>How do we feel about nu gen Pokemon music?
Mostly shit, but this is one of the best gym leader battle themes ever made, the chanting shit notwithstanding
No, no it REALLY isn't. It all just sounds like white noise to me.
It's the overproliferation of a specific style, I think.
I can tell the difference between Gen 1 and Gen 2. They have completely different styles, despite using the same sound hardware. Give any other generation another generation's soundfont, remaster it so that it fits the soundfont, and I'll still be able to discern that song from the rest of the songs that came from that generation.
THE MOMENT you get to Gen 6, I can no longer tell the difference between it and future generations. They all sound the fricking same.
Horrendous. Worst part of SV bar none (yes, worse than the performance). Not a single good track in the entire game (unless you count the side quest in Kitakami that uses PLA's music). Even the sound effects used for the Tera Crystals are extremely grating.
SWSH's soundtrack is terrible too, but it has a couple enjoyable tracks.
Try this one.
I can barely distinguish the difference between Gen 6 and 8-9's music. 7 would be on the list, but I can actually tell the difference, somehow.
The chanting feels like the best part though.
The chanting is the worst part, but it fits within the context of where and when that part of the track plays. Paldea's version not only has little to no reason to be there, the chanting itself also worse.
Gen 9 has a shitty Gym theme
The gym battle theme, if that can even be considered a battle theme?
I'd argue that the battle against clavel is good, however only the wild battle themes feel like Pokemon themes
Kitakami improved it a bit but it's so odd to not have anything great until the DLC other than wild themes and the ruinous quartet
Too many random sounds
Otherwise the "main part" is kinda decent
Anyone else think Carmine's theme should have been the base trainer battle theme for Kitakami? It would still have resulted in basically being her battle theme for the next DLC, but would have spiced up the trainer battles in Kitakami. There wasn't enough trainers there also, but it was disappointing they use the same trainer theme from Paldea. It just gives me more of general Kitakami vibes than fitting Carmine exclusively.
I think SV's battle and wild themes at least are usually pretty solid. The town themes are rather forgettable but aside from the Gym Leader chanting and >elite 4 the battle music for Gen 9 was pretty good, even great. Same goes for SWSH with its Gym Leader and Wild Area themes
I like all pokemon music in general, at least in the sense that I can't firmly say stuff like "This and this gen has nothing but shit music".
At the absolute worst I can point out some songs that I dont particularly listen on repeat or songs that I dont remember. Remembering part is probably because I dont replay games often enough to remember exact route themes and shit.
About nugen music though, at least when it comes to the more controversial gens of 8 and 9 I do enjoy their OSTs, gen 9's more though due to gen 8 having some pretty common not so great tracks. Marnie's battle theme probably is my favorite battle track so its far from a complete disaster.
I thought the same. The size ratio for both SwSh and SV seem really awkward and uncanny compared to PLA. I hope for future gens they adhere to the latter more.
The Pokemon's sizes are largely accurate outside of mega large ones like Eternatus. The bigger problem is that GF can't scale worth shit so most Pokemon that SHOULD be massive are tiny. Groudon isn't even taller than the average building and Kyogre is the same length as some Oarfish and Alligators
SV's soundtrack was really good, has some really good and soulful tracks. The Area Zero shit is amazing, I can't stop listening to it. One of the reasons why the ending was so fricking good. 3 out of 4 of the generic area/wild battle themes were good, I just kinda hate the Western one. But the Eastern theme makes up for it.
SwSh also had some solid tracks, I also like the Gym theme a lot. Bede's theme was already great. However there is no area music that I can remember particularly well, which speaks for it self. Actually, no, I remember that liked Slumbering Weald, but I know that a lot of people hated it, kek.
SM also had some solid tracks, but honestly, it's been so long that I can't really judge it properly right now. I do remember that I both like and hate the E4 theme, and that Gladion's theme was amazing.
Fashion Boutique theme almost doesn’t even sound like Pokémon music, but I mean that in a good way. Caught me off guard and made me want to linger around the stores.
