A list of games and franchises with mindblowingly awesome soundtracks. I kid you not!
Here follows a few samples from the entries in the list, to give you something (well, a lot) to listen to while you ponder my choices. Pretty much every link is from YouTube:
The Legend of Zelda - 1 2 3 4 5 6
Final Fantasy - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ar tonelico - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(lol)
Icewind Dale - 1
Hot damn.
Akira Yamaoka is my god. This franchise, together with everything else this man touches, is nothing short of musical bliss. Be it full of sampling and (like some people say) stolen parts from other artists, it doesn't make a difference - you'll probably never find music better suited for any games ever. With help from Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Joe Romersa he constructed what I consider to be the best soundtracks ever conceived.
Jeremy Soule is my demigod, and his work on this franchise is absolutely superb. Morrowind is by far my favorite game in the series, and the soundtrack is as well. It might be a bit on the short side, but I never got tired of it. The songs are so low-key that every time a melody comes trucking along, you'll be filled with warmth. Daggerfall might not be composed by Jeremy Soule, but goddamn that soundtrack is awesome as well. And even though Oblivion was a pretty bad game, the music was fantastic, as per usual.
This series is bursting by the seams with awesome music, this is no secret. You just can't go wrong any of the games, really. The music continues to be top-notch, even when Koji Kondo himself is missing (see Zelda II and Link's Awakening).
A series filled to the brink with amazing music, one aspect that make Final Fantasy the franchise it is. Mr. Uematsu is one of the most famous composers in video game history, and it's easy to see why. To keep the music consistently awesome throughout eleven (!) games in a row is no small feat. And he wrote, recorded and arranged nine (!) of those soundtracks wholly on his own. Now, that is impressive. But I'm not going to discredit the other composers who worked on the later games, hell no. I find Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIII just as superb.
Paul Romero, Rob King & Steve Baca. What a trio of composers. They kept it consistently flawless throughout this whole series. What amazing soundtracks. The writing is out of this world. And even though Heroes 4 is a bad game, the soundtrack most certainly is not.
You will not find a better collection of amazing battle themes. This whole franchise is full of 'em, even though the first Atelier Iris is my favorite. Superb music just in general. If you're looking for awesome Japanese J-RPG-ass J-RPG music, look no further. Believe you me.
One man. Unlimited creativity. Right? ZUN is a master composer, and that's only a part of what he does with this franchise. I mean, he IS this franchise. No wonder there are countless remixes and arrangements of his music strewn about the interwebs, his work really is that good.
Once again, cozy old-school low-budget J-RPG music that these guys are masters at. And THOSE HYMNS! Damn it. The GUST sound team grew as composers with this franchise and managed to find a more unique sound for themselves. Some of the songs are absolutely crazy, in a good way. Games that revolve around hymns and singing ought to have good music to boot, and I think they did a fantastic job.
Jeremy Soule. Again. That's enough information for you to know that this is amazing. The moment you leave the tavern and 'Easthaven in Peace' starts playing is one of the strongest memories from my childhood. Exploring town to that tune is magical, even in this day and age.
Instrumental industrial metal. Speeches. Marches. Choirs. Hell yeah. The soundtracks fit so well with the humorous and overly fascistic style of the games. You can almost see the Soviet army marching in perfect synch.
