Justin Bell, Music, and Morrowind

[mstark]

Justin Bell just stated in the chat with PC Gamer that the Morrowind score is one of his favorites... this made me cry a little from happiness.

 

I fondly remember that game, it's music... and it being one of the last non-hand-holding cRPGs of our time.

 

I remember turning my computer on, starting the game, and leaving it in the main menu just to listen to the theme over and over.

 

What we've heard so far of PE's music is fantastic... I keep going back to listen to the released songs, the pauses, you know which ones I mean, are just epic.

[svartelric]

Totally agree, music can do such a big difference when playing an RPG... I really really loved Mark Morgan's soundtrack for Fallout 2; but Morrowind's score was an all time favourite of mine, and still is. I guess I don't recall any more recent scores because most recent RPG got old for me real quick, so I quit them after a few play sessions (like Witcher, Oblivion, and that other one I can't remember, it was a fantasy rpg... oh well).

[Coincidence]

I love Morrowind and its music too (if you can't tell from my picture.)

 

That makes me a happy man.

[kabaliero]

I loved the first impression of Morrowind. I stopped playin' it in about 10 days after 1st experience.

 

The music is, yeah.. it's great there. Even Skyrim didn't beat the TES III music.

Edited October 18, 2012 by kabaliero

[Swells]

I used to think I wasn't a fan of the Morrowind score, chuck it up to me being an FF boy at the time. I thought it could have used some more personal tracks for key events in the game. After putting all the effort into modding in more tracks though I just felt like I took the Mona Lisa and made the eyebrows bushy with a crayon. It's great as is, fits in magnificently with the world.

[Kymriana]

I'm throwing my hat in with a 'oh gosh, me too' comment on this. I still pull the Morrowind music up from time to time to fall asleep to... It's just fantastic. (Though I will fully admit that I'm also a complete and utter SUCKER for male choral chant/dramatic music and as such sit in my darkened room petting my Skyrim soundtrack hissing 'my precious' from time to time. You know, just to be honest.)

 

One reason why I doubled my donation near the end, even though I'm jobless and have no money(hooray instant noodles!) was to have the sound track the second it was available Hmmmmm... sound track.... preciousssssss....

[Pshaw]

Morrowind was amazing. I wish the game system was a little better but it was such an interesting setting that skyrim and oblivion still haven't really topped it for me. Reading this thread instantly put the title screen music into my head though, I hadn't realized that it had stuck with me at all until just now so I guess that says something about the music quality of the game right there.

[nikolokolus]

That was like the one Jeremy Soule soundtrack that I really liked -- blasphemy to many of you I'm sure.

Edited October 18, 2012 by nikolokolus

[Piccolo]

Aside from the main theme, I would actually say that the Oblivion soundtrack is a lot better.

 

Morrowind's soundtrack always seemed too repetitive to me.

[Zeckul]

Morrowind's music was excellent in itself, however it was poorly implemented in-game. The same 20-minute loop would play without interruption ever, regardless of where you were or what time it was. Even the best music in the world gets tiresome after hearing it in a loop 200 times.

 

Oblivion was just as poorly implemented, however they had more music so that mitigated the problem somewhat.

 

In Skyrim, they finally have locale-specific music. Still a far cry from Baldur's Gate locale AND time-specific music (13 years earlier, at that), but it's palatable at least. Oh and Skyrim's music is the best Jeremy Soule ever did IMHO. He excels at depicting the frozen north, as his work on Icewind Dale showed, and in Skyrim he really outdid himself.

 

This gives me chills every time. So peaceful, melancholical, deep and mysterious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUF7U_KYbIE

Edited October 18, 2012 by Zeckul

[eimatshya]

One reason why I doubled my donation near the end, even though I'm jobless and have no money(hooray instant noodles!) was to have the sound track the second it was available Hmmmmm... sound track.... preciousssssss....

 

Glad I'm not the only one.

 

OT, I have to admit, I've never really "got" the Morrowind soundtrack. I remember reading an article in PC Gamer back in the day about how great Morrowind's score was and how we'd get a copy of the soundtrack with the collector's edition, but when I started playing the game, the music never really stood out to me. Don't get me wrong, I think it's pretty, but it isn't the kind of soundtrack that I would buy. It just doesn't stand out for me. It's nice enough while I'm listening to it, but then it's gone as soon as I quit the game. Still, I always hear people talking about how much they love it, so maybe I'm just odd.

 

For me, the soundtracks that really live on after the game is done are Final Fantasy Tactics, Planescape: Torment, the Mass Effect games (the music was the only part of ME3's ending that wasn't a botch of epic proportions), KotOR II, the Witcher, Jade Empire, Arcanum (or at least its main theme), MotB, and probably some other ones that are slipping my mind at the moment.

 

*EDIT* Added some examples:

 

Final Fantasy Tactics:

 

 

Ovelia's Worries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_UL116Wy3s

 

 

 

Jade Empire (the Water Dragon):

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD-QQHhQ6lY

 

 

 

Oh, and oddly enough (especially since I probably haven't played the game since the 90s) the theme from Killer Instinct Gold still randomly pops into my head from time to time.

Edited October 18, 2012 by eimatshya

[Sordel]

I loved the Morrowind theme so much that I actually have 'issues' with the uptempo versions that became themes for Oblivion and Skyrim. While I think that the full Skyrim soundtrack is masterly (the long 'Atmospheres' track is such a great example of ambient scoring), there is just something about the Morrowind theme that seemed to breathe epic grandeur.

 

I couldn't be happier if that's the sort of direction that the P:E music will be taking.