This is a topic inspired by another user when he posted about boss battle music. I thought it was a great idea, Morrowind and Oblivion never really had a defined song for events or places. This is something you see a lot in JPRGs, towns especially usually have their own theme, and boss battles have their own devoted composition.

It's something I've always enjoyed while playing Japanese games - Places and events are defined and have an overall more engrained impact specifically because of the mood set by the song. Music has a huge impact on the mood a player may feel. I loved the feeling of returning to say, a beach town, because it always had a certain vibe which was created by the music. Zelda and the Tales series are both games that frequently do this.

In Oblivion and Morrowind, (correct me if I'm wrong) We have compositions set to defined actions or places, but not to the degree of specificity you often see in other games. You'll see "Town" songs, or "Dungeon" songs, or "Combat" songs, but never "Dagoth Ur Battle" or "Balmora Theme"

Jeremy Soule is in my opinion a fantastic composer. I wonder how employing more themes for specific places (one song specific to every town) would impact the overall quality of the score. Would producing more music produce a negative impact at all?

Do you want places and events to have their own theme? Or were you fine with the way previous games have presented themselves musically?


Ocarina of Time End Battle - Spoilers if you've never played it. (what's wrong with you!?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SPfSBhVf60&feature=related

Yes. The music is a big thing for me. I remember whenever I used to load up Oblivion and hear the intro theme I used to get the tingles and got that excited I needed a dump... Not that cool tbh.

Different musical themes for different towns doesn't seem very TES to me for some reason. It'd feel kind of artificial. You know, like the game knows you're in that cell, so it plays a certain theme, and that would kind of isolate parts from each other, but TES is just one big world.

I agree to a certain extent. I would much prefer a LOT of different compositions for different terrain e.t.c. I know this is skyrim but I hope it's not ALL snow.

Yeah, I kind of understand how you feel. I still think I'd enjoy this being used to some extent, at least for the end battle. TES games usually have a pretty reserved soundtrack in terms of size - many games I've played have upwards of a hundred songs with a lot of filler as opposed to a TES game where I love every track.

They've done it in NV and I thought it was very effective. Hoover Dam is tense, New Vegas is Ritzy, Nellis Base felt expansive, Novac' s introspective (very fitting for Boone),

That's cool! I never played the Fallout games, so I wasn't aware. Was it just present in NV?

I honestly forgot if it's present in FO3.

Certain specific themes played during key moments could really add to the atmosphere in my opinion. Just imagine climbing the 7000 steps to High Hrothgar while listening to generic exploration music. Now imagine climbing those same 7000 steps with an entirely unique song that was designed specifically to encompass the feeling of the lone/reluctant/commited hero on his long climb to a legendary place atop the mountain.

To me, implementing certain regional themes or even specific music scores for key elements of the game could really benefit the overall gameplay experience

I personally don't want battle music until 3-4 seconds after I've actually engaged in combat.

Rather not hear battle music, then look around for whatever I now know is coming at me, likely another large mammal(mountain lion, wolf, bear) that generally wouldn't realistically be attacking a humanoid unless it was starving to death or I was near or attacking it's young.

Let NPCs get the jump on us this time if we don't notice them coming.

The music is supposed to resonate the feeling of the place your in. If your in some dreary, ghost town you don't want to hear the upbeat music of the rest of the world do you?

The thing I'm worried about with that is some "dark" town has a really grim and boring soundtrack that you dread hearing.

Honestly I am not sure which way the music is played is the best.

So far I loved games in which each city had it's own theme. It can add a lot of atmosphere to the game by giving each city further unique characteristics.
But exploring 150+ caves where you always hear the same music, in case there is music, can be very annoying.

I just want to give you an example how FF7 (which imho had everytime the perfect music for every situation) handled the music:
Every story relevant character had it's own theme and depending on your current mission or recent events that happend the music changed to a theme that fit very will.
The first time you visited a town the people were walking around happily, living there daily life and the music that was played was the cities theme.
Then later something sad happend and the music changed to something less happy. And after that you found out why the city was burned down to the ground. Some evil dude destroyed it and killed all the people living there.
So the music changes from sad to something more dramatic, or in case a single person or a known group is responsible for this crime, to that persons/groups theme.
Something I still don't understand is that though there was only 1 theme for fights and 1 for bossfights it never got annoying. :wink_smile:

So, for me the best solution would be: Each town and important character should have their own theme that don't sound too similiar. And these should change due to players and important NPCS actions and of course story relevant actions. And of course the music should show you in which mood the people or your character is after recent events.


Sorry for the grammar, the spelling and everything else that looks strange. :confused:

And here is some FF7 music someone put up. Have a look for the titles, they tell you for what characters etc. the music was played:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-FE14_3dJA

This.

