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There is a crisis right now in the world of RPG
music, and depending on the
outcome, it will either regain its towering heights
of skill, or will fall,
shattering on the diamond-hard floor of mediocrity.
I am speaking of course
of the new wave of music being used for dramatic
purposes in games,
especially RPG's, and how it is shifting from the
orchestral joy of yore, to
the Jpop-like slime of some recent soundtracks (F X
being a prime example).
How many gamers, upon the first few bars of the
score to Aeris's death in FF
VII, will begin to tear up? How many will begin to
reel upon the sound of
the Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes ending theme?
Who among us will become
glassy-eyed when the opening track of Chrono Trigger
is played? That’s'
right, ALL who have experienced those scores while
playing those games,
that's who. Music is vital when it comes to
solidifying the mood of a scene,
in RPGs especially due to the immersion that goes
along with them, so when
it's anything less than perfectly fitting to the
moment, the moment suffers
because of it.
When I first played FF8 and Eyes On Me started
playing, I was fearful at
best and disgusted at worst. The problem with modern
style songs used in
videogames is that it draws you out of the game and
makes it seem more
distant from what is happening. That's all well and
good if that's the
nature of the game, but in a ROLE PLAYING GAME that
is not the case. The
idea (with a few exceptions) is to draw the player
into the game and become
part of it as opposed to just being a bystander, but
when the music is so
ill-fitting to the moment, the scene, the style and
the genre, it destroys
that immersion that the game is designed to do. The
combination of modern
vocals and Jpop will be the death of RPG music, as
its place is not in games
(especially RPG's). At most, a requiem or
requiem-ish score may be used, but
certainly not these horrible Jpop songs.
You may ask, what makes me qualified to say this?
Well, I know my music, and
I know what is good. I have been gaming since I was
4 years old and know the
effect it has on the impact of a moment in gaming; I
am more than qualified.
You young gamers out there, it is not your fault
though, as you were not
there to experience the progression of the past, so
it is forgivable as long
as you turn from your ways and see the light of the
requiems and orchestral
goodness that awaits you! Need some great examples
of orchestral themes?
Check out these for starters, "Aeris's Death" (FF7),
"Lost Paintings"
(Castlevania: SOTN), "Chateau Ladutorm" (Dragon
Warrior: Symphonic Suite),
"Shower of Blossoms" (Star Ocean 2: The Second
Story), and "Epic Tale of a
Holy Death" (Valkyrie Profile). This is just a VERY
small selection from my
own playlist. I also made sure to make the games not
too recent but not too
old. Trust me, once you experience the power that
orchestral and requiem
music has, you will never go back to the aural tripe
that is modern RPG
music.
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