In-Game music : V - Skyrim

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:59 am

It's the truth. Too many notes.

:cryvaultboy:

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:07 pm

No constant music outside just ambient noise and battle alert sounds/music (think the oh crap its here in Jaws). Love the location specific music in taverns. You walk in and the lute player the wood wind and the singer are doing one of their five easy pieces, a brawdy song about a lusty maiden, a heroic ballad, an instrumental (everyone knows the wind in the willow), a song of heart rending loss another lively ditty to lighten the mood. 5 out of 20 tavern songs/tunes in the game.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:11 pm

I like the music!

In fact, I'd prefer it if real life had some music in the background. Liven it up a bit. :tongue:

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:54 pm

Yes, I made another poll. It's kind of my thing

So, this is not the theme song I'm talking about, I do not really have that strong feelings for or against it. I'm talking the music that always follows you around as you are playing the game. I have never really liked the way the games get a movie-like score that plays constantly throughout the game, so I have always turned down the music volume as I play (always found it really strange to have a symphony orchestra follow me around in the woods!). It's not only battle music I'm talking here, that already has been discussed, but I would actually like for all in-game music to either be completely gone or reduced in some way.

My ideal sound image would be if there was no music at all in the game (except for maybe some really low and infrequent notes, a motif of some sort played once in a while), unless there was an excuse to put some "real-life" music in it, like if you walked into a tavern a quartet would play woodwinds, or a minstrel would play the lute or something. Would be nice to fill the void in woods and caves with some more ambient sounds like wind in the trees, streams, critters etc.

It has always really ruined immersion for me to have the cinematic score follow me around all the time, don't get me wrong, I like what they do with the main themes, I just think it's really unrealistic and far to movie-wannabe for a roleplaying game to have it going constantly. So I'd just like to hear if I am the only one who feels this way, or others would appreciate a more minimalistic and more acoustically inspired use of music in the lack of better formulation

Can't you just turn the music volume down to 0? Problem solved.
A lot of us enjoy the music of the game despite being "unrealistic."

As for reducing the music instead of completely removing it, they could do as was done in WoW. The player chooses whether there is always music, or if there's a break between each track.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:40 pm

A cross between the ambiest music of Oblivion ( with the battle music altered to not interrupt my nice orchestral backing every time a wolf or a mudcrab sees me) and live music in cities , taverns , rich houses , castles , town squares during festivals etc. :wavey: :violin:

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:32 am

If it is always playing it it goes from enjoyable to anoying and loses its dramatic effect. I always turn down to low level.
Imagine standing by a fire waiting for the ferry to cross a river. An NPC walks up, sits on a log, pulls out a guitar/lute and starts to sing one of the 20 tavern songs.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:54 pm

A cross between the ambiest music of Oblivion ( with the battle music altered to not interrupt my nice orchestral backing every time a wolf or a mudcrab sees me) and live music in cities , taverns , rich houses , castles , town squares during festivals etc. :wavey: :violin:

As long as I can still turn off the ambient music of exploration/battle, then that is what I'm talking about.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:11 pm

Should be same as always, there's always the option to turn it off.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:05 am

I just want music. My only complaint is that there need to be more songs, as I get crazy from hearing the same ones over and over again.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:20 am

If you don't like to have music playing in the background that's why there is a music volume slider in the audio options.

If there are musicans playing in a tavern the normal background music should be turned off, and the tavern music should be played instead.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:21 am

Same as always or "real life" in-game music. Doesn't matter to me

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:51 am

Some people don't seem to think of the difference the OP thinks of: so before you go " omgz lolz just turnz it off", there's clearly a difference between a huge, bombastic symphonic orchestra following you everywhere even at the heart of nature when you're all alone and a less intrusive, ambient kind of music that just feels more natural and is a mere nice background sound.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:33 pm

Edit: sorry wrong thread.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:32 pm

Some people don't seem to think of the difference the OP thinks of: so before you go " omgz lolz just turnz it off", there's clearly a difference between a huge, bombastic symphonic orchestra following you everywhere even at the heart of nature when you're all alone and a less intrusive, ambient kind of music that just feels more natural and is a mere nice background sound.

