Game Music 2: Beyond Thunderdome

Heh, I had to. Mainly because I’ve listened to stuff from various Tak projects over the years. Not a particular favorite of mine, but firmly in the ‘decent song to listen to while I work’ category.

Plus, who knows, maybe an @ArmandoPenblade might not have heard of him, and would be interested to know he’s got an extensive discography.

To me B’z is Jpop (it’s easy listening after all), but that comes from the assumption Jpop is something audible, and not the horrible audio molasse it has become the synonym of in the new millenium, featuring hundred of underaged boys or girls trying to hide behind numbers their individual total inability as singers.
I’m grumpy!

Ha, that’s me, the End Run isn’t actually my favorite either (that’d be Grunt or Tali) but it is the most representative to me of Mass Effect 2 – big, dumbed down action movie of a previously excellent scifi game that I’m still oddly fond of. Thought it’d do better than this though :/

@left_empty I’ve listened to the soundtrack many times but Samara never stood out to me, but frankly I love the whole thing. It really fit the game well, such as it is.

Also this system of voting is pretty convenient for me since I’m on vacation, I don’t have the chance to listen to the other songs but I can still rate my own without guilt.

To me, it’s the arrangement that makes me love some of the ME tracks so much. Tali is right next there to Samara to me. I actually like the atmospheric versions (Finding Samara or Pure Krogan, from the sic Atmospheric Soundtrack) better, but the lack of melody hooks would be troublesome.

Yeah, I never had much hope of it surviving even one round, but I’m really fond of the music in Dwarf Fortress. Part of it’s nostalgia for the days when I could try to sneak in One More Season instead of writing one more paper. Part of it’s appreciation for the crisp juxtaposition between the soft, soothing strumming and the horrified realization that all my dwarves are dying of dehydration. …Because the brewer’s skull got cracked when the mayor finally snapped. …Because her lavish office was really more of a chair out by the woodpile.

…And the chair was really more of a cactus, but I don’t think DF is quite detailed enough for that part to matter.

I was super sad to see this go down immediately, but alas! And no, @CraigM, he was new to me, too, but it was excellent!!!

Out of Group B, as mentioned I loved the FF track and gave it a 5, and did the same for the fantastic Super Hexagon track. The guitar track from Dwarf Fortress was a bit too chromatic for my taste but I still liked it so I only gave it a 4, and the ME2 one was fine, but honestly now I don’t remember if I gave it a 3 or a 4. Is there a way to find out?

Never mind!

‘Hide results’ will give you the buttons again with your original choice.

I like FF music, but it tends to be Rousing-Neo-Gothic-Symphonic-Battle-March or Poignant-Sad-Piano-Arpeggios and not much in between.

We’ll wait until you get to my FF pick, because it is neither this time. It’s bittersweet march.

Last time was sad piano though, I’ll admit.

Man, I really like the Dwarf Fortress theme. And that Super Hexagon track is so dang catchy. Good round.

These are generally the only FF tracks I like, with a handful of exceptions (Zanarkand included).

Tbh RNGSBM is my second favorite genre after German symphonic power metal.

I see you listen to Turisias then

There’s literally a race in one of the RPGs I’ve run based on them!

https://abirsta.obsidianportal.com/wikis/turisians

I would claim shock, but this is the most Armando thing I’ve ever seen.

Holy hell that FFXIV track just BANGS!!!

It is great. Almost makes me want to play a JRPG. Almost.

That’s a good point!

I only played Dwarf Fortress for a weekend many years ago (after the Z axis was added) and lost sleep thinking of it. While this music brings back memories of sitting alone in my girlfriend’s old rented room playing DF on her ex-library computer while she was at work, I love the way the simple sound of the classical guitar and the melancholic tone of the tune compliments the simple ASCII visuals and the harshness of the game itself. It feels very organic and earthy. I think anything more, musically, would have been overbearing. In fact, after the DF theme ended a rearranged version came on featuring other instruments and it was just horrid.

For my entry it was a toss-up between Courtesy and Focus from the Super Hexagon soundtrack and Focus won because it’s just such a driven, intense and emotionally charged track. It’s the sound of being in the zone and on the very edge of failing any moment. Again, it’s just perfect for the game and a banger on its own.

Bizarrely, only a few hours ago, on the day one of her tracks entered the 'dome, I got my first email update from Chipzel about some of her upcoming work and she linked to a TED talk of hers from 2016 about how she got into chip music, the scene itself (including demoscene) and what it means to her, and the creative process vs. fear. Fascinating and inspirational stuff.

So the FFXIV track was epic and what a great mix of sounds. Loved the percussion, voice choir and powerful brass and strings.

The End Run didn’t do much for me I’m afraid. Even after a few listens I couldn’t really grab onto or remember much of the piece.

The scoring is killing me.