The musical component often has a significant impact on the entire gameplay as a whole. A banal and logical idea, but the player is not always aware of the influence of the soundtrack on how the game proceeds. It happens that during an atmospheric or dramatic scene a person simply plays his own music in the background, which has a very negative effect on the action. Yes, of course, this is not always critical, for example, in some Civilization or Total War, the gameplay is often measured, which is why the music at some point simply begins to irritate with its monotony. But there are often cases when, during an emotional scene, a person may have some kind of abstract dubsteb playing in the background, which absolutely does not fit with the mood. Or we all know how on the same streams they turn on a music bot, a person plays the game live for the first time and, due to the choice of music of the audience, is not so deeply imbued with the atmosphere of the game. Playing “John Cena” on a horror movie is certainly funny, but nevertheless it greatly affects immersion.
So why all this heresy above?? Very often there are cases when a person including third-party music only spoils the feeling of the game for himself, and then complains that the scenes turned out to be somehow mediocre (personally, I had a friend who completed Nier: Automata, putting some kind of rap in the background, and then complained that he didn’t have enough epic. When I advised him to play without his music, he radically changed his mind). And in this regard, I would like to think about how the musical component can affect the immersion and feeling of the gameplay. You can consider this a kind of continuation of the blog about the atmosphere and gameplay, authored by yours truly. I recommend checking out the latter if you haven’t already, and I hope you find it interesting. Let’s figure out how a properly written soundtrack affects the gameplay.
Before we begin, I would like to make an extremely important digression. This blog is written by a person with no musical education, who cannot distinguish a double bass from a violin, an A from a B, and the Talmuds with notes are perceived more like an alien language. If you have a musical education or are knowledgeable about this topic, I recommend skipping this blog, because.To. here there will be a maximum number of subjective thoughts that do not claim to be the ultimate truth and a huge number of, most likely, incorrect thoughts. If you still intend to read the blog, I hope for adequate criticism and suggestions in the comments.
Where would you like to start?? Since the musical theme is quite difficult to convey, especially through text, I would like to start with what defines the game or series from the first minutes, namely the title theme. The thing is obvious and banal, but sometimes a person unconsciously associates this or that game, primarily due to the title theme. For an example, you can turn to the well-known, albeit slightly forgotten, Legacy of Kain series. The musical accompaniment of this series is quite interesting and in 5 games there will be more than one track that many will remember. However, 90% of players always recognized one track as the title theme – Ariel’s Lament.
This theme, first heard in Soul Reaver 2, is so deeply ingrained in the brains of fans of the series that the only desire that arises after hearing this track several years later is to organize a local marathon. The theme not only sounds atmospheric, but also conveys the entire mood of the series.
Another example is the same Deus Ex series, although here everything is a little more complicated, i.e.To. the series is now divided into old and new duologies. And if new players more often recall the title theme of Human Revolution, which sets the mood for a rather emotional and even personal adventure, then the theme of the first Deus Ex sets the mood for something more epic, which makes some old-timers feel a tear of nostalgia.
It is difficult to blame one or another layer of players for the fact that they associate the series with different parts or different musical components, because everyone began their acquaintance with the series with different games. However, it is enough to hear just a couple of notes of one title theme to remember your favorite adventure.
The third example can be given, let’s be banal, old school shooters, the same Doom or Duke Nukem. Now only a newborn does not know what E1M1 or Grabbag is, and not including these topics as headlines would be simply a betrayal.
Since Doom had more luck in terms of modern reincarnations, they worked with it especially carefully. The notorious Mick Gordon, who has had a hand in almost every recent Bethesda game to date, clearly enjoyed his work and has great respect for the original. His version of E1M1 is currently heard from most shooter fans’ speakers, and judging by the upcoming release of Doom Eternal, he has not lost his grip.
Old Duke, unfortunately, is not so lucky and the last time we heard his main theme was Duke Nukem Forever, the failure of which is still debated to this day, but that’s a story for another time.
However, even now, having learned the first guitar cuts, it is impossible to resist the desire to take a couple of Devastators and smash several alien carcasses.
