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Z3120 · 2008-02-26, 21:27

It was bound to happen again. You all know it.

Rants
After attending Video Games Live (VGL) @ SF last Friday, I was wondering what American VGM composers and other Japanese VGM I might have been missing. In terms of gaming music I generally listen to nowadays, I seldom listen to stuff from my culture anymore since I fell out of love for American games as a child, mainly PC games like Counter-Strike, Starcraft, Diablo II and Warcraft 3.

I was hoping for more Japanese VGM @ VGL, but given where VGL was playing and what games are generally played by the majority of the audience there, I never expected my selfish dream to be realized. Thank God Tommy, the Co-Producer of VGL, lets you drop some suggestions afterwards. Grateful to the number of people that suggested Castlevania

It's such a difference hearing VGM live compared to a 5.1 sound setup in a living room. Hearing that Kingdom Hearts arrangement of Simple and Clean was absolutely breathtaking. I recommend anyone who's interested to give VGL a shot. Play! Symphony and Eminence are other options too depending on where you live.

Although, personally, I'd prefer going to Eminence if I had the opportunity because they do anime music too.

I am, however, recently trying to get back to listening to at least some American VGM composers again like John Debney's first VGM project Lair, Jeremy Soule's Oblivion, Gerald Marino and Mike Reagan's (I know I'm missing others) God of War I & II and Martin O' Donnell and Michael Salvatori's Halo series. Unless I'm mistaken, I believe Harry Gregson-Williams has some sort of collaboration or is the lead composer to the Metal Gear Solid series?
*Ends Rant*

Questions

Besides me asking an atypical question of what's your favorite VGM OST(s), what are some composers you're especially fond of? If you had to choose, what VGM OST would be your absolute number 1? your #1 VGM composer?

Perhaps you may want to notify me and/or others (mainly me because I want to know!) of a certain VGM composer(s) or OST you think should gain some recognition to the public or you would suggest. Similarities and differences with VGM composers you might talk of too?

Your choice what to answer and what to ask. I'll leave whatever else there is to discuss to other members of this forum and maybe one day this will be the official VGM thread of animesuki

Begins...

Nobuo Uematsu was the reason I begun liking classical and VGM music, and his work in FF7 and FF8 are some of the most musically diverse game OSTs I have ever experienced. What I like especially from Nobuo was how he was abe to use some familiar measures in some songs yet create an altogether different perspective of it. Red XIII's theme, Cosmo Canyon and Great Warrior are the only noticeable ones I know of from FF7. Also, specifically, FF8's Fisherman Horizon (reminds me of a tune from Mario's Missing) and FF7's Cosmo Canyon (love Reuben Kee's remix of this) are some town themes I absolutely found enchanting, enriching, and really, marvelous examples of creating that special atmosphere of places you think you might have visited in reality.

There's a great 1up interview I believe that talks about how Nobuo was able to drastically shift and adapt his style differently very well and competently when he was working on FF8. I can only imagine how amazing an environment and world he'll create if he had to compose music the length of both FF7 and FF8's worlds. How insane would that be? Of course, the game has to be exceptional first, right?

Truth be told, FF7 was the first FF game I finished with FF6 (emu) and FFT being FFs I played but didn't finish. I know I should (and hopefully with enough time) begin to eventually play other games from Nobuo's past FF works. I already like some of his old works on FF like FF1's Matoya's Cave, FF3's Eternal Wind and FF6's Forever Rachel and Terra, but sadly, not enough time and motivation to finish all those FF games (and other games in general). Perhaps if I had finished a previous FF game like FF6, I might have liked the music more than FF7, but emus were horrible then (I had no sound besides sfx

) and/or my computer.

Masashi Hamauzu famously did Saga Frontier 2 and Unlimited Saga. Both are pretty mediocre at best games (personally, I still regard SF2 as a great game), and I have yet to play Unlimited Saga. Without an absolute doubt, to those that have played and heard of the music in one of these games, it goes to show you what wonderful music can do to an otherwise average gaming experience.

Even though I can't reason this explanation, I feel Masashi sounds more classical than Nobuo. Perhaps the reason why I think this is because I generally only heard of Beethoven, Mozart and the like and common pieces like Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to immaturely label Masashi, but irregardless (Stewie is going to get me huh?), it's a joy being able to hear music like SF2's Rosankranz and Todfiend with such liveliness. The example eludes me, but it had something to do with theater... (fill in the blank for me?)

I'll mention more later. It takes awhile for me to gather my thoughts.
Poll will eventually be reworked depending on responses.

