Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. GWARGH. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Without waxing melodramatic, let me just take a few moments to explain why you are receiving such a ... well ... I shan't mince words ... such a shitty column tonight.

It is not the fault of some Grinchly figure, nor because the GIA has developed feelings for someone else. Instead, it is because I have only this evening gotten home from North Carolina, and out of simple curiosity flicked on my PC to grab my e-mail, only to find that because of some miscommunication somewhere, DA was not being hosted one final night by one of my overworked comrades in arms as I'd expected.

For a minute I envisioned myself the valiant warhorse who'd field this unexpected burden, uncomplaining, and stay up till dawn if need be in spite of my weariness in order to get the job done, ultimately managing to turn out a typically terrific (shut up!) piece of work.

But, hell. You know what I'm like - as soon as someone suggested that doing a shoddy, half-assed job would be kosher, I put all delusions of grandeur aside, and began work on this ... uh ... masterpiece. This masterpiece of Scotch tape and eminently edible paste.

So, I'm not gonna say a lot tonight. Instead, I'm gonna kick back, for the most part, and let you marvelous masses talk music.

I seem to have a piece of character development lodged in my head

Perhaps not so much with newer games, but I consider game music the standard by which RPGs of days past are judged. More than anything else, music is simply what I remember best. It makes the high moments high, and the lows that much lower. Sure, plots can be compelling, and graphics can be pretty, but I'll be damned if I've ever gotten a great piece of character development stuck in my head several years after playing said game. -Matthew

Undeniably, a well-attuned soundtrack does wonders for emphasizing/amplifying the emotion of a particular scene or character. But what makes game music so uniquely special to me is the way in which it is inextricably intertwined with those moments, and can, years after the fact, fully conjure up a story or setting's mood in just a few notes.

Aerith's death would have drawn a good deal less sympathy from me without a hand from her infamous theme, and, at the same time, without the memory of that most tragic of game moments, those simple MIDI strains wouldn't mean a bloody thing.

Shit-colored glasses

It's funy, I can't really think of any games in which I really disliked the music. I guess it's just because it becomes a part of the experience. And if you enjoy the experience, then you enjoy the music too, I guess. And if you don't enjoy the experience then you probably stop playing the game early on and can't remember the music at all. Hold on....oh yeah, Parasite Eve. Now there's a game I should have stopped playing but didn't and now I'm forced to remember that I didn't like the music. At least I think I didn't like the music. Or maybe I just hated the game so much that the music, having been part of the experience, just sucks in hindsight. What's the opposite of rose colored glasses? Shit covered glasses? Anyway, to answer the question, I like music. And you? yours cruelly, opultaM Forward Thermal Energy is Nature's Graveyard

Yeah, that's what I meant.

How ironic!

Well, that was ironic. I was just thinking about game music last night! It all started out Friday Night. My brother was playing Star Ocean on my TV, and I was doing something else in the same room. Not being at all involved in the game, the music very quickly got repetitive and grating. So I commented the SCEA should force music composers to sit in an empty room for 2 hours listening to each piece of music loop. Should the stereo playing the music survive this, the music is allowed, else the music must be rewritten. Then, the next night, I was playing Golden Sun. Out of nowhere, I suddenly noticed the music. I realized that when playing a game, the music is more transparent than when just listening to the music. On the other hand, the music in Golden Sun really complements the gameplay, giving everything a more grandiose feel. (It is also a resounding tribute to the sound abilities of the GBA.) One last Anecdote. I watched the Gamecube Zelda trailer. The trailer was somewhat interesting, but that's not what made me grin like a 6 year old with a $20 gift certificate to a candy store. The orchestral remix of the game music was like something out of my past that tugged my heartstrings. Let's now take this rambling mental vomit, and create a succinct point. Nik's Final Thought: Game music, like movie soundtracks, have the ability to enhance a game, or destroy the experience. Many classic games have amazing music as a hallmark. Who can forget the overworld music from Zelda? Who doesn't smile each time they hear the theme from Super Mario Bros.? The Final Fantasy games were MADE by the soundtrack. Once major reviewers start commenting on the music in a game as a major part of the review, perhaps the publishers will start making the music as important as gameplay, and graphics. Or at least, give us the option to turn it off. I Remain NIK

You know what? The Zelda theme has really lost something over the years.

Majora's Mask has come closer than any of the other recent offerings to recapturing the mood evoked by the NES original, but still.... It's gone off in a ... direction-thingie.

