I have finally finished listening to (and rating and commenting on) every game soundtrack on my list that has a number or A as there first character. That said, I think its time to give a general analysis of the pertinent game soundtracks (basically any soundtrack that scored equal to or greater than a 7.75 in the scoring system) that fall under these designations. Before I go into detail regarding the specific game soundtracks, I feel like I should describe the ranking system I used to arbitrate my scores.
Basically
! - Every song that I felt was good enough to pass a second listening awarded its specific soundtrack 1 point
- Every song that I felt was better than good was awarded an extra point
- Every song that I felt was superbly good was awarded four extra points
- Every song that I felt was among the best I've heard was awarded 8 extra points (there were very few of these)
- The sum total of these values produce a score which I assign a subjective score out of 10 from 4 to 10 (including increments of 0.25, like 4.25 or 7.5) based on said values. Anything that didn't have a single song make it on to my list was removed, hence why there is no score below 4 (because why would I want crappy music in this project)
Future Plans
! In regards to my future plans for this project, I think the major thing I should mention is that I will personally upload all the songs that have my approval after a third listen to youtube (because Copyright take downs don't tend to occur as long as only a few songs of particular soundtrack are uploaded). Right now, I'm just using Google music to store the second set of listening material for later.
#s and As Video Game Music Project Analysis
Data Analysis
! - The highest scoring games got 9 out of 10s (There are 2)
- The current average of all selected soundtrack (that number being 134) scores is 6.45
Selected Soundtracks with scores greater than or equal to 7.75 Ar Nosurge
! Genre: RPG
Artist: Gust Sound Team
Score: 9 out of 10
! A fantastic soundtrack. It has two terrific battle themes (Minakuta and Mikazuchi) and fantastically bombastic (and exciting) Japanese ethnic vocal music. This is truly top tier stuff.
! Example: Mikazuchi (Boss Battle Theme)
!
! Example: Class: EXPAJA (Vocal Boss Battle Theme)
!
Atelier Shallie
! Genre: RPG
Artist: Gust Sound Team
Score: 9 out of 10
! Another fabulous soundtrack by Gust. I think I like Ar Nosurge a little better, but this is totally worthy of a nine. It just has a lot of good music and I suggest listening to it you like JRPG music. In terms of BGM, it is better than Ar Nosurge, but this isn't as good from a vocal perspective.
! Example: Narcolepsist
!
! Example : Stella -Part 2-
!
Another Eden
! Genre: RPG
Artist: Yasunori Mitsuda, Shunsuke Tsuchiya, Mariam Abounnasr
Score: 8.75 out of 10
! A fantastic soundtrack for a Japanese only smartphone game, made by Mitsuda's (Chrono Trigger) music production team (however Mitsuda only had involvement in one song). Regardless, its filled to the brim with great battle themes and dramatic music, and I'm sure JRPG fans will love this stuff to death.
! Example: Dream Weaver (The Final Boss Theme)
!
AI War
! Genre: Strategy- RTS
Artist: Pablo Vega
Score: 8.5 out of 10
! Very relaxing, and melancholic in tone, this soundtrack contains a large number of relaxing, tonally-melancholy songs that are a joy to listen to.
! Example: Night Carousel (A very cool waltzy-type song)
!
Ar Tonelico II, Ar Tonelico III, Ar Tonelico I
! Genre: RPG
Artist: Gust Sound Team
Score: 8.5 out of 10, 8.25 out of 10, and 8 out of 10 respectively
! Yep. Gust Sound Team has 8 soundtracks on this list. They really are a very good group of composers. That said, Ar Tonelico, the prequel series to Ar Nosurge (and Ciel Nosurge- Which I haven't listened to yet) is a fantastic pool of japanese-ethnic infused vocal music of many genres, like its sequel. By the way, III has the best collection of vocal themes, II has decent BGM and vocal themes, and I excels at BGM and is most lacking in vocal themes. That said, all three have fabulous ethnic vocal songs, and if you can't bring yourself to like that, you probably won't care for these soundtracks that much.
! Example (II): Exec_Sphilia
!
! Example (III): chmod-0111100000/n
!
! Example (I): Exec_Chronicle_Key
!
A Hat in Time
! Genre: Platformer- 3D
Artist: Pascal Michael Stiefel
Score: 8.25 out of 10
! A quirky indie platformer soundtrack that was released this year. This was, surprisingly fantastic stuff. Apparently Grant Kirkhope (Banjo Kazooie, Mario and Rabbids) was supposed to co-compose this soundtrack, but opted out after composing one song, believing that the tone of the game contrasted too heavily with his unique style. Regardless, Pascal Michael Stiefel did a wonderful job on this soundtrack. It was quite the surprise to listen to. A nice infusion of a lot of different styles made a fantastic product.
! Example: Subcon Village [Echobot Remix]
!
Ace Attorney V
! Genre: Adventure- Visual Novel
Artist: Noriyuki Iwadare
Score: 8 out of 10
! By far my favorite of the Ace Attorney game soundtracks. The advent of non-chiptune soundtracks for handheld games really did Ace Attorney a favor; Ace Attorney music was made for real instruments (or at least realistic sounding instruments) and its unique style was accentuated by this addition.
