Now I dont know about you but music is a very important aspect of video games for me, the right choice of music can either make or break a scene by lending it far more emotional impact than is possible without it, that being said I feel that the previous Elder Scrolls games have been severely lacking in this area. I am sure most of you already know that Jeremy Soule is returning to do the music for Skyrim and while a lot of you greeted this news with glee I could not help but to be a little dissapointed as I have always felt that his music in the Elder Scrolls games at least lacked emotion, a point that I have brought up in other threads as well. However the reason I bring it up again now is because while searching for videos to bring me upto date on the events of Shivering Isles (I never had the chance to fully play through Shivering Isle as when I was halfway through my saves got wiped, perhaps I will return to Oblivion to play through SI proper at a later date however it wont be at the point in time) I stumbled upon this (skip to the 2:00 mark to see the scene I am talking about).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E76ROUbRT14

Now compare it to the vanilla version of the game (skip to 3:10)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7K1FAuXgL4

Now I dont know about you guys but for me it is almost painful seeing how much the original is lacking and how much better it could be with the right choice of music. I know a lot of you are fans of Jeremy Soule's work however it just doesnt do it for me, is there something I am missing? Though to be fair the Skyrim theme on the gameplay trailer is a big improvement however I just know that his work on previous Elder Scrolls games just lacked any real emotion. Perhaps we will see an improvement in the music for Skyrim however what are your thoughts on this?

Also while Jyggalag has been brought up, since the curse has been broken do you think there is a possiblity to see a shrine dedicated to him in Skyrim?

I actually thought the theme music of Skyrim sounded like a copy-pasted music clip from morrowind, way to go jeremy, imagination is huge.

Hard to feel emotional from music I've listened to for about 500+ hours of gameplay.

Wasnt Oblivion's as well?

The problem with the music in both Morrowind and Oblivion is that aside from a few iconic pieces such as The Road Most Travelled and King and Country, the tracks kind of seamlessly blended into each other like one long, nondescript movement. Which is great, but if there were a greater availability of tracks I'd love to see more specific arrangements of songs based on your location, time of day, etc. as was the case in Arena and Daggerfall.

IMHO Eric Heberling still did it best with Daggerfall, and MP3 remixes of the game's tracks prove that the older more thematic music could still work really well in new Elder Scrolls games. With the inclusion of Bards in Skyrim, I'm dearly hoping that the game's music will take on a more organic, "minstrel" approach (though still have plenty of softer, ambient tracks as well).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkCO4my_rwQ&feature=related

It is called a leitmotiv, a recurrent main theme.
Music from Return of the Jedi is so copy-pasted from A new hope. So unoriginal.

oblivion's music wasn't my thing, it was too 'gentle' and 'standard' morrowind's sounded more..outdoorsy and exotic. I really loved Skyrim's music, it sounded soo epic- even if it was heavily based on Morrowind.

I loved it though...... To be honest I thought Morrowind had the best theme intilll Skyrim

Your example has absolutely nothing to do with the music of Jeremy Soule. He just writes the music, if the developers don't decide to back up a moment with music, or didn't request a specific theme or piece for it, it's not his fault. Soule is one the last truly original composers when it comes to video game music, we should be glad he is once again on board, and that someone like Jablonsky isn't part of the project.

And yes, there are similarities between games, but as has been said, that's because the theme has become a sort of leitmotif.

Yes, and there are even similarities between different game genres

listen to this at 0:35 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXk6TYQd4K0
and now listen to this around 2:17 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjqsYzBrP-M ... the same majestic feeling

Every composer has it′s style: Williams , Poledouris and evem Soule.

Regarding the same game series, leitmotifs are good, because in the back of our head , they keep us familiar with the series and leave a mark of it′s own.
Jeremy Soule did a fantastic job in previous titles and i′m sure that he′ll do the same in Skyrim. Although we′ll be familiarized with some pieces, it will have that nordic, rough taste in it.

Still doesnt change the fact that his music lacks emotion, or did Bethesda ask him to make his music as bland as possible? Show me something of Soule's that has Soul and perhaps I might agree with you, however at the moment I cant really say I have much faith in the man.

Although it′s a matter of tastes and opinions here′s one of my favourite Soule′s pieces http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gajD7rrp3s

Well, it all depends on taste, so in my taste, I loved Morrowind's music and I thought it fitted perfectly with its exotic and dreamy wista.

I liked the Oblivion's music as well, a lot, and it fitted the lush scenery quite well.

And I love Skyrim's grandeur of the music even now and I feel it in my bones that the music selection of J.S. would fit perfectly with the Rugged Grand Vista of the game, and it's harsh landscape, and up beat dragon slaying theme.

And I love the fact that J.S. is back with the series.

That's absolutely majestic. Having played in bands/choirs/orchestras/etc for over six years... I've heard a lot of this type of music, and this is brilliant.

While I think Soule's pieces can be a bit tedious at times, there are also some times where they just click flawlessly. Morrowind, for me, had a lot of those, and Oblivion had Wings of Kynareth and a few others.


However, I think the reason that Soule's music lacks impact in the world isn't that Soule is writing flat music. It's that the tracks are simply looped one after another, depending on the type of area we're in.
If you pay attention to that 1st video, there's a lot more dynamic things going on than just "In combat, loop combat music; out of combat, loop city music."

Look at a game like Dragon Age, its soundtrack wasn't necessarily a larger undertaking, yet it works better for the world because they implement that soundtrack in dynamic ways, filtering seamlessly back and forth between pieces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWuNf4gxwuM

To clarify, I love Jeremy Soule's work - especially on Guild Wars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mc0OSVrhoE&feature=related

I don't know why his work is so bland for the Elder Scrolls games - but you know, it would probably help if Bethesda was actively giving him input. Right now it just sounds as if they just tell him to compose whatever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gajD7rrp3s&feature=related

You call that music from The Witcher emotional? It's feels like something I'd expect from 300. It's too saturated with energy and combat to appreciate the weight of the circumstances.

I agree that the environmental music in Oblivion was lacking in some of the scenes in the game, but that music still had a dramatic effect where it counted. The Elder Scrolls III and IV both had a similar style of soft, but effective background music that struck you at the quiet moments where it counted.

Personally, if you prefer better music then just add it through mods like everyone else does. I'd prefer it if Skyrim had more diverse soundtracks, but I still want the same style of music, so if you don't agree with its "blandness" then you might as well get ready to rely on the mods.

You all forget the biggest problem with the music of Oblivion, Morrowind and Fallout 3: The same couple of music is played everywhere.

All music, no matter how good will become tiresome if you have to listen to it all the time (this is the reason why I hate the main theme of Morrowind, it plays during gameplay too). I think Daggerfall and New Vegas did it best, by playing different music at different situations and I hope Skyrim will do the same.
Hopefully we will have different music for daytime, nighttime, during rain, during snow, in the mountains, in the forests, different music for each dungeon type and a unique combat music while fighting dragons. Or is this too much?