Legend of Zelda's overworld theme sounded eerie to me. Hostile and mysterious. Remember that low, cascading undertone that's been more or less absent in this constantly ressurected song ever since...?

Or how about that dungeon theme. What happened to that? That was suspense, I tell you. That was danger.

Now it's all triumphant trumpeting, reassuring us of our hero status and heralding our general kick-assedness as we take on all that ails Hyrule. What's up with that?!

Sephiroth to star in Peter Pan

I play just as many action games as I do RPGs, and let me tell you something - when you're low on energy, down to your last man, and facing off against the final boss as he's throwing every sort of attack in the book at you, including the kitchen sink... well, it would kind of spoil the mood to be hearing "It's a Small World After All" during the fight. So to me, music is one of the most important elements in my enjoyment of any game, far more than graphics will ever be. Good music helps to set the atmosphere of the game, more so than any amount of graphics; you don't need to actively listen to music to let it set your mood. Any game can benefit from good music... or suffer from bad music. Lunatic Muse

For lack of a better, less POD-like way of saying this, I've occasionally found strength to pull through a grueling boss battle in a well-done piece of music. For me, the track that highlights the final battle with Ghaleon in L:SSSC was such a piece, but evidently not everyone feels this way....

The good, the bad, and the latest Mega Man

Erin (or as Drew would say, "ERIN"), I can without a doubt say that good music carries a heavy weight when it comes to whether or not I'll enjoy the game. Let's first look at some good games: -Panzer Dragoon Saga: sheer brilliance in design, story, execution and MUSIC! Yes, the music enhances the game and helps to wrap you in its world. Big plus. -Ecco the Dolphin and Tides of Time (Sega CD): I never knew really what people saw in these games but Spencer Nilsen's work on both of them is good enough that I played through most of Ecco: The Tides of Time and I bought Ecco The Dolphin just for its soundtrack. True. Then there's of course Uematsu, but I'm sure you'll get plenty of letters about him. Moving on... And the bad: - Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete: What do people see in Noriyuki Iwadare? His music sounds like it should be on an early Sega Genesis game, for crying out loud. Or the latest Mega Man game. - Grandia II: A slightly better Iwadare soundtrack than Lunar but if you listen to the battle theme at the beginning of each battle you will hear, note for note, the opening theme for "The NBA on NBC". No joke. So what it comes down to is that a complete experience will allow me to be fully immersed in a game. That means sound, story, the whole presentation. I can still play a game with bad music (I played Lunar), but the experience will be so much better if the tunes can live up to the game. Now go check out the Grandia II battle theme, I know you want to. -Purple Monkey Dishwasher

Music can fade quietly into the background (as in the more cinematic, emphatic scores of FFs VIII and IX) and become just a minor part of a greater whole, but it can also suck so egregiously as to drag down a worthwhile title, sez I, or polish a game with an otherwise ... ah ... satin finish to a preternatural shine.

Take, for example, BoF III and (I can hardly believe I'm even mentioning this) Interplay's Lord of the Rings vol. 1.

BoF III's bizarre jazz soundtrack may have been someone's cup of tea, but it certainly wasn't mine. I'm embarrased to have things with soprano saxes in them in my home - especially when I have company. Laudable, I suppose, that they attempted something new, but damned if I can remember a single track from that game. Not that I'd particularly care to.

LotR, meanwhile, was an awful, awful game, with an unexpectedly gorgeous (if spare) soundtrack in keeping with a whimsical, medieval mood that was intended but ... well... not really executed. At all. Period. Deep in my heart of hearts I know it was those couple of memorable Renaissance faire ditties that saw me through to the end of Interplay's travesty take on Tolkien's tale.

I ... badly need to come down from my Alliterene high.

