Some of my favorite quieter music-based moments. (Off-Topic)

by Leviathan , Hotel Zanzibar, Thursday, August 20, 2015, 19:29 (3193 days ago) @ cheapLEY

1) Exploring Dantooine in Knights of the Old Republic. The locale was a safe haven for the Jedi, a bastion of comfort. It was a plains environment continually at sunset. Green and yellow tall grass blew in the wind. The standard music for the planet was beautiful already, but a certain conversation with your Jedi Master, Bastilla Shan, allowed her theme to fade in. Combine the visuals and the music, along with the sense of exploration and a great piece of Star Wars fiction, and you get goosebumps... Especially at 0:50 in. You feel like Luke looking at the sunset.

2)There are many beautiful, quiet moments in Final Fantasy VII and VIII. "Anxious Heart" from VII is a track that seems to always be at the back of my mind when thinking of those games... Something about it disconnects my conscious mind from all the crap I fill it up with. Those first few chords have a breathing quality to them that gets in you and steadies your nerves. Then the main melody takes you up and down in spirits. You quickly relax or rise into a content, neutral mood. Beautiful sadness. Maybe it was during this music that I first stepped out of my brain and into another world using the video game medium, so it will always be important to me.

The next track in the game fits the conversation that's occurring perfectly and also benefits from having the last track lead into it. I think I was a longing romantic in elementary school and this song gave me something to dream about.

3)The "Vigil" track from Mass Effect. This music plays during a pretty significant part of the story and it really nailed the Blade Runner inspirations the game was channeling.

4)Assassin's Creed Brotherhood was my favorite of that series (of which I've played at least). Exploring all of Rome with no boundaries and with horses to boot. Collecting renaissance art and climbing classic architecture was just amazing for me. I was taking Art History classes at the time and I could actually remember the slides the teacher was flying through because I could say "oh hey, I climbed that!". This particular track plays out in the countryside when you're just calmly riding your horse around the fields.

At around 1:30 a violin comes in that's just startling beautiful.

5)Halo 2. "Once More, With Feeling." I'm guessing I probably don't need to describe this one here. :)