[ SECRET POST #144 ]

[shahni.livejournal.com]

⌈ Secret Post #144 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

- Con returnee is happy and sleepy. Thus you get early post!

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 75 secrets from Secret Submission Post #021.
Secrets Not Posted: 0 broken links, 0 not!secrets, 0 not!fandom
Next Secret Post: Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 30th, 2007.
Current Secret Submission Post: Here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[levikitty.livejournal.com]

Just curious, with all this praise for the classic songs of yore, would you hate them if you listened to a remixed version done on a more realistic synthesizer or by live musicians? Because that's the vibe I got from the secret and the agreeing comments. I know it wouldn't have the same nostalgia factor.

Since I think it's kind of silly to judge songs based on what's making the music than the music itself. And of course, you can always prefer one version over the other, but I'm getting a "OMG, LIVE INSTRUMENTS = IMPURE" vibe here.

'cause I like playing video game songs on my flute. D:

[eriph.livejournal.com]

(Warning: This comment sparked a really long conversation with my roommate about this, so now my comment's gonna be superlong and possibly tl;dr.)

Oh, no! It's not like that. And I really like songs for the songs, not what's playing them. For instance, THE BLACK MAGES = Squaresoft game songs done with rock instruments/realistic synths. They're fantastic.

Their version of "Dancing Mad" is fucking epic and amazing. I adored the original version, and I like theirs even more.
(Original Game Version: http://download.yousendit.com/77E7AC994D788D1F
BLACK MAGES Version: http://download.yousendit.com/C0D6CFD10FA1B199)

However, when playing Final Fantasy VI, I would much rather have the synth version playing than theirs. Why? It's hard to explain. I really just have a fondness for games being "old." I like pixels and synth music. And they go together. It would feel wrong to have one without the other. When playing something really old like Monkey Island, I'd rather have the shitty PC speaker music than the MIDI version, even. It adds to the feel of the game for me. Plus, hearing songs played "the old way" makes me feel all nostalgic. ("I remember the days when we all we had was synth music...and we LIKED IT!")

I think it's less the way they're being played and more like...the music itself started getting less good as the years went on. :/ I have great love for the soundtracks of Final Fantasy VI and VII, but while the music was nice for VIII through XII, I was never particularly impressed with the actual songs. I never felt like I could listen to their soundtracks out of the video game context.

Another reason my roommate came up with is that with synth/MIDI/ghetto old songs is that they had do be simple, and therefore had really strong, easily recognizable melodies. You can hear the Mario theme being played on anything, with anything, and know right away what it is. But as you start using real instruments and orchestras, the songs become more complex and not as easily identifiable. It's easier to hum themes from Chrono Trigger than, say, Psychonauts. (Though both have amazing soundtracks and everyone should definitely play the latter because that game does not get the love it deservessssss.)

Like the secret said, "I don't want an orchestra. I want video game music." Video game music is sort of its own special genre, and I play a video game to get that music. It doesn't need to be stuff that is trying to sound more like "real" music. I don't even want it to be.

Okay, done now. Sorry. I got excited. (Lawls. I put more effort into this epic comment than I did my last Psych paper. D:)

But also: game songs on your flute? That's so cool. I've only ever heard game songs played on string instruments. What do you play?