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  #1  
Old Oct 14, 2011, 04:11 PM
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There's a huge list of composers & famous games here.. So here's my recap of the Composition credits so far.
Let me know if something is wrong:

Advent Rising - Tommy Tallarico, Michael Richard Plowman, Emmanuel Fratianni & Laurie Robinson ; we never had a complete breakdown for that game
The Legend of Zelda - Koji Kondo
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Hans Zimmer
Angry Birds - Ari Pulkkinen
Final Fantasy VIII - Nobuo Uematsu
Super Mario Bros. - Koji Kondo
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - Greg Edmonson
Grand Theft Auto IV - Michael Hunter
World of Warcraft - Jason Hayes
Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty - Harry Gregson-Williams ; could be Tappy if it's the original theme tune
Tetris - ?? (god i never know who to credit for that game)
Battlefield 2 - Joel Eriksson
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Jeremy Soule
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Stephen Barton & Harry Gregson-Williams
Mass Effect 2 - Jack Wall
Splinter Cell: Conviction - Michael Nielsen & Kaveh Cohen ; maybe Amon Tobin, depends if his track was included
Final Fantasy - Nobuo Uematsu
BioShock - Garry Schyman
Halo 3 - Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori
Fallout 3 - Inon Zur
Super Mario Galaxy - Mahito Yokota

Last edited by Myrkul; Oct 14, 2011 at 04:22 PM.
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  #2  
Old Oct 15, 2011, 06:58 AM
Xenofan 29A Xenofan 29A is offline
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Originally Posted by Myrkul View Post
Tetris - ?? (god i never know who to credit for that game)
What everyone calls the "Tetris theme" (GB music A) is actually a folk song, so our good friend anonymous should take credit for that one. (Unless it's the title or B music from the GB version. Those were written by Hirokazu Tanaka, I think. Music C was Bach.)
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  #3  
Old Oct 15, 2011, 01:45 PM
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PsychoZeke PsychoZeke is offline
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Yeah, most certainly will be "TYPE A", which was based on Korobushka (ori. Korobeiniki), which in turn was based on a poem by Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov. As Xenofan 29A said, there's no composer known for that particular piece.
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Old Oct 19, 2011, 11:53 PM
VncentValntine VncentValntine is offline
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At first i was like "Greatest video game music"? pssh yeah, we'll see... Then I looked at the tracklist and was like "well okay, most of those are pretty good, definitely missing some though..." then i saw that the London Philharmonic Orchestra was performing the pieces, most likely implying new recording/arrangements... Definitely interested now.

Also to note, as I didn't see alternate printings here, I noticed Amazon's digital version has a bonus track: here

And iTunes has a separate bonus track: =_=;

Last edited by VncentValntine; Oct 20, 2011 at 11:38 AM.
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  #5  
Old Nov 3, 2011, 10:16 PM
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Personally, most of the selections are questionable and just don't convince me, but I'm still going to give this a try in the hopes that it proves me wrong. If it does, excellent, I'll cherish the album; however, if it doesn't, it'll become another trite disappointment.
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Old Nov 4, 2011, 07:58 PM
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BahamutZ BahamutZ is offline
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I played most of those and I see GTAIV and the two Call of Dutys that I don't particularly remember standing out as being greatest ever. COD 1 Main theme by Michael Giacchino would have fit instead.

Even Bioshock. It worked in game, but there was nothing great from that game to listen to outside of the game.

Last edited by BahamutZ; Nov 4, 2011 at 08:02 PM.
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  #7  
Old Nov 5, 2011, 07:34 AM
Xenofan 29A Xenofan 29A is offline
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Originally Posted by BahamutZ View Post
I played most of those and I see GTAIV and the two Call of Dutys that I don't particularly remember standing out as being greatest ever. COD 1 Main theme by Michael Giacchino would have fit instead.

Even Bioshock. It worked in game, but there was nothing great from that game to listen to outside of the game.
Collections that purport to be "the greatest" of anything are almost invariably not. They're usually collections of popular hits that may or may not be even all that good (Classical collections are a case in point). Hans Zimmer should never show up on a VGM "best of", but he can skate by on name recognition alone for his (sometimes quite good) film work.

And there's a veneer of respectability that western scores have that eastern scores don't. The proliferation of the hollywood style of scoring makes that style more familiar and more palatable. That's why the eastern selections are limited to classics (Zelda, Mario), Hollywood-style music (Metal Gear Solid), and pieces originally tailored specifically for orchestra (Liberi Fatali, Mario Galaxy). Personally, I think that Bioshock had one of the better western scores in recent memory, but I'll agree that's up for debate.

