Yeah, that is one thing I have been able to put together. VI and III are pretty different, and while I haven’t played VII it has a very distinctive style to it. I know next to nothing about XV but I know you ride around in a CAR with your bros… so thats another change!
Quite haunting. Doesn’t put me on edge like Clock Town on the Final Day (mostly due to how that song just hits my anxieties just the right way) but definitely something you don’t want to hear in a peaceful city.
Very true. I just wish that WoW would take some leafs from Square’s book. Honestly, Square does music very well. That’s not to say that WoW’s music is bad, but I don’t think it’s used properly. For example, the music you hear at the start of the 3.3 trailer I linked is a modified version of a music that had been playing most of that expansion, made to sound 100x more dire, and that just HITS you right in the feels everytime.
I disagree here. Art and music are two of the elements Blizzard has consistently nailed in WoW.
Maybe less so in BFA, but that’s due to Russel Brower being let go at Blizzard following Legion (though I still enjoy many BFA tracks).
In particular, the use of music in raids is always a treat. Black Temple and ICC are two standouts where music queues follow the dialogue.
I also think WotLK’s title screen music is one of, if not the strongest piece of overall Warcraft music ever produced. In it, you get the chanting nuances and direct references to those found in Warcraft 3’s human campaign, and thus Arthas, elements from the Blood Elves’ Silvermoon/Sunwell tracks, referencing their fall to Arthas and the Scourge, and the triumphant themes played around the Argent Crusade and Icecrown, foretelling our conflict and the Lich King’s fall.
It’s a 9 minute musical journey into Warcraft 3’s strongest storyline that culminated in WotLK. Although I find Wrath’s handling of the story problematic and in some areas poor, the music was spot on:
The music in WoW is great. I just don’t feel it’s used to it’s fullest potential. Music can be an amazing narrative tool, but it’s not often used like that. WoW has plenty of amazing music, it just doesn’t really flow so often.
Maybe I should ask for specific, non-BFA examples where you feel this is the case. I can’t think of many places where I was sitting there like, “Gosh, this music super doesn’t fit the scene.”
Nothing of the sort, the music all fits where it’s supposed to fit. It just doesn’t get used as a powerful narrative focus.
As an example, when I go into the Darkshore Warfront and that music plays, it’s great. It gets me pumped. It does what it’s meant to do in that regard and… nothing more. There’s no emotion or feeling that I connect that music to any other point in Warcraft.
As I said with FFXIV, when you start up the video for the 3.3 trailer, that music is great. It gets you pumped up. But for someone who played through 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2, it has a big emotional impact because it is based off of the music that has been a bit of a theme in that expansion. It comes across as more than just this moment to get you excited, it gets you emotionally invested in what’s going on. It enhances the experience.
Maybe something similar could’ve been achieved if the Darkshore Warfront music was based off of something from Darnassus or Pre-BFA Darkshore, but it’s not. There isn’t a flow from one part of the game to another. It’s great music, but it stands alone.
Well, again, I’ll have to ask you to cite non-BFA examples. Brower never had a problem putting emotional context into the music for me, which I feel as well is the main difference between Vanilla through Legion music vs. BFA music.
Sure, some BFA tracks are still lovely in and of theirselves (Zandalar’s jungle tracks, Dazar’alor, Darkshore and Boralus all have lovely tunes), but almost all come off as purely a soundtrack and not a musical narration.
Okay, let’s take any assault on Stormwind. The music that has played in the past wasn’t really… anything that connected to Stormwind.
Or let’s take the fight against Deathwing. The music was epic and impactful, but didn’t really connect with, say, the music that played during the Cataclysm cinematic where Deathwing went on a global rampage.
The music in WoW is great. It fits the mood of the moment. It just doesn’t connect moments to build up a stronger, longer lasting emotional attachment.
Music is one of my favorites aspects of World of Warcraft, i never play it listening to something else, the compositors were always consistent even when other teams screw up, for instance my favorite expansion soundtrack is unironically Warlords of Draenor
But then for BfA, i feel the soundtrack of this expansion to be… lacking something, i don’t know, i feel it doesn’t have a soul i would say, it’s just decent, nothing spectacular or incredibly well thought that really touches the heart and makes you relate it to the story, the characters or the places, in my opinion Legion did it better.
Some of my favorite tracks came from MoP 5.1: For the Alliance, Garrosh’s Theme and Jaina’s Homeland (my favorite track ever, and revived in BfA for my delight)
This song <3 It’s has a perfect old Warcraft 2 and 3 Alliance feeling to it. It may be one of the High Elf easter eggs of Legion. Back in the day i theorized who was the singer(in game character). Valeera, Vareesa?