Music in future episodes: analysis of interactivity and quality
Being a big fan of Michael Land's music I must say I was pretty unimpresseb by the music of TOMI Ep. 1.
Replaying it again I configures my sound with higher volume for music and I must say it is rather lovely. The interactive music in Flotsam downtown is pretty impressive and reminds of MI 2 which I consider having the best soundtrack of any video game ever. Probably that's the reason it is MIDI quality and not the fact that the game is also in Wii as most think.
The thing is I don't want to lose interactivity in future episodes. Maybe Mr. Land could add some real instruments as background, like some contant percution, so it would have better bass and still have interactivity.
Or maybe adding a few songs with just live instruments with little or no interactivity. And also more variety. All songs in Ep. 1 felt a bit too subtle, in the search of a better word to describe it.
Michael Land's music has always been a trademark of Monkey Island and I'm sure he has a few ideas for future episodes. It's great to hear new MI compositions after so many years!
Replaying it again I configures my sound with higher volume for music and I must say it is rather lovely. The interactive music in Flotsam downtown is pretty impressive and reminds of MI 2 which I consider having the best soundtrack of any video game ever. Probably that's the reason it is MIDI quality and not the fact that the game is also in Wii as most think.
The thing is I don't want to lose interactivity in future episodes. Maybe Mr. Land could add some real instruments as background, like some contant percution, so it would have better bass and still have interactivity.
Or maybe adding a few songs with just live instruments with little or no interactivity. And also more variety. All songs in Ep. 1 felt a bit too subtle, in the search of a better word to describe it.
Michael Land's music has always been a trademark of Monkey Island and I'm sure he has a few ideas for future episodes. It's great to hear new MI compositions after so many years!
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
I've been playing Sam and Max seasons 1 and 2 recently, and the music got better in each installment. I think the same will happen here, but I currently give the music a 9/10 so far, Micheal Land rocks.
My basic problem is that I compare TOMI with Sam & Max music. S&M had so much great music with real instruments... But I could pass on live instruments if we're going to have great interactivity. I think Woodtick music is one of the best music ever!
I loved the shifting music in the town as well. A background track of orchestral stuff with MIDI stuff shifting around in the foreground could be really cool.
They didn't have 40mb size caps on them though, unlike Wiiware games.
But yeah, I really liked the music. I still think MI2 and CMI have the best soundtrack so far, but there's another 4 episodes to go before I can say anything for definite.
By the way, is Badwolf intended as a Dr Who reference?
Yup.
Well, it's more that I really couldn't think of a username for some online game I wanted to join a few years ago, and I'd just started noticing the badwolf references in Doctor Who. The name's sort of stuck since then.
That's different though because it was what the game was restricted to at the time, using that argument you may as well say ToMI should be VGA Pixel vision again for the Retro thing. Saying it's Michael Lands thing is an odd statement because he's shown that as the technology grew his style did too, to this day the soundtrack of Curse was brilliant because of all the details in the music and Land had full control over that soundtrack as he does now, and whilst he's doing a brill job with Tales, I dunno, just lacks detail he had with Curse and the Melee Island tracks from Escape.
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=172551&postcount=16
Didn't read these original posts, but when they talk about midi hear I think they just mean that it was sequenced on sampled/synthesized instruments, rather than recorded with real instruments. The audio files in the game, though, are still real audio (mp3 or similar - I haven't checked) which is different to MI1&2, which were just midi files which played back using the actual midi synth built into a computer's sound card. Which sounds pretty nasty!
I agree that the quality of the music is inferior to MI3 and MI4 though - weaker compositions and lesser quality... but I still enjoyed it.
Oh ok - haven't had a chance to check that out, would be interested to investigate the Wii's audio capabilities...
Blaidd Drwg.
"I tracked you down with this. It's my timey-wimey detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. Can also boil a hens egg at 30 paces. Whether I wan't it to or not actually, so I've learn to stay clear of hens; not pretty when they blow."
Sorry to everyone else for getting off topic.
I think people were using that argument mindset for complaining about the game being in 3D instead of going for retro 2D. I prefer the game in 3D, because that's what the current tech is capable of, instead of what was restricted to at the time.
As for the music, I was just saying that maybe they mandated to Michael Land that they explicitly wanted it in MIDI instead of instruments. To fit on a Wii...
That does seem to be the case, the soundtrack is still pretty damn good for the limitations though.
Anyway I'm OK with MIDI, but some base for the music with real instruments or short segments recorded live would be nice. Maybe one or two songs with live instruments in each episode, just for the sake of variety? And the Wii can have those songs as a MIDI version.
I just really want the main theme recorded on real instruments
Having it on real instruments wouldn't necessarily mean the loss of interactivity. The music still could have been recorded with real musicians playing real instruments if various parts could be mixed and faded in and out.
I think it's quite a comedown from the music quality of CMI unfortunately, but I guess it makes sense when you look at it practically. Is this why Sam & Max had to be a commercial Wii release rather than on Wiiware?