Something I too rarely see mentioned: the themes of this expansion are awesome! I personally find Zulu and Scottish themes astonishing, Mapuche's, Georgia's and Cree's are also very nice and thematic.
In terms of main theme, Georgia, no question. Absolutely stunning.
In terms of the ambient music you get with each Civ as well as the main theme, possibly the Netherlands. I haven't heard as much of their music as I would like but I caught a bit of something that sounded quite gorgeous as well. Very Renaissance-esque, polyphonic singing of some kind. Reminded me of the Civ IV medieval music actually.
I appreciate the attempt at themes, but in my games the current Civ's theme always ends, and some other Civ's theme begins to play with the game eventually cycling through multiple random players.
In my last game I played as Tamar, but I distinctly recall hearing the early era music for the Chinese, followed by the Cree, same for the midgame. The styles differ by a wide margin.
My favorite is the Cree Medieval. It's such a jam, it actually has me bobbing along to it while it plays. It's just so wonderfully rhythmic and I get into such a groove while it plays.
For consistency through the eras I'd give it to Georgia and then the Zulu though. Scotland the Brave is also great but it's too familiar to work as background music for me for all the eras
To me the Cree have the best overall, I initially didn't like the ancient era but that has grown on me as well. The late game music with the chanting is amazing.
Haven't heard them all in detail yet (the Zulu haven't shown up in any game I've played yet) and I'm no doubt biased by having always liked Scotland the Brave, but some of the later-era arrangements of that are great. Overall I've found most of the R&F music more anonymous than the base game's (which was one of the base game's big selling points for me), and I'm not a fan of the Dutch theme at all.
The themes aren't meant to be original - they're mostly selected precisely because they're recognisable existing work, though obviously due to greater exposure to certain cultures some are more recognisable in the Anglophone world than others. The arrangement is a lot more interesting than I'd expected for Scotland the Brave after hearing the music in the Firaxis stream - not least because bagpipes aren't much in evidence.
The feeling when you have two great favourite themes from R&F and they are both on same level for you, so you can't decide which one will you pick... I'm talking about Zulu and Mongolia.
Edit: Then I noticed that Mongolia had only three votes while Zulu had eight, so I had to support Genghis
I don't even have Rise and Fall yet (I have a Mac) but I've listened to the songs and I think the Cree's is the best. The ancient and medieval eras are actually my favorite - the vocals are a refreshing change from the rest of the themes. Georgia is probably my second favorite and Mongolia third, I wish they just brought the polyphonic and throat singing closer to the front. Maybe its just because the Cree's vocals are just more abrasive. And while I love Georgia's theme I was a little bummed because I was hoping for Tsintskaro as the theme
While I absolutely love the Mongolian theme, the Zulu theme is so joyful and happy it is constantly reverberating in my head throughout the day, So, with that in mind, I had to pick it.
I am going to have to play the Zulu just for the theme. It’s so majestic.
Georgia is great also, though. Argghh... It really is hard to choose. They really hit it out of the park with the musical themes in R&F.
EDIT: Changed my vote after listening to the Mongolian theme again. It was the throat singing that won me over, again. Sorry Zulu!
1. Cree
2. Mapuche and Mongolia
3. Scotland & Georgia
4. Netherlands
5. Zulu & Korea
But I am sure I’ll change some of them. Hands down the best soundtrack for me because even both no. 5 I seriously dig. Loving it. Ok, im getting pumped. Time to continue my second R&F game!
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