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[Dorago]

I personally feel like elden ring should have had more standout tracks. Of course, my opinion doesn't really matter since it won hundreds of GOTY awards without them, but, eh

I feel like the atmospheric background tracks fit the themes well enough (the visuals of a great tree fallen from glory/an undying yet lifeless world are matched really well with the slow and sad atmoshperic music you get when you first arrive in the lands between)

But the majority of the music was forgettable outside of the main theme. Or maybe it's just me. Or maybe they did it on purpose, who knows. Anyway, I give it a 6

Here's a playlist to refresh your memory. 66 tracks, over 3 hours and I remember maybe 10 minutes of it, even though I played through those boss fights several times



What do you think?

10/10
So many of the themes stuck in my head for weeks after playing it.
The Ancestor Spirit track is the best one ever put in a From game.
It's the best Souls soundtrack since Demon's Souls which was also 10/10

 

[hemo memo]

Serviceable

 

[PSYGN]

edit off topic

 

[Raven117]

Its pretty good. But, honestly, I'm still partial to the Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 Soundtracks.

As for OST's one can listen to...Man...Persona 5 is an absolute banger.

 

[Solidus_T]

Limgrave overworld was a bit annoying and repetitive after a few hours, but the experience of first finding Liurnia (which I did by passing by Stormveil castle in clear skies) and then Altus leaves me giving the soundtrack a 9/10. Most of the tracks are just alright, but the ability of these two tracks to capture the mood and environment wowed me.
Bonus for the consecrated snowfield, which is an optional area. I guess I just really like these ambient tracks.
Still though, the soundtrack is not really touching the original Demon's Souls OST. Close second goes to Bloodborne and then Dark Souls II soundtracks

 

[Nickolaidas]

Do people really listen to OSTs just casually when they're not playing? I'm convinced only psychopaths do this.

Of all the stupid, most asinine shit takes ...

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Of all the stupid, most asinine shit takes ...

What’s your go to OST then

 

[Nickolaidas]

What’s your go to OST then

Tons! I literally listen to OSTs of video games and movies far more often than I listen to regular songs. That's because they do not have lyrics so my imagination runs wild and helps inspire me for whatever I want to feel and experience, whether I am thinking of scenes for my webcomic, or just my desire to feel something.

For example, this is from the Whale.



Masterpiece.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I am incredibly picky when it comes to music. Ludovico Einaudio is probably my gold standard for more classical/instrumental type sounds.

You can’t even spell his name correctly, buddy

Jokes aside, ever since DS2 the Souls OSTs have gotten quite repetitive. I swear every boss music in DS3 sounds the same to me, while the OSTs to Demons’ Souls and DS1 had very different themes for the bosses. ER is a little less repetitive, but few tracks stand out, Radagon’s theme being quite obviously the best.

I‘ll happily listen to game OSTs when not playing a game. Of course only a few tracks really stand out in any given OST, especially those with lots of filler like those 3+-CD soundtracks. But this is true of lots of albums from the disc era of music, so nothing new there. There’s still too much good music in games to ignore it.

 

[Lupin3]

Do people really listen to OSTs just casually when they're not playing? I'm convinced only psychopaths do this.

This... is weird. Why only psychopaths?

 

[ntropy]

Mohg's my favorite, double bass gets some love for once

 

[Pimpollo818]

none come to mind, I was pretty disappointed

 

[PaddyOCanager]

Do people really listen to OSTs just casually when they're not playing? I'm convinced only psychopaths do this.

Pretty much the entire D&D community listens to OSTs. Skyrim and Witcher 3 are almost certainly in every group's playlist. As a result, I'd wager many D&D players listen to them casually outside of sessions - I do sometimes. D&D players are sociopaths not psychopaths.

 

[Zug]

Demon's Souls (the original one) had the most memorable soundtrack, imo.

 

[HazukiSensei]

I mean i cant remember any iconic themes from it...

Its certainly not mario galaxy, or god of war 2 or old school squaresoft games if were comparing it to that level of stuff.

I just feel theres alot of young gamers that dont know what to compare souls games to, or older ones that have short memories. Becaise Elden rings score is...aiight.

 

[GymWolf]

A good 7, main menu there was fire and the overworld music was very relaxing.

I don't remember any boss theme tho, bloodborne this is not.

 

[SnapShot]

It does have a few nice tracks, the ones I remember the most






And of course (especially cause it plays during final boss)

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Tons! I literally listen to OSTs of video games and movies far more often than I listen to regular songs. That's because they do not have lyrics so my imagination runs wild and helps inspire me for whatever I want to feel and experience, whether I am thinking of scenes for my webcomic, or just my desire to feel something.

For example, this is from the Whale.



Masterpiece.

This is my jam

You can’t even spell his name correctly, buddy

Jokes aside, ever since DS2 the Souls OSTs have gotten quite repetitive. I swear every boss music in DS3 sounds the same to me, while the OSTs to Demons’ Souls and DS1 had very different themes for the bosses. ER is a little less repetitive, but few tracks stand out, Radagon’s theme being quite obviously the best.

I‘ll happily listen to game OSTs when not playing a game. Of course only a few tracks really stand out in any given OST, especially those with lots of filler like those 3+-CD soundtracks. But this is true of lots of albums from the disc era of music, so nothing new there. There’s still too much good music in games to ignore it.

I’m going to blame me spending all day fiddling with my new subwoofer and taking a ton of room acoustic measurements.

This... is weird. Why only psychopaths?

Good point—And furries.