But the title theme, https://bingozinocasino.co.uk/ of course, is not all. The soundtrack cannot catch you so much with just one composition, something is needed for the process. Moreover, the musical accompaniment should not only be suitable for the situation, but also stylistically fit into what is happening. You can’t immediately turn on conventional rap or dubsteb after an epic orchestra (unless it fits the style of the game, hello to games about 50 Cent, for example) – this will ruin the whole atmosphere, all the heat will go down the toilet, and the former admiration will be replaced, at best, by a hand on your face.
Naturally, no self-respecting composer does such nonsense and therefore the soundtrack is always written in the same style with rare standout tracks. Nier: Automata is a good example here. In addition to the memorable main theme of The Weight of The World, which was written in as many as three variations, the game has a huge amount of both melodic and extremely epic soundtrack, which is also cleverly combined.
The game’s composer, Keiichi Okabe, and his studio have been collaborating with Yoko Taro, the main creator of the game, for a long time, and each of the latter’s projects has a really interesting musical accompaniment. In particular, the Nier series has always had an extremely melodic soundtrack that perfectly conveyed the mood of each scene, and Automata, using some tracks from the first game, reused them so beautifully that it was impossible to accuse the composer of hackwork.
Thanks to the musical accompaniment, every scene, be it epic boss battles, emotional dialogues, or just a walk through a peaceful camp, was received with a bang. Boss battles were captivating due to the epic orchestra, dialogues were filled with melodic or tense notes, depending on the dialogues, walks through destroyed areas or gatherings in the camp were accompanied by very relaxing melodies, on which you just wanted to stand in some beautiful place, put the gamepad aside and just relax. But for me personally, the peak track, in terms of emotionality, was this one.
Referring us to the first game, this track grabbed the throat so hard that it was very difficult to sit straight. Perhaps these emotions are subjective and not everyone who played the first Nier experienced the same feelings, but for me it was simply an incomparable feeling that very few projects are capable of conveying.
For those who are not in the know, in the first part there were 2 girls who also played the same theme and were inextricably linked with the main characters. When the player first gets to the hub location, one of the girls played exactly the same theme, but in a calmer version. In Automata, the instrumental version plays more often, but when the version with vocals is played for the only time, it gives a completely different effect. Unfortunately, in the first Nier, everything did not end very well, but the characters turned out to be quite memorable.
But sometimes you don’t always want something so emotional, and here more cheerful things come to the rescue. For example, you can take the same DOOM 2016. It would seem that the most ordinary guitar cuts, which can surprise you very rarely. However, the already mentioned Mick Gordon didn’t just snarl a couple of times on the guitar and shove it into the game. He approached composing the soundtrack in a rather interesting way, using a huge number of different synthesizers or even ordinary electronic equipment. At the same time, its entire soundtrack turned out to be dynamic and changed from fight to fight. Like for example BFG Division
If the initial notes were slow and drawn-out, by the middle the track began to gain momentum, and by the end it began to hammer into the brain so furiously that getting into drive was a matter of a couple of seconds. Plus, the soundtrack had an excellent rhythm that fit into the ongoing meat grinder, and the player adjusted to this rhythm, which made it extremely difficult to stop in the middle of the battle, I wanted to continue so much. Thanks to this soundtrack, every fight was full of rage, rhythm and drive. Of course, you could turn on any metal band in the background and also enjoy the process, because the gameplay did not change from this, but the sensations from the action also changed somewhat. As an experiment, I decided to try playing DOOM 2016, first with the in-game soundtrack, and then with different tracks from metal bands, I won’t say which ones specifically, everything was mixed up. Feelings varied quite seriously. Thanks to the dynamic soundtrack and the presence of calm ambient music, I wanted to play much more, while with a third-party soundtrack you simply get tired of the game faster. If with the game soundtrack you could sit quietly for 4-5 hours straight and not get too tired, then with third-party music the game became boring after 2 hours. As in the example with Nier, these sensations are categorically subjective and everyone can perceive such a process in their own way, but if it works for one person, it’s not a fact that it won’t work for others.
