Your Opinion About Music Integration

My theory:
- The remaining tracks didn't fit the locations so much
- With Deep Silver/Epic entering the project, Suzuki decided to save the best tracks for Shenmue 4 & 5.
 
Maybe Ryuji Iuchi thought he saved them on his desktop then realised the HDD got corrupted (then went "oh shit") and instead uploaded all the tracks from a backup HDD which only had Shenmue 1 and 2 music and some of the Online tracks? lol

Or he just left and didn't tell the new Sound Director what tracks had been used before and which hadn't?
 
They spent thousands on a laughable English dub instead of spending any focus on one of the series’ biggest strengths, its music and its perfect implementation in the game world and the story. Definitely a huge missed opportunity.
 
I haven't played far into the game yet to come across this yet for myself but here is Yu's comment in this recent interview I did with him.
YS: In general, I selected a song to fit each scene or location. For example, battle music for a battle scene. However, there are a lot of songs, so they're divided into types: Battle music, Exploration music, Flashback music, Sorrowful music, Calm music and so on. Then I would basically choose a song from within one of those categories.

And for something like exploration, it's something that takes time. Depending on the player, you might spend an hour or two hours exploring, meaning you'll be listening to the same song the whole time. So if it's an intense song, or one that stands out, you'll get sick of it. For exploration music, I choose songs that are mild and non-intense, which are suitable for listening to repeatedly. Songs that can be heard for a long period of time without growing tired of them.

For battles, it has to suit the rush of adrenaline as you charge forward, so battles use songs that are a bit stronger, with a faster tempo.
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Regarding the reuse of songs, unless this was not a deliberate choice it would seem that these music buckets may not have been filtered to remove existing pieces before selection.
 
Only if you finished the game:
The S2 opening theme (Ryo on the boat) recycled as a S3 "ending" theme, when they all look at the Castle on fire... that's another game music epic fail as far as I'm concerned :(
As already said, new scenarios/areas require new music to properly set the mood.
Putting familiar music under new scenarios can eventually be done with a very specific purpose in mind, but it never sounded like it was the case, in the entire game.

This remains sort of a mystery, if as they said, they had tons of unreleased tracks.
 
I had an unexpected laugh when hearing a Wan Chai music while the Bailu's kung fu master incited me to hit him 😆

mjqjazzbar said:
They spent thousands on a laughable English dub instead of spending any focus on one of the series’ biggest strengths, its music and its perfect implementation in the game world and the story. Definitely a huge missed opportunity.
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I first thought that English dub was a no-brainer for ease selling but hands-on, I now think spending this money to add dialogue and deepness to Bailu's characters would have brought the game to another level.
 
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That's totally inconsistent imo. You can't remember any atmosphere in Shenmue 3, the music switches almost randomly and does not fit the situations (the Won boat music while grabbing apples in your room, wtf !?).
Shenmue 1 with its FREE tracks is in another dimension...
 
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What theme is it that plays in the niaowu hotel at night? The theme when you’re outside Ryo’s room.


@ the 16 second mark till the end.
 
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FuK-San said:
What theme is it that plays in the niaowu hotel at night? The theme when you’re outside Ryo’s room.
@ the 16 second mark till the end.
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That's one of the two arrangements for "The Place Where the Sun Sets", from the Shenmue OST double CD


Although the entire track in S3 seems to have been evidently equalized, emphasizing the lower frequency range, sounding a little warmer and somehow more intimate, compared to the OST version which comparatively has more emphasis on the "flute" melody and the percussions in the upper range, sounding more balanced overall.


This is the other theme arrangement, also recycled for S3, can't remember exactly which area.
 
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Was listening to the Kowloon Cutscenes compilation and it's still fucking awesome:


Honestly wish some of the budget had been redirected to creating music on par with the original games.
 
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.
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You can change the sound balance in the options, for the ambient music, BGM and voices volume levels.
 
In the first Shenmue, the FREE music gave everything a dreamlike feel, which suited the game's atmosphere. In the second game, the music was suitably epic, from the introduction music on the boat, to the triumphant music upon defeating Baihu, the epic music in the introduction to Guilin...

In the third game, the music is just kind of there. The only track that stood out to me was the Temple of the Blooming Flower theme.
 
Amir said:
In the first Shenmue, the FREE music gave everything a dreamlike feel, which suited the game's atmosphere. In the second game, the music was suitably epic, from the introduction music on the boat, to the triumphant music upon defeating Baihu, the epic music in the introduction to Guilin...

In the third game, the music is just kind of there. The only track that stood out to me was the Temple of the Blooming Flower theme.
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Yes, music is so important to Shenmue. It is not smart to treat it like an after thought. Many people consider the Shenmue 1/2 soundtracks the 'greatest of all time.' They feature some of Sega's greatest composers. It's not a good thing to treat as unimportant.
 
Some of the tracks that were used are so synonymous with characters, locations and cutscenes in Shenmue 1 and 2 that when I would hear them, I would find them distracting. Music associated with Fangmei, the darts game, making the chawan sign with cups, the music played for Ryo when he arrives at Hong Kong, chasing Ren/members of the Heavens in pigeon park, the list goes on.

It was disappointing to say the least and not what I was expecting. There are talented composers who are Shenmue fans who I’m sure would have gladly worked on Shenmue 3 for peanuts.

I would have loved for this track by a very talented composer to be used in Shenmue 3.
 
Oh man, found another case of old minigame music being used for a store, Roll it on Top this time.

I also cannot get over what an annoying and short piece of music they used for main area of Niaowu. It is literaly just a 23 second loop and repeats its notes in less than half of that. This wouldn't exactly be great in just about any game but for a Shenmue this is really lightyears below the standards.
 
Overall the game's soundtrack was absolutely stellar. Some incredible new or at least previously unknown to the fanbase tracks in there, such as Vendors Avenue, Huaxiao Temple, Blossom Road, Senary Road, the Fishermen's Pier.

Also some fantastic unused tracks from Shenmue 2 were finally officially put to some use like the
"Hide and Seek Song"

And I think the
"Rose Garden Song
was originally from Shenmue Online.

The only real issue I had with the music was
the Credits melody - Chawan Sign melody?!? WTF?!!! I felt trolled. The game ended with (almost) nothing happening story-wise and they chose one of the most in-epic songs in Shenmue's music library almost as if trying to add insult to injury.
 
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