Why do Japanese games have better soundtrack than the Western games do?

>Why do Japanese games have better soundtrack than the Western games do?
Because there is a bigger tradition of classical musical education in japan, compared to The West where rock/jazz/namewhatever diverts the talent elsewhere

video related:
youtube.com/watch?v=0mCBvfLP_J4

This is objectively wrong. I know it's fun to take sides in the never ending Japan/Western games war, but Japanese games literally do have better and more memorable soundtracks 90% of the time compared to western games. Even triple A Japanese titles maintain that memorability. The only western made games with soundtracks I can ever bother to remember are usually indie games.

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Every single Olivier Deriviere soundtrack is pure perfection. But nobody ever talks about his work. The reality of the situation is that Japanese games have weird autistic fanbases who push Japanese games to the forefront.

There's a reason you see so many autistic threads about FromSoft games while studios like Arkane get nothing. There's a reason manchildren cling to Metal Gear Solid 2, a game so stupid its translator thought it was nonsense that fundamentally misunderstood its own subject matter, while games like Deus Ex and Invisible War are ignored.
youtube.com/watch?v=BVl-8BL-PzU
youtu.be/YJtAhLPeBOg

Why are Americans so good at pop music but not making good vidya music at all?

Everyone around the world likes artists like Eminem, Linkin Park, Green Day, etcetc, right?

>It doesn't really matter whether it actually fits the game

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried.
If anything Japanese developers have been the ones pioneering dynamic music (Automata being a perfect example).

>The only western made games with soundtracks I can ever bother to remember are usually indie games.
That says more about you than the soundtracks.

>while games like Deus Ex and Invisible War are ignored
?????????????????????
Is this your first day here?

Literally just noise and cliched heavy metal riffs
D44M's ost is the most overrated soundtrack of all time

>another “Japan has better x than the West” thread
While I agree that Japan generally puts out better games than the West, the West still has plenty of good shit. Open your minds.

Seething Autistic Kikes

>If anything Japanese developers have been the ones pioneering dynamic music (Automata being a perfect example).
Crytek were doing dynamic music back in 2004. There's nothing special about dynamic music systems. Remember Me had a fully dynamic music system. The 2013 Devil May Cry had a fully dynamic music system. Doom has a fully dynamic music system. Japanese developers are not some special snowflakes. It's just that Japanese developers have special snowflake fans.

Kinda like how people think Kojima is some kind of design god for making a bad knock-off of a Ubisoft game.

How does it feel to have a literal trash opinion?

Japan does sound design in general well. The hit sounds and menu sounds in Street Fighter and MVC and even games like PSO2 are so satisfying.

>Crytek were doing dynamic music back in 2004.
CryEngine 1.0 literally didn't have a system for non-dynamic music. The entire music engine was designed to create dynamic compositions based on AI alert states, seamlessly linking different instruments and bridges between moods. Implementing old fashioned "play an ogg file" music was a pain.

youtube.com/watch?v=TzE-viJu-E0

>American pop music
>Good
They take the most marketable and most open to molestation by ancient bajillionare producers and play it a million times a day. Nobody actually fucking likes it, it's the same noise day in and day out. I don't think I've used the AM/FM radio in my car the entire time I've owned it.

Nice moving the goalposts.

because japanese game development has always been a collaboration of artists. They are always looking for interesting expressions and creative twists on old things.

Western games, however, are made to copy other media, especially movies. Western publishers all want to be film publishers, which is why Western games are often scored like films. Also, Western games are usually less interested in weird, inventive, unique expressions.

the obvious exception to all this is Indie games. some of the most stunning game music i have ever heard has come from Western Indies. Hollow Knight has nearly brought me to tears, a few times.

For one, the popular genres of Western games call for soundtracks more similar to movie soundtracks, which I bet you don't care for, either. So modern Western games have music that doesn't suit your tastes because you are looking for something different.
Historically, Japan was partially responsible for the revival of video games in general after the crash so they had popularity on their side. But if we look at Europe and America, the amount and quality of PC game soundtracks from the same era is staggering and underrated. in fact the c64 and Amiga still have people composing music on them.

