Music and Story Are Equally Important

by Eric Sapp , COMMUNITY WRITER

Friday, February 05, 2010

Tags: BioShock, Final Fantasy, silent hill, Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus, Mirror's Edge, half-life 2, Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Metroid, Grand Theft Auto 4, The Legend of Zelda, Halo: Combat Evolved, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Editor's note: As the Bitmob staff's de facto DJ, I couldn't agree with Eric more: A game's aural choices are just as important as its visual choices. Also, a good story will only get you so far if a title's soundtrack cues fall flat. Eric's cites examples from several top-tier franchies that present a strong case. -James

You've just saved the princess after slaying hordes of monsters, and she requests one last deed to end evil forever and ensure the safety of the kingdom. You pack up your belongings, scabbard your mighty sword, and mount your trusty steed in preparation for one last quest to kill the final boss. The drums are beating, the gongs are chiming, and the horns are roaring. "Epic" has never sounded better. But what makes it legendary?

More than one factor plays a role in creating ambiance when exploring a hidden temple, experiencing a emotionally moving cutscene, or going toe-to-toe with that final boss in the end -- it's not just the story. It's the power of music.

The soundtrack of a video game can create a profound sense of player immersion that depends on the scenes matched with it. Take Bioshock for example: Rapture's beautiful and creepy corridors, ball rooms, and apartments are the perfect complement to the games eerily memorable '40s tunes. The sense of being a part of a great cause in Mass Effect 2 shines due in part to its music, too -- the songs are full of orchestrated melodies mixed with synthesized beats that fit the setting of a sci-fi epic.

Other games such as Shadow of The Colossus (with its mighty battle themes), Final Fantasy (with its elegant piano pieces), Metal Gear Solid with (with its tense spy tracks) feature context-appropriate sounds that help drive thier respective stories. Even games that choose popular music over cinematic sound -- like Grand Theft Auto 4's everyday kind of music -- make us feel connected to a game's environment. Grand Theft Auto is all about recreating the look and sounds of a downtown, urban setting. The No Russian sequence in Modern Warfare 2 didn't feature a guitar rocking out in the background for a reason: it would completely kill the mood and it would also kill the player's ability to suspend disbelief. Music always serves the purpose of extending a game's believability.

I think that music in video games creates emotional connections as much as story does. Neither one can survive without the other. I find myself completely in love with the sound design of the Silent Hill games because of the balance between the horrifying ambiance and trippy beats during cutscenes. I've played my fair share of games that made me drop the controller and just to listen to the beautiful tunes. The music of Half-Life 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Mirror's Edge, Halo, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid all spring immediately to mind.

These games show that soundtrack choices can be just as important as narrative choices.

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Comments (9)

Lance Darnell

February 05, 2010

I definitely do, Eric. I remember great games I have played and the moments in them that shined, but the one's that had great music to accompany those moments shined all the brighter. I would actually say that music is even more important than storytelling in some games. Take Braid, you don't even have to learn one bit of the story in order to enjoy the game. But when a game has bad music, dang, that is the worst!

Have you been making music suggestions for the Bitmob Community Jukebox?

Nick Dee

February 05, 2010

I don't think non-diegetic music increases a sense of immersion, more like a sense of emotion. When "[t]he drums are beating, the gongs are chiming, and the horns are roaring" we have a preconception of epicness.

The GTA example is really good since in that case the music makes sense in the game world.

I remember the part in Half-Life 2 (Episode 1, I think), you and some NPCs are defending Alyx from antlions burrowing up from tunnels. And as the battle begins the music kicks in and it feels really badass, but it does break the immersion a little bit (at least it did for me).

There's definitely a lot to be said about the effectiveness of music/sound in games, but I'm not convinced that a soundtrack, however beautiful, is increasing immersiveness. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it though.

Alex Gagne

February 10, 2010

Good topic, but I am not sure if I agree with you one hundred percent. Music and Story are important in games, but depending on the TYPE of game music can be more important than story, or vice-versa. I can tell you a lot of RPG's with fantastic music that fail on the basis of having a poor story -- and a whole bunch of games with no story and a great soundtrack that elevates its quality.
Here is an interesting question...Music is a good way to make a game more immersive, yes, but is having that sort of music in a game a crutch for the medium?

For example, if you look at certain films or books which are particularly immersive or emotionally moving you find that many of them can do so without music; especially in the case of books. ...Obviously

Does the ability for designers to add emotionally altering music into a game keep them from using better writers, or improving facial animation and voice acting in order to get the same emotions and feelings across? Maybe the 'cheap' emotional cues derived from music are stopping games from progressing in more realistic ways, such as through dialogue and character body language.

This may be a bit off topic, sort of arguing against the use of music in games. The idea just hit me and I was wondering if it makes sense to anyone but myself.

Joshua Fowler

February 11, 2010

I think this is a case of "a place for everything, and everything in its place."

For example: In Braid the music is used not only to enhance the story, but also to tell the story in certain places. It conveys emotion and intention at once, and (I felt) improved both the gameplay and the story.

"PoP: The Sands of Time," is a game that uses music very similarly (from a technical standpoint: rewinding with time travel, etc.). However, its music did little (if anything) to add to the emotional tone of the story. I felt was often overly "epic" (in an attempt to be cool, I suppose). I enjoy the music from that game, but I believe that it often detracted from the experience.

Pierce Hacquard

February 11, 2010

It's interesting that two people have cited Braid when, in fact, the music in that game is licensed and not original work for the piece.

Entertainment means to place you in an atmosphere unlike the one you're currently in. Books do this through direct communication and movies through sound and music. Back when games were plain and restrictive and unimpressive, they used the same auxiliary as movies.

But games nowadays are intricate and open and very impressive. They involve you by allowing you to control the character(s) directly. Movies have music which matches, to the half-a-second and beyond, the images exactly; music in games cannot be so specific unless the designers mean to control you similarly. (To the half-a-second and beyond.)

Western developers in particular have had a hard time implementing music in their projects. Though there are proponents out to popularize North American and European game music, their cause is unjustified since that game music is fundamentally flawed. As other people have mentioned, there is often more of a break in reality than immersion at the inclusion of music in games such Half-Life. Oftentimes, things are more realistic when there is only foley.

However impoverished the culture of game music is in North America right now, as a music composer I see a lot of potential yet to be realized. I think articles like this one simply glaze over this issue, being more of an emotional ejaculation than a critical look.

Joshua Fowler

February 11, 2010

@Pierce I assumed that licensed music was a non-issue given the original topic. The first game in the article is Bioshock, and the licensed music is mentioned explicitly for GTA 4.

I agree that music is often over/misused in games. However, I don't know if your suggestion is to make game music more like movie music (which is a broad target), or to have it be something else entirely.

Pierce Hacquard

February 11, 2010

Bioshock has a score by Garry Schyman. Grand Theft Auto 4's radio music counts as foley; id est atmospheric noises.

Overused isn't what I meant, misused is.

Eric Sapp

March 02, 2010

Crap, re-posted this to the Mobfeed on accident. Sorry!

Chris Whitehead

March 03, 2010

Eric: No apologies necessary. I missed this article the first time around, but I'm glad I read it. It's perfectly concise! And I agree with the ideas completely. But, however awful it may seem to gamers like you and me that some people don't care about music in video games, they exist. Yasunori Mitsuda once said in an interview that Japanese gamers in general care little about music in games. That's a huge demographic. And the problem that could come with ignoring music in games is less funding for the compositions.

I just beat the first Modern Warfare yesterday, and though I understand the scarcity of music in the game as a deliberate choice, I still didn't like it. (I have the same problem with Half-Life 2.) See, Medal of Honor: Frontline is one game I won't forget because of its amazing score by Michael Giacchino that plays constantly. This is only my opinion of course, but I typically like more music than less in games.

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