Music system

[Gairnulf]

A question for the developers, is music in Deadfire going to work like PoE, and like presently in the Deadfire Beta - a looping track while out of combat / a looping track while in combat, which are both specified per area?

 

Based on what Justin Bell said, though it was long ago, I thought in Deadfire you would experiment with more interactive music, or like in the IE games, have the out-of-combat, atmospheric track only start from time to time, with ambient audio filling in between loops of the area track.

[DexGames]

Yeah yeah, I hope so, I do remember what Justin's Plans was as you mentionned it.

We don't know yet, but Stay in tune because the very next Update is about Audio. So I hope we'll learn more on that.

[Wormerine]

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either. 

[Gairnulf]

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either.

Oh, I've written at length about this, though I don't remember if I did so here.

[jf8350143]

I hope they tone down the combat music a little, or have it have more variety. I like the combat music in PoE 1, but hundreds and hundreds battle later it become kind annoying.

[Wormerine]

 

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either.

Oh, I've written at length about this, though I don't remember if I did so here.

I didn't join Obsidian's forum until Deadfire campaign so I might have missed it.

[Gairnulf]

 

 

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either.

Oh, I've written at length about this, though I don't remember if I did so here.

 

I didn't join Obsidian's forum until Deadfire campaign so I might have missed it.

 

In short, I lamented the lack of enough ambient city audio both for the day and night, like it is done in BGII. Ambient audio does a lot of the work to create the illusion that the city is much more populous than the npcs seen on the streets.

 

PoE's Defiance Bay does have ambient city audio but because the music is constantly looping, you have to turn down the music to hear it. Additionally, PoE, as well as the Deadfire beta, lack a separate "character sounds" slider. As a result in order to hear the ambient audio better you have to turn up the general "sound effects" slider, which makes footsteps sounds and combat sounds (and I think character selection/command responses) much too loud for comfort, and the ambient sounds are again drowned.

 

I hope these things will be addressed in Deadfire, but from what I've seen of the beta, the situation remains the same as it was in PoE.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Gairnulf

[Messier-31]

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either. 

 

Athkatla. Very immersive.

[Gairnulf]

Having the music turn on sporadically instead of loop all the time would also increase its longevity. If a piece is constantly looping, people will grow tired or even annoyed of it much sooner than if it only plays from time to time.

[Wormerine]

 

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either. 

 

Athkatla. Very immersive.

Yeah, in my recent playthrough of BG2 I was in awe how impressive Athkathla felt. And it was all audio work.

[Gairnulf]

 

 

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either.

 

Athkatla. Very immersive.

 

Yeah, in my recent playthrough of BG2 I was in awe how impressive Athkathla felt. And it was all audio work.

 

Going a bit off-topic, but Athaktla was 7 districts (+ the Sewers), and all of them featured a few quest givers, many of them separate dungeons.

 

No room for comparison with Defiance Bay, sadly.

 

BTW, Josh is on record at least once saying Bioware went overboard and crammed Athkatla with too much content, though I doubt he would argue against the city's atmosphere. IMO, at least part of the megalopolis atmosphere is derived from the feeling of so much content that you get lost in it.

 

But let's see how Neketaka plays out, I'm keeping fingers crossed.

[Yosharian]

I also don't really like Pillars' combat music (aside from the epic boss combat music).

[Hybridsalmon]

How can you not like Combat C?

 

 

BTW, Josh is on record at least once saying Bioware went overboard and crammed Athkatla with too much content, though I doubt he would argue against the city's atmosphere. IMO, at least part of the megalopolis atmosphere is derived from the feeling of so much content that you get lost in it.

But let's see how Neketaka plays out, I'm keeping fingers crossed.

 

 

Really? I thought it was perfect. I find it ridiculous to be in a bustling city with as much to do as in a forest. 

I do hope there's a murder mystery quest in deadfire.

[Elkor_Alish]

BTW, Josh is on record at least once saying Bioware went overboard and crammed Athkatla with too much content, though I doubt he would argue against the city's atmosphere. IMO, at least part of the megalopolis atmosphere is derived from the feeling of so much content that you get lost in it.

Too much content? Too much content? This "Josh" guy sounds like a jackass. At the end of his life I hope he finds himself in a purgatory filled with FF7 fanboys for half of eternity.

[VincentNZ]

 

 

Right? Ambient tracks in IE worked really well. Probably one of the reasons why cities in BGs feel much more alive than static Defience Bay, even though Baldur's Gate isn't all that great either. 

 

Athkatla. Very immersive.

Yeah, in my recent playthrough of BG2 I was in awe how impressive Athkathla felt. And it was all audio work.

 

I can still distinctly remember someone yelling "Anomen, Anomen!" in the background. At least that is what I figured and thought that guy must be really famous for his looks. :D

 

Yeah the ambient sounds were on point in BG2 even in the landscape, where calm sounds of wildlife were the standard. I am not against ambient music, but it often tends to be too loud and makes you overhear the sound effects. It can also be very repetitive if there are only a few music pieces.

So I would definitely want sliders that account for an ambient sound level, and that both sound and music can be heared.

[Gairnulf]

I saw no changes to the sounds options interface in the last stream, and from Josh's answers I gather that no changes are planned until release... everything stays the same as it was in PoE.

 

This is really sad, Obsidian, really sad. You had all the time you needed this time around, and which you were short of in 2014.

Edited April 4, 2018 by Gairnulf

[StrangeCat]

How music would work.  Music directing.

 

Theme Flute over strings....Then orchestra arrangement expanding theme between orchestra.

 

Enter over world or town (plays part of the orchestra arrangement.

 

Enter a Main Town(needs it's own theme)

 

Dungeons need dark ambiance.

 

Enter Combat the music needs to fit the scenario of Combat , needs it's own theme but doesn't need to play every time you enter a fight(unless you compose perhaps three or so themes for combat)

Combat should have melody to make the theme.

 

Fight major Boss battle it needs it's own theme.

 

Some major event is happening in conversation the music like a film needs to reflect this.  *Romance, suspense, Characters theme, etc*

 

The arrangement needs to reflect the theme of the world(Sailing, pirating, or a dark presence in the background?)

 

Music can be expanded more to be more subtle bring up the motifs of theme (so question and answer phrases that were part of the theme play)

After Bombastic Orchestra the winds play between the strings as answering phrases on the motif of the Main Theme.

 

Not all areas need to have defined themes.  The music needs to contrast it's self with rhythm instead of all ambiance all the time or it's boring.

 

The Majority should be that Orchestra Arrangement of the Main theme of the Game.

 

Major areas always need their own theme.

 

well that's one example as you can see it's all subjective.

[SonicMage117]

Would love for Deadfire to have a more "dynamically" reactive music system from the first game.

 

Looping is superficial and tiring at times. KCD has a good music system that makes good sense.