One thing I've noticed is that the battle themes in many, perhaps even the majority, of RPGs are poorly distributed.

JRPGS:
* In JRPGs, there's usually only one theme for normal encounters in the *entire* game. Quite often there are multiple boss themes, perhaps one for minor bosses, one for major bosses, and one (sometimes more) for the final boss, but yet every single normal encounter uses the exact same theme, and you spend far more time in random encounters than in boss fights.
* While I don't consider them RPGs, once the Zelda games introduced battle themes (Ocarina of Time), there's still only one per game. Sometimes I wish those games hadn't bothered, particlarly in Majora's Mask's Stone Temple, where the non-battle themes are really good.
* Some games go one step further: Final Fantasy 1's remakes have 4 different boss themes (counting the final boss theme), but still only 1 normal battle theme. Lennus 2 gives each of the 4 bosses in the later part of the game their own battle theme, yet there's still only one normal battle theme for the entire game. In other words, there's more effort spent on battle music that you hear rarely (only once for some of the tracks) than for battle music that you hear constantly. SaGa Frontier has multiple boss themes, including unique themes for each of the 7 (maybe 8? counting an unused one) final bosses. Dragon Quest 9 gives each of the Legacy Bosses its own theme (granted, they're all from previous DQ games, but still...), but still has only one normal battle theme.
* (For those keeping score, I note that Final Fantasy 1 originally had no boss themes; even the final boss used the random encounter theme (even Dragon Quest 1 was better than that!). Lennus 1 (Paladin's Quest in US), on the other hand, has 2 random encounter themes (depending on whether the fight occurs inside or outside), but only one boss theme until you get to the 2-part final battle, with each part having its own music. SaGa Frontier 2 is a rare case of a JRPG (albeit an unconventional one) that has a good variety of normal battle themes, a total of 4 of them.)

WRPGS:
* Some WRPGs don't even bother with battle music. This includes Might and Magic 3-5, and also includes (if they count) Arena and Daggerfall.
* Ultima 3-6 (not sure about later games) have only one battle theme each. Even Ultima 4 and 5, which have two distinct types of battle (normal and room battles), still have only one theme each. (The NES version of Ultima 4 has a separate theme for room battles, but the music in that version is completely different from that in other versions.) Ultima 6 is probably the only game I mention here, not counting early games that could be forgiven because of their age, for it not to be a major concern simply because of how the game de-emphasizes combat (shame, because I feel it has the best battle system in the series).
* Then there are some games, including Wizardry 8, and (if they count) Morrowind and Oblivion, which actually *do* have multiple battle themes and rotate between them in some way, but they lack specific boss themes. Wizardry 8 does change the battle theme based off the game's estimated difficulty of the encounter, but the "hard" battle theme isn't always played for boss fights,
* Baldur's Gate 2 and (if it counts) Skyrim at least have some special boss music, specifically for dragon fights (in both games), but I really don't know how common this actually is.

So, any thoughts?

Also, if you need a specific question to answer, take a look at one of your favorite RPGs, and tell me what's your *second* favorite normal battle theme in it (not your favorite, but your second favorite).

Not sure, i do enjoy music but really never pay a lot of attention to the battle themes present in many games.......
I belief Kings Bounty offers more then one tune and some specific for higher tiered trial battles....

Battle tunes should be as background minded as possible with the slightest touch of something familiar so you know you are in the battle ;)

For the more intuitive type of battles found in the arpg sector music can be exhillirating or thrilling but for the more tactical variant silence is prefered i guess or something that just finds your way inside your mind without disturbing any thought patterns though it is rarely you find real braincracker challenges in rpg's

Sirtech did great job as always, beside that?
Maybe Deus Ex, game on Unreal engine with same comsposer that did music for some notable games on this engine.

Gothic3 battle music permamently imprinted in my braing. Wolves oh god the wolves...

