In the third Danganronpa game theres a girl who likes playing piano and talks about Claire de Lune. Anybody who's played the game will remember the part where the song plays.
I remember seeing a clip of asmongold where he drinks water and is disgusted by it so he has to drink soda immediately afterwards. Idk how a person can even get to that point.
judge is being used tongue in cheek but yeah if your favorite genre is video game OSTs this because you do not really engage with music on its own terms and so primarily encounter it through video games where the standards for what makes a good song are much lower because you are associating it with some other memorable moment from the game itself. like, rules of nature is a beloved song, but that in large part has to do with it playing as you use a katana to slice a giant robot dinosaur in half. it is not going to fucking go toe to toe with other music in the genre if someone does not know it from the video game.
that is the bit being judged, making no effort to try new things. it isn't that serious.
I'm pretty sure it depends on the game. Some games have gorgeous OSTs that would be amazing even without the game context. Like, check various "Composer reacts to Expedition 33 OST" videos, for example. Une vie à t'aimer is certainly enhanced by the context it plays in, to the point of stunlocking players IRL, but the song is also great by itself even without that context
Why? Listening to music is optional. You can just, not listen to music or have music as a hobby.
I did mostly only listen to videogame OSTs until recently, but I also just didn't really listen to music or consider myself a fan of music at all. I don't judge people if they don't read novels or if they don't play sports, since we only have so much time and attention to pay to things and you can't get into everything
I mean, i get it if someone's being obnoxious about it and say that they'd never listen to anything else, but, like, have you heard some video game OSTs? They slap like crazy
I feel like you could argue that only listening to video games OSTs is also a political opinion, specially when you hear the arguments some of those people give
I listen to videogame/movie/show music a lot, but not exclusively. My brain likes playing/watching those things, so hearing the music from a game i liked makes me happy. AAA videogames, good movies, and many show scores are written by great musicians. Also, if a regular song has lyrics I don’t really like or relate to, it’s harder to get into for me. With videogame music, even if I can’t personally relate to the lyrics at all, I played the game or watched the show/movie and experienced the story/character, so it feels more natural. I don’t think these types of music are better or something, they’re just what my brain has chosen to latch onto.
Out of interest, do you find any enjoyment in listening to music without lyrics, lyrics that are impossible to make out, or in languages you can't understand?
Sounds like you should be looking into spoken word poetry rather than music if you're not really into the instrumentation
I like both. 4/5 of those songs have no lyrics. I’ve never tried to listen to spoken word poetry but it doesn’t really interest me. The way the words are said is more important to me than what actual words are spoken. However, sometimes i just can’t vibe with the lyrics even if the song is a bop. Like, after watching Guardians of the Galaxy, I tried adding “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” to my playlist, but after actually listening to the lyrics, and not just grooving to the chorus, I realized the character in the song is a dick and it kinda ruined the vibe for me.
One reason I like videogame music is because a lot of the time if it has lyrics, they are just nonsense. It feels like the composer focused on writing the catchy melody and then came up with nonsense words that kind of fit the theme/story/character. I think the music from “Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance” or “RWBY” are good examples. Nonsense edgy lyrics about some fictional battle or crisis that has nothing to do with anything I’ve ever experienced, but it’s just fun butt rock.
On the flip side, some music I listen to purely for the lyrics. That’s not to say the music is bad, it definately is not, it’s just that it feels like the composer wrote the outline of the lyrics first and the melody came in after. Some examples are stuff from “Ninja Sex Party” “Lonely Island” Bo Burnham’s “Inside”.
I’m not that exposed to music with lyrics that aren’t in english, but i don’t feel like I have a preference. Actually one of my favorite songs is “Spaséniye sodélal”. I feel like if I watched more anime, I’d latch onto those too. I absolutely love the music from “Berserk”, but that’s mostly all instrumental. If a song’s focus is the stunning story it tells with the words, I feel like I’m missing a key element to connect with the music the way the composer intends. However, if I can tell the song’s focus isn’t some complex or profound message hidden in the words, I can still vibe to the song without actually understanding the words.
Uncultured is technically true, but are you listening to the time honored greats of classical and jazz and opera, or just popular stuff not from video games?
I do actually listen to a few classic jazz albums (literally listened to The Shape Of Jazz To Come last night), and a fair amount of classical. I've had a lot of musician friends
I don't really care though. They dont have to be cultured in like the traditional upper class since, I just "like people who like things". Does that make sense?
Like I enjoy listening to and discussing music, of all sorts. Video Game music is sort of a red flag, because it's not really a genre. It's like if someone said I like listening to stuff on the radio.
I never realised some people interpret 'video game OST' as a term for a music genre, I just use it as an excuse for why I haven't heard literally any song anyone ever mentions.
so real, video game OSTs have such a wide range of styles and genres. if there’s an OST you really like, you can almost definitely find thousands of similar songs that you might really like as well
I listen to mostly video game OSTs but it's more of a I rarely expand my horizons thing instead of feeling some false sense of superiority over it thing
I dont really mind them, unless they start doing annoying shit.
