Dynamic music is such a good design choice and I always appreciate when a game uses it
source: wallhaven.cc
Dynamic music can be used in so many ways to enhance a game experience. There are several games I have played that have used dynamic music. In this blog I will discuss some of the coolest uses of dynamic music in games I have played.
Fire Emblem is the game I want to mention first. This is one of the games my mind immediately goes to when I think of dynamic music. The way fire emblem does dynamic music is by having map and battle music. Most of the time, the battle music is a more intense version of the map music, with a more full and loud arrangement going on. The battle music is like this to get the player pumped up as it makes the moment feel more intense. While the map music being more simple and chill makes sense as it's the decision making state. The map music is probably also this way as to not distract the player too much from the critical decisions they need to make. This method just works really well and I am grateful it was added starting in Fire emblem awakening.
Zelda games have had dynamic music in since Wind Waker. However, I will be talking about the two most recent entries specifically and their use of dynamic music. Tears of The kingdom and Breath of The Wild use dynamic music for their dungeons. Every dungeon starts off with quite a subdued piece. The piece starts to gain more and more to it as you progress through the dungeon. Dungeons in both games each have 5 variations as you progress. Each time it turns to a new variation more is added to the piece, to form a more complete version. By the final version, it has become an epic and triumphant piece, perfectly reflecting that you are coming to the end of the dungeon ready to fight the boss. When I first heard that they had done this in Breath of The Wild I was so happy, it just was such a great way to tackle the dungeon music.
Scarlet Nexus is a very stylish game with amazing visual and audio design. Dynamic music is used in a few different ways in this game but I will talk about the most interesting use of it. Brain drive is a special state that enhances the abilities of your main character making them faster and stronger. To accompany this change, the music gets sped up. This speed increase to the music gives the player a great sense of speed and allows the action to match the music. As well as this, brain drive effects the characters mind, so hearing the higher pitched sounds kind of makes you feel like your characters are going crazy. This simple speed up is used really well, hearing the music sped up filled me with exhilaration and that's exactly what you want for an action game.
Nier Automata uses dynamic music in a few ways too, being for area transitions and for specific events. For this, I want to highlight the dynamic music of the hacking mini game. 9S, one of the main playable characters, is able to hack into any of the machine lifeforms. By doing this, you can deal massive damage to an enemy most the time killing them. When entering this hacking mini game though, the music you were hearing smoothly transitions into an 8-bit version. The hacking mini game is similar to older, more simplistic games, so an accompanying 8-bit track is prefect for game feel. All the other sounds you hear in this mini game also have that same feel. It really added to the experience as a whole.
These are just a few examples of dynamic music in games and why I like it so much. More and more games do seem to be including dynamic music and I am very happy that is the case. There will also be games that have it that I am unaware of, hopefully I can discover more as play more games.
That's it for this blog, stay connected!
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