Some claim that it's the game mechanics, the battles, the systems and the factions which create a game. I'll claim that these only are the fundament of a game. That no game is anything without a good and believable story which drags you into it, a certain look which fits to the game and/or some good music. Which of these is the most important aspect is hard to decide, but being as I'm still regularly listening to the superb music of Might and Magic VII and VIII on a regular basis and the HoMM I - III music now and then, I would say that for me at least it is the music which leaves the deepest impact. Hearing the Necromancer's theme from HoMM II/III gives you goosebumps and rights away sends you into the game, listening to the Rampart or Sorceress music leaves you with the impression that you are an elf, and the Castle music sends you into a buzzing crowd of humans, where fellowship and "for the Griffin Empire" is everything.

Which of the old games had the best music is a hard decision (though I would say either HoMM II or its expansion - the games had different sets of music), but an even harder decision is how the future music of HoMM VI should be like. Should it be like one of the old game's music, should it keep the HoMM feel but evolve (and what then is the HoMM feel?), or should the developers say that the series has grown up and needs a totally different set of music? And if so, then what should that music be like? Post apocalyptic atmospheric music, symphonic soft metal, more to the classical side, get Klaus Badelt and his themes (he is the one who made the music for Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator and such), or should we take Ennio Morricone and his brilliant and story telling music?

I must admit I'm unsure myself, but I will come with a suggestion or two later on, and hopefully you'll do the same. After all, if we want to influence how HoMM VI is, looks, feels and sounds, then it is now, before the game course is set and decided, that we should make our opinion known.

Question:
Which HoMM game had the best music?

Choices:
Heroes of Might and Magic I
Heroes of Might and Magic II
Heroes of Might and Magic II Price of Loyalty
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Heroes of Might and Magic IV
Heroes of Might and Magic V

Question:
The music for HoMM VI

Choices:
Should be like the one in HoMM I
Should be like the one in HoMM II + Expansion
Should be like the one in HoMM III
Should be like the one in HoMM IV
Should be like the one in HoMM V
Take a bit from all of the above
Should keep the HoMM feel, but be its own
The HoMM music needs to change - please specify in what direction

 

Well personally i preferred the Music of HoMM V, it is great in many ways and really manages to get the feel of the universe and the factions.. plus the theme for the Academy reminds me of Arcanum

I mean it managed to really capture me at times, even the menu music was great ! And there were times where i could just stare at the screen and listen to the music, much so with Hammers of Fate.

The music was.. Epic !

As for HoMM VI, i think they should get the same person as in HoMM V as he really did a great job and they should improve upon it, make it grander, more epic, pour more soul into it !
Because Music can make as much a game as all the other parts.

Yep, Hammers of Fate main menu music is great I like to listen to it at times; but myself I voted that Heroes III music is the best (perhaps that's because I've played Heroes III most of the time). I do admit that Heroes II have also a great music and some factions in Heroes V do the fascinating job.

Orchestral music should continue in Heroes VI methinks; classic is what the best can be proposed for medieval/arcane atmosphere. In some places those psalms and anthems add to the music some majesty, some glory. By the way, in what language do they sing like in Heroes V Haven faction's, or Heroes III WoG main menu's soundtracks? Latin? Or it is an imaginary language?

Most likely latin, german or italian as they are the languages that most often are sung in, in such cases.. but i would wager latin..

You haven't had German in you classes Dane But it's a long time since I have listened, rather sure it is Latin.

As for

quote:

i think they should get the same person as in HoMM V as he really did a great job

... Rob King and Paul Romero have written all the music for all the HoMM games (Paul joined for HoMM II) not knowing their names is herecy and you should be punished by stating 5 times that Rob and Paul are Kings of the musical Rome

Regarding the music, then I think the music of HoMM II Price of Loyalty was the best one. It was pure atmosphere, good music, told a story and was nice and peaceful in an interesting way, which made sure you didn't want to turn it off... Although the battle music did get a bit anoying after the 10.000th battle

I would like the future music ot be its own. There is no real need to base it on one of the former heroes, as long as it in some way keeps the soul of heroes. It shouldn't become too "epic" and "grand" but rather concentrate on creating an atmosphere and telling a story. The epic, grand and big orchestral pieces are great, in fact superb, but listening to them all the time quickly makes them anoying. The more quiet music can be listened to for eaons at a time, and Rob and Paul have showed before that they can create exciting and epic music of the more quiet kind without going overboard

For me there won't be a better music than in HoMM II... it was the best, the best music, the better qualitative jump in every aspect... the atmosphere it brought to the game.. Nice music above all...

However, I think that if any new HoMM Game would be made, it should be a somekind of mixture between all the heroes... not like HoMMV in which I see the same music all the time just a bit modified... It's really poor from my point of view...

H2 has the best music for me, followed by H3.

