Comments on: Videogame albums: yay or nay?

By: VGTO! Reviews

VGTO! Reviews — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:56:51 +0000

YES YES YES YES YES.

Totally for video game albums/Original Soundtracks. I like to experience a game’s soundtrack outside the game. I own a couple myself, like Trusty Bell’s [Eternal Sonata] OST, Chrono Cross and so on. I’m not too ecstatic of the prices, but a lot of video game albums are worth the price.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:41:57 +0000

They are worth it. I find it to be a great way to be reminded of a game without playing it. All I have to do is pop in a tune and I will remember complete moments of a game and how much I enjoy it. Maybe even feel compelled to play it again.

By: Sitorimon

Sitorimon — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:51:11 +0000

Absolutely YAY! I’ve always wanted to buy game soundtracks and it wasn’t until I had a debit card and the internet that I could do that. Yes they’re expensive for the Western world (the shipping to the UK is awful!) but most of the soundtracks I get are for games I’ll either never see over in the UK or won’t see for at least a year so everything’s great value for me. Besides I think that most game music, if you enjoy it for what it is, is just as fantastic to listen to as a standalone product than you needing to have played the game. Some of my most favourite vgm albums are from games I’ve never heard of
YAY! YAY! YAY Again!
Si

By: SteveJ

SteveJ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:38:19 +0000

There is certainly game music that I like, but I can’t ever see buying a song or album from a video game and the only reason I might care about a game coming with a soundtrack is if there is some possibility that the soundtrack might have value as an ebay sale item. I hear game songs more than enough within the game itself. Indeed I’d rather hear the songs in the game itself.

By: Zane

Zane — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:55:55 +0000

My answer is a resounding “yes”. There are times when I want to feel some nostalgia and can’t afford the 20+ hours it could take to get to a certain point in FFVI again to hear the music, or maybe I really enjoyed something from a certain game and want to hear more of what the composer has to offer. VGM has a certain appeal to me that has been running strong for years now, and when I hear music in a game that I really enjoy I seek out that OST and add it to my collection.

That said, I’m not a fan of digital releases – as Ark mentioned above, if I’m going to fork over some cash, I’d like a physical disc in return. I can’t see myself paying for MP3s. I do not download albums to keep – if I download something it’s just to sample, and once I hear some songs I immediately delete them and either buy the album or forget about it.

By: Mikael

Mikael — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:40:21 +0000

Well it really depends on the quality of the music in the game, I think I might be tempted to buy a DQ series OST or the 16 bit Final Fantasy OST, as those are music that have the amount of quality to be able to listen to without playing the game (at the same time),

Otherwise it is hard for me to buy a Videogame related album that is great from start to finish.
Sometimes the added bonus with a purchase might be good (but only if you are a fan of it) ,but it is pretty much a resource waste if the music is horrible (not much fan of forced use of resources without a demand.

So far I have gotten free soundtracts with Atelier Iris 2, Disgaea 2 but the music from the games feel pretty weak most of the time. It will not be enjoyable listening only to the cds alone…

Recently I got one factory sealed Soul Nomad OST, but I am unsure if I should take a listen to it or not (the music is definetly better than what I have heared from Disgaea 2)

By: Patrick Gann

Patrick Gann — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:03:05 +0000

There are plenty of good reasons to buy an OST, either physically (import CD) or digitally (iTunes etc). One, perhaps foremost, is if you are interested in the work of the composer, but not in the game itself.

Other reasons to buy soundtracks? There are full “arranged” albums worth owning. Some OSTs are remastered differently than how you hear them in-game, and others will include neat bonuses like DVD extras or additional arranged tracks.

Certainly, the prevalence of “game rip” audio makes the need for soundtracks less likely. But *collectors* will still continue on.

Then, as mentioned by many others in this response section, a lot of US publishers have been including (full or partial) soundtracks as a CD alongside the game itself. This, in my opinion, is always a great treat, even if it isn’t a full four-disc set (such as Digital Devil Saga). Atlus and NISA are the real heroes here.

By: EdgeKun

EdgeKun — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:06:58 +0000

I pretty much have the same view on OSTs and purchases as I do for gaming. If I download an OST and it’s good, I’ll happily pay the money for a soundtrack. (If you truly love something, then reward it’s creators and at least pay for it. That’s my philosophy anyway)

Now granted, people like say Brent are entitled to their own opinion. I find it sad though that having a love for what i consider good music makes me an illogical fanboy type. Also, do you only buy games that are 30 – 40$? Even after shipping I rarely find OSTs for more than 40$. (Multi-disc albums included)

Also, to answer the question posed it really depends. (On whether I’d buy an OST if the game included a CD or something similar) Persona 3 came with a great soundtrack CD that covers most (if not all imo) of the great songs in the entire soundtrack. In such cases, I wouldn’t. Nocturne’s CD was fairly lacking so I ended up buying the OST for that one. I think it mostly just depends on whether or not the included disc has a majority of the music I like in the game.

By: Aoshi00

Aoshi00 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:51:08 +0000

I do buy soundtracks for the games that I like. Considering the expensive import price ($30 average per CD), one should be selective since some game music is nice to listen to repeatedly by itself, but some sounds boring when you’re not playing the game..

Even though I love to own a physical CD for my favorite game music and to show my support, I find it increasingly redundant and cumbersome to buy CDs these days since I’m going to d/l the MP3s on the net anyway, either to listen on the computer or on the go. Chances are I would hardly take out the actual disc..

Like some said, it is expensive though to get both the game and the soundtrack, added to the fact that everything is so readily available for free. But if the game music is exceptional (say, Chrono Trigger) and evokes enough emotion, then it’s certainly worth it.

I wonder if I’m the only one who’s crazy enough to have bought both the OST and drama CD for “Archaic Sealed Heat”.. it’s funny that most of the tracks I like from ASH weren’t composed by Sakimoto Hiroshi.. BTW, I was playing Folklore tonight, some of its music is really good, maybe not worth buying a OST though, remembering the story is a little creepy anyway…

By: R

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:17:29 +0000

Absolutely yes.

I import what I can get ahold of and what I can afford. The affording generally wouldn’t be an obstacle, but most of the OSTs I want go out of print by the time I realize there’s an OST to purchase. Or worse yet, there IS no OST. (ala Shinji Hosoe’s work on Xenosaga 2)

And I refuse to pay $50 to some profiteer when the original CD was $25…and I know the people who actually DESERVE the extra money — the composers/arrangers/publishing companies etc — won’t see a dime. Really frustrating.