What goalposts? You claimed Japanese evelopers have been the ones pioneering dynamic music. That's utter bullshit. Lest we forget Rareware's work with dynamic music systems, too. Banjo featured a dynamic music system where instruments were toggled depending on context, and Conker implemented an even more sophisticated version where multiple midi files were played at the same time and crossfaded, Lucasarts basically invented dynamic music in videogames back in the 90s, too.

Nice argument

This is objectively wrong.

obviously it is wrong to say that every Western game has bad/boring music. Just like its stupid to say that every Japanese game is an aural masterpiece. but, you have to admit that the vast majority of Western games have film score background music, whereas Japanese games have some incredibly varied and well written soundtracks. Like, there are games that I swear invent entirely new genres for their music.

What do you call Castlevania: SOTN? or Vib Ribbon? or Jet Set Radio? or the Sonic games? Vib Ribbon, especially. that stuff is fucking weird

>but, you have to admit that the vast majority of Western games have film score background music
Do you only play Sony games or something?

On the flip side, Japanese indie/low budget titles are both garbage when it comes to gameplay and music 95% of the time. I don't think I have ever heard of a Japanese indie game reaching the levels of acclaim of Hollow Knight, Celeste, Dead Cells, Rimworld, etc.
Maybe because have no individual creativity, they only create indie projects to build their portfolio and then get hired by large companies rather than to make a living.

>hurr durr all western games are AAA console movie games

The jump between KI's quality and DOOM's quality is fucking weird. I like DOOM's music because it's thematic but I can't listen to any songs besides like 2. Most of the active songs are messes that only sound good when you're too busy killing shit and not when you want to listen to it as a soundtrack. Type-03 is the kind of sound DOOM's music should've been along with the outofthebox stuff like the Russian Synth, Distorted Saws, etc.

It's bizarre how underappreciated Mick Gordon is.

youtube.com/watch?v=7TRdx2tbUFI
youtube.com/watch?v=JIE94pn4iJs

It's really weird when you see people praising Devil May Cry V's theme and complete ignoring the Killer Instinct soundtrack by the same people. (Also, Touch Me And I'll Break Your Face > Devil Trigger). There's this feeling of Japanese games having this fan prestige attached to them. Kinda like how most AAA games have directors attached to them who strongly affect the direction of the game, but Japanese games are seen as "auteur driven".

For instance, Far Cry 3, 4, and 5 were all directed by Patrik Méthé. Instead of recognizing Méthé as an auteur game designer with a distinct style that is clear in all his Far Cry games, people choose to view the games as "designed by committee". Yet if these were Japanese games, Patrik Méthé-san would be seen as a grand visionary who makes the games he wants to make. When a Japanese studio makes the same goddamn game 5 times in a row, their fans think that's a sign of their uncompromising vision. If a non-Japanese developer makes a series of new games that change a lot between games but don't totally reinvent the wheel, this is seen as "lazy".

They both have their seperate pros and cons. I don't think a Japanese can make a soundtrack as intense as Mick Gordon's Doom was. At the same time, I don't think the Americans can make a soundtrack as beautiful as Keiichi Okabe 's Nier Automata OST

Eyyyy my dude right here! ;)

>For instance, Far Cry 3, 4, and 5 were all directed by Patrik Méthé.
He also directed New Dawn. Primal was by Thomas Simon, an old school Ubi guy who hasn't done much recently. It's kinda weird how Ubisoft have these game directors who have huge control over the direction of their products -- see Clint Hocking as another example, where Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2 are distinctly reflective of his design ideology -- but people pretend they're just cogs in a machine because Ubi is the big evil AAA publisher. Muh soul, bla bla bla.

>Japanese games have better soundtrack than the Western gam-
youtube.com/watch?v=_7uDB0mOwpA
youtube.com/watch?v=vsZtCLMsevM
youtube.com/watch?v=npX8OQaIW44
*blocks your path*

Name a Japanese game that comes even close to the soundtrack of the HM series. Go on, I can wait.

youtube.com/watch?v=5AnUa6A5Brw
youtube.com/watch?v=Ytz61uka79M
youtube.com/watch?v=N0zSTHQUOoY

So I guess it`s your turn now.

youtu.be/1gEGl1mHhdE
youtu.be/S4E83RKavUU
youtu.be/6lGuDTRilKQ

western AAA is as soulless as it gets. of course it's going to be shit. the people who actually care are indie devs in the west

Are those even from games? The hell are you trying to prove with those songs?

