OakTable said:
Forgettable? I can hum the Megaton, Opening Theme, and a few of the other wasteland themes pretty well. Now Fallout 1 and 2's music is forgettable. I can only remember the Modoc theme for some reason. Weird because I've got an equivalent amount of playtime on each game (round 50 hours each).
Amounting for the same time you spent playing Fallout 3, let me guess. And about 7 years in the past. Which would explain the forgetting.
The last Fallout game I played was Fallout 3, I haven't played Fallout since that (I think). And I played Fallout 3 for 45 hours to review it. Why is it that I can't remember any single one of its tunes and you can?
terebikun said:
Morbus said:
and those same objectiv facts can be measured in many ways.
And it's based on those facts that I say that Fallout 3's music is formulaic and doesn't compare in the slightest with the originals'.
And these measurable objective facts are...?
Those by which the reviewers regulate themselves when they make reviews. Generally speaking. There are a few. Originiality is a big point. Not in the genre per se, but in each of the aspects of the music. Originality in structure, in tone, in the instruments employed... Fallout 3's soundtrack is not original. Musical consistency is another very big aspect, and shows how well the composer knows what he wants to make of the soundtrack. It's about how similar each music is to the others, not in terms of instruments or sounds, but in terms of composition. Fallout 3's soundtrack is very inconsistent, although there are a few that stand out as what I'd guess to be the direct creation of the composer. Still, just a few of them. Musical progression without and outside the score is also important, and most reviewers neglect it, most of the times. Except when albums or soundtracks are clearly a series of musics, rather than an amalgamation. I think it's very important to create a sense of progression between different scores, specially in a game. When it comes to progression inside each specific score, a game like Fallout should not have any kind of progression, because you'll be spending a lot of time listening to the scores. Some scores have that, some don't. Composition is very important, and Fallout 3's soundtrack's is generally good to very good. It's only natural, since Zur knows what it does, and the committees can't influence his work in that regard. Normal music would have other aspects to be regarded, and soundtrack has its own: how well it fits the game. I should say that it doesn't fit Fallout 3 well, and it doesn't fit the Fallout setting well. I think we can all agree that that sountrack doesn't pkay well in the original games (thus, it doesn't fit the setting), and being that Fallout 3 is not an accurate visual representation of the world of Fallout, it could hypothetically fit it's setting. I don't think it does, because, looking in an objective matter to what Fallout 3 is, I could imagine a whole different style of soundtrack that would be much more appropriate. Something less melodic, more inspired in punk/trash, something much low tone with glimpses of music here and there. A bit like what Fallout's soundtrack was, but more suturn and unpleasant. I think it would fit Fallout 3, since it's effectively a Fallout game but right after the war.
