Favourite Soundtrack

[vhilhu]

all were great.

except that
H1 i never played
H4 wasnt bad, but not good either.

the rest were fine.

h5 was by far the most professional of them. best homm battle music, althogh its repetitive.

and the winner...

h3. i still play a mix of tower and inferno themes on synth myself. h3 music has utter brilliancy in it.

[Apeman]

Heroes II for me, I love the opera and the overall quality of the town music.

[Angelspit]

I find myself humming or whistling as the Heroes V soundtrack plays, which is a good sign. And I listened to the Heroes II music at work recently, and wished the tracks were longer.

If I were to vote again, I'm really not sure what my pick would be (I voted for Heroes IV originally).

[HodgePodge]

Voted: Heroes I

I'm not saying that it's the overall best but there's just something about the music in Heroes I that brings out some kind of gaming nostalgia in me that is hard to explain.

Anyhow, Heroes III would be my very close next choice.

[Deni]

voted h1

[alavris]

I voted for H2 but I also like music from H1. These melodies in baroque style are beautiful (I recognised some J.S. Bach music elements in them). H5 soundtrack is definitely the worst one.

[Metathron]

After a couple of you guys voted for HoMM I, I'm definitely intrigued about its music, as I've never heard it. Does the music still work for you under Windows (XP?)? Or do you know of any places on the web where one can listen to the HoMM I score?

[Humakt]

H 2: Very good music in Sorcerer town, other music is solid but not outstanding. Maybe sounds too much like midi in general. Opera is good.

H 3: Solid again, but besides the thematic and fitting town themes its nothing noteworthy IMHO.

H 4: Best adventure map music (especially Water). Credit music is nice as well. I'm not very fond of some of the town music or the opera, but they'll pass. The Winds of War mainmenu music is awful.

H 5: Best combat musics (especially Life and Fortress). Most of town musics are good. Mainmenu musics are great as well. Adventure map music isn't impressive, which is pity since that you'll hear lot.

Rob King & Paul Romero have done excellent work in the series.

I vote for Heroes V though H4 and H2 are close candidates as well.

[TheUndeadKing]

I keep hearing that H5 has the best combat music. While I agree that H5 has a couple of nice siege themes, the combat themes are somewhat short and they get repetitive after awhile. H4's combat themes are much better, in my opinion.

[alavris]

To all H1 and H2 soundtrack fans: do you recognize that melody (first 7 seconds)?

http://www.jsbach.net/midi/bwv988/988-v01.mid

It's from J.S. Bach "The Goldberg Variations - BWV 988", but it also appears in some place in the game. And here's the question: do you remember in which game? H1 or H2? I can't recall...

[Metathron]

Yes, I remember. Can't be H1, cause I never heard its music. H2 - barbarian town, I think it is, but the original version (Succession Wars), not the expansion (Price of Loyalty) - that had a different set of music.

Good find, alavris.

EDIT: On second thought, it might have been the Wizard town.

[Corribus]

I have to say H2. I really loved the operatic scores. I know some people did NOT like the opera, but IIRC there was an option to turn off the opera but still retain the orchestral music. H3's music was OK. In H4 they seemed to try to go back to the style of H2, and so for this I would say it is second place, but I also feel H4's music got a little repetitive after a while. Still, the music in most of these games far suprasses that in other games.

[alavris]

Metathron, your first thought was probably right. Afer some refresh of my memory I think it could be barbarian town theme...

[ByteBandit]

Still, the music in most of these games far surpasses that in other games.

I have to agree with you here, Corribus. There are'nt too many games where the music catches the imagination. However, I may try to get the music out of NWN, especially the battle music and the Temple of Tyr music and put them in H3. The Temple of Tyr music would be great for the Castle town. If you have'nt heard this music, the best descriptiion would be Angellic.

But for basic music, I think H4 battle music is very good. I used it for many years in H3. I now use the Battle music from H2 in H3. And as a bonus I use the vampire "Blah" from H2 in H3 as well. It's so nice to have that again.

[Omega_Destroyer]

I always gets a nostalgic feeling every time I hear the menu screen song to Heroes of Might and Magic 2.

[ByteBandit]

Exactly! Every time I hear the words "Heroes of Might & Magic" I think of the selection screen music of H2. I think the solo instrument is an oboe if I'm not mistaken, strings in the background. I could be wrong about the oboe though.

[kitcat0]

H2 for me too. I always loved the sound effects.

[klaymen]

Opera music in H2 is the best.

Btw: does anyone know how to convert music from H2 extracted by ResEdit into a known format? Sounds are in .82M format and music is in .XMI

[pepak]

Still, the music in most of these games far suprasses that in other games.

Well, I do have two gripes with Heroes music in general:

1) I simply hate the "contextual music" of Heroes. I hate it that I hear one theme for a second or two, then move over different terrain or display a town screen and the music changes, only to change once again three seconds after that. In the end I always turn the Heroes music off and if I indeed with to listen to it, I play the soundtrack in background.

2) Heroes music seems to have quite a poor "durability" for me. I mean, I can listen to music from games such as Outcast, Outlaws or Monkey Island every day and not get tired. Heroes 4 music comes close to this ideals, but the others barely sustain one listen a month :-(

Btw: does anyone know how to convert music from H2 extracted by ResEdit into a known format? Sounds are in .82M format and music is in .XMI

XMI is a variant of MIDI. I believe it is possible to convert it to MID (I seem to recall an utility called XMI2MID which does precisely that), or, if it fails, you can always play it and set your soundcard to record "what-you-hear".

[Metathron]

I always gets a nostalgic feeling every time I hear the menu screen song to Heroes of Might and Magic 2.

Ditto! That has to be the single most memorable theme from the Heroes games period.