Videogame music

[BBP]

Can't believe I forgot to mention this earlier, the Illsmouth theme from Shadow of the Comet is amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxeq0OqcRdo

Also, following BBP's example, linking to Youtube from now on may be preferable to embedding with so many videos on one page.

I had not noticed it until just now since I am in a Panera's with a small trickle of bandwidth.

Living in a hut on the heath gives me a bandwith that sometimes freezes the computer whenever I'm on a page with as much data as this one already has.

Another show-stopper: the Joyful Waltz by Zdenek Bartak, plays in Toonstruck at that Hilarious Scene With The Vase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4MKf5lPSN8

[BBP]

I've never played these games (and would probably not be able to play them either as scaredy) but that music...
From Clock Tower: First Fear
From Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, undoubtedly the scariest game with the word "butterfly" in the title!

[BBP]

This is so incredibly gorgeous I didn't want to tuck it away in the private board:
the Gabriel Knight 3 theme by orchestra.

[Expack3]

This is so incredibly gorgeous I didn't want to tuck it away in the private board:
the Gabriel Knight 3 theme by orchestra.

Definitely awesome! That said, it sounds like they took a few cues from the Broken Sword series, as I had to keep reminding myself that no, this is from a Sierra game, not a Revolution Software game.

[Rath Darkblade]

Very nice. It's been a long, long time since I played GK3... mostly because I don't like the death scenes in GK. Gabriel's dying scream in the "pendulum" scene gave me nightmares.

[BBP]

Wow, I'd never heard the full GK2 opera in high quality before...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MOF0JjmGw

Quite a difference isn't it!

[Rath Darkblade]

It certainly is quite a change. I can now hear (and understand) what is happening - I could not make head nor tail of it when I was playing the game. I think that this scene is why I never finished GK2 - either my game would always crash at this point, or I simply gave up because I couldn't understand a thing about what was happening.

I think I now understand some of the action on stage. The bass in the large hat (the baron) accepts the soprano as his wife, and a troupe of clowns appear on stage to juggle and entertain them. One of the jugglers is hopelessly inept - I don't know who or what he is supposed to represent of the game's characters (if any) - and then... for some reason, not sure why - the other jugglers beat him and put him in a sack, and whirl him 'round and 'round until... for some reason... he becomes a werewolf - and is hunted by the guests. I don't think I understand why these two things happen, though.

Also, can anyone tell me what the words are? I'm afraid that my knowledge of German is rather rudimentary. I can read it, and understand some of the words I'm reading, but that's about it. Sorry!

[BBP]

Too bad about that, since the opera marks the point where the game suddenly becomes really very cool. The opera plot is explained in the brochure that you can pick up in the foyer, and as with all documents in English you can listen to them if you click them.
I don't recall the exact plot right now, but first Hildegunde sings a sad aria, her new husband, the bad guy Baron tells her to join the wedding party. There the jugglers have come in, and according to the plot Engelhart (Hildegunde's love interest) secretly joins the jugglers to trap the Baron. Both Engelhart and Baron change into a werewolf and it's the end of the act.
(For No Reason Whatsoever, Gabriel decides to play Engelhart, which is why you see him fumbling around)

The German words of the opera are here:
http://gkpages.altervista.org/GKpedia/WagnerOpera.html

[Tawmis]

Wow, I'd never heard the full GK2 opera in high quality before...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MOF0JjmGw

Quite a difference isn't it!

They did a really good job with that edit.

[adeyke]

(For No Reason Whatsoever, Gabriel decides to play Engelhart, which is why you see him fumbling around)

What do you mean by this? I thought that decision made sense, both for Gabriel's character and for the narrative.

That opera is the game's finale; there are just two scenes after it, so it would be sad to give up at that point.

Watching that video makes me wish for a remastered version of GK2. The game is really marred by the inconsistent sound quality and heavily-compressed video (they're just 308x167 and limited to 256 colors). I understand that this had to be done to work with the computers of the time and to fit on the CDs. Still, I wish I could see the game with the higher-quality recordings they must at one point have had.

[Collector]

Watching that video makes me wish for a remastered version of GK2. The game is really marred by the inconsistent sound quality and heavily-compressed video (they're just 308x167 and limited to 256 colors). I understand that this had to be done to work with the computers of the time and to fit on the CDs. Still, I wish I could see the game with the higher-quality recordings they must at one point have had.

Agreed

[BBP]

(For No Reason Whatsoever, Gabriel decides to play Engelhart, which is why you see him fumbling around)

What do you mean by this? I thought that decision made sense, both for Gabriel's character and for the narrative.

You do? I don't.


Aaaaaaanyway...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJRoRt155mA
This song from Mega Man 2 became an internet meme in Japan.

[adeyke]

I was curious about your reasoning, but okay.

The game does have a lot of things were characters behavior doesn't make sense for them (Grace is just randomly a jerk at the start) or doesn't make sense as party of the story (it's really unsatisfying to do research as Grace, and know that it's relevant, but then switch to Gabriel and completely ignore it).

However, in this case, we have Gabriel learning that, because the theater was rebuilt, their entire plan was going to fail and deciding that, because this was his only chance to break the curse, he'd have to do it himself. It may have been a very impulsive decision, but that fits Gabriel, especially as he's starting to be affected by the curse. And in terms of the narrative, Engelhart in the story represents Gabriel (just as it represented Ludwig originally), so he's essentially taking his own role.

[BBP]

Ah. I can't say that's a satisfying explanation but that's pretty much in keeping with the rest of the game. Thanks for sharing!

I wonder what the novel has to say about this...

[BBP]

Reason why I played the hell out of Road Rash: Kickstand, by Soundgarden. I just saw these guys live a few hours ago.

Posted this on 12 September 2013 - today the news broke that, just hours after a performance, their singer Chris Cornell passed away suddenly, aged 52. May he rest in peace.