Video game soundtracks

[Ceunon]

Found this piece today. I cried listening to it.


The point of this thread: I wanna know what tracks inspire, evoke nostalgia or simply touch your hearts. Please, do share.

[BinoAl]

Bastion OST.
I'm not an emotional person, at all. But shit man, Zulf's theme still gets to me. If you remember where you first here it in the game (Assuming you're not a heartless bastard ;p), you can see why.

[CumuloNimbus10]

I love listening to the Skyrim OST. It always puts me in a good mood and is great background music while doing any work. It makes you feel like you are back in Tamriel.

[Caboose]

Bionicle pretty much defined my childhood and creative development, this theme makes me extremely nostalgic and is also supremely kick ass.

[Thorium-232]

The entire Final Fantasy Tactics OST. Incredible composition, very atmospheric. Adds stress when you don't need it and joy when you do. Even the music in the menu screens never gets old, despite you hearing it for hours and hours in a normal playthrough.

[JakeZKAM]

Shadow of the Collosus. It does such a wonderful job of enhancing and fleshing out the feelings of excitement, dread, sadness, and awe from slaying the collosi. Plus it all comes in at just the right times and never really felt out of place. It got to the point where I was seeing each collosi as a concerto, as well as a puzzle and giant beast to slay :p

Oh and Brutal Legend of course because metal is awesome :p

[EpicAaron]

I love Metroid Prime for its incredibly alien sounding music, and the first boss theme really hits it home for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DCcCBOmOo0

[Tsugumi Henduluin]

Ar Tonelico says hi.



So much emotion and power in these songs, to the point it was the first soundtrack to make me cry in years when I first heard it.
On top of that, the whole idea and concept of the language and its use is downright fascinating to me.

Other than that, in no particular order:
Homeworld, the first 3 C&C games, the Advance Wars series, the Golden Sun series, the Touhou games and quite a few more.

[Taleric]

Ok, I am going with the first, second and third games that stuck. There have been so many especially once games started to have massive scores wtitten for them the list could go on and on.

C&C Red Alert (Original): a sample http://youtu.be/9QyQ9PsOj6A

Dr Mario: I am terrible I know http://youtu.be/2_nhrqcCVdY

Diablo: http://youtu.be/Q2evIg-aYw8

It just goes on and on from here :P

[ExpHP]

I place a disproportionate amount of emphasis on the ending of a game. The final level, the final boss, the credits... and I also place a disproportionate amount of emphasis on the soundrack.

That said, you don't need to go and pull something out from my childhood to make me nostalgiac. It doesn't even need to be from a game I liked.

Just find a theme played near the end of the game...
...that was catchy (from Mighty Flip Champs),
...that was different (from Iji; the song is in seven meter),
...that was nostalgic in it's own right (from La-Mulana; a remix of an earlier theme),
...or that gave me that driving feeling; that victory is the only possible outcome (from Ōkami).

(video titles/description might be spoilery...)

[Stormweaver]

while not the greatest game in the world, Chrono Cross's OST is a work of art in it's own right, and half the reason the game has any play value.

EDIT: May as well provide an example.

[Thorium-232]

while not the greatest game in the world, Chrono Cross's OST is a work of art in it's own right, and half the reason the game has any play value.

Pretty spot on description. I especially loved the tie-ins with music from Chrono Trigger, and the every-once-and-then acoustic twang:

[ryoloth]

The AoE2 soundtrack has always brought me joy and nostalgia, as well as inspired some of my more epic builds in MC

[Shinxy]

For some reason, I'm always a fan of the intro music, or some early song. Anyway, some of my favorites that do inspire me, and pump me up:

Mount & Blade: Warband Theme is one I've been recently enjoying, really gets you in the mood for drinking from skulls.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat Intro: badass and actiony, which is funny, as the rest of the game (and soundtrack) is more atmospheric and creepy.
Starcraft: Terran 1 is probably one of my absolute favorite, and strikes a chord of nostalgia from me, as it was one of the first games I've ever played.

Oh, and if you haven't heard it yet, a recent game Rogue Legacy came out, and has an amazing chiptronic soundtrack. Been listening to it nonstop while reading, doing chores, whatever.

[maxsi]

ruining hell for sure



you can say it is a little of nostalgia by the song "style", but still i love this music.

[tedium]

sometimes, when i'm walking home from work, i like to put on the secret of mana soundtrack. it takes me back in time instantly:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9B1F4546776E26A4

[sacrife]

I find myself popping up old NES/SNES tracks all the time. They are for me the best VGM has to offer.
Megaman, F-Zero, Topgear, Ducktales, chip'n'dales, zelda, metal gear, castlevania. I can go on forever.
8 Bit is my shit.

[lostone1993]

these two rest fondly in my memory and put me a good mood when I hear them

The theme from LBA


crusader no Remorse Theme

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I am also quite fond of system shock 2's medsci1 level song

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other then that, i listen to these soundtracks a lot
CNC
red alert
from elder scrolls morrowind onwards
system shock 2
any of the stalker games
Divine Divinity
OSTs from the unreal series

[jorgebonafe]

A couple of soundtracks I love are the Outlaws OST and the OST from The Dig:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evXZbJhE ... 56AE474ACE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LI4pKnE ... 2D043CE3A4

I can't explain the massive wave of nostalgia the "Dig" soundtrack gives me every time I listen to it... Specially track 3, "Ghosts"...

