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Perspective on the Original Soundtrack
Genaro
Member
Yes, I know that there are much more important other features and systems that must be implemented, improved and fixed in the game. But let's talk about music just for a minute.
Every player knows how a music in a game can enhance your experience and making you fully immerse in it, bringing the appropriate feeling for the right moment, or it can diminish the gameplay, in a certain way. There are games that have a fundamental pillar of the game their own amazing soundtracks, like Undertale and Ori and the Blind Forest, for example. And, just to mention RPG games, Skyrim and The Witcher 3, are very known by their soundtracks too, with the "Dragonborn" song being practically an anthem between the RPG fans. Goes without saying that Pokémon, Zelda, Final Fantasy, and many of the classics are unforgettable.
In general, it's kind of uncommon when a MMORPG provides a really good OST. There are just a few that pop into my mind, like: World of Warcraft, Ragnarok, Aion, Guild Wars 1 and Final Fantasy XIV. For me, when a MMORPG have a good music, it feels slightly more special, compared to other genres, because, generally, the music is associated with specific moments (e.g., battles), situations (e.g., merchant shop), environment (e.g., desert) and so on. I remember very clearly the "Payon's theme" song from Ragnarok Online and the good feeling that gave me when I heard it. Give me chills to this very day. Other games, like BDO, for instance, which I played for hundreds of hours at least, it's so generic that I don't even remember a single music.
When it comes down to Ashes of Creation OST (which you can hear here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ePbSTIfSGY), the musical composition is actually pretty good. It creates a strong identity with the usage of the piano and violin as main instruments , bringing an 'epicness' to the music, and creating sometimes beautiful and relax songs, like "Winter Wonderland Soundtrack", and other times creating a sense of danger and awareness, such as "Dünheim Dungeon Lore Soundtrack". My problem with Ashes OST is that almost every song uses this 'epicness' feeling, with usage of piano and violin just a little bit over excessive, when you compare the songs from the same OST. It sure represents what is the main identity of the game but does not create uniqueness to certain aspects of the same, like, for example, to zones/regions/maps. Making a direct comparison to World of Warcraft Classic OST (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkwBgkz3ukY), you can hear very clearly that almost each zone has an instrumental identity associated with it, making it special and distinct from the others (I know that it's not s super fair comparison, since Blizzard had developed many games before).
So, my recommendation is to explore a little bit more of instrumental components into the music and to think of bringing a 'theme' identity associated with the zones in the game, and for the other aspects too. Something that players will remember in which scenario they are just by listening to the song. And yes, I know that this kind of work requires lots of money, it's time consuming, and, by now, the devs are probably more concerned in delivering all the amazing features and system that the game has. But, remember, you can create, right from the start, a fully immersive experience for players to remember for years to come.
What do you guys think of it? Is this something worth it of caring about?
*P.S.: Unfortunately, the Ashes OST in that video is a 2 years old video, so improvements may have been made. No in game song was displayed on the last gameplay alpha footage.*
Every player knows how a music in a game can enhance your experience and making you fully immerse in it, bringing the appropriate feeling for the right moment, or it can diminish the gameplay, in a certain way. There are games that have a fundamental pillar of the game their own amazing soundtracks, like Undertale and Ori and the Blind Forest, for example. And, just to mention RPG games, Skyrim and The Witcher 3, are very known by their soundtracks too, with the "Dragonborn" song being practically an anthem between the RPG fans. Goes without saying that Pokémon, Zelda, Final Fantasy, and many of the classics are unforgettable.
In general, it's kind of uncommon when a MMORPG provides a really good OST. There are just a few that pop into my mind, like: World of Warcraft, Ragnarok, Aion, Guild Wars 1 and Final Fantasy XIV. For me, when a MMORPG have a good music, it feels slightly more special, compared to other genres, because, generally, the music is associated with specific moments (e.g., battles), situations (e.g., merchant shop), environment (e.g., desert) and so on. I remember very clearly the "Payon's theme" song from Ragnarok Online and the good feeling that gave me when I heard it. Give me chills to this very day. Other games, like BDO, for instance, which I played for hundreds of hours at least, it's so generic that I don't even remember a single music.
When it comes down to Ashes of Creation OST (which you can hear here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ePbSTIfSGY), the musical composition is actually pretty good. It creates a strong identity with the usage of the piano and violin as main instruments , bringing an 'epicness' to the music, and creating sometimes beautiful and relax songs, like "Winter Wonderland Soundtrack", and other times creating a sense of danger and awareness, such as "Dünheim Dungeon Lore Soundtrack". My problem with Ashes OST is that almost every song uses this 'epicness' feeling, with usage of piano and violin just a little bit over excessive, when you compare the songs from the same OST. It sure represents what is the main identity of the game but does not create uniqueness to certain aspects of the same, like, for example, to zones/regions/maps. Making a direct comparison to World of Warcraft Classic OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkwBgkz3ukY), you can hear very clearly that almost each zone has an instrumental identity associated with it, making it special and distinct from the others (I know that it's not s super fair comparison, since Blizzard had developed many games before).So, my recommendation is to explore a little bit more of instrumental components into the music and to think of bringing a 'theme' identity associated with the zones in the game, and for the other aspects too. Something that players will remember in which scenario they are just by listening to the song. And yes, I know that this kind of work requires lots of money, it's time consuming, and, by now, the devs are probably more concerned in delivering all the amazing features and system that the game has. But, remember, you can create, right from the start, a fully immersive experience for players to remember for years to come.
What do you guys think of it? Is this something worth it of caring about?
*P.S.: Unfortunately, the Ashes OST in that video is a 2 years old video, so improvements may have been made. No in game song was displayed on the last gameplay alpha footage.*
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Comments
The actual Ashes music is currently being made by renowned composer Bear McCreary, and there are rumours that we'll get to hear the first of that music during Beta testing.
Oh, is it really? Didn't know that they bought the pre-made songs.
Anyway, thank you for letting me know! I was really wondering who is the musician and composer behind their soundtrack. I already listened some of the songs of Battlestar Galactica, in which Bear McCreary participated as composer, and they are pretty good!
I'm looking forward to hear some music in the Beta test