Captain Spandex on 23/1/2010 at 22:01
Good to hear this game hasn't been forgotten about. As for the choice of sound designer.... eh.... Alex Brandon and Eric Brosius were both nobodies before they were somebodies.
Bakerman on 23/1/2010 at 22:33
Quote Posted by Bulgarian_Taffer
"We'll live, we'll see ... more likely we'll listen"
:thumb:
But unless you haven't noticed, our job here is to bitch and moan about
everything, not just things that have already happened.
Vae on 24/1/2010 at 09:21
Actually, it all comes down to intuition, feel, and timing when it comes to ambient program music. This is where this particular talent becomes paramount, as Brosius has brilliantly demonstrated. Textures and movement that evoke emotive responses, both on the conscious and subconscious levels are what is required for a supremely satisfying THIEF experience...one must think of it as a sonic fabric which weaves itself through time on the edge of consciousness.
This is where Paul Weir will ultimately succeed or fail with THIEF...and thus, from one composer to another, I wish for him sublime inspiration as he makes his way into the THIEF universe..may he invoke the wonder, mystery, and magic so that we may all once again cherish our beloved THIEF.
zil on 24/1/2010 at 09:37
I thought the music in T3 was excellent. If this is continued or, even, improved.. then I can't see a reason why the T4 soundtrack wouldn't rock as much.
jtr7 on 24/1/2010 at 09:51
Heh. That could be interpreted as saying the other titles' music isn't good enough to mention.
Minus the Cradle and Moira's, what were your favorite soundtracks when you played the first time?
zil on 24/1/2010 at 15:02
Quote Posted by jtr7
Heh. That could be interpreted as saying the other titles' music isn't good enough to mention. Minus the Cradle and Moira's, what were your favorite soundtracks when you played the first time?
No, not that - I played the T1/T2 original missions a very long time ago, so it might be that I've just forgotten the music. Then again, isn't that already telling you something? From what my re-listening experience on YouTube tells me, I definitely like 'Into the Maw of Chaos', 'Down in the Bonehoard', 'Assasins' and 'Return to the Cathedral' from The Dark Project.. damn, I really should play T1 again! But I don't recall anything specific from T2, in fact - it always seemed to me that the whole 'ambience' in both The Dark Project and The Metal Age comprised of the actual sounds you heard - the haunts, the spiders, the wind chimes which played whenever Garrett was near those crystals (?) etc and of the occasional looping ambience that so wonderfully merged in with all the sound created by the world you were in (AI, water gurgling, wind etc). Deadly Shadows was different in the way that it was more 'looping ambience oriented' in my opinion and all the occasional sounds that in the first two games came from objects/environment you interacted with or were nearby - they seemed to be incorporated into the ambient loop itself.
Now I'm not saying that the way I described is actually how the developers/sound editors did it in the earlier games - it's merely how I recall it. I'm also not saying that either of these approaches (the T1/T2 way and the T3 way) is better than the other. What Eric Brosius did with T3 is just more similar to something I would personally create, if I were given the resources and know-how. I have been quietly trying to take responsibilities of composing soundtracks for FMs (The Hammerite Imperium project, cooperating with various individual FM authors and currently working on The Black Frog campaign with Gaetane) so I pay quite a lot of attention to what I'm hearing in-game.
To answer your question about what I liked in the T3 soundtrack, here are my favourites (aside from, indeed the two pieces of music you already mentioned!):
* Auldale* The Kurshok Citadel* The Clocktower* Pavelock Prison* South Quarter
Renault on 24/1/2010 at 16:41
I think the main reason people argue that T1/T2 music/sound is better and so much more recognizable that T3's is that we've all just played the original games so many damn times, it's somewhat permanently ingrained in our heads. Not only just from playing the original games, but from years and years of playing FMs.
By comparison, I've only played through TDS twice - the music could be a masterpiece, but with such limited exposure, it's hard to get too attached to it. This isn't a rip on TDS in any way, I actually like the music quite a bit overall, most notably South Quarter, Old Quarter, and the Keeper Library.
Goldmoon Dawn on 24/1/2010 at 23:10
Quote Posted by Brethren
we've all just played the original games so many damn times, it's somewhat permanently ingrained in our heads. Not only just from playing the original games, but from years and years of playing FMs.
I hope the dream *never* ends... :ebil:
New Horizon on 25/1/2010 at 00:12
I love how the name of the thread is displayed as "Thief 4 Audio Director is...followed by the name of the last person who posted. lol
Guess that makes me the audio director until someone else posts.
jtr7 on 25/1/2010 at 04:43
Quote Posted by Brethren
I think the main reason people argue that T1/T2 music/sound is better and so much more recognizable that T3's is that we've all just played the original games so many damn times, it's somewhat permanently ingrained in our heads. Not only just from playing the original games, but from years and years of playing FMs.
By comparison, I've only played through TDS twice - the music could be a masterpiece, but with such limited exposure, it's hard to get too attached to it. This isn't a rip on TDS in any way, I actually like the music quite a bit overall, most notably South Quarter, Old Quarter, and the Keeper Library.
That's exactly why I said "...what were your favorite soundtracks when you played the first time?"
It may be difficult for a lot of taffers to remember their first impressions for each game, but I want to reduce the the bias that comes from the fact we can download soundtracks and play the music/ambients outside the game, or have played one or more of the games more than the others, etc.
TMA was my first Thief experience, and I remember being struck by the music for the main floor of the Rumford's, the main theme for the outside of Rampone's Dockside Shipping, the alarm theme of Framed, and the music for the pagan village massacre. In TDP, the music in Bafford's as I came through the basement and servants' quarters and into the main halls, the upper floors of Cragscleft, listening to the Horn of Quintus, and the rest I remember are the ambients that aren't music but really gave a strong feel hard to ignore and my not wanting to ignore them. In TDS, the music I remember is Moira's, the first track that stopped me in my tracks and got an eyebrow raise. The rest, to me, seemed and still seems, to much like a movie score that doesn't want to be noticed consciously, and it's only through listening to the soundtrack outside the game that I could really hear Eric's style and connections to the previous titles.
