CivLuvah
Deity
My heart skipped a beat when the bagpipes came in. And I was in Scottish heaven.
Gosh I love Scotland. As much as England (because they're in the same country and all) but the former seem to have a special place in my heart.
Music of Civ VI
- Thread starter Ben.
- Start date
My heart skipped a beat when the bagpipes came in. And I was in Scottish heaven.
Gosh I love Scotland. As much as England (because they're in the same country and all) but the former seem to have a special place in my heart.
Admittedly I do like the sound of bagpipes.
conorbebe
King
Bagpipes are only in the ancient era theme?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the music, but it’s a bit disappointing the bagpipes were used so little.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the music, but it’s a bit disappointing the bagpipes were used so little.
I was hoping ancient era would be penny whistle and they'd save the bagpipes for the Medieval theme, personally.
Anno
Warlord
At some point I just don't see how you can do better than what we have with CiVI. Not only in terms of just how good the songs are, but in many cases just how important they might be.
shyPiano
Prince
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2015
- Messages
- 306
Man, Geoff Knorr, Roland Rizzo, Griffin Cohen, and Phill Boucher are just killing it with this expansion. 
I really do hope Firaxis releases the soundtrack alongside the expansion, just as they did with Civ V!
Scotland's themes sound amazing! Medieval and Industrial appear to have a bit less bagpipes than I'd hope, but maybe they're there and we just haven't heard them yet!
I really do hope Firaxis releases the soundtrack alongside the expansion, just as they did with Civ V!Scotland's themes sound amazing! Medieval and Industrial appear to have a bit less bagpipes than I'd hope, but maybe they're there and we just haven't heard them yet!
CivLuvah
Deity
As much as I'm not quite a fan of the Scottish civilization. The Scottish themes are really magnificent and majestic.
heinous_hat
Prince
The lack of contextual music programming is a massive downer for me.
No matter how beautiful a particular piece (and there are a lot of those), listening to Brazilian carnival music at the onset of war with... anybody... is comic tragedy. And not in a thematically appropriate way.
It hurts real bad
The lack of contextual music programming is a massive downer for me.
No matter how beautiful a particular piece (and there are a lot of those), listening to Brazilian carnival music at the onset of war with... anybody... is comic tragedy. And not in a thematically appropriate way.
It hurts real bad
I wish they do have war themes like they did in civ v. The problem would be double amount of work for the composers - 4 versions of one song into 8. I wonder if it would be better to replace the songs of each civ into war drums of each era like they did in civ iv, maybe regional style war drums?
Ah the war drums of cIV.
I am not sure I want the war horn back from cIV, though. That thing always scared the daylights out of me.
heinous_hat
Prince
I think my chief complaint is that the design omits any sort of musical response to dynamic state changes in the game... like war and peace. Eras are fixed, and the progression is identical and expected, every game. It's academically interesting to listen to the growing complexity, and everything is beautifully composed and performed. But there's no unexpected musical punctuation to accompany random events. It's a very sterile presentation, even if it manages to be occasionally atmospheric.
So, yeah... war drums. It's a cheaper approach, but nothing screams "war" quite like drums (except for actual screaming). And you could stick to the motif, and have evolving rhythms, number of drums, etc. Hell, throw in the occasional conch horn, that ends up as a bugle .
Really, anything that doesn't just musically neuter an important transition that occurs irregularly, and should provoke an emotional response.
Morningcalm
Keeper of Records
Agreed. It is bizarre to hear cheerful, peaceful Kongo music when Kongo declares war on you. And just as bizarre to hear their cheerful music after you have wiped them fully from the map.
We need war music back, ideally unique to each Civ. In an ideal world we would have four peace themes for each Civ (as in Civ VI) and a unique war theme as well. Civ V, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires III all had dynamic music and it is a bit odd VI doesn't have war music (but in other aesthetics VI is a bit backward--look at the plastic unit icons, toy-like government interface, and black smudge leader backgrounds for starters).
Another odd side effect of having all the music in house this time around is that the background music is unique to each Civ, but there's only so much of it, so in later ages the unique ancient themes are rotated out so you keep hearing the music of your rivals. It's not quite fitting, even if it is diverse which is nice in its own way (that said, some themes get really old over the course of an eight hour game, especially on smaller maps where you can expect the range of music to be reduced).
We need war music back, ideally unique to each Civ. In an ideal world we would have four peace themes for each Civ (as in Civ VI) and a unique war theme as well. Civ V, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires III all had dynamic music and it is a bit odd VI doesn't have war music (but in other aesthetics VI is a bit backward--look at the plastic unit icons, toy-like government interface, and black smudge leader backgrounds for starters).
Another odd side effect of having all the music in house this time around is that the background music is unique to each Civ, but there's only so much of it, so in later ages the unique ancient themes are rotated out so you keep hearing the music of your rivals. It's not quite fitting, even if it is diverse which is nice in its own way (that said, some themes get really old over the course of an eight hour game, especially on smaller maps where you can expect the range of music to be reduced).
