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Mark Seibert vs. William Goldstein

Started by Sir Perceval of Daventry, August 31, 2011, 09:34:29 PM

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Sir Perceval of Daventry

William Goldstein as some may know wrote the music for KQ4, while Seibert is responsible for KQ5 & KQ6's music, while he shares the music composition credits on KQ7 with several others. I think he also wrote KQ8's music too.

However, IMO, Goldstein wrote a much more cinematic score to KQ4....Seiber is great at writing very simple, beautiful themes. But even as much as I love the soundtracks of KQ5 & 6, I personally don't think anything touches the cinematic beauty of the KQ4 intro. If it had been made with KQ5-6 technology, it'd be on par with a Disney film in terms of it's beauty as an intro. IMO, Goldstein's score helps make KQ4 feel like a real fairy tale unfolding.

Your thoughts?

MusicallyInspired

#1
Seibert didn't do much of anything to KQ6. That was Chris Brayman. He and Ken Allen did the bulk of KQ5 so it wasn't him alone. Kevin Manthei wrote the main theme of MOE, Ben Houge did half the game, and Seibert did the rest. Goldstein composed the music for KQ4 but Seibert was the one who arranged it in MIDI for the MT-32/Adlib, etc being the music director for Sierra. So his hand probably had some influence there as well.

Fierce Deity

It's a good thing MusicallyInspired is so well versed in these discussions, cause I wouldn't know the difference from one Sierra underling to the next. I knew Roberta and Ken Williams. That's about it.  :-\

Anyway, to make the discussion easier to follow, I prefer the music from KQ6 and MoE the most. I do like the other themes from the prior games, but I found KQ6 and MoE to be so fitting in terms of the new environments and characters. For instance, the Ferryman's theme, Jollo's theme, Shamir's theme, and Alhazred's theme were all very memorable to me. Also, the theme for Isle of Wonder was spot-on in my opinion. Wacky music for wacky characters. As for MoE, I felt like the whole essence of King's Quest had changed with that title, and the music was no exception. But it was still fitting to the new experience.
Freudian Slip - "When you say one thing, but mean your mother."

KatieHal

I would love to hear the KQ4 music done via modern technology, or just plain orchestrated.

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

dark-daventry

I love the music in MoE; say what you will about the game itself (I'm a fan of it on it's own, but in terms of it's continuity with KQ, not so much...), but the music, to me, was fantastic. I really enjoy listening to a lot of the songs in that game. They really help set the mood for me. More so than a lot of games I play now-a-days.

I also really enjoyed the music in KQ6... I actually kind of liked Girl in the Tower... Perhaps I'm in the minority here; something I'm used to at this point XD
Founder of the (new) Left Handed Alliance Of Left Handed People (LHALHP)

Gay and proud of it!

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MusicallyInspired

One thing's for sure, no matter what King's Quest game you play, the music always had special attention paid to it which shined through any other shortcomings.


Except for KQ7. I can't stand Grandstaff's or Kehler's scores. They just seem incredibly souless and boring to me. But that's me.

Fierce Deity

Quote from: MusicallyInspired on September 01, 2011, 01:25:18 PM
Except for KQ7. I can't stand Grandstaff's or Kehler's scores. They just seem incredibly souless and boring to me. But that's me.

I would agree.
Freudian Slip - "When you say one thing, but mean your mother."

Baggins

#7
IMO, KQ never really has been known for its 'continuity'. Maybe with the exception of KQ3,5 and 6.

Most games are stand alone, are largely self contained, with little direct reference to previous games.

Even KQ7 barely ties into any other game other than KQ4. Even then the references to KQ4 are limited, the story itself is largely stand alone. There is no reference to KQ6 or KQ5.

KQ3 had little to do with KQ2 (the use of the gnome isn't really tied into KQ1 at all).

Nothing in KQ8 actually contradicts 'continuity'. It's little village seems to be a nod back to Daventry village/s mentioned back in KQ1 or KQ2 manual. That you couldn't visit back in KQ1. It brought back the magic mirror, missing from KQ7. It brought Graham missing from KQ7. The closeup paintings of King Graham and Queen Valanice are nods back to the artwork of KQ6 (it used the same closeup photos)!
Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

dark-daventry

Perhaps I should re-phrase my comment; MoE is a great game on it's own, but it seems to me like the name King's Quest was slapped on to it. Which is to say that it doesn't feel like a traditional King's Quest game to me. It just felt too out of place. But this thread isn't to debate whether MoE was or wasn't a King's Quest game; it's about music.

Interestingly, I actually listen to some of the MoE tracks when trying to relax, particularly the song Inside. One of my favorites. Ironically, my user-name is not based off the song Dark Daventry XD
Founder of the (new) Left Handed Alliance Of Left Handed People (LHALHP)

Gay and proud of it!

Avid Adventure Game fan

Baggins

#9
QuoteInterestingly, I actually listen to some of the MoE tracks when trying to relax, particularly the song Inside. One of my favorites. Ironically, my user-name is not based off the song Dark Daventry

I wonder what fan gave the game song titles, since the as far as I know there never has been an official soundtrack.

http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/kings-quest-8-mask-of-eternity

http://www.sierrahelp.com/Music/MoESoundtrack.html

Notice Sierrahelp, also has it's own alternate titles for the various bits of music.

They call, 'Dark Daventry', another place calls it 'The Curse on Daventry' or 'The Forest'. Which in itself are probably not official song titles.

The one they call "inside", the other place calls it 'Remembering Daventry'. Again probably not an official title.

Quotebut it seems to me like the name King's Quest was slapped on to it.

You for one probably already know that isn't the history of the game... I think we have had this discussion before! Back in 1994 or so Roberta following Phantasmagoria, Roberta felt there was a need to make a 3D KQ game, and along with her team they decided to add with Combat. She and Ken thought that would be the only way to save the franchise since most people were moving away from adventure games towards console games! The rest is history!

No, it was never part of the history of the game, to make a non-KQ game, and then inadvertently'slap KQ' on it. But rather Roberta's choice and decision that she wanted to push the series into a modern technology, and to do that she chose various ways to take advantage of that technology.

Yes its different, but that's because Roberta was trying to make something different from the start. They warned everyone ahead of time, since 1995! You could argue she lost the vision of what "KQ" originaly was, but in no sense can you say, somone else tried to "slap on the KQ title".
Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

dark-daventry

I understand and no full-well the history. I'm just saying that the end product "feels" like the name KQ was slapped on it. My point was that, despite Roberta's intentions, the game just doesn't feel like KQ to me.

As for the song titles, I don't know where I got them from. I imagine they were all fan-given titles. I do think an offical MoE soundtrack should be released. the music really is good in that game.
Founder of the (new) Left Handed Alliance Of Left Handed People (LHALHP)

Gay and proud of it!

Avid Adventure Game fan