For the record, I didn't say it (or any of the songs, Gend's is mainly on there as I found it very recognizable) was incredibly unique -- just that I really liked them and sprung to mind. Are there other songs that sound fairly similar? Sure, but I can still easily recognize those NWN songs as being from NWN and enjoy listening to them overall. I remember them even years later. I remember music from a lot of games too, for the record, not just NWN (ME2 has some of my favorite music).
Don't get me wrong, I have a good musical memory, and I will immediately recognize any song from NWN, should I hear it. However, among thousands of songs I have in my memory, very few NWN songs take a more significant place than just "heard, moved on". Again, I am not saying that NWN music is bad, it is just that it is not to my taste.
I don't know what to say here. I don't really care about that Fade combat theme. It's not *bad* I guess but I don't find it memorable/interesting. On the flip side, the first 50ish seconds of the main theme made me think "This is going to be awesome." The rest of the song is fine, I guess, but it's a massive shift in tone from the French Horn (I think?) and vocals of the first third of the song and I don't like it nearly as much. So perhaps you are looking at it "too scientifically" in the sense that you're more interested/impressed by complexity/blending while I'm interested in something I think sounds cool (which, mind you, can range from peaceful atmospheric melodies to reckless battle tempos within video games and pretty much any genre but rap/country overall -- though in all fairness there have been a select few rap/country songs I liked).
The problem in my case is that music has been a major part of my life since I was a kid. I've heard so many different songs from various styles that only something with some unique elements can catch my attention these days. As such, I now look at the interjections of various styles and national music cultures. In NWN, the music mostly has the traditional European style, with some minor elements from other styles, and there is little in this style that I haven't already heard countless times (especially given that first 6 years of my "musical career" I was forced to play in exactly traditional European style, as my instructor wasn't interested in anything else, and by the end of this period I climbed the walls trying to escape from it). In Dragon Age: Origins, it is much more varied in terms of styles, and I don't think there is a single song that doesn't embody many styles simultaneously in it. In terms of "pure quality", I'd say NWN and DAO music is similar, but in terms of my subjective taste I definitely prefer DAO, by far.
I think it's affecting your perception to a massive degree. Again, the NWN2 tracks aren't *bad* but none of them made me think "This is awesome." Out of curiosity, what do you make out of this song and this other song from ME2?
Hmm, in Mass Effect series, I think, music incredibly well fits the atmosphere and even creates it sometimes - I actually think this is one of the best series in terms of atmospheric music. It, again, is a little bit more uniform in terms of styles than in DAO though, so, as a standalone music, it is of not much interest to me. It is mostly electronic music of the kind that was mostly played in 80-s-90-s. Tali soundtrack really enhanced the atmosphere, but I wouldn't say I particularly liked it in itself. The Suicide Mission score, of course, is a different story, it is truly incredible in all regards. I liked Mass Effect 3 ending music even more.
By the way, I don't like MMOs, but World of Warcraft has some of my favorite music tracks, not just in games, but overall.
https://www.youtube....h?v=VhhvWeXHjP0
https://www.youtube....h?v=No6jHwe0QoQ
They used the real orchestras to perform this music, which is something very few video game composers do nowadays, preferring to compose the music in parts, electronically. Which is a shame: there is something about real concert hall acoustics that no electronic instrument can simulate. Another MMO with stunning orchestra music is Guild Wars 2.
https://www.youtube....h?v=nT4lnDuI4Mc
In NWN, I use Top Down *all* of the time. In DA:O/DA2 I had the camera in a position extremely similar to NWN's "Top Down" as well. Even WoW is the same way -- scrolled out and overhead at an angle. I'd also point out that while NWN might not be as 3Dish as NWN2 or DAO, it's still 3D in the sense that there's a Z axis and you can look at an object from any angle -- it's not a game where the developer can just move pixels up on the Y axis and give them "priority" over the background so it "looks" 3D (and the player can't rotate the camera to discover the deception).
Which is very weird to hear for me since (I've never played KOTOR) I have the same general camera style in WoW/DAO as NWN. And I used the same controls in DAO and NWN (hell, I even clicked to move every now and then in WoW too).
This might be one of the primary reasons why I dislike NWN graphics so much: it is 3D, and yet, it is not. In 3D games, I like enjoying the scenery, so, unless I am in combat, I always use a 3rd person view "from the back" - and in NWN it doesn't work well.
