(New?) Update Idea - MUSIC Overhaul!

Every time I return to CoH, the inconsistent and/or sparse background music just bugs me to no end. The sound affects are, for the most part, ok (though that static discharge sound from the new clockwork that plays like speaker distortion is a bit grating); however, the background music themes are nonexistent most of the time.

To that end, why not hire a composer for a few months and create a good selection of music for zones? Why not modify the sound engine so that the music transitions gradually as you fly from one city area to another instead of abruptly changing from, say, techno, to "creepy". And please add some mission music; while GR spiced some missions up with a high tense track for ambushes or boss fights, it mostly accentuated the lack of music elsewhere in the mission(s).

Now, I'm certain that some players will read this and chime in, "ZOMG, you have your sound on?!" And I reply that for every person not bothering with sound to immerse them in a video game, there's a line of people doing just the opposite. This is no less true for a Superhero/villain-themed game; you're spirit is lifted or your soul is blackened by your acts - a big part of this sensory experience is the musical atmosphere.

Perhaps this is all falling on deaf ears, given the age of the game and the added cost of hiring a composer and/or allocating a programmer's time towards a sound engine overhaul. But I'll be damned if this hasn't been my number one wish for a long time now. Thanks for listening!

As far as zone music I would like to see a two things.

1. Turn the repeat on! Right now when you enter a zone the music only plays ONCE. In places like the market trainers or TF contacts at the very least should always have background music.

2. Music just for traviling. Put in some simple upbeat 30sec bits and some code for determining when a player is going to a mission this will elemenate the constant shifting of neberhood music when your only in that hood for 15secs or less.

I'd quite like each zone to get it's own theme.
And THEN add dynamic sound.

Dynamic sound's principle is pretty simple. It has levels. For example;

Level 0 - All the time (except when ramping up levels). Subtle, quiet, themed to fit the zone

Level 1 - Some enemies spotted in close promiximity (so as not to bug while travelling. Only if within/near aggro range, for example) Slightly quicker pace, 'alert' style

Level 2 - Enemies aggroed. Standard mob size. Actiony 'combat' music.

Level 3 - Bigger mob/more high class enemies like LTs, or a Boss. More sfx added, different twists to the music.

Level 4 - Huge mob numbers. Think Rikti Invasion spawn sizes. The 'crank it up to 11' level.

(Level 5) - Unique theme twist reserved for GMs or AVs, etc. EBs showing up in Invasion mobs, that sort of thing. Maybe even have Unique music for AV fights

Example; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnogS...eature=related
(Ignore the picture, but try playing that track while wandering around Nerva, for example)

Level 0: Start onwards
Level 1: @ 2:22
Level 2: @ 4:47
Level 3: @ 5:55
Level 4: @ Ok, I got the numbers mixed. It was only 4 levels of music they had. Even so, you get the point.
Also, Boss Music

Dynamic music ftw, I say

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I was glad I'm not the only person who noticed the music sucks lately. It doesn't even start if other neighborhood music is still playing. Also, if you enter a zone, the neighborhood where you appear in's music doesn't start altogether. Really a drag when entering zones like Eden, Arcadia's music gives it that DE feel.

Environmentally enhanced music is never a bad idea in role-playing games. The right tune at the wrong time can--and often does--break my immersion. Environmentally enhanced music, on the other hand, often achieves the opposite, drawing players into the action, drama, suspense, or whatever.

Love the links Techbot, that brings back memories

Anyway, yes, new music. But the mention of dynamic fight-based music made me rummage around for 'Boss' fight music. The first i'll link, the one in particular is from 0:00 ~ 2:25, would be for 'Epic' fights, such as against very tough AV's or Giant Monsters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNQ1Y...6E73B&index=12

The next I think this would go well with Invasions, Mothership Raids or just times when your group will be facing waves and waves of relentless enemies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC7djryLAow

Just examples of what I feel would make fights more interesting. Its what makes battles in both the games the music comes from more exciting, especially the first, in which one wrong move can be the end of the entire fight

Some more ambient, repeated tracks would be nice. I've been listening to the Forza Motorsport 2 soundtrack whilst casually strolling around Praetoria and it just .. works.

At the least, have the option to enable repeated music, so those who like to just hear the sounds of their characters etc. can do so.

T'be honest, I only used the links as examples. City of Heroes has some unique themes already, ones they really should capitalise on if they ever did do more music. The Heroes/Atlas Plaza music theme, and the Arachnos main theme.

