Best Soundtrack of the Generation - Semifinals, Group 1

X

enoblade

I'll give it to Mass Effect. It transported me to the future.

FTL. That title track makes me just want to sit and listen.

Xenoblade Chronicles, of course.

You can't make me pit FTL against Xenoblade. That's not fair!

Edit: Picked FTL in the end. Relieved to see that FTL and Xenoblade both have the same score. Disappointed to see them both being hammered by Hotline Miami...

Journey. The fascination with Hotline Miami and it's soundtrack still eludes me...

Ideally, I want the finals to be Journey vs Nier, and then Nier takes it.

Yep, I agree. I think that M.O.O.N track is pretty all right; I don't really have any particular reverence for the rest of the soundtrack though. Also, for the game itself: overall, I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say anything more than that.

Interesting how Hotline Miami could take this. But a lot of people tend to evaluate game soundtracks by a 10 second clip they like. "Good music." Well... more like catchy section that loops over and over.

The music enhanced the vibe, I guess. That counts for something.

I should add that I love Hotline Miami.

I voted for Hotline Miami here since it's the only one I've actually listened to outside of the game.

It's probably in another group but Super Meat Boy is my favorite soundtrack.

Metal Gear Rising didn't make it.... Ugggggghhhhhhhhh

Hotline Miami

I voted for ME in the GotG competition, but I can't do so again in good faith. Xenoblade gets my vot--

Welp, that was a wasted vote.

@csl316 said:

Yeah I guess if someone didn't like electronic music, they might tune out most of the layers that exist beneath the obvious recurring patterns. If you pay attention to all the elements of the track, you realize that it's not just a loop.

Journey is one of the very few game soundtracks I listen to outside of the game, it's truly beautiful. I assume by Mass Effect you mean the series as a whole because I wouldn't rate the soundtrack for ME1 as highly as the other two.

Dark souls.

Hotline Miami is just boring techno licensed tracks. That's dumb.

Journey, it was nominated for a Grammy after all.

Hotline Miami had a fantastic licensed soundtrack, but I'm (personally) looking towards original scores, and Xenoblade wasn't memorable to me at the time of playing it (though listening back to the music alone, it's great). Same with Mass Effect. I have to go with Journey.

Also, holy wow, all of my nominations made it pretty far. :D

Wait, Hotline Miami's soundtrack is licensed? Oh, come on.

it's well used in the game, there are original tracks, and it adds to the atmosphere in the game that the others on the list don't.

I didn't even vote for it (I voted for DS), but it's a lot more than just Madden's EA trax or whatever.

I like electronic music and own a great deal of it. My experience with Hotline was in the context of the game and it honestly got tiresome. When you're in a level for 15 minutes listening to Hydrogen over and over my mind didn't gravitate toward the subtle shifts. It focused on the looping melody that relentlessly takes precedence for 4 minutes straight. Granted, I didn't follow the game's prompt of "best with headphones."

That's my experience, that's why I didn't vote for it. It fits the aesthetic but I wish there was more variation when you're just stuck at a checkpoint (which the game design leads to eventually). During Brad's stream he couldn't progress and just mixing up the audio a little would've been nice. A Best of the Generation soundtrack should be as flawless as possible in context of the game and as a stand-alone album.

This is the first I've seen of this series of polls, so I'd just like to ask if, at some point during these discussions, Remember Me was brought up.

Because goddamn if it isn't one of the coolest video game soundtracks I've heard in the past few years.

@csl316: If you're stuck on the same checkpoint for 15 minutes then listening to the same loop fits the situation. You aren't progressing, why should the music? You're doing the same thing over and over so listening to the same beat over and over is apt. If you eventually learn the levels and are going for high scores then the progression through the levels and the tracks goes at quite a clip.

Man, all of my favorites are getting the short end of the stick. Oh well.

I'm actually genuinely surprised Mass Effect's gotten anywhere. I don't seem recall the soundtrack being all that memorable.

@sissylion: That's pretty funky. You get a star in my book!

How is Journey losing?! I mean, come on.

Absolutely. I can't believe it's losing so clearly but I guess that game wasn't as popular as the others? I never played it myself but that soundtrack is absolutely amazing and nearly all tracks are fantastic which is impressive considering there are so many of them. Should win this whole thing in my book but the other contenders are pretty good too so whatever.

You pretty much nailed why people like it so much. The music does more for that game then any non-music game I can think of. I don't think I would have liked Hotline Miami much without the music and I don't really like the music much without Hotline Miami. Everything just worked together perfectly.

This was hard for me. The music in FTL really is special. I think it's the best Sci Fi music out there in games. Mass Effect of course has a few killer tracks (Death Theme, Menu Music and the Faunt's track at the end).

The fact that Hotline's music is licensed is actually a huge part of it being so impressive. Licensed soundtracks tend to majorly suck (unless we're talking about NBA Street 2). The way they all fit together so perfectly, the tone and feeling they create. Un fucking real. Just unbelievable. Unheard of!! Whoever curated that list is music master beyond music masters. Also there are those Jasper Byrne tracks (of Deus Ex fame) which were created for the game and they are aamaaaazing (High Score music, for example).

Despite them not being my nominations, I'm happy to see Hotline Miami and Bastion do so well. They would definitely be on my top 10 of most memorable/favourite soundtracks of this generation.

HM is sick

Well at least Mass Effect isn't going to lose to Mass Effect 2, I would lose my shit.

Hotline Miami had a pretty damn sweet sound-track.

Genuinely confused at the lack of Super Meat Boy though.

How the hell are Journey and Dark Souls up there?

Anyways, I picked Mass Effect 2. Such an epic sound track. Hotline Miami's is great too.

Hotline Miami has only a few good tracks. Whereas something like Xenoblade should be award winning.

Indeed. When I played it a second time after the Vita release I was blowing through the levels and it was amazing. The whole package just being awesome together.

The first time I felt it got monotonous because I was sucking and dying constantly, and outside of the game it didn't have the same impact for me. But that second playthrough really made me appreciate it more.

YOU KNOW WHAT IS UP!

no contest.

Rest assured that it did. I and maybe a couple other guys brought it up. Unfortunately almost everyone will not remember this beautiful soundtrack.

FTL. Milky Way is sooooooooooooooo good. Never really noticed the music in Dark Souls.

No Assassin's Creed II or Deus ex Human Revolution? :(

As much as I love Dark Souls the soundtrack is just decent.

Mass Effect almost had me until I read Hotline Miami. Now, if this were a battle of just OST recordings...

@csl316: That's fair, much as I like the MOON tracks, they are very repetitive. But there are just as many tracks that build and go places. For example Miami Disco, Inner Animal, Knock Knock.

Besides, there's something to be said for repetitive music when you're in the middle of a robotically efficient killing spree.