Game Composers: Japanese vs Korean

[FaeryTaleAdventurer]

If there was a duke out between, say, SoundTeMP vs Nobuo Uematsu, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masashi Hamauzu who would you prefer?

I don't know that many Korean composers, but I know they exist, and when it comes to at least MMO music, they do not disappoint!

If you know of Korean composers that compose outside the RPG realm, discuss them here, and how you think they compare to their respective Japanese counterparts, if any.

I'm sort of singling out American VG composers to simply focus on [East] Asian audio. There are some similarities between the nationalities in terms of style, but there definitely are a few things where they will sound unique.

Composition groups like SoundTeMP are very diverse in their sound, but as a whole have a sound that may not be that common with what you hear from Japanese composers in the same field of work.

If this type of discussion proves too rich for anyone's blood, I'll plot this thread in the Audio forum.

Go!

[II2none]

This is final fantasy related isn't it?

[Back-From-Purgatory]

I can't say I know many composers by name, save the obvious Nobuo Uematsu, but I can say I've always preferred the music I hear in Japanese games.... Not to say there hasn't been good music in Korean games... on the contrary, I've heard a lot of awesome battle music in Korean games... However, overall, I think I prefer the seemingly more emotionally flowing aspect that many Japanese game composers seem to incorporate into their music.

To this day, "To Zanarkand" is one of my favorite pieces of music, game or not. In fact, I own the soundtracks to many Japanese games that I've never even played... So I guess that by itself is a clear indication of which I prefer.

At 11/18/11 01:00 AM, FaeryTaleAdventurer wrote: If this type of discussion proves too rich for anyone's blood, I'll plot this thread in the Audio forum.

Unless you change the thread up to discuss the particular styles that composers of each nation compose in as opposed to which you prefer, I wouldn't make a thread in the Audio forum... Remember, the audio forum discusses the creation of audio, not listening and/or appreciation.

[Halberd]

Don't know nothing about Japanese or Korean VG music composers but whoever made the main theme for Final Fantasy X-2 is awesome, I don't even play many Jrpgs or Asian games but I loved X-2's main theme.

[darkengy]

If it's for an online game or drama, I prefer Korean composers. Their music is livelier & heartfelt in online games & TV series. I prefer SFA, SoundtemP, Second Moon & the composer in Aion online.

If it's for video games & anime, obviously I go for Japanese composers. I prefer Kajiura Yuki, Yoko Kanno, Iwasaki Taku & Uematsu Nobuo.

Both of them compose great music.

[Psychopathic-Mind]

I know absolutely nothing about Korean composers, though I'm surprised no one's mentioned two of my favourite Japanese composers: Tenpei Sato and Motoi Sakuraba. Okay, the first is a bit obscure so I'm not that surprised but Sakuraba's high profile.

Tenpei Sato is damn good at making unique songs with a wide range of moods, compare Planet X, Hold You Back, Magnificent Dark Family 05, and Holy Mansion if you want; and while Sakuraba's had a few off works there have been so many soundtracks that I've completely loved. I'm not biased at all. Really.

I decided to listen to some of the SoundTeMP songs to get a comparison (seeing as this thread has held them in pretty high regard) and it's good stuff, though to be honest it's all pretty similar and no one song seemed to stand out. They were good, and listening to them in action may help, but that's my stance at the moment. Still, I can understand why people like them so much.

[kmau]

SoundTeMP is incredibly versatile, it's just sad that all MMOs are piles of crap.

[FaeryTaleAdventurer]

At 11/18/11 02:50 PM, Travis wrote: Nobuo Uematsu... that is all.

Ah yes, the Theme of Travis, ne?

In reply to a number of others on this thread, again, we can go beyond "typecast" RPG musicians, so it can be anyone from Koji Kondo to Jun Senoue to June Chikuma to Kim Junsung.

Nice to know someone knows about SoundFA (SoundFashionAdviser/Advisor, for those who like to "de-acronmyize" words); it was founded by a former co-founder of SoundTeMP (no surprise there!). On a side-note, it's probably this reason why Gravity appears to have opened up making music for its Ragnarok Online game to more groups and individuals (i.e. WorkSpace, Warren, Neocyon, Denis Koishi; all of which I have very little knowledge of.

If there are Korean equivalents or worthy rivals to the likes of Keiki Kobayashi, Takayuki Hattori, or Kenichiro Fukui, lemme hear about em!

To go into more detail, I too think Korean composers do a fine job on MMOs oft moreso than the Japanese ones, especially when it comes to the anime-style ones. Composers like SoundTeMP seem to produce tracks that seem to help a gamer visualize that they are living the game as an anime, instead of the oft-used rock/classical combo heard in Japanese counterparts (there are exceptions like the work done by people like Kohei Tanaka, but the RPGs he worked on weren't MMOs).

I remember seeing comments on YouTube about works in Ragnarok Online that sound like they could be used in even Western-oriented games like Call of Duty, and I think I couldn't have agreed with them anymore. I really think SoundTeMP really has potential to do console games if given the chance.

[Klik]

That's like comparing a red apple with a slightly less red apple.

[Nemo103]

At 11/18/11 05:37 PM, Klik wrote: That's like comparing a red apple with a slightly less red apple.

Yeah you are right