(1) Really it is just a matter of musical preference. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on Double Dragon II. And if you have Lady Phantom (two decent tracks).
(2) I think most video game music (from SNES onwards) falls into the genre of muzak, but I try to appreciate it for what it is.
(3) Valis II, in many ways, transcends muzak. Or, at worst, it is really good muzak. Lots of creative stuff going on.
(4) Electronic / synth-pop / 80's / new romantics = some of my favorite genres
(5) Valis II 's music kicks your lame ass!
(6) See #5
(1) I don't have Double Dragon II or Lady Phantom- but I'd be happy to take 'em off you to give my opinion
(2) Not a fan of muzak or SNES
(3) I don't see how there can be "Lots of creative stuff" going on in muzak- since muzak is created to be light filler renditions of other people's music. Not even sure how you can praise the Valis II music and in the same breath call it "really good muzak" -- that's pretty bad
(4) Progressive symphonic and math rock / jazz fusion = some of my favorite genres- exactly why (5) and (6) need not apply
really good muzak is really really lame
Just an opinion of course. I'm actually not a total music snob like I'm coming off- I like a bit of everything- folk, alternative hip-hop and classic rock included- and that said I merely implied that Valis II's music was overrated- it isn't a complete waste- I just think that the high reverence held to it is more than drastic. As Nat said- it'd be lucky to make a realistic top 25 list of best PCECD music- and I'd place it lower than that. Pretty much all of Hudson's CD games have much better music for example- and nothing from Valis II stuck in my head. My initial concerns however were on Valis II's poor gameplay, structure, and lack of strategy, difficulty and length. This makes the music even worse than it already is as a good video game should be one great experience as a whole- with each element- whether it be music, sfx, graphics or gameplay among others- harmonizing into an almost religious synthesis. Perhaps if I listened to Valis II's music on it's own merits I'd appreciate it more- but as I already said nothing jumped out at me.
Dude, I posted mp3's in that Double Dragon II thread, just right-click and download them. Give 'em a listen!
Anyway, I am arguing that Valis II
transcends muzak, and that is why I love it so much. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.
If comes down to personal preference, of course, but Valis II's soundtrack really stands out from other CD games across all consoles: I have been searching for more games,
any games, that offer something even
remotely similar to Valis II. Unfortunately, I've yet to find any, and believe me, I've been looking...
Perhaps you have to like synth-pop and eccentric stuff to appreciate Valis II?
As for math rock, I dig that as well, though I had to look at lists of "math rock" bands just now to see if I recognized anything. As far as I can tell, I am only familiar with older stuff (early 90's) since I was buying up all of these records like a fiend.
If you dig Drive Like Jehu's first album (Yank Crime isn't as good) and if you have perused Touch and Go's catalog (math rockers and beyond), then we're probably not the mortal enemies I thought we were
.
I'm actually more of a music fiend than a video game fiend, which maybe explains why I spend too much time defending the handful of excellent tunes from Dragon Spirit....