VGM that non-vgm listeners don't realize is vgm

[Vert1]

Someone mentioned Symphony YS fools the "normals". What other vgm is there that people don't make that stupid "Eh. Is this video game music?" question?

[Yamazaki]

Nearly everything new I'd say.

Since most of it has an orchestral soundtrack

[Cedille]

Needless to say about vocal themes, even if many modern VGM feature vocals it'd be the last thing people associate with VGM. Any track that doesn't loop also could spoof music of other category.

[Yotsuya]

What surprised me was when I shared some chiptune with friends and they said, 'oh this sounds like a video game,' of course its obvious, but I always considered most stuff to be more like electronic music, not specifically video game music.

[JayLam]

maybe anything in orchestral.

[ilef]

I've seen that stuff like the Guilty Gear series, the ARRANGE CD of EHRGEIZ... and anything from Dynasty Warriors 4~onwards easily tricks non-listeners into believing these albums are, in their own words, "Pretty damn good instrumentals' collections".

[dissident93]

Yup. A lot of the newer orchestral stuff, or the rock/pop stuff you hear in Guilty Gear and Persona would fit.

Also, a lot of the indie games nowadays have a modern approach, especially the ones that are electronic music based. Trance, dubstep, techno all could fool people into think they're hearing something not from a game.

[Yamazaki]

We all forget: the real question should be why we shouldn't proudly declare it as video game music xD

[jdkluv]

I've been listening to vgm long enough to render meaningless any points of reference I would have had, so I genuinely am unsure.

[Xenofan 29A]

This seems particularly relevant.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/dis...the-difference

[Jormungand]

Originally Posted by Xenofan 29A

This seems particularly relevant.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/dis...the-difference

Bah! I went 8 for 9 with no problem and then... that last one tripped me up.

Like what has been already mentioned, live orchestral music will usually not be associated with VGM. You could easily convince just about anyone that Dragon Quest music is just some contemporary concert material, for example (and in a way, it really is... I'm pretty sure Sugiyama does the orchestral scoring first and then some audio monkey programs the synth versions later).

[Xenofan 29A]

Originally Posted by Jormungand

Bah! I went 8 for 9 with no problem and then... that last one tripped me up.

Good job anyway. I was tripped up by not knowing whether they would use movie score or not. A lot of contemporary Western VGM sounds like Film Score, particularly Zimmer-like film score.

Originally Posted by Jormungand

Like what has been already mentioned, live orchestral music will usually not be associated with VGM. You could easily convince just about anyone that Dragon Quest music is just some contemporary concert material, for example (and in a way, it really is... I'm pretty sure Sugiyama does the orchestral scoring first and then some audio monkey programs the synth versions later).

I think so too. Sugiyama thinks in terms of sheet music, which sets him apart from a lot of VGM composers. I know you agree with me that something sounding less or more like VGM is not an indication of quality. I find nothing more dull than the Zimmer rehash that provides a backdrop to countless FPSs these days. On the other hand, Kikuta writes music that "sounds like" VGM in the general sense, and it's far more musically interesting.

[Raziel]

Originally Posted by Xenofan 29A

This seems particularly relevant.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/dis...the-difference

Got all of them correct. I'm not versed in classical music at all, in fact, but there's just something cheap about many of the Western orchestral composers that gives it away.

I think the Ridge Racer series are probably one of the best examples. The first one sounds straight out of the rave scene of early 90s.