%3D
The mountain range music becomes dramatic and foreboding compared to early game. It suits the Fall aesthetic, with dying trees, ghost Pokémon, and the end of the game approaching. Fitting this place is called Melancolie Path.
%3D%3D
With Team Flare defeated you earn this triumphant score on Route 18 for your victory lap. World is safe, game is closing out.
Kalos League fanfare welcoming you to the castle, probably the best Pokémon League theme in the series to me other than Indigo Plateau.
Depends on what you mean by nu-gen.
Gen IX's is shit though, easily the worst set of tracks from any given game. It's amazing how Toby Fox seems to be the only one trying and even then nowhere near as hard as he would for his own shit.
It's pretty good overall with some occaisonal lows but i oveall like to focus on the battle themes more then area ones, i like how we got multiple Wild Battle songs in SV and honestly the Legendary and Trainer Specific songs are on point so far.
I could do without the victory chanting in SV, it only works in SwSh because of the Sports Arena theming.
SwSh is more all over the place with the songs Hot Take: the Battle Tower theme is very overrated and far form Tobys best work. but still okay overall with some nice ones like the Oleana Battle.
PLA was really fricking good with what it set out to do (Remix Gen4 battle songs) and has great fricking mood for basically all the fights, especially with how it frames trainer battles more in a "Duelling" mood which really works when you do them so rarely.
The music is as good as ever, but in different ways. Every game has bangers and that includes both remixes of old stuff and some entirely new stuff.
Sword and Shield's Gym Battle theme is pretty much the perfect gym battle theme. Yes, including the chanting. You can't tell me the presentation of being in a fricking gigantic sports stadium and seeing an entire crowd cheering for you/the gym leader wasn't some fricking hype ass shit that also fit the music great. Not to mention the dynamic changes at other points in the battle too.
Gen 9s stand out music is the late game story stuff like Area Zero, the AI Professor theme or Penny's theme where they just go ham. Raid Battle theme is also pretty great. It's definitely the stuff that just goes fricking all in this gen that is memorable though.
The Gym Battle theme which best captures what the feel of a gym battle should be is Black/White's.
BW2's gym battle theme may work better for the 7th and 8th gym, however.
The Gym Battle theme which best captures what the feel of a gym battle should be is Black/White's.
BW2's gym battle theme may work better for the 7th and 8th gym, however.
I'd say it depends on the mood, i think more tight style of BW/BW2 (And even the slow pace of XY that keeps a fairly even mood the whole time without going too bombastic) works for the "Closed Trial" Exam style, but SwSh works perfectly for the context Gym Battles have in "Spectacle Sport" style Galar does it.
SVs issue with the Gym Leader Theme is that that it is too goofy/cheerful to really feel like "Trial" and while the cheering works for some of the Gym Battles since they are done in public with a audience they fall flat in the more isolated situations where there is no one around who could cheer or they should be cheering in another way, the Gym theme in the phases before the cheering/chanting honestly feels like something someone like Bianca or the XY Rivals would have then a Gym Leader, i mean i guess they wanted to go for the "Tourist" vibe since you get the selfies along with the badges, but i don't think it works that well in practice.
It also doesn't help that the battles themselves suffer thanks in part to the music. They seem to want this forced hype "last Pokémon = ace = gimmick = chanting" association, making gym leader battles predictable in that aspect in SWSH and SV.
Gen 5 had a last Pokémon theme that played on the last Pokémon, regardless if it's the trainer's ace or not, is it too much to ask for the chanting or whatever they use for the hype portion of the battle track to only play when the leader's gimmick is used and active or go back to where they can send their ace out at any time? >they fall flat in the more isolated situations where there is no one around who could cheer or they should be cheering in another way
Thanks for reminding me about that minute long cutscene in the middle of Larry's battle where a crowd gathered right before he Terastallized.
Honestly i would like if they do something like what Masters Ex did for the Elite4 and gave each gym leader a slight variation of the same theme to give a bet of a thematic spin.
