Which is better? Memorable music or beautiful music?
Some of my fondest memories come from games that are from an older generation. Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Playstation, Nintendo 64...and so on. Throughout all of the games that I have played, there has been a question that has come to mind. As music gets more progressive, more and more complex themes come to the forefront and I find myself unable to hum the themes. But, is that a bad thing?
I would argue that it most certainly isn't. Just listen to Ori and the Blind Forest for a few moments and explore it's beautiful soundtrack, or listen to Breath of the Wild's new orchestral score and the such like...in fact, there are many games now that has wonderful, sweeping orchestral scores that are complex and don't revolve around being something simple and "hummable", like the past games. But I won't deny that I miss some of that older, simpler style of music themes. Mega Man X, Super Mario Bros. 3, A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, most of the Megaman games...and the list like that goes on. In fact, the most recent one that fits into that style of late has to be Undertale, which in of itself is yet another great game.
So which is better? I think that the orchestral, beautiful music is clearly better, but there is something to be said about those really catchy and awesome soundtracks from early gaming, things that just catch the attention and a player finds him/herself humming right along to the tune of. It gets a player ready to get going, and gives a player a sense of nostalgia without even having to listen to the music, it's just that good that it can do that. Orchestral, while some slight parts of it can be hummed, the whole song can't be fully enjoyed without really listening to the song for hours to memorize how it goes, or listening to the music again. There's a power in being able to remember a musical piece rather than having to relisten to the song again to get the same feeling.
Sorry for the small rant, there's not much more I have to say. It's just something that came to mind while I was listening to various soundtracks today. Maybe I'll have something more substantial at a later date...
I would argue that it most certainly isn't. Just listen to Ori and the Blind Forest for a few moments and explore it's beautiful soundtrack, or listen to Breath of the Wild's new orchestral score and the such like...in fact, there are many games now that has wonderful, sweeping orchestral scores that are complex and don't revolve around being something simple and "hummable", like the past games. But I won't deny that I miss some of that older, simpler style of music themes. Mega Man X, Super Mario Bros. 3, A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, most of the Megaman games...and the list like that goes on. In fact, the most recent one that fits into that style of late has to be Undertale, which in of itself is yet another great game.
So which is better? I think that the orchestral, beautiful music is clearly better, but there is something to be said about those really catchy and awesome soundtracks from early gaming, things that just catch the attention and a player finds him/herself humming right along to the tune of. It gets a player ready to get going, and gives a player a sense of nostalgia without even having to listen to the music, it's just that good that it can do that. Orchestral, while some slight parts of it can be hummed, the whole song can't be fully enjoyed without really listening to the song for hours to memorize how it goes, or listening to the music again. There's a power in being able to remember a musical piece rather than having to relisten to the song again to get the same feeling.
Sorry for the small rant, there's not much more I have to say. It's just something that came to mind while I was listening to various soundtracks today. Maybe I'll have something more substantial at a later date...
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