[Legate Damar]

Every mod I have played has featured only instrumental music, I was wondering if putting lyrical music in a mission would be a good idea? Or would it be too distracting in the heat of battle?

[headdie]

There is nothing technically stopping you.

but, remember that the lyrics grab human attention even if in another language, which in this case take concentration away from playing the game

[Nuke]

only if its metal.

the reason is metal, despite having lyrics, they are not usually the focus of the music. pop, country, rap, rock, etc, are all lyrically driven genres. metalheads are never like "man the lyrics to raining blood are so deep, theyve really inspired me", its more like "man thats a badass riff and those ****ing drums are brutal! yea theyre saying stuff but im not sure what theyre saying and i really dont care. maybe il look it up on metal archives one day when i get bored with that riff". ive been into metal for years and i still dont know what raining blood's lyrics are about.

[headdie]

ive been into metal for years and i still dont know what raining blood's lyrics are about.

does anyone?  I think i looked it up once and i still cant tell you

[Nuke]

exactly my point. which is why metal, even metal with lyrics, is the ultimate video game music. some would argue for techno, orchestrations, industrial or some kind of mash of styles. but thats the stuff i mute so i can listen to 80s black metal.

[TrashMan]

exactly my point. which is why metal, even metal with lyrics, is the ultimate video game music. some would argue for techno, orchestrations, industrial or some kind of mash of styles. but thats the stuff i mute so i can listen to 80s black metal.

No.

Music selecton should depend on the setting, atmosphere and mood you want to invoke.

The idea that metal fits everywhere is ridicolous. But if you mute anythig that isn't metal and only listen to metal, then you're not really interested in expereincing the atmosphere the game wants to create in the first place.

Personally I think metal sucks 99,99% of the time.

[Legate Damar]

I misnamed the title of the thread. Sorry.

[Mongoose]

You should be able to change the thread title if you go back and edit your original post.

[Nuke]

exactly my point. which is why metal, even metal with lyrics, is the ultimate video game music. some would argue for techno, orchestrations, industrial or some kind of mash of styles. but thats the stuff i mute so i can listen to 80s black metal.

No.

Music selecton should depend on the setting, atmosphere and mood you want to invoke.

The idea that metal fits everywhere is ridicolous. But if you mute anythig that isn't metal and only listen to metal, then you're not really interested in expereincing the atmosphere the game wants to create in the first place.

Personally I think metal sucks 99,99% of the time.

99.99% of any genre sucks. thats just the nature of the music industry.

[-Norbert-]

It's really situational, wether a song with lyrics fits or not.
In most circumstance I'd be against it, but if the atmosphere allows it, it can work well.
An example what I mean would be the fight against the ELS in the Gundam 00 movie. Most of the time you don't have lyrics during the fights (only chanting or ohs and ahs and such from the choire, but no words) but in the scene were, among other things, Andrei Smirnov sacrifices himself, they play a sad song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCUn8bPcvs
Or the final scenes in "Record of Lososs war" where "Wind, Birds and Sky - Reincarnation" plays, after Ashrams death. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-DVepkn4Is&feature=relmfu starting at 6:10. Ignore the language, it's irrelevant for this discussion anyway - though in retrospect it makes me wonder how I could ever watch that in german... the german synchro SUCKS. Japanese with subtitels FTW.
In both cases the sound effects and voices volume is toned down for greater effect of the songs.

Though that were movies/series, wether it works well in a game too is something that had to be tried out I guess. For in-game cutscenes it certainly can work, if done right.

[Vip]

It's really situational, wether a song with lyrics fits or not.
In most circumstance I'd be against it, but if the atmosphere allows it, it can work well.
An example what I mean would be the fight against the ELS in the Gundam 00 movie. Most of the time you don't have lyrics during the fights (only chanting or ohs and ahs and such from the choire, but no words) but in the scene were, among other things, Andrei Smirnov sacrifices himself, they play a sad song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCUn8bPcvs
Or the final scenes in "Record of Lososs war" where "Wind, Birds and Sky - Reincarnation" plays, after Ashrams death. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-DVepkn4Is&feature=relmfu starting at 6:10. Ignore the language, it's irrelevant for this discussion anyway - though in retrospect it makes me wonder how I could ever watch that in german... the german synchro SUCKS. Japanese with subtitels FTW.
In both cases the sound effects and voices volume is toned down for greater effect of the songs.

Though that were movies/series, wether it works well in a game too is something that had to be tried out I guess. For in-game cutscenes it certainly can work, if done right.

QFT.
Lyrics can be and have been used with great result in cutscenes - just look at how Aqua Vitae affects the last cutscene of Blue Planet: WiH, or how masterfully the credits are done there with Origa's singing. However, it would be hard to implement properly in-mission - trying to be aware of my surroundings AND trying to read/listen to all the dialogues is already hard enough for my concentration, and distracting song lyrics are the last thing I need.

[MatthTheGeek]

This poll lacks a "whatever suits the modder" option. Because I don't feel like "omg I want lyrics in mah music nao" neither "omg lyrics are evil".

[TrashMan]

99.99% of any genre sucks. thats just the nature of the music industry.

more like 50%. 99% numebr is onyl for metal.

[redsniper]

Ridiculous did it. I say go for it. I like when mods try something different.

[Snail]

Much like Vassago's Dirge, Just Another Day displayed how interesting new mission concepts can be based around novel use of musical scores.

[IronBeer]

Ridiculous did it. I say go for it. I like when mods try something different.

The only time a lyric-ed song played during an actual fight was during the final mission, and players could afford to kick back a bit during that sequence.

It can certainly be done, but remember that people can only pay attention to so many things at once. Moreover, if you're planning a lot of voiced messages during sequences with lyrical music, those messages will be competing against the music for the player's attention. This "attention competition" is probably the main reason why any tracks with a vocal component usually have some sort of chanting rather than actual lyrics. Also, the usual considerations should be given to the tone of music and the tone of the mission.

To be clear, feel free to try it, but give some serious thought to how well it'll work during a fight. Players will have plenty of things to focus on, and as a mission designer, you want to try to avoid making things unnecessarily hard on them.

[swashmebuckle]

While it's true that the human voice is a magnet for people's attention, there are many pieces and styles of music that use sung or spoken texts in ways that do not draw focus in the same way that the more typical "lead vocals" do.  For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61n_iOhgcVQ&feature=relmfu

[Droid803]

I think its fine as long as there's no shooting involved, as then it's not really distracting from anything.

[-Norbert-]

There is something I just thought of: Wingmen babble!
If you have music with lyrics, the wingmen comments and death-screams might be problematic. Imagine a nice song and right into it a your wingman screams "NICE SHOT SIR"...

[Dragon]

99.99% of any genre sucks. thats just the nature of the music industry.

more like 50%. 99% numebr is onyl for metal.

Then you have a very "broad" taste in music (or lucky enough to mostly know of the good ones). I'd say that 90% is a good average percentage for any industry or art (not only music), 99% if you're picky. See Sturdgeon's Law.