Your Opinion About Music Integration

DigitalDuck said:
I heard the Green Market Qr. music during a cutscene yesterday.

That threw me for a loop even more than the darts music did.
Click to expand...

I heard the South Carmain Qr music during a cutscene, and thought it fit perfectly.
 
Cebman said:
Does it make you feel any better that building is cafe? 🙃
Click to expand...

No. Maybe if it was a full on bar with a large area to walk around in. But not what basically equates to another small shack in Bailu with someone cooking in it.
 
To me the music didn't disappoint that much, I liked most of the themes, the transitions were messy in some places but mostly worked, I think it worked much better than in SII that for example the music in kowloon was so chirpy while the place was supposed to be this seedy mafia ruled land.
But sometimes the margin of transition was very narrow, like when entering stores, specially those that have steps, it was fading in and out often.
I always said I preferred free music, but I can see how it can become stale for some people.
The closeup/investigation music was cool when entering a place and feel "ok the game is on", but in places like Shenhua house it totally killed the mood (specially after exiting and the music changed back again).
But overall, I enjoyed a lot of the mood in the game, have to agree, entering the abandoned temple was one of the most accomplished and memorable sequences of the game.
 
Some of those transition borders are definaltey placed wrong. Sometimes going up to the back wall of a store can start playing its music and in the Tomato Mart when you go into the back portion, the street music plays there.

One of the most bizzare choices is how FBW&M has new music and then they use the original music from Shenmue II for that minigame for an area in Niaowu. Why, just why?
 
code l name said:
Like I said in earlier thread, we as dedicated fans have been accustomed to associating certain music pieces with scenes or characters in previous games for the last 18 years so it’s hard to disassociate those memories. The dart theme didn’t bother me as much as hearing Fangmei’s theme in a random store in Niaowu. In context that song wasn’t completely out of place but because that piece was so closely associated with the character it felt cheap.

It’s just one of those concessions a limited budget brings.
Click to expand...
Perfectly agree. :(

As bad as transitions are, to me the real and mais issue is the recycling of old and iconic/special themes, which, being completely honest, gives me a quite unpleasant and weird "fan-made expansion" feeling.

"A Song of Luck" in Village Square, or "Helping Anan Liu" in the Sunflower zone, or all the music in the Niaowu stores...
I'm sure this was made out of sheer necessity. It doesn't break the game, I'm loving the game, but that was kind of a big disappointment for me.

I'm probably halfway in the game... if they recycle "Borrowing Ito's Motorcycle" I won't take it lightly. :eek:
 
Last edited:
I just don't get it Yu Suzuki said he used around 23% of the composed music back in the day in shenmue 1 and 2 and yet he re-used lots of music from shenmue 2, shenmue online (technically new tracks because game got cancelled), one or two from shenmue 1 and some featured in the what's shenmue vhs and the saturn footage...why he didn't used only new musics... is he keeping them for 4, 5 and maybe 6... pretty sure even using only new tracks on shenmue 3 there's still plenty for the remain games... previous games had some not used in there.
 
I don't know... the whole thing about game music for S3 sounded weird by the very moment they started mentioning the "unused" tracks. I've had the weirdest feeling but somehow trusted they'd work it out properly.

Of course, unreleased themes from the earlier games would have been better than digging up iconic themes like they did, but that still wouldn't have been something I expected for Shenmue in almost 5 years of development time.
Music usually gets taylor-made, appositely for game areas and parts in the script, especially for "cinematic style" games.

I have no idea if it was a money or time related issue, but making music right now, with modern technology, is a billion times cheaper, faster and easier than 20 years ago.
I can't really explain it to myself... it's as if they almost completely overlooked the game music part, which is a pretty big deal for a game based on story and atmosphere, imho.
 
Last edited:
I'm perfectly fine with them using Shenmue Online or music that had only been used for trailers or such. In fact I celebrate that (it feel like those missing tracks are finding their purpose :-)).

