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Mass Effect 3

ATimson said:
bullethead said:
Yeah, it really irritated me that Mansell only did two tracks, given how much they hyped his participation (Crysis 2 did a similar thing with Hans Zimmer). It's even worse than what Crysis 2 pulled because Mansell's tracks are pretty much the only ones that have any sort of staying power, although Das Malefitz is a pretty catchy track.
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At least Hans Zimmer wrote themes that the other composers ended up using. Mansell's track-and-a-half weren't picked up in the rest of the score.
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Zimmer's contribution was basically the opening credits theme, which was partially reused as the closing cutscene track. None of the other tracks in that OST used any cues from that track.

(Though I would have said that his were the ones with the least staying power - I much preferred Sam Hulick's work, and the other composers at least worked in a similar style.)
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I routinely turn off the music or play my own stuff instead of listening to the games' music because how it just sounds like auditory wallpaper. There's few tracks I'd say I'd want to listen to or that can conjure up any sort of emotional response when separated from the games.
 
Speaking of music, does anyone else simply leave the sound system in your quarters OFF for all of ME3? God, talk about some god-awful sounding crap from that thing. It was great in ME2 since you could choose from a number of ME1 tracks (I always set it to that epic music from when you first arrive at the Citadel) why not have it play ME2 tracks in ME3? :confused:
 
bullethead said:
Zimmer's contribution was basically the opening credits theme, which was partially reused as the closing cutscene track. None of the other tracks in that OST used any cues from that track.
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I'm 95% sure that you're wrong, but I can't cite any right now - I'll give the OST another listen and get back to you tomorrow. ;)

I routinely turn off the music or play my own stuff instead of listening to the games' music because how it just sounds like auditory wallpaper. There's few tracks I'd say I'd want to listen to or that can conjure up any sort of emotional response when separated from the games.
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I think it depends on the track. The mission music in ME2 (and maybe even ME1, except Ilos, Eden Prime, and Virmire) did tend to be pretty forgettable. To the point where they reused some in ME3, my reaction was "dammit, they're reusing that from ME2, but I forget where").

But the "cutscene moments" - reveal of the Citadel, the Spectre induction, the destruction of the real Normandy, the travel through the relay, just to give a few examples - never fail to conjure an emotional response for me.

Well, different strokes for different folks, I guess. :)

Evil Twin said:
Speaking of music, does anyone else simply leave the sound system OFF in your quarters for all of ME3? God, talk about some god-awful sounding crap from that thing. It was great in ME2 since you could choose from a number of ME1 tracks (I always set it to that epic music from when you first arrive at the Citadel) why not have it play ME2 tracks in ME3? :confused:
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The ME1 tracks it reused were (IIRC) all composed by composers working on ME2. But with Jack Wall passing on ME3, and Sam Hulick a fairly late addition (at least as far as the public was concerned), the audio directors had probably already picked out stock tracks before they knew they'd have ME2 ones available for cheap/free reuse.
 
Evil Twin said:
Speaking of music, does anyone else simply leave the sound system in your quarters OFF for all of ME3? God, talk about some god-awful sounding crap from that thing. It was great in ME2 since you could choose from a number of ME1 tracks (I always set it to that epic music from when you first arrive at the Citadel) why not have it play ME2 tracks in ME3? :confused:
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I certainly don't use it. I find it annoying just being in the cabin without a reason (like talking to someone).
 
Yeah, besides the odd conversation scene, I think being able to access your armour from the launch bay took away the only real reason to go to the captain's cabin at all. It would have been better if they kept your trophies/souvenirs from ME2 and continued to add to them. I mean where is the photo of your LI? Where is the crystal shard "Eve" gives you? I'm not saying it should have turned into a flee market but it would have been nice to acquire some more personal touches. They even took away the ability to review your achievements/medals for some odd reason.

And yeah, the stock music in the cabin is pretty shite.
 
Reverend said:
They even took away the ability to review your achievements/medals for some odd reason.
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Didn't that get added to the in-game pause menu (whereas in ME2 you needed to quit out to the main menu if you didn't go to your cabin)?
 
Reverend said:
He's more of a guest contributor really.
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I guess so, but they announced his involvement at the same time they announced that Jack Wall was leaving the series, so it seemed like Mansell was going to be the lead composer. But I suppose it makes sense that EA would hire him for one song so they could make a big deal about having a famous movie composer involved.

bullethead said:
Yeah, it really irritated me that Mansell only did two tracks, given how much they hyped his participation (Crysis 2 did a similar thing with Hans Zimmer). It's even worse than what Crysis 2 pulled because Mansell's tracks are pretty much the only ones that have any sort of staying power, although Das Malefitz is a pretty catchy track.
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Personally, I agree with ATimson in that I preferred Hulick's work too. I was left a little iffy after the first mission, but it was the Mars mission that got me into the groove of playing a Mass Effect game once again and the music was a big part of that. I also love I Was Lost Without You and I'm Proud of You.
 
