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Would you turn off music if it was a option?

Reila

Inkling Fleet Admiral
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Messages
877
That's an interesting concept. I've played plenty of games with unremarkable soundtrack...particularly since American games from the 6th generaton and onwards are all about ambience; they don't care much about memorable music. Asian game developers tend to care about their music a lot more (though American companies inspired by Japanese gaming usually do, like WayForward and Lab Zero.).

On the flip side, there are also games with fantastic music but mediocre to terrible gameplay, like Kirby Ar Ride anf Karnaaj Racing. This seems to happen at SEGA a lot, from Sonic 2006 to NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.
There are actually a ton of western games with great soundtracks, regardless of generation. Although they are mostly on PC. On consoles I can't think of many western games with memorable soundtracks... Hm, there is the Last of Us and... Metroid Prime/Retro's Donkey Kong Country series and... Yeah. Now when it comes to PC and indie games, I can't complain. I'd like to add that "ambiance" music can be great, too. But to each their own.

I have played (and still play) games with weak soundtracks, too. Heroes of the Storm is a great example :P
 

dubious

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hyomin
Having no music would be awful (not fond of playing games without sound), so no. Having slider options to adjust whether the music or sounds are louder than the other would be nice though, even if I'd probably not use it...
 

birdiebee

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On the flip side, there are also games with fantastic music but mediocre to terrible gameplay, like Kirby Ar Ride anf Karnaaj Racing. This seems to happen at SEGA a lot, from Sonic 2006 to NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.
Air Ride is fun AF though I mean...... City Trials never get old.
 
E

Encore

Guest
I always have the game on mute and listen to other music. It helps me to focus better and to concentrate more (really, I'm doing way better when I play now). I don't have the sound effects, yes, but so far that hasn't really been a problem for me. And the music... to be honest, it sucks, is annoying und distracts me while playing. Please don't kill me now. :p
 

birdiebee

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I always have the game on mute and listen to other music. It helps me to focus better and to concentrate more (really, I'm doing way better when I play now). I don't have the sound effects, yes, but so far that hasn't really been a problem for me. And the music... to be honest, it sucks, is annoying und distracts me while playing. Please don't kill me now. :p
you slimy hipster
 

Achamo

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KupoSuppi
Sort of depends.
I tend to listen to my own music when playing ANY game competitively.

Ironically, I listen to some Splatoon music on my itunes while playing Splatoon, such as the single player mode musics.
They are catchy.. Really.
 

Zombie Aladdin

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Air Ride is fun AF though I mean...... City Trials never get old.
There was always something that felt incomplete about Kirby Air Ride though. It was pretty low in content and lacked polish. City Trial was definitely awesome, however.

There are actually a ton of western games with great soundtracks, regardless of generation. Although they are mostly on PC. On consoles I can't think of many western games with memorable soundtracks... Hm, there is the Last of Us and... Metroid Prime/Retro's Donkey Kong Country series and... Yeah. Now when it comes to PC and indie games, I can't complain. I'd like to add that "ambiance" music can be great, too. But to each their own.

I have played (and still play) games with weak soundtracks, too. Heroes of the Storm is a great example :p
Of course. I have plenty of songs from western games too. I don't care what country the game is from; if the music is good, I'd like to have it.

The difference, however, is in the culture. Japan seems to be a country whose game industry's composers and sound directors want their music to be memorable and stand out, whereas the United States' game industry wants to be like Hollywood and have music that blends into the background and you either forget it as soon as it ends or you don't notice it at all. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach; I just don't like it quite as much.

Video game music DOES seem to be taken more seriously in the United States (and Europe) as of late though, with stuff like Symphony of the Goddess and the rush of iTunes game soundtracks. Still has a stigma of it not being "real music" though. Back in 2007 in college, I had a roommate who, upon finding out I listen to video game music wanted to "get [me] off that stuff" with a smile. Very nice person, but it illustrates the status of video game music in the mainstream.
 

Award

Squid Savior From the Future
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Dec 18, 2015
Messages
1,661
Personally I love Splatoon's soundtrack, and bought Splatune to enjoy it away from the game as well. I wouldn't turn it off, it adds to the mood and vibe. BUT, I do wish there were more music in the game. So much of their soundtrack is wasted on the campaign you play once, plus the Squid sisters music you only get on Splatfest days. It needed more variety in battles. Maybe they'll offer a music content DLC/Amiibo with the new content they offer since they announced it at a concert?

There was always something that felt incomplete about Kirby Air Ride though. It was pretty low in content and lacked polish. City Trial was definitely awesome, however.



Of course. I have plenty of songs from western games too. I don't care what country the game is from; if the music is good, I'd like to have it.

The difference, however, is in the culture. Japan seems to be a country whose game industry's composers and sound directors want their music to be memorable and stand out, whereas the United States' game industry wants to be like Hollywood and have music that blends into the background and you either forget it as soon as it ends or you don't notice it at all. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach; I just don't like it quite as much.

