Combat-triggered game-music is not good game-design
I don't like it when battles and aggression (aggro) from AI trigger battle-music in videogames. It is unnecessary. Combat already is stressful; there is no need to amp it up.
In horror-games, it totally ruins the sense of surprise necessary for jump-scares. In Resident Evil 4, whenever you aggroed an enemy, even if you couldn't see him, her, or it; the battle-music was triggered. It let you know that you had to fight. When the battle-music was not playing, you absolutely knew you were safe.
When is combat-triggered game-music okay? It is good in random encounters in RPGs. You're walking along the overworld in an RPG. The mood is a certain way, and so the music reflects that. Your next step triggers a battle. The screen makes a transition-effect to a whole new scene: the battle-stage. The battle-music plays. This is okay. This is good. There may be other scenarios where combat-triggered game-music is okay, but in general, it is not.
Having combat-triggered game-music is less immersive. In real life, if you got into a fight, does new music start to play? Do you need new music to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation? No. Combat is innately a dire circumstance. Your actions mean life or death during combat in videogames. Having combat-triggered game-music cheapens the experience. It feels like combat is a prescribed circumstance by the developers, which it technically is, but the player should not feel like that; it should be an illusion of reality - that's what immersion is. The player should feel like he or she entered combat of his or her own volition - that it was a consequence of his or her own actions, and that the resolution of combat should also be tied to his or her actions.
Let us make gaming better every day. Please abandon combat-triggered game-music.
In horror-games, it totally ruins the sense of surprise necessary for jump-scares. In Resident Evil 4, whenever you aggroed an enemy, even if you couldn't see him, her, or it; the battle-music was triggered. It let you know that you had to fight. When the battle-music was not playing, you absolutely knew you were safe.
When is combat-triggered game-music okay? It is good in random encounters in RPGs. You're walking along the overworld in an RPG. The mood is a certain way, and so the music reflects that. Your next step triggers a battle. The screen makes a transition-effect to a whole new scene: the battle-stage. The battle-music plays. This is okay. This is good. There may be other scenarios where combat-triggered game-music is okay, but in general, it is not.
Having combat-triggered game-music is less immersive. In real life, if you got into a fight, does new music start to play? Do you need new music to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation? No. Combat is innately a dire circumstance. Your actions mean life or death during combat in videogames. Having combat-triggered game-music cheapens the experience. It feels like combat is a prescribed circumstance by the developers, which it technically is, but the player should not feel like that; it should be an illusion of reality - that's what immersion is. The player should feel like he or she entered combat of his or her own volition - that it was a consequence of his or her own actions, and that the resolution of combat should also be tied to his or her actions.
Let us make gaming better every day. Please abandon combat-triggered game-music.
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