Although you don’t need to have an incredibly dynamic soundtrack for it to be a great fit for a shooter. Naturally, it is sometimes impossible to do without dynamic music, but you can put more emphasis on heavy notes, which will put pressure on the player throughout the entire playthrough, perfectly conveying the whole hell of the meat grinder happening on the screen. Spec Ops: The Line is an example of this. The game’s soundtrack can be called dynamic, but unlike DOOM, it does not emphasize speed and drive. Quite the contrary, it puts more pressure on you with its weight, maintaining the rhythm of the shootings and pumping up the atmosphere to the limit so that by the end of the game you, along with the heroes, are just as emotionally exhausted and feel as if you’ve already found yourself in hell, and the ticket was only one way. And if you play such a game with third-party music, a person will not get half the emotions that he experiences while playing. Especially the first one.
However, not only the presence of music, but also its absence can have a beneficial effect. The presence of a constant ambient or looping musical theme can sometimes be somewhat annoying, which is why by the end of the game even very pleasant, beautiful or dynamic tracks can begin to become boring. However, by inserting just a few tracks in key places, the game can highlight the main points of the game. An example of such use of a soundtrack would be the Half-Life series. Throughout 65-70% of the game we are only surrounded by the sounds of the surrounding world, however, at key moments, when the hero receives some kind of means to fight enemies, an important plot skirmish begins or the entrance to a new location, the game emphasizes this with musical accompaniment, which, by the way, fits perfectly with the scenery and what is happening. And that is why, for example, Alix’s most banal defense from antlions in Episode Two turns into an epic confrontation. Yes, even escaping from scanners and alliance civil defense at the very beginning of Half-Life 2 feels extremely tense.
But along with the above categories, there is one more. Games whose soundtrack is absolutely inseparable from the gameplay. And here it is enough to mention only one studio – Supergiant Games. The games of these people are so closely connected by each element that if you remove even one, the whole system collapses and the game simply will not work as intended. And music in their games is not the last place. Whether it’s the string plucks of Bastion or the beautiful tunes of Red from Transistor, any track has such a good and important effect on the game that replacing it with any other background music would be simply a disaster.
Another similar example would be Brutal Legend, which is entirely based on a musical theme. Despite the fact that 90% of the soundtrack is licensed songs, most of them are selected for specific game situations. Not to mention the fact that the world itself is created for a specific musical style. Therefore, of course you can just throw a conventional Rammstein and play, but again the idea is lost and the game is perceived differently. Thanks to the musical selection of the developers, the game feels just great, and you always want to shake your head along with some “non-scripts”.
Also, not the worst example would be to mention the Persona series. Despite the fact that JRPGs very often play the same tracks, and the games are far from short, the Persona series has a very solid soundtrack that not only fits perfectly into any situation, but also sounds very good in isolation from the game. The game composer, Shoji Meguro, has been writing music for games for quite a long time and many have become accustomed to his style, so the enthusiasm is far from the same. Still, by removing or changing the current soundtrack, games will lose some of their charm. That is why the musical component of the series is no less important than the plot or gameplay.
And this can continue for a very long time, but firstly, pulling by the snot is not beautiful, and secondly, all of the above are still categorically subjective thoughts of one person. Music itself is an individual thing and not everyone will like the OST of the same Nier: Automata, and for some DOOM will still sound like a collection of ordinary guitar cuts. Again, as was said at the beginning of the blog, replacing music is not always a bad thing, listening to the same tunes for 400 hours in Paradox strategies (unless it’s Stellaris) or playing some multiplayer shooter that does not require hearing, without third-party music, is sometimes quite painful and here, of course, you can cheat once or twice. However, changing the music in all games, simply because you want to play with your own music, is not the right thing to do.
Well, something like this. This blog turned out to be more of a collection of personal thoughts than some kind of full-fledged analysis, but sometimes you just want to express yourself like this. I hope all this was at least somehow interesting, I wish you nothing but success in the columns and see you somewhere else.
Separately, I would like to thank my comrades LastStepToHell for their help in design, as well as shizoid_human for their help in editing. Thank you for helping me become better.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!