Last edited by Xenofan 29A; Nov 5, 2011 at 07:41 AM.
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  #8  
Old Nov 5, 2011, 09:16 AM
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ilef ilef is offline
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Originally Posted by Xenofan 29A View Post
[...] but I'll agree that's up for debate.
I think that everything might be up to debate when talking about music, which at the end of the day is just a personal journey of the listener. Seriously, I can't even understand why reviewers exist... It's all about one's taste in music, after all: there are those who like rock, those who prefer chiptune, symphonyc....

Can anyone, anyone, objectively tell me which style/track/theme/... is better? No, as well as I can't tell you. It's all a matter of like/don't like, no need to expand on it. We might agree with the choices, and we may not.... Still, pretty arrogant of them to title this "The Greatest Video Game Music", 'cause there is no such thing, that's for no one to decide.
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Last edited by ilef; Nov 5, 2011 at 09:21 AM.
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  #9  
Old Nov 5, 2011, 10:19 AM
Xenofan 29A Xenofan 29A is offline
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As a reviewer myself, I have to disagree with just about everything you said.

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Originally Posted by ilef View Post
I think that everything might be up to debate when talking about music, which at the end of the day is just a personal journey of the listener. Seriously, I can't even understand why reviewers exist... It's all about one's taste in music, after all: there are those who like rock, those who prefer chiptune, symphonyc....

Can anyone, anyone, objectively tell me which style/track/theme/... is better? No, as well as I can't tell you. It's all a matter of like/don't like, no need to expand on it. We might agree with the choices, and we may not.... Still, pretty arrogant of them to title this "The Greatest Video Game Music", 'cause there is no such thing, that's for no one to decide.
I don't consider it "arrogant" to call a collection of video game music "the greatest". It's a marketing term, not a claim of superiority.

Of course different people have different tastes, and that is fine. There is good and bad to be found in every kind of music, and the fact that something does not appeal to you does not mean that it is objectively bad. Likewise, I would say that the fact that something appeals to you does not make it objectively good, either. And that goes for everyone. But there are things that I enjoy, yet think are of minimal value. That is because I believe there are objective standards in art, and music is not exempt.

I see reviewing as a way of getting deeper into the music, trying to discover what works and what doesn't, and why. In writing a review, I learn as much as I can about the music, and try to explain to people what I find there. Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, a value judgement of "it's good" or "it's bad" is useless if it isn't explained with recourse to the music itself. Those are personal, individual responses. What inspired this or that reaction? That's much more universal. A review that I disagree with can be more helpful than one I agree with, as I get to see a different perspective, to see what inspires it. And whether or not you agree that there is intrinsic value in a given piece of music, we can agree that there are specific objective qualities in it that we react to. And these things are not up for debate. Reviewers should balance the subjective with the objective and be able to discern which is which.
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  #10  
Old Nov 5, 2011, 12:52 PM
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ilef ilef is offline
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Well, then, let's agree to disagree. You call the standards "objective"? I strongly disagree here: tell me something, who defined these standards, to begin with? Human beings, now, I don't need to tell that human beings are far from perfection, and as such, from being truly objective. Sorry, nothing personal against you, sincerely, I don't even know you... I find all kind of reviewers to be useless arrogants themselves: always hated the "type", since I'll be using my ears - or eventually -, other senses of my person to enjoy the "thing" I don't feel the need to rely on someone else's opinion in order to decide to buy, not to buy... or even try. I can't help but hate those who go and try to tell me how my money should be spent.

What inspired that reaction much more universal? I'm afraid I don't understand, how can such things be universal, when that specific individual had that reaction? I mean: you're the one who got that reaction, maybe someone else gets a different one from the very same thing. Okay, you might tell me why you got that impression/feeling/whatever, but still, you got it.

