Thread: The biggest disadvantage of the game is... the bad soundtrack.

I was planning to post this thread yesterday, but I couldn't formulate my thoughts.

Lord of The Rings Online is superior in many ways to other games. The graphics, for example, are much better than those in World of Warcraft. The graphics are realistic. The quests and in-game events are fine.

However, the soundtrack is bad.

Or, if you don't like this world, it's mediocre. It doesn't give me chills and this is one of the things I expect from a fantasy setting. The music just fades compares to the music of World of Warcraft, but what's worse, the music is worse than the music of other free2play games like Runes of Magic.

And, what's the nastiest thing is ... that it shouldn't be so... because the Lord of the Rings fantasy Universe is the ONLY ONE that's created by music!!! So... the bad soundtrack in this game can break the immersion sometimes.

I enjoy LOTRO very much, but sometimes I turn the sound off or play some other music that fits in the atmosphere.

Really?

I disagree. I find the music from the original Shadows of Angmar zones, as well as Eregion, Moria and Lothlorien, to be, for the most part, very well done and appropriately atmospheric for each region. Shire music, in particular, never ceases lighten my mood, and has always made it a bit easier to farm crops in Hobbiton. I love the Tom Bombadil theme. There are a few pieces in Moria, and one very stirring symphonic Eregion composition (recycled into the Great River, darn it), that more times than not see me take a break from questing and crank up the sound.

I do feel that the quality of the background music dropped off significantly since then -- much of the music in Enedwaith, and Dunland (when not recycled from other zones) sounds overly synthesized and does nothing to me to suggest I am questing in regions populated by feuding clans of men.

Turbine has announced that, for the upcoming Rohan expansion, they will be reuniting with Chance Thomas, the composer with whom they collaborated on Shadows of Angmar (and Moria, I think). This makes me happy.

I went to the Shire, to the Old Forest, Bombadil's house, to Eregion... I listen to the music, but I feel nothing.

I don't feel chills inside me. I don't feel enlightened. If I could ignore it, it would be fine.

Never before I've seen such a great game will well made scenery/graphics and quests... and without a music that would touch me on the inside.

I can't find a single part of the music that I would like. Compare this to the Tagena sountrack / Runes of Magic, and even the slightly annoying Silverfall, or ... to the nigh elven theme - Nightsong in World of Warcraft. And you'll see the difference

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

I was planning to post this thread yesterday, but I couldn't formulate my thoughts.

Lord of The Rings Online is superior in many ways to other games. The graphics, for example, are much better than those in World of Warcraft. The graphics are realistic. The quests and in-game events are fine.

However, the soundtrack is bad.

Or, if you don't like this world, it's mediocre. It doesn't give me chills and this is one of the things I expect from a fantasy setting. The music just fades compares to the music of World of Warcraft, but what's worse, the music is worse than the music of other free2play games like Runes of Magic.

And, what's the nastiest thing is ... that it shouldn't be so... because the Lord of the Rings fantasy Universe is the ONLY ONE that's created by music!!! So... the bad soundtrack in this game can break the immersion sometimes.

I enjoy LOTRO very much, but sometimes I turn the sound off or play some other music that fits in the atmosphere.

Just turn it off if you don't like it. Play the sound track to the movies in the background, or dig out the old Bo Hansson LoTR album, or the Mostly Autumn one, or the Blind Guardian album Nightfall. It's not strictly speaking LoTR but it is Middle Earth.

I disagree with you.

However there is definitely a difference in quality between the original Shadows of Angmar (including Moria and Lothlorien) and all content that was released thereafter (Mirkwood, Rise of Isengard). Coincidentally this guy named Chance Thomas (has some big titles on his name!! Look it up on the internet!) did the music for the SoA, Moria and Lothlorien. And guess what: he is comming back to do a full orchestral for Riders of Rohan! I am soooo excited about that! For me personally that might be the best news I've heard about the Riders of Rohan expansion.

The new full orchestral composed by Chance Thomas combined with the the little preview we got of new landscaping design in the Great River area causes my expectations for Riders of Rohan to be sky high!

The soundtracks made by Chance Thomas tend to get positive reviews here. This includes most of the priginal SoA & MoM music.

The tracks NOT done by Chance Thomas are usually the ones that people dislike.

