Favorite game soundtracks?

[danzibr]

(admittedly I play all my phone games on silent)

I was thinking recently, and maybe it's just me with my utter lack of musical talent, I take music in movies/shows and games for granted. I saw a poster once, something about life would be so much better if we had background music.

Then I was thinking... imagine watching your favorite movie or playing your favorite game with no music. I bet it would make a huge difference, one I didn't think about it, again me taking the music for granted. Well, except for music-based games.

Note there are at least 2 metric we can use here, either the music standalone, or the music integrating with the game.

With that said, I'll throw a couple out.

1) Hollow Knight. The entire thing. Sometimes I Youtube Hollow Knight soundtrack while I'm working. It's great music by itself, and really adds to the atmosphere of the game.
2) Undertale. A couple good ones, I really like Bonetrousle in particular. Music is good standalone. Overall works pretty well in game, but in particular the integration with Bergentrückung is AMAZING.
3) One of my favorite songs of all time is Eyes on Me by Faye Wong. Good standalone, lyrics relate to the game, but man it kind of fell flat for me with the Squall-Rinoa outer space thing.

[Whoracle]

The only Soundtracks that stick in my ears are those that both integrate with the game and are a pleasure listening to outside of the game. With that being said (in no particular order):

- Hollow Knight
- Morrowind
- Chrono Trigger
- Doom 2016/Doom Eternal (dunno if those deserve 2 distinct spots)
- Deadly Premonition
- Silent Hill
- Terranigma
- Guild Wars

These are the ones that I can mention off the top of my head, and that instantly get stuck in my ears just thinking about them.

[Cephor]

Quite a few stick out for me.

Stellaris
Dustforce
BATTLETECH
Skyrim

[J-H]

Mechwarrior 2
Chrono Trigger
Mega Man...many, mostly 2, 6, X.
Super Castlevania IV

[Lurkmoar]

Xenogears and Valkyrie Profile always stick out to me.

I still enjoy At Doom's Gate from the OG Doom too.

[The Glyphstone]

I still know most of the species themes from Ascendancy ny heart.

[Clertar]

Vampyr. That cello, man.

[DeTess]

In no particular order:
- Persona 3, 4 and 5. I haven't played 1 and 2, maybe they should be on there as well. I actually got into these games because of the music, and there's just so many great tracks on there, that are generally great to listen to stand-alone as well. If I had to pick one I'd probably pick 'beneath the mask (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFFOXwniVKw)', but it'd be an incredibly hard pick.
- final fantasy 14. I mean, the game has around 20-30 hours of music now? But there are so many great atmospheric tracks, as well as fantastic battle themes and the theme songs for the expansions are great too. Picking just one from this soundtrack is pretty much impossible, and changes with my mood, but to give a couple fo examples: This is the theme to the final boss (pre-post-launch contente) of the Shadowbringers expansion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3z8VcPLgbM), while this is a great zone theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ascfjJXDWjo)
- Aegis rim. This game has a great number of greatly atmospheric tracks for the story sections of the game to underpin the investigating and exploring you do, but the combat tracks are great too. There's also a great variety of the latter, with the boss fights having their own tracks that really set their individual moods. This is a nice example of a relaxing theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRV9mg84SmA), while this one is a great boss theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDdJvfvdcUA).

[Zevox]

The Persona franchise is on top, no question in my mind. Whether its the mainline games (not counting 1 and 2) or the spin-offs (especially Persona 4 Arena), they always have fantastic music that goes amazingly well with the games. If I had to pick a favorite, it'd be Persona 4, and specifically Reach Out to the Truth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bG6PPQyxyI), the main battle theme.

Other fantastic personal favorites: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the Bayonetta franchise, the Devil May Cry franchise, the BlazBlue franchise, and the Super Smash Brothers series (which is arguably cheating since it draws all of its music from other games, but oh well, it does do some new remixes as well). Oh, and Sonic the Hedgehog - the music's the only thing about that franchise that stayed good over time. At least, up until I last played it, which was.... Sonic Generations, I believe.

(Also, Hollow Knight, really? I'm surprised to see it mentioned, since I just played it, and I can't even remember the music. It apparently made no impression on me whatsoever. *shrug*)

[LibraryOgre]

Quest for Glory 1. Magic Meadow, the fight music, even the work theme. They even sounded good in MIDI.

[AlanBruce]

So many to choose from, but here’s my list:

Hollow Knight

RE: Code Veronica... the majority of the RE titles, really.

Bloodborne

Nier

Nier: Automata

Transistor

Legend of Zelda series

[PhoenixPhyre]

- final fantasy 14. I mean, the game has around 20-30 hours of music now? But there are so many great atmospheric tracks, as well as fantastic battle themes and the theme songs for the expansions are great too. Picking just one from this soundtrack is pretty much impossible, and changes with my mood, but to give a couple fo examples: This is the theme to the final boss (pre-post-launch contente) of the Shadowbringers expansion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3z8VcPLgbM), while this is a great zone theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ascfjJXDWjo)
[/URL].

