Heroes V Music Review

[Angelspit]

You may remember Kevin Sung's summaries of the Heroes of Might and Magic V plot to which I linked to earlier this year. While recovering from a major jaw surgery (check out the day-to-day pictures in his archives), Kevin took the time to review <a href="/http://kevinsung.wordpress.com/2007/03/ ... view/">all tracks from the Heroes V score</a>. Here is his take on the swamp theme:



<i>"In the past games, swamps have been associated with very morose melodies. Here, the composer breaks the mold by turning the song into pure dissonance. And yet, it works. The tolling bells and background howling do well in reflecting the mood of the necromancers who have taken up residence."</i>



He does a good job of finding the bits and parts that are reused from one track to another, and the central melodies Romero and King have used as the core of their very cinematic score. Nearly a year later, what do you think of the music from the latest Heroes game?

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1173793240

[vhilhu]

Nicolai (Vampire)
Ooh! Angst! Also, “Igor!!! It’s ALIVE!!!”

[HodgePodge]

The music in Heroes 5 is about the only thing that is decent!

[omegaweix]

You read my mind Hodgepodge

[1979]

I do like the music in HV, but not as much as the music in some of the earlier ones. I listen to some of the music from 2 and 3 over and over...

[Gaping_MAW]

I still love it

[Humakt]

Not even a comment about combat musics?

[lotusreaver]

There. Enjoy.

[WretchedGnu]

The problem with H5 music is that the composer tried to paint the entire game with a single thematic brush -- just like they do (usually poorly) in film scores. So the Necro town theme is just a dissonant version of the Haven theme, which is just a triumphant version of the Sylvan theme, etc.



Unless you're an absolute master -- on the level of a Hayden -- this approach always, always sounds like crap, despite the fact that it's the vogue in "epic" films.



Is this the same composer who did H2 & 3, by the way? H3 music was about as perfect as it gets. Does anybody know an easy way to make H5 play the H3 tracks instead...?

[Gaidal Cain]

I imagine that all you need to do is to change their format to .ogg and replace the files on your hard drive. I haven't tried, as I like the H5 music.

[vhilhu]

Unless you're an absolute master -- on the level of a Hayden -- this approach always, always sounds like crap, despite the fact that it's the vogue in "epic" films.

please... even if they had hired some total n00b, which they luckily didnt, nothing can possibly sound worse than Haydn. the only good thing about Haydn was his cool name.

Is this the same composer who did H2 & 3, by the way?

no.

[Marzhin]

Is this the same composer who did H2 & 3, by the way?

no.

H5 music was composed by Paul Romero & Rob King, the guys who did the music for Magic & Magic 6, 7, 8, 9 (with Jennifer Wang) and Heroes 1, 2, 3, 4. So yes, it is indeed the same team of composers.

[vhilhu]

i could have sworn i read somewhere it was someone else before... my bad, then.

EDIT: i must have confused homm with c&c.

[HodgePodge]

… the only good thing about Haydn was his cool name.

I happen to love Franz Josef Haydn's music! He and Mozart were good friends and both of their immortal music has survived for more than 250 years.

[vhilhu]

I happen to love Franz Josef Haydn's music! He and Mozart were good friends and both of their immortal music has survived for more than 250 years.

well. as i didnt like him in the first place, i havent seeked many different pieces from him either. but Surprise symphony and Emperor quartet left a really dull image of his works for me.

but eg Beethoven and especially Vivaldi (my fav ) seem massively better to me. i mean, the only things id espect from a music is to have personality and good tempo. Haydn didnt seem to let those 2 coexist.

and i dont get why people rate Bach so high either... not bad at some points, but, at other points, untolerably boring.

[WretchedGnu]

Hey, so what does everybody think of this habit of referring to H2's music as "opera"? Is any music with a choral component now considered "opera" by the public at large?



By the way, I just downloaded dbPoweramp music converter, and it does a fast bang-up job of converting H3 tracks into .ogg. Maybe the pleasure of hearing the old tunes again will make up for the absent AI in H5....

[Bandobras Took]

Hey, so what does everybody think of this habit of referring to H2's music as "opera"? Is any music with a choral component now considered "opera" by the public at large?

The soundtrack varied depending on the release version.

My Heroes II Gold version does away with nearly all of the operatic tracks that are found on my copy of Heroes II : PoL.

And my French version has still different music.

Not that I'm obssessive over the game, or anything.

[lotusreaver]

Hey, so what does everybody think of this habit of referring to H2's music as "opera"?

It's not a habit. It's what the game refers to it as. In HOMMII, if you look in the game settings the options are:

1. MIDI
2. CD Music
3. CD Music, No Opera

[WretchedGnu]

...yes, well... shouldn't we be able to think beyond the game settings text??

[Bandobras Took]

...yes, well... shouldn't we be able to think beyond the game settings text??

As I said before: different music came with different releases of the game.

My original Price of Loyalty disc has operatic tracks, but these tracks are not to be found on my Heroes II Gold version.

Therefore there was opera in Heroes II. Apparently it was not there in your version. My condolences.