Tendo City

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/downloads/music.html

Also, it was announced that Inon Zur is the composer for the game.

Quote:In addition to scoring a number of best-selling video games, Zur’s music has been featured in many high-profile projects including Hollywood film trailers, network television productions, CGI movies, and symphony concerts. Most recently, Zur has composed music for CBS’ ‘Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side’ TV webisode series as well as the Marvel Kids webisodes for ‘IRON MAN’.

As far as videogames go, he's done work for Crysis, Fallout Tactics, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Baahl, Syberia II, Icewind Dale II, and a number of other smaller titles.

As for the music itself, it's more...rich?...than the other Fallout games, but I really like what I'm hearing so far. It's definitely a departure from games like Oblivion and Morrowind, and that's a good sign.

I commented on this at neogaf...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=292218

Go listen to the Fallout soundtracks (freely available from when Interplay had them up on their website for several years before they died), compare it to this, and try to say that it's remotely similar...

I know that IWD2 and BGII:ToB had good soundtracks (though IWD2 had only fifteen minutes of music in the whole game and you spent a huge amount of time in silence), but they aren't Fallout.

Quote:I've heard the Fallout soundtracks, Brian, when I PLAYED BOTH OF THE PREVIOUS GAMES. And I also have had both downloaded on my computer for months.

Well yeah, that was my point... compare them.

Quote:I'm sure I've said this before a hundred times, but it bears repeating: It's a new game with a new crew. You should take the soundtrack for what it is, as in "good", rather than try to find all the ways in which they're different.

So I should just happily accept lesser products, because it's all we're going to get? Great...

Quote:Anyway, you've already shown that your physically imcable of saying anything positive about any aspect of Fallout 3, so I shouldn't be the least bit surprised that you're not happy about this aspect either. Okay, I take that back. You're rarely happy about anything, not even PC games because they're too dumbed down these days.

Hey, I like a lot of the old games I'm playing (that I've never played before, so they're new to me). :)

Let me ask you a very simple question. Is it better for a sequel to change nothing or change everything?

That depends on whether the changes are for the better or for the worse. :)

A. Change everything.
B. Change nothing.

It's multiple choice, not essay.

In this case, that discussion doesn't really apply. This isn't a sequel, it's just a new game that is vaguely in the same universe as the old ones.

If the other type of Fallout game still existed, I wouldn't mind this one. For instance, even if you don't like FPSes or third-person action adventures, who cares if they made Crusaders of Might & Magic and Warriors of Might & Magic? They also made a new M&M RPG and Heroes of Might & Magic III. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance wasn't bad just because it was an action-RPG, it was actually pretty fun... it wasn't Baldur's Gate and would have been better without that name on it, but it was pretty fun. But it wasn't instead of a real BG game... well, it wasn't at that point. Later on of course BG3 and Fallout 3 were canned, while FOBOS and Dark Alliance 2 were finished, so BGDA was a bad sign... but on its own it wasn't a problem. It was only an issue because of the later closing of the main RPG division.

Also, I don't have just one opinion on the issue of whether changes in games are good or bad. If the game is fun, you don't mind more of it... take Mega Man for the NES for instance. All six are good games. Other times though, I want more new... for instance Age of Empires II, which disappointed me in comparison to a Blizzard RTS sequel (and the AoE expansion packs were pathetic compared to Blizzard). It really depends on whether the changes worked or not... like how Mega Man X adding wall climbing worked. But they also increased the difficulty level, and then increased it again and again later on, which wasn't so good... the NES games, if you go back and play them, aren't that hard. They are actually fun. In fact, MM5 and MM6 are probably even too easy. But Mega Man 8 (particularly the castle), MM&Bass, X5 and X6, the Zero games... they went overboard in the opposite direction.

Oh yeah, and your post tone here sounds a little bit different from at NeoGAF... :)

If changes are the problem, then why is your constant complaint about anything that Bethesda does is that its "different". Doesn't that imply that changes ARE the problem here?

Look, I would have liked to have seen Black Isle finish up Van Buren and all that, but it didn't happen and it's never going to happen. The more you pine for the good old days and drag that rotten corpse around with you the more you become jaded about anything that anyone else does with the franchise because admitting that someone else can do it just as well or almost as well with some changes to the overall game design will be admitting that Black Isle is as dead as dead can be and that you'll never be able to go back to that happy time when they were still around.