>gen 5's music is pretty bad
there are quite a few great battle themes (which were made by Masuda, so but of course) >the low HP theme ruins the entire game
this is quite true
>gen 5's music is pretty bad
there are quite a few great battle themes (which were made by Masuda, so but of course) >the low HP theme ruins the entire game
this is quite true
I actually kinda like the Low HP one, the actual thing is that it shouldn't overwrite "Special" battle themes because it ruins the mood of them, would be fine to have it for just Trainer and Wild Battles as a fun thing to done with the LoW HP beep.
...Is the Low HP Beep even a thing anymore come to think of it?
Something I hate about nu gen music is the lack of distinct melodies. Most old gen songs are instantly recognizable no matter what instrument or soundfont you use. They have crisp sounds and satisfying musical loops.
Nu gen songs on the other hand are like chaotic walls of sound. They have either extremely simple music progressions and try to hide this by using a ton of different instruments. Or they're a bunch of random sounds that blend together in an incoherent mess.
It's mostly the Gym theme that is like that. You have distinctive leitmotifs in a lot of SV tracks, because they are used extensively (walking vs riding music, blending into battle music, shared leitmotifs between Area Zero theme, Tera Raid theme and Professor fight theme etc.)
Older games definitely also had complete musical messes.
My man, I have played since the very day RB came out and played every single mainline game.
While the Dragon's Den theme is a little grating, it at least has a melody and a recognizable rhythm that someone composed. It also sounds a bit less bad when coming from an actual Gameboy in my personal experience. But I do remember finding this theme a bit annoying, even as a kid. Transfer Lab is just unbearable, however. It straight up sounds like someone just put random shit in FL studio.
8 months ago
Anonymous
>It at least has a melody
a bleeding ear one
8 months ago
Anonymous
It's not the melody that makes the ears bleed though, it's more the chiptune format. This one is still not that good, but far less grating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH8ie-S3ycw
8 months ago
Anonymous
hgss has a shitty soundfont same with frlg but the gba had an awful soundchip so it kinda gets a pass
8 months ago
Anonymous
still headache-inducingly appalling
a flawed track fundamentally
8 months ago
Anonymous
least nostalgia-blinded johtoddler
8 months ago
Anonymous
I actually kind of hate Johto to be honest with you. Assuming you meant that ironically.
still headache-inducingly appalling
a flawed track fundamentally
I would agree with that, yes. It's not a good track by all means, but it doesn't come close to worst track either.
holy shit
give me the jazzy city folk on futuristic coke of
It's mostly the Gym theme that is like that. You have distinctive leitmotifs in a lot of SV tracks, because they are used extensively (walking vs riding music, blending into battle music, shared leitmotifs between Area Zero theme, Tera Raid theme and Professor fight theme etc.)
Older games definitely also had complete musical messes.
Yeah I agree it's the battle music that's suffered the most. I still prefer old gen music for routes/towns/etc. Nu gen versions for these just don't sound like pokemon to me. Maybe because they're too orchestral? Too much focus on ambience? Idk.
For the purpose of this discussion, I don't consider BW old gen btw.
>How do we feel about nu gen Pokemon music?
Mostly shit, but this is one of the best gym leader battle themes ever made, the chanting shit notwithstanding
I can barely distinguish the difference between Gen 6 and 8-9's music. 7 would be on the list, but I can actually tell the difference, somehow.
The chanting feels like the best part though.
Nta chanting is the worst part
It's the literal only thing that sticks out to me, I otherwise wouldn't be able to tell it from any other fricking track in the game.
you may be an npc then
the differences in quality between tracks is very audible
No, no it REALLY isn't. It all just sounds like white noise to me.
It's the overproliferation of a specific style, I think.
I can tell the difference between Gen 1 and Gen 2. They have completely different styles, despite using the same sound hardware. Give any other generation another generation's soundfont, remaster it so that it fits the soundfont, and I'll still be able to discern that song from the rest of the songs that came from that generation.
THE MOMENT you get to Gen 6, I can no longer tell the difference between it and future generations. They all sound the fricking same.