Reverend said:
Yeah, besides the odd conversation scene, I think being able to access your armour from the launch bay took away the only real reason to go to the captain's cabin at all. It would have been better if they kept your trophies/souvenirs from ME2 and continued to add to them. I mean where is the photo of your LI? Where is the crystal shard "Eve" gives you? I'm not saying it should have turned into a flee market but it would have been nice to acquire some more personal touches. They even took away the ability to review your achievements/medals for some odd reason.

And yeah, the stock music in the cabin is pretty shite.
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Not to mention the priceless Prothean artefact I picked up after completing the god-awful Project Firewalker assignments from ME2. The Alliance stole it after grounding the Normandy, thieving bastards.

Btw for those who bought the Space Hamster, it's very much alive and kicking in ME3 and can be brought back to Shep's cabin if you know where to find it.
 
I always feel bummed out when they bring in big name composers to work on the big emotional moments instead of the whole game. Imagine being one of the regular composers and being told you're not going to be doing the music for the big emotional scene because the studio wants a big name composer to do that one bit. It's just disappointing that Bioware/EA didn't give a seasoned Mass Effect composer the task.
 
Jeyl said:
I always feel bummed out when they bring in big name composers to work on the big emotional moments instead of the whole game. Imagine being one of the regular composers and being told you're not going to be doing the music for the big emotional scene because the studio wants a big name composer to do that one bit. It's just disappointing that Bioware/EA didn't give a seasoned Mass Effect composer the task
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Agreed but I think the budget may the reason behind why they do it differently.
 
Yeah, if they're going to hire a big name composer then they're going to want to get their money's worth and make sure they do the most prominent pieces.

No different than the voice actors really. I mean it'd be stupid to hire someone like Sheen if you don't have him play a major character, right?
 
Reverend said:
Yeah, if they're going to hire a big name composer then they're going to want to get their money's worth and make sure they do the most prominent pieces.

No different than the voice actors really. I mean it'd be stupid to hire someone like Sheen if you don't have him play a major character, right?
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Actually, I would say it's quite different than voice actors because outside of singing voices, it's usually the same actor voicing the role. Now if they were replaced in the sequel, that would be different. What we have here is an actor being replaced by another actor simply because they wanted a name actor to do the voice work for a pivotal scene, even though the original actor is going to voice the character both before and after this part.

If I was running the show, I would let the composers who were already on the team do the whole thing and not just hire some outside composer who has never done video games before score only a track and a half worth of music. I'd have a lot more faith in my composers than that.
 
Jeyl said:
Actually, I would say it's quite different than voice actors because outside of singing voices, it's usually the same actor voicing the role. Now if they were replaced in the sequel, that would be different. What we have here is an actor being replaced by another actor simply because they wanted a name actor to do the voice work for a pivotal scene, even though the original actor is going to voice the character both before and after this part.
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You're making a big assumption here: that EA intended for Mansell to only score the two scenes. Given the last-minute manner in which the other composers were announced, and the rampant inappropriate reuse of music from the last two games, I think it's just as likely Mansell was hired to score everything and dropped the ball entirely.
 
ATimson said:
Reverend said:
No different than the voice actors really. I mean it'd be stupid to hire someone like Sheen if you don't have him play a major character, right?
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Bethesda, Patrick Stewart, and Liam Neeson beg to differ. ;)
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Actually that supports my argument. If those two had played some While neither of those characters are in the game for long, they're major introductory characters that appear right at the forefront--just like Mansell's music--and drive the central plot forward. Also, if you think about it, Sheen as TIM has what? Half a dozen scenes spread across two games? Sure, more than your two examples, but then that's has more to do with the difference between an open world RPG and a one with an essentially linear narrative.

It's really a combination of two factors; how much the person costs to hire and where they'd have the most impact. Oblivion & Fallout 3 don't really have major antagonists or really important protagonists and you can pretty much ignore the central plot and go do whatever you want, hence all the expensive talent being front loaded in the tutorial levels. The Mass Effect games ahve a more traditional narrative structure so you can have "big name" actors take small but important roles and scatter their appearances throughout.
 
^Then why keep posting in ME threads if you have no interest? Mate, do us all a favour and try not to be a *complete* arse for a change.
 
Reverend said:
^Then why keep posting in ME threads if you have no interest? Mate, do us all a favour and try not to be a *complete* arse for a change.
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So just because I didn't have an overall satisfying experience with the game I shouldn't be talking about it or giving my feelings on the matter? I have made no insults towards anyone here nor criticized anyone for getting this rifle. If this kind of promotion happened with the previous games, I wouldn't hesitate a minute to snatch it up and play through the game with it.

Now, if I could snipe Harbinger's eyes out with it, maybe I'd give the game another go. But as it stands, no matter what I do,
Shepard Dies, Relays explode, and the Normandy crashes. Ok, so there's that breathing moment at the end, but what of it?
 
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