Shining mediocrity

Erin-Type-Person - It's almost a given fact that good music can add a glimmer of excellence to any mediocre production. Case in point, here's a real story from just this afternoon (bear with me, I'll get to the point eventually): Our English teacher recently assigned a small grammar project. As it would happen, one student (we'll call him "Bob," because his real name is Micah, so we can't use that) went a bit overboard in terms of production, going beyond the requisite PowerPoint presentation to produce a short, hastily-edited video of epic proportions. This little masterwork of rock-bottom budgeting starred "Bob's" famous rubber chicken as "Grammar Chicken" and some stuffed monkey as "His Sidekick Bobo the Once Homicidal but Now Reformed Gorilla." At one point in the video, the evil arch-nemesis anti-grammar clown-guy whose name I can't remember pushes Bobo to his death off of a cliff (stairway banister, due to budget restrictions) with some rather brilliant zero-dollar photography. Grammar Chicken weeps, shattered, over the body of his fallen comrade, and proceeds to savagely burn the evil clown-guy in psychotic retribution. Now, the point. This scene is, at best, an average work of cinematography. What makes the scene as emotionally stirring as it is (and, against all odds, it is) is the presence of a rather beautiful, tear-inducing string piece in the background during the whole murder-and-revenge scene that sounds suspiciously like "People Seized with Life" from Chrono Cross (one of the most beautiful pieces in the history of gaming; Mitsuda is a god among composers). The song adds an air to the scene that, despite its piercing melodrama, pushes the viewer almost the verge of tears (as a good part of our class discovered). I can't think of a concluding statement, but you get the idea. Anyway, I'm going to go and act depressed because Final Fantasy X comes out tomorrow, and I'm not allowed to buy anything for myself until after Christmas. Phooey. - An'Desha - spent 10 hours downloading a 12-minute video of a supergeek giving a review of FFX. God, somebody give me that game.

Yup.

Background noise

Music? What music? Oh! I remember now, it's that funny series of sounds eminating from my television when I turn the mute function off. Seriously though, I haven't payed attention to, listened to, or even cared about any games music since Xenogears. You see, I am a very lazy person and I enjoy being able to watch television *while* playing games. Yes, it is true, I have two televisions in my room. Any time I play a game, I always turn on both televisions so that I get to catch all of the wonderful programming on cable television while still playing whichever game strikes my fancy (it's also great for Football on sundays - I catch the games on CBS and Fox). Pretty nifty, eh? - Justin (I would remove one television from my room which would perk me up and rid me of lazy ways, but I am never motivated enough to do it! ARGH!)

Well, obviously someone had to express their vehement.... apathy.

Riding the wave tables

I like music. All music. It is the foundation of any good game and it's very difficult to have a good game with bad music. Even games like the original Dragon Warrior for NES had exceptional soundtracks and, in their simplicity, are even easier to recall than the more confounded Mitsuda melodies of late (I love the guy though. CC soundtrack is the only one I own.) I also had a question of my own though. Throughout most of the NES, the action games had the best music. The later entries in the Megaman series (actually, every game except the first one) had some kickin' tunes, not to mention the games themselves. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Arcade had the greatest NES music ever. Then you come on over to the RPGs, in which it really wasn't all that impressive or all-encompassing. Games like Dragon Warrior, while they did have memorable tracks, could have the entire soundtrack fit on the storage space of a Rio 300...in wave format. The original Final Fantasy (I know I'll take some punches for this) had some of the most god-awful crap ever to be called music on this planet. I mean the battle theme was boring and muy repetitivo, while every other song sounded exactly the same. Thank the lord Uematsu fixed it by 3j, but it still just didn't match up. THEN SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENED. Sometime around the birth of the Super Nintendo, music just picked up. I dunno if it was the new music hardware (8 channels of samples kills 3 channels of chip tunes and a drum (do they call it that?) channel) or what, but all of a sudden, RPG music dominated the industry. Why did people start working harder? Was it El Nino? Are you Jack Klugman!? -Butters (that's me!)

Of course it was the new music hardware.

Without the new music hardware, Draco's strangled gargle of a baritone never would have been possible.

Oh so quiet

Dear Ms. Agent Erin Goddess Queen (where did I put that bribe money?) Music is the prime mover (when it comes to media). Sure, it isn't NECESSARY... but to be truly great, a game must have great music. Think of Brave Fencer Musashi; a fairly fun, catchy, silly, exciting title with some hilariously botched voice acting (hey pal! I'm gonna pulverize ya, pal! You're my PAL! etc...). Add an engaging, fast-paced, powerful, yet upbeat score, and it becomes another Squaresoft Gem (copyright, trademark, incorporated, square owns you, etc.). Or Halo; half of halo is "excellently done" shooting; the other half is "thrilling, intense, astounding" shooting. What makes the divide? Besides the fact that the outdoor levels blew away the indoor ones? Or that the GIA doesn't even review games like Halo (whoops...)? THE MUSIC, of course! Whenever the music started up, the entire game changed! Don't tell me you didn't notice it! You cannot RESIST THE MUSIC! ...Sorry... Anyway, to name a few titles that just would never be the same without the music, try einhander, final fantasy tactics, final fantasy 6, final fantasy 7, NOT ff8 or ff9 (great games, both, but lacking that dramatic edge... oh wait, the soundtracks were more subdued? I see...), some other games that aren't by squaresoft, etc. Peace out. Monkey vs. Robot. Pal! -A Nony Mouse

Music is often at its most dramatic when it suddenly fills a silent void. We all went for our guns when music invaded Tomb Raider's atmospheric quiet, and we all knew exactly when to get the hell out of the way of a descending Skulltula in the N64 Zeldas when that tune began to swell.

