Video Game Music

[MAS82587]

Why is it that you can instantly tell video game music from other types of trace, rock, techno? I'm still trying to figure this out, I mean it's really hard to see why. They are actually very similar in terms of melody and song structure. Any ideas?

[Zeromus_X]

Well, if you're referring to before the PlayStation 2 era (when fully orchestrated music is much more commonly used as opposed to a synthesizer), it could be because the quality of the synthesizers used to create the music is lower than that of real instruments. This is just a guess, I don't really tell the music too apart unless I already know it's from a video game.

[feioncastor]

Most video game music doesn't have lyrics, for one thing.

How does Nobuo work? Does he write a bunch of pieces and then let Square pick which one goes where? Or does he play through the game without music and use the gaming experience to decide what he should write?

The games seem written to the music, if you know what I mean. Like, the game would be somewhat hollow without the music. What would the fight against Atma Weapon be without the Atma Weapon music? And the way the world map theme changes in FF7 when meteor appears. It totally sets the mood for the game. At first, I didn't like that specific change (in FF7), but when you consider, it's quite appropriate, given the situation.

And the most notable, I think, is the music in FF6 during the Opera House sequence. The first time I played that part, it was late at night. A few hours after completing the Opera House stuff, I fell asleep with the controller in my hands. When I woke up later, I wasn't sure if the whole Opera House thing had actually happened, or if I had dreamed it up. It was so surreal, and I can guarantee it was the music that did it. The whole experience was unlike anything I'd ever seen in a game. The most amazing part about it was the music itself. Typically, a video game has a song that is a loop of about a minute or two of actual music. That whole piece wasn't a loop of any kind. It was a fully orchestrated piece, and that's just so uncommon amongst video game soundtracks.

Even if you look at non-FF games, the music does make a large part of the game. If I hummed the old MegaMan music, I bet most classic gamers would know exactly what I was humming. And of course, we all know the Mario Bros. Song.

Video Game music, especially the stuff that Mr. Uematsu writes, is excellent for listening outside of the game. The tunes that played behind the gameplay have stuck in my head moreso than the gameplay or story of many games.

When I was 12 and playing FF6 everyday, I can remember being at school, unable to focus because all I wanted to do was go home and play FF6 (or FF3, as we called it then). And I'd sit in class humming the battle song, Terra's Theme and that one that plays while Kefka destroys the world, over and over again until school was out.