[ENG] The Magic of Music
(Polska Wersja Dostępna Tu! - [PL] Magia Muzyki)
Even before this whole lockdown began, a lot of people were listening to music on their way to school, work, or generally when walking around town. Music can be helpful in a variety of ways – it can be a good way to release your emotions, when you can't find words to express them; it can help us calm down after a really stressful day or even be a coping mechanism, an escape from the hardships of reality. With so many genres nowadays, almost anyone will find themselves something to listen.
Game developers really know how audio and music can affect the experience we have when playing the game, with soundtracks and general sounds design being created to help us get immersed in presented world, events and characters. Of course, some games are much better thanks to barely any soundtrack or complete lack thereof, but for the most part – music is really important part of the game.
(Let's be honest - such a fight without any kind of music would be kind of dull, wouldn't it?
For example Fallout: New Vegas – the game is set in post-apocalyptic future, but the tracks we hear on the radio are from the days long gone, from even more distant past, many of them being from 20th century whereas in New Vegas we are slowly closing in 23th century. This in effect leads the player to the feeling of nostalgia, of a small hope that one day everything will be back to normal, yet at the same time realization that despite this hope – things will never be the same again.
Dark Souls is on quite opposite side of the spectrum – there is practically no music during exploration – only us, our steps and enemies. Of course, this doesn't mean that the game has no music whatsoever. There is a soothing tone, encouraging you to rest for a while in Firelink Shrine or intense music during boss fights, full of choirs and feeling of hopelessness in the face of much stronger enemy.
Certain track or overall sound design can really influence how we feel in certain game. For example horror genre – try playing through Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Five Nights At Freddy's without any audio whatsoever. I guarantee you that FNaF suddenly will become less eerier and scary without audio, whereas Amnesia... Okay granted, the game is heavy and climactic so you may still feel anxious without sound, but it's the audio design that makes horror games so eerie.
But not only horrors benefit from sound design, almost every genre can benefit just as well from a appropriate soundtrack. The soothing, slow tracks make already beautiful and peaceful games like Journey much better; Action games with a fast-paced soundtrack that gets your blood pumpin' when you fight through the hordes of enemies? Count me in! The soundtrack of METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE has become a meme at this point, but it doesn't change the fact that these tracks paired with such game are simply amazing.
(I spend more money thanks to his songs than I'm ready to admit)
There is another side to music's effect on games, and no – I'm not talking about bad OSTs or music that totally doesn't fit the gameplay. Rather, I'm talking about people creating songs based on games, there are a lot of people doing that, but the ones I have checked out and/or listened for a longer time – Dan Bull (mainly focuses on rapping about games); JT Music and NerdOut! (groups performing various genres); and ultimately, my favorites – Miracle of Sound and Aviators (these two take quite a lot of place on my Spotify playlist and I listen to them on a daily basis).
Sometimes songs from fans, from players like mentioned above can be much more influential when it comes to deciding if certain game is worth our time and money. I won't count how many games I have decided to buy or play a certain game after listening to a song about it, there were a lot of them, so allow me to just name a few – Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Disco Elysium (I want to play them both now); Monster Hunter World, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Devil May Cry V (Played them all, didn't regret anything).
(Fun Fact: Miracle of Sound has created a song for a game called Seven: The Days Long Gone together with lead Witcher 3 composer! It's called Keepers).
(Firelink Shrine, a safe haven to sit down and rest)
Now let me drop few tracks about Souls franchise from Aviators (though I highly recommend you check out the rest of his songs!) - The Red Hood – Dark Souls 3, a tale of Gael and fight at the world's end; Here Come The Ravens – BloodBorne, a story of Lady Maria and her promise; Requiem for the King – Dark Souls 2, a tale of Ivory King and his sacrifice; Song of the Abyss – Dark Souls 1, a tale of Artorias and his companion Sif, a tale of their tragic fate.
A special place in my heart stole the song named Eyes of a Firekeeper by Marc Straight. It's a sorrowful song, told from the... Well eyes of a Fire Keeper (Duality of this name is well known to you if you have played Dark Souls 3). A tale of her fear about the fate of the world; a world without a flame... To be frank, it's my favorite track of the entire Souls and Blood album by Marc Straight, but it doesn't mean that the rest of the tracks lack something. They are all good.
(Don't underestimate the value of good soundtrack or audio design)
Okay now, I have realized it when I was writing it and you probably realized it as well that... I gave a hell lot of a links, recommendations and personal taste in music, but... You know, it's really hard to explain a song – it's much easier to just listen to it and come to your own conclusions; it's also quite tough to explain how a seemingly simple song can be more influential than trailers, gameplays and all of that – I think it's also depends on a person – music is affecting my life and me, personally pretty much so I am more influenced by music than anything else when it comes to gaming.
Of course, reviews are important as well, but... Well, there is a high chance that I will give even an objectively weak game a shot if the song is good enough.
Writing a song isn't an easy task; writing and composing a song that is both good, enjoyable and influential is even harder, but... Don't take my word for it, go to some Miracle of Sound songs' comment sections, there are a lot more people that decide about buying a certain title based on a song!
I'm going back to listening to entirety of Dark Souls based songs once again, remember – music is more important in both games and outside of them than many people give them credit for.
Kind Regards,
Wing.
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