How amazing is the opening soundtrack?
- Thread starter Ambience_
- Start date
I have loved the music since I got the game. It doesn't bother me that the translated meaning of the lyrics is the Lord's prayer. No, I'm not religious at all. Now, if the words were in english and it was religious, that might be a bit much for me. I happen to like the rhythm and the melody of the song. I think it's some of the best game music I have experienced.
Sorceresss
Witch
onedreamer said:
Quite a rant...
heh. far from disliking the tribal music, i'm much less enchanted with the incredibly irritating classical stuff in the second and third eras. it's loud, distracting, and really too filled with violins. i set up my custom music and havent looked back since =)
Fallblau
Chieftain
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2005
- Messages
- 91
Heheee... Reminds me of that bit in Amadeus... "There are simply too many notes. Cut a few and it will be perfect."
"Which ones would Your Majesty suggest?"
As far as ranting is concerned, there really hasn't been any in here... Go look at one of the many "Where's the Patch/Firaxis Stinks/Why isn't there a PATCH" threads for that... It's actually a testament to the variety of folks that like the Civ games that you would see the diversity of likes/dislikes/opinions that you do in this thread.
Go to a hardcore Quake forum for example, and "dis" Trent Reznor... THEN you'll see some ranting...
Sorceresss
Witch
Fallblau said:
I agree...with the exception, perhaps, of that guy who was ranting about people who supposedly rant.
P.S. That biblical quote when one discovers "animal husbandry" is so spiritually enlightening.
Oups : better stop before I rant. 
Like I said before
if not translated, the opening song is extremely fitting, but the religious reference is annoying. Its a good song as long as you dont think of it as being made to imply something.
Whatever song they used had to be new age/tribal-ish, nothing else would seem right.
Whatever song they used had to be new age/tribal-ish, nothing else would seem right.
DemonDeLuxe
Warlord
Musically? Beautiful. I have always liked that ethno sound. What I specifically DON'T like is that Firaxis hid hardcore christian gospel inside that intro music...
I mean, come on, how bigot can you get? In the manual you say "oh, no, we do not think that one religion is superior and OWWW, they're only game elements and NOOO we don't want to hurt anyone's religious feelings...!!!" - and then you smuggle the Lord's prayer in. Evangelism on the march, I guess, and a slap in the face of every other religion's follower (not to speak of atheists and agnosticists).
I mean, come on, how bigot can you get? In the manual you say "oh, no, we do not think that one religion is superior and OWWW, they're only game elements and NOOO we don't want to hurt anyone's religious feelings...!!!" - and then you smuggle the Lord's prayer in. Evangelism on the march, I guess, and a slap in the face of every other religion's follower (not to speak of atheists and agnosticists).
DemonDeLuxe said:
Ehh, if you don't understand the words, it doesn't matter what is the song about. Most of the players don't speak swahili.
Sure I have read the lyrics and I am an agnostic, but I can't see anything wrong with the song.
DemonDeLuxe
Warlord
Juhahu, that's the very same logic as if you served meat to a vegetarian and disguised it as salad... true, he might not be disturbed in the slightest as long as he doesn't know...
Seriously: There are thousands of suitable songs or instrumental pieces - but, no, they chose a religious song that could hardly be more christian than it is. Maybe it only strikes me because in the tech quotes, too, biblical quotes outweigh any other religios quotes. It is ok and understandable that a game shows the point of view of it's creators (well, it would be better if the views of players were reflected, but...), but to stress that "no religion is presented as superior" while nonetheless let christianity dominate is... what?
Seriously: There are thousands of suitable songs or instrumental pieces - but, no, they chose a religious song that could hardly be more christian than it is. Maybe it only strikes me because in the tech quotes, too, biblical quotes outweigh any other religios quotes. It is ok and understandable that a game shows the point of view of it's creators (well, it would be better if the views of players were reflected, but...), but to stress that "no religion is presented as superior" while nonetheless let christianity dominate is... what?
Come on; get real. Firaxis is an American company right? It seems common sense to me that a company in America would more likely to know and be familar with Christianity than any other religion.DemonDeLuxe said:
I know of a lot of games that came from Japan (Sony PS2,etc.) that is based on Hindu/ Buddhism religion and very little if at all of christianity. Common sense would tell me it very likely someone in Japan would be more familar with these religions. I doubt very seriously they was trying to offend anyone.
jayeffaar
Warlord
DemonDeLuxe said:
This is pretty much the way I feel about this too. I'm not getting too worked up about it, but my enjoyment of the song greatly diminished once I learned what it was about.
Again, not a major problem for me by any means, but it is an odd choice considering how they are *****-footing around the religions in general in this game. On the other hand, I don't think of it as a religious conspiracy to convert the great unwashed
. I'd rather think they just liked how the song sounded and didn't think twice about its meaning.Still love it musically, though...
handy900
Deity
FraggyFragbait said:sounds too much like lion king for my liking but its not dreadful...makes my girlfriend laugh when im playing though and she keeps asking me where simba is
Exactly. It sounds like either Lion King or Titanic, depending on which track is played. I am glad some like it - music is a personal taste thing anyway - I hit mute and crank the AC/DC while I play.
jayeffaar
Warlord
Smidlee said:
...and they would naturally pick a shwahili song in the process? Yes, that makes perfect sense...