! Example: Apollo Justice- A New Chapter of Trials! 2013
!
Afro Samurai the Game
! Genre: Action- Hack and Slash
Artist: RZA
Score: 8 out of 10
! A really cool soundtrack, filled to the brim with strange hip hop songs that usually have to do with murder and related topics. Honestly, this was really enjoyable, and I highly suggest listening to it, whether you are a fan of hip hop or not (which I'm really not, to be honest). Yes, it is a Japanese game with an African American composer. Not very ordinary I guess.
! Example: Black Knights Paint The Town Red
!
Age of Wonders 3
! Genre: Strategy- RTS
Artist: Michiel van des Bos
Score: 8 out of 10
! A great RTS soundtrack with a fantasy-type classical style. If you like that kind of stuff (like me).
! Example: Triumph Within Reach
!
Aiyoku no Eustia
! Genre: Adventure- Visual Novel
Artist: Active Planets
Score: 8 out of 10
! Yep. Here is the first eroge in this analysis. I know it might be surprising to hear this, but smutty games can have good soundtracks too. This one in particular has a fantasy theme. Thus, it probably isn't surprising that the music is fantasy themed. The main thing I should mention is that this soundtrack is filled to the brim with really nice sounding sad music (like a lot of games in the genre). The reason its score is so high happens to be the fact that it actually has quite a few decent songs. I don't really have much else to say.
! Example: Pure Heart
!
Anno 2070
! Genre: Strategy- RTS
Artist: Tilman Silescu, Alexander Roeder, Marcus Schmidt
Score: 8 out of 10
! Yet another RTS with a fabulous soundtrack. This one is Sci-fi future themed. It is a really solid mix of electronic and classical sounds and I highly suggest checking it out.
! Example: What a Glorious View
!
Atelier Escha & Logy Atelier Sophie & Mana Khemia 1
! Genre: RPG
Artist: Gust Sound Team
Score: All are 8 out of 10
! Another three games with soundtracks composed by the Gust Sound Team. All are part of the Atelier series of RPGs. They are certainly weaker soundtracks than Shallie (or the Ar Tonelico soundtracks for that matter), but they are definitely worth listening to. They all have cool and memorable battle themes, and in some situations, solid vocal music. Below are some battle themes I thought were cool.
! Example (Escha & Logy): Fulcrum
!
! Example (Sophie): Silence Flower
! 1r8HK2pf-&index=90
! Example (Mana Khemia): Nefertiti
!
20XX
! Genre: Platformer- Action, Indie
Artist: Brandon Ellis
Score: 7.75 out of 10
! Really nice chip tune soundtrack inspired by the Mega Man Series. In the respect, its very similar. The game itself is a Megaman Homage, so thats not surprising.
! Example: Station (Spark Engine)
!
Ace Combat Assault Horizon
! Genre: Simulation- Flight
Artist: Keiki Kobayashi, Hiroshi Okubo, Rio Hamamoto, Jesahm, Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani, Yoshitaka Suzuki
Score: 7.75 out of 10
! In my opinion, this is the best Ace Combat soundtrack. While there is certainly very good music scattered throughout the series, this one has a lot of great music throughout.
! Example: Keep Alive
!
Age of Empires III
! Genre: Strategy- RTS
Artist: Steven Rippy
Score: 7.75 out of 10
! Age of Empires III is yet another RTS with a very solid soundtrack. This one is essentially purely classical orchestra music. So, if you like stuff like that, you'll enjoy this.
! Example:
!
Air
! Genre: Adventure- Visual Novel
Artist: Maeda Jun, Orito Shinji, Takase Kazuya, Togoshi Magome
Score: 7.75 out of 10
! The second eroge I'm mentioning here, and the first key game. Once again, a smutty game surprisingly proves to have solid soundtracks. Honestly, this is probably Key's worst entry as far as soundtracks go, but that said, its still really good stuff.
! Example: Summer Light
!
ArcheAge
! Genre: RPG- MMO
Artist: DaMeAte
Score: 7.75 out of 10
! One of many Korean RPGs with a bunch of solid music (This is much later on, but I'd like to mention Granado Espada, because that is another Korean MMORPG, but its soundtrack is far better than this one). The end credits theme here is really cool.
! Example: Oblivion (End Credits Theme)
!
Asura's Wrath
! Genre: Action- Hack and Slash
Artist: Chikayo Fukuda, Kaoru Wada
Score: 7.75 out of 10
! This game has really good music, but one song (the main theme), stood out so much that I kept all versions of it in the soundtrack in my collection, that song being "In Your Belief". Outside of that, it has a bunch of epic themes, but honestly, I don't feel like describing them.
! Example: In Your Belief- Ending Credits
!
Anyways, that's it for now.
P.S.
! I usually wouldn't say this, but PLEASE RESPOND. This took me like 3 hours to compose and I would really appreciate it.