if you turn the music off in SS2, you'll experience a completely different game, and a very good one at that. I find the music extremely distracting and immersion breaking. As someone else said, it also drowns the audio logs which is pretty bad, as the voice acting in the logs is very good imo.

Put me down as a fan of the music, although I do reduce the volume. I aim for a volume level that makes it sound like the music is coming from within the environment through speakers or such.

I'm not sure if I could play it with the music off since it adds another layer to the game. Although I could see the appeal in having the music off if you are playing in the dark in an otherwise silent environment. If not, the music can help to isolate you from the outside world, since it draws your focus. I think that is why playing without it can change the experience of the game.

Hey, to each his own right?

seriously, tune the music down if it's too loud, but don't turn it off - you are going to miss something great.

Honestly, the music is great, with the exception of a handful of areas. The game does have some wonderful atmospheric music too...

Is Morrowind open-source? Well then, yeah, they're not. I mean, it's nice of the devs to provide the community with tools but Morrowind with mods is not vanilla Morrowind, it's Morrowind with mods. Also, sound is a completely different medium than graphics and gameplay-- not comparable, really. I prefer to play a game as it was intended, instead of gussying it up because I am incapable of suspending my disbelief. :p But it's not your game, it's the dev's game, you simply purchased the permission to own and play it :] By making alterations you may be bringing the game to your specific expectations, but you are also voiding the warranty and essentially breaking the experience that the dev's intended. But it's not immersion breaking. It IS the immersion. How exactly does a game break something that is an intended part of itself? Turning it off or changing it would be breaking the immersion-- it might not be exactly the type of atmosphere you hoped for but, I can't seem to stress this enough, it is there to create the atmosphere the developers intended. If you don't like that atmosphere, well, I guess you can't teach people patience and tolerance.

I don't know what to tell you about the music drowning out the audio logs. Maybe turn the music down in the settings? :p Or even better, don't activate audio logs in areas with overbearing music. LoL

The devs intentionally included the ability to turn the music down or off entirely. OMFG how do you explain that?

Well if you don't like other people's opinions, then i guess you can't teach anyone tolerance neither. I'm with sammy on that one. While i haven't finnish the game yet, I remember playing through the demo many times over with different charachter builds even on the highest difficulty setting. The demo was different from the full game in that there was no music, maybe except for the main menu, and it worked better that way. While the music is indeed a part of the experience developers intended to create, they could also be wrong about some design choices, and the game's soundtrack is a good example of that, and while it's good in its own right it does not fit well with the gameplay and the atmosphere you get while you walk through ship's hallways while listening to its ambiance. Take Bioshock for example - it's a spiritual succesor to SS, and while it's much more an action game a lot of the principles stayed the same, Bioshock makes a lot better use of the soundtrack, the game is definitely more fast-paced than SS but the music is more sparse through the game and it works to its advantage.

Sillent Hill is also a good example of that, while the game is considered to be a masterpiece in terms of sound design and has excellent soundtrack, there's actually very little music while you move the character through the city, again there is music in key areas and scenes but it's always used to help build the atmosphere that you get from the image. Both Bioshock and Sillent Hill are excellent examples of how to utilize the music in videogames to a greater effect - music is only there where it needs to be. System Shock is the exact opposite of that - the atmosphere builds up as you explore the ship to the moment when techno kicks in only to ruin the experience. But I'm not telling you to turn it off, play as you see fit and get the "proper experience".

As for me, I almost always play games like "they supposed to be played", I very rarely install any mods or play any user created content for that matter. I run SS in 1024x768 even though I play it on widescreen monitor, but I turn off the music because it ruins the game.

I like the music most of the time. On the first floor when it gets all pumping with the drums it is kind of out of place. Other than that, it's great.

Back in the day I always played with the music turned off. This time I decided to try leaving it on. I didn't have it on for long enough to get much of a feel for how it really works (maybe it only plays some of the time?), but what I heard convinced me that I'd be much happier basking in the glory of the amazing ambient sound design instead.