This. I'm partial to almost all the FF music, but XIV has amazing music. I'm a sucker for the vocal ones. Especially Answers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWdeMqELN-U) (in the Distant Worlds arrangement).

[KillianHawkeye]

Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy 6
Mega Man X
Illusion of Gaia
F-Zero X
Castlevania "Symphony of the Night"
Lunar and Lunar 2



These are the best soundtracks that I remember from my teenage years. I'm not sure if newer games have less memorable music, or if I just don't remember them because I stopped having time to play a game over and over, but only older game music has stuck with me.

[Hunter Noventa]

Some of my favorites have already been mentioned. Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, FFXIV, Symphony of the Night...

Going to add a few of course.

Final Fantasy Tactics has a great soundtrack that covers all the bases.
Chrono Trigger is amazing, and being by the same composer as Xenogears it ought to be.
Final Fantasy VII, both the original and the remake, are full of memorable tracks.
Front Mission 3 has a soundtrack that perfectly fits the constant giant robot fights, full of bombast and trumpets.
Pokemon Shield, for all its faults, has a killer soundtrack that does nothing but bop.

My absolute favorite though? Probably Xenogears on the top. You know stuff is about to go down when Emperor of Darkness starts playing, Knight of Fire gets you fired up for those boss fights. It nails every tone it needs to, from hopeful, to blood-pumping, to creepy, to downright sad or mournful.

[Corvus]

Got quite a few.

Top of the list is;

Morrowind
Mass Effect 1
Emperor of the Fading Suns
Age of Conan

[Razade]

I see a lot of Chrono Trigger here but not a lot of Chrono Cross which has, inarguably, a better sound track. Especially it's opening song. Time's Scar is without a doubt one of the greatest songs to come out of video games and I'll fight any person that would disagree.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923fVDDwaHo&ab_channel=DestinStrider

The Persona series is another solid choice especially post 1/2. Anything that Supergiant Games (Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, Hades) comes out with is on top as well. Supergiant Games does an astoundingly good job.

I haven't seen mention of Guilty Gear here however and that's a damn shame. Awe of She and Feel A Fear are absolute bangers, as are Holy Order (Be Just or be Dead) and Colors.

[danzibr]

Thanks for the responses! I've used them to spruce up my work music.

While listening to them... I mentioned Eyes on Me earlier, from FFVIII. I also really like The Man with the Machine Gun, and uhh, whatever song plays before Balamb Garden can float.

Also, @Zevox, there are some good Youtube videos on Hollow Knight music. Kinda sounds like you're not interested, but hey, if so, link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzOY3mxTBag) (video 1 of 3).

[KillianHawkeye]

I see a lot of Chrono Trigger here but not a lot of Chrono Cross which has, inarguably, a better sound track.

I agree that Chrono Cross has great music (and it's the best part of the game), but I will argue this point. If for nothing else, because a lot of the music in Chrono Cross (including Time's Scar) is echoing themes from the Chrono Trigger soundtrack.

[veti]

I disagree with the basic premise that everything is better with music. There is way, way, WAY too much background music in the world today for my liking. And I play many games on silent. I really appreciate Fallout for giving me the option to just turn the damn radio off.

Having said that: I'm a fan of the music of Zelda, and Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim. But they all get pretty repetitive after a while. I wouldn't listen to them outside the games, not intentionally at least.

[Eldan]

Hollow Knight is a good suggestion. Especially the Hollow Knight bossfight theme is an absolute earworm to me.

Morrowind's main theme (Nerevar rising) is probably the best overall and the one I'll never forget.

Also, the Karaoke song in Disco Elysium is amazing. Both versions. I genuinely love the "bad" version.

[Hunter Noventa]

Just punching in for FFXIV again. Soken (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFRhYuB93qk) is a (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHay26m_gcE) mad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O5-yJjJpZ4) genius. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsn8RbygmoQ)

Spoilers in all of those links.

[LibraryOgre]

Morrowind's main theme (Nerevar rising) is probably the best overall and the one I'll never forget.


I like Obivion's Reign of the Septims... but I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned Skyrim, given how ubiquitous the Song of the Dovakhin was for a while.

[Eldan]

I like Obivion's Reign of the Septims... but I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned Skyrim, given how ubiquitous the Song of the Dovakhin was for a while.

It's a good song and was a fantastic trailer, but I think it suffers a bit for me because the game didn't have that many memorable moments.

[TaRix]

Sometimes I get to some head-bobbing at work with Crypt of the Necrodancer tunes. Perfect Dark had some good dynamic tracks for both intense and not-so-pressing times. All of the Katamaris Damacy are silly and Eastern, but I enjoy 'em (except for a specific few songs.) Konami made some great soundtracks in the SNES/16-bit era, too: Sparkster, Prince of Persia, any of the Castlevanias, and especially Axelay. More recently, Xenoblade Chronicles X and 2 let me leave the music on when I'm doing other things.