As for that rest of that.... Huh?

Experimentation

Welcome back, Erin, Aesthetics-wise, music is decidely more crucial in creating the atmosphere of a game. Graphics and visual art can give off all sorts of subtle effects, yet, in video games its usually so direct and in front of your face that there's not much you can do with it besides make it imminently creative, fantastic and suitable to the environment it creates. However, music could change the...so to speak...interpretation of the graphics. For instance, if you have a giddy happy grass land and supplant it with a sad and melancholy theme, the combination makes that giddy happy grass land different. Then you change the music and the grassland changes it to match it. You could just change the graphics, but music can be used to dynamically alter what the screen says. That said, absolutely music, more so than graphics or any other aesthetic element, makes the game for me. I think I would even play a horribly sick-minded joke of an RPG if the music seemed like it was ordained by God to make humans happy. Dragon Quest VII, even with its too few tunes, most of them stand out wonderfully and help along the fetid graphics quite a bit. When I think of my favorite moments in videogames, more than a vivid re-collecting of the graphics, the music comes rushing into my mind like a waterfall. And that said, sometimes I love to experiment by replacing a soundtrack with my own. The opening scene of FFVIII to the tune of Madonna's Bedtime Story is pretty awesome, while Garbage's As Heaven Is Wide makes for a great boss battle theme. Utada Hikaru's awesome new space-age pop song, Travelling, makes an incredible accompaniment to FFX and Resident Evil was never eerier than when I played through it to the tune of the Nutcracker Suite. I'd love to see composers play around with our heads and create a soft, slow tune for a tense, rapid-fire moment or a really despondent tune for a great momentous occasion, that type of experimentation would indeed be interesting. -Suzuki Shou

This was a topic not too long ago, wasn't it? I miss everything.

Like peanut butter & onions

Hello Ms. Erin. My, you look nice this evening. Anyway, I'm going to cut right to the chase. Wahoo. Music and gameplay go hand-in-hand, like a father escorting his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. Um...bad analogy. But they are meant to be together, like peanut butter and jelly. The perfect example of this is Enix's Valkyrie Profile. Not only did the game have an awesome storyline, spectacular graphics and sprites, and an actually FUN battle system, the game had great music. I am desperately, as I type this, trying to download every song from VP I can think of, from "Valhalla" to "Unfinished Battle with God Syndrome." The battle music is very inspiring and makes the semi-random encounters that much more enthralling. Of course, there are games that the music actually SAVES. Konami's Suikoden 2, while it had its problems, has an awe-inspiring soundtrack. Whenever I feel like I'm going to spaz out, I listen to a track like "Reminiscence" and I feel better instantaneously. Without the soundtrack, Suikoden 2 would be another of those games that gets a bad translation and "bad" graphics that simply gets picked over in favor of, say, Final Fantasy 8. *vomits at the mere mention of that name* Well, that's my little ditty on music. I think I'm gonna go download some more music now. Bye bye, Miss Erin. Have a nice day. *The Snowman*

Game music is at its best when it's perfectly suited to the atmosphere of the game. Suikoden's a shining example of this kind of blessed union: simple but deep, vaguely Eastern soundtrack for a simple but deep, vaguely Eastern story.

Persona's a nice example, too. Those groovy techno tracks with their smatterings of sampled voices whining about popularity nicely kept with the game's youthful, modern-day mood, and went a long way toward easing the monotony of those first person dungeon crawls.

First person dungeon crawls.... hmmm.....

Closing Comments:

This column had nothing going for it. It's short, it's late, it's low-qual, and now I can't decide between past and present tense.... I've got a lot of sins to attone for on the morrow.

So how 'bout those first person dungeon crawls, eh? You don't see much of them these days as RPGs drift ever further from their roots. Good riddance, you say? Or are you nostalgic for your early journeys with Alis? Have crappily executed specimens like Stonekeep and Arcana given the first person RPG perspective a bad rap, or does this fossilized method of exploration deserve its death?

-Erin Mehlos