[Doctor]

the Harry potter ps1 main menu i listen to it a lot still
I remember that i didnt have a memory card and i was only allowed to play with my dad for a hour when i went to see him
but i played the opening tens of times loveing every moment of it

EDIT: I seem to have messed up the youtube thing so heres a link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L78WkuKcT0

[Svartwolf]

gooosh, i could talk about Videogame OSTs for days, the interesting thing about such a thread in those forums is that the kind of people that dwell here probably have fond memory of a very diverse and sometimes obscure amount of tunes, i will take the time to listen to everything : D. (unlike other forums were people post mainly resident evil, final fantasy, zelda and call of duty, its not like those games cant have good OSTs, I enjoy zelda tunes as much as the next guy, but everyone knows that Gerudo Valley is a nice song)

I personally have been more of a console gamer in my youth, (Nes trough gamecube) but i did have some little escapades to PC one of the songs that i remembered most in my early youth is the phantasmagoria theme, i remembered that theme gave me interesting dreams, half nightmares, half something else entirely.

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And regarding haunting tunes and landscapes, demon's crest OST have always evoked the visage of a strange world, kinda similar to our own, kinda very different, were ruin and strife are everyday things, yet the light shines more vividly on such lands.

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Finally a little of that little jewel of the gamecube that people didn't seem to remember unless they actually played it, in which case they wont probably forget it, that nintendo horror exclusive game that actually made me turn off my console out of pure fear! (i though the game was clearing my memory card DX) Eternal Darkness... the game that introduced me to lovecraftian literature.

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everytime I hear this song i just stop being on this reality anymore...

[RandomObj3ct]

i would have to put the Oblivion soundtrack as one of my favorites
it's outdoor exploration tracks are great to listen to in most circumstances

i have recently started playing Mass effect(a bit behind here i know), love quite a few tracks especially the music in the map

[Shengji]

One of my personal favourites of recent times is the Thomas was Alone soundtrack, before that, the Journey soundtrack was lodged firmly in my cd player!

[FlowerChild]

the Journey soundtrack was lodged firmly in my cd player!

Hehe...being the old fart that I am, I thought you were referring to this:

[odranoel]

now this is my kinda thread :)

video game music has inspired me since i can remember really. but of all the games iv played only few really stick out in terms of the music totaly changeing what the game would have been, and made an awsome game, truly epic. sometimes i didnt know if i like the music more then the game or vice versa. i tend to like things that are more moody and dramatic so some of my choices may not appeal to those who like happier music in terms of tastes or nostalgia. but either way...

my top list of all time is.

1: Xenogears - i cant describe the amout of chills and pure emotional quagmire that the xenogears OST had on me. the tension of the choirs and the sheer dramatic feeling of the majority of the soundtrack went hand it hand with the dark and sometimes disturbing themes and events that played out in xenogears. it served very well to underline the serious nature and feeling of the game.

Example:

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this song still gives me chills....
the final battle with deus.....awsome
goosebumps....

2: final fantasy 7 - in reality most of the things i said about xenogears are ditto for FF7. and in all honestly its very hard to say which i liked better. they both have that dramatic and serious feel i have come to love. i guess i cant be surprized as they were both made by the same company ( <3 Square <3 ) altho i guess FF7's final boss theme does win xenogears as two winged angle is just pure epicness. since im sure everyone knows that one ill post a couple of others.

Example:

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the feeling of dread and isolation this song provides is rivaled by very few others...
a beautiful mix of happy and sad, but mostly sad, with a touch of "things might be ok?"
Aerith.... :(

3: Silent Hill - holy crap do these games use its music in a most amazing and artistic way. theres something so surreal about haveing this amazingly beautiful music play while you are stranded in the most god forsaken town of all time. a stellar example of how to opposite elements can end up enchancing eachother.

Example:

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this song for me "made" silent hill 2. when i first heard it in the hotel i inmediatly reloaded the game just to hear it again
goosebumps again...
unfortunatly this song was pretty much the only thing i like about silent hill 4. to me it was the most disapointing of the series by team silent hill. (all the latest SH games have been utter crap and from other teams/developers) luckily this song was so good it almost justiefied my purchase of the game....almost :p

4: Mega man (all of them) - mega man has probably had the greatest influence on me in terms of melody. its fast and relativly complex and intresting melodies really helped me expand my imagination on melodies and what they can do in general.

Example:

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this song single handedly got me into techno and tranceat a very young age.
i only was able to beat the dragon at the end of wileys first stage ONCE. iv always meant to get my reveng at some point in the future, has caused me so much damn frustration... :p
this song used to get me so pumped up back in the day, ill probably remix this at some point.

i hope you guys enjoy this selection. youv all posted some great tracks and it gets rather hard to choose favorites sometimes :)

Edit: Bonus track, heres a couple from sim city 4000 that blew me away when i first heard them. in fact a few of sim city 4000's regional themes are quite exceptional.

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holy mother of moody ambient awsomeness.