Thank you!

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:52 pm

I actually would like the music to resemble film scores even MORE.

Meaning, specific tracks for certain places/people/encounters. Not the same old tavern music for every tavern, not the same city music for every city, not the same battle music for every battle.

Of course, exploring music or music while you're just doing everyday, mundane things should be minimal and as unobtrusive as possible. Taking a stroll in the woods aimlessly and searching an ancient ruin for a long-lost artifact needed to destroy the big bad evil genius would require much different "exploring" music.

Being in an upscale tavern with fine liquors and wines, where all the nobles hang out and is brightly lit, would require different music than the dim, smoky, run-down joint frequented by assassins and other suspicious types. And fighting the big bad evil genius at the end of the game ought to have a different score than when you fight your first rat.

For a great example of good situation-based music, see Baldur's Gate 2 and its expansion, Throne of Bhaal. Great music, and it fit the situations quite well, IMO.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:55 am

I liked the soundtrack to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, no music, just the sound of flies buzzing around the slaughterhouse.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:26 am

Thank you!

Inga ?rsak, Danish brother.
Not like 99%, I actually read and understood your concerns and when a thread turns like this, they leave the poor thing to die.
This was one victim too many.
The magical solution always seems to be "lolz just turnz it off"", well it's not.

Anyway, I do hope for one that BSG implement it like we think it should be!

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:08 pm

I feel completely the opposite. Playing a game without music just doesn't "feel" right. I'll give you a example that actually happened.

Yesterday a friend and I were playing Left 4 Dead 2. When all of a sudden we realized something was really off about the game. It just wasn't "feeling" right. Then we realized the game had glitched and the music wasn't playing. It was kind of funny though because we got the "Killing them swiftly to this song" achievement without technically "playing" the song. Because we couldn't hear it. Anyway, after we started the new chapter the music fixed itself and things were fine again. My point is I never really appreciated the music of L4D until it wasn't there. So, I say if you just want ambience mod it that way if you're on PC. If not turn off the music. I for one will be enjoying the in game soundtrack for thousands of hours and it will never get old.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:06 pm

I think those of you who keep saying "just turn the music off/down" are missing the point. He's not saying he doesn't want music at all, just placed strategically and not constantly playing. Sure, he could go into the options and turn music on or off whenever he wants, but that would be extremely annoying and break a lot of the immersion.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:22 am

I don't care as long as I get to hear the soundtrack at some point. The Elder Scrolls games have some of the best music I've ever heard.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:22 am

I'm in a middle-ground here. As far as music goes when it's to be had, there should be enough variety for it to not get sickeningly tedious, but it should also match the current mood. Something like Daggerfall, which had something like three or four different tavern themes, two shop themes, countless dungeon themes, themes for weather, themes for time of day, and so on. This way, you don't have trumpets blaring out of your ass while sneaking around a forest in the dead of night.

Music in general could do with less orchestra and more ambient. Ambience doesn't necessarily mean background noise only, as the genre usually contains some instruments or obviously not completely environmental sounds. A good example of this would be some of Frictional Games' music in Penumbra and Amnesia: they're both horror games and the "music" is a critical part of the on-edge experience. I'd love to hear something like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwMk-kIQR_A&feature=related while cruising through a forboding cavern or dungeon.

When there is no music, the environment should be able to pick up the slack: more natural sounds could be heard, like water dripping onto stone, the rustle of leaves and branches, a howling wind, maybe animals in the distance. A balance needs to be struck between hearing something and hearing nothing.

» Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:48 am

If you don't like the music turn it off. I personally do like the music. But sometimes if I'm rping a bit I will turn the music off but only sometimes.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 2:24 pm

I wnat in game music with breaks between songs. I like the in game music of course but I also like to hear the sound of the world around me.

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:14 pm

If you don't like the music, then turn it off.
I want people to play http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8EaL1Zm6w&feature=related in taverns. :tongue:

You are pure EVIL!

» Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:22 pm

New Vegas' method was pretty cool, mixing and blending different elements into the soundtrack depending on where you were, for example Freeside had a very different soundtrack to Goodsprings or Jacobstown.