Blizzard's music

I've long been of the opinion that Blizzard's in-house composers are one of the company's most important aces up the sleeve. Of course, the company has always been known to be exceptional at "polishing", including such things as textures, models, animations, responsiveness, and balanced combat. Music could arguably be called an "extra layer of polish", although it seems unfair to say this in Blizzard's case.

Why? Because the company in the whole is (or has acquired a reputation for being) exceptional at making solid, polished games, although they fall a bit short in the "originality" criterion. While that may sound uncharitable, it really isn't meant that way. Originality is overrated - brilliant ideas are a dime a dozen, but making them work is exceedingly tricky.

But back to Blizzard's music. Even if you are a sucker for uniqueness, their composers can hold their own. Granted, that comes from a complete noob in musical matters, but bear with me. There is no sense of staleness to their compositions, not in the sense of "I've heard this one before, somewhere." And even though they obviously know how to stick to what works, they also have some rather experimental tracks, much of which fits amazingly well with the environment they are meant to represent (Karazhan comes to mind).

So while Blizzard can be called a very solid company in most respects (notable exceptions being storytelling and their recent "STUFF FOR EVERYONE!" attitude), their music really shines through as exceptional. And I contend that there is reason to believe that this outstanding music has had much more of an impact in the company's success than one might think.

The prime example is the original World of Warcraft's title screen track. It really is difficult to gather enough praise. The tune takes you by the hand and asks you to follow it into this world of adventure and promise, in a voice that is as pure and musical as that of an elf-maiden in the Silmarillion. It gives listeners a soaring sensation and makes them feel like nothing could be more right than following the voice's advice - like falling hopelessly in love.

That may sound excessive, and of course there is a good dose of nostalgia involved, but it gives a pretty good idea of how well the track fits the opening screen of a large world to explore and brave. The composers expertly use music to augment the emotions that the game transmits to its players. Sometimes they manage to take a flimsy game element and turn it into something memorable, be it a place, a character, a plot or another.

I won't say that locations in Blizzard's games are not awe-inspiring - the zone/level/terrain design team are also very good at what they do (it's a shame it means so little with the current dungeon design and flying mounts in the open world). But the game is sorely lacking in compelling characters and story arcs. If Blizzard's ability to take tried-and-true formulas, beef them up and make them look great has failed somewhere, it's in storytelling. Their games tend to be not only unoriginal but stale in that respect.

And while some may dismiss a game's story as merely a prop for the actual mechanics, the opposite is true. Humans search for meaning and continuity in everything they do, and while it may be sufficient for some to simply "win", I feel pretty safe in saying that very few people, if any at all, are completely oblivious to the development of plots in the video games they play.

In that context, the music of Blizzard takes on an even more important role in their games. It helps keep players connected to the story and the world around them, and lends some sorely needed substance and credibility to those things in the process. Of course, that music has a crucial support role in movies, video games and other multimedia is nothing new. But I feel that Blizzard's composers bear on their shoulders a greater portion of the larger work of which they are part than the average musician. They are certainly largely responsible for making a good deal of storytelling that would otherwise be quite forgettable sound deep and moving.

As a disclaimer, allow me to add that I still think that challenging gameplay is the largest factor that lends "meaning" to a game and its story. But as far as their slice of the responsibility for making games memorable goes, I /bow to Blizzard's composers.