Just throwing out other stuff that no one else mentioned.

[zlefin]

Chrono trigger
Seiken Densetsu 3
really a whole lot of Nobuo Uematsu's work (squaresoft's music guy for a long time)



maybe Europa Universalis IV, to think of something more recent.

[danzibr]

I see a lot of Chrono Trigger here but not a lot of Chrono Cross which has, inarguably, a better sound track. Especially it's opening song. Time's Scar is without a doubt one of the greatest songs to come out of video games and I'll fight any person that would disagree.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923fVDDwaHo&ab_channel=DestinStrider

The Persona series is another solid choice especially post 1/2. Anything that Supergiant Games (Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, Hades) comes out with is on top as well. Supergiant Games does an astoundingly good job.

I haven't seen mention of Guilty Gear here however and that's a damn shame. Awe of She and Feel A Fear are absolute bangers, as are Holy Order (Be Just or be Dead) and Colors.
Not to be contrary, but I don't think *anything* about Chrono Cross is better. Not the plot, characters, art, or even the music (sorry).

Well, maybe the magic system.

I disagree with the basic premise that everything is better with music. There is way, way, WAY too much background music in the world today for my liking. And I play many games on silent. I really appreciate Fallout for giving me the option to just turn the damn radio off.
Huh, I never thought of that as some sort of basic premise. I've encountered some great uses of silence in media (and real life for that matter).

[Razade]

Not to be contrary, but I don't think *anything* about Chrono Cross is better. Not the plot, characters, art, or even the music (sorry).

Well, maybe the magic system.

It's ok, you're allowed to be wrong. :smalltongue:

Chrono Cross gets a lot of hate, and I generally think it's unjustified. If it hadn't been a follow up to Chrono Trigger I think it would have been far better received. The character and battle mechanics are unique and deep, the plot up until it had to have Lavos was engaging even if it wasn't The Best Ever, and I'm sorry but the music is just way better than Chrono Trigger simply by merit of not being on the SNES music chip.

[warty goblin]

I still listen to the OG Halo soundtrack pretty regularly, it's excellent background for more intellectually challenging bits of math or coding. Christopher Tin's [ICalling All Dawns[/I] is fantastic if one is feeling in a more classical vein.

I'm not sure if they're good or not, but I'm pretty sure the soundtracks to Age of Wonders and Sacred are much inscribed on my brain. I played an absolute ton of AoW in particular back in the day - even beat the campaign, which was both long and very hard in places.

[Battleship789]

Starcraft, Diablo 2, and, to a slightly lesser extent, Warcraft 2 have amazing music. Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 soundtracks are also pretty good, though I'm not as fond of them (probably due to nostalgia).

The Kingdom Hearts series has some great original tracks mixed in with the classic Disney/Final Fantasy music.

I'll second Metal Gear Rising Revengeance's OST, especially the vocal tracks. DMC5's main theme is awesome, too.

[Rodin]

Quest for Glory 1. Magic Meadow, the fight music, even the work theme. They even sounded good in MIDI.

Also Quest For Glory IV. Particularly the Necrotaur (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaKj8VQ7ePs&list=PLF740BC090E33790C&index=22) and Chernovy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bPZyGiWbLA&list=PLF740BC090E33790C&index=37) fight music. Erana's Garden (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13HEisneF4&list=PLF740BC090E33790C&index=20) is a great update of the Magic Meadow theme too.

My other favorite soundtracks are Ghost Trick and Ace Attorney. I don't think those games would work without their soundtracks.

[Eldan]

Wrong thread.

[J-H]

All I know about Chrono Cross is that it's set something like 5 years later, and most of the characters from CT are dead and most of what they did has been rendered meaningless.

So, yeah...not interested.

[zlefin]

I also quite liked the music from Tales of Maj'eyal.

[Razade]

All I know about Chrono Cross is that it's set something like 5 years later, and most of the characters from CT are dead and most of what they did has been rendered meaningless.

So, yeah...not interested.

It's not said how long it takes place after (and really "after" in a game about time travel is iffy already) Chrono Trigger. All the game ever says is its the same world. It also doesn't do anything to render Chrono Trigger useless. The only thing it does do is explain where Schala went. That's literally its only connection to Chrono Trigger, along with some setting elements.

[danzibr]

All I know about Chrono Cross is that it's set something like 5 years later, and most of the characters from CT are dead and most of what they did has been rendered meaningless.

So, yeah...not interested.

It's not said how long it takes place after (and really "after" in a game about time travel is iffy already) Chrono Trigger. All the game ever says is its the same world. It also doesn't do anything to render Chrono Trigger useless. The only thing it does do is explain where Schala went. That's literally its only connection to Chrono Trigger, along with some setting elements.
Not to derail my own thread...

