Videogame Music

[Cramoisi]

I'm making this thread so we can share video game soundtracks that we enjoy. I guess VN OSTs could also fall within this thread.

I will start by sharing the soundtrack of Armored Core: For Answer, composed by Kota Hoshino, famous FromSoftware composer. I believe this is some of his best work, you can find it here free to listen to and download. The art direction for AC4A in general is excellent; like most fromsoft games, they have a great ability to capture the atmosphere of ruined worlds, long after the collapse of an earlier golden era. My favorite tracks are "1. Someone is Always Moving in the Distance", "7. Water Down", "27. Evening Mist", and without a doubt, the best track is "28. Cosmos", a most sublime and glimmering piece. I urge you to go listen to it.


Another one of my favorite OSTs by the same composer is that of EverGrace. Very different from the Armored Core one, I would describe it as sounding "oriental", a soundtrack you'd typically hear in a desert level. The use of vocals is very unique; the whole OST has an otherworldly and numinous sound at times. The art direction for this game is again sublime, especially the color palette... very warm, it reminds me of autumn. My favorite track is "4. On the Sunlit Hill".


I'd like to share more but I'll leave at these two for now, if this thread gains interest I shall make another post. OSTs are an underrated aspect of video games. I have never even played these two games before but I take great enjoyment in listening to their soundtracks; they're excellent by their own merits, pieces of art.

[Amlux]

I took your suggestion and you should be able to embed stuff now! Will celebrate with one of my favorite visual novel songs. You have no idea what I would have given to be able to sing some of these VN songs at a karaoke in Japan. Even the most elite otaku-centric machines there did not live up to my impossible standards...

[BookReader]

Dream of An Absolution - Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=-DwfHOWovCQ



2P Vs. Battle - Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=aGGCcjvpjkg



Up to the Cloud by Owl City - Girls' Frontline: Neural Cloud (2021)
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=ZP5IBl_zqqw



NYC Streets (Conversation) - Deus Ex (2000)
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=VjSC_XERa5M

[Deoster]

Perfectly atmospheric and tense


Very nostalgic and very iconic for the series, not sure if it hits as well without having played the game lol


So magical!! Takes me away


Best song for best character


Puts you right into that city


As iconic as it gets

[saint]

Anything PC98/88.

[drummyfish]

Cool thread, I love game music a lot so this is gonna be long. I'll spoiler each section to not make this a kilometer long, and will edit in things I remember later on.

Let me start with the lesser known but excellent, free as in freedom soundtracks to some libre games (0 A.D. and Xonotic):

Spoiler

Personally I love Advance Wars soundtracks a lot for their personality, each track reflects the character of one of the game COs. Some examples:

Spoiler

https://commons.miraheze.org/wiki/File:Licar.ogg

Legend of Grimrock (1 and 2) is not among the best known, yet its soundtrack is breathtaking and has some kinda oldschool "adventurous" vibes to it, just like the games themselves:

Spoiler

Now a classic from Duke 3D:

Spoiler

Pokemon tracks are among the most memorable and well known, some of my favorites:

Spoiler

Warcraft II has a memorable soundtrack as well, maybe it's nostalgia but these still give me goosebumps:

Spoiler

Mafia (1, VANILLA, fuck the remake) is a game from my country, the beautiful soundtrack was recorded with a live orchestra:

Spoiler

Morrowind has been posted, but "the other TES games" have cool variations of that same theme, I love them all:

Spoiler

Vanilla WoW, the menu music is just pure epic:

Spoiler

Mirror's Edge, a well made title song, for some reason I love its instrumental version a lot:

Spoiler

Half Life 2 is notable mainly for the fast paced action scene tracks:

Spoiler

[media][/media]

GTA games have a lot of quality original music too, my favorites:

Spoiler

Trackmania again not very well known for its music, it's quite ambient, but anyone who played the games (at least the old ones, to speak for myself) always ends up loving them.

Spoiler

And as a bonus some favorite covers and OCs ^_^

Spoiler

https://commons.miraheze.org/wiki/File:Licar.ogg

[Cramoisi]

Very nice to see so many replies, and thanks for adding the embedding feature.

I took your suggestion and you should be able to embed stuff now! Will celebrate with one of my favorite visual novel songs. You have no idea what I would have given to be able to sing some of these VN songs at a karaoke in Japan. Even the most elite otaku-centric machines there did not live up to my impossible standards...

I had never heard about this VN before, that song is great. I actually got into VNs fairly recently, and it was due to your Tractatus video lol, the art style and the fact that it was inspired by Wittgenstein's Tractatus piqued my interest. I spent the greater part of last summer reading Subarahibi. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't read it to read it in the summer; it definitely has summer flavor. I'll dedicate this post to some of my favorite songs from Subarahibi for those who haven't had the pleasure of reading it. I recommend you listen to them from this website, the audio quality is noticeably higher.

This one always reminds me of the "Live Happily!" ending.


They should play this inside train stations at night


This is one of my favorites, even though it's just a piano version of a Bach song.


A most intense one, I think I'm making it too evident that my favorite chapters are the Takuji/Tomosane ones


And I'll put this one as a spoiler since it's the song that plays in the secret ending. It's close to being my favorite

Spoiler

I realized while making this post how many great songs there are in Subarahibi, I had a very hard time picking just a few. I find VNs totally unreadable if the OST isn't good; when a song perfectly fits the scene you're reading it adds so much to it. Subarahibi does a great job at this both in "silly" scenes and serious ones, you should read it if you haven't.

[AIpiqiA]

Very nice to see so many replies, and thanks for adding the embedding feature.

I took your suggestion and you should be able to embed stuff now! Will celebrate with one of my favorite visual novel songs. You have no idea what I would have given to be able to sing some of these VN songs at a karaoke in Japan. Even the most elite otaku-centric machines there did not live up to my impossible standards...

I had never heard about this VN before, that song is great. I actually got into VNs fairly recently, and it was due to your Tractatus video lol, the art style and the fact that it was inspired by Wittgenstein's Tractatus piqued my interest. I spent the greater part of last summer reading Subarahibi. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't read it to read it in the summer; it definitely has summer flavor. I'll dedicate this post to some of my favorite songs from Subarahibi for those who haven't had the pleasure of reading it. I recommend you listen to them from this website, the audio quality is noticeably higher.

This one always reminds me of the "Live Happily!" ending.


They should play this inside train stations at night


This is one of my favorites, even though it's just a piano version of a Bach song.


A most intense one, I think I'm making it too evident that my favorite chapters are the Takuji/Tomosane ones


And I'll put this one as a spoiler since it's the song that plays in the secret ending. It's close to being my favorite

Spoiler

I realized while making this post how many great songs there are in Subarahibi, I had a very hard time picking just a few. I find VNs totally unreadable if the OST isn't good; when a song perfectly fits the scene you're reading it adds so much to it. Subarahibi does a great job at this both in "silly" scenes and serious ones, you should definitely read it if you haven't.

Final Smile where?


Some other stuff I like from Subahibi or rearranged by Subahibi




Ofc, I also like the stuff the other posters posted, esp the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus track.

I guess I'll also post some stuff from other VNs I like

Soukou Akki Muramasa has some nice traditional Japanese style OST

Chaos;Head NOaH OSTs are pretty good too

Mahoyo, of course, has some of my favorite atmospheres, some of which can be captured really well by the OSTs

This one is just the Gymnopedie no.1 by Satie but I really like the way it is played and looped in the VN