Video game music DOES seem to be taken more seriously in the United States (and Europe) as of late though, with stuff like Symphony of the Goddess and the rush of iTunes game soundtracks. Still has a stigma of it not being "real music" though. Back in 2007 in college, I had a roommate who, upon finding out I listen to video game music wanted to "get [me] off that stuff" with a smile. Very nice person, but it illustrates the status of video game music in the mainstream.

That really plays as a whole into the Western motif of gaming though: Cinematic interactive movie experiences, versus the Japanese school of stand alone interesting activities. Strangely "hardcore' games now means "is the most like a movie that you play" while "non-hardcore" tends to mean "addictive complicated games that require maximal effort to make the most of and will devour your soul." Weird era of gaming in the West.

Though I also think that Japanese games ape the pop genre with catchy melodies for their soundtracks, in some cases quite literally (Squid Sisters, SMTxFE, Anything SMT actually...) Western studios tend to pull from classical symphonic soundtracks. (Zelda being the crossover, but of course, Zelda is more well received in the West than in Japan, so...)

I think some people who are not into orchestral music tend to view anything orchestral as "background" or "blending in" where, those of us more interested in classical are more able to pick the ones INTENDING to be background and the ones that stand out on their own, both in film and in games.

In games, I'd cite ANY work of Jeremy Soule as must-own-at-any-price music. O'Donnell & Salvatori's music in the Halo series is exceptional as well. Those sound tracks make you sit still and listen to them any time they appear. I splashed out for Soule's autographed limited edition disks of Skyrim's music and I don't even like Skyrim. There are certainly others, but these are anything but background. The Oblivion soundtrack, like Halo soundtraks makes you simply freeze in place when it comes on. I first discovered Soule back on a strategy game called Total Annihilation - it wasn't even Hollywood orchestral, it was flat out classical in the style of a Russian ballet, a little Rimsky-Korsikov mixed with Stravinsky. VERY brooding, like Stravinsky.

And in Hollywood, so many generic sountracks to blend in, which is their intended purpose in many cases. What has John Williams become? So background, so cliche of his own work, once such a powerhouse, it's sad. Horner, Goldsmith remain such icons of bold scores that were anything but background, but the current living master remains Shore. What he did with LoTR is create the first symphony of the modern age which will endure as long as anything Schumann. It wasn't a film score. It was a symphony, or, rather, a complete ballet and then some. That SHOULD have been a wakeup for a both game and film studios, but it's slumped so much toward mediocrity again.


Where I think game soundtracks get their bad reputations is : So many games for so long with synthesized soundtracks rather than real recorded instruments. I get it, orchestras are $$$$ and a guy with a keyboard is not. But it will always sound weird even if you're a fan, and leaves a stigma. Also, battle music. Please stop putting almost all battle music on a soundtrack CD. With a few exceptions battle music is supposed to add to adrenaline, but the over-epic, over-tempoe'd music simply does not sound good on its own. Worse, it's usually a variety of short tracks. If you don't have enough music to make all tracks at least 2:00 without looping, don't release a soundtrack - you don't have enough music for it. There are some games where this is not true, and real full length music is used for battle. It may be desired "disc 2 content" for fans, but it can't be expected to be taken seriously by non-fans.
 
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SilverSquid

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Feb 10, 2016
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I wouldn't because the soundtrack is so good, even if it gets repetitive at times.
 

pixelizedchell

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Feb 10, 2016
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Like some other people here have said, it would be nice to at least have a selection of which songs to rotate through if not an outright mute option. I love most of the music but Metalopod just really distracts me too much.
 

Mayul

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Feb 3, 2016
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Mayuls
After moving my Wii U to my second monitor, I haven't had sound while playing. I honestly didn't notice until I was on Skype playing with a friend and heard his music and thought my music was very faint. I could still hear the music in my head though, which was super exciting/jarring. Now I just have Pandora on while playing.

Oh Splatoon, how you have conquered me~.
 

AlsoDededork649

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Jan 21, 2016
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I would if I had the chance, just to listen to some Single Player themes (lol) But then I think it would be like SSB where everyone mutes their music and just puts in their own. Nothing wrong with that, just another thing that would make Splatoon less of its own, even by a very, very small amount.
 

SwimShady

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I really like most of the music, but when I play for long periods of time, it all sort of blends together and I stop noticing it. I would love to be able to mute the music and play some of my own to get me really pumped. Or even mute it while playing competitively and don't have any music on so I can better hear smaller sounds like seekers being thrown, people readying their specials, etc. Stuff like that gets lost in the music for me and I'd love to be able to hear it better. I didn't even know certain things made sounds until I heard them in the quiet of the testing room.

The music is super important to the game's atmosphere, but I don't think anything would be lost if the music backed off some and let the work of the sound designers shine through. Because there is a LOT of detail put into the sound effects, and it's lost under all the music.
 

R2D221

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Feb 7, 2016
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No, the music is part of what makes the Splatoon environment so fun and engaging, at least for me. A musicless game would be pretty boring, in my opinion.
 

Tuff

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It'd be nice to have the option, but I'd never use it because I really love all the music in the game. The only time I might turn it off is during splatfests cuz hearing the same song a million times in a row does get pretty annoying
 

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