The Top 12 Video Game Soundtracks @ Forbes

Fastfritz sends in The Top 12 Video Game Soundtracks Of All Time at Forbes. Though not an RPG list, it is dominated by RPGs. Dragon Age: Origins and Arcanum make the list among a sea of jRPGs.
More information.

Nier as #1, somebody have great taste (awesome music, I discovered it through youtube, console only game so me can't play it).

The list was good until #6 showed up…that one is just there because it was a popular game that some people spent too much time playing.

The writers at Forbes should stick to writing about topics that they actually know something about.

balls list as normal
anachronox has to be one of my favourites
also the assassins creed series is great, which any list not mentioning jespyr kid and any of his many game soundtracks is a fucking joke
vtm bloodlines was also a superb soundtrack/score
dragon age is not nearly as good as the mass effect soundtrack
lots of great other ones i can neither recall at the moment nor or on this list

also no mention of great cyberpunk/sci fi games such as system shock 2 or the deus ex series which had memorable performances.
the gothics and much missed kai also deserve mention
the witcher music was also grand

zelda was memorable though…a reoccuring score/theme is actually one of the strongest elements a franchise can have to breed return customers/players. it captures an essence/emotion from prior experiences that only strengthen the bond between the gamer and the game.

i know some people game with no music or their own music but that is some crazy…
great game music keeps me coming back. if the music/sound is barely passable or worse quite bad all the games glue comes undone for me and it will be a pain to play.

Does not include Gothic 3 soundtrack, cannot be validated for authenticity…

No Icewind Dale? I still remember how great that soundtrack was, and haven't played it in many years. Jeremy Soule did something special in that one.

Originally Posted by Arkadia7
No Icewind Dale? I still remember how great that soundtrack was, and haven't played it in many years. Jeremy Soule did something special in that one.

I second that. Not having Jeremy Soule (for IWD, the Elder Scrolls, etc.) is a huge omission.

I do strongly agree with Chrono Trigger & Zelda though. Not a huge JRPG fan, but those two games (or series in Zelda's case) have some great music. Dragon Age wasn't bad, but doesn't compare to the Jeremy Soule work.

Nice to see Chrono Trigger at #2, it's my favorite soundtrack of all time. Never heard the Nier soundtrack but judging by the track he posted I wasn't that impressed. I will have to hear more to see what the fuss is about.

I think the Suikoden series has some great soundtracks as well and is often overlooked. Suikoden 3's soundtrack was fantastic. The first 2 Suikoden games had some memorable music as well. Only reason I bring up Suikoden is because I never see it mentioned in great OST lists for some reason. Chrono Cross also had stellar music. Chrono Cross was really a beautiful game all around.

It's kind of adorable that Forbes magazine has like three different people writing about videogames now.

Originally Posted by Fluent
Never heard the Nier soundtrack but judging by the track he posted I wasn't that impressed. I will have to hear more to see what the fuss is about.

It's a different style than the usually "orchestra" music RPGs have. I personally love Lost Forest and Emil/Karma.

Where the heck are Skyrim, Morrowind, Civ 4 and Civ 5? Those are my all time favorites.

Say what you will… They got it right with Bastion.

Originally Posted by azarhal
It's a different style than the usually "orchestra" music RPGs have. I personally love Lost Forest and Emil/Karma.

After listening to a bit of the soundtrack on Youtube, it does sound pretty good. Definitely different. Not bad at all.

Originally Posted by Fluent
Chrono Cross also had stellar music. Chrono Cross was really a beautiful game all around.

Despite how much I liked Chrono Trigger, I could never get into Chrono Cross. It was just too different and didn't feel like a real sequel to me. And those PS1 3D graphics…ugh.

I'm amazed that Square never developed another game in that series considering the huge cult following that Chrono Trigger still has.

And Amon Tobin in Splinter Cell's Chaos Theory is missing too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVAWi…21945BC4DB88AF
I listen to that album once a week.
Though some people would consider his contribution to inFamous even better, with all that percussions.

I am still amazed how high above most games the Divine Divinity soundtrack is. Unlike many games in which you start and end with the main theme (the rest sound like generic background music) Divine Divinity stay consistently fresh and every piece is a masterpiece in it's own.

Off the top of my head

Kings Bounty: The Legend / Armored Princess
Total Annihilation
X3: Reunion / Terran Conflict
Icewind Dale
NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer

I second that. Nier's Keichii Okabe and Tri-ace veteran Motoi Sakuraba are my favorite jRPG composers of all time (Honorable mention to Atlus's Shoji Meguro of MegaTen/Persona fame. FYI, Uematsu-san is good, but a bit overhyped IMHO).

As for wRPGS: yes, Arcanum is wonderful, I regularly listen it to counter office stress

IMHO, too many japanese titles. And there's no mention about the music from the Divinity series, which I personally prefer most.

IMO, any list that doesn't include Kai Rosenkranz's music for the Gothic series is invalid.

Btw, am I the only one that didn't like the music in Divine Divinity?