>there is more discernible difference between this and this
>than this and this
no there is not
agreed
Horrendous. Worst part of SV bar none (yes, worse than the performance). Not a single good track in the entire game (unless you count the side quest in Kitakami that uses PLA's music). Even the sound effects used for the Tera Crystals are extremely grating.
SWSH's soundtrack is terrible too, but it has a couple enjoyable tracks.
Try this one.
The chanting is the worst part, but it fits within the context of where and when that part of the track plays. Paldea's version not only has little to no reason to be there, the chanting itself also worse.
The gym battle theme, if that can even be considered a battle theme?
Gen 8 and 9 have exctly 0 good Battle Themes excluding the Wild battles from Paldea.
Rose's battle theme was done well in Masters tho.
What’s wrong with AI professor theme?
Too many random sounds
Otherwise the "main part" is kinda decent
t. Didn't read the first post
Yes I did you frickin jeet
I'd argue that the battle against clavel is good, however only the wild battle themes feel like Pokemon themes
Kitakami improved it a bit but it's so odd to not have anything great until the DLC other than wild themes and the ruinous quartet
That's exactly how I feel about it
>Can always here when chanting.mp3 loops over because it’s so poorly composed
It’s the only battle theme that has this problem for me
Anyone else think Carmine's theme should have been the base trainer battle theme for Kitakami? It would still have resulted in basically being her battle theme for the next DLC, but would have spiced up the trainer battles in Kitakami. There wasn't enough trainers there also, but it was disappointing they use the same trainer theme from Paldea. It just gives me more of general Kitakami vibes than fitting Carmine exclusively.
Nemona 2 is one of the best songs in Pokémon.
I like Nemona's Encounter Theme too.
SV music is fricking amazing
I think SV's battle and wild themes at least are usually pretty solid. The town themes are rather forgettable but aside from the Gym Leader chanting and >elite 4 the battle music for Gen 9 was pretty good, even great. Same goes for SWSH with its Gym Leader and Wild Area themes
Cascarrafa, Levincia and Mesagoza themes are great
I like all pokemon music in general, at least in the sense that I can't firmly say stuff like "This and this gen has nothing but shit music".
At the absolute worst I can point out some songs that I dont particularly listen on repeat or songs that I dont remember. Remembering part is probably because I dont replay games often enough to remember exact route themes and shit.
About nugen music though, at least when it comes to the more controversial gens of 8 and 9 I do enjoy their OSTs, gen 9's more though due to gen 8 having some pretty common not so great tracks. Marnie's battle theme probably is my favorite battle track so its far from a complete disaster.
3>2>4>9>1>7>5>8>6
Is anyone else bothered by how small all the pokemon are in SV? I was expecting Cetitan to be huge.
The only one that’s felt too small in game for me is Tropius and Eternatus
I thought the same. The size ratio for both SwSh and SV seem really awkward and uncanny compared to PLA. I hope for future gens they adhere to the latter more.
The Pokemon's sizes are largely accurate outside of mega large ones like Eternatus. The bigger problem is that GF can't scale worth shit so most Pokemon that SHOULD be massive are tiny. Groudon isn't even taller than the average building and Kyogre is the same length as some Oarfish and Alligators
Gen 9 has a shitty Gym theme
SV's soundtrack was really good, has some really good and soulful tracks. The Area Zero shit is amazing, I can't stop listening to it. One of the reasons why the ending was so fricking good. 3 out of 4 of the generic area/wild battle themes were good, I just kinda hate the Western one. But the Eastern theme makes up for it.
SwSh also had some solid tracks, I also like the Gym theme a lot. Bede's theme was already great. However there is no area music that I can remember particularly well, which speaks for it self. Actually, no, I remember that liked Slumbering Weald, but I know that a lot of people hated it, kek.
SM also had some solid tracks, but honestly, it's been so long that I can't really judge it properly right now. I do remember that I both like and hate the E4 theme, and that Gladion's theme was amazing.
XY has some of my favorite overworld themes.
Fashion Boutique theme almost doesn’t even sound like Pokémon music, but I mean that in a good way. Caught me off guard and made me want to linger around the stores.