Western games don't care about music that much.
Those Western games that did care about music weren't focused on making memorable melodies, which is what made Japanese game music stand out.
Japanese game music is more recognizable and memorable but not necessarily better.

I like the hard stuff from Doom, too, but it really doesn't have the same character and emotion of a lot of JP game music.

I win bitch. :)

Think about this way. You know any Japanese soundtracks with intensity like Doom?

>posting Shitmatas ost that reuses the godtier ost from the og Nier
Yikes

Where do people get this meme from, there's like 3 songs Automata reuses, and the only one that get actually gets played often is Song of the Ancients. Emil Despair plays a single time, Dark Colossus plays a single time, and Grandma Destruction doesn't play nearly as much as it should

Is the best music you could think of one that couldn't afford a live instruments?

Hotline Miami has some real good shit, yeah. It's lacking in character and variation, though. Nier Automata, FFVI, RE2, Streets of Rage. and Jet Set Radio had better soundtracks for sure.

I felt more intense from the Contra: Shattered Soldier soundtrack. Guitars were just as crunchy, if not moreso.

sample from opening

youtube.com/watch?v=Ep8Bd_RGSbg

Nigga what. You can say style but not variety dude lmao.

The music definitely left characteristics of a doomed city.

>another west hate thread
Blow it out your ass

Serious answer.
It's about the differences in eastern and western music. The difference is rooted in the fact that eastern music is monophonic while western music is based on polyphony.
That's the big reason why eastern music tends to be more memorable in video games especially. I think a big reason for this is that most eastern languages including Japanese are syllaballic in nature and thus there is more room for fluctuation in intonation when phrasing lyrics and that's inspired the way other music is created as well.
More info
google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.hgsitebuilder.com/files/writeable/uploads/hostgator585745/file/easternandwesternmusicinazerbaijan.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwixlveSisrhAhXutlkKHcFlCIYQFjAHegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1O3zFMUby8SV2OYCyGxd9k

Japanese OST: Individual tracks composed for characters, settings, events, etc. Often in different genres and instruments.
Western OST: Main theme that gets re-purposed using the same orchestra without any variation.

Whenever I listen to videogame soundtracks I can instantly remember what game I was playing and what was happening on screen if its a Japanese composed track. Western soundtracks lack variety and usually only have one or two memorable tracks.

youtube.com/watch?v=o2jS4ZaVOWA

I'm willing to bet that Western games were the first that experimented with actual live symphonic orchestras.

Because of this.
youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs
youtube.com/watch?v=BP793Rw1cIQ
youtube.com/watch?v=gSAF9_ZHjfc
And it bleeds over into games. But it's almost not a thing in Japan at all.

>tfw you can recognize a 80's and 90's movie just by its ost
>nowadays every ost sounds generic as shit because of that one faggot zimmer
A shame

Good vidya composers move on
Michael Giacchino scored for vidya before he went to film and won an oscar
In Japan, they just stay in vidya

This whole thread is pretty retarded but you contributed at least half of that with this one post

>I've never heard of a Japanese indie game getting critical acclaim
First day on the internet?

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you're not wrong, but you're in for a losing battle
music has been considered more as a marketable commodity than art, hence why the artist and production costs churns out higher valued pieces, compared to the compositions itself
reminder that rdr2 won best soundtrack over octopath

Bungie soundtracks have been consistently top tier. Last Wish in particular has a set of tracks that work very well with both the gameplay and backstory of each raid encounter.

youtube.com/watch?v=jXWC90Jq8Go

Why would you pretend to quote me while changing my words? Eat my big black penis.

Touhou. Cave Story. La Mulana. Umineko. One Way Heroics.

lol

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>Japanese indie/low budget titles are both garbage when it comes to gameplay and music 95% of the time
whatever helps you sleep at night bro

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>tfw Yea Forums completely forgot about RDR2
I used to hate RDR2 due to how overhyped it was but now I'm just sad how fast people forgot about its existence. It might be overrated but it was a solid 8/10 at worst to me.

>implying Fez isn't amazing
Hate the dev, not the game.

