Music: distinctiveness and use as emphasis

Music: distinctiveness and use as emphasis

in Audio

Posted by: Kosmo.5187

Kosmo.5187

Music is very important to me. Along with writing, I’d say that our exploration of it so far is one of the supreme achievements of our species. Naturally, perhaps emphasized by having studied it, this feeling permeates pretty much everything that I do, including when I play games and consume it that way. Game music has come a long way in a very short time. In a game like Guild Wars 2, I really feel there is a lot of opportunity to shine in this department and push the boundary for the medium even further – you have a whole world that has to be represented musically, and emotions to express, of all varieties.

Distinctiveness
In some sense I feel that the composers working on this game have been limited in how many distinct tracks they have written. This is emphasized by the fact that each zone is very, very distinctly disconnected from the rest with a loading screen. Yet, at the same time each zone is a far cry from having a unique feel musically. There are some definite mis-matches here too, where music I wouldn’t quite consider appropriate for a scenario ends up playing in the background. This can be a severe immersion breaker. Music really can transform blandness to spice, but its effect is being underutilized here.

Immersion
Additionally, I am a little let down that one thing game music typically does right is not phenomenally emphasized here: relatively simple, recognizable music integrated into a wide array of pieces to create a distinct and memorable feel. Rarely do I hear a piece and go “oh, this is where that person is” or “that’s what they’re doing”. The relegation to background ambiance is a real shame and a missed opportunity.

It’s one thing World of Warcraft got right, to provide an example. You knew when you were at an inn. It felt like you were at an inn. The Secrets of Ulduar was a heroic theme, later transformed to include a choir and delve deeper into dwarf lore. It created a thread, even between zones and raids and expansions. You could also run around the Storm Peaks and feel like the simple, effectively used choir there really matched the environment. When you fought Sindragosa, there were no ifs ands or buts about it.

None of this stuff is Beethoven (and only a fool would expect it to be), but it’s effective and provided a very interesting framework for the musical experience. My hope is that the game overlords will let the composers create a wider variety of music, and that they will work towards emphasizing the powerful effect music can have on one’s experience. There are some fine themes here and there, and it would be good to see you play with them a bit and create new ones. The potential has not been tapped.

Distilled
You feel an immediate loss if you mute a film that has a great score. The times I’ve had to play Guild Wars 2 without sound, I haven’t felt that sense of loss. I don’t think it’s because the music is bad per se, but rather because it’s not used as an emphasis to what is going on.

Think of the possibilities.