Do you think the music has declined over the years?

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Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by retrolinkx »

For me, I feel as the music hasn't really declined in sections like the Routes and Towns, but has declined in the battles. Back when you fought Gym leaders back in Red/Gold/Ruby you had some pretty intense music, but after a while the later games just don't feel as intense.

It's a shame since the music you hear the least should be some of the best, but a lot of the time the normal battle music and the gym leaders/elite 4 and even the Champion just don't feel as good as they could be.

It felt as if complicating the music by adding several different instruments to try and make it fast and intense has worsened it in a way since they don't mix as well as just having less channels to have most of the music play through.

What do you guys think? Has the music gotten worse, or has it improved?
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Rajikaru »

No. It's literally just nostalgia obscuring your tastes.

The first time you fight your rival or a gym leader almost 20 years ago is going to feel way more epic than fighting your newest rival/one of the gym leaders when you're almost an adult now.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Ivogoji »

Have not played any Pokemon games past Gen IV, can't say. There isn't a huge difference in quality between Platinum and SoulSilver, though I do think I like the more orchestral sound of Emerald/Colosseum/Gale of Darkness.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by ZipoCXG »

Admittedly, I prefer the music from gens I-III, but there's still plenty of good tunes from the modern gens. Really the only songs that bug me are ones in the remakes when I feel they don't sound like improvements to the originals.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Mamkute »

I would say Pokemon still has some pretty notable songs, for the more intense fights.
ORAS had very enjoyable gym leader battle music
Cynthia fight music is pretty great
Deoxys fight music (which I know was repurposed from FR/LG E Deoxys event fight) is really amazing and spacey
Ho-Oh fight in HG/SS is a very nice piece
Kyogre/Groudon fight song is very intense, and I feel the remakes got the feeling across well

Those are the ones I recall off hand. Looking at some more, I would say I enjoy the Deer Trio's song, and the Diantha fight music as well.

I would say the most emotionally intense piece from RBY would be the champion battle, and gym leader fight song is also very tense.
But I would say it is more that the older songs are just so iconic, and shape the sound of future songs that you could get that impression. Or maybe you just really prefer old school game music (which I definitely do.)

Another issue may be that there are so many more songs in the newer games that it could be harder to remember them (like ORAS with its million different legendary fights and songs- what should be really exciting songs just got blurred together too much.)
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Flame »

I don't think it's declined, I preferred the DS games' soundfonts, personally, but as a whole I quite enjoy Pokemon's music. ORAS gave me Zinnia's theme, which is one of my favourite themes in the entire series, for example.

I loved the route themes in the DS games especially. I feel nostalgic hearing Sinnoh route themes more than anything else, even though I grew up with RSE.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Nano »

I stopped playing Pokemon after D/P, which had some pretty interesting songs in it. However, it doesn't hold a candle to most of the older games and their music.
Nova! wrote:No. It's literally just nostalgia obscuring your tastes.

The first time you fight your rival or a gym leader almost 20 years ago is going to feel way more epic than fighting your newest rival/one of the gym leaders when you're almost an adult now.
I'd have to disagree with this.

Pokemon music has been pretty decent as of late, some noticeable songs better than others, but it's not memorable at all. Compare this to games like Sonic, where every game has a ton of memorable songs in it that people can look back on no matter if it was from Sonic 2 or Sonic Colors.

Nostalgia does play a factor into this, but I personally think there's just been a lack of quality in Pokemon lately. Again, the songs are decent, but they're just not noteworthy aside from special cases (most of which are just remixes of older songs people loved as a child).
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Rajikaru »

Fox Boy wrote:I
Pokemon music has been pretty decent as of late, some noticeable songs better than others, but it's not memorable at all. Compare this to games like Sonic, where every game has a ton of memorable songs in it that people can look back on no matter if it was from Sonic 2 or Sonic Colors.
But Sonic as a series can't really be compared, ever since Sonic 3 there's been a huge focus on the music series-wide, as well as huge people working on the music. Compare, say, the final Bowser theme in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine to Open Your Heart or Live and Learn, both by Crush 40, both from Sonic Adventure/SA2 end-bosses (respectively). Which songs would stick out more? Hell, even Sonic '06, known worldwide as one of the worst games ever released, still has insanely memorable hits, from His World, to Dreams of an Absolution, to the remixed "All Hail Shadow".

