While there was plenty to dislike about 2016, at least we got several top-notch game soundtracks! Let’s listen to numerous examples of modern VGM excellence, from Doom to Furi to Watch Dogs 2.
SHOW NOTES
0:00:00 – Rip & Tear (Doom)
0:11:07 – At Doom’s Gate (Doom)
0:12:16 – Flesh & Metal (Doom)
0:18:52 – UAC Report File (Doom)
0:27:50 – Enter the Battletoad (Killer Instinct Season 3)
0:32:12 – A Warrior’s Journey (KI3 S3)
0:38:22 – Wisdom of Rage (Furi)
0:43:26 – You Are The End (Furi)
0:45:44 – Make This Right Remix (Furi)
0:53:31 – Beacon Beach (Oxenfree)
0:57:05 – Epiphany Fields (Oxenfree)
1:05:44 – Shanghaied (Watch Dogs 2)
1:09:37 – Burning Desire (Watch Dogs 2)
1:17:33 – TF29 (Deus Ex: Mankind Divided)
1:21:46 – Apex Towers (DEMD)
1:27:09 – BGM Country (Picross 3D 2)
1:29:54 – BGM Jazz (Picross 3D 2)
1:33:41 – Main Theme (Trials of the Blood Dragon)
1:37:12 – Ancient Caverns (Trials of the Blood Dragon)
1:44:48 – Main Theme (Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth)
1:46:51 – What a Wonderful Space (DSCS)
1:51:36 – Message (DSCS)
1:58:19 – The Abyss (Hyper Light Drifter)
I love starting with DOOM. I haven’t played the game yet but I constantly listen to the soundtrack. Also I forgot Picross 3D 2 even existed until I saw it in the list here, now I must go buy it. VGMpire you have done me a great service yet again. Happy Holidays Bret and crew!
Nothing from civilization 6? Urge to kill, rising…
(This was a great episode, my honor has just been offended, is all 🙂
Civilization 6? I love the older Civ games but the music’s always felt like an afterthought…….. what’s Civ 6’s OST like?
Thats a bit of a hatd question. The opening/main menu theme will definitely make you cry a bit, but what really makes it special is how the music evolves over your countries diffrent ages Each civ in the game has its own special tune played on a single instrument as you start out (like xylophone for the Kongo, or an acoustic guitar for brasil), that grow in complexity at specific intervals (I think its medieval, industrial, atomic ). I haven’t listened to every single one. But those I have are consistently great, and unique that that countries culture. As an example, I ask you to listen to the ancient and industrial era brasil music: https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLfG0HYK6dC4yT5i7UbqCKI8jIDqqp9Jtv¶ms=OAFIAVgI&v=8VMYlrqhFZM&mode=NORMAL
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLfG0HYK6dC4yT5i7UbqCKI8jIDqqp9Jtv¶ms=OAFIAVgG&v=8jC7_Tp1vTM&mode=NORMAL
(Firaxis released the majority of the ost for free already)
funny thing about your DOOM commentary – definitely crank it up at the gym… great ep! awesome to see Furi and Deus Ex on here too!
These year end shows are my favorite. I love getting to experience a variety of titles I wouldn’t necessarily play on my own. I actually got Codename Steam after hearing it here a while back. Haven’t listened to this ep yet, and won’t until I’ve got some decent time for headphone usage. Thanks for doing this 🙂
Trials Of The Blood Dragon is my soundtrack of the year. a lot of the tracks are repurposed Blood Dragon songs, but these songs have scored my Street Fighter renaissance. also, Furi is rad.
Well I certainly hope Street Fighter V is getting album of the year because I haven’t listened to a piece of vgm more this year than Karin’s Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_DGHWMY2mA
I have always have strong disdain for anything wub or metal, and can’t hardly stand to listen to another formulaic synthpop track (after being a huge fan of it’s revival [though I still love Ocean Drive by Miami Nights 1984]), so this year would have been a wash for me had I not discovered my love of what I’m going to call “Nintendo jazz”. Never played Picross 3D 2, or any Picross for that matter, but BGM Jazz is right up my ally. Anyhoo, great episode as always, and happy holidays to all, every year of your life.
My fave soundtracks this year: Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian (PUT UP YOUR DUKES, CHRIS) & Street Fighter V, and yes I’m very aware of the bias with the last one there.
FFXV: “Up for the Challenge” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh4_jFbT_XQ (Yoko Shimomura)
TLG: “Victorious” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miDaPE3XtcI (Takeshi Furukawa)
SFV: “Main Menu” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G61T5Y4r_SU (Masahiro Aoki)
Haven’t played Doom yeah but MAN do I love the heaviness of the soundtrack. Mick Gordon’s performance of the music at The Game Awards was absolutely killer – there’s nothin’ better than seeing a game composer get to rock out to their own music on stage. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a9E3n_VZRQ
I liked listening to the stuff here and discovering stuff I otherwise wouldn’t check out. I really need to give Furi a whirl on PS4, and the Battletoads song in KI: Season 3 is NUTSSSSSSSS I love it!
I enjoyed Mankind Divided despite a bunch of grievances, particularly with the story and last quarter of the game, but I thought the music was a big improvement over Human Revolution’s. The PC original is still the best – story-wise, music-wise, and gameplay-wise, but DXMD at least had better connections to the story of the original than Human Revolution did. Fave track from DXMD is the combat theme during the Martial Law / Theater segment…and apparently the Extended Soundtrack doesn’t have this? Can someone prove me wrong? I’m going crazy here trying to find this damn track ;-;
But anyhoot, FFXV & The Last Guardian OSTs ordered from Amazon Japan. Can’t wait! Good year for VGM.
Yes Yes to DOOM! More DOOM all over my face now!
*Ahem* I mean… great! These round up episodes are always the best, reminds us that great VGA never stops getting made.
This episode highlights how far ahead DOOM was from everything else.
I can’t stand the DOOM music, why do people like it? it might be ok in context with the shooting, but it’s horrendous on it’s own, wish you didn’t spend/waste half an hour on it lol
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