oh sick
ben bot more like slow bot
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I simultaneously had a lot of trouble and no trouble at all with this one
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Like I am NOT a video game OST listener and I think video game OST listening is… like… defensible as a practice, but that shouldn’t be what video game music is designed for, it’s a “hack”, it’s not the manufacturer’s suggested use case. I feel like I’m being unfair by ranking songs as “a thing to listen to on Spotify” when that isn’t what they were MADE to do, and I feel especially weird having heard Some of the songs in their proper contexts (where I can recognise them as extremely effective despite not really enjoying them as songs in their own right), but not others (who I will inevitably find mediocre despite the fact that I’d recognise them as good at what they’re trying to do in context!)
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i definitely agree that a lot of songs suffer cause of this
but video games ost’s outshining their context and expanding into something thats really good is part of it, i think
obviously a really slow and methodical few beats which fits perfectly to a narrative moment is going to suffer but good music, despite the limitations given for being context dependant in games, is pretty likely
i liked a lot of songs this round
3 Likes
And I also find a lot of video game OSTs that people rave about to be very… like… one-dimensional, even the very good ones. Because they’re purpose-built, practical music trying to make you feel a specific emotion in service of the story of the video game, and they work in concert with the art direction and writing and gameplay to deliver that experience. When you take them out of context, it can feel like… you asked a GAN to make you a song that’s 5.0 in the “melancholy” direction and not much else. It winds up with a song that’s very good at making me feel how the game wants me to feel, but which doesn’t do anything else, and so it just feels cheap. It feels like I’m being politely asked to feel an emotion and I don’t like it. Stop trying to make me feel a certain way for no reason. I don’t want to
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Even the very good ones! Like! I’m not saying the “one-dimensionality” is a bad thing, but! I don’t want that to be music! Not what I go to music .com for!!!
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Yah I agree and the fact that some video game OSTs can outshine their context and work as songs in their own right is what made it simultaneously easy to vote, I was able to just listen through the songs twice and place all my votes and I wound up with 10 exactly. It’s not like I think it’s actually a bad theme. I’m just a meticulous person and it pains me to rank these objects in a metric they weren’t designed for
3 Likes
things can be multi-facated design too
le perv from last round was made for hotline miami, but it also really fitting to exercising, cause its a high-octane beat
i don’t think theres a lot of truly good video game musics that also dont work as regular songs, rather than just video game noise
2 Likes
It’s like ranking the artistry of a variety USB-to-lightning chargers. They weren’t made to be thought of like that, they were made to serve a purpose in a context, and I don’t even get to use the charger (/play the video game) to see how good it is at charging my fucking phone. And sure, I can do it, I can select chargers I find to be well-produced and visually elegant, and I can maybe even recognise some practical features of them! Maybe I can spot that a charger has a nice anti-fraying design that I bet would make it nice to use! But I don’t have full information, and it still feels like a ridiculous activity. Not what I buy them for
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I coulda submitted a Blaseball song that would’ve been funny
2 Likes
Too bad I never listened to the Garages much
Even barring the context issues, I also just generally don’t like video game OST-style music very much. It usually fades too much into the background for me, because, like, it’s not intended to be your primary focus when you’re listening to it, you’re supposed to be also thinking about the videogame. And I like music that pulls much more attention than that, or I’ll get bored, even if I am multitasking. I want my music to be equivalent in attention-level to like, a let’s play/stream, or a not-super-intensive podcast/audiobook. Because of attention deficit and perhaps even hyperactivity disorder
Obviously this is not a blanket issue, there’s plenty of videogame music which does siphon off enough of my brainpower to function as an element in the three different things which must be entertaining me at all times, but on average, videogame music is going to want to be less intense than other music. Because of its goals. So it isn’t my preference
2 Likes
i gotta play omori
2 Likes
I also gotta play it
1 Like
And I think a lot of people online who are really into video game OSTs kind of miss the point(s). With this. And they try to get me to listen to video game OSTs, and I listen to them and I am not interested, because either:
- They’ve played the video game and I haven’t, and so they’re hearing these songs and understanding them as part of a context where they are very effective tools, but they don’t understand that the songs don’t work as well as stand-alone art pieces
- They haven’t played the game, but they’re easily impressed by the kind of one-dimensional emotional induction that a lot of video game OSTs can create, something which I do not care about at all
I think the way 2 is phrased is kinda mean. However it’s like. To me many video game OSTs, in isolation, are the same thing as Sad Dog Movies or Heartwarming Facebook Memes or Cute Animal Videos where there’s nothing except an emotion, it’s just an emotion, there’s no meaning, it’s just trying to make you sad or heartwarmed or induce the cute feeling. And it lacks something. It feels so shallow and stagnant and poisonous. A sad moment in a more emotionally complex context is going to feel so much more meaningful to me. The game is often that emotionally complex context! But if you send me the songs on YouTube I’m not going to give a shit!!! I don’t care!!! I don’t care!!!
It’s like. It’s like taking clips of the “saddest scenes” of a movie and sharing them on social media out of context to me. I don’t understand it. It’s like ending explained videos
This isn’t strictly relevant to this round, I’m not talking about any of you, not many of the songs submitted really felt like they created exclusively to induce a single emotion in me in the way that I hate, but I’m currently set off on a tangent, so I’m going to stay on that tangent until I get bored
i was big on pale machine for a while and found out about omori from bo en. i like bo en because he fucking puts airhorns in a song thats goated