BaD #1: Orchestral VGM

On 02/01/2017 at 10:44 PM by ThatKidOverThere

Wooooo it's BaD season!

I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, so the first topic I could think of is music, specifically Zelda music! I'm currently playing through Ocarina of Time, and I'm consistenty blown away by the tunes. I love the melodies, but I'm always a little underwhelmed by the lack of production value and the technological limits involved in the songs. A lot of these titles could benefit from having a epic orchestra backing them!

One particularly awesome collection of orchestrated songs is this one:

I love love love this version of the title theme as well as Zora's Domain. This makes a lot of the more repetitive tunes that eventually became grating, like Hyrule Field, feel fresh and interesting.

Another awesome collection is is the Distant Worlds soundtracks from Final Fantasy.

The music becomes so much more cinematic and emotional with a full orchestra behind it. I love listening to orchestras, so any suggestions are welcome!

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/01/2017 at 10:45 PM

I think my favorite orchestral sountrack is Dragon Quest VIII, which still sounds pretty good in MIDI form on the 3DS. Ni No Kuni was exceptional as well.

ThatKidOverThere

02/02/2017 at 08:38 PM

8 is great! DQ music is alway really traditional and takes inspiration from itself, so it's always interesting to see how certain themes and motifs have evolved through time.

Michael117

02/02/2017 at 04:41 AM

I loved the Ocarina music, that was the first game soundtrack I ever bought

Agreed! Ocarina is slowly becoming one of my favorite games.

Cary Woodham

02/02/2017 at 07:41 AM

I went to an actual concert once where they remade the whole opera scene from FF6. That was a dream come true!

02/02/2017 at 08:39 PM

Was it Distant Worlds? I heard they put on a fantastic show!

02/03/2017 at 06:31 PM

It probably was, but I don't remember. I used to go to a lot of video game concerts.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/02/2017 at 09:33 AM

I so want to go to Video Games Live once.

goaztecs

02/02/2017 at 11:39 AM

Having a full orchestra always makes for good music. I've never played OoT but damn that music does sound good.

mothman

02/02/2017 at 08:57 PM

Just seeing your avatar on BaD blogs get's 5 f'in stars!

Ranger1

02/02/2017 at 10:18 PM

I'm with Matt, one of the best soundtracks to a video game is DQVIII. Also loved the music in Journey, only game soundtrack I've ever paid money for.

rmsk8r05

02/05/2017 at 10:33 PM

I've always been a fan of the great fairy fountain music.

KnightDriver

03/02/2017 at 10:21 PM

I went back to the PS2 DQVIII a while back, before the 3DS remake was a thing, and had forgotten how big and lush the orchestral score was. It really can stand alone as a concert piece.

PixlBit