Legendary video game music composer Nobuo Uematsu says he doesn’t think some modern video game soundtracks are as interesting as those in older games.
He’s not wrong, but blandness is king in the AAA space.
It’s taking over everything that corporations touch. Despite all their attempts to hide and distract from their problems, they only keep mounting because they refuse to accept the fundamental truth that it is literally impossible to strictly control the entire population the way that their systems are designed to work. Computer technology and the Internet have ironically actually solved our problems, not by controlling what people do, but rather by accelerating the enshitification process to a pace where their bullshit becomes abundantly obvious to everyone.
No offence to Tetsuya Nomura, I love a lot of the titles he worked on, but he doesn’t have a single independent thought in him. Everything he makes feels like a remix of something else, like his entire legacy is loosely copying Hironobu Sakaguchi’s successes.
Cmon, he put lots of belts and zippers on things and gave us the not at all convoluted plot of Kingdom Hearts, that’s gotta count for something
Just kidding, Nomura and his enablers are the worst thing to happen to JRPGs
He’s not wrong. Old school Nintendo and super Nintendo and Sega Genesis songs gets stuck in my head all the time. Same can’t be said of modern-day AAA games.
Yeah, take Jeremy Soule, for example. He’s talented, experienced, and composing all of these broad symphonic soundtracks for Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, and Harry Potter games.
But, what’s the soundtrack of his that sticks out in my mind? Secret of Evermore. Underrated as fuck soundtrack for an underrated as fuck game. Back when he was forced to compose for a game with limited hardware and instrumentation, where he had to use distinct melodies to achieve a sound that sticks in everybody’s minds.
Every Frame a Painting did a good video on this subject, as it pertains to the Marvel movies.
I think music has a very important place in games, and the thing about music in The Elder Scrolls is that it’s always been an afterthought.
I mean, sure, Jeremy Soule composed some great tracks (though really, they were always a bit repetitive, and it only got worse since Oblivion). But no effort was made at all to get them to fit the game.
Of course it’s not an easy task with the open-world design. But already in Morrowind, after a while the soundtrack was getting on my nerves. It was always there, with that overwhelming orchestration blaring when nothing much happened in game, or that melancholic theme starting in the middle of a gruesome underground dungeon. Everywhere sounds the same, until one enemy spots you and then it abruptly stops for another overused track. No matter if it’s a greater Daedra or a freaking mudcrab.
That theme, you know the one because it’s become the Elder Scrolls theme, from Morrowind’s title screen to Oblivion’s to The DragonBorn Comes, I used to like it. Except after a few dozen hours being used without rhyme or reason in Morrowind, I already couldn’t stand it anymore.
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Every Frame a Painting did a good video
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Yeah, games used to have bitchin soundtracks. I remember when we started putting in licensed music into it’s racing games with it’s “EA games trax”. It was terrible. I liked the bespoke music they used to put in need for speed games, or even the older burnout games.
Thats because the game only had 6 songs, and they played on repeat for 20 hours straight
Butthurt modern gamer? Lol
FF6 OST has 61 tracks.
COD Modern Warfare 3 OST has 20 tracks.
I could be wrong since I’m going off of what YouTube Music has, but you’re way off base.
I would gladly listen to the streets of rage 2 soundtrack on repeat for hours.
I get what he’s saying. Game music used to have a much bigger “job” in fleshing out the world that the game presented to you. I remember for example songs like Final Fantasy VII’s Gold Saucer, Chrono Cross’ Termina (Another World) that set the tone of the place you’re visiting: busy, active, crowded and festive. If you take the music out, you have a beautiful yet static, almost frozen landscape - it comes alive with the music. Nowadays the visuals can be so detailed, the worlds so big and busy that the music seems to be an afterthought: it’s just ambient music for the already immersive world of the game. And I believe that has lead to a lot of composers settling for just that: ambient music.
I think on Twitter I once messaged Gareth Coker, the composer for Ori and the Blind Forest, about how beautiful the music on that game is and how there’s a big emphasis on melodies. He replied that the studio specifically pushed for melody-heavy songs, rather than just ambient music that only complements the action. That makes a huge difference.
Part of the reason I enjoy games is for the soundtracks. Modern games that come to mind are Persona 5 and Nier Automata which has do much memorable music. The soundtrack creates an Identity. So many games feel like the sound team doesn’t care if I play my own music instead.
Sea of Stars was such a refreshing game. From the music, to the backgrounds, to the combat, it was like a love letter to 90’s RPGs. You only get that level of quality and love from indie games these days. Games from large companies just don’t have any soul anymore.
They literally can’t afford to.
There’s a huge budget bloat, which means having to play ever safer to maximize your audience.
The reality is that only small games can afford to be gambles and actually have an identity and a soul.
Big budget games need to be works of incredible craftsmanship like the Arkham games to maintain a soul while being unimpeachable in execution, and you can’t just throw money at the skill problem.
You can however throw money at 10387 consulting firms to make sure you’re aiming for maximum palatability, and inevitably make homogenised pap for babies.
For instance: it’s really telling when even a game that should have been edgy as fuck like Suicide Squad had to lionize Wonder Woman, and only Wonder Woman, because apparently you can’t humiliate her and unceremoniously murder her alongside every other beloved Justice League member.