As someone who values gameplay above all else, it was a 7 at best if I stretched it.
Gameplay is what keeps people talking about games, it gives games replay value and reasons to get better. Story? That's something you discuss once, graphics is just used as bait by console warring retards and even then RDR2 looks like a blurry mess half the time, with low res textures and low poly models compared to other console exclusives. There's a reason games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Hollow Knight, DMC, RE, etc. are talked about to this day, and that's because of their gameplay.

>Western OST: Main theme that gets re-purposed using the same orchestra without any variation.
Far Cry 5 has three albums work of music by different composers and every single character has their own musical theme.

>reddit spacing

They're just more talented, and understand the importance of music in games more than Western games do. If a scene calls for emotion, they'll do a nuanced piece that highlights emotion, if you're fighting god for the sake of the world you'll get the most off the wall godly theme that still manages to fit with the rest of the games soundtrack.
I can't think of a single Western game composer off the top of my head, but multiple come to mind from nipland.

It's literally noises generated on the fly through a program during gameplay

I can't remember a single song from a Western game released the past AT LEAST 7 years or so. Pretty pathetic but what can you expect from westcucks.

So the quality of audio has nothing to do with the quality of music? Sampled instruments sound dull and soulless. You always go for live performance if you want the best.

It's usually one of the only pluspoints of the game, so without it the game is basically shit. Japanese games have fucking horrible UI and dialogue

cause you're a weeb with no taste

youtube.com/watch?v=ypNPxwnppU0
youtube.com/watch?v=IJiHDmyhE1A
It's just auteur wank. See: Kojima.

Japan doesn't like to experiment, it's either modern rock or orchestral. Give me jazz, disco, prog rock, ambient or whatever. Just something fuckin different for a change.

Because they don’t.

There are several noteworthy western composers:
>Jesper Kyd
>Martin O’Donnell
>Inon Zur
>Jeremy Soule
>Tim Folin

The difference is in the style of music. Western tracks are rarely as bombastic as Japanese tracks because they’re used more as ambience. This means that they tend to be more low key, but they are still pretty pleasant to listen to on their own.

tl;dr Stop being a weeb and broaden your musical tastes.

Ar Tonelico 1/2 > Might and Magic 6 > Outrun > Kirby > Acceleration of Suguri 2 > Atelier Ayesha > HellSinker > RefleX > Stronghold > Daggerfall > Rayforce > Clannad > Metroid > Air > Castlevania 3 > NiGHTS > Warcraft 2 > Sonic 3 > Mario Bros 3 > Secret of Mana > Mario and Luigi > Mega Turrican > SaGa Frontier > SMT > Ys 3 > Phantasy Star 4 > Unlimited SaGa > Little Busters > Xenogears > Mega Man 4 > Final Fantasy Legend 2 > Dragon Quest 3 > Heretic > Duke Nukem 2 > Guilty Gear X2 > Etrian Odyssey 3 > Deus Ex > Plok > Sailor Moon snes > Diablo 1 > Dark Souls > Diablo 2 > Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn > Sengoku Rance > Touhou

You really didn't find the soundtrack memorable in for example Cuphead?

I’ve found western indies can have decent OSTs, but nothing from the west comes close to the best of japanese OSTs.

The majority of white people literally, unironically have no souls, they are a hive mind that doesn't judge art based on merit but on how socially acceptable and popular it is.

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This. But what race are you user? If you're black you can't be against the white people. I'm third world Asian and both you and white people treat us like garbage.

Not him but Touhou is far more famous and impactful than forgettable shit like Rimworld, Celeste or Dead Cells will ever be.

rarely are western games allowed to experiment
they always go on whats marketed to be good than taking any artistic vision
MK uses rap for some god damn reason now

makes sense, video games are expensive
but if you look into lower budget titles you'll find some bops
youtube.com/watch?v=i4RanjlL7sg

i bet you fags listen to video game rap

don't forget mike gordon

>don't forget mike gordon
Nigger you spelled his name wrong, and he's been mentioned I'm this thread 1005 times.

>i bet you fags listen to video game rap
Doom soundtrack is the most soulless you can get in terms of soundtracks, an algorithm generates it according to what's happening on screen

>doesn't see the value in music in a video game matching with gameplay
oh god he listens to video game music on his phone doesn't he

I'd argue that Cave Story, Touhou and Corpse party are more critically acclaimed than the ones you mentioned.

