Speaking as NC...
I can tell that one of the goals of this project was to inject more variation between the factions, which I think is definitely the way to go. This also raises the bar in terms of both stretching the range of the composer and being able to capture the spirit of a large group of people that already have a preconceived notion of what their faction is about. No easy task. I will give you my thoughts on how accurately the music captured what I thought the factions were about.
VANU SOVEREIGNTY
Awesome; hit the nail on the head...Vanu music is exactly how I pictured it...modern theme with emphasis on them being 'the future'. Reminds me of science fiction/action movies; which is perfect imo. Futuristic and tech savvy.
TERRAN REPUBLIC
Orchestral, epic, with lots of brass instruments. The first two evoke feelings of nationalism, pride and honour, while the latter I think captures the idea of duty, service, and sacrifice. Embodies the core theme of Planetside quite well, and as such should be most similar to the Main theme of the game. Epic war movie FTW!
NEW CONGLOMERATE
I want to start off by saying 'the Don' captured *exactly* what he was going for in his approach with the NC. Having said that; I think he missed the mark in terms of capturing the feel of the faction. Here's why I think that...It's clear that he was going for the 'cool rebel' as a way of differentiating it from the TR (which ideologically they are the most similar to...also the reason they hate each other the most
). As was said previously in the thread, it conjures images of some badass dude off by himself smoking a cigar. The twang also conjures a hint of 'backwardness'...if not that, then at least a rural feeling of isolation. Also as previously stated in this thread, it does conjure up a corny image of "Snake" from "Escape From New York" and "Escape From LA".
My problem with this approach isn't that it's bad music, but it fundamentally goes the opposite direction of the ideology of Planetside, which is
team play.
The badass off smoking a cigar in the desert 'plays by his own rules', and tends to be 'too cool' to put aside his ego to fight for
freedom with his brothers in arms which is (in reality) what the New Conglomerate is about.
I can see the conversation Higby had with him even;
the key word 'the Don' took away from it was Higby's use of the word "rebel", rather than "freedom".
This ideologically took the music of the NC towards
individualism rather than
unification against tyranny, and herein lies the paradox of the TR and the NC; "Is the idea of unity limited to the TR, or is it rather
epitomized in the TR and common to all the factions"? I would say the latter.
I think this is the root of where the dissatisfaction with NC is coming from (amoung those who are actually dissatisfied at least!)
I have seen Higby's comment about the synth being dropped in the final product (a decision I like), though I suspect it will move it from the 'hillbilly' feel more towards something like the 'Guns n Roses' feel. Having said that, I'm pretty sure the vision of 'rebel' goes deeper than that, and I suspect the mood it conjures will still rub people the wrong way; being a team-based game at it's core.
Of course being a pragmatist, I understand that at this point it's probably too late to do much about that, so I'm just (really) hoping they get rid of the twang (please no twang!).
Don't let my faction bias bring you down though, overall this score is fantastic, and brings to light how much Don's work has influenced the culture of this game, which I fully expect to be vastly larger and more successful than the last.
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