Even if it isn't utilized to an extreme the ability will be present in the CK and that is choice.

I think Red Dead Redemption really showed how powerful a unique, event-based music track could be. It would definitely be cool to have something similar in Skyrim, although I don't really expect this to happen.

Unique town music is something that every JRPG had back in the day, and would certainly be welcome here. It can really add a distinctive feel to each town. Although again, I'm not expecting it (although this seems more plausible for Beth to implement).

All I see is player and NPC both with 100% reflect.
No, never played it. After seeing this, never will.
Looks like it was made for kids, and also seem to lack 1st person.
I love the "darkness spell" though, nice idea for Skyrim.

Oh, as for the poll. If town music is regular music, then I'd like it to just be regionally based. If the music originates from a location in town, like a tavern, then I would like music according to what instrument the bard plays. As you close in on town, "normal" music must fade away though.

I just hope there are a few more soundtracks than Oblivion. There was only one battle theme (and my god that gets annoying every time a mudcrab attacks you) and there were abour 4 outdoor/indoor ambient themes and 1 dungeon theme I think...


I'd like some varied combat music and some music for different towns and locales--that blend seamlessly as you cross from environment to environment. Also, there should be some times between tracks where there is no music at all so you can just hear the ambient noise/wind/birds....

Great points! I agree with you. Your english is fine by the way! : )

It's neat because games that have specific themes always evoke a certain feeling.
Then when you hear that theme 3 years down the road, memories of that specific town or event flood back into your mind.
There's nothing like music to engrain a memory in your head. As much as I would like to see this in the game, I doubt we'll see it
(at least to the extent I'm referring to) But maybe if we're lucky we'll get a few theme songs or a boss battle song.

I personally never got tired of the town themes in those games. I grew to love them, some more than others, but it always lent them a sincere uniqueness.

@LastDuaL

I agree. Red Dead did a fantastic job with this. It wasn't over the top, but they still used it. It set that moment apart from all the others. You felt like a damn cowboy. It was awesome.

@Worm

Did you hear it would be available in the CK? I'm curious, I haven't heard that.

No, i'm just saying if it's a game mechanic then it'll will be utilized by modders.

I don't really care either way. However, I would like at least one or two unique battle tracks for "boss" battles...I didn't like in Morrowind having the same music fight at the final battle that came on when I fought my first mudcrab.

Daggerfall has location specific music, some of which is awesome and sets the mood, some of which is obnoxious and makes you want to leave such areas as soon as possible (I'm thinking of the store/tavern music...Daggerfall players, you know what I'm talking about). It had several different tracks for dungeons, towns and exploring (but no specific battle music) and even though it was MIDI it was still cool.

But since a lot of TES music has been kind of laid-back sounding, even battle music, I'm not sure if it would really make much difference to have location-specific music. For a game that got situational music right, IMHO, check out Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal, and Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2. (There are music tracks of all those games on Youtube).

Yes, that's so true. I wish Skyrim will have more of them than Oblivion but I doubt it as Jeremy Soule will deliver the music again.
Jeremy Soule does a good job, but his music isn't as unique as in other classic games.
In Supreme Commander 1 and 2 the ~18 tracks didn't differ much. There is always something that makes each song sound like another.
Some basic theme he uses to give each game a unique touch, but it lacks variation and most important, feelings that fit the current situation or the mood the player should be in.

Ahh...the Super Nintendo...Zelda 3, Secret of Mana...such a cheap soundchip, such cheap soundquality but sooo good music you'll never forget and when listening again,
you'll feel like you are playing it again. That's what I'm missing in nowadays tripple A game productions. I can't remember any music from a good game I played in the past few years.

I agree with this point but honestly I don't mind if they keep it as in OB, like "Town Songs", "Dungeon Songs" etc...as long as the soundtrack is awesome (which obviously it will).

As long as the music is good.

And no battle music giving away the enemies attacking you.

Oh snap battle music! Something epic is about t- Oh waits its just a mud crab, false alarm everyone!

Yes, that's one of the things I enjoy about games like Persona 4 - each dungeon had a unique track, and there were 2-3 tracks specific to boss battles. It made it really refreshing and I didn't get as bored when I was playing it.

Of course, in a game on the scale of TES games, every dungeon having a unique track would be stupid xD But unique songs for different towns would be nice. The Imperial City had a much different visual feel than Cheydinhall, why should they have the same music to represent them?

Yes. I use the Better Music System mod for Oblivion, and having different sondtracks for different locations makes a world of difference. Especially that one haunting track i use for Oblivion Gates :cold:

Oh, and battle music shouldn't warn me about enemies like it does in unmodded Oblivion.