Did this make anyone else sad?

[Sik]

How do you guys not like the HDN music? Granted it's not Nier-level quality music, but it's still fairly enjoyable compared to other game music out there...

The standards for RPG music are pretty high for a game, really... Though yeah, HDN's music may not be epic, but I doubt it's trash either. It's average. Although they did reuse a lot of tracks... (remixed versions for different events) A lot of tracks have two or three versions.

[PringlesXD]

I actually love the fact that there are so many remixed versions ~

[lopez]

I actually love the fact that there are so many remixed versions ~

This.

How do you guys not like the HDN music? Granted it's not Nier-level quality music, but it's still fairly enjoyable compared to other game music out there...

The standards for RPG music are pretty high for a game, really... Though yeah, HDN's music may not be epic, but I doubt it's trash either. It's average. Although they did reuse a lot of tracks... (remixed versions for different events) A lot of tracks have two or three versions.

Why is RPG music set at a higher standard than the other game genres? Wouldn't an action game like Uncharted demand high quality music?

[Sik]

Why is RPG music set at a higher standard than the other game genres? Wouldn't an action game like Uncharted demand high quality music?

Because a some point there were many RPG games that all featured awesome music for practically the entire thing and that trend pretty much stuck for all the following good RPG games. On the other hand there are still many action games that don't bother to be all that awesome with music, often there may be one or two awesome tunes and the rest are just "good".

So yeah, it's a matter of expectations based on what came before, nothing else. If action games went through such a situation then they would also all be required to feature awesome music for it to not be considered trash.

[JNiles]

Why is RPG music set at a higher standard than the other game genres? Wouldn't an action game like Uncharted demand high quality music?

Because a some point there were many RPG games that all featured awesome music for practically the entire thing and that trend pretty much stuck for all the following good RPG games. On the other hand there are still many action games that don't bother to be all that awesome with music, often there may be one or two awesome tunes and the rest are just "good".

So yeah, it's a matter of expectations based on what came before, nothing else. If action games went through such a situation then they would also all be required to feature awesome music for it to not be considered trash.

I couldn't agree more. I think that's why soundtracks are so prevalent in RPG limited editions- if you've got the goods, why not flaunt em?

For turn-based games, good music is important because they don't contain the kind of frenzied action to occupy your attention that other games do. Most games (excluding horror?) rely on a certain level of background noise, and if shouts, explosions, etc. aren't present, then good bgm is necessary to fill in the gap. RPGs also tend to have shifts in mood, which requires a greater variety of music to pull off.

Hoping HDN 2's soundtrack is at least okay- I'm not sure which of the comments in this thread refer to the original and which to the sequel. I was listening to some Chrono Cross tracks recently- can't expect that level of excellence but...

[Sik]

Hoping HDN 2's soundtrack is at least okay- I'm not sure which of the comments in this thread refer to the original and which to the sequel.

The criticism is towards the music in the first game, I don't think anybody ever complained about the music in the second game... It's definitely at least 10x better as the first one.