Second on the Octopath Traveler II music. Even my son who is 9 and plays it as well as a ton of other games has only ever commented about how the music is really good on Octopath Traveler and no others (and I had never mentioned this to him). It’s definitely the best music I have every heard for a game. There was a glitch one time where the music wasn’t playing for some reason and I realized how much the music made the game come to life, NGL, I think it brings like 99% of the emotional engagement to it.
Also love cello, and it’s why I keep hoping the long-rumored new version of Final Fantasy Tactics will surface soon. Even with a fifth console gen soundfont, Sakimoto’s strings are so good in that soundtrack.
If you like prog metal and hard rock, I’ve yet to find a better soundtrack than Guilty Gear XX. The fan favorite is “Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead)”, but for my money, the best songs on the soundtrack are “Existence” and “Awe of She”.
First time I heard this was in a buddy’s car and it was bumpin’ hard. I asked him who the band was and was totally surprised when he told me it was from a video game. Very very solid stuff v all the way through
I do like symphonic metal, and that’s a great song… it gave me goosebumps. I’ll be sure to check out more of Blind Guardian’s work. Any other suggestions are welcome! Maybe stuff similar to Epica’s Omega album, and instrumental pieces similar to Essence of Datum, Mohamed Shawky, Rivers of Nihil, & Naxatras, if you’ve got the time :D
Blind Guardian is pretty hit-and-miss: their shit lands somewhere on a spectrum of metal to renaissance-faire lol. Sacred Worlds is another one of my favorites.
All of Metallica’s S&M album is solid fucking gold, but the best (imo) song from it almost never gets the spotlight, so it’s tragically easy to miss: No Leaf Clover
Avenged Sevenfold isn’t symphonic metal, but they’ve got two songs that at least dip their toes in that water: The Stage, and Little Piece of Heaven.
Epica
If you know Epica you’re probably already familiar with Nightwish, but in case your not… well, Nightwish. Most of their music is more similar to Omega than the one I’m about to link, but this specific song is just so fucking weird, I love it: Scaretale. Definitely check out their other songs too!
Essence of Datum / Naxayras
You’d probably like Pelican - kind of ambient rock. Or Russian Circles, which is similar but more mellow.
Mohamed Shawky
Not familiar, and the only Mohamed Shawky’s I’m seeing on YouTube are a physicist and an athlete. Judging entirely by the name, I’m guessing it’s got some Arabic vibes, and the best I’ve got there is the first one I linked, Wheel of Time, mostly because of the intro… Antti Martikainen has some Arabic sounding songs - that dude’s music is ALL over the place… I recall one being a kind of Arabic metal that I could have SWORN was called “Ancient Worlds” but searching that isn’t coming up with anything. He does have Arabic hybrid sci-fi music lol. Skim that dude’s channel, and brace for a musical roller coaster.
Rivers of Nihil
Hmm, maybe try Lorna Shore, especially Pain Remains. Lorna Shore is WAY too throaty-howler-monkey-shit for me personally, but fortunately they’ve got instrumental versions too.
Yeah, I’ve heard of Nightwish. Not my favorite, but last time I went looking I was trying to find pieces closer to Epica’s Omega album… and not even Epica’s older work was what I was looking for…
I’ve been playing so many soundtracks for my background music at work. Of course, nostalgia makes some songs slap harder than they deserve to, so your results may vary, but some of my favorites have been:
Mega Man series
Warcraft (I’m especially fond of Warcraft 2 songs)
Donkey Kong Country series
Variety lists (one hit wonders from games you nearly forgot)
Spotify has a lot of video game playlists, and even some covers in different styles. Right now we’re listening to metal versions of classic games.
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