Well to each his own I guess....

I personally absolutely love the music in Lotro....its fitting, epic, and very well done.....I feel its one of the strongest points of the game....

But then again things like music, art, etc is really based on opinion.....I know people who dont like the music by Beatles or Led Zeppelin or Linkin Park.....or music by Howard Shore or Hans Zimmer.....while I love all of those.....and also vice versa about different kinds of music....so not really surprising....

Since I always run with all sound off, I can only say "What soundtrack?".

I think much of the music composed by Chance Thomas is very good, some of the simple single guitar lays work really well and are unusually original for a computer game. Trollshaws, Evendim are great for their ambient tracks, but IMO nothing outside of Howard Shore's masterpiece captures Tolkein quite like the melancholy of the Lone Lands theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn_L7oeatLw
This piece is amazing, and really underutilised by Turbine as it has Epic Battle written all over it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B3r97kbrSM
(Yes they play it in Roots, but I always have to turn it down to listen to the fellowship leader's instructions...)

However, what I think the OP is trying to convey is that these tracks are rarely heard and, especially during combat, there's nothing with that truly epic, rising quality that can makes the hairs on the back of your neck tingle:
Howard Shore (Rohirrim): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFb1R7_TsDg
Jeremy Soule (Morrowind theme): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhaq4JP_t6o

But, I think that Chance Thomas is now finally back he will deliver some amazing tracks for RoR, it will be exciting to see what he does with a soundtrack for mounted combat.

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

I went to the Shire, to the Old Forest, Bombadil's house, to Eregion... I listen to the music, but I feel nothing.

I don't feel chills inside me. I don't feel enlightened. If I could ignore it, it would be fine.

Never before I've seen such a great game will well made scenery/graphics and quests... and without a music that would touch me on the inside.

I can't find a single part of the music that I would like. Compare this to the Tagena sountrack / Runes of Magic, and even the slightly annoying Silverfall, or ... to the nigh elven theme - Nightsong in World of Warcraft. And you'll see the difference

I went and listened to the pieces you suggested but I didn't find them very interesting. It could just be that I have different tastes or maybe because I haven't played the game with them playing in the background.

Also I've liked Chance Thomas's music ever since playing Quest for Glory 5 : Dragon Fire, so I find his pieces for LOTRO just as good. I'm quite excited to see what he comes up for Rohan, I also hope he remains with the game till the end.

My favourites are;
Hollin Gate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGklUrOb7sE
Silent Hope http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT6hV-aKfOI
Archer's of the Galadhrim http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOjbK9x5tM4
Flame of Udun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5P_L...hannel&list=UL

(QFG5 - Dance of Mystery and Intrigue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3eUJ27MQYs)

Sorry to disagree, yes RoM has a good soundtrack and I liked it but I remember that I recognized many song parts from other games, popular songs and movies. That's the trick

So far Lotro has to deal with 2 drawbacks: It hasn't the Lotr movie soundtrack and since is THE story, people has the highest expectatives on everything and the music is one of them.

Bree for example, it hasn't good music but it is also true that the song must represent the zone, and the culture. I mean we are in Bree not in some my little pony tale.

For me, Eregion and Trollshaws have the best music in the game, but also Moria and Angmar music are what I expect to hear in those ambients.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B3r97kbrSM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_SXS19fp2Q

Anyways, you can always hear whatever music you like while playing the game. So if you want to go with Pionners colony, Tagena or Silverfall its your choice. But if we talk about good soundtracks better to start with these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEqDtbC3bL8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZOuy4YM0AI

/edited because post space

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

....
I don't feel chills inside me. I don't feel enlightened. If I could ignore it, it would be fine.

...

I can't find a single part of the music that I would like. Compare this to the Tagena sountrack / Runes of Magic, and even the slightly annoying Silverfall, or ... to the nigh elven theme - Nightsong in World of Warcraft. And you'll see the difference

I´m not gonna go into argueing about taste, because that is personal.

But it appears to me that your preferences of soundtracks follow a completely different art style than what is done LotrO. Your samples and others from these games make gratuitious use of heavy sampling, multilayered vocals and effect machines, laden with pathos and ethno themes. These are considered easy emotion jerkers.