Admittedly, I played Chrono Cross when I was on the younger side. Like, 13 maybe. Took me a few attempts to beat it (lost interest early on). I was hoping for/expecting a game more like CT.

After the earlier talk on CC in this thread, and me admittedly bashing it, I thought alright I'll do some reading on CC. Gotta admit, plot-wise it's much better than young me realized.

Two threads on CT and CC tie-ins: link (https://www.reddit.com/r/chronotrigger/comments/6qp472/how_do_chrono_trigger_and_cross_tie_together/) link (https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Schala.html#Chrono_Cross).

I mean... I still prefer CT in (pretty much?) every way, but maybe at some point I'll give CC another playthrough.

[Yael]

Most Zelda music is great for whatever you're doing, from relaxing environmental tunes to epic-greatness orchestas and music. I absolutely love them, and tend to switch favorites from time to time (althouth Majora's Mask Orchestal Soundtrack is my absolute favorite), right now I just can't get Mipha's Theme from Age of Calamity out of my head, with Revali's being a close second.

Ace Attorney music is always nostalgic and great to listen to, but if a soundtrack has ever gotten my attention to the point of finding it and buying it, is The World Ends With You's. I adore that game's artstyle, gameplay, story and characters, but the music puts them all together, and makes the experience even better! Gotta say, Neku's got a good taste in music.

[Razade]

After the earlier talk on CC in this thread, and me admittedly bashing it, I thought alright I'll do some reading on CC. Gotta admit, plot-wise it's much better than young me realized.

It's still a convoluted mess with some parts that really really slough.


I mean... I still prefer CT in (pretty much?) every way, but maybe at some point I'll give CC another playthrough.

Don't get me wrong, as I'm the only one here really championing CC, I think CT as a game is much better than CC. Head and shoulders better. But this thread isn't about which is the better game. It's about our favorite video game soundtracks and I still believe CC has better music than CT by any metric and even if others don't agree, Time's Scar is still one of my favorite video game tracks of all time and that's all I was really posting to say. :smalltongue:

[The Hellbug]

Many of the ones I like have already been mentioned (FF6, F-Zero X, Super Metroid), but I'm going to zero in on basically anything Supergiant has made. Transistor, Hades, and Bastion all have great music but the one that sticks with the most is Pyre--Darren Korb is phenomenal.

Also, don't know if it's just that I've been playing it a lot recently, but Slay the Spire's music sticks in my head these days, and Outer Wilds' soundtrack is, I would say, absolutely essential to how the emotional payoff worked for me in that game.

[Dire_Flumph]

Also Quest For Glory IV. Particularly the Necrotaur (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaKj8VQ7ePs&list=PLF740BC090E33790C&index=22) and Chernovy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bPZyGiWbLA&list=PLF740BC090E33790C&index=37) fight music. Erana's Garden (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13HEisneF4&list=PLF740BC090E33790C&index=20) is a great update of the Magic Meadow theme too.

Nice to see the Quest for Glory love, I feel a bit less weird owning the soundtracks to IV and V.

Hard to narrow down just a few favorites, love the Elder Scrolls music, "Reign of the Septims" in particular.

For recent stuff the soundtrack for Persona 5 was just fantastic, though I blame it for getting "Beneath the Mask" stuck in my head.

I'll also end up playing "Tetris Effect" just to listen to the music.

Fallout, Zelda, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Bastion, a whole mess of Lucasarts classics...just so hard to choose....

[GloatingSwine]

It's not said how long it takes place after (and really "after" in a game about time travel is iffy already) Chrono Trigger. All the game ever says is its the same world. It also doesn't do anything to render Chrono Trigger useless. The only thing it does do is explain where Schala went. That's literally its only connection to Chrono Trigger, along with some setting elements.

It's set 20 years after the "present" of Chrono Trigger and all of the main characters of Trigger are unceremoniously done away with offscreen by ****ing Dalton.

[Lurkmoar]

It's set 20 years after the "present" of Chrono Trigger and all of the main characters of Trigger are unceremoniously done away with offscreen by ****ing Dalton.

Don't forget, Prometheus aka Robo, being deleted onscreen for no reason then to incite some reaction from the player. Someone who never played Chrono Trigger would likely be confused "Who the heck is this and am I supposed to care?". Someone that HAS played it would likely get annoyed or angry about it.

Oh, and to get back to the topic:

I would like to add Borderlands 2 to my list. Even though the music for Digipack Peak is very simple and loops quite a bit, I enjoy it a lot. Same with the rest.

[Saintheart]

No love for Witcher 3? Really? Perceval Schuttenbach contributed some absolutely gorgeous tracks to that, enough that it took about five minutes after the TV series came out for people to start putting up vids with game soundtracks over the (otherwise very ordinary) TV cues. And your heart is dead if the Kaer Morhen theme doesn't inspire you to play the game again, or go and play some D&D, or just go and climb a mountain somewhere.

