Decline Decline of Mark Morgan?

[roshan]

Why is the music of Stasis, Wasteland 2 and Tides of Numenera so goddamn boring? There are a couple of memorable bits here and there but most of it is so dull.

What happened to the fabled composer of Planescape Torment and the Fallouts?

 

[Ash]

Modern video game composer's law: everything is bland banal boring shit.

 

[Roguey]

Talent fades over time.

More trollish answer: he ran out of good music to plagiarize.

 

[deama]

Maybe he didn't get paid enough?

 

[eric__s]

Modern video game composer's law: everything is bland banal boring shit.

It really, really is fucking boring now. I was in Montreal recently and they had this radio station that played nothing but video game music, so my pals and I would listen to it and see if there was anything we recognized. They played modern stuff exclusively, it was all this bland, orchestral mush and it may as well have all been from the same game. The only song we recognized was the Halo theme, which is orchestral music to begin with. Every other song was just so bland. Why are we doing this!?!?!?!?!?!?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAa

 

[roshan]

Mark Morgan's Numanuma soundtrack actually sounds really cuckish, like some soyboy desperately trying to be pleasing so it ends up grating on you instead.

I think there are good soundtracks out there. Josh Culler's work on Underrail and Neo Scavenger is fantastic. Even the new Shadowrun games, Halfway and Invisible Inc had great cyberpunk themed scores.

 

[wyes gull]

Can you really be that much worse than you used to be when making music that you don't need to turn off even if you're listening to music from another source?

 

[roshan]

If you need to listen to music from another source, that's bad enough, if you don't even need to turn off the music while listening to something else, that's much worse. And that is exactly what describes Nu-Morgan.

 

[wyes gull]

And that is exactly what describes Mark Morgan.

FTFM

 

[Mexi]

Eh, his work with Planescape was A+++. The Fallout soundtrack was rather boring. I thought Zur's soundtrack for Fallout: 3 was much better.

I didn't love Fallout because of the music. With that said, this song is absolutely beautiful and the only one I liked in the whole game. Also, he supposedly straight ripped off the Aphex Twins to make the Fallout soundtrack. Not cool at all considering it wasn't that good.



Now, Planescape is a different story. Fucking amazing soundtrack.

 

[Mexi]

Modern video game composer's law: everything is bland banal boring shit.

It really, really is fucking boring now. I was in Montreal recently and they had this radio station that played nothing but video game music, so my pals and I would listen to it and see if there was anything we recognized. They played modern stuff exclusively, it was all this bland, orchestral mush and it may as well have all been from the same game. The only song we recognized was the Halo theme, which is orchestral music to begin with. Every other song was just so bland. Why are we doing this!?!?!?!?!?!?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAa

Fucking kills me that so many find this shit to be great music. All Final Fantasy songs sound like this to me even though they score high as shit on best VGM lists.

 

[eric__s]

Spoiler

Yeah, this is my favorite Fallout song too, such an amazing piece. I think it only plays in that town with the ghost farm, which is a shame, because it's such a tiny part of the game and you never hear it anywhere else.

My understanding is that he was brought in at the last minute to make the Planescape: Torment soundtrack. I think a complete soundtrack had already been composed by Lustmord or some industrial band, but then got scrapped when Guido Henkel resigned. I think he made the whole thing in about 6 weeks?

 

[eric__s]

Guido Henkel died for our sins.

 

[Roguey]

Now, Planescape is a different story. Fucking amazing soundtrack.

So nice he used it twice.

 

[wyes gull]

The Fallout soundtrack was rather boring.

Allow me to retort- the Fallout (1&2) soundtrack(s), comprised of Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep Best Of(s), feat. Mark Morgan on ambient sfx was fucking dope.
Also, spot on in regards to Final Fantasy (and orchestral bs in general).

 

[roshan]

Eh, his work with Planescape was A+++. The Fallout soundtrack was rather boring. I thought Zur's soundtrack for Fallout: 3 was much better.

I didn't love Fallout because of the music. With that said, this song is absolutely beautiful and the only one I liked in the whole game. Also, he supposedly straight ripped off the Aphex Twins to make the Fallout soundtrack. Not cool at all considering it wasn't that good.



Now, Planescape is a different story. Fucking amazing soundtrack.

I think the new tracks in Fallout 2 were better than most of his FO1 music. In particular, Vault City and New Reno had great tracks:





Even Fallout 1 had great tracks though like Khans of New California and A Trader's Life.

 

[The Glitterdust Golem]

Wasn't Mark Morgan accused of ripping of Aphex Twin, anyway?

 

[roshan]

Wasn't Mark Morgan accused of ripping of Aphex Twin, anyway?

Yeah, that and a lot of other musicians too. Some videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=log0l7UYcR8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orAnm1yM_ZI

 

[Zed]

this is true for games too, I'd wager:

 

[Zed]

by far the best composer in RPG land anno 2018 is Jon Everist (shadowrun dragonfall, hong kong, and the upcoming battletech).

 

[Jokzore]

Modern video game composer's law: everything is bland banal boring shit.

Since the soundtrack is supposed to reflect the feel of the game, I'd argue they're spot on.

 

[Mexi]

Speaking of plagiarism.





These two songs sound too damn similar, right. Both great, though.

 

[Mexi]

Eh, his work with Planescape was A+++. The Fallout soundtrack was rather boring. I thought Zur's soundtrack for Fallout: 3 was much better.

I didn't love Fallout because of the music. With that said, this song is absolutely beautiful and the only one I liked in the whole game. Also, he supposedly straight ripped off the Aphex Twins to make the Fallout soundtrack. Not cool at all considering it wasn't that good.



Now, Planescape is a different story. Fucking amazing soundtrack.

I think the new tracks in Fallout 2 were better than most of his FO1 music. In particular, Vault City and New Reno had great tracks:





Even Fallout 1 had great tracks though like Khans of New California and A Trader's Life.

Just doesn't sound good to my ears, but it is better than 100% of the things I hear on Final Fantasy VGM lists. Also, I hear notes from Planescape in the Vault City track.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

The video game composer is like the guy who is doing jingles for the peanut butter commercial on tv. Just because he is not Mozart, it doesn’t mean that he is not providing a valuable service. His job is providing you with some background music when you go around killing fictional entities in your game. Be thankful because that is a luxury. It may not look like it because we are spoiled, but it is. Trying to be all smug and dismissive about it on internet forums because you are employing higher standards derived from other contexts and mediums is not only pedantic, but poorly thought because a game composer will probably be working on a tight deadline, restricted to the game theme, and subject to the whims of the project lead, etc., so it’s not an easy task by any means.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Now about the copy bit, there is plagiarism and there is plagiarism:



“A good composer does not imitate; he steals” Igor Stravinsky