vernal willow
Hello everyone!
In today's discussion, I wanted to talk about one of NMRIHs most important elements; the music.
It's no doubt that Garrett "ThoughT" Lindquist has a special touch to music. His ability to bring out that desperate, hopeless, and melancholic feeling in NMRIHs music is nothing short of indescribable. It also explains why NMRIH1s OST was recognized as one of the seven best soundtracks of 2014 by GameFront.
It also highlights the undeniable fact that NMRIHs music is a separate character that audibly tells us a story of sorrow.
As of right now, we have a mixture of sad and tense music in game. Some music plays when we enter POIs while other music plays in between other areas in general, out in the open. Personally, I would like to hear more sadder music play in between areas and MAYBE not have POIs have exclusive music to them. The reason I state the latter is simply because having that continuous flow of the sad music is better for the overall experience, helping us to learn how screwed things are.
A good example of this that I often go back to is the first time I played NMRIH1s map, Suzhuo. I remember first loading in and hearing one of the many Arpley Ambience tracks, specifically Arpley Ambience 1. Loading into an empty subway, a place that is generally full of activity, is now devoid of people and noise. Having that track play while I was gathering supplies made me realize how lonely I was in that subway. It gave off the sense that something either went wrong or is currently wrong. This, plus the kenopsia, produced a moment in game I will never forget, and part of that is the power of the music.
ThoughT produced many tracks for NMRIH2 that should be played in game. Some of these tracks, just like the first game, do not have to be map specific. Every track plays their part in the NMRIH experience. Even the legacy build featured this more than the current build, linked here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GxcxP2H2jqsC6TlqcZKGMEkwtEiKjzYJ/view
glad canopy
unique crater