Can't say that I ever noticed or was even bothered by "poor" distribution of battle music/themes in RPGs. I guess I'm indifferent or that it doesn't really matter to me if there are several dedicated combat themes (like in the Icewind Dales, Baldur's Gates, or the more recent Pillars of Eternity's) or none at all. I just sort of go along with what the devs or the composer/sound designer thought would fit the situation or the moment best.

As for the specific question, I'll go with a track called "Rise and Fall of House Kaltenborn (Noble Houses)" which is arguably the second best combat theme of Battle Brothers' soundtrack, after "Thug Life (Brigands)" of course.

For the sort of games that "arpg" is often used to refer to, I think it might be best not to bother with battle music, and instead just give each area its own theme, just like you usually see in pure action games (though it's more common in 2D games than 3D games). Of course, you can then have the music change for boss fights, but leave it the same for normal enemies, particularly since they might appear in conjunction with platforming challenges if it's that sort of games.

Just remind me of this. In many RPGs, battle music acts as a sixth sense that warns the player about hostile enemies nearby...

I have a vague memory of a review mentioning how good the music swelled on during battles, and i remember several games where the music became synonym for a tense period to follow, which is more or less great, a bit of a suckerpunch but still great.
Of the final fantasy games i played 6 XII and XIII quite extensively but if you ask me what the music was like i go "duuuuh "
Galactic Civilizations on the other hand knows a very arousing theme if you choose to watch how the battles unfold or if you choose to go to war in the diplomacy scene changing the theme to feature the race specific battle theme which is pretty cool ;)

For the Terrans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzPrfGLxer8

or the Talans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q51BVS5t37k

this is the main theme btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZumxzSq1Iw

Not really trying to diverge from the topic here, don't get me wrong ;)

Thing is, in the RPGs I play, it's more common for battles to be a separate mode. You walk along, then the game switches (sometimes with a dramatic transition) to a battle screen, where everything changes, including the music.

Or, there's Ultima 6, where battle mode has to be entered and exited manually; enemies will still attack you if you are not in battle mode, but only one of your characters (the main character in party mode, unless you have somebody else use an item or something) gets any turns if you're not in battle mode. Entering battle mode also starts the battle music, even if you do so when there are no enemies nearby.

Note that using the music as an indicator of when enemies are nearby can create an accessibility issue, as players who can't hear (or are playing with the volume off) don't get that cue. Audio should not be the only cue of things like this.

That completely depends on the dev and the age of the game. Some devs realize the value of in-game music for the mood more than others. And you can't go all out on music if the game is so old that it had to fit on a SNES ROM back then.

Today, since disc space is no longer a factor you get something like this when the dev values music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1tI_idiwnQ&list=PLASGeWjIrtP_TuihAh_FalEiGl6Sb1TOI

That link leads to 47!!! battle songs from the Trails of Cold Steel series. That's 16 battle songs per game on average since the fourth game is not out yet. And these are by far not the only songs in the game. The complete soundtrack of Trails of Cold Steel 3 alone consists of 90 songs, IIRC.

Actually, on an SNES ROM you *can* go all out on music.

Looking at some later SNES games:
* Lennus 2: 71 tracks, only one normal battle theme.
* Final Fantasy 6: 61 tracks, including some very long tracks (Dancing Mad, which has 4 parts, and the ending theme), only one normal battle theme. (Not counting certain situations where the music doesn't change when a battle starts.)
* Chrono Trigger:64 tracks, only one nornal battle theme.
* Romancing SaGa 3 appears to have 68 tracks, but I only see one normal battle theme (not familiar with this game, however).

On the other hand, some older games with less storage space managed to fit multiple normal battle themes:
* Paladin's Quest (Lennus 1): 31 tracks, 2 normal battle themes (one outdoor and one indoor)
* Dragon Quest 4: 47 tracks, including 2 normal battle themes (one of them used for chapter 4); I note that this was a Famicom/NES game, and they managed to fit this many tracks in. (With that said, some of them are minor things like chapter ends; there seem to be about 21 minor tracks, so 26 major tracks, and they *still* managed to fit 2 normal battle themes here). Does this figure remain when you consider only normal battles? In particular, exclude boss fights and other non-repeatable battles; also exclude situations where the music doesn't change when a battle starts.

