Episode 1 - Epic gaming music to make you feel like a hero

Original post by Evil Homer

What gaming soundtracks make you feel epic?

The Elder Scrolls series is certainly up there, hard to beat the Skyrim theme!

[video="youtube;6fILxnBH1Tg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fILxnBH1Tg[/video]

Reply 2

Original post by AngryJellyfish

The Elder Scrolls series is certainly up there, hard to beat the Skyrim theme!

[video="youtube;6fILxnBH1Tg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fILxnBH1Tg[/video]

PRSOM.

This was really close second, I think it's probably because I played Oblivion first that it gets the edge!

Reply 3

Universities Forum Helper

Also, I know I go on about this franchise all the time, but the Heroes of Might and Magic series has a phenomenal soundtrack. Composer Paul Anthony Romero is a genius.

[video="youtube;gLVTyp27mGo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLVTyp27mGo[/video]

To the extent that there's an entire orchestra set up just up to play these soundtracks, 20+ years later.

Reply 4

Admit-One

I don't listen to a huge amount of game soundtracks but I am rather partial to Michael McCann's score for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

https://youtu.be/FUy87tpfNe4

Edit: The whole thing is on Spotify in much nicer quality if you fancy it.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 5

Universities Forum Helper

I see The Legend of Zelda mentioned - when I think of that franchise and the word 'hero', has to be:

[video="youtube;ULyEY_GjSoA"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULyEY_GjSoA[/video]

Or for younger ears, the remake captures a lot of the same magic:

Reply 6

Theloniouss

Apparently I don't have perms to watch this thread? possibly a bug.

Reply 7

Original post by Theloniouss

Apparently I don't have perms to watch this thread? possibly a bug.

Will look into this, thank you :smile:

Reply 8

Sinnoh

Whenever I'm playing Medieval II: Total War and this banger comes on during a battle...

Reply 9

Original post by Evil Homer

PRSOM.

This was really close second, I think it's probably because I played Oblivion first that it gets the edge!

Oblivion was my first game from the series too, and I much prefer it to Skyrim gameplay-wise... but the Dragonborn theme just hits an extra level of epic for me. :biggrin:

Original post by Evil Homer

Will look into this, thank you :smile:

If it helps get to the bottom of things, I've been able to watch the thread from the start, but I have extra permissions in Gaming.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 10

Episode 1 has now dropped which you can listen to here.

Going to get a cup of coffee on the go and have a listen now, will pop back in a little later and share my thoughts!

Reply 11

Original post by Evil Homer

Episode 1 has now dropped which you can listen to here.

Going to get a cup of coffee on the go and have a listen now, will pop back in a little later and share my thoughts!

Just about to do the same! :tea:

Reply 12

Unmistakable Legend of Zelda track to start off with, very similar to the Link's Awakening Overworld theme I posted earlier, but given the full orchestral treatment. Even I'll admit that it sounds more epic than the Game Boy's 8-bit tunes. Massive nostalgia, great start.

I've heard good things about Journey from friends, but it being a console exclusive at the time, I never got to play it. Apparently it was ported to Windows a couple of years back, and is now on Steam. :zomg:

Nice music, a bit less dramatic than the Zelda theme, but that suits the bleak desert setting.

At some point, the Journey track ended, and we moved straight onto a track from Sable without any further words from our host - very new game, only came out a few months ago, which explains why I've never heard of it. :ahee:

Again, nice ambient background track for a game about journeying.

Suddenly, Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. Picked specifically with 'The Evil Within' in mind, though according to the Videogame Soundtracks Wiki, it shows up in a lot of other titles too.

Haunted Hallways from Sally Face - the first dark, chilling track of the episode - I guess heroes have to face such levels a lot, if I'd thought along those lines rather than the more 'positive' themes, I'd have had a lot more tracks to suggest! Very atmospheric. This has increased my interest in the game, which was already on my GOG wishlist.

...though some of that atmosphere apparently belongs to Assassin's Creed Valhalla, as again the track changed without any word from Baby Queen, and I didn't notice. :colondollar:

That sounded nice too!

Two short tracks, one from Everybody's Gone to the Rapture which sounded nice, but ended before I could type this, and then 'orchestral chaos' from Rayman, a game that I couldn't get into when I was younger.

FFVII soundtrack sounds epic enough to justify all the hype. Several distinct parts, I kept having to check the tracklist to make sure we hadn't transitioned to something else again. :p:

The transition to Little Nightmares II - End of the Hall was thankfully very noticeable. Again, more of a dark, atmospheric track. LOVE the clock ticking, which grew louder and more prominent as it went.

Tetris theme... while a truly iconic piece of gaming music and history, it is not something that would have ever sprung to mind when listing 'epic, heroic' tracks! But this take on it certainly fits the bill. :biggrin:

The theme from Red Dead Redemption II didn't sound quite as 'Western' as I was expecting, initially at least, though it got there eventually! I've seen one or two videos of people playing this on Youtube, but not really my kind of game.

Tomb Raider is another big franchise that I was too busy playing Heroes of Might and Magic to pay attention to. :giggle:

Apparently this track was from the 2013 reboot.

Lastly, Pokemon music - from the game of course, not the English dubbed anime opening. Yeah, I'm surprised that didn't come to me while I was thinking of Game Boy tracks.

This episode started and ended on some great nostalgia for me, and while the rest (aside from Tetris) were unfamiliar, they certainly sounded good. And a nice mix of genres and platforms too, as well as big old franchises and newer, smaller titles. Looking forward to what future episodes might bring, and I'll clearly have to think outside of the box when picking music for the next theme!

Reply 13