%3D
The mountain range music becomes dramatic and foreboding compared to early game. It suits the Fall aesthetic, with dying trees, ghost Pokémon, and the end of the game approaching. Fitting this place is called Melancolie Path.
%3D%3D
With Team Flare defeated you earn this triumphant score on Route 18 for your victory lap. World is safe, game is closing out.
Kalos League fanfare welcoming you to the castle, probably the best Pokémon League theme in the series to me other than Indigo Plateau.
>Kalos League fanfare welcoming you to the castle, probably the best Pokémon League theme in the series to me other than Indigo Plateau.
Wrong link
For me, it's Anistar City
Meh. The guy who did Undertale's music makes it somewhat salvagable but he uses too much buildup and struggles to make a simpler tune.
I enjoy them a lot.
Depends on what you mean by nu-gen.
Gen IX's is shit though, easily the worst set of tracks from any given game. It's amazing how Toby Fox seems to be the only one trying and even then nowhere near as hard as he would for his own shit.
It's pretty good overall with some occaisonal lows but i oveall like to focus on the battle themes more then area ones, i like how we got multiple Wild Battle songs in SV and honestly the Legendary and Trainer Specific songs are on point so far.
I could do without the victory chanting in SV, it only works in SwSh because of the Sports Arena theming.
SwSh is more all over the place with the songs Hot Take: the Battle Tower theme is very overrated and far form Tobys best work. but still okay overall with some nice ones like the Oleana Battle.
PLA was really fricking good with what it set out to do (Remix Gen4 battle songs) and has great fricking mood for basically all the fights, especially with how it frames trainer battles more in a "Duelling" mood which really works when you do them so rarely.
The music is as good as ever, but in different ways. Every game has bangers and that includes both remixes of old stuff and some entirely new stuff.
Sword and Shield's Gym Battle theme is pretty much the perfect gym battle theme. Yes, including the chanting. You can't tell me the presentation of being in a fricking gigantic sports stadium and seeing an entire crowd cheering for you/the gym leader wasn't some fricking hype ass shit that also fit the music great. Not to mention the dynamic changes at other points in the battle too.
Gen 9s stand out music is the late game story stuff like Area Zero, the AI Professor theme or Penny's theme where they just go ham. Raid Battle theme is also pretty great. It's definitely the stuff that just goes fricking all in this gen that is memorable though.
The Gym Battle theme which best captures what the feel of a gym battle should be is Black/White's.
BW2's gym battle theme may work better for the 7th and 8th gym, however.
I'd say it depends on the mood, i think more tight style of BW/BW2 (And even the slow pace of XY that keeps a fairly even mood the whole time without going too bombastic) works for the "Closed Trial" Exam style, but SwSh works perfectly for the context Gym Battles have in "Spectacle Sport" style Galar does it.
SVs issue with the Gym Leader Theme is that that it is too goofy/cheerful to really feel like "Trial" and while the cheering works for some of the Gym Battles since they are done in public with a audience they fall flat in the more isolated situations where there is no one around who could cheer or they should be cheering in another way, the Gym theme in the phases before the cheering/chanting honestly feels like something someone like Bianca or the XY Rivals would have then a Gym Leader, i mean i guess they wanted to go for the "Tourist" vibe since you get the selfies along with the badges, but i don't think it works that well in practice.
Good music works with the context to enhance it.
Sure, there's two distinct vibes of classic "trial" and grand spectacle, essentially requiring two different tracks, assigned as implied.
It also doesn't help that the battles themselves suffer thanks in part to the music. They seem to want this forced hype "last Pokémon = ace = gimmick = chanting" association, making gym leader battles predictable in that aspect in SWSH and SV.
Gen 5 had a last Pokémon theme that played on the last Pokémon, regardless if it's the trainer's ace or not, is it too much to ask for the chanting or whatever they use for the hype portion of the battle track to only play when the leader's gimmick is used and active or go back to where they can send their ace out at any time?
>they fall flat in the more isolated situations where there is no one around who could cheer or they should be cheering in another way
Thanks for reminding me about that minute long cutscene in the middle of Larry's battle where a crowd gathered right before he Terastallized.
