Hi all :)
I don't know, this isn't a pertinent inquiry, but I was contemplating on whether people like a mmorpg (on byond) with music that has words sung, or just plain music. I plan on using music without words, but I thought it would be interesting to see feedback on that.
ID:152201
 Oct 10 2007, 3:50 pm
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I'm all about the meat and potatoes. If the game's fun, I'll plug away in silence. Old school roguelikes still distract me from sleeping before work, so I'm pretty used to turning on an internet radio station while I play games.
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Blanke wrote:
I don't know, this isn't a pertinent inquiry, It isn't pertinent? You want to know about it, so I'd say it's pretty pertinent. ;-) My stance: lyrics and video games do not mix very well for regular background music... especially if not sung by someone who went to an art school to learn how to sing. The only time lyrics are acceptable is if the music is used to simulate radio. I tend to hate lyrics even in my regular music, however, since I prefer to figure out what a song means to me. You might say I prefer my music to be pertinent to me. ;-) | |
lol :p Yeah, I go for meanings of songs as well. Well, it seems like everyone (and me :p) don't like music w/lyrics in a game :p
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Earth 2160, a PC game, has music with lyrics in the main menu and to be honest it actually puts me off playing the game.
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You have to think outside the box too. Not everyone is going to like the song you put on your game. It is different when you have no lyrics. When you have no lyrics, the music usually blends in with what you are doing and makes the whole scenario better. If the song has lyrics, and somebody just doesn't like the song (i.e. not his style of music, hates his singing, doesn't like the lyrics, or just hates the artist), then you got yourself a failed game.
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Well true, but as I was saying, I don't really plan on ading music with lyrics, I jsut wanted to see people's opinions.
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I don't recall ever playing a game that had background music with lyrics... Do they really exist?
If not, there's probably a reason for that... Lyrics would be too distracting... Background music is meant to be just that: background... It is there to provide ambience, and to help drive emotions (I.E. the switch from the light cheerful overworld theme to the ominous and energetic battle theme) | |
Yeah. I have played a couple of games with vocals. Well, final fantasy 8, in the beginning there is vocals. On a mini online 2d platformer game there is a song with words. I quite liked it actually. And on earthbound_ragnarok online there is a linkin park song in the beginning. Ummm, I know there is more but I can't think of them.
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Yeh, but vocals != lyrics.
Look at the Myst series - most of their music is absolutely full of vocal work, but rather than lyrical music it's music that uses the voice as an instrument. It's the same with the FF8 intro - you aren't listening to the music for the lyrics, the music is for effect. | |
I wasn't saying thats why you were listenin to it. Just mentioning games with vocals. Ooo another game, lunar silver star story complete. But those songs w/lyrics are in movie scenes. not normal gameplay :p
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GTA's music that you are thinking of wasn't background music, it was simulated radio station programming. Not the same as ambiance in a RPG.
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Ah, okay.
And as to my opinion on lyrics: after listening to music for more than just a few minutes, my mind tends to phase out the lyrics and all I really notice is the sound mushed together. A song can have the worst lyrics in the world, but as long as the music works together, I'll still listen to it. (In my opinion, a prime example would be ... Crazy *** by Buckcherry. I don't like the lyrics all that much, but the actual music and everything else about it is so addictive I just love the song. | |
If you want ambience in a RPG then music is the wrong way to you, and in fact RPGs (and video games in general) have what is called "incidental music", not ambient music.
Incidental music is basically any background song that is not ambient music and is designed to add something to the current scene, for instance the song that starts playing when you enter a fight in a RPG, which is usually fast paced and exciting. If you want real ambience in a game then you want to be making liberal use of sound effects. In a town? You probably want the wind, possibly trees rustling in the wind, people talking, the hustle and bustle of daily life, if there is a river near by you'll want the sound of water flowing and so on. In some sort of dungeon/cave? You'll want a low pitched, almost silent humming noise, maybe water dripping, if there is torches you'll hear those burning, possibly animals such as rats and bats squeaking and so on. Anyway. I've only ever heard lyrics used in RPGs twice that were not used in cut scenes. One was Blue Dragons boss theme... http://youtube.com/watch?v=q08So0gixwE Which was probably the worst song I have ever heard used as a boss theme in a game ever... And I suspect the lyrics had something to do with that. And the other was in Persona 3. And I can't remember a single song from that game that was good (the standard battle theme was a horrible and hard to understand rap song...). Neither of those worked at all... And I can only think of two songs with lyrics that would work well in a video games, but they would work a lot better if the singer was replaced by an instrument. So yeah, I'd basically avoid using songs with lyrics in them in a game unless it is part of a cut scene (even then, you have to be very careful of using songs with lyrics). | |
I don't realy care if a game has music with or without lyrics but maybe you should give the person playing the game a choice like instead of everyone listening to the grass field area music or some other place make a verb through some of your favorite songs in and if the person playing doesn't like the choices they can keep the character music off and play something from thier library.
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Yeah. I planned on making a verb to switch the music if the player did so desire. I am going to have my own music put on the game. And I will have an assortment of music with and without musioc for the player to listen to. I personally don't mind what music I listen to on an mmorpg, as long as I like the song and the atmosphere it gives off is relevant to the situation I am in I like it.
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Games like GTA have music with words. Sometimes the radio station is just all words (Those are the best. Lazlow is my God.).
Music with words can get in the way of what you're trying to concentrate on, which is why so many programmes on TV use songs that have been cut up so as to preserve the tune but not have any lyrics.
Just imagine trying to listen to an NPC giving you a new quest whilst someone else screams into a microphone at the same time?