LotrO however is mostly built on traditional orchestral/instrumental scoring. It has in fact received much praise for that in the press. The LotrO soundtrack is not bad. It is just done in a style that is not compatible to your tastes.

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

I went to the Shire, to the Old Forest, Bombadil's house, to Eregion... I listen to the music, but I feel nothing.

LOL

Then you have terrible taste in music. If you stood at bombadil's, listened to this and felt bad, then I just don't know what to say to you:

I must respectfully disagree. I love the music here. Especially daytime Lothlorien.

Some musics are good or even very good, many are also quite bad or even very bad (in my opinion, music is all about opinion anyway). There are some true gems (Tom Bombadil Theme, The Shire... ) but also parts I just can't listen to anymore (Lone Lands music... UGH!).

I definitely rank music of games like WoW, Morowind/Oblivion/Skyrim, GW2 way higher than the LOTRO music, even though it's definitely not "bad" overall. This said, some of those games have a tremendous advantage... they have Jeremy Soule doing their music...

the music of lotro is very befitting of it's setting and theme. rustic guitar pieces like the following really evoke the feeling of the race of man in middle earth. unless you comprehend these things you will not appreciate them fully:

The mood is light-hearted and there is the feeling of hope in the air as you and your party enter the safety of Bree-town. A rustic, old-english setting akin to the middle ages. Happy music fills the streets as the hustle and bustle of the townsfolk greet your eyes. This music totally captures the setting and evokes that feeling:




Returning from a quest to kill bears and wolves, you enter the camp to turn in the quests to rangers sitting around a campfire. And this music is playing. It totally fits:




It took weeks to finally get there, the trip was perilous and your legs are weary. You step through the trees into a hidden vale, and your breath is taken away. Your eyes feast on the majestic beauty of Rivendell! The land of the Elves! The music in your ears is just as beautiful and haunting as you imagined.

Actually the games Sountrack is great ... except for Enedwaith and Dunland, that really hurts.
The great river is ... ok.

For Rohan however the old master of music will be back who also created the soundtrack for Moria

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

*snip*r ... to the nigh elven theme - Nightsong in World of Warcraft. And you'll see the difference

I will sit in Dolanaar for hours and listen to the nelf music - it's my absolute favorite.

However, the music here isn't bad - some of it is quite epic (when it actually plays anyway). BUt if you go in expecting to hear certain music, and you don't, then you're going to be disappointed of course.

I read this topic which interest as a musicologist.

I'm in discussions with Turbine (preliminary discussions) regarding releasing a significant academic work on the music of the Lord of the Rings Online.

Personally, I think it's great on the whole. The Lone-Lands music does it for me every time, as does the music as you ride over the Brandywine into the Shire.

Originally Posted by Faffar

The Lone-Lands music does it for me every time

Same. I just love it! It really feels like you are traveling through lonely lands.

I rather like the music too. But as I have been playing for some years now, sometime I just have the music off and listen to my tunes (somehow Boston works well in some places) while I work through some well-travelled areas.

But part of the magic of discovery as I explored new places was hearing the new music. I remember the first time I sent foot into Angmar and being surprised by the almost Radiophonic quality to the music - which quite sucessfully set a mood of "something isn't right/disquiet"

But to each their own.

Originally Posted by defrule

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Y4DGEj7rQ

The Foundry was composed by Jeremy Soule and was used as the soundtrack for Sorrow's Furnace, an underground dungeon full of machinery run by Stone Summit, dwarf-like race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WdnAANjo0o

Silver was an epic RPG released back in the 90s, extremely good soundtrack even by today's standards and back then it was the first game I played that had music that wasn't midi files.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxqZ1ms3v_M

Not sure what the name of this soundtrack is but it is commonly used for the humans.

While these pieces are great, they would better fit a movie instead of a video game I think. In my opinion that is something people often forget or don't understand: there is a big difference between movie music and videogame music. In a movie a music piece often just lasts for a couple of minutes (or even less), while in a videogame the music might go on for hours because you play for a long time int the same area and there are only so many pieces you can randomly play in that time. So the piece must be easy to listen to so you can listen to it for hours.

