Wyzdom said:
ok i wrote the word "movie-like" i guess lol
I think we dig gaming music almost the same way. Better composition is indeed POSSIBLE because nowadays you have more options. I know there was some very bad soundtracks in NES times but you know, back then, when a title was standing out you knew about it. There was less games for a start. Today, it's hard to play everything or just fall on great soundtrack on luck. Today we have the technic but it doesn't bring more talent.
Logically there must be more good composers out there than before but from a one person stand point, it's like i fall on more bad stuff.
If i take a parallel with real music, for me it goes the same; the more i listen to music, the more i notice there's bad stuff out there. Then i suppose that gaming music is just as good as before and it's maybe just our tastes evolving.
I'm also out of luck i guess, most soundtrack you just mentionned i didn't heard!!
Well, my friend, I have but one suggestion for you...
Get involved in the game music community! Seriously! A lot of the best music I've heard was first heard in soundtrack form. In many cases, the music I might have heard prior to the release of a game will drive me to check out the game. All of those soundtracks I listed are top grade stuff and you should check them out. I think you might just be ultra suprised by how incredibly good a lot of it is. I can now see why your opinion of modern day game music was not incredibly high. You've simply missed out on the best of the best!
Start by joining up at
www.gamingforce.com and get on the forums. Don't just jump right into the FTPs and start downloading or something, but really get in there and look through discussions. You'll find all kinds of good stuff you may never have heard of...
Heck, they are hosting another music contest (the second this summer). This time, we are voting on the best RPG battle tracks. I had heard most of the music prior to the contest, but found myself shocked and suprised by a track from a game known as "Neorude II". It is always a pleasant suprise to find new game music that you've never heard of before.
I mean, looking at that list I posted, one of my favorite soundtracks on there comes from a game I have never even SEEN before. Soukaigi was composed by Hiroki Kikuta of Seiken Densetsu 2 & 3 fame (Secret of Mana). It is, in my opinion, the finest work he has ever done. It was also created entirely with real instruments. No synth here.
That is the kind of thing you need to search for. Of course, if you aren't interested in just hearing the music...I guess you'll be missing out. Plenty of games have shit music and, sadly, many of those games are very popular.
I challenge anyone who claims that game music these days sucks to take a look at some of this stuff...
From my last post...
Katamari Damashii, Jet Set Radio, Breath of Fire V - Dragon Quarter, Beyond Good & Evil, Star Ocean 3, REZ, Silent Hill series in general, Soukaigi, Baroque, AZEL - Panzer Saga, Evil Twin, Gitarooman, Gungrave, Berserk, Napple Tale, Unlimited SaGa, Hitman Contracts, ICO, Klonoa 2 (especially the Wahoo Stomp), PSO, Ridge Racer Type-4, Shadow Hearts 2, Voodoo Vince, Guily Gear XX, Crimson Sea, Drakengard, Contra SS, Halo, Ecco the Dolphin CD through DotF...
...and even more...
ANUBIS Zone of the Enders. Contra SS, Elemental Gearbolt (INCREDIBLE - A MUST HEAR), Gradius V, Kessen II, Lost Child, Magna Carta - The Phantom of Avalanche, Megaman Network Transmission, Baten Kaitos, Ollie King, Outcast, PRIMAL, Rygar, Soul Blade, Tenchu, TOBOL #1, Vib Ribbon, Xenosaga II, Rayman and Ys VI.
That even fails to include a lot of the other soundtracks that people always denote as classics. If you find that you have not heard many of those soundtracks, stop cheating yourself and go take a listen. Game music today is better than it has ever been, but you have to look harder than ever. A great game does not always mean great music (sadly).