[KillianHawkeye]

Chrono Cross was actually a great game that unfortunately was doomed to be compared to the best RPG of all time, Chrono Trigger. Everyone at the time expected CC to be CT2 and judged it accordingly, and it sort of was and it sort of wasn't. It mostly wasn't. And while I agree that the music was one of the strong points of Chrono Cross, it wasn't enough on its own because of course Chrono Trigger also had great music.

To this day, I use the term "the Chrono Cross effect" to refer to unfairly comparing something to its predecessors.

Like, I haven't played Mass Effect: Andromeda, but I would wager that its bad reviews are mainly caused by "the Chrono Cross effect", and that it would have gone over better if it just had been its own game and not been related to the Mass Effect trilogy at all.



My biggest complaint on Chrono Cross was that it just had too many characters. 40 playable characters, when a lot of them aren't very unique and it takes three playthroughs to unlock them all, is just too much. Final Fantasy 3/6j only had 14 (at least two of whom were completely optional bonus characters with no story), and that's the most they've ever tried in a main line Final Fantasy game as far as I know. (I haven't played FF12 or FF15 or any of the MMO versions, so maybe I'm in the wrong.)

But getting back to the musical discussion, the biggest weakness of the Chrono Cross soundtrack is also the lack of character theme songs. Because obviously they couldn't do theme songs for 40 characters. But that just made the characters that much more forgettable. Chrono Trigger had unique songs for each character. Final Fantasy games have theme songs for each character. That's a pretty important part of the music for an RPG, and Chrono Cross completely missed it.

[Brother Oni]

Most of the Supergiant games that I've played (Bastion, Transistor).
The Banner Saga
Doom Eternal (not played the game, just like heavy metal)

[Razade]

Like, I haven't played Mass Effect: Andromeda, but I would wager that its bad reviews are mainly caused by "the Chrono Cross effect", and that it would have gone over better if it just had been its own game and not been related to the Mass Effect trilogy at all.

Doubtful, considering the majority of reviews were bad because it was a buggy mess that was created by the B-Team of Bioware so they could work on Anthem. It having a weaker story and being compared to the trilogy really didn't enter into it considering just how badly broken it was at launch and how much of a buggy mess it still is.

[warty goblin]

Doubtful, considering the majority of reviews were bad because it was a buggy mess that was created by the B-Team of Bioware so they could work on Anthem. It having a weaker story and being compared to the trilogy really didn't enter into it considering just how badly broken it was at launch and how much of a buggy mess it still is.

The irony being that, for all Andromeda's vast mediocrity it's still way, way better than Anthem.

[MinimanMidget]

Everyone talking about Chrono Trigger, but no love for Golden Sun?

[Razade]

The irony being that, for all Andromeda's vast mediocrity it's still way, way better than Anthem.

A dead fish between two moldy buns would be better than Anthem so not a high bar really. Bioware as a company is dead, especially with the recent people leaving. EA does that though. They buy popular, well regarded studios and then instead of promoting and allowing them to keep doing what they were doing to get popular with more money they force them to follow a hideous corporate doctrine that is all but universally reviled because they know they can still make record sales. Which I blame on the general gaming populace. We could all tank EA if we just decided to stop their objectively predatory anti-consumer practices buy not buying their games but instead people shell out for the regurgitation of the same football game they've been making since 1999 while in the same breath complaining that Triple A games aren't as good as they used to be.

[Rockphed]

Homeworld (and, generally, its sequels) has an awesome sound.

[KillianHawkeye]

Everyone talking about Chrono Trigger, but no love for Golden Sun?

I played that game a super long time ago and unfortunately don't remember the music at all. I vaguely recollect that it was a good game.

[Zevox]

Golden Sun definitely has some good music. Venus Lighthouse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5d1rrbNo3o) is a probably my personal favorite.

[Grif]

Just punching in for FFXIV again. Soken (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFRhYuB93qk) is a (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHay26m_gcE) mad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O5-yJjJpZ4) genius. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsn8RbygmoQ)

Spoilers in all of those links.

Seconding this, though he did have a wealth of prior titles to draw on as well.

[yohayemo]

https://youtu.be/z754_a_aAHA

[DanswordMaia]

"Killing in the Name" (Rage Against the Machine)

[Vorenus]

I find it interesting that nobody has mentioned any of the Dark Souls trilogy. Here's the thing about the Dark Souls trilogy's musical score: It is beautiful. Here's the other thing: Most of the game does NOT have background music. There are generally one or two areas in a game that have ambient background music, and then other than that the only time you hear music is during the boss battles. And the music in the boss battles is quite simply amazing. If you have Spotify, I recommend creating a play list that has the original musical score for all of the Dark Souls games plus Bloodborne.

[The Hellbug]

Everyone talking about Chrono Trigger, but no love for Golden Sun?

