What's the best/worst video game of all time?

You can add Elder Scrolls Online and Elder Scrolls 6 to that as well - they are based on the same basic theme as well. Videos playing all the Elder Scrolls soundtracks in sequence are pretty widespread on YouTube.

All Elder Scrolls music since Morrowind has been written by Jeremy Soule, who is basically the Jonathan Williams of the video game industry. He first came to my attention with the soundtrack for Total Annihilation - it was the first time I had ever heard a full orchestra used for video game music, and it was damned good music. They also had the game set up so the music would change based on what was going on - slow, basic stuff at the start of the game, a slightly more intense song that slowly amped up during the base-building phase, and some damned impressive combat music. (The whole soundtrack is at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA1C13BE94FC21B88 as a playlist and is well worth listening to to see what I'm talking about.)

He did some truly amazing work with Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2, with some incredibly beautiful background pieces, and also wrote for Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic (you'd never guess it wasn't Williams), Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Guild Wars, Supreme Commander, and lots and lots of others.

I was actually a little bummed when it turned out to be Christopher Tin who finally was the first person to win a Grammy for a video game theme (Baba Yetu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1dFzOoB6Zk), although I can't deny it's really good. (If you're not familiar with it, it's the title screen music for Civlization IV.)
 
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The best;-

Duke nukem...

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I thought the Icewind Dale music was good but never bothered to check the credits since I didn't think I would run across the programmers and animators in my line of work. So I missed seeing the Jeremy Soule' credit. From his Wikipedia article, it looks like he has been quite prolific.
 
On a slightly different note, I do find it rather amusing every time I see a 'Top 10 Movie Scores of All Time' or 'Top 10 Movie Themes of All Time' list and instead of listing a single piece, they just list Jonathan Williams.
 
Also, you'd be surprised who you run into, regardless of your line of work. I've never worked in games or graphics, but I know people all throughout the video game industry. Some are old co-workers, some are old roommates, and some through MMOs. I also know Vanilla Ice (and yes, totally a douche) thanks to MMO's as well, and probably several others. We don't, after all, give out our real names online.
 
I dunno. They're just action cinematics to hype the game; vignettes, basically. But the new one - AWAKEN - is just a damned cool cinematic regardless of whether or not you like the game (which I don't).
 
Agreed. Too bad the game doesn't look or play so well.
 
Meh, I think it's the biggest name in the MOBA field these days. It's still one of the biggest genres out there; it's just toxic as all hell. I got enough of that kind of behavior playing Magic: the Gathering at a competitive level, thanks. I quit M:tG in large part because it was bringing out my worst side; I sure as hell don't need to reinvigorate that side of me by dealing with all the asses playing LoL.
 
Frothingslosh said:
On a slightly different note, I do find it rather amusing every time I see a 'Top 10 Movie Scores of All Time' or 'Top 10 Movie Themes of All Time' list and instead of listing a single piece, they just list Jonathan Williams.
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Perhaps because the ONLY entity with more musical academy awards and nominations than John Williams is the group of composers who were at different times working for the House of Mouse! It took four or five pairs of lyricist/composer working for Disney to have the most MPAA trophies. And by himself, JW is in second place. But he's in good company with the Sherman brothers and the Ashman/Menken team and quite a few others.

If you want to be impressed, visit the Wikipedia page for John Williams and scroll through the list of what he's worked on. Just for movie themes:

The Towering Inferno
Jaws
Jurassic Park series
Star Wars series
Indiana Jones series
Superman series (Chris Reeve's version)
E.T.
Harry Potter series (Hedwig's theme)

and that is just what I could remember off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more. If EVER there was a commanding presence in movie music, it is JW.
 
Ah, yes - Danny Elfman. Another talented composer who did the theme for the Batman movie starring Michael Keaton. He also has done themes for the older Flash TV series with John Wesley Shipp as the Flash. I think he also did the opening them for Men In Black. If I recall, DE leans heavily into the classics for his inspiration. A LOT of the heavier Batman sub-themes came from Der Ring des Nebelungs (Wagner's "Ring Cycle") - some of the "forest" themes for example. The MIB sub-themes appear to have come from Peer Gynt.

I'm not as familiar with his work as with John Williams, but then again, JW has so much more out there than DE.
 
Oh, I'm fully aware of what Jonathan Williams has written, trust me. The man is incredible.

There's a reason they just list him rather than a specific piece as the best.
 
The_Doc_Man said:
Ah, yes - Danny Elfman. Another talented composer who did the theme for the Batman movie starring Michael Keaton. He also has done themes for the older Flash TV series with John Wesley Shipp as the Flash. I think he also did the opening them for Men In Black. If I recall, DE leans heavily into the classics for his inspiration. A LOT of the heavier Batman sub-themes came from Der Ring des Nebelungs (Wagner's "Ring Cycle") - some of the "forest" themes for example. The MIB sub-themes appear to have come from Peer Gynt.

I'm not as familiar with his work as with John Williams, but then again, JW has so much more out there than DE.
Click to expand...

He did both Keaton Batman movies. He did all of the music for Nightmare Before Christmas, including Jack's vocals (singing). Heck, if you look at anything Tim Burton did, Danny Elfman was likely attached for at least some of the music.

Examples:
Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands
Sleepy Hollow
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Corpse Bride
Alice in Wonderland

Pretty much all of his films really.

He also contributed to:
Men in Black I-III, not just one of them
A few of the other Marvel and DC comic movies and games (The original Sony Spiderman movies, etc.)

So much more. I think he deserves to be on the list of greats. :cool:
 
It is a truly brutal world when you are so great as a composer - but live at the same time as John Williams.

V, your list of movies includes some good ones, but I didn't pay that much attention to them. Tim Burton's films are frequently good but when they include Johnny Depp, I don't watch them as much. JD is in my opinion an overblown actor with an ego problem to match his tax problem (the main reason why he is still working). See for example his appearance in the Lone Ranger movie with Arnie Hammer.
 
Jurassic Park in Concert The LA Phil performs John Williams’ iconic score live to picture! at the Hollywood bowl. Great venue if you ever get a chance, I caught Elton's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour back in 73 one of the best.
 
Runescape is also my weakness been playing 14 years now
 
The_Doc_Man said:
It is a truly brutal world when you are so great as a composer - but live at the same time as John Williams.

V, your list of movies includes some good ones, but I didn't pay that much attention to them. Tim Burton's films are frequently good but when they include Johnny Depp, I don't watch them as much. JD is in my opinion an overblown actor with an ego problem to match his tax problem (the main reason why he is still working). See for example his appearance in the Lone Ranger movie with Arnie Hammer.
Click to expand...

This isn't about JD. It's about the music! In a gaming thread. :rolleyes: :D
 
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