patrikc: How important would you say music is in games? Can you enjoy a game with forgettable music, or even bad? Do you think highly of a game with good music?
I'd like to see some examples of what you consider quality music in games and I will start by offering two myself.
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Edit:
Have you ever felt compelled to replace the soundtrack of a game with something of your liking, in order to have a better or different experience?
I don't believe the mere presence of music in games is important, but rather that it is important for games to include content that is a compelling experience that provides value to the person playing the game, and that the various forms of art present that create this experience can be enhanced by music if it is done well. It really depends on the music itself and the context in which the music is playing inside the game.
For example, games often have one or more of the following types of music:
1) Main menu / pause menu music
2) In game background music that is not context/mood sensitive and either loops or progresses a playlist.
3) In game mood music that is affected by the current context/mood of the game such as danger, enemies near, etc.
4) In game music the player can control to some degree, such as car radios or other radios in Grand Theft Auto type games.
#1 - I don't mind it but wish more games had sound options to change the menu music volume or disable it, as sometimes it is too loud compared to the volume of everything else you set. Or you might pause a game to answer the phone but instead of the game muting the audio it blares menu music.
#2 - This is your typical OST type music usually and I may or may not like the music itself, and separate from that I may or may not want to hear music in the particular game. Some games the music loops too often and it gets repetitive hearing it all of the time, while at other times the music takes away from the ability to hear quieter sounds in game or takes away from the immersion of the game. I usually turn game music down to 20% of lower volume so it isn't overpowering and it really is in the background. I wish games also offered an option to apply an audio compressor to the music so as the volume is turned down you can still make out quiet parts of the music but that'll never happen.
#3 - This music is usually movie soundtrack-like with an ambient feel some or all of the time, and it can be a warning sign that danger is near or something else, which can further build up suspense or invoke other emotions much like how music is utilized in movies. In general, I like this kind of ambient context-sensitive music and the clues it offers as to danger etc.
#4 - I have mixed feelings, as I tend to like some of the music but not all of it, and I tend to like to hear it sometimes and at other times find it interferes with gameplay or dialogue with other characters so I usually turn off the music in-car etc. This is next to impossible to do in Cyberpunk 2077 however since apparently in the future people are still not only using radios that in 2077 would look like they are 100 years old, but they have multiple radios in every room of their house, out on the balcony, in alleyways where nobody is even present, on rooftops, in sewers, just about everywhere and they are all turned on by default 24/7. I bet it would take 2 months of in game gameplay just to go around all of Night City and either turn off or shoot and destroy every radio in the game. Then there are the TV sets everywhere also turned on 24/7... :)
I've never felt like replacing a soundtrack for a game with other music personally. If I didn't want to hear the in game music but wanted to hear music, I might just fire up music in a media player or YouTube while the game is running though but I almost never feel like doing such when gaming.
One more thing, is that whenever I am playing a multiplayer game I always turn the game's music completely off as a courtesy to other players. This is a common courtesy my buddies and I all agreed upon during LAN parties back in the 90s. Nothing is more horrible than being in a room full of 3-8 copies of the same game all playing the same music at the same time but out of sync with each other in a massive cacophony of indiscernible noise. When we game online we kill the music also so that we can hear each other more clearly and there is less tendency for someone to shout into their mic to try to be louder than their own music that only they hear. So yeah, we do the "no music during multiplayer" thing.
My favourite video game music is the Warcraft II OST rendered on a Roland Soundcanvas synth.