It's disappointing, though, when they recycle tracks that were strongly linked to characters or moments for entirely different purposes. Like that traveler song from the arrival of Shenmue II used as background (i've to reach Niaowu yet but i read some things from you that seem way worse than my example).

And what I really can't understand is when they simply lose the continuity between games when there wasn't any need to. For example why they use the Shenmue II Langhuishan music for Lucky Hit instead of the actual Lucky Hit theme from that game. Or why they don't bring back the same iconic (and wonderful) theme for the main menu.

It feels like they picked the tracks randomly, or because of personal taste reasons rather than fit.
 
Another weak point is that the volume is too unbalanced.

The music in the endurance training (horse stance and the punch minigame) is so low that I have to turn the volume of my TV up myself to properly enjoy the music epicness and be motivated to do a series of sessions... and that's how I found out that the music has no loop again and ruined my flow!

With so many non-tweaks, it's pretty clear that no one was specialized in audio programming in the staff. I don't think they were poorly skilled though. I think Yu hired a small team of all-around young developers and asked them to shine in as many fields as possible. The credits will be very interesting to read.
 
Yokosuka said:
Another weak point is that the volume is too unbalanced.

The music in the endurance training (horse stance and the punch minigame) is so low that I have to turn the volume of my TV up myself to properly enjoy the music epicness and be motivated to do a series of sessions... and that's how I found out that the music has no loop again and ruined my flow!

With so many non-tweaks, it's pretty clear that no one was specialized in audio programming in the staff. I don't think they were poorly skilled though. I think Yu hired a small team of all-around young developers and asked them to shine in as many fields as possible. The credits will be very interesting to read.
Click to expand...
I had an issue with this in a QTE Event, I happend to get it when out in the rain and the sound of the rain overshadowed the music and sound nearly completely.
 
yup the re-use of tracks made specifically for certain areas in previous games is my biggest issue with the game too. Yu Suzuki said they had "100s" of un-used tracks available for Shenmue 3 and yet they re-used mostly Shenmue 1 and 2 tracks. I found it quite annoying.
 
RiGoRmOrTiS said:
yup the re-use of tracks made specifically for certain areas in previous games is my biggest issue with the game too. Yu Suzuki said they had "100s" of un-used tracks available for Shenmue 3 and yet they re-used mostly Shenmue 1 and 2 tracks. I found it quite annoying.
Click to expand...

Maybe the next Shenmue chapters are set in Egypt or in the future, and their music tracks don't fit :p
 
Agree, I don't know if it's a budget or not, but at least for me, most of the music felt more like a placeholder..
 
I appreciate they didn't forget to swap the track when night falls but some locations are still running day music whatever the time. Flower bridge location is always playing the same vigorous track. The track is fantastic but when you comes from the superb chilling night track of the Square Guarden, the transition and the repetitiveness almost give me a headache.
 
Yeah hearing Fangmei's theme at the Prize Exchange is maddening. I thought we were going to find out the character was related or something.

Tell you what though if there was one area that absolutely needed the right track, it was Shenhua's home at night and they nailed it. It really helps elevate the conversation scenes.
 
Last edited:
I Got Sriracha In My DNA said:
Yeah hearing Fangmei's theme at the Prize Exchange is maddening. I thought we were going to find out the character was related or something.
Click to expand...

Yeah after all the re-used tracks I justified away in my mind, the fangmei one (for some reason) is where I thought "ok this is getting kinda rudiculous"..

I do wonder what happened though.. they said they had 100s of un-used tracks available for use. Maybe there was extra royalty payments they couldn't afford to use tracks that hadn't be commercially exploited yet? Just bizzare.

I Got Sriracha In My DNA said:
Tell you what though if there was one area that absolutely needed the right track, it was Shenhua's home at night and they nailed it. It really helps elevate the conversation scenes.
Click to expand...

Yes perfect example of why it's so important, especially in Shenmue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top