2008-02-26, 21:27	Link #1
Z3120 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008	Video Game Music (VGM) Thread It was bound to happen again. You all know it. Rants After attending Video Games Live (VGL) @ SF last Friday, I was wondering what American VGM composers and other Japanese VGM I might have been missing. In terms of gaming music I generally listen to nowadays, I seldom listen to stuff from my culture anymore since I fell out of love for American games as a child, mainly PC games like Counter-Strike, Starcraft, Diablo II and Warcraft 3. I was hoping for more Japanese VGM @ VGL, but given where VGL was playing and what games are generally played by the majority of the audience there, I never expected my selfish dream to be realized. Thank God Tommy, the Co-Producer of VGL, lets you drop some suggestions afterwards. Grateful to the number of people that suggested Castlevania It's such a difference hearing VGM live compared to a 5.1 sound setup in a living room. Hearing that Kingdom Hearts arrangement of Simple and Clean was absolutely breathtaking. I recommend anyone who's interested to give VGL a shot. Play! Symphony and Eminence are other options too depending on where you live. Although, personally, I'd prefer going to Eminence if I had the opportunity because they do anime music too. I am, however, recently trying to get back to listening to at least some American VGM composers again like John Debney's first VGM project Lair, Jeremy Soule's Oblivion, Gerald Marino and Mike Reagan's (I know I'm missing others) God of War I & II and Martin O' Donnell and Michael Salvatori's Halo series. Unless I'm mistaken, I believe Harry Gregson-Williams has some sort of collaboration or is the lead composer to the Metal Gear Solid series? *Ends Rant* Questions Besides me asking an atypical question of what's your favorite VGM OST(s), what are some composers you're especially fond of? If you had to choose, what VGM OST would be your absolute number 1? your #1 VGM composer? Perhaps you may want to notify me and/or others (mainly me because I want to know!) of a certain VGM composer(s) or OST you think should gain some recognition to the public or you would suggest. Similarities and differences with VGM composers you might talk of too? Your choice what to answer and what to ask. I'll leave whatever else there is to discuss to other members of this forum and maybe one day this will be the official VGM thread of animesuki Begins... Nobuo Uematsu was the reason I begun liking classical and VGM music, and his work in FF7 and FF8 are some of the most musically diverse game OSTs I have ever experienced. What I like especially from Nobuo was how he was abe to use some familiar measures in some songs yet create an altogether different perspective of it. Red XIII's theme, Cosmo Canyon and Great Warrior are the only noticeable ones I know of from FF7. Also, specifically, FF8's Fisherman Horizon (reminds me of a tune from Mario's Missing) and FF7's Cosmo Canyon (love Reuben Kee's remix of this) are some town themes I absolutely found enchanting, enriching, and really, marvelous examples of creating that special atmosphere of places you think you might have visited in reality. There's a great 1up interview I believe that talks about how Nobuo was able to drastically shift and adapt his style differently very well and competently when he was working on FF8. I can only imagine how amazing an environment and world he'll create if he had to compose music the length of both FF7 and FF8's worlds. How insane would that be? Of course, the game has to be exceptional first, right? Truth be told, FF7 was the first FF game I finished with FF6 (emu) and FFT being FFs I played but didn't finish. I know I should (and hopefully with enough time) begin to eventually play other games from Nobuo's past FF works. I already like some of his old works on FF like FF1's Matoya's Cave, FF3's Eternal Wind and FF6's Forever Rachel and Terra, but sadly, not enough time and motivation to finish all those FF games (and other games in general). Perhaps if I had finished a previous FF game like FF6, I might have liked the music more than FF7, but emus were horrible then (I had no sound besides sfx ) and/or my computer. Masashi Hamauzu famously did Saga Frontier 2 and Unlimited Saga. Both are pretty mediocre at best games (personally, I still regard SF2 as a great game), and I have yet to play Unlimited Saga. Without an absolute doubt, to those that have played and heard of the music in one of these games, it goes to show you what wonderful music can do to an otherwise average gaming experience. Even though I can't reason this explanation, I feel Masashi sounds more classical than Nobuo. Perhaps the reason why I think this is because I generally only heard of Beethoven, Mozart and the like and common pieces like Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to immaturely label Masashi, but irregardless (Stewie is going to get me huh?), it's a joy being able to hear music like SF2's Rosankranz and Todfiend with such liveliness. The example eludes me, but it had something to do with theater... (fill in the blank for me?) I'll mention more later. It takes awhile for me to gather my thoughts. Poll will eventually be reworked depending on responses.