I also kinda hope that Civ VII will bring peace/war theme system (along with Civ V style graphics and leaderscreens). It has been already mentioned that especially Brazilian and Kongolese themes are really strange to listen when you nuke someone. At least there are some darker themes, like Norway, Japan, Germany, Scythia, and soon Mongolia, but still...
In Civ V, every war theme was special because you could easily imagine the war (well... almost every... *looks at Siam*). When I hear Denmark, I imagine incoming Danish fleet. When I hear Persia, I imagine sorrow. Arabia sounds like an incoming army and then a battle in hot desert. Mongolia is like army of Mongols attacking and burning a city. Even Morocco, which is hated by many people. When I hear it, I imagine a night battle in desert and sorrow of Moroccans. And take Field of Poppies, which makes you feel bad for nuking someone or attacking weaker and innocent Civ.
When I hear Brazil after nuking someone, I can only imagine people celebrating it in carnival.
Not saying that Civ VI music is bad. When you hear American Atomic theme when you're finishing the space race, it's really beautiful and atmospheric. But it's not exactly the best music to listen to when you're in a war.
In Civ V, every war theme was special because you could easily imagine the war (well... almost every... *looks at Siam*). When I hear Denmark, I imagine incoming Danish fleet. When I hear Persia, I imagine sorrow. Arabia sounds like an incoming army and then a battle in hot desert. Mongolia is like army of Mongols attacking and burning a city. Even Morocco, which is hated by many people. When I hear it, I imagine a night battle in desert and sorrow of Moroccans. And take Field of Poppies, which makes you feel bad for nuking someone or attacking weaker and innocent Civ.
When I hear Brazil after nuking someone, I can only imagine people celebrating it in carnival.
Not saying that Civ VI music is bad. When you hear American Atomic theme when you're finishing the space race, it's really beautiful and atmospheric. But it's not exactly the best music to listen to when you're in a war.
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shyPiano
Prince
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2015
- Messages
- 306
I don't really like the absence of war themes for each civ, but
This, I miss specific war and peace soundtracks. Field of Poppies is an incredibly beautiful piece. I also really like Ellipse.
I think I'd rather take the Civ V approach with war and peace soundtracks for a region (+ adding civilization themes if you're at peace), while maintaining Civ VI's evolving main civilization themes. I'm not sure how that would balance against 4 main themes + some extra tracks per civ (as currently used by Civ VI), tho, so maybe this is just asking for an insane amount of music (it would have the benefit that each new civ would only include the main themes as new tracks, no need to also add the extra background tracks, still)
This, I miss specific war and peace soundtracks. Field of Poppies is an incredibly beautiful piece. I also really like Ellipse.
I think I'd rather take the Civ V approach with war and peace soundtracks for a region (+ adding civilization themes if you're at peace), while maintaining Civ VI's evolving main civilization themes. I'm not sure how that would balance against 4 main themes + some extra tracks per civ (as currently used by Civ VI), tho, so maybe this is just asking for an insane amount of music (it would have the benefit that each new civ would only include the main themes as new tracks, no need to also add the extra background tracks, still)
And more neutral ambient music. I like Civ VI music but it's way too repetitive.
To be honest, there are some themes I can listen for very long without being repetitive to me, like Chinese Industrial
Basileus Rhomaion
Warlord
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2017
- Messages
- 188
Some themes in the game work quite well as both war and peace (Industrial/Atomic Macedon, Industrial Poland, Industrial Greece etc), but it's true that it would be a lot better to have specific war themes for each civ. It would perhaps be quite difficult to do, not only because of double the amount of work required, but mostly the budget. As for war drums, there might be a bit of conflict with some of the existing themes that already use war drums in their themes.
By the way, I don't mind the dissonance between calm/cheerful ambient music and doing horrible acts of war. It gives me a bit of a "Good Morning Vietnam" vibe. As for nukes, there's a ready-made solution: Whenever someone drops a nuke, the music instantly changes to Gandhi's theme :^)
By the way, I don't mind the dissonance between calm/cheerful ambient music and doing horrible acts of war. It gives me a bit of a "Good Morning Vietnam" vibe. As for nukes, there's a ready-made solution: Whenever someone drops a nuke, the music instantly changes to Gandhi's theme :^)
The Kingmaker
Alexander
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2004
- Messages
- 1,971
We need three kinds of music.
1) The age-progressive civ music. This is really good, but needs something else to augment the experience.
2) Regional music, especially early on. The Heroes of Might and Magic games were good at this. Music that represents the biome you're exploring. Could include weather sounds and a few animal noises.
3) Situational music. Are you at war? In a Golden Age? Dark Age? Complicated though. They would still have to sort these by time period and presumably by culture groups.
Speaking of which... how hard is it to mod music into the game?
1) The age-progressive civ music. This is really good, but needs something else to augment the experience.
2) Regional music, especially early on. The Heroes of Might and Magic games were good at this. Music that represents the biome you're exploring. Could include weather sounds and a few animal noises.
3) Situational music. Are you at war? In a Golden Age? Dark Age? Complicated though. They would still have to sort these by time period and presumably by culture groups.
Speaking of which... how hard is it to mod music into the game?
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