Oooh, yeah, that was a good one. (Though I admit that was my 'middle school jrpg' so may produce an amount of nostalgia)

[DanswordMaia]

I forgot to add this legendary track (G.T.A Main Theme Song)

[thirsting]

Carmageddon II had amazing soundtrack that fit the game so well. Iron Maiden's greatest hits, essentially. I often played it just to listen the music.

[NeoVid]

The Guilty Gear series chief developer is a composer, and it shows.

[Grognardsw]

The Conan movie sound tracks are rousing backgrounds when playing my Hyborian 1e game.

With the ability of music services like Pandora and Amazon Prime Music to play “songs like”, one can stream all sorts of appropriate music and discover new albums and artists to give a deeper listen to.

[Leon]

Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus
Eve Online
Ori and the Blind Forest

[DeTess]

Eve Online


Yeah, the Eve soundtrack doesn't get nearly as much love as it deserves. It's just really great at creating that 'space' mood, to balance out the adrenaline spike from narrowly avoiding getting ganked and slipping through gate camps in my little cloaky exploration vessel while sneaking around null-sec looking for an opportunity to get rich. There's a lot of great stuff in there, but this one's probably one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbcsz8sb7Cg

[Taevyr]

Considering a lot of my favourites have already been named, I'll stick to ones I haven't seen yet:

Mirror's Edge has an excellent soundtrack; perhaps not everyone's cup of tea for background music, but its pretty great.

I also haven't seen Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines mentioned yet. You need community patches to get the entire soundtrack in-game, but it's an excellent one. The guitar work is great.

And I also have to mention Pillars of Eternity I/Deadfire. While I won't be listening to the combat themes in my spare time, the remainder of the soundtrack is just beautiful to listen to. And the sea shanties of Deadfire are great fun.

[LibraryOgre]

Terragenesis, a phone game, has a really nice soundtrack... sort of lazy strings, reminiscent of Memoirs of a Geisha, in my mind.

[Red Fel]

I'll add two things here.

One, Final Fantasy VI. FF has been mentioned a lot here, and for good reason, but this one stands out. Why? Because this game had a track for almost every character (or multiple related characters), and a MASSIVE cast of playable characters. That was a feat even before taking into account that it was done in the SNES era. And those motifs weave together beautifully, as shown in the end credits theme.

Which leads me to my second choice, Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Despite being a Game Boy game, it had a great soundtrack, full of life and emotion. And even in its remakes, that soundtrack sings. Don't believe me? Try it. (https://youtu.be/kDXlfvKdIZk) For some reason, even hearing it all these years later...

... ah, it looks like it's beginning to rain.

[Necrowolf]

I'd have to give it to Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. Its a heavier kind of soundtrack that I atleast don't see being used in many other titles. Most go for some high octane riffs and tracks to hype you up. But the weight of Strange Journey's soundtrack just helps add to the entire games feeling of importance, that every fight and journey is one step closer to deciding the fate of the entire planet and who wins the eternal war.

[zlefin]

Terragenesis, a phone game, has a really nice soundtrack... sort of lazy strings, reminiscent of Memoirs of a Geisha, in my mind.

that reminds me of Terranigma, one of the many good SNES era rpgs. I think it had some very nice pieces, that well fit the plot of the game; though it's been so long it's a bit hard to remember.

[Arcane_Secrets]

Bloodborne. My two favorite themes from it are Hail the Nightmare and the theme from the Living Failures boss fight.

Final Fantasy 7

X-Men 4 player arcade (I used to be able to do a single loop of this game on one credit).

Super mario 3D world (especially Bleep Blocks)

Lightning Fighters.

[crowhaven]

Oblivion soundtrack

FF9 soundtrack

[Ionathus]

Hollow Knight
Hades
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (HIGHLY recommend the recent Theophany remix albums if you've never heard them!)
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Assassin's Creed (2? 2.5? 2.75? I can't remember 100% but there's just plenty of easygoing but pumped-up synth tracks)
Baldur's Gate 2 & Throne of Bhaal. (That final battle music... *chefs kiss*)
Super Mario 64

[Amechra]

Turrican (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMv33eIEinc). Just... Turrican (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0-8k66MR0).

That second song is on the Amiga. If you notice that you have different music coming out of each speaker/headphone... from what I understand, that's because they had 4 channels to work with (for both music and sound effects), and they needed 8. So they made themselves 8.

[veti]

I have no idea how it's taken me so long to remember Tropico. The only game I can think of whose soundtrack is worthy of listening to even when you're not playing.

[Laughing Dog]

I'm slightly vexed that no one has brought up the Fire Emblem Series. Some of my personal favorites from the series are from Radiant Dawn, although there has yet to be game in that series that hasn't had at least one good track.
Beyond that? I'm partial to music from Age of Mythology and Age of Empires III. Oh, and Tales of Symphonia. Cannot forget about Tales of Symphonia.

[Psyren]

Megaman, F-Zero, Bayonetta... come to think of it, Smash Brothers as a whole has a lot of my favorites.