I believe music can't be ultimately judged as good, nor bad, even with a wall of text behind it. A kind of media which has the ability to speak on too much subjective 'levels'.... I find it's more about enjoy/don't enjoy. Talk about impressions as much as you want, but please, don't say what's good or bad... or if you must really do it, add a HUGE 'this is my opinion' to it..... I've seen reviewers go and write in such a way that it seems their opinion(s) actually have more value than others', and if you disagree with them you're an idiot who doesn't understand a thing about music (yet again, I'd like to ask those smart guys exactly since when music must be "understood/known" in order to be enjoyed?).
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Last edited by ilef; Nov 5, 2011 at 01:36 PM. Reason: fixed position.
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  #11  
Old Nov 5, 2011, 03:24 PM
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Raizen1984 Raizen1984 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenofan 29A View Post
Of course different people have different tastes, and that is fine. There is good and bad to be found in every kind of music, and the fact that something does not appeal to you does not mean that it is objectively bad. Likewise, I would say that the fact that something appeals to you does not make it objectively good, either. And that goes for everyone. But there are things that I enjoy, yet think are of minimal value. That is because I believe there are objective standards in art, and music is not exempt.
Basically, what you're saying here is "you're free to enjoy listening to this, but that doesn't make it good music." That is a little arrogant, especially if you believe that only through your inquisitive mind can an objective analysis of the musics "value" be obtained.

You say that you can enjoy listening to certain pieces of music even if it's value is low. What the hell does this even mean? Music is intended to be listened to and enjoyed, as far as I'm concerned, the level of enjoyment is the measurement of it's value. If you listened through a VGM OST, and enjoyed the music, there shouldn't be any other factors affecting it's score.

I actually used to believe that reviewers should be objective and analytical in order to measure the subject's true worth. I have since learned that it doesn't work that way with music. It's just impossible. Some people like rock, some people like jazz, some like orchestral; it's all based on personal preference. When you write a review, you're not doing anything more than giving your opinion. Trying to make it more than that is just pretentious BS.
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Old Nov 6, 2011, 03:33 AM
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Blitz Lunar Blitz Lunar is offline
 
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popularity != quality != enjoyableness != whatever

the thing i find about album reviews is they're often not written from a musical perspective, and more from the perspective of social significance, the message/what it means, authority of the musicians involved and so on, and they're written by established music critics who are often not familiar with writing music themselves. basically everything that's secondary to the music itself. that's what annoys me the most. it's never useful to me to read about who the person is and why they're important and what it makes me if i listen to it and enjoy it.

ultimately they are just opinions and that's fine, whatever methods people use to justify their opinions is up to them. i guess i just don't like the false seniority of reviews.

also i'd be unlikely to buy an album with a title like this one. it is only a marketing term, but the more oblivious among us will take it seriously.
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  #13  
Old Nov 6, 2011, 05:22 AM
LiquidAcid LiquidAcid is offline
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I'm at the point where I usually just skip reviews done by people who don't share the same (or similar) taste in music. I used to read all of these but ended up listening to so much crap (in my opinion), which was rated highly by the reviewer.

I also share the opinion that one cannot quantify musical quality, if we agree that musical quality is proportional to how much you "like" the music. Liking something is a bioelectrical reaction in our brain and since we're all individuals this reaction can vary by a large degree (also depending on current mood, etc.).

Now, what Xenofan probably means by music quality is how much the music adheres to certain standards of music theory (e.g. harmonization). Honestly I don't care much for that. Just because a piece respects certain standards just doesn't make it's enjoyable for me.

Remember that infamous review of Castlevania music on OSV (Link) that tried to explain to us, why Lords of Shadow was the uber-soundtrack for that series and why everything else sucked big time? Seriously, I just could shake my head over that kind of BS. Just because you write walls of text about it, doesn't make your argument any better.

Reviews are just snapshots of other people feelings for me, which carry no or very little objectiveness. This isn't meant in a derogative way, I just acknowledge here that the medium "text" is simply too limited for that kind of task (similar to "a picture says a thousand words").

Last edited by LiquidAcid; Nov 9, 2011 at 12:10 PM.
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  #14  
Old Nov 6, 2011, 09:00 AM
Xenofan 29A Xenofan 29A is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ilef
I find all kinds of reviewers to be useless arrogants themselves: always hated the "type", since I'll be using my ears - or eventually -, other senses of my person to enjoy the "thing" I don't feel the need to rely on someone else's opinion in order to decide to buy, not to buy... or even try. I can't help but hate those who go and try to tell me how my money should be spent.
You should have no reason to hate me, then, as I do not have any interest in what you buy. I have no personal stake in the matter whatsoever, and I honestly could not care less. As I said earlier, a review is not meant to say something is good or bad (or worth buying or not) as much as it is to explain what I find in something. A person who has a different reaction to something will find different things, of course. If I'm interested in something, I want to learn more about it, and sometimes a different perspective can help me to see it in a new light, to find things I didn't know were there.

