Your favorite CRPG soundtracks

And while we are talking non-rpgs and the (very significant) impact of music in game atmosphere, a personal favorite (although the clip quality doesn't do it justice):

Stalker theme
 
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Asdraguuhl said:
The Amiga…so many good memories :)

A personal favourite of mine, the main title music from Rocket Ranger, the part that starts at 1:03 in the link below.
Rocket Ranger Intro
Click to expand...

That era of gaming is probably my favorite: mid 80's to early 90's Amiga and Atari ST. Music in general for those platforms was top notch at least back then. I still favor that type of sound over the music that sounds like a live orchestra.

I have such fond memories of spending summer days at my friend Kent's house playing a myriad of titles (all legal, of course). The graphics were so much sharper than what I was used to on my C64 (which I loved dearly) and the music was always great. I can't remember the name of the magazine, maybe Atari Age, but it was brimming with ads for awesome Amiga/Atari ST games that I would never have on my C64. Time Bandit (by MichTron?) was great and one of my favorites from that era. PCs didn't start to hold a candle to that scene until the 90's and the DOS ports prior to then were awful.

Sorry, I digressed...
 
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My favourite rpg when it come to music have to be Icewind Dale, Divinity 2 and Final Fantasy soundtracks. While Icewind Dale blew me away with Kuldahar and Easthaven theme, Divinity 2 had many great tracks.

My favourites game soundtrack though are from Heroes of Might and Magic easily... any of them has great scores.
 
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Morrowind and Planescape: Torment.
Morrowind´s soundtrack is pretty much audio landscaping, as in, to me it´s part of the environments, not a soundtrack to them, or something like that.
Explore 2

Planescape´s just gives the narrative right emotional edge, without going overboard, being manipulative, etc.
For example, Fall-From-Grace theme makes exploring the brothel a meditative
experience :).

Basically, great tunes and fitting with what both games "are about".

From the more recent bunch, Divinity II.
Quite unusual (somewhat not-in-a-bad-way cheesy) instrumentation along with rock/metal sensibilities made it well fitting with the game´s larger-than-life nature and provided me with some unforgettable scenarios.
Sentinel Island has already been mentioned, so I´ll go with Lovis´ Tower.

As for the oldschool/nostalgia stuff, Turrican 2, no contest.
Made playing the game a joy.
Hülsbeck was on a total roll with this one. Traps.
I´m pretty sure there were some rpg elements somewhere in there :).
 
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Ultima VII's soundtrack always got me.
 
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Icewind Dale
Baldur's Gate II
Divine Divnity
Morrowind

Does Heroes Of Might & Magic III count? I loved that one.

Also, this isn't really a CRPG but it did come out on PC and it's sort of an RPG (action RPG) :) Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain had such an amazingly atmospheric soundtrack. With some fantastic voice acting to boot!
 
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DeepO said:
As for the oldschool/nostalgia stuff, Turrican 2, no contest.
Click to expand...
Definitely! Turrican and Morrowind contain the only game music I can hum. I mean, remember enough to hum. And I'm constantly playing video games. There is more music I liked and remember, but none of that was cRPG music.
Oh, I forgot the Final Fantasy victory jingle.
 
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Music in a game tends to be an annoyance - I always turn it off if possible!

It's either obscuring things that I want to hear, or ridiculously heralding the beginning of a fight. Walking along to a gentle tune, minding my own business when all of a sudden the music suddenly lurches into a menacing tune - and from the shadows approaches a rat!

Nah, I'd rather not ='.'=
 
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For me, Diablo 1's Tristram theme is the single-most haunting and memorable soundtrack tune of all time. It has stuck firmly in my mind all these years since 1996 when I first played the game, and I didn't even play the game for a long period. That song is simply a masterpiece of conjuring a foreboding atmosphere. The other pieces in D1 are great too, but Tristram really stands out. Matt Uelmen is a musical genius.

Also the Ultima VI music (on the AdLib soundcard, cheesy as it is), was very memorable for me:
Ultima VI Intro Sequence Music

I think it blew me away partly because prior to that I had only heard mostly blips and bloops out the PC speaker, with the occasional game offering 3-voice Tandy sound. The Tandy sound was pretty cool actually for the time, but not all games supported it.

The music for the Ultima series overall is brilliant - really memorable tunes.

I like a lot the stuff people mentioned such as Arcanum, Morrowind and Age of Conan.

I also really enjoyed some of Daggerfall's music:
Daggerfall - Over Snow
Daggerfall - Overcast
 
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xSamhainx said:
Music in a game tends to be an annoyance - I always turn it off if possible!

It's either obscuring things that I want to hear, or ridiculously heralding the beginning of a fight. Walking along to a gentle tune, minding my own business when all of a sudden the music suddenly lurches into a menacing tune - and from the shadows approaches a rat!

Nah, I'd rather not ='.'=
Click to expand...
Whaaaaa ...?!? :[

But ... but ... but, that's like watching pr0n without women or having a thanks giving dinner without the turkey or Christmas morning without presents ... that's just not right man ;)

Music is the most atmosphere creating mechanism in existence ... at least in my opinion.
 
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xSamhainx said:
... or ridiculously heralding the beginning of a fight. Walking along to a gentle tune, minding my own business when all of a sudden the music suddenly lurches into a menacing tune - and from the shadows approaches a rat!
Click to expand...
I generally enjoy in-game music, but I do agree with this point somewhat. Sometimes it completely destroys any element of surprise a monster would have. Oblivion suffered from this. Like, oh... here comes the battle music, something must be sneaking up on me.

Some games manage these transitions better than others.
 
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Myrkrel said:
Also the Ultima VI music (on the AdLib soundcard, cheesy as it is), was very memorable for me:
Ultima VI Intro Sequence Music

I think it blew me away partly because prior to that I had only heard mostly blips and bloops out the PC speaker, with the occasional game offering 3-voice Tandy sound. The Tandy sound was pretty cool actually for the time, but not all games supported it.
Click to expand...

Oh, how could I forget that one? The first time I heard that song, late at night, it sent shivers down my spine. Awesome song.
 
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Korplem said:
Oh, how could I forget that one? The first time I heard that song, late at night, it sent shivers down my spine. Awesome song.
Click to expand...

I didn't have a sound card when I played U6 the first time, so all I got was beeps! Years later when I went back to it and had a soundcard, I was duly impressed.
 
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Most of the tunes I was anticipating posting have already been mentioned (Divine Divinity's main theme, Lovis' Tower and Sentinel Island from Divinity II, Easthaven in Peace from Icewind Dale, etc), but I was fortunate enough to recall one that hadn't been posted.

The Witcher - River of Life
 
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