the only thing really "epic fantasy" about FO3's soundtrack was the title theme and the battle themes. the actual ambient exploration tunes were about as subdued as you could get.

the music shouldn't just fit the setting, though - it should fit the game itself and what you spend most of your time doing in it. FO1/2's soundtracks were more gritty and grinding and tribal because the primary focus of the games was your interaction with these gruff, jaded individuals in a fairly tribal setting. FO3's emphasis was more on exploring ruins and seeing these remnants of humanity everywhere and as a result the soundtrack as a whole was a lot more depressing and quiet without really taking the forefront. the music tends to reflect the meat of the game - FO1/2's strong points were the writing, FO3's strong point was the atmosphere.

NV seems to be an even blend of the two - the bustling interaction and (admittedly sinful) enthusiasm of the Strip being offset by actually having to traverse the wastes and see not just the settlements that made it but the settlements that didn't - so its soundtrack will probably a blend of the two stylistically.

I don't disagree with anything you're saying here. I still thought the music chosen for Fallout 3 felt out of place, though. Something about it kept me thinking about killing orcs with spells and such. :shrug:

How? Un-generic means unique, that's a good thing...

Well, didn't you basically do just that?

What's the point of even composing a soundtrack when there's the radio?

Not everyone wants a continuous stream of 50's classics over and over again.

Some people don't use the radio maybe? Its the best of both world. I never used the radio in fallout 3. Your telling me you ALWAYS played with the radio on? I'm gonna guess no you didn't so isn't it nice to have a score while its off?

Fallout 3 had a soundtrack? (besides the main menu and radio)

Am I the only one who played without the radio?

I did use radio constantly, because it's good music.
On the other hand, the game's score was entirely forgettable, and often way too subtle to even notice.

Well...For the sake of Science, I plugged the game in, and gave it a listen with the radio off.
Listened. Went to Point Lookout...then to the Pitt...Banjo sounds in Point Lookout aside, that's not a soundtrack, that's just plain background noise. Had to crank my volume up to 45 to even hear it. Nothing I'd bother listening to on an OST.

What?

:facepalm:
...For the Sake of Science...
Another way of saying "Just to check it out".
And don't bother replying with "Why didn't you just say that?" because my answer will be "because I can."

Fallout 3 Music was fine for me.

I'm one of those guys who just turns of ambient music. I kept enough radio mods to make the radio sound better (and with RadioActive filled with eighties rock) that when I wanted noise I turned on my radio. I like that about Fallout 3. You can crawl out of any hole you want, travel clear across the map, set up camp, and turn on your radio. It's one of those small things that just makes a noticeable difference in your mood as you play.

Shortly after discovering the radio, I set it on Enclave and left it. The music is totally out of place for me, and the ambient tracks don't invoke the same feel as the previous games. McDowell does a very good job as Eden. Either I played with Enclave or nothing.

I didnt listen to the radio, the playlist was so [censored] short and it annoyed the hell out of me.

Edit: Damn, i can say damn. But bringing god into the equation isnt allowed.

This.

After listening to Mark Morgan's soundtracks from Fo1 and Fo2, overall I'm very impressed. I also do like Inon Zur's stuff alot, and have listened to Fo3 and Oblivion tracks a million times now while working on mods. I have to say that Marks music does have alot of variety and zeal to them, with some tracks (like Khans of New California) being totally awesome and other tracks that borderline as bad to me. Inon Zur's music is very consistent, some say bland, but I find it better at setting a consistent mood for the things I do. I'll be happy either way.

Isn't the Oblivion music by Jeremy Soule? Jeremy Soule would be awful for a Fallout game, that man just can't do sci-fi.

While Inon Zur isn't the worst composer ever, I find it hard to enjoy his music. That's just me though.

Fallout 3 music wasn't just ambient. It had multiple "fight themes", multiple "dungeon themes", and a bunch of "explore themes" and "public themes". You could call some of them ambient but they were still themes, they just didn't have any structure to them because you can't do that in a Fallout game. That's the difference between ambient and real themes, themes have builds and climix's and such, ambient has less presence and is unstructured. The reason the nice cinematic orchestral themes worked, for example, for Bioshock (amazing soundtrack) was because the path is more lead and narrow that you go on, where as Fallout was go any where, explore anywhere.

Also Jeremy Soule did Oblivion and Morrowind, not Inon Zur.

Well, he can do epic, whatever that word means nowadays besides from "purple". In WH40K, his music was hammy as the setting needed, that was nice.

Gotcha, my bad.

Then I like Jeremy Soule's music too. :laugh: