Great music !

[anameforobsidian]

 

The whole soundtrack is great, and I think "Defiance Bay" is completely on par with "Waukeen's Promenade" from BG2, although that one is much shorter.

 

If I may suggest something for the future Justin - please let's have a separate theme for battles against dragons, that doesn't play in other circumstances, like BG2 has.

 

Who knows what the future will bring?

 

BTW, completely off topic (sorry) but I've put more hours into Destiny than any other game I've ever played in 30 years of gaming...  Something like 350 hours?  Love that game, hate it's RNG and grindy end game.   This song gets lots of flack but I think it's pretty good!  

 

Ok back to the topic at hand.  To be frank, I have lots of regrets about the way combat music was handled.  But we did the best we could in the amount of time we had.  If I ever get the chance for a do-over, you can bet there will be a fresh approach.  

 

 

I like the music in the game quite a bit.  BTW, what would you do differently for the inevitable sequel that everyone knows is coming and Obsidian has accidentally leaked already "if you ever get the chance?"

Edited February 21, 2016 by anameforobsidian

[Justin Bell]

Thanks!  Honestly who knows what we're going to do next?  Several folks from Obsidian mentioned the desire to do a sequel in the past, but in truth we're really just focused on the recent release of the White March Part II.

 

As for what I'd do differently?  Good question, not sure off the top of my head.  I'll have to think about it some more.  A lot of the things I'd want to change have to do with tech.  The audio team came on the project later than the rest of the team and we didn't have much time to introduce new audio features into the game.  That ship had sailed, or so the saying goes.  If I could go back in time I'd make sure we had some more features to help us make the game.  It would have been hard to know then what I know now though, so I'm not sure the outcome could have been any different.

 

The bottom line though is that you folks liked the game.  We made it for you, so if you're happy we are too

[Gairnulf]

Who knows what the future will bring?

 

BTW, completely off topic (sorry) but I've put more hours into Destiny than any other game I've ever played in 30 years of gaming...  Something like 350 hours?  Love that game, hate it's RNG and grindy end game.   This song gets lots of flack but I think it's pretty good!  

 

Ok back to the topic at hand.  To be frank, I have lots of regrets about the way combat music was handled.  But we did the best we could in the amount of time we had.  If I ever get the chance for a do-over, you can bet there will be a fresh approach.

I believe the future will bring PoE 2 in this case

 

I don't know how much you are into this type of games, but even just from the perspective of a case study, I strongly recommend you try out BGII and spend some time in the main city there.

 

Yesterday I was trying to analyze what Defiance Bay lacks compared to BGII's big city, and one of the things was the ambient city sounds, some of them were even district-specific I think. They also vary from day to nighttime.

 

Combined with the music themes starting to play at random times (they are a minute, minute and a half long), and subtle animations like birds flying, chimneys smoking, I think it's especially this ambient audio that created the illusion that there is much more activity and much more people in the city than there were NPCs in the respective game "area". So it's definitely worth it to play some IE games if you haven't tried them, just for spotting the tricks the designers used in those games.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Gairnulf

[house2fly]

Is the song from the trailer going to be available anywhere?  I can't find the vocals in the game files but it's very pretty.

 

Edit: oh, it's in the PX1 music files, apparently it plays in the inn.  I never heard it, may have been a bug.

Edited February 22, 2016 by house2fly

[anameforobsidian]

 

Who knows what the future will bring?

 

BTW, completely off topic (sorry) but I've put more hours into Destiny than any other game I've ever played in 30 years of gaming...  Something like 350 hours?  Love that game, hate it's RNG and grindy end game.   This song gets lots of flack but I think it's pretty good!  

 

Ok back to the topic at hand.  To be frank, I have lots of regrets about the way combat music was handled.  But we did the best we could in the amount of time we had.  If I ever get the chance for a do-over, you can bet there will be a fresh approach.

I believe the future will bring PoE 2 in this case

 

I don't know how much you are into this type of games, but even just from the perspective of a case study, I strongly recommend you try out BGII and spend some time in the main city there.

 

Yesterday I was trying to analyze what Defiance Bay lacks compared to BGII's big city, and one of the things was the ambient city sounds, some of them were even district-specific I think. They also vary from day to nighttime.

 

Combined with the music themes starting to play at random times (they are a minute, minute and a half long), and subtle animations like birds flying, chimneys smoking, I think it's especially this ambient audio that created the illusion that there is much more activity and much more people in the city than there were NPCs in the respective game "area". So it's definitely worth it to play some IE games if you haven't tried them, just for spotting the tricks the designers used in those games.

 

 

I agree with this, but the cities also lack houses.  BG I had a lot of useless houses or houses you couldn't go into to.  That made it feel like an actual city.  They're only in a tiny part of the docks and copperlane.

[Gairnulf]

I was wrong about the city lacking ambient sounds. Actually there are crickets and owls in the night, but I guess these are also used in the wilderness too, and they are too quiet in my experience. Because "Effects" sounds encompasses sounds from battles and spells which are loud and ambient sounds which are more quiet, I tend to keep that slider at such a level that the ambient sounds are a bit too quiet.

[robotnist]

how good is the game's music? i kept having "false starts", playing Pillars for some reason. i would play just 5 to 10 hours, it wouldnt hook me (somehow) and i would stop until a new patch came out. one day, while PoE wasn't on my radar AT ALL, i stumbled on a post on Gamebanshee.com showing video of the orchestra playing/recording the songs for PoE, i already knew i liked the music, and man just seeing those songs played did something to me...

 

that was about 2 weeks ago, i am now currently on a streak with PoE, that i haven't been on with any other game since Dragon Age: Origins, Phantasy Star Online and Baldur's Gate, which is, I MUST play at least a few hours a day!!!

 

I don't know why it took so long to hook me, I have always been a fan of Obsidian, Bioware, Black Isle etc. I was looking forward to PoE since it's 1st announcement... 

 

But now I'm here, and the music really helped bring me home, so to speak.

 

cheers to Obsidian, music designers/writers/musicians!!!! Pillars of Eternity has really shot into my top 5 all time faves, and I just can't get enough of it now...

 

[Marinus]

 

The whole soundtrack is great, and I think "Defiance Bay" is completely on par with "Waukeen's Promenade" from BG2, although that one is much shorter.

 

If I may suggest something for the future Justin - please let's have a separate theme for battles against dragons, that doesn't play in other circumstances, like BG2 has.

 

Who knows what the future will bring?

 

BTW, completely off topic (sorry) but I've put more hours into Destiny than any other game I've ever played in 30 years of gaming...  Something like 350 hours?  Love that game, hate it's RNG and grindy end game.   This song gets lots of flack but I think it's pretty good!  

 

Ok back to the topic at hand.  To be frank, I have lots of regrets about the way combat music was handled.  But we did the best we could in the amount of time we had.  If I ever get the chance for a do-over, you can bet there will be a fresh approach.  

 

 

am i the only one that sees this open position on obsidian page as a sign that they are working on the next game ? Or do you guys think it is for patches for the current game

 

http://www.obsidian.net/jobs/open-positions/programming/849-gameplay-programmer-poe

[Justin Bell]

I was wrong about the city lacking ambient sounds. Actually there are crickets and owls in the night, but I guess these are also used in the wilderness too, and they are too quiet in my experience. Because "Effects" sounds encompasses sounds from battles and spells which are loud and ambient sounds which are more quiet, I tend to keep that slider at such a level that the ambient sounds are a bit too quiet.

 

Yeah sorry about that. I wish there was something I could do to split those out into different sliders, but there wasn't an easy way :/

[Justin Bell]

how good is the game's music? i kept having "false starts", playing Pillars for some reason. i would play just 5 to 10 hours, it wouldnt hook me (somehow) and i would stop until a new patch came out. one day, while PoE wasn't on my radar AT ALL, i stumbled on a post on Gamebanshee.com showing video of the orchestra playing/recording the songs for PoE, i already knew i liked the music, and man just seeing those songs played did something to me...

 

that was about 2 weeks ago, i am now currently on a streak with PoE, that i haven't been on with any other game since Dragon Age: Origins, Phantasy Star Online and Baldur's Gate, which is, I MUST play at least a few hours a day!!!

 

I don't know why it took so long to hook me, I have always been a fan of Obsidian, Bioware, Black Isle etc. I was looking forward to PoE since it's 1st announcement... 

 

But now I'm here, and the music really helped bring me home, so to speak.

 

cheers to Obsidian, music designers/writers/musicians!!!! Pillars of Eternity has really shot into my top 5 all time faves, and I just can't get enough of it now...

 

Awesome story, thanks for sharing it!  Rare to hear that the music is what piqued your interest, but I'm happy to hear that it was.

[EdwinOdesseiron]

 

Who knows what the future will bring?

 

BTW, completely off topic (sorry) but I've put more hours into Destiny than any other game I've ever played in 30 years of gaming...  Something like 350 hours?  Love that game, hate it's RNG and grindy end game.   This song gets lots of flack but I think it's pretty good!  

 

Ok back to the topic at hand.  To be frank, I have lots of regrets about the way combat music was handled.  But we did the best we could in the amount of time we had.  If I ever get the chance for a do-over, you can bet there will be a fresh approach.

I believe the future will bring PoE 2 in this case

 

I don't know how much you are into this type of games, but even just from the perspective of a case study, I strongly recommend you try out BGII and spend some time in the main city there.

 

Yesterday I was trying to analyze what Defiance Bay lacks compared to BGII's big city, and one of the things was the ambient city sounds, some of them were even district-specific I think. They also vary from day to nighttime.

 

Combined with the music themes starting to play at random times (they are a minute, minute and a half long), and subtle animations like birds flying, chimneys smoking, I think it's especially this ambient audio that created the illusion that there is much more activity and much more people in the city than there were NPCs in the respective game "area". So it's definitely worth it to play some IE games if you haven't tried them, just for spotting the tricks the designers used in those games.

 

After only reading this forum for almost two years I just had to sign up to #2 this!

While I really like the music and sound design in PoE I think there is still potential to improve on. And I don't mean to improve the music itself. It is top-notch already! (Besides for "Oldsong", somehow I could never grow into it, or let it grow onto me?)

By improving I mean to imbed the music/ambient sound better in the surrounding areas.

 

Just as Gairnulf has mentioned before me: Day/night in BG has different music.

 

I still remember sneaking around in the slums of Athkatla (the major city) at night, hiding from bandit encounters while the (night!)-music created some tension to the whole atmosphere (while the day-version of the music was more like trotting around), and some drunk men were yelling all over the slums in the background, arguing with each other.

Together with lively, distinctive ambient sound (at least for a big city) it overall created more than just a scenery with great music. It created atmosphere that captivated, I could call it magic.

 

And when I am at it... It may be really just a personal thing, but what really bugs me, is that the majority of NPC's are so silent..Don't get me wrong, I really don't need voiced dialogues. Not at all. All it needs for me when engaging some random NPC in a dialog is a voiced "Hm?", "Hello", "What can I do for you" kind of sound-snippet. It makes the people there feel more alive, for me at least.

I noticed there were some dialogues some random NPC's would have with each other when passing by in White March Part II. This is it! Really appreciate those subtle throw in's! Right direction!

 

I really suggest Obsidian should pay Justin Bell for 2-4 weeks for a case study, playing Baldurs Gate 1 and 2! It is mandatory when you plan to make a PoE 2!!   

 

Vita, mortis, careo!

 

[Justin Bell]

I really suggest Obsidian should pay Justin Bell for 2-4 weeks for a case study, playing Baldurs Gate 1 and 2! It is mandatory when you plan to make a PoE 2!! 

 

That would be lovely :D

[AndreaColombo]

@Edwin - Odd. Oldsong is one of my favorites!

 

But I must concur: The voiced one-liners in BG were ... special. The acting was special. I still remember most of them by heart, each with their so peculiar intonation. Such a small thing, yet they contributed so much to the atmosphere!

[Ineth]

On the topic of voicing, I found the player soundsets in PoE rather disappointing.

 

Especially the female ones - they just don't have... character, for lack of a better word. They feel bland. And there's no variety either - almost all of them sound like the same person to me.

I've come across much, much better player soundset collections in other games...

 

PoE's music score is great though.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Ineth

[anameforobsidian]

On the topic of voicing, I found the player soundsets in PoE rather disappointing.

 

Especially the female ones - they just don't have... character, for lack of a better word. They feel bland. And there's no variety either - almost all of them sound like the same person to me.

I've come across much, much better player soundset collections in other games...

 

PoE's music score is great though.

 

I thought Pallegina was quite well done.  Sagani maybe less so.  Calisca maybe a little less than that.  Oh and Madam Webb was decent.

[Ineth]

I meant specifically the player soundsets which we can choose during character generation for the Watcher and hired companions.

[Justin Bell]

The voice set thing ultimately came down to budget limitations.   We had a small amount of time with our actors which we needed to maximize as much as possible.  But I do agree, there's lots of room for improvement there.

[Gairnulf]

I agree with this, but the cities also lack houses.  BG I had a lot of useless houses or houses you couldn't go into to.  That made it feel like an actual city.  They're only in a tiny part of the docks and copperlane.

I'll make a separate topic about the cities and their weak spots in PoE. From what I know about the development, Defiance Bay's districts were one of the first the team did, so they were sort of learning on the fly with them. You can see for example the uneven size of Brackenbury's map, or the way tall buildings often cover ground that's traversable for the party, and make a map feel claustrophobic. If you notice how the city maps in BGII are designed, tall buildings are usually drawn in the edges of the map, so they don't obstruct the view. The IE games have a slightly different viewing perspective though, with the "camera" being set more from above, whereas PoE's viewing perspective is lower on the Y axis.

 

Regarding the voice sets, I think it's on purpose they sound a bit more in the BG variety of heroic/slightly goofy style of fantasy. There wasn't enough voice sets in the IE games either. I hope they are moddable for PoE2, that should help things and encourage people to either record their own sets, or compose new voice sets by grabbing sounds from other games. I remember I played BGII with a voice set with sounds from Thief The Dark Project and it was great.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Gairnulf

[Eisenheinrich]

Makes my inner baby jesus cry to hear that Justin Bell considers "Caed Nua" one of the worst tracks he's done for the game. I think it's one of the best. I often hear it whilst doing studies or just for relaxing. It captures the soothing feeling of coming home, that I associate with my keep. Great track. 

[Justin Bell]

Makes my inner baby jesus cry to hear that Justin Bell considers "Caed Nua" one of the worst tracks he's done for the game. I think it's one of the best. I often hear it whilst doing studies or just for relaxing. It captures the soothing feeling of coming home, that I associate with my keep. Great track.

I think that's really all that matters at the end of the day

[juanval]

For me "Defiance Bay" theme is the best.

 

I like to enter in taverns an listen "The Black Hound" .

 

The soundrack is a masterpiece made for a game that is a masterpiece too.

[anameforobsidian]

I really like the Dyrford music.

[Justin Bell]

I really like the Dyrford music.

 

That was the first piece of music I wrote for Eternity.

[demeisen]

I've just gotten to the first WM area and have started to explore a bit.  I hadn't experienced any of the new expansion music yet before tonight.  I'm digging it.  I've heard only a little of it so far, but I was particularly struck by the music in

The Gref's Rest.  After hearing the always rather similar and generic "inn" music in just about every RPG of the last decade, I walked into Gref's and was immediately blown away.  It's a haunting, melancholy, and beautiful tune.  I just stood there to listen to it for a bit.  I dunno if it was composed for the game, or was an existing piece from somewhere, or who the singer is, or anything else about it, but it's gorgeous!  It's a nice change to have music in an RPG Inn that isn't just "phoning it in", so to speak.

 

[Justin Bell]

Thank you!  I'm glad you like the music for Gref's Rest.  I had always wanted to write folk songs for the world of Eora for the base game, but I never got around to it.   When we started the expansion I talked to Josh about it and asked him if he'd be willing to write the words.  The result was a collaboration between he and I, where I wrote the music and he wrote the lyrics.

 

The idea was that bards were the newscasters of their time, and that they would express the state of the world through song.  The lyrics of the inn song are about Ondra and Abydon.  Since you just started playing the expansion I won't spoil it, but the meaning of the lyrics are significant.  

 

The singer we hired was incredible, though she wished to remain anonymous for various reasons.