Whats the overall public opinion of the musics in BG3?

[Granudo]

Finally finish this game today after struggling a lot with act 3 boredoom because of the abysmal quest writing and one thing I have noted while playing was I only liked one music (Tavern music in act3) and literally doesnt even remember any other music within this game after 100 hours (though I only remember one music from DOS1).

So whats the overral opinion in the music department in BG3?

Normally the goods musics kind stuck with you the moment you listen, like I have watch SF6 Ed gameplay trailer and that music caught my attention on get-go, to the point I have listened a lot since yesterday.

[Metallicus]

I enjoyed the soundtrack. It seemed thematically correct for each occasion and was quite enjoyable often times enhancing the enjoyment of the game itself.

[ahsanford]

The music is generally 7/10 for a AAA fantasy move (solid, appropriate for genre, not annoying when combat fires up and stops, etc.) but the Alfira banger and the House of Hope songs pull up the average. Those two are terrific.

- A

[astarion]

I like lots of songs in the game, but overall the soundtrack is not as good as Pillars of Eternity. But I really like the Temple of Shar finale music:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYzshoc2U7g&list=PLuiE5nl-czOHWZ2PxifUOKKAz4BSJbA56&index=85

[Starwight/ttv]

I absolutely love the music, it is right up there with DOS2 soundtrack, and I swear I will die on that hill.

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

I absolutely love the music, it is right up there with DOS2 soundtrack, and I swear I will die on that hill.

Yeah but for RPGs sci-fi slaps fantasy so hard. Can't give a 10/10 to a fantasy game soundtrack -- I can only hear lutes and lyres and 'yazz flute' so many times before I lose my mind.

Sci-fi brings modern instruments to the game. Mood, punctuation, vibe can all be tightly dialed in. Percussion has all kinds of levels to set tone and energy that you don't get with either a 'period appropriate' soundtrack or a out-of-place-but-accepted symphonic score.

Just play the Oblivion soundtrack for fun -- not a game, but still. The M83 dude simply has more weapons at his disposal for sci-fi than he does for fantasy: synths, digital weirdness, huge symphonic swells, anthems, etc.

- A

[seeker1]

I love that Nightsong Prison music, but I REALLY love it as it plays while Dame Aylin flies out of the Shadowfell. As she streaks across the sky, you see the Shadow Curse begin to unravel, you see Jaheira stare at her two scimitars - no words need to be spoken - "this is the moment we have been waiting for" - oh I just love that scene.

Yes, Alfira's Weeping Dawn is another fave, Raphael's Song (goofy as it is to hear him sing it), Down By the River, Song of Balduran ... I like so many. Even the Main Theme, which seems mainly to be glossolalia. (LOL).

[ULTRA]

My ass is permanently injured from everyone saying this game is a 10/10 GOTY ultra best game of all time and then the soundtrack not winning a single thing. You only recognize one song? How is that possible? Are you talking about Bard Dance? Practically every song on the soundtrack is a home run.

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by ULTRA:

My ass is permanently injured from everyone saying this game is a 10/10 GOTY ultra best game of all time and then the soundtrack not winning a single thing. You only recognize one song? How is that possible? Are you talking about Bard Dance? Practically every song on the soundtrack is a home run.

It's solid. But other than a few highlights, it's not as good as the rest of the game. Consider: I know the plot and characters of this game faaaaaar better than I know the songs = good music, great game.

RPG anthems that are HoF great:

Whoever did Mass Effect -- Jack Wall I think?

Most everything Inon Zur did on FO3 and DA (even if the melody for both franchises have the same notes, lol -- listen carefully, they are shockingly similar for a 3-5 second chord progression you'd associate with the 'hook' of those anthems)

- A

[ULTRA]

Originally posted by ahsanford:

Originally posted by ULTRA:

My ass is permanently injured from everyone saying this game is a 10/10 GOTY ultra best game of all time and then the soundtrack not winning a single thing. You only recognize one song? How is that possible? Are you talking about Bard Dance? Practically every song on the soundtrack is a home run.

It's solid. But other than a few highlights, it's not as good as the rest of the game. Consider: I know the plot and characters of this game faaaaaar better than I know the songs = good music, great game.

RPG anthems that are HoF great:

Whoever did Mass Effect -- Jack Wall I think?