If your composer and sound director are competent, it should already match without having to hand it off to a machine

FUCK western games and FUCK burgers

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Akira Yamaoka does all kinds of genres. Yoko Kanno, too, but I think she mainly does shows and movies.

Movie soundtracks are matched to scenes by composers. You can't match a static piece beat by beat to something interactive.

this, MW2 soundtrack was pretty litty!FACT!!!!!!

I wonder how every other video game does it, huh
Big mystery

Supergiant games always have great music.
youtu.be/C37PAE0CzTg?list=PL53mjgVKFq7wTRSwKFj3Fdom_wwItnIpg

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It is obvious. You compose something more generic and less dynamic.

Western games usually have better licensed music and soundtracks. Probably just have better access vs Japanese games which would just have access to jpop licenses.
And yes a well asembled soundtrack of licensed music can provide a very enjoyable gaming experience.

>Akira Yamaoka does all kinds of genres
I wonder if he'll do NMH3 (or whatever is Suda's next project)
youtu.be/bRdJ2foGoT8
youtu.be/4PSxkcw_Vr0
youtu.be/4PSxkcw_Vr0

...

Forgot my examples of Vice City and San Andreas greatly benefitting from their soundtracks of licensed music.

t. assblasted homos

Usually that just robs the game of having its own identity.

If done poorly. Done well and with songs chosen to fit the game over popular hits it can create a great experience.

How many movies do you watch and forget? It should be like that. A game you remember because you're cognitively stimulated when you play it. Games that try to be interactive movies and appeal to people that want to play movies are always forgettable, RDR2, Last of Us, Uncharted.

It has a single good song
All the rest is trash

>Why do Japanese games have better soundtrack than the Western games do?
They don't.
youtube.com/watch?v=Tq5pT1pYrOY

youtu.be/WGJbuHUbw8k

Soul

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As a metalfag, DOOM 2016's soundtrack is literally just fucking djent (the worst modern metal subgenre), and it's halfassed djent too.

The West should stop making metal vidya soundtracks, only Slavs and Japs are good at it.

youtube.com/watch?v=vGjwXI0n5-I
Western game OSTs can literally never recover from this, or AC as a whole.

>Give me jazz, disco, prog rock
Funny thing is there's more Japanese soundtracks using these genres than Western soundtracks.

The Virgin Western metal soundtrack
youtube.com/watch?v=tRQ4fyw5zzM

THE CHAD SLAV/JAP METAL COMPOSITIONs
youtube.com/watch?v=XDU5KIkPxt0
youtube.com/watch?v=H-CzbHcttI4

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youtu.be/U9mZFiWUQ3U
youtube.com/watch?v=oWrKHWpLn0U

Why does Japan like gibberish languages so much? They really like to use it a lot, both in anime or video games.

Why not just use their own Japanese language?

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they dont always hit it out of the park. look at drakengard 1. Most of the music felt like it was playing backwards, kind of fitting tho for a map of Europe that was flipped backwards I guess.

Fantasy purposes I guess.
Speaking of gibberish/fictional languages, the Ar Tonelico series soundtrack is sung in multiple fictional languages, including regular languages and programming languages set with its own grammatical rules, multiple written alphabets and even regional dialects, and can be perfectly translated to Japanese and by extension, English

youtube.com/watch?v=oxp4X59LoIY
youtube.com/watch?v=D8a4xBISGVQ
youtube.com/watch?v=zPI9HUZjcb8

Come on, now, not all western metal is bad
youtube.com/watch?v=WBOD8qeCBuc

western devs have no soul left is them

>Japanese developers have been the ones pioneering dynamic music

Mick Gordon says hi.

I'm not sure if you're trying to back the other guys point point or disprove it. This sounds like the most fucking basic trailer music of all time.
Like, if you listen hard enough you can almost hear "THIS SUMMER" at 0:06 and a Tony Stark quip as the sun rises in the backround and Avengers prepare to face Thanos at the end.

>final boss theme's sung in gibberish
>but reversed it's actuEnglish lyrics and has things not only relating to the game but its sequel too
youtube.com/watch?v=R2js11gw9jg

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actually English *

Because it's not a song. They simply use voice as an instrument.