Topic: I knew it! Castlevania: Lords of Shadow!(SPOILERS HERE, PLZ USE THE SPOILER TAG)

[Ahasverus]

I really don't see how it sounds muddled at all.
Michiru Yamane's music is also not subtle at all.

I think the dissonance is coming from the fact that Michiru yamane never crafted her music to set a mood within the game. Oscar Araujo is setting a mood, and because of that, the music is less stand alone catchy and more to engross you into the game.

I agree, I think old CV music was used to "tell an abstract story" about the stage you were playing because those games didn't have a lot of back-story (Even not a lot of main-story) so it was a lot more "intrussive" because it had to put you those ideas in your head.

The new cinematic music is a complement to the overall presentation, but it's not a storytelling device", that's the main difference between 2, this new music is set to put us into mood, but telling more about emotions and less about narrative "escenarios"  

[thernz]

I really don't see how it sounds muddled at all.
Ayami Kojima's music is also not subtle at all.

I think the dissonance is coming from the fact that Ayami Kojima never crafted her music to set a mood within the game. Oscar Araujo is setting a mood, and because of that, the music is less stand alone catchy and more to engross you into the game.

Well, at least her music has some interesting musical structure. Araujo's music isn't even setting a interesting mood for me. The orchestra is just putting up a terrible performance. I wish it was more Conan, and less LoTR. I guess it isn't so much muddled as it is just so predictable and bland. You don't even notice it half the time and it's not because it's atmospheric or setting the mood.

[crisis]

Yeah the music isn't really drawing me in either. But I'm thinking the final areas will have some badass tunes.


btw thernz do you wear glasses? just curious..

[shelverton.]

If they necessarily need to change the style of music for Castlevania, this is what orchestrated, "cinematic" music should sound like. A masterpiece from beginning to end. It's also perfectly hummable, memorable and awesome. Just a thought.

Shadow Of The Colossus Soundtrack - A Violent Encounter (2)

[Gunlord]

SoTC does indeed have sum awsum muzak

[shelverton.]

Forget the last one. THIS is the song I meant! It's soooo good I just don't... dunno. When I close my eyes I can totally see Belmont vs Dracula. 

Shadow Of The Colossus Soundtrack - Counterattack (5)

[thernz]

I don't wear glasses.
I would've actually preferred something akin to SCVIV if they really wanted to make an "engrossing" soundtrack. But from what I see, the compositions are flipping through dozens of generic musical cues and melody lines, and there's no solid identity of its own. Not really a matter of it being catchy or not. Ambient tracks should still stir interest, otherwise why even hire such a huge orchestra if I'm not even going to notice them as they just blare tunes that shoot straight through my ears.

[Kingshango]

Man SOTC had an awesome soundtrack.

 Shadow Of The Colossus OST - Revived Power

On topic: I hope LOS does have more memorable music, maybe in the later stages.

[e105beta]

Well, at least her music has some interesting musical structure. Araujo's music isn't even setting a interesting mood for me. The orchestra is just putting up a terrible performance. I wish it was more Conan, and less LoTR. I guess it isn't so much muddled as it is just so predictable and bland. You don't even notice it half the time and it's not because it's atmospheric or setting the mood.

Frankly, this is arguing over artistic opinion, so it's pretty much pointless, but I get fervent over these things, so feel like posting this anyways.
We're going to have to agree to disagree. I feel that Araujo's score fits the visuals and really does set the mood that we're supposed to get. It's a trailer, it's supposed to feel "epic". It's supposed to go with the trailer, and was intended to be watched in tandem with the trailer, which I could argue Yamane's music is not. You disagree, but the I feel the music brings out the emotion in the trailer whereas Yamane's music, which I love to death, don't get me wrong, didn't set a mood appropriate to the visuals. That, however, worked because there was little in story and all you were doing was killing monsters and it got you pumped up to do just that. There was no flow and no plot to accompany. It was: Stage 1, stand alone song. Stage 2, stand alone song.

In a story heavy game which Lords of Shadow seems to be, the music is supposed to bring you in, not jump out at you so that you're focusing on the music as much as what's happening in front of you. You may call that "not noticing it half the time" but that's part of the point, because it actually IS setting the mood. The fact that you're not noticing it is kind of a testament to that. It may not be setting an interesting mood for you, but it's still setting a mood.

I don't wear glasses.
I would've actually preferred something akin to SCVIV if they really wanted to make an "engrossing" soundtrack. But from what I see, the compositions are flipping through dozens of generic musical cues and melody lines, and there's no solid identity of its own. Not really a matter of it being catchy or not. Ambient tracks should still stir interest, otherwise why even hire such a huge orchestra if I'm not even going to notice them as they just blare tunes that shoot straight through my ears.