The ONLY problem I can think of that the music could pose is drown out sounds of approaching enemies which is always useful to be aware of. Other than that, what's wrong with you people? It's an amazing soundtrack, by itself and in-game. The Med 1 and Engineering tracks are like adrenaline rushes, which is VERY fitting for a game playing as a cybernetically enhanced soldier fighting mutants, alien forms and machinery gone bad, whether or not it relies on survival tactics more than most games of that type.

This is probably what I'd say myself if i would not play the game first. Some people would probably argue that metal/pumping techno could be a fitting music in games based on Alien series. I'd say they either have never seen the movies or lack any taste. For me SS is an atmospheric horror experience where the player is supposed to be intimidated by the environment and monsters. While the OST is great on its own it ruins the atmosphere in the game - at least for me and few other folks here, because you and some other people are apparently getting diametrically different experience from this game - , Med Sci 1 and Enginering in particular make you feel like you're in some kind of a battle mode.

Well technically you ARE being thrown into a kind of battle, the Med deck in particular is when you are first thrown into the fray, and Engineering showing up pretty early on too. Even then, no matter anyone's thoughts on those two tracks those are the only two tracks in the game in that style. The rest of the game's music really IS creepy/atmospheric all the way, so it's coming off to me like you all heard those tracks and immediately muted the soundtrack not bothering to hear what it attempts after that. For me it's like opening up in a panicked rush and then gradually winding down into a tense fight for survival as you move further and further into the ship.

Personally I think the cyborg ninjas/"assassins" are more out of place in this game than anything in the soundtrack as much as I get a real kick out of those guys.

After I heard Med Sci 1 for the first time I lowered the music volume two points away from being inaudible. I could still make out the music as long as I didn't hear any enemies or other noises. The next day I turned the music all the way off after I got halfway through deck 3. Now I'm in Ops, and after checking out the soundtrack I think I'll turn the music back to where I set it when I started; quiet enough to clearly hear ambient noises as well as creatures, but loud enough I can hear it when I'm walking alone.

Strange... I found the music to be a great fit for the game almost all the time.

Like when you first walk through the door to Med/Sci and you´re charged by some crazy hybrids trying to batter you down with lead pipes and the pumping music hits. Maybe accidentially running into a security cam, hitting the alarm, getting shot by turrets and bombarded by voicemail - all at the same time!... that´s just trying to terrorize you immediately, creating an atmosphere of unsafty and panic.

Or when you enter Engeneering having to move quickly and find your way through the narrow fluid tunnels and try not to get radiated to death. Some faster paced music is realy adequate here.

Once you hit the Hydroponics deck there is some realy slow paced and atmospheric music which, combined with the noises your new enemies make can set a realy scary mood. The second track here is also a great fit when fighting midwifes (definitly make my top 10 of scariest enemies in games) as it sounds just as synthetic and metallic as they do.

On the Ops deck there are some dark and scary tracks while exploring and walking into some of the many hazards there. After finally getting near or reaching your objective on this deck you get the only track that sounds positive and almost friendly. Right at the point where you should hit a power level that makes you feel comfortable against the enemies you encountered so far.

Only to have that feeling get crushed once you get to Rec with a lot of new and stronger foes. The music gets a lot scarier again and imho realy goes well with the long corridors and quite open rooms on this deck. Same is true for the command deck with the addition of some pounding music for encouters with some big and nasty enemies towards the end.

So all in all I think the music was placed very well. Yet there allways is the possibility of something not working out too well. Like the Med/Sci section just getting to confusing or aggravating for some players, missing out on the "terror" it wants to create. Or the wrong difficulty making parts that are supposed to be scary less immersive. But the music is definitly not bad or misplaced. Afterall it still is a matter of opinion wether or not you like the style. I for one do.

The music is one of favourite parts of the game!

It's very 90's though I guess, reminds me of dark psytrance/techstep stuff from the era. The more upbeat tracks anyway; the ambient stuff is good too. It's probably one of my favourite game soundtracks ever next to the Playstation of the original Descent.

Interesting factoids: this game had two composers: Josh Randall (the more upbeat tracks) and Ramin Djawadi (the more ambient stuff). This was one of Ramin's first gigs, he went on to work under Hans Zimmer and did the soundtrack for Iron Man and the score for Game Of Thrones.