Let me be blunt here. The Fallout franchise was already starting to get a bit stale by the time that Fallout 2 came out. Why? Because Fallout 2 wasn't so much of a sequel as it was an expansion pack. Combat was the same, texture palletes were largely the same, some of the towns were reproduced, some of the music was reused, and so on. Is that really what all the Fallout fanatics want? A Fallout 3 that's only a graphical update of Fallout 2 which was, at best, an expansion pack of Fallout 1? How is that in any way, shape, or form a good thing? Stagnation is terrible and one of the worst things that can happen to a franchise.

Mario did nearly everything it could in 2D, so it had to move to 3D. Then, it did every it could in the normal confines of what 3D platforming meant, so it evolved into something radically different. Mario in space?! How preposterous! But the important thing is that it worked because the crew working it on it had the talent and the vision to make it happen. And that, hopefully, is what will happen here. That's also why these changes don't bother me, because they aren't terrible and they're not so ridiculous as to make a mockery of the source material.

The opposite was what caused at least some of my dislike for the Halo series. Halo 3 was almost exacly the same as Halo 2 was almost exacly the same as Halo 1. The problems of first game weren't corrected and there was little to shake up the basics enough to make me overlook those problems.

I can understand the criticism thrown around at the other Fallout games. One was done by a nothing studio who's only previous title was a Micro Machines game and the other was by an Interplay that was already on its last leg. Neither had the time, money, or skill to make their respective games truly work.

On the other hand, Fallout 3 is done a studio that has proven that they have some talent, time, and money to deliver a polished product capable of providing hours of entertainment. Almost every peice of information that I've seen so far has shown an effort to move away from the Oblivion formula and do something different.

Sometimes change can be bad, but stagnation is always bad.

Did I mention that I LOVE the soundtracks of the original two Fallout games, as well as the soundtrack to Netstorm, another one by Mark Morgan? So that's a big part of it. Sure epic stuff is good too, but I love that electronic atmospheric music style of Fallout... that's certainly a large part of why my reaction is so strong. I like both epic orchestral/fantasy music and electronica, but there are huge numbers of games out there with conventional epic scores. There aren't many with soundtracks like Fallout.

Quote:Is that really what all the Fallout fanatics want?

I don't know, I'm a Baldur's Gate fanatic, not a Fallout fanatic. :)

Quote:I can understand the criticism thrown around at the other Fallout games. One was done by a nothing studio who's only previous title was a Micro Machines game and the other was by an Interplay that was already on its last leg. Neither had the time, money, or skill to make their respective games truly work.

Black Isle's only previous experience was a Micro Machines game (port I imagine, given that UK's Codemasters did all the Micro Machines games)? Really? Huh... Interplay certainly did have a long RPG history before Black Isle, though. Wasteland, Dragon Wars, Stonekeep, etc... they (and CEO Brian Fargo) had been active in the genre before.

Quote:Sometimes change can be bad, but stagnation is always bad.

Sometimes. But just as often the changed thing ends up even worse than the original... yes, new things should be tried, but they aren't necesarially always better than the old one.

... I mean, I love shmups... and they have changed (away from space and to land, away from slower styles and to the massive bullet patterns of Cave games)... but are those new styles really better than the old ones? The new ones are great too, but that doesn't make the older-style ones any less great either.

But the question is, should people still be making games that change nothing... well... that depends on their quality. If it's good, why not... it might make it harder to justify buying the game (if nothing differentiates it between older games you likely already have), but huge numbers of games have exactly that problem. Originality is good, but doing something that has been done before really well is pretty good too. For instance, what Blizzard does. :)

Quote:A Fallout 3 that's only a graphical update of Fallout 2 which was, at best, an expansion pack of Fallout 1? How is that in any way, shape, or form a good thing? Stagnation is terrible and one of the worst things that can happen to a franchise.

I'd love to see it still isometric, but with fully drawn backgrounds like BG. BG has far better graphics than Fallout.

Oh yes, I want control over my party members. That you only have control over the main characters and the others are AI is my biggest problem with Fallout's combat system...

Quote:Look, I would have liked to have seen Black Isle finish up Van Buren and all that, but it didn't happen and it's never going to happen. The more you pine for the good old days and drag that rotten corpse around with you the more you become jaded about anything that anyone else does with the franchise because admitting that someone else can do it just as well or almost as well with some changes to the overall game design will be admitting that Black Isle is as dead as dead can be and that you'll never be able to go back to that happy time when they were still around.