It's a trailer. It's supposed to get you hyped. It's also far from ambient, but then again, a track doesn't have to be ambient to set a mood.

Also, the generic musical cues and melody lines criticism is, for lack of a better phrase, not true. I mean, sure, you can say it's generic, but what about it is generic? For a matter of fact, what is generic sound? Yamane's music isn't this mind blowing sound that I've never heard before. Also, listen to a Lord of the Rings song. It's doesn't sound like Lords of Shadow AT ALL. And what are all these dozen of melody lines that give it no identity? It's a pretty traditional style orchestral build up. It's not stage music, and it's not boss music, so it's going to change to suit each of the visuals. It wouldn't fit the cinematic style of the trailer at all if it sounded like one melody all the way through.

This trailer, while the song is good, has NO cinematic value beyond a slight coordination with the cuts. Heck, it has no cinematic value. It's practically a commercial. It's just the boss music played over killing enemies and bosses. It communicates to me that the game is about killing enemies and bosses while listening to catchy music. It did it's job.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Trailer (Nintendo DS)

But beyond that, I really can't imagine that the whole of Lords of Shadow is going to sound like the trailers. The trailer music above is, heck, in the game; It's just the boss music. The music for the Lords of Shadow trailer probably won't be in the game. I'd wager it's made for the trailer. If it is in the game, it'll probably be in bits and pieces and part of different tracks. Dark castle levels will have dark castle music. Rainforest levels wont.

You mentioned SCIV.
Everyone says it has a great soundtrack, but how many people actually list the original songs besides Simon's Theme on their favorite Castlevania song lists? It's because it's not bombastic. It doesn't sit there and jump out at you. It's slow and atmospheric and, IMO, set's a very good mood for a game where you're killing monsters in a dark setting. Listen to the music in the Clocktower video for Lords of Shadow. Does that music sound at ALL like the trailer? No. It's a different setting. It serves a different purpose. It's not music for the sake of music, and it's definitely blared tunes that "shoot straight through your ears".

So sure, you don't like the trailer, and that's your right, but it's a bit quick to be assuming the whole game will sound like that.

[shelverton.]

I have a theory. Dun dun DUN!
What if the giant flying dragon thing near the end of the trailer is, in fact, SLOGRA.
Seeing how nothing and noone in this game look like how we remember them, and Slogra is one bony dinosauresque bastard, the dragon is the only thing I could possibly imagine being him. Or maybe we just haven't seen him yet.

Just a theory.

[Dremn]

KONAMI TGS2010 -on Ustream-

Kojima is back again, might show more footage.

[Kingshango]

I have a theory. Dun dun DUN!
What if the giant flying dragon thing near the end of the trailer is, in fact, SLOGRA.
Seeing how nothing and noone in this game look like how we remember them, and Slogra is one bony dinosauresque bastard, the dragon is the only thing I could possibly imagine being him. Or maybe we just haven't seen him yet.

Just a theory.

I think they made the old Bone Dragon into a titan, if you look closely, you can see the glyph in its mouth.

[corneliab]

Seeing how nothing and noone in this game look like how we remember them, and Slogra is one bony dinosauresque bastard, the dragon is the only thing I could possibly imagine being him. Or maybe we just haven't seen him yet.

You do realize that a picture was posted showing an in-progress model on Cox's twitter, right?

[thernz]

you know, i was talking about the music heard in-game too. like how the combat is basically drowning in god of war percussion syndrome, how the clocktower song really just meanders, though one can argue it's because of the hideous sound quality of the video boggling down things.
why should i excuse a song for having no development just because it's a trailer song. that's a ridiculous claim that harms the value of music. im pretty sure a song with good composition would actually entice people more, because then they'd be drawn in to the music as well.
the e3 trailer song doesn't even develop into anything. i guess it's good that the tgs trailer actually makes an effort to change things a bit when a new scene pops up. but if you took those different parts alone, they're all absent of any melody and are usually just the same chords over and over again, and it's extremely jarring because it's just these arpeggios, a bland "suspense" backing line, and rarely anything else. they're just so homogeneous as well despite the jumpy transitions. that melody line on my part is probably false, because they aren't even enough to form melodies. everything is just so repetitive.

also i think yamane can do incidental music well, there's dracula appears in loi. besides loi and cod, there was never a need for that type of music anyway. admittedly, her cutscene work in cod was horrible, but cod's soundtrack was blander than usual.

i am going to stop because i am not really heated on this issue and my familiarity on musical terms is actually pretty horrible. and it's pretty stupid to argue about something reliant on taste anyway even though i think i started this. not like i should even argue about musical taste when i like modern talking.

[shelverton.]

You do realize that a picture was posted showing an in-progress model on Cox's twitter, right?

Well no, I obviously didn't know this, or else I wouldn't be spreading my unfounded speculations across the forum. Well then, what did he look like?