[Junbug]

I'm sure Transistor has been mentioned in this thread already, but I absolutely adore it. Supergiant doesn't mess around with their soundtracks, so I recommend Bastion and Hades as well.

Another surprising favorite of mine is the soundtrack for Arknights. They have a lot of variety and they really pour a lot of heart into their production for a mobile game.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Hard to go wrong with the Halo soundtrack. I haven't played Undertale, yet (I know, shame on me), but it's got some great tunes. Oh, and Cave Story has a fantastically catchy theme.

[Man_Over_Game]

Not a game, but all of Dance With the Dead's music sounds like it belongs in almost any game you can think of.

I was playing Risk of Rain 2 with DWtD playing, and I kept getting confused why my music didn't stop when I paused the game. Solid artist for when you want something to rock to in the background (which is good for RoR2, as its music is kinda all over the place).

Although, for an actual game soundtrack, can't go wrong with Furi. All of the songs were written specifically around the thematic fights and the vibe of the game.

[darkdragoon]

Xenogears

Castlevania SOTN
Super Castlevania IV

Tactics Ogre
FF Tactics
FFXII
I'd also point out Crimson Shroud's "They Don't Look That Tough"


I only have Dark Souls Remastered but I've liked most of what I've heard from DS III's soundtrack.

An Underlying Problem is probably my favorite from Shovel Knight.

[agustin1987]

To be fair, there are quite a few. But, the best ones have to be boss themes, right? Especially in Japanese games-the game composers really know how to make their music!

Serpent Eating the Ground-Bravely Default series. This is one of the best examples of a good boss theme. With a choir to start, the theme slowly turned more and more metal. There’s also a lot of smooth and surprising transitions!

[DavidSh]

I'd have to say my favorite game soundtracks belong to the Ar Tonelico games. The games have their issues, but when I completed an early quest, and the recipient sang at me, I was hooked.

[PhoenixPhyre]

The more I listen to the Nier:Automata soundtrack, the more I like it. Especially Weight of the World.

[Amechra]

I really like Killing Time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQkoCSlCEPQ)'s soundtrack. Spines But No Pages (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQkoCSlCEPQ) is a real standout, but the music is generally pretty solid.

[danzibr]

Usually I'm one to prefer the original (I mean... the very title implies soundtracks of the games themselves), and also not one to really like heavy metal, but heavy metal remixes of those oh-****-epic boss fights can work really well (e.g., Phantasy Star IV's Ooze (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLu7tCN2IZo))

[Drasius]

Halo and the various FF's have already been mentioned, but I'm a little surprised that Total Annhiliation hasn't gotten a mention, god that has a killer soundtrack, and was some of Jeremy Soule's early work (You may also know him from any one of Dungeon Siege, Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim, Neverwinter Nights, Dawn of War, Knights of the Old Republic, Guild Wars or many others). There's an interesting story out there on the intertubes about him making a bet of his entire pay for the job on TA with Chris Taylor that the instrumental tracks he'd come up with were the way to go instead of the heavy metal/techno stuff that most other RTS's were doing at the time, and won.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljDyp__ejco

The various Halo's, FF's, TA and Mechwarrior 2 : Mercenaries are the ones that I can recall off the top of my head that I will often put on for background noise, though a rather hourable mention goes out to BFG Division for being something very special and unexpected.

[Rynjin]

Man, I wish I'd known about that song Monday so I could've played it when the party's Druid got one-shotted by a giant ooze.

[factotum]

Man, I wish I'd known about that song Monday so I could've played it when the party's Druid got one-shotted by a giant ooze.

Nah, this is the one you want to play in that situation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c4hnA8jXwo

[Rynjin]

Nah, I used that last time someone died.

[Cygnia]

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Grim Dawn
"Eyes On Me" from FFVIII

I will say I had to do a double-take when I recognized the Skyrim soundtrack coming from my in-laws' "Celtic Songs" Pandora channel one day...:smallbiggrin:

[danzibr]

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Grim Dawn
"Eyes On Me" from FFVIII

I will say I had to do a double-take when I recognized the Skyrim soundtrack coming from my in-laws' "Celtic Songs" Pandora channel one day...:smallbiggrin:
A fellow Eyes On Me lover. Nice.

[Cygnia]

I keep hoping to find it on karaoke one of these days...

[Burley]

If nobody said it: The World Ends With You has an awesome soundtrack. One of two soundtracks I've downloaded onto my phone (the other is the Undertale soundtrack).
I haven't played TWEWY in probably ten years, but the music still gets into my head consistently.

[Yourt19]

My favorite soundtracks list:
Hotline Miami
GTA: San Andreas
DOOM
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess

[bigbigXuan]

Currently in my spotify list OST:

Cyberpunk
Ghostrunner :sabine:
The Witcher 3
DOOM
Skyrim

[JordanM]

Currently in my spotify list OST:

Cyberpunk
Ghostrunner :sabine:
The Witcher 3
DOOM
Skyrim

Kravitz did a great job xD

[tahababu]

To me Mafia 2 and Red Dead Redemption theme songs are the best and i often play them while i iron my clothes :smallsmile:

[Misery Esquire]

Hmm... Not in any order:

Halo (1, since most of the good ones from 2 and 3 feel like building on 1s moves, or remixes.)

TES soundtracks, Morrowind's noncombat in particular, Skyrim's combat.

Crusader Kings (Ok, I'll admit, it just has Sabaton songs in it)

Zelda - more or less every game has at least one catchy melody, usually more. This is something lacking in the genericized Rock n Roll/Dramatic Orchestra of most other games these games. They may have good songs, but I can whistle Zelda years (& decades) later.

Mechanicus, to quote Mandalore, "Other electronic songs have a bass drop, this has a pipe organ." Praise the Omnissiah.

Sunless Seas - You're far out of your depth in the depths, gods and devils fear to tread, but you're the captain and this is your sea. THESUNTHESUNTHESUN

Dark Souls - Ash Lake. Just that one song, and only in game, since the OST doesn't include the quiet rising as you round the bend of climbing down that miserable tree and come out into a strange wonder.

[oxybe]

This will sound weird but... Dokkan dragonball.

It's a f2p mobile puzzle game but it's OST surprisingly slaps with a bunch of music made just for the game.

I run Boujack just so that when the conditions are right and the game lets me transform, this kicks in (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BS_hQQBxzNI). That and Boujack is a good unit.

It's just a bunch of "get hyped" and "oh dang he making a comeback" tunes. Great background music when you're playing something and want to get pumped.

[asda fasda]

I find FF and Chrono Triger music great for work, pretty much all of it, as it's instrumental and quite varied, but my favorite FF is Roses of May from FF IX it's beautiful and highlights deepness of Beatrix character, I just love it.

Additionally Civilization 4 theme is amazing

[PoeticallyPsyco]

The King's Bird has a great soundtrack, joyful even, but what really makes it a delight is that it's dynamic, responding to what you're doing at the moment.

[Corsair14]

I really like the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack. Its the only one of many games that jumps out at me and I am not even playing it right now

[Ionathus]

Reading this thread 3 months ago convinced me to play Undertale, and I'd like to add it to my favorites list. So many good tracks. I'm an absolute sucker for leitmotifs and this thing is basically friggin' Into the Woods with how often things come back as echoes, refrains, and remixes. *chef's kiss* The perfect "thematic" music when it comes to storytelling.

Plus, a lot of it is just straight-up good and fun music.

[oxybe]

I just realized going back through the thread DOOM was mentioned but not Killer Instinct 2013.

I mean c'mon... Swedish chanting to summon a Babylonian skeleton pirate warlord where one instrument is a Tibetan flute made from a human femur?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mpqct1zMqTE

or the best workout/comeback song i think ever penned https://youtube.com/watch?v=6JapDyUwAu8

[danzibr]

Reading this thread 3 months ago convinced me to play Undertale, and I'd like to add it to my favorites list. So many good tracks. I'm an absolute sucker for leitmotifs and this thing is basically friggin' Into the Woods with how often things come back as echoes, refrains, and remixes. *chef's kiss* The perfect "thematic" music when it comes to storytelling.

Plus, a lot of it is just straight-up good and fun music.
Glad to hear!

Yeah reprises of the songs coming back… so baddonkey.

[boj0]

Started replaying Borderlands 3, the entire sound direction of that game is fantastic, but the soundtrack overall is so good. Especially now that they've added back Revenge of the Cartels permanently, and I can get my retro synthwave vibe on demand. Also, while not an original track, the use of Trouble, by Cage the Elephant is so damn good in the end credits, matching the emotional trials of the characters as well as coming full circle with the opening of 1 with Ain't No Rest For the Wicked.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Been replaying The King's Bird, and the soundtrack is simple but very fun.

[NeoVid]

Recently found out about Everhood, and immediately got totally addicted to its soundtrack. I've never, ever watched a game video this long (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeOrMvvdR7M) before (warning, video crammed with spoilers), but I couldn't stop coming back to watching/listening to this game's boss fights until I'd seen the entire set without realizing it. The stories told by the fights are also really good, like the bonus level where you face the devs, which is a big allegory for developing the game... and my favorite song out of the entire bunch, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm3ioMR9-Lg) which you get as part of an uberboss fight triggered by going against the entire message the game is trying to express, in a homage/counterpoint to Undertale.

Of course, watching the videos of Everhood made it clear I would be so, so horrifically bad at the game that I've got no inclination to play it myself, but the fact that I've gotten a ton of entertainment out of it anyway is another sign it's a great game.

[MCerberus]

I still love the lovable constant genre matchups of Sonic and Knuckles. I mean one of the tracks is 'This Egyptian theme mixes well with haunted house motifs, but it needs something... yah... crank up that harpsichord.'

And Sky Battery Act 1 is an all-time jam