Console gaming is doing as well as ever, but I love/loved PC gaming so much... it's very sad to see what has happened to it. "Be happy with what you've got when it's not as good" just isn't right...

And anyway, there ARE still great games out there for the PC in the RPG field that have complexity and originality. Neverwinter Nights 2, Guild Wars...

Quote:Black Isle's only previous experience was a Micro Machines game (port I imagine, given that UK's Codemasters did all the Micro Machines games)? Really?

OTHER Fallout games, as in the ones that weren't by Black Isle. The ones done by Interplay and Micro Forte.

As for everything else...I'm just not even going to touch it. Seriously, I just don't have the strength anymore. Bleh.

By the way, if you think that none of this latest music sounds ANYTHING at all like Fallout music, then I would suggest tracks 14 and 15 from Fallout 2.

Great Rumbler Wrote:By the way, if you think that none of this latest music sounds ANYTHING at all like Fallout music, then I would suggest tracks 14 and 15 from Fallout 2.

I don't have the full Fallout 2 music from the game (since I don't own Fallout 2), just the eight tracks released as a soundtrack on their website.

For Fallout 1 I have both the website soundtrack and the actual game soundtrack, though the only difference is that the website one doesn't include "Maybe" (the intro song) and puts the songs in a different order.

Anyway, I don't know if I have those tracks. What are their names?

Great Rumbler Wrote:As for everything else...I'm just not even going to touch it. Seriously, I just don't have the strength anymore. Bleh.

This is probably the most important part.

A Black Falcon Wrote:Did I mention that I LOVE the soundtracks of the original two Fallout games, as well as the soundtrack to Netstorm, another one by Mark Morgan? So that's a big part of it. Sure epic stuff is good too, but I love that electronic atmospheric music style of Fallout... that's certainly a large part of why my reaction is so strong. I like both epic orchestral/fantasy music and electronica, but there are huge numbers of games out there with conventional epic scores. There aren't many with soundtracks like Fallout

Great Rumbler Wrote:OTHER Fallout games, as in the ones that weren't by Black Isle. The ones done by Interplay and Micro Forte.

Oh, I see, I misunderstood you. I haven't played those either... well, I did play the Fallout Tactics demo for a few minutes, but not more than that. I think I have it installed still... *checks* No, but it'd be easy to get it again.

FOBOS for PS2/Xbox... I have no comment without playing it.

Quote:I don't have the full Fallout 2 music from the game (since I don't own Fallout 2), just the eight tracks released as a soundtrack on their website.

http://gamemusichall.net/music/fallout_2/fallout2.php

Quote:Did I mention that I LOVE the soundtracks of the original two Fallout games, as well as the soundtrack to Netstorm, another one by Mark Morgan? So that's a big part of it. Sure epic stuff is good too, but I love that electronic atmospheric music style of Fallout... that's certainly a large part of why my reaction is so strong. I like both epic orchestral/fantasy music and electronica, but there are huge numbers of games out there with conventional epic scores. There aren't many with soundtracks like Fallout

No, there aren't many soundtracks like Fallout 1 and 2. But Mark Morgan has been doing nothing but TV series soundtracks for the past eight years, so maybe they figured it was better to go a somewhat different route than to attempt a potentially shoddy copy of his work?

Quote:FOBOS for PS2/Xbox... I have no comment without playing it.

It was terrible. Fallout Tactics actually got decent reviews, though.

Quote:No, there aren't many soundtracks like Fallout 1 and 2. But Mark Morgan has been doing nothing but TV series soundtracks for the past eight years, so maybe they figured it was better to go a somewhat different route than to attempt a potentially shoddy copy of his work?

http://www.tcforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4843

Sounds like even if they had gotten Mark Morgan the soundtrack would have been different.

You mean this?

Quote:Mark: Like I said earlier, I would take “Fallout 3” to a much more modern place, while honoring a lot of the elements of the earlier games. Maybe heavier, more ethnic, more rhythmic, it could be a hybrid with some orchestral elements. Just nothing traditional. As I recall, Tim and I never discussed anything orchestral. Now that you’ve brought this to my attention, it would be exciting to be involved with the new game.

You're right, he'd change it some. But his ideas for what he'd do sound quite different from what this soundtrack sounds like.

Yeah, it would probably be nothing at all like that terrible Megaton theme. It's so terrible!

Oh wait...no, it isn't. It's really good.

New diary entry from Adam Adamowicz, the concept designer for Fallout 3.

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/vault/di...8-pg1.html

Also, some new artwork: