I agree with you that osts can bring up feelings and experiences tied with that media, but that's kind of my point when making the distinction between osts and music created on its own. if you listen to a soundtrack after enjoying that game, your experience with that soundtrack is pretty much inextricably linked with your experience with the game. I would expect that most people who listen to soundtracks, particularly video game soundtracks, are listening to them after playing the game. the context of the music is informed, in part, by how it's used in the game. the forest temple theme from ocarina of time is fucking incredible and gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, but it will never make me feel anything other than what it felt like stepping into the forest temple for the first time playing it on the n64 as a kid.DM FOR MUTUAL wrote:
I kinda disagree with this bit though:I personally find that with OSTs being tied directly to another piece of media, listening to them can really bring up feelings and experiences tied with that media, which the music itself plays no small part in creating in the first place. Especially with story game OSTs, with them being in chronological order it's almost like experiencing the game again but musically, which is a lot more than what I find some more conventional albums do for me. Maybe it's unfair to compare OSTs to standalone albums in this way because the standalone albums don't have the privilege of a supplemental piece of media attached to them though, but I don't think fairness really matters when talking about music in this way.xch00F wrote:
if you're talking about an album as a collection of songs with an overarching theme, ordered in such a way that tells a kind of sonic story, that gives you an "album experience," then probably not?
I feel most soundtracks are like this, especially when we're talking about rpgs, even if the physical release is ordered in the same way the music shows up in game. the undertale soundtrack is great, but imagine you've never played it. would you get the intended experience of that music just by listening to the soundtrack? almost cerainly not. most of the songs are super short, mostly because they're motifs to be looped in game. if you look at the play counts on spotify, it's pretty clear that people aren't listening to the soundtrack from front to back, they're listening to specific songs, their favorites from the game. and I think that if anyone said they've listened to the undertale soundtrack but didn't play the game, people would call them crazy and tell them they need to play it lol.
there are certainly soundtracks that stand on their own though, don't get me wrong. two of my favorites are the tetrisphere and new tetris soundtracks by neil voss. I've never played either game, probably never will, but the soundtracks unironically have some of the best idm/breakbeat tracks from the late 90s. the minecraft soundtrack is another good example, the game's so open that any context provided to the music from the game is going to be pretty blurry. another really cool quality about it is that it's so heavily influenced by one specific artist. it's hard to recommend music to someone whose favorite song is something like one winged angel without just recommending boss themes from other video games, but if you like the minecraft soundtrack, you really, really, need to listen to music for airports by brian eno.
at the end of the day tho this doesn't really matter since it's all art and your own enjoyment and interpretation of said art is the only thing that does matter. personally if you ask me for my top 10 albums of all time, soundtracks won't be on that list. but if you ask about my top 10 songs of all time, that's a different story.
lmao honestly when I talk to people about ambient music I'll usually recommend the minecraft soundtrack if I canDM FOR MUTUAL wrote:
Even though this is just videogame music, I feel like you could show this album to someone who has never played Minecraft but is a music enthusiast, and they'd enjoy the album. Yet, it is the experience of Minecraft that I think makes this album so special. And again, that Minecraft experience has a lot to do with the music on this album.
glad i was able to hear your opinion!