By the way, one interesting thing Lennus 2 did: In the final dungeon, the final dungeon music (which is only heard in this dungeon) does not stop, even when a battle starts and ends.

One other funny case:

SaGa 2, in its original form, has two fights that have no battle music. The first fight happens while Heartful Tears (the game's sad song) is playing, so you hear that song during the fight, while the other has a theme starting before the boss fight, but one round before the boss starts attacking instead of defending, the boss performs an action that starts the boss battle music. Interestingly, this means that, if you die and Odin revives you, you will get the Valhalla music during the fight (though, for the second example I described, this situation can't happen without a glitch.) Also, the final battle uses the normal, boss, and final boss battle themes all in the same fight.
In case you're curious, the situation in the DS version is as follows:
* One new music track, used for chain battles. (The DS version has visible enemies that move in real time, and if there are multiple groups close together, a chain battle where you can fight as many as 50 enemies at once occurs. (I hope you have some attack that hits all of them at once!))
* Another new music track, used for minor bosses (like the BabyWorm at the end of the first dungeon).
* The boss fights that had no music assigned now have music. In fact, right before the first of these fights, the music stops before the battle, then once the battle starts the song Heartful Tears will play, as it's the track assigned to that particular fight.

You think poorly. In action games (and some RTS games, btw) battle music is an important clue that you're under attack. And what about players with poor sight? For them sound clues would be better.

As for jRPGs and other games where "battle" is a separate mode, I don't see any reason why there should even be a separate theme. Gameplaywise, of course. Having some dynamic music during the fight is nice, and a personal theme for boss fight (especially if the boss is an important character in the story who deserves own theme) makes sense. But I think that having several music tracks for ordinary fights is just overkill.

Not a JRPG guy but I played Final Fantasy VIII and that Laguna battle music was amazing. I still hum it sometimes. "Man With the Machine Gun" I think it's called?

The obvious solution is to do both: In addition to the audio cue, have something visibly change on the display or interface to act as another cue. This way, players who have trouble with one cue still get another they can use. One could even choose to make that an option (provided such visually impaired users can still navigate to the option, or it's enabled by default).

One could even add other cues, like having the controller vibrate a bit when there are enemies nearby (but please allow the player to disable that *before* the first point where that can happen, ideally at the title screen).

The rule isn't that sound cues should be avoided; it's that they shouldn't be the *only* cue.

(Also, I believe "cue", not "clue", is the proper term to use here.)

Well, sometimes the overworld theme isn't really suited to combat. Could you imagine fighting to the overworld theme in, say, Dragon Quest 1 or Final Fantasy 1? (Granted, hearing the same battle theme does get old, but that's why I made this topic in the first place.)

Your idea of important story bosses getting their own theme leads to the topic of leitmotifs in games, which is another topic that is worth discussing, but is perhaps beyond the scope of this topic.
Don't care for that battle theme in particular, but FF8 (which I haven't played) does have some nice battle themes in it.

Personally, I prefer "Don't Be Afraid", which is the game's normal battle theme; unfortunately, it's the game's *only* normal battle theme. I live that 5/4 time.

Other games with good singular normal battle themes include Lennus 2, Dragon Quest 5, and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. (Dragon Quest 4's battle themes are also good, but that game actually has 2 of them, as I mention.) I also like the normal battle theme in Final Fantasy 2, oddly enough (though that game has one of my favorite overworld themes, and said theme sets the tone of the entire game.

played through me 3 for a bit last night and i can say that i don't even recall the slightest hint of music anywhere in that game outside the trademarked opening sound, same goes for me - a

in dragon age inquisition i did notice the sometimes the upcoming of soothing tunes in certain area's or after certain moments

that is more or less how it should be right?