And about music contributing to awesome moments (Off-Topic)

by Funkmon , Thursday, August 20, 2015, 07:54 (3470 days ago) @ cheapLEY
edited by Funkmon, Thursday, August 20, 2015, 08:01

I remember the grunt snipe. It happens right here.

https://youtu.be/kKtSM-hXEzE?t=155

Under Cover of Night is a great song that really puts you back there when you listen to it, and yep. It starts right then. In fact, I think no song has a greater ability to make me recall something vividly than that, except maybe On A Pale Horse or the Halo 2 announcement trailer music.

I think you're right that music plays a huge part in the "this is awesome" moments in games. For example, blowing up Megaton in Fallout 3 is pretty cool. But listening to Butcher Pete while it's going on is not so cool. Fallout 3 had a lot of those big events that were totally boss, but the music keeps them from sticking in your head, I think. As a contrast, Borderlands' intro themes do almost nothing, don't look awesome, and don't really do much other than give you a hint of the characters. And yet, I remember almost every part of BL1, 2, and TPS intro scenes.

In fact, that music and the video going WITH the music gives the Telltale Borderlands game credit sequences some of my favourite game moments...which is weird because they're little more than cutscenes. For example, here's the most recent one. No real spoilers here.

Pretty fun. More fun if you've spent time with the characters, obviously, but that is a really cool scene, IMO. Compare to the best game overall in the genre by my reckoning, Life Is Strange, where there are moments when Max puts on her headphones to kind of achieve a similar effect. This usually happens early on in an episode, just like Tales from the Borderlands, but instead is boring.

I remember that sequence not for being cool and atmospheric, as it was likely intended, but for showing the bus pass the same buildings 3 times while I waited for something to happen. I know the games are supposed to be different, but it's just a good example of what good music and good direction can do to a game vs, you know. Whatever.

In my opinion, the music in Life is Strange is just additive. It's another layer on the game that makes it better. In the best musical moments in games, it's more than the sum of its parts, like Under Cover of Night, or even Breaking Benjamin in Halo 2, or the intros in Borderlands. Life Is Strange's music is just adequate to me.