The Sonic games have a unique place in the hearts of many for this specific context. Pokemon, however, has normal Nintendo pokemon music, just like other Nintendo games.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Nano »

I'm not trying to say Pokemon music should be better than Sonic music because you're right, Sonic places a lot more emphasis on music than most games. I'm more trying to point out that that's why Pokemon music has been declining over the years, because that's not really a Nintendo game's main focus on most cases. Pokemon is about the adventure, so it only makes sense that its music wouldn't be as spectacular over time as it doesn't try to make it stand out for its amazing music, but rather for its fun gameplay.

That's not a bad thing of course, but it does explain why the quality has been lacking lately in comparison to gens 1-3 who needed to put everything into it in order to make sure Pokemon stayed successful and original in comparison to other games at the time. Nowadays, Pokemon has become so popular and well liked that it doesn't need to wow audiences or revolutionize the playing field.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Rajikaru »

Fair enough, I suppose.

But my point is honestly it's pretty much just opinion when it comes to music in the pokemon games declining - this song is still my favorite pokemon song by far, and it came out not even 4 years ago. It also sounds just like a song you'd hear on an SNES game which helps.

If it was a game with such a focus on the music like Sonic the Hedgehog then maybe I'd see the merit in actually calling it anything other than opinion but that's really all it is for Pokemon's music.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by retrolinkx »

Honestly Nova, I don't really have an opinion on this, I just quickly said whatever so I could roll out a thread for discussion.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Rajikaru »

I figured as much, but it's better than bumping an old topic you participated in for literally no reason other than to "revive discussion". Cough, cough cough.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by retrolinkx »

Haha, someone's gotta do something for discussion.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by mintdrop »

Gonna go ahead and bump this again because it's an interesting topic, and I have things to add :herosway:

For me I think Pokemon has consistently had good music tracks, peaking towards the latter end of Gen 4 (HGSS) and Gen 5 (BW2 had some amazing pieces). I adore the jovial tunes of Celadon, Slateport and Route 110, the calming and extremely atmospheric tracks of the Oceanic Museum, Eterna Forest and National Park, and the amazing gym themes of BW2.

But I feel like XY has dropped in quality musically somewhat? While there are themes I adore (Route 4, Camphirer Town, Coumarine City, Laverre City), I feel like others are lacklustre and feel kind of empty (Gym Leader Battle, both Trainer/Wild Battle themes), or just plain jarring (Team Flare as a whole. kill me) But then again it's all subjective anyway. I'd like to know if other people share my opinion.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Goat »

Yes My bad, I thought this was in the general board.

Ahem

It's all middling but we're not getting worse songs
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by chaoadventures »

No, not really. But it's not like they'll ever beat Pokemon XD's music, so it might as well.

I will say the new version(s) of this song doesn't quite sound right to me. Something's off. NEEDS MORE TRUMPETS.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by EvilPinkamina »

Pokemon music is OBJECTIVELY getting better in terms of quality, no question.

In terms of subjectivity, that's subjective. I'd say its gotten better, comparing old Wally battle song (which i think uses the default trainer song) to new Wally battle song.
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Re: Do you think the music has declined over the years?

Post by Flame »

With the release of Sun/Moon, I have to say I think that personally I wouldn't say the music has necessarily declined, per se - I do however think the music took a bit of a dip in Gen VI. I didn't enjoy Gen VI's music very much, and I didn't think it was very good with one or two exceptions compared to older games that had incredibly memorable tracks. I can count most of the music I found memorable in X/Y on one hand (and one of them is only because I spent twelve years breeding on that one route with the day care), with ORAS being remixes. For what it's worth, I think some of the new ORAS songs were quite good.

However, Sun/Moon pretty much proved to me that in my opinion, the music got a bit worse in Gen VI and then got better again in Gen VII. I really love Gen VII's music so far, S/M have it down pat and I love the vast majority of the music there.
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