In Defense of Video Game Music

I remember in the past laughing at the people that said they would listen to video game music. There are levels of nerdiness, I thought, that just seem far beyond my reach.

Well, that wall was shattered today, as I just listened to an album of 100% video game music. Not only video game music, but 8-bit music in the style of classic video games of yesteryear. In my defense, though, it was by Anamaguchi, which by all accounts is the best of its genre, and it was the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game Soundtrack (that's a mouthful, isn't it?). I was a bit reluctant at first, but there's several factors that convinced me...

1 - They are usually instrumental, or at least with very little in terms of lyrics, which means that it worked great as background music that doesn't distract you too much when you are doing other tasks like writing and reading.

2 - They are short. I have a short attention span for music. Songs better be entertaining, catchy, and above all, they must not overstay their welcome. Which is not to say that I dislike old songs, but if you repeat the same verse/chorus more than three times AND you are not The Ramones, you better have a damn good reason for making me listen to your song for five minutes. 

3 - Unifying themes. I'm a sucker for themes and movements across different songs, as they give unity to an album (something lost on many artists), and work perfectly to transition from one song to the other. I understand this is probably a side effect from video games when they have recurring characters with their own theme song.

In any case, I'll probably sample a few other albums of this kind, see how much I enjoy it, or if this was just a fluke.

Superman: Origin (Dragon Age: Origin version)

For Christmas, my wife bought me a copy of Dragon Age: Origin Ultimate Edition. This was a bad decision on her part, because I am now clearly addicted to this game. I'm just a sucker for RPG games, and I will spend hours in front of the XBox playing it (as she surely figured out by now). The game is expansive enough that I could spend all of next month playing, and even then I would still find new ways to entertain myself. And the LOTR-inspired story is also pretty mesmerizing, the creators went a long way to create a vivid world, with colorful and inspired characters. 

As it tends to be the case with most RPG's, the game is based on going around the world and fighting all kinds of creatures. As you travel the world map, you will run into random encounters, though they are not always enemies. Sometimes they are merchants, allies, quests, cut scenes, etc. I was minding my own business, when I ran into a random encounter, and this time it was a cut scene.

A meteorite landed right in the path of where I was going (though the scene shown happens immediately before you get there), and a farmer couple approaches the burning crater. As they do so, we can see that a baby is in the hole, and the male farmer notices, grabbing him, that it looks just like a normal human baby. He tells his wife, Martha, that this is a sign of the Maker they should raise him as if he were their son. Once you reach the scene, after Martha (and though not named, Jonathan) left the scene, you reach the crater. Inside of it, there is a mysterious metal (kryptonite) that you can loot and use to create a special sword. 

I can't wait for the next part of this video game saga, which must inevitably be called Dragon Age: The Man of Steel.