Besides... movie music often involves a climax in the music. It works for a movie because you know exactly when the climax in the movie itself is so you can fit the music. In a videogame however this doesn't work. The player is in control, you cannot predict when a climax in the storyline will happen and therefore you can't adjust the music to that. Listening to the same music piece over and over again, while it is constantly working towards a climax in a videogame would be very tiring as well. Videogame music should blend in the background, the only exception is during scripted events. During scripted events one could adjust the climax in the music to the climax in what happens with the player and his surroundings.

In my opinion most music in LotRO does this perfectly. The tracks you listed are great but I could probably not listen to them for hours on repeat... they are too intrusive so to speak. No moment of rest in the music.

Man, the only thing I can say is:

No no a thousand times no! This game has some amazing music and it was the music that first immersed me in this game. When I started my first character, an elf, it was the elven themes that were so haunting, like someone was trying to place a long lost memory that just hooked me.

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

I was planning to post this thread yesterday, but I couldn't formulate my thoughts.

Lord of The Rings Online is superior in many ways to other games. The graphics, for example, are much better than those in World of Warcraft. The graphics are realistic. The quests and in-game events are fine.

However, the soundtrack is bad.

Or, if you don't like this world, it's mediocre. It doesn't give me chills and this is one of the things I expect from a fantasy setting. The music just fades compares to the music of World of Warcraft, but what's worse, the music is worse than the music of other free2play games like Runes of Magic.

And, what's the nastiest thing is ... that it shouldn't be so... because the Lord of the Rings fantasy Universe is the ONLY ONE that's created by music!!! So... the bad soundtrack in this game can break the immersion sometimes.

I enjoy LOTRO very much, but sometimes I turn the sound off or play some other music that fits in the atmosphere.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that statement to be honest. Music is a big part of Lord of the Rings and is often referred to in the books, but saying the Middle Earth universe is created by music is a huge overstatement.

As for the music of LOTRO, I have never read a single review of the game that had anything but praise for the game's soundtrack, and to be quite frank, besides players' personal preferences and disliking the music of a few regions or single tunes, I have NEVER heard anyone say the entire soundtrack is bad.

Music, as is art, gaming, sports, or anything else we humans indulge in, is always a matter of personal taste, and even then very often it has to be acquired. Orchestral music is one that usually is an acquired taste. It's not for everyone just as Opera isn't for everyone. But most people can and do agree on music that is epic or at least very good, even if it isn't their particular cup of tea. The music of LOTRO, especially the soundtracks of the original regions, and Moria through Lothlorien, is generally considered to be just that, very good to epic.

My personal fav, as many others have mentioned, is Lonelands. I still remember my first trip into the Lonelands way back in early '07. The music grabbed me the minute that I entered, and when I reached the summit of that first high hill on the road where you have a sweeping view of the lonely, stark vista of the Lonelands, I sat there for quite a long time, drawn into the lonely expanse by the music. To this day, I still usually stop on that hill for a few seconds and soak in both the view and the music. That to me is epic.

I also disagree. LOTRO is the only game I've ever played where I left the sound track on for years. In WoW, I turned it off after about 3 months. The Elder Scroll game music got old for me after about a month. Etc. Yet I'm still listening to the music in LOTRO... they didn't all knock my socks off the first time I heard them, but they wear well IMO.

A few of the tracks are "meh", but I really enjoy many of them - and am quite pleased to hear that one of the best game music composers (Chance Thomas) will be returning to score the music for the next expansion.

Khafar

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

I went to the Shire, to the Old Forest, Bombadil's house, to Eregion... I listen to the music, but I feel nothing.

The music for Shadows of Angmsr won an award for its sound and how it enhanced the gaming experience. Like anything else, music is a personal opinion. If you don't like the music, that is fine. Turn it off. It is not bad music.

Some of the later music is not as good. The best tracks (in personal opinion) are the ones that Chance Thomas did. If you go to Chance's web site:
http://www.hugesound.com/
Look at the awards. You will see a number of awards given to Lotro and Chance Thomas for the music. Both the original launch music and the Mines of Moria expansion music. Mirkwood and Rise of Isengard were not up the quality of the first year or two.

I do agree that the quality of LOTRO music has deteriorated with Siege of Mirkwood, that's when i decided to mute my music completely. RoI didn't improve much tbh. Poorly arranged synth themes, it feels like midi soundtracks from the 80ies. I hope they reunite with Chance Thomas for Riders of Rohan.

