 

[angrod14]

The Last of Us.

 

[Danjin44]

I dont know if this counts but Puppeteer has UK director with Scottish composer.


I miss this game.....wish Sony bring it to PS5 but instead they keep re-releasing Last of Us games.

 

[Doom85]

“I Will Beat On Your Behind”

Age of Empires 2 was the rare RTS I actually played…..can’t say I remember that sort of gameplay in it!

 

[EverydayBeast]

Gotta believe dragon age has a ost that lives on well.

 

[ulantan]

Underrated in my opinion.

 

[kingfish]

The Last of Us / The Last of Us: Part II.
Gustavo Santaolalla is a genius.

Also: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, Hyper Light Drifter and Fez

 

[Topher]

Not original music, but Rebel Galaxy soundtrack was awesome.

 

[Guilty_AI]

There are honestly too many great ones to name all. But if i have to name one from recent times it would be Ultrakill.







Of course, can't forget Baldurs Gate 3 either (or 2 or 1 for that matter)

 

[Arsic]

This is where indie devs truly shine:

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

 

[Woggleman]

Rdr2 and 1
Cyberpunk 2077

 

[Mooreberg]

Deus Ex: Invisible War - Not a great sequel, but a really great soundtrack.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I dont know if this counts but Puppeteer has UK director with Scottish composer.


I miss this game.....wish Sony bring it to PS5 but instead they keep re-releasing Last of Us games.

So... apparently this guy composed the music for The Emoji Movie.




What a waste of talent.

 

[poodaddy]

This is where indie devs truly shine:

The Messenger and Hotline Miami 2 have the best soundtracks of all time in my opinion. Just unrivaled.

 

[Pelao]

The game may be mediocre, but my goodness is the OST great.

 

[Vick]

Mafia II has the best soundtrack ever, bar none. Waay too many incredible songs to post them.

The Witcher 3 the very best original compositions, or at least my favorite. From the obvious battle themes posted all the time:



To countless unforgettable, magical, soulful masterpieces. Even the ones you never see mentioned are fucking incredible:



Red Dead Redemption 2 has one of my favorite piece of music ever:



But this YouTube guy deleted the OG version and re-uploaded a different one. The OG is still up on SoundCloud but uploaded by a guy with a very questionable avatar:

Spoiler

From 6:51 onward.. but that organ in general is just fucking incredible.

And the western Sony FP, from God of War titles OG and new ones, Uncharted OG Trilogy Edmonson magic:







To even the Hollywood score of U4:



Of course The Last of Us:



But Horizon too:



There's also this favorite piece of mine from an underrated and forgotten game, by Dexter's composer:

https://youtu.be/SmSzM9aQFnM?si=581Pa5sWMBUDP0FY&t=119

Alot of great fucking music in this medium.

 

[itsnotme]

Elden ring had me in awe when I played it especially the final boss ost

 

[Vick]

Elden ring had me in awe when I played it especially the final boss ost

Sure, but:

Otherwise it's a Final Fantasy Thread.

 

[swaffles23]

Oblivion.. Jeremy Soule masterpiece

 

[calistan]

Anything with music by Jesper Kyd. Classic Hitman would be my personal choice, but more recently he's done Warhammer. The man is the absolute boss of computer music.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Hollow Knight is a MASTERPIECE in every possible way. Its soundtrack is one of the reasons.

Not only it's beautiful but also conveys the mood of the game and the story perfectly.

For example, the Hornet track describes the personality of the character and the elegance of her moves.

 

[FunkMiller]

The Last of Us / The Last of Us: Part II.
Gustavo Santaolalla is a genius.

/thread.

There's now no more iconic or well constructed a piece of video game music than The Last Of Us theme. The Tv show has helped with that, obviously. Santaolalla was such a good find for Naughty Dog.

 

[Meicyn]

Stellaris. Andreas Waldetoft is incredibly talented.

 

[MrRibeye]

Are you guys blind or deaf? This topic is about Western games. Even OP got it wrong.

 

[DaciaJC]

It's the Witcher. The series has had incredible music since its inception in 2007.

“I Will Beat On Your Behind”

Age of Empires 2 was the rare RTS I actually played…..can’t say I remember that sort of gameplay in it!

Haha, yeah, the tracklists for the early AoE games were quite something.

Shamburger
I Will Beat On Your Behind
Drizzle (Firelight Smoove Mix)
Machina del Diablo
T Station
Bass Bag
Ride, Lawrence, Ride!
Smells Like Crickets, Tastes Like Chicken
Operation Monkey
Tazer
Pork Parts
Pudding Pie
Tide Me Over Warm 'em Ups
Voodoodoodoo
The Bovinian Derivative
Case in Point Paste
Mountain Lie On, Seamus and Chamois
Subotai Defeats the Knights Templar
Roi-r!, Basura! Basura!
Neep Ninny-Bod

 

[newtypepilot]

really disappointed no one had posted this

 

[ComputerBlue]

Assassin‘s Creed series, people hate on Ubisoft here so maybe avoid a lot of the games but they have some absolutely incredible music.