Legends Arceus is the first time I enjoyed a modern pokemon ost in a long time. imo the music was at a steady decline since ORAS
Lots of really, REALLY bad instrumentation. Shit like this is painful to listen to, but you'll still see people hyping them up for some reason.
wow, terrible
makes Alder's battle theme sound like a masterpiece
Alder is NOT my champion. At the time you face the Elite 4, N IS the champion
Bow down before your king
>N
Ghetsis could've just beaten Alder if he wanted to tbh
True, surprisingly Unova isnt lacking in Champion tier trainers it seems
this theme sucks and is annoying and doesn't even fit him either
It still feels weird that pokemon only has ONE gym leader theme per game.
Like, you couldn't make 8? Is it too hard?
Honestly i would like if they do something like what Masters Ex did for the Elite4 and gave each gym leader a slight variation of the same theme to give a bet of a thematic spin.
>the games with most soul are for some reason the coomer spinoff and gen 5
why is this so common
Now that you mention this, Pokemon Masters EX did remixes for the individual Elite 4, for example Hoenn
B2W2 did it for the gyms, but not for the gym battles.
It's all good besides Gen 8 ignoring some standouts like Bede / Marnie / Hop themes.
gen 5's music is pretty bad and the low HP theme ruins the entire game
>gen 5's music is pretty bad
there are quite a few great battle themes (which were made by Masuda, so but of course)
>the low HP theme ruins the entire game
this is quite true
I actually kinda like the Low HP one, the actual thing is that it shouldn't overwrite "Special" battle themes because it ruins the mood of them, would be fine to have it for just Trainer and Wild Battles as a fun thing to done with the LoW HP beep.
...Is the Low HP Beep even a thing anymore come to think of it?
Something I hate about nu gen music is the lack of distinct melodies. Most old gen songs are instantly recognizable no matter what instrument or soundfont you use. They have crisp sounds and satisfying musical loops.
Nu gen songs on the other hand are like chaotic walls of sound. They have either extremely simple music progressions and try to hide this by using a ton of different instruments. Or they're a bunch of random sounds that blend together in an incoherent mess.
Just compare these gym themes to see what I mean:
It's mostly the Gym theme that is like that. You have distinctive leitmotifs in a lot of SV tracks, because they are used extensively (walking vs riding music, blending into battle music, shared leitmotifs between Area Zero theme, Tera Raid theme and Professor fight theme etc.)
Older games definitely also had complete musical messes.
Like what the frick even is this shit?
This is a great theme tho
It's one of the worst things I ever heard in my fricking life.
Then you really havent played much of this franchise at all
My man, I have played since the very day RB came out and played every single mainline game.
While the Dragon's Den theme is a little grating, it at least has a melody and a recognizable rhythm that someone composed. It also sounds a bit less bad when coming from an actual Gameboy in my personal experience. But I do remember finding this theme a bit annoying, even as a kid. Transfer Lab is just unbearable, however. It straight up sounds like someone just put random shit in FL studio.
>It at least has a melody
a bleeding ear one
It's not the melody that makes the ears bleed though, it's more the chiptune format. This one is still not that good, but far less grating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH8ie-S3ycw
hgss has a shitty soundfont same with frlg but the gba had an awful soundchip so it kinda gets a pass
still headache-inducingly appalling
a flawed track fundamentally
least nostalgia-blinded johtoddler
I actually kind of hate Johto to be honest with you. Assuming you meant that ironically.
I would agree with that, yes. It's not a good track by all means, but it doesn't come close to worst track either.
holy shit
give me the jazzy city folk on futuristic coke of
over this earrape
Yeah I agree it's the battle music that's suffered the most. I still prefer old gen music for routes/towns/etc. Nu gen versions for these just don't sound like pokemon to me. Maybe because they're too orchestral? Too much focus on ambience? Idk.
For the purpose of this discussion, I don't consider BW old gen btw.
that shit isn't even Pokemon
Most of it sucks because it's all just shitty techno now. God I hate modern pop music...
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Good