The Magic that is Music

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve played a Final Fantasy game, surely its in the hundreds if not thousands.  I know the stories, I know the characters, and unless it’s a new addition to the series I know what will happen before it happens.  Kingdom Heats in many ways is a fantasy style brawler type game.  I keep finding that I return to at least thinking about it from time to time, the same can be said for .//hack, Castlevania, and Mario Brothers.  As you can plainly see none of these games have much in common, in fact the original Super Mario Brothers is now over 25 years old, and still I think about it. 

Surely I wouldn’t write about things that have nothing in common, just for the sake of writing something.  That would defeat the purpose of this blog, and for anyone who knows me, or has read the title of this post you know it has something to do with music.  Cookies to everyone who guessed that it’s the music that keeps me returning to the game.  For as much as I might go on about creative elements, the story line, and unique characters, the music in a game can’t be denied its place.

Most of you have probably watched Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, or the Little Mermaid.  Take a moment and think about what these movies would be like if you removed not only the songs but the entire musical score.  The movies would lose vast amounts of their emotional impact, the characters likely would feel flat, and the story wouldn’t be anywhere nearly as satisfying.  I can honestly say I can’t imagine Beauty and the Beast without Angela Lansbury singing “Beauty and the Beast” in the dance hall, and there are times when I get lost in that magic, and have my breath taken away, if not tears drawn by it.

Already I can hear someone saying “But that’s just for chick flicks!” or some other poodoo (see link if you DON’T know what this is) like that.  I’ll give you some credit there, as movies such as Die Hard would still be impressive with the explosions, however the music in the back ground helps build the tension that makes those explosions so awe inspiring.  Don’t believe me?  Watch  the next action flick you see muted… or if you have a good graphics equalizer isolate just the voices… you’ll see what I mean, in Hollywood even the explosions go though soundboards.

What does this have to do with videogames?  Simple if you think about it, music touches us, heart, soul, mind and body.  It can make us happy, sad, anxious, eager, and even angry.  I has more power and more ability then just about any other media that I can think of, even visual medias. The right score (musically not points) not only makes a game, but sells the game.  The first time I heard “Simple and Clean” by Hikaru Utada I was simply put blown away and had to purchase the game Kingdom Hearts.  Heck just the fact that there are concerts for video games such as Video Games Live, and Play! show that more and more we are realizing the value in music.  And songs are powerful and emotion evoking.  So the next time you hear one of your favorite video game tunes you might head to the maker, and send a thank you note to the music department.