Most everything Inon Zur did on FO3 and DA (even if the melody for both franchises have the same notes, lol -- listen carefully, they are shockingly similar for a 3-5 second chord progression you'd associate with the 'hook' of those anthems)

- A

Here's why my ass is injured: the reality is that the rest of the game ISN'T that good. I mean, yes, it's good, but it's not substantially higher in estimation than the 7/10 dismissal you gave the soundtrack. The scripting is wack on a technical and artistic level, as expected the game is largely balanced around Divinityisms, the bugs are nearly uncountable - it even won "best multiplayer 2023" at the Game Awards and it doesn't have ANY CHAT FUNCTION. It has been completely blown out of proportion for everything but its soundtrack.

Here, have some fantasy game music for your efforts you fiend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm33MMa9d_A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2QAZmvDa1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB6sOhQan9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtNq-DLmsCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRMYvM5TDNs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoBW1VLJzds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbcHCHnf2YU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hEYvdMoF2g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pg3Gs3NQHs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRu8Joqo8VA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZOQ8sLO-vU

"Lutes and lyres and 'yazz flute'" my booyagh

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by ULTRA:

"Lutes and lyres and 'yazz flute'" my booyagh

Proper belly laugh. Great.

Truth is I just don't dig the 'period appropriate vibe' in all things fantasy... when we have astral planes and nautiloids and dimension traveling archwizards. For a game built around player agency, anything is possible sort of freedom... here is the soundtrack the genre deems appropriate.

And why a symphony orchestra -- playing instruments that are not period appropriate in many cases -- is somehow considered okay I will never understand.

It just seems like fantasy 'must be so'. And I find that limiting.

Give a guy an electric guitar moment in the bowels of the Iron Watch Foundry final battle -- get irreverent, out of place and loud. Throw me some synths as we snake into the bowels of the illithid colony. Better yet, invent some whack new sounds that all the Gith train to like it's their Metallica. I would kill to hear that!

- A

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by ULTRA:

Here, have some fantasy game music for your efforts you fiend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm33MMa9d_A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2QAZmvDa1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB6sOhQan9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtNq-DLmsCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRMYvM5TDNs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoBW1VLJzds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbcHCHnf2YU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hEYvdMoF2g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pg3Gs3NQHs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRu8Joqo8VA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZOQ8sLO-vU

"Lutes and lyres and 'yazz flute'" my booyagh

That Rogue Legacy one is a banger. That's what I'm talking about.

- A

[ahsanford]

Here's an example of why I didn't gush about the soundtrack.

Anyone do the Myconid Village quests? Do any of your remember the songs they sang you afterwards?

A huuuge cool fantasy opportunity to imagine what a glorious 'mycelial anthem' might sound like. A clean slate to drop some Porcini Paganini on us. It could sound like anything but we should have never have heard it's like IRL before.

And you do you remember that song at all? I sure don't.

To me, after multiple playthroughs, its:

1) Alfira = awesome, proper 'Toss a Coin to Your Witcher' vibes. Gorgeous.
2) House of Hope = straight up irreverent, hooky and fun in the middle of a ridiculously hard battle. Immediate vibes to Control dropping the metal track in the middle of an Inception-y environment and a huge tide of bad tudes coming at you. Both Control and BG3 at HoH evoked the same response in me: "Is this really happening?!" Super memorable.
3) .... er, crickets .... a lot of well recorded, period appropriate background music.

The music was solid. But I wanted more of the good / weird / original stuff.

- A

[seeker1]

So it's interesting. I of course never much listen to orchestral music personally; I fully admit to that. OTOH, there is just something that feels - so right - to hear orchestral music as a fantasy soundtrack. Here's one of my favorite examples.

When "Anvil of Crom" starts playing at 2:00 in this clip - by Basil Pouledoris - I get goosebumps. Yep, the original Conan the Barbarian, with Ahhhhnold himself. The musical fanfare right before it is awesome also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT08aqA5t08

If I can just say - for all those who freak out about "strong women in fantasy" - OMFG in this scene Valeria kicks serious ass, and I love it.

[ULTRA]

Originally posted by ahsanford:

Here's an example of why I didn't gush about the soundtrack.

Anyone do the Myconid Village quests? Do any of your remember the songs they sang you afterwards?

A huuuge cool fantasy opportunity to imagine what a glorious 'mycelial anthem' might sound like. A clean slate to drop some Porcini Paganini on us. It could sound like anything but we should have never have heard it's like IRL before.

And you do you remember that song at all? I sure don't.

If missing assets are a problem then we may as well point out that the main character spends like 95% of the game doing a Robocop expression

[seeker1]

I like the Myconid Village soundtrack. Is it something you can dance to? No. But it does capture some of the eerie and bizarre ambiance of being in this strange Underdark place of mushroom people. It's awesome mood music - for the bizarre and eerie place you're in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkPQ2HzbNMw