H2 has the more magical music of a Heroes game, (just remember the snow music for instance). H3 was quite good too, more mature but great.

H4 mixed great pieces with some not so good (the saxo themes in human town... uggrr). Besides it was too repetitive. All the terrain music had a similar sound.

H5 is for me the worst by far. It changed completely the spirit of music in HOMM. Before Heroes had good melodic or strong music in towns, more enviromental music with different melodies for terrain, and frenetic music for combat. Now each faction has a theme and it all goes around it. You hear the same repetitive melody for the town, recruitint in the map, the combat... It is repetitive to death. It is the new way of making game music just as film music, with a few themes changing them in different ways making them sound slighly different, but very "epic" of course. Besides half of the towns had crap music, just enviromental with almost no melody.
So for me H5 has average music, not better than most of the games nowadays. And that is dissapointing as Heroes was always better than most at that.

So I want the old spirit back for H6. Good melodies, strong music, for towns. Sweet relaxing enviromental music for terrains. Frenetic epic music for combat. And not just a few melodies, not just a "theme" for each faction. I hope Paul and Rob who are great musicians could get back to the roots and make another brilliant score as they did with H2, H3 or the incredible MM7.

I can only say that I agree with Vitirr.

Well i can only say that i disagree.. and that i honestly can't remember any of the music for any of the previous HoMM games

HoMM III scores the most points (as usual), but in fact it's not that simple. For instance, if we talk about town themes, then the other parts of the series are hardly a competition. One word - Fortress! Second word - Inferno! Third - Necropolis!!! And what about Rampart, Dungeon, Tower, Stronghold, Conflux? The only theme, which isn't great, is Castle's (I'd call it decent). But when it comes to terrain themes, the quality is not so high. I mean - there are great things here too - say, the desert and the snow themes - but the rest vary from good (lava, rough, underground, swamp) to slightly irritating (grass, dirt). The combat themes, however, are masterpieces, all of them.
HoMM II has some very nice terrain themes and gives one calm and refreshing "environmental" feeling. The "terrain themes" winner for me.
HoMM IV is close behind. Some of the town themes are very appealing - Asylum, Preserve, Academy, though the rest aren't so impressive. The grass terrain music is awesome - I used to listen it over and over... MANY times. And I still like it a lot. The snow theme is also very nice, as is the lava theme. The combat music is, however, simply unimpressive.
HoMM V is just a decent achievement. The music for Academy (yup, Arcanum ), Inferno and Sylvan is very good. Necropolis also sounds like a town of the dead. Haven, however, follows the tradition of the previous human towns - nothing really special and it gets annoying quite soon. Dungeon reminds of some... cave town, but it lacks this sense of "might" the previous Dungeons had. Fortress and Stronghold don't have exactly great themes too. As for the terrain music - "boring" describes it best. Among the combat themes, there are only two adequate - Haven's and Necropolis', but they are very far from the HoMM III combat music.
So, generally, the good old Heroes III wins the day again, but with some reservations.
As for HoMM VI - it shouldn't be something completely new, sure, the "spirit of the series" should remain where it belongs, but IMO each part is supposed to have its own sounding - good or bad.

I rather liked the music from HoMM V, but then again, I have strange tastes in music for games, I used to hover the mouse over the hero portals in Dungeon Keeper 2, just to hear the Gregorian Chants.......

@Xenofex: Funny that, the haven theme is one of the best in my opinion.. Oh well, only goes to prove that we all have differne tastes

@Btog: Wait.. there were gregorian chants ?! .. bother, to think i missed that.

They only played if the mouse pointer was over the portal, unless you did that, you'd never know they were in the game.

So it would seem.. Oh well, Dungeon keeper 1 and 2 were fun games..

"Beware, the lord of the land approaches "

I like (surprise!) Dungeon's tracks, especially the battle and siege themes. They get Dungeon's elegance, its all-or-nothing style and its over the top power and aggression through quite well. Sort of like a crescendo. The sound of the whips cracking meshes in well. So yeah, I also disagree with Vitirr.

And yes, the music is probably Latin, though I'm not sure if it's classical or some other variant of the language. Classical music, BTW, is associated with the Renaissance, not so much the Middle Ages. However, it suits HoMM well, so I hope the style of V continues with VI.

Huzzah ! Another supporter ! .. now i just need to make him swear loyalty towards elrath

Nope, only to Malassa and Eruina.

pfft.. heathen !

quote:

Originally posted by ImperialDane:
Well i can only say that i disagree.. and that i honestly can't remember any of the music for any of the previous HoMM games

Which would mean you aren't in a position to judge them

Talking abotu HoMM music, I would recomend folks to check this one out: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4211096804/m/5011007186

I've played the previous HoMM games - I even have some of the songs on iTunes. I liked HoMM III a lot, but I still think V is best. Dane can absorb knowledge of the older music by osmosis, from my posts, and thus be in a position to judge.