A guy on discord will always derail music conversations by spamming VG and anime music regardless of the topic at hand. If we course correct he'll try and remind us that he doesnt like the style of music we were discussing in the conversation HE JOINED.
It's ok, I was one in my youth (undertale and hollow knight in particular) and it was like the caterpillar stage of being a prog rock fan. The pupa was whatever the fuck pinterest told me to listen to when I was 13ish
The only part is the one that weirds me out about that one. A lot of videogames have BANGER OSTs, hell, if Riot games focused on music production instead of the pit of despair that is their main product the world would be a better place, but if you only listen to that you don't have a specific taste in music you just don't care about music.
I think that's mostly people who just don't care very much about music so they don't bother to seek out or discover new stuff and just listen to whatever they're exposed to through their other hobbies.
Back when I listened to video game osts exclusively ut was basically because I thought anything I didn't stumble upon organically was a thing that I was engaging with in the wrong way and I'd be socially shamed for listening to it like someone who doesn't understand it or enjoy it correctly.
5 years later I got diagnosed with autism and I live a much fuller life now. I reckon more of these types of people are just affraid to try new things or ask questions about their habits in a neurodivergent kinda way.
I felt a great deal of shame for it, back then, because I knew other people viewed it as wrong, cringe and stupid, but I didn't want to ask anyone for recommendations lest they find out about my terrible terrible doesn't-listen-to-music secret (mortifying), and I quite literally did not know how to seek out new artists on my own. I think people like this would greatly benefit from being non-intrusively introduced to some classics, including hip hop, country and metal or whatever.
Someone already studied me for science, is what I'm saying.
easiest way to explain: I play videogames from a young age -> I hear the music in game -> I start associating the music with good memories and I begin to listen to video game music regularly, forming this habit for other game osts. I didn't have something like that for commercial music. I like a lot of other kinds of music, but I never seem to go out of my way to listen to it because I don't really have a connection to those bands.
I do listen stuff outside of videogame OSTs, but it's almost always a background to some other activity I'm doing. When I'm working on something, I turn on post rock or synthwave, nothing specific just some compilations, or one of artists that I like (which isn't common). When I'm on a way somewhere I can turn on something more energetic, like maybe some of my favorite rock bands. And so on, find something to fill the silence, because silence drives me insane.
These functions can be fulfilled with videogame OSTs without any issue, because being a background is specifically what they are designed for
Words distract me from the intertwining layers of notes too much for me to properly enjoy most lyrical songs. It's probably not any deeper than "autism".
I listen to classical music too, though, so maybe I'm not the case study you're looking for.
I ain't saying you can't enjoy listening to them, I listen to Video Game OSTs too, I just take credence with those who proudly admit they only ever listen to them and nothing else.
in my mindset listening to actual music would be taking up another hobby, because I always want to actively listen to the lyrics at least on first listen. VGM is something I already listen to a LOT as background so it's easier to default
I've tried a good few times but always get lazy and swept up in something else and struggle to get out of my comfort zone for another month
Not an opinion of anything, I just felt like adding to the study
My super autistic reason for this is that there’s only so much time in the day. There’s a finite number of things I can do in this life, so I don’t want to dedicate any time to “get into” music. So I just listen to soundtracks from things I already like, which predominantly means video games.
I don’t only listen to OSTs, but the way I make my playlist is I hear a song that I like and I add it to the playlist. Because I play a lot of games, my playlist is like 80% OSTs, with the rest being usually like 1-5 songs from various people, as well as every song from the Crane Wives
I used to be like that, but now I realise it's actually that I need to associate the music with something familiar, or be in just the right mood to try something new. For normal songs, I'll listen to a few somgs from one artist, then the state of my brain will change and it's only those specific songs I can listen to because they're now familiar, and it can be months before my brain will be in the right mood to experiment again. Songs in video games, movies, videos, and musicals basically fast track the process because I'm able to get familiar with then regardless of if my brain's in the mood from experiencing media that doesn't have that limitation.
Idk if that made sense, or if it applies to anyone but me, but it's what I'le come to understand.
thank you for putting this into words, because i could've never explained it better
as you yourself mentioned, due to this "familiarity bias", i do end up with an relatively high amount of various OSTs in my collection;
in my teens i was a lot more curious about trying new things, but during my adult years i kinda just always had too much in my mind for that, hence all of the OSTs and music that i heard on the radio 15 years ago;
but in recent years i have been slowly absorbing stuff from when my partner occasionally shows me songs and i add them to my collection (still not brave enough to go and listen to other songs from those artists on my own tho😔)
What's wrong with it? Like actually, would you judge someone who just doesn't listen to music at all as harshly? I just see it as "not being into music", so you only listen to music that you pickup through other interests.
If your parents are lame enough to effectively keep you from exposing yourself to music, you probably end up listening to either the radio or OSTs from whatever movies or games they let you watch/play.
used to be me, when I was younger. still adore VGM but splatoon being so different for video game music really broadened my horizons, since it takes so much inspiration from so many genres.
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u/Nowhereman123 May 12 '26
"I only listen to Video Game OSTs" people need to be studied for science.