No one needs to define something for it to exist. Gravity existed as a function of the Earth and other masses before Newton formulated his law. Likewise, I believe that the standards as regards music are a function of music itself, and they arise naturally from it. Tastes change, styles change, but the fundamentals of music have remained much the same (aside from some avant garde music, but that seems to have an aesthetic all its own). Harmony, melody, and form can be analyzed and studied, and these things are entirely objective. A song of the form ABABCB does not suddenly begin with C when someone else listens to it. Again, these things are not up for debate, as I said before. It is one's interpretation of these elements, the "reaction" that I referred to earlier, that is subjective and personal. And it is not difficult to see the difference between the two.

But the following is a different line of argument entirely.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ilef
Since when music must be "understood/known" in order to be enjoyed?
It doesn't. I will say, however, that I personally have found it very rewarding to come to understand a piece of music on a deep level. But we're not talking about enjoyment. We are talking about evaluation, and in order to evaluate something in a manner beyond gut reaction, one must have at least an instinctual understanding of music and the way it works. It can help to have a working knowledge of music theory, but it's not strictly necessary unless you want to work at an academic level. I make no claims whatsoever to be smarter than you or anyone else.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raizen1984
Some people like rock, some people like jazz, some like orchestral.
And some people like all of these things. What does that have to do with evaluation of music? I have no interest in denigrating any genre. If I don't like it, I won't listen to it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raizen1984
You say that you can enjoy listening to certain pieces of music even if its value is low. What the hell does this even mean? Music is intended to be listened to and enjoyed, as far as I'm concerned, the level of enjoyment is the measurement of its value.
It means exactly what it says, and I believe it's entirely unambiguous. I just happen to disagree, and believe that music's value is intrinsic, not extrinsic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raizen1984
That is a little arrogant, especially if you believe that only through your inquisitive mind can an objective analysis of the musics "value" be obtained.
And I believe nothing of the sort. The value is in the music, whether I see it or not. I cannot "obtain" anything that is not already there, and so anyone has access to it. I freely admit that I could be wrong.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitz Lunar
the thing i find about album reviews is they're often not written from a musical perspective, and more from the perspective of social significance, the message/what it means, authority of the musicians involved and so on, and they're written by established music critics who are often not familiar with writing music themselves. basically everything that's secondary to the music itself. that's what annoys me the most. it's never useful to me to read about who the person is and why they're important and what it makes me if i listen to it and enjoy it.
I agree. I am no expert in music theory, but I have an insatiable desire to learn and I study scores in my spare time. I am familiar with tonal (and some post-tonal) theory and I hope to train my ear a little better in the future.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LiquidAcid
Just because a piece respects certain standards just doesn't make it enjoyable for me.
Of course not. There are many elements that are hard to quantify that have a strong effect on perception. Music is often more interesting if it breaks some of the "rules".
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Old Nov 9, 2011, 04:23 PM
emuxer emuxer is offline
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I personally hate these releases, and if it claims to have "the greatest", I loathe them even more. They should have added a subtitle, "for current western mainstream". Where are the renditions of music from Zuntata, Super Sweep, SST Band, Shinsekai, JDK and the other real greatest?
Only one disc and they call it Greatest. Scitron's Legend Series had over a dozen and they did have some of the greatest.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenofan 29A View Post
I don't consider it "arrogant" to call a collection of video game music "the greatest". It's a marketing term, not a claim of superiority.
I do think it's arrogant, it clearly states that Video Game Music can only be great if it's written by western musicians, is not chiptuned and is played by an orchestra.
Before anyone says anything, I don't think that western musicians are not fit for VG music, I also like a lot of music from people like Jeroen Tel, Hülsbeck, Grant Kirkhope, David Wise, Howard Drossin and many others. I don't see any of their work either in this "greatest" selection.

Last edited by emuxer; Nov 9, 2011 at 04:38 PM.
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Old Dec 24, 2011, 09:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiquidAcid View Post
Remember that infamous review of Castlevania music on OSV (Link) that tried to explain to us, why Lords of Shadow was the uber-soundtrack for that series and why everything else sucked big time? Seriously, I just could shake my head over that kind of BS. Just because you write walls of text about it, doesn't make your argument any better.
That's quotable for truth. Applause.
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  #17  
Old Feb 14, 2012, 11:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Myrkul View Post
There's a huge list of composers & famous games here.. So here's my recap of the Composition credits so far.
Let me know if something is wrong:

Battlefield 2 - Joel Eriksson
According to my sources, Battlefield 1942 was composed by Joel Eriksson. Battlefield 2 was composed by David Tallroth, Fredrik Englund and Osthold Jonas.
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