What free video game soundtracks make good RPG music?

Hello! I'm not a video game guy honestly, I just don't have the time so I don't pick it up at all. I just recently stumbled across the fact that video games manufacturers often release the soundtrack to their games as Mp3 for free. Wow. I've downloaded diablo II's soundtrack (and all it's miscellaneous bits) at www.diablo2.com and Arcanum's classical soundtrack at www.sierra.arcanum.com. I'm quite happy with both of these, but I want more.

What good soundtracks are out there for video games that I can download folks? More importantly, where do I find them?

Thank you,

You need to check out Overclocked Remix. Nothing specifically for RPG's but many of the submissions have a really great mood for many types of tabletop games. Plus the music is just awesome. For a more traditional D&D-like or fantasy setting I'd recommend checking out the video game RPG's first, probably the big ones like anything by square (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Secret of Mana, etc.), Terranigma, maybe Lufia or Dragon Warrior. I grab stuff from all the sections and genres, but I don't use it only for gaming. It's a great potential resource though, and it's hard to go wrong on that site. Virtually anything you download is going to be great.

Go to your Neverwinter Nights /MUSIC directory. Rename the *bmu files to *mp3 and voila: hours of perfect gaming music.

In the RPGSoundMixer forum there is a lavish collection of links to free game music (in German though - but the links speak for themselves).

Also, Interplay's website used to have a complete archive of all music from Baldur's Gate I and II, plus some music from Icewind Dale. But that has disappeared along with the entire company's website when they went belly up last month. And I can't seem to find a mirror of the music archive.

Final Fantasy (any of 'em, really, 1-11, plus Crystal Chronicles): Uematsu's music is so great it's being performed by orchestras accross the globe.

That's my main recommendation....with at least 12 games, you'll have a lot of potential there.

d20fool said:

I just recently stumbled across the fact that video games manufacturers often release the soundtrack to their games as Mp3 for free. Wow.

Click to expand...

Wow is right! I had no idea this was common practice -- I've been wishing I had the Diablo II soundtrack for ages, and now I do. Thanks for the link, d20fool.

Wormwood said:

Go to your Neverwinter Nights /MUSIC directory. Rename the *bmu files to *mp3 and voila: hours of perfect gaming music.

Click to expand...

I HATE NWN music. I've heard they were made by Soule, but they got no soul. Compared to his other works, like on Morrowing, it's disappointing.


As for good gaming music... You can download Ultima's ones on a lot of places, the Stones theme is a classic and very pretty. You can download OGG versions of Ultima 7's musics at the Exult project site (1 and 2).
Winamp5 can play OGG without needing any plugin, otherwise find the codec for whatever you're using. OGG files are like MP3, but better in quality, and better in legality (the format is free, not copyrighted/patented/whatever).

You can download musics from Ultima UW2 at the LoW project site.

You can find the midi files at lots of places, just google it, but unless you have a musician's soundcard, it won't be a great quality.

For a more modern game, you can download MP2 versions of Doom and Doom2's musics here.

Go to Zophar's Domain at

www.zophar.net

for a bunch of music downloads. You need Winamp plugins, generally. Basically, it's a lot of video game music. PSFs (which are a TON better than MP3 and quite a bit smaller), SPCs (Super Nintendo music, also better than MP3s), and all sorts of other.

As for good RPG music, well, not to sound like a smartass, but most console RPGs have good RPG music. Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 are good (and PSFs are free), Wild ARMs, Star Ocean 2, Final Fantasy VII, Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Destiny, Tales of Eternia, and especially Lunar and Lunar 2 all have great RPG music. For SPC, check out the major boss music of Secret of the Stars and the soundtracks for Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI. I have a heaping ton of these files myself. Neill Corlett's site is also good to go to:

www.neillcorlett.com

Pretty much, there are rarely cases where you want MP3s. They suck. They're too big. Unfortunately, some games can't be ripped so you have no choice. That includes two of the best RPGs ever made, Grandia and Grandia II, both of which have awesome music. For those, use Kazaa if you know how to avoid getting a virus or just bite the bullet and try using the safer WinMX instead:

www.winmx.com

Anyway, happy hunting.