Listening without playing?

[mushgloom]

NieR Gestalt, 7th Dragon (piano and strings) , Napple Tale are only 3 of many ost's I find superb although I've never experienced their source game.

There are so many games I'll never have the time to play let alone being able to afford all of them. Fortunately, the production quality and composition of many VGM soundtracks allows them to stand alone. And for that I am grateful. ^__^

[Xiaoh]

I listened to all three Xenosaga soundtracks before I bought the games. I'm glad I did too!

[TerraEpon]

Napple Tale is a great game. It's a shame so few people have played it, and that it's Japanese only (I'd kill for a translation platch...)

[KeyLogic]

I never once heard of games called Aion or POWER DoLLs, and yet I own the soundtracks to both of these.
Funny thing is sometimes it's the music from a soundtrack that gets me interested in knowing more about the game it came from.

[Yotsuya]

The first VG soundtrack I ever bought was to a game I hadn't played: Seiken Densetsu 3, and it does become interesting to speculate how the music was applied in the game. Now that I am interested in collecting more, I lean towards games I have played as a way to boost their value via nostalgia, but if I hear something I like I'll definitely go for it. Particularly because I'm not a gamer anymore and don't have the time (or money) for it, so VGM seems like a nice way to fill that void.

[TheBanditking]

I have done this on occasion but I find I am often too critical of the music without the nostalgia of remembering the game to back up the tracks. In some cases I have not bought an OST only to play the game and want the OST, after its gone out of print.....

[xient]

I am perfectly happy to buy the soundtrack to something I haven't played much/at all. Whenever I do play a game with music I've become very familiar with, it is a somewhat odd experience. But that's OK since I rarely get to play anything these days.

[alexbip15]

I only buy/listen to the soundtrack if i played the game before because for me the music takes all its value when you remember the scene or place where the music plays and it recreates the emotion of the game... if that meant anything :P

[seanne]

Originally Posted by alexbip15

I only buy/listen to the soundtrack if i played the game before because for me the music takes all its value when you remember the scene or place where the music plays and it recreates the emotion of the game... if that meant anything :P

I agree, this is also my main reason for listening to game music. Though sometimes I buy an album even if I haven't played the game, but I seldom end up enjoying it as much as it won't hold any special meaning for me.

[strugglepoo]

I hardly play video games anymore, but I'm always checking out the latest OSTs. There's tons of soundtracks from previous eras that I listen to that I have no interest in playing.

[Freelance Wolf]

I think I've only bought one CD for a game I've never played and that was FF Before Crisis + The Last Order. I have seen TLO previously but have never played BC. I was in Japan and wanted to buy a cheap CD and decided to get that so there you have it.

[Porter]

Never played any of Japanese game - can´t even imagine to play/read any of visual novels game - and I have lot visual novel ost in collection...but sometimes I watch gameplay on youtube and thanks to this I found great soundtracks for Okami and Bayonetta.

Played MOH series, Hitman saga and have also soundtracks from them.
Call of duty series - MW 1 and 2 are great games and it is shame that there is no soundtrack for first MW game (HG Williams and Stephen Barton) - I don´t count game rip of music which can be found on net.
But looking forward to play MW3 with music by Brian Tyler and I hope for soundtrack.

Also really like music from SWAT 2 and 3 games - no official soundtracks again.