As to Shadows of Angmar and (especially) Mines of Moria - those are among the best scores I've ever heard in a video game. Remember when I first entered Nud-melek, just stood there for like half an hour, listening to this amazing piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNRxw...feature=relmfu

Talk about epic.

Originally Posted by Adder

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that statement to be honest. Music is a big part of Lord of the Rings and is often referred to in the books, but saying the Middle Earth universe is created by music is a huge overstatement.

I think he means the fact that Arda was created by the Music of the Ainur.....so technically the entire Lord of the Rings world was created by music....

Originally Posted by Korrigan

I definitely rank music of games like WoW, Morowind/Oblivion/Skyrim, GW2 way higher than the LOTRO music, even though it's definitely not "bad" overall. This said, some of those games have a tremendous advantage... they have Jeremy Soule doing their music...

I love the Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim soundtracks. I have them all on my phone. I would have to say I love the Skyrim soundtrack most of all.

I haven't been much out of the starter areas but most of what I hear I like. I can only think right now of two areas I don't:

- The Elven minstrels in Celondim and Duillond. That tune they play drives me nuts, I just want to break their lutes.

- Some of the musical instruments. Maybe Turbine could get this Thomas guy to fix some of the sound on them, the horn sounds like a keyboard synthesizer!

Other most amazing video game music scores:

1. Gemfire!

Listen to how incredible this music is. Consider it was from a 1992 Super Nintendo game.

Opening: Elan's theme


Royal Blood


Leaves


Red

Snow


Ending Eshmelia


Royal Blood (Piano Reprise)

When I first heard the Tagena music in RoM I said on area chat that I don't want to leave this place because the music is so haunting and beautiful Perfect music to play nonstop in the background if you can't get sleep. RoM really has some impressive music, I agree.

I've not read everything people have said in this thread so far so my opinions probably have been voiced already. There are only a couple of tunes that I don't like that much. Both you hear a lot in RoI areas. One sounds like it's some Star Wars theme song and the other one includes lots of horns that play stupid "Naa-na-na Naa-na-na Naa-na-na Naaaa!!!" repeatedly, all over again..

Imo, The most beautiful piece of music is the one in Trollshaws; peaceful harp, chimes and strings or whatever. Just recently I started using headphones and all the music sounds so much better. I kinda fell in love with some of the Mirkwood music after hearing it on headphones. In some weird way one or two of the tunes there remind me of Monkey Island. Ost Galadh and Gathburz themes I think.

Originally Posted by SvetPandaren

However, the soundtrack is bad

Whatever ... I love the soundtrack, I think it's one of the best things in the game & one of the best of any MMO.

I really like the soundtrack

My girlfriend has listened to me play it a lot, and she likes it too.

No complaints here. Why would you complain about something completely subjective, I have no idea

Whaaa??

Mirkwood and Isengard music has been a bit weak, I'll admit. But SoA and Moria have phenomenal, memorable soundtracks.

Originally Posted by silverblade5445

I think he means the fact that Arda was created by the Music of the Ainur.....so technically the entire Lord of the Rings world was created by music....

Ah. Ok. That makes a bit of sense I guess. Wasn't thinking along those lines at all and it went completely over my head there.

/fishslap_self

Edited - did not see that post. thanks.

Originally Posted by Cindir

Two posters think that Chance Thomas will be making the music for the next expansion. Do we know this? I am used to Turbine being intentionally vague to make things sound better. I would not be surprised if this just means that Chance Thomas is a collaborator that worked with them in the past - not that he is doing the next soundtrack. It could be the in-house composers will work with the orchestra.

Here's what they said:
A: At Turbine we have in-house composers, along with a great collaborator in Chance Thomas. For Riders of Rohan we’ll be bringing back a full orchestral soundtrack for the game! It sounds great and completes the atmosphere.

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...iders-of-Rohan

Yeah, its a 100 % fact that Chance is doing RoR.

I can respect your opinion OP, but really, you only have to look at how many youtube videos their are of LOTRO music to understand how popular it is. I would guess they outweigh runes of magic 10 to 1 at least.


You are correct that LOTR music is huge though. I love the games music, I love the movies music, and I loved the London Musical a few years back. Great stuff, all of it.