Also, <3 the Rikti Crash Site music and Vanguard compound. Epic rifs ftw XD

Also also, by our own Ominous Voice, I give you; Pure Win

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I can't get behind this. It would be annoying to have the music play all the time. And many players play with the sound off, so they'd never notice the new resources that NCSoft paid for

I turn the volume way down to a level where i can still hear the game if i want to listen, but that whatever else i listen to is the main focus of my attention. So i can be watching QI on t.v for example while playing without having to try hard to listen to what is being said, but if i heard the sapper noise . .. . . that i hear!

To be honest, i've never really thought "oh this music is good/bad". Even if they made it awesome, after a while it'ld get boring too . . . . . .

Yes, we do. I can't recall a single playerbase of any MMO, ever, keeping the music turned on if they play it for any dedicated amount of time. Doesn't matter how shiny and new it is, it's still going to be repetitive and exactly the same several months down the line.

Incidentally I love how you're the first one to bark back with 'we don't know' when your own viewpoint on the matter was prefaced by a definite statement of why people switch the music off, heh.

Only tangentially related, but I'm also sorry for the change in i18 that took away music on the loading screen. (In i17, which was the first issue I played, whatever sound effects and music were playing when you started to zone continued playing through the loading screen; since i18 it just does a rapid fade-out to silence, and I don't like silence).

It's the "I don't like silence" part that fits here, leading into...

I know some other games have an option to keep the background music continually looping instead of just playing once (and a lot of the CoH music is clearly designed to loop - many of the music files have names with "loop" in them). That would be the easiest solution to the "too much silence" problem.

Also, I've been playing video games for a long long time. So when I think "background music in a video game", rather than anything ambient, I think of things like this or this or even this. Oh, and boss music. Definitely boss music.

Anyway, my point was... I hate silence.

I still think that this would make for an epic addition for, say, the STF finale;

Versus Lord Recluse

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

In fairness, the music in Praetoria is a lot better. CoV has a few catchy tunes too.

But I always wished they'd go back, chunk all of the original music from CoH except maybe the main game theme, and start over. One song per map instead of per neighborhood would do wonders.

I like, BTW, how they've started adding panicked music to AV fights. Now if only some of the older fights could get that.

My vote for boss music still goes to Final Fantasy 7, to be honest, just because I love how much of a difference what is essentially a midi can make to a fight.

And again - if anyone questions how much of an impact good music can have to a decent game needs to look into Aquaria. If ever a game made a finer point of how great a part of the experience music can be, I have yet to see it, but if City of Heroes can capture even a fraction of the ambience and atmosphere Aquaria has, then it will still be a FAR greater game than it is today.

The lack of decent, persistent music and the generally embarrassing level of sound quality in this game is probably the single biggest detractor on the cosmetic side, far greater than graphics, animations or even settings.

*edit*
And it will take more than a decent music clip here or there for me to turn music back on when the bulk of it will still be the same old trite open-source sound clips.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Strange... I've heard people that like the music in CoH, and even wanted to know where they could listen to it. I used to have a link to it. It's not all great, but you can pry the Atlas Park theme music from my cold, dead hands. That's quite epic and thematic at the same time. Even some of the more meh stuff I really associate with the neighborhood now, which is a good thing for me.

Praetoria... didn't they actually bring people in to do the music for that? You can buy the soundtrack, after all, and that works pretty well.

I doubt I'd want any different approach to their music than they have now, as I'd rather it set the mood for a zone or mission, and leave it there. Boss fight music in things like Final Fantasy usually got pretty repetitive, and I've always thought the sound of our powers going off was epic enough. *shrugs* To each their own. I'm sure there will be plenty that agree or disagree with me.

They need to hire Ominous Voice to do music.

I wish there was a way for me to replace the main screen themes with those two tracks =/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Personally, I don't dislike the music in the first place. Some of it's kinda "eh", but overall, I think it's pretty enjoyable to listen to. That said, I play with it off entirely because it's used so poorly. You enter a neighborhood, it plays for a minute or two, then shuts off. It doesn't even change when you're moving around a changing neighborhoods anymore as a cool little signal like it used to.

It's all or nothing for me. If the game's going to have music, it needs to use it pretty much constantly. Otherwise, if I want ambient music, it's easier just to have my mp3 player running in the background.

Still enjoyed the music from the now very defunct game Total Annihilation which would use basic dynamic music.

Would be your basic 'you be building stoofs' musics. That's just one of many tracks, it's quite, understated and was actually a lot quieter ingame than it in in that video.

When all out war broke out then the music would suddenly shift, the volume would go up and something like this which is big, bombastic battle music.

I will say music is used very poorly in CoH especially compared to certain other MMOs (the Atlas park tune is nice but the big gorilla of games has a truly epic theme when you first walk into the major human city).