It's more likely that since composer Christopher Tin had already worked with the band that sings the song, they just picked something they had done together before, that sounded right to the game's producers.
Still a weird choice in the end.
um...japanese games tend to be either blatently christian or nature vs western culture, if anything. The only hindu game in the past 15 years to come out has been Digital Devil Saga by atlus, and that was tenuous at best. Whereas pretty much everything else religious in Japanese pop culture is straight out of the Bible and Apocrypha.
Thanks for playing though, try again next time =)
as for the intro track, i'm a hindu. As a hindu, i believe that music is the highest form of religious expression. As such, a song as wonderful as our opening here is awesome on its own merit. That it's the lord's prayer matters not at all. it would still be a fantastic track even if it was someone singing the stock ticker, or reading out of a russian phone book.
For evangelism to really work, the listener has to know what the hell they are hearing =) If the theme was just blahblahblah yeti crap, would you still be all up in a twist about it?
Thanks for playing though, try again next time =)
as for the intro track, i'm a hindu. As a hindu, i believe that music is the highest form of religious expression. As such, a song as wonderful as our opening here is awesome on its own merit. That it's the lord's prayer matters not at all. it would still be a fantastic track even if it was someone singing the stock ticker, or reading out of a russian phone book.
For evangelism to really work, the listener has to know what the hell they are hearing =) If the theme was just blahblahblah yeti crap, would you still be all up in a twist about it?
asmodeus81
Chieftain
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2005
- Messages
- 22
DemonDeLuxe said:
I'm agnostic and it doesn't bother me at all. If they'd put a muslim/hindu/etc song in or something and it was nice music I wouldn't care either. I wouldn't have though that many other people would be annoyed about it either, especially considering it's in a language that would have extremely limited number of speakers in the games core markets, and there isn't any translation provided in the manual/game files that I've seen, so they're not even promoting it as a religious song.
I would have liked some music from some of the other ages to come from different parts of the world though - it seems like it's generally classical European (which is very nice, but a bit more variety would be good). Maybe some Celtic sounding music, and some east Asian to get a good mix. The good news is I can rip my CDs and make custom playlists if I end up getting sick of the music provided.
DisruptiveIdiot
Prince
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2003
- Messages
- 319
DemonDeLuxe said:
Wait, let me get this straight, you hate the music solely because it's Christian? Wow, look who's the biggest hypocrite in the world. You hate it because it's Christian, that is by far blatant bigotry. I bet you wouldn't care if it was Buddhist music, which you should if you have any semblance of reason. You hate it just because it's Christian, you're the bigot.
Sorceresss
Witch
DisruptiveIdiot said:
It is your interpretation of what he said...and perhaps you are right.
My own (subjective) interpretation, rather, is that he resented the fact that the Christian content (about Jesus) was hidden within the Swahili packaging.
I did not perceive that he was an anti-Christian "bigot". You are too fast on the draw when it comes to labeling other forum posters with negative names. Learn to hold it in. Oups : this is a moralizing rant.
DemonDeLuxe
Warlord
DisruptiveIdiot said:
Well, thank you for your polite words, but, no, I absolutely do not "hate" that music. E.g. I very much like Mozart's "Requiem" or Bach's "Toccata", both of which are highly religious pieces of music. That's not the point at all.
I don't "hate" christianity", either. Absolutely not - why should I? I know quite abunch of christians who are wonderful people.
What I *do* hate, however, is the tendency to propagate a certain direction as the "standard" and the subtle influence this has. Christianity is nothing special, it's just one religion among dozens of them. I am VERY aware of the attempts of evangelists to re-introduce religious doctrine into everyday life. Of course, one single intro song doesn't change the world. But it's the sheer amount of tiny things that add up, you know. I've grown quite sensitive in that respect in the previous two years.
However, I guess in CIV4 it's really because the developers simply felt more at home in christianity (as I do myself - i simply know it better than, say, hinduism, which doesn't really have much impact here in Germany), and when they tried to find a song (or quotes) that sounded impressive, for their ears biblical references had quite the desired touch to them. The evolution prologue, however, evens the score, from my point of view ;O)
Edit: I am, admittedly, more sensitive to christian propganda than, as you stated, buddhist one, the reason being very simple: My surrounding is primarily influenced by christianity, not buddhism. If it was the other way round, the same would be true for me. It's like feelings towards Hitler or Stalin: I do care more (in the negative sense) for Hitler or nazis for the simple reason that Hitler did his crimes here, in my country, and Stalin murdered some thousand miles away. I guess it's the other way round for Russian folks, absolutely normal.
@sorceress
Thank you :O)
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