News Item: January 28, 2009 - A sample of Book II's music

[BasiliskWrangler]

We are pleased to release a bit of music from Eschalon: Book II's soundtrack. The title of the track is "The Road Less Traveled" and it can be downloaded from the link below.

Link: The Road Less Traveled.mp3

Ogg Vorbis version: The Road Less Traveled.ogg

[Dragonlady]

Oh! Oh! Oooooh! Bouncing up and down. Kay Eee double you el! Love it. So moody. Thanks for that. I've downloaded it so I can play it over and over and over...snicker.

[Unclever title]

Awesome!

Let's see if we can guess a place where it's used in Book II (of course depends on if they've been decided yet I imagine some have.)

My first impression was a swamp land with the Mire trolls hiding not too far away
But I'd also guess would be a dark forest and strangely enough a wintery zone.

It does seem versatile though so I imagine it would be heard many times in many areas around Eschalon.

The excerpt alone sounds kind of like a companion to the Dramatic scene music in Book I with a different feel obviously.

Anyway it's fantastic and leaves you wanting more. Good choice. Can't wait for the screenshots!

[IJBall]

Awesome!

Let's see if we can guess a place where it's used in Book II (of course depends on if they've been decided yet I imagine some have.)

My first impression was a swamp land with the Mire trolls hiding not too far away
But I'd also guess would be a dark forest and strangely enough a wintery zone.

To me, this piece does seem to evoke "desolation" (for lack of a better word), so I'm thinking it'll pop up in either desert, or much more likely arctic/tundra, maps. I think it'll be perfect for those.

Hey, BW, can you tell us a little bit about who does the music for you (and maybe how they do it)?

I loved the music from Book I, especially the Salted Coast/Vela piece, and the Darkford/Chancellor(/Grimmhold?), pieces.

[CrazyBernie]

It sounds spiritual/nature-ish to me... It starts kind of sorrowful but then seems transition toward hopeful. I can picture playing Final Fantasy III on SNES (AKA FF6) and having this play on the overland map, or while in the Phantom Forest.

[Getharn]

That sounds awesome BW. I love the way that the transitions are smooth and yet still slightly surprising - the violin tremolo evokes an impression of tension, but there's also an interjection of hopeful optimism with those sweeping resolutions to major chords.

DISCLAIMER: I know almost nothing about music theory, my use of terminology is probably incorrect! Just trying to express myself as best I can.

Music is an oft-overlooked aspect of gaming, I believe, yet I think it's an absolutely intrinsic and vital part of a polished and absorbing experience. Assuming the rest of the soundtrack lives up to that excerpt, however, it appears we need have no fears on that score (ahaha, ahem) with Book II.

For reasons I can't quite explain, it reminds me slightly of the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, so I can't really guess where it might be used as I can't get images of pirate galleons gliding through the ocean fog out of my head. In fact, it wouldn't sound out of place on a Hans Zimmer soundtrack. Well, aside from making me think "hmm, Zimmer's got a bit more creative all of a sudden"...

[Yeliu]

Wow, that was really quite something :)

I guess I'll have to listen to the Book II soundtrack as I play because I always would turn the sounds off and listen to my own music in the background. Haha. Now I'll need to pay attention, that was really good.

So, I guess the question is... who composed it? And how did you guys do it? Are they real instruments recorded?

[biubidboy]

Does that mean the next RPG Vault article is coming out today (according to viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2073)?

[IJBall]

Does that mean the next RPG Vault article is coming out today (according to viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2073)?

Based on the progression through the "Coming Soon" list, I'd wager that Part 2 will show up on RPGVault either tomorrow (Thursday, 01/29) or Friday (01/30). Monday (02/02) at the latest.

[Saxon1974]

Very nice indeed.

It gives me a feeling of walking out into a dark forest holding out my flickering lantern as the fireflies dance amid the great Oak trees. It definitely has a sense of wonder and oozes atmosphere.

Your sure good at making GREAT atmosphere music in your games.

I think Music is huge in a game, Divine Divinity was a game that had some great music, I even downloaded the whole sountrack and listened in my car.

More! More! More!

[BasiliskWrangler]

Update: added a link to the Ogg Vorbis format (some Linux distros don't have .mp3 codecs since mp3 is not open source). See top message.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

I love the way it starts ominously, then picks up some bright notes through the middle, then hits a nice ominous tone at the end of that excerpt. This will be addictive music to play to.

[AK_Marty]

After the release of Book II, will we be able to download the complete soundtrack seperately? I would also like to be able to download the complete soundtrack to Book I, if that's possible.

[realmzmaster]

Very nice! The music is in the same mode as Book I and I thought Book I had a lovely soundtrack. Look forward to hearing the other music and sound effects of Book II.

[Hawkwind]

Way to go, BeeDub!

Almost had a Moody Blues feeling at the beginning. I laughed..I cried...it was better than Cats.