Hell, even with the chip tunes alone, it’s amazing what people managed to squeeze out of two sines, a saw, and a square channel. Bloody Tears comes to mind. Or Willy’s theme from Megaman 2.
It’s excellent for the setting it was made for, but is lacking compared to the collected discography of generations of musicians tuned to at-home listening.
I listen to opera at the opera. I listen to symphonies at the symphony, or at home if I’m particularly nostalgic. I listen to game music when I’m playing games. Each has an environment crafted around it to maximize enjoyment. I can’t even listen to edm without dimming the lights.
Listening to a game soundtrack made to evoke specific emotions at specific times? It feels like the point was wholly missed and vast horizons entirely ignored.
This is a very narrow and limited way of seeing music. Music can be created for a purpose and a setting but once it’s out there it has no boundaries beyond what you impose upon it. Somewhere Over the Rainbow was written for the Wizard of Oz but it’s not like the only way to enjoy it is in a movie theatre. Certainly, music can be more or less appropriate for certain activities and moods, listening to EDM to fall asleep might be self defeating. However, music made for games can evoke all sorts of mental states and people are free to find appropriate settings and uses outside of them to enjoy it.
Was the last time you listened to game music when it was all chip and midi? There’s some beautiful and moving music in games.
Hell, even with the chip tunes alone, it’s amazing what people managed to squeeze out of two sines, a saw, and a square channel. Bloody Tears comes to mind. Or Willy’s theme from Megaman 2.
It’s excellent for the setting it was made for, but is lacking compared to the collected discography of generations of musicians tuned to at-home listening.
I listen to opera at the opera. I listen to symphonies at the symphony, or at home if I’m particularly nostalgic. I listen to game music when I’m playing games. Each has an environment crafted around it to maximize enjoyment. I can’t even listen to edm without dimming the lights.
Listening to a game soundtrack made to evoke specific emotions at specific times? It feels like the point was wholly missed and vast horizons entirely ignored.
This is a very narrow and limited way of seeing music. Music can be created for a purpose and a setting but once it’s out there it has no boundaries beyond what you impose upon it. Somewhere Over the Rainbow was written for the Wizard of Oz but it’s not like the only way to enjoy it is in a movie theatre. Certainly, music can be more or less appropriate for certain activities and moods, listening to EDM to fall asleep might be self defeating. However, music made for games can evoke all sorts of mental states and people are free to find appropriate settings and uses outside of them to enjoy it.