 

[_Idea_of_Evil_]

It was fine. I can’t distinctly recall any theme aside from the title screen, but the soundtrack was good enough to keep me immersed. Shadow of the Erdtree better makeup for the lack of memorable themes.

 

[Majukun]

must admit i don't remember much of if if not for the banger main theme

 

[rofif]

Do people really listen to OSTs just casually when they're not playing? I'm convinced only psychopaths do this.

I only listen to osts lol. My playlist is like 3000 tracks

 

[R6Rider]

It was good, but I don't remember too many tracks. Being in a party a lot and playing co-op does that.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Do people really listen to OSTs just casually when they're not playing? I'm convinced only psychopaths do this.

good music is still good music

 

[YukiOnna]

It was solid 8/10. All good tracks, but not many memorable ones. All the boss tracks largely just blended in and sounded like the typical Dark Souls themes outside of a couple here and there. The field tracks stood out this time around: Liurnia, Farum Azula, Leyndell, and Mountaintop of the Giants stuck out to me.

Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls still has the best ones IMO.

 

[Jigsaah]

Souls games for the most part only have music during boss fights or cutscenes. Sometimes not even cutscenes. The gameplay's lack of music typically adds to the dread of the game.

Elden Ring is the first game, if I remember correctly, that has fully scored gameplay throughout the game. For what it is, I think less is more in this case. When the music is there, I appreciated it. When it wasn't, I also appreciated it.

Solid 8

 

[Fbh]

It fulfilled its purpose but didn't go beyond that.
It fit the setting and never stood out in a negative way. But at the same time it wasn't memorable either nor did it really elevate the experience.

Also I've got to disagree with the people praising the main theme. I thought it was extremely generic

 

[Sleepwalker]

It's a 9, I didn't even like Elden Ring much but the soundtrack is just great. The main theme is sublime especially.

 

[Bragr]

That's because most videogame osts are variations on a theme. Stretch it out to 50 songs and yeah, you end up with what we usually get. If you look at the thread most people are comparing it to other games and saying it is notably forgettable or even worse than other games in the same franchise even. Basically, even if the average good game ost has 4 or 5 decent tracks, elden ring being so forgettable that only one track is remembered by most is odd.

Fair, but like I mentioned in an earlier post, a lot of games use licensed tracks, but even with original scores like the main theme in elden ring, part of the enjoyment comes from connecting the okay-for-video-game-music-but-average-for-regular-music music with the memory of the game..

Then rate it a 3 or 2 out of 10. Even If in your opinion, every game ost has a maximum rating of 5 out of 10 based on them being blown out variations of a theme, we can still notice when one is particularly forgettable or shit compared to the others, and celebarate the ones that do have a few memorable tracks, right?

nah, terrible is an exaggeration. In my opinion, they aren't 'find out who this artist is immediately' good, they're individual 'add to a large random instrumental playlist' good.

Absurd generalization. The 50 tracks in a game OST are not particularly worse than the 20 or 30 in the average movie, tv show or stageplay. Nobody here solely listens to, or even overwhelmingly listens to video game music. You listen to the ones that stick out enough while you're playing. That's what we're comparing elden ring against.

Do you think people are comparing chiptunes to grammy winning albums or something like that?

I don't disagree, but I think movie soundtracks are a bit further ahead. For some reason, video game soundtracks have a tendency to include atmospheric tunes, so you get like 20 songs that are some 1-minute low hum of a sound with some light drums to it. It just ruins them, it's something game music fans ignore. I honestly don't think a lot of people actually listen to full albums, it's just one or two songs, and they proclaim the OST is great from that.

However, the reason why I do listen to a lot of game music, is as you said, to connect to the game. I make it a point to listen to the OST when I am playing a game. It's memories.

But with the advent of large orchestrated scores, a lot of the genericism from movie soundtracks has invaded game scores.

Case in point, Sarah Schachner. I remember I liked the music from Assassins Creed Origins, so I become a fan of her music. Until I went on Spotify to actually listen to her albums. And every album she did for a game was so cookie-cutter and bland, it started to dawn on me that she is one of these composers that have the skillset and ability to create music that sounds highly professional, the music you could stick in any trailer, but she's not very good at making actual songs.

But it doesn't matter, because the sound of well-produced orchestrated music is enough to get hired, so it sounds good for a song or two in some random game, but the actual albums are usually terrible.

 

[ntropy]

loved these organic, musical moments

 

[Thief1987]

there was a soundtrack?/10

 

[BennyBlanco]

The main theme is sick, other than that pretty forgettable.

 

[Caio]

8/10. But the Game, 11/10. It's digital crack

 

[Ashler]

Nothing in the EldenSoulsBorne touches this one:

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I give it a 8. Some solid track, very ambient stuff that still manages to be memorable. And the title track is fire.

Downside is, it could have used some more tracks that are memorable to flesh it out. The ones that are good play often, but there's a lot of unmemorable filler too.

 

[CitizenKratos]

Bloodborne would be about a 9. Elden ring would be a lot lower than that.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

The only OST you’ll catch me listening to.

 

[Mozzarella]

I dont rate soundtracks, never thought about a proper scale and i hate rating things randomly out of the blue, so i cant vote.
But im gonna say its pretty good, not amazing or as memorable as some other titles like Cuphead but its good for a Soulslike, probably 3rd behind DS1 and BB.

 

[Clear]

Solid 7 for me, does its job well but lacks real standout themes.

Overall sound design I'd rate much better though, it helps substantially with the atmosphere.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Very forgettable, it's fine in the moment when you're playing and it might even help set the mood better but ultimately not very memorable.

But that's the norm these days with games tending to have movie ambience soundtracks.