Music for Avernum V

[obliza]

One thing Avernum really lacks is music. Games are rated on

Graphics

Music

Gameplay

Effects

 

The music effects are good but the game really lacks every other musical aspect. If you would like a composer I suggest you contact this guy.

 

http://www.robwestwoodmusic.com/

If you want some samples of his work try this.

http://www.almora.robwestwoodmusic.com/fast/index.php

[Lilith]

The thing is that Jeff Vogel hates music in video games, which makes him less inclined to include it in his own games.

[Xaiya]

I like it though.

I also like the music in the Spiderweb games.

[Enraged Slith]

Music only helps if it is good though. Good game music is expensive and really weighs down on the download time.

 

You're better off supplying your own music.

[Ming]

I can still remember all of the C64 Ultima III songs and have a bunch of MIDI files somewhere....so yeah, I can see how music would be good.

 

More "ambient" music is probably better, though - something like the Neverwinter Nights stuff.

 

BTW, anyone notice that when you go outdoors in Blades of Avernum's demo scenario in the Valley, it says "No birds fly overhead, things appear dead" (paraphrasing) that the background sound for outdoors has lots of birds chirping...?

[Alorael at Large]

I find NWN music insufferable. Your mileage may really, really vary with game music. I don't hate music in games as much as Jeff says he does, but I absolutely understand why he wouldn't want to put anything less than perfect in his games.

 

—Alorael, who is happy with the ambient sounds of Averforge games and his own iTunes soundtrack.

[Kyronea]

I can definitely understand it too...without a good musical artist, the game will suffer. Still, Jeff has picked great music in the past...just listen to the title music for Nethergate Resurrection, or Avernum II...absolutely splendid.

 

Thing is, I don't like providing my own soundtrack for a game because--in my eyes--games should have the music built specifically around the plot, the gameplay, and so on. Music needs to fit exactly what's going on...using music from another game or from some random artist very rarely fits, and even when it does fit, it's a poor fit, which makes it jarring, and it recalls my experiments with Morrowind adding in Final Fantasy music...felt completely wrong.

 

So, I would like to see more music in the games if it's possible. But that's up to Jeff and whether he can get such decent music in, and really, it's more for added enjoyment in terms of immersion than anything else. The games are good gameplay wise, and that's by far the most important aspect.

[Zummi]

Quote:

Originally written by obliza:
One thing Avernum really lacks is music. Games are rated on
Graphics
Music
Gameplay
Effects

You forgot "Moral Dilemmas"..
Music should go with the on-going event in the game..for ambiance..

I like the current music Jeff puts in the games..but me wants more spooky music or at least a special music for Special Boss Fights..

It is not right to have happy music when the lead female character dies by the hand of the lead antagonist..

[Android]

Very few games have music worth listening to.

Most of the time I turn it down and listen to my iTunes playlist instead.

 

Come to think of it, the only games I remember to have outstanding music are some Square games.

[Ming]

So what music do you guys listen to? Just any old tunes or something more RPG specific?

 

I like these soundtracks:

 

• Conan (first Arnold movie)

  1492

  LOTR trilogy (of course)

I also have some MIDI files and game music I play on occasion (some I ripped/extracted myself). I listen to:

• Ravenloft 2 - Stone Prophet

  Necronomicon - FM Towns (too obscure, don't ask)

  Ultimas (MIDIs up all over the place)

  For hard core retro, see the "music" tab here: http://www.lemon64.com/ - then check the 3rd composer on the list Arnold, Kenneth.

Here are a couple for download - choose "download" tab, then download from Aplus (the yellow text), literally took 5 seconds for me):

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00044/ http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00810/

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00937/

 

More PC music: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/computer/microsoft/windows/index-gr.html

[Ming]

Old-skool RPG tunes for your playlist:

 

http://files-upload.com/files/482308/10.MID

http://files-upload.com/files/482311/14.MID

http://files-upload.com/files/482306/4.MID

http://files-upload.com/files/482312/22.MID

http://files-upload.com/files/482314/40.MID

http://files-upload.com/files/482316/5032.MID

[Enraged Slith]

Starcraft and Diablo both have an incredible music track.

[Ming]

Quote:

Originally written by Enraged Slith:
Starcraft and Diablo both have an incredible music track.

Diablo had a creepy soundtrack in one of the dungeons with what could only be described as....evil babies crying in the background. Really made you sweat those scenes with big meat cleaver guys running after you.

I can't remember the Starcraft soundtrack.

Nethergate: Ressurection has a pretty good dungeon soundtrack in (avoiding spoilers here) Act (Chapter?) 2 - Celts. Not much music but cool ambient effects. I'm still new to the Spiderweb games so I'm not sure if that's been used in other games before.

One of my favorite "ambient sountracks" from when I was just a pre-teen with my Commodore64 was Temple of Apshai, the original, not the Trilogy. It had these low tones and made hums and buzzing notes that added to the effect of a scary dungeon settting. The trilogy had no music that I can recall. Add to that the original Temple and Curse of Ra were set on a black screen with white walls as opposed to the white backdrop and colored walls in the Trilogy, and the Trilogy just felt too....nice to be engaging.

[Alorael at Large]

It's Nethergate, and the ambient sounds are based on the area type, not the chapter or party. Caves get drippy cave noises, towns get town noises, and horrible magical sites get magical noises.

 

—Alorael, who gets noises of scorn and derision regularly. It's not him, it's the area. Really!

[Ming]

Quote:

Originally written by Polygnosis:
It's Nethergate, and the ambient sounds are based on the area type, not the chapter or party. Caves get drippy cave noises

Eek - you'd think I could get the name of the game I've been playing for the last several days straight - I had to edit it, that was so bad. I'll have to try the Genentech series after this.

Yep, it's the noises like bats, or rats, or creepy crawlies that I like along with the drippy sounds.

I wanted to say where I was but didn't know how without giving away spoilers. Seems it wasn't important.

Could also be that I'm using nice speakers instead of junky earphones that makes that dungeon echo effect sound even nicer.