 

[Madflavor]

Blizzard Games circa 1995 - 2008 all had consistently god tier soundtracks. Warcraft II - WoW, Starcraft, and Diablo 1&2's soundtracks didn't have a single song that sucked. Here's a few to tickle your nostalgia:

 

[Vick]

Entirely forgot what to me is the very best piece of music in gaming history..




This eternal masterpiece was the first VG soundtrack in history to ever be nominated for a Grammy.
I'll never forget my reaction when it first played.. best audio/video/emotional blend ever.

/thread.

There's now no more iconic or well constructed a piece of video game music than The Last Of Us theme. The Tv show has helped with that, obviously. Santaolalla was such a good find for Naughty Dog.

Well they picked someone who won two Academy Awards. Kinda cheating.

It's the Witcher. The series has had incredible music since its inception in 2007.

Yeah I mean, it really is.

Even its minigames (simply walking around The Gran'place in Beauclair hearing the band playing this is an experience):



And optional and easily missable DLCs unique battles:



The game just never stops flexing. It's unreal. What a colossal masterpiece, damn.

P.S. There's an extremely politically incorrect comment under this last YT video that never fails to make laugh simply because of how outrageous it is:

 

[The Dead Flag Blues]

 

[IAmRei]

Deus Ex HR
Mass Effect

Tbh, for me, its hard because in my opinion, most of the western bgm/ost is not memorable for me. I play western games a lot during 2000-2013 and i mostly forgot the theme or bgm.

Anyway,
I thought it was "western theme game ost" i was thinking to type Wild Arms 1, thats the best western (fantasy scifi) rpg for me. And the ost nailed it.

 

[Mozzarella]

I'd rather post teams or people than a series.

Jeremy Soule who worked on The Elder Scrolls series
Jespyr Kid who worked on Assassin's Creed 2 and Hitman series
The Team at CDPR who always nail the music in every game.
Borislav Slavov recently with Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity Original Sin 2

Now moving a bit for notable games.

Deus Ex (2000) has a Fantastic soundtrack.
Commandos 2: Men of Courage has my all time favorite war soundtrack.
Runescape soundtrack brings so many nostalgia

I disagree with your premise, i think both spheres have their share of great music, its just that most Triple A games produce generic hollywood style music like the one Hans Zimmer and the likes make, which are dull and bland for games, but if you dig deeper especially older games, the good stuff are there.


Its really hard to count, and as others have mentioned plenty of others like AOE.

Some Samples from games not mention yet:








Edit: Can't believe i forgot one of the GOATs Cuphead lol

Yeah Cuphead is an easy 10/10 too, criminally underrated i feel, even if its popular, it was my pick even over Nier Automata.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

 

[Hero_Select]

You want the best? Here you go:

 

[Frayed Ends of Sanity]

I was a teen in the 2000's as a skinny, long haired, nerd who was deep into Metalcore, so the Doom soundtrack is always a big hit of dopamine for me

 

[March Climber]

CTRL + F 'Perfect Dark'

I can't use Goldeneye due to OP's rules, but don't worry guys, I got you covered.

 

[Soltype]

Batman and Robin on the Genesis is probably Jesper Kyd's best work the man is a wizard.


UT99 still has the best OST of any shooter , what's even more impressive is it's all tracker music.


Mass Effect blew me away '07.The soundtrack had this feeling of uncertainty to it. It fits the universe so well, the sequels lost that identity and the music composition never matched the first title

 

[Puscifer]

BennyBlanco , Max Payne 3 turned me into a fan of Health so much so that I'm actually going see them live 2 times over the next month. They'll be in Phoenix playing live while I'm visiting a friend and then a second time back in Cali.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Going old school. SNES sound quality was amazing. YT playlist links below.

 

[Havoc2049]

The award winning Sea of Thieves soundtrack, by Robin Beanland, is amazing. Beanland has been making great music with Rare since the 90's.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Halo Combat Evolved

 

[Robb]

I’d go with Halo i think. Even Infinite has an awesome OST.

 

[Dis]

Batman and Robin on the Genesis is probably Jesper Kyd's best work the man is a wizard.


UT99 still has the best OST of any shooter , what's even more impressive is it's all tracker music.


Mass Effect blew me away '07.The soundtrack had this feeling of uncertainty to it. It fits the universe so well, the sequels lost that identity and the music composition never matched the first title

Fuck YES.