Kotor I or Kotor II?

If you have had the pleasure of playing these two wonderful games you will agree that for both games their soundtrack was a critical part of their appeal. Neither is available to download legally as far as I know however the Kotor II soundtrack can be listened to in the "Music" menu of the game. The composer for Kotor I was the legendary game music composer Jeremy Soule.(Morrowind, Oblivion, Guild Wars, Prey) The second was scored by the relative newcomer to the game music industry Mark Griskey. (A prolific composer of, get this, music for movie trailers) Which do you think is better?

For Me, Jeremy Soule's soundtrack was very exciting. I could relate his music to what a 5 year old would write if they were a master composer. Jeremy Soule's style is fun, exciting, and "swashbuckling". He succesfully emulates John William's style of composing. Mark Griskey, on the other hand, reflects the nature of the game itself. Dark, Dark, Dark. And gloomy. However this results in a wonderful, moody, and superior score. At the end of the day, Kotor II's soundtrack has a more subtle, but ultimately more powerful emotional impact.

 

I do prefer KotOR2... there's a dark and hopeless quality to the music, with few exceptions (e.g. the "romance" flourish). The orchestra did a great job, and the recording sounds pleasantly old-fashioned - very sharp, no blending or reverb. Griskey wrote a score that was almost nonthematic, yet with several brilliant thematic moments. The Sith theme from Knights of the Old Republic ominously weaves itself throughout some of the darker tracks, and the Exile's theme, though scarcely used, becomes a driving march for the good guys in mus_a_800.wav (for lack of a better name - this track was not used in the game, apparently intended for the deleted planet). There are a few sudden moments of happiness, like the "romance" flourish and the light side point win (a quick rendition of the Force theme) that I feel are too light for the game. The tracks are also generally very short - only a minute in length, although some of the battle cues (there are only four) approach three minutes, at least when they are properly edited together or downloaded ("Jek'Jek Tarr Battle"). The score's greatest weakness is its incompleteness: no cutscene music. This was one of KotOR's finest points, but KotOR2 was on such a tight schedule that Griskey was unable to score any completed cutscenes.

KotOR, though the synthesizers occasionally get in the way, is an epic score. A lot of the best music, unfortunately, is in cutscenes, and while some of this unreleased music can be found in the Star Wars: Galaxies expansion pack "Rage of the Wookiees" (if you know what I'm talking about, look for the "mus_quest..." files), the truly great cues are generally unavailable. There's an amazing piece that combines the Force theme, the Republic theme, and finally Luke's theme in a frantic battle cue for the scene in which the Republic breaks the Sith lines and attacks the Star Forge, but the movie is completely clouded by sound effects, so it's difficult to hear.

 

And that ^^ = better. KOTOR II most definitely.

 

I loved the Kotor score! I wish they would release the music tracks that we have not heard (in cut scenes) on a site or something like Griskey did on his. I really love the space battle with the Star Forge cut scene music.

 

I love the KOTOR II "Jedi Theme." Absolutely beautiful, and it even reminds me of "The Monastary" from Goldsmith's The Final Conflict.

Question, though: Has anyone heard the "light side" and "dark side" music used on the game's official site actually played in the game? I know the "dark side" music is Nihilus' Theme, and it's included in the music section of the main menu in the game, but I don't recall ever hearing it in the actual game.

 

One of the most common complaints I hear about Kotor II is: "You call THAT an ENDING?!" Personally I think that the way Kotor II ended was quite appropriate. A fanfare/the universe is saved/happily ever after type ending (a la Kotor I) is not required for every game is it? And also, it is highly hinted that Kotor II was the second part of a trilogy. The end cutscene points the way to a third installment perfectly. The "Jedi enclave rebuilt theme" for the final cutscene works beautifully as a musical counterpart to the Ebon Hawk flying off to the depths of space. (and the realm of the "true" sith, hopefully) This was an incredible musical moment that sets Kotor II apart from its predecessor.

 

"Bay Area Sound took on the task of editing the music to picture for the cutscenes. Jared Emerson-Johnson did most of the music editing, and Sith Lords audio lead Julian Kwasneski took care of the final cutscene mixes."

 

Definately KOTOR 2. Nothing really stood out on KOTOR 1 as far as the soundtrack goes, but KOTOR 2 had a lot. My favorites are the Telos Restoration Zone Battle Theme and the Final Battle.

 

I disagree, infact, I think that the KOTOR 1 soundtrack was actually alot more memorable and more like the music from the movies than KOTOR II's soundtrack. The tracks are alot more melodic and bright, whereas II's are darker and more subtle.

I still prefer II however.

 

The best track from KotOR1, IMO, was the Dantooine Outback. The intro that one has a distinct magical feel to it, aye?

 

Um, where can I get KOTOR 2's soundtrack. PM, anyone? Sorry for the inconvenience.

-Semi

 

A selection of the music can be downloaded from www.griskey.com and the rest can be heard in the music menu of the game.

 

The main menu is nice, but Miles Sound Tools allow you to convert the music to a convenient, listenable WAV format. Then, you can rearrange, rename, and remix to your own liking.

Right now, my "album" experience of KotOR2 features forty-seven tracks with what (I think) are some clever mixing decisions. Try blending mus_s_lightside.wav onto the end of mus_a_003.wav and title it "Arrival at Telos" (picture: the Force theme as the Ebon Hawk glides through the artificial city). Combine mus_s_kreiadark.wav with mus_s_darkside.wav and call it "Traya's Revenge." That's when she takes out the Jedi masters (more fitting music, I think, than the continuous loop of mus_a_650.wav, or "The Jedi," which is absolutely beautiful for the beginning of the level, but not for Traya's cold murder).

I've always been confused about where to place mus_a_800core.wav. It was composed for the cut planet, M4-78, but does anyone find this piece to be totally unfitting with the rest of the score? However, I found it made a decent "Arrival at Iziz" cue. Mus_grovel.mp3, which is the music for Visas' introductory cutscene, can be found at Mark Griskey's site. It's an editing job, but I figured that it was a good mix of the new Sith theme and the Exile's; plus, it's "official" by way of Griskey's site. I placed this somewhere in the middle of my album. I am considering doing my own edit of mus_nihilus.wav and mus_a_900.wav to replace mus_grovel.mp3. Mus_a_262sith.wav (an unused flourish of the Sith theme), I think, makes an excellent lead-up to the final battle (mus_sbat_final.wav).

In terms of the battle music, I edited the various pieces together to make "complete" versions of the battle cues (there are only a few). Jek_jek_tarr_battle.mp3 from Griskey's web site is a must download; it features that battle cue in its entirety without artificially added percussion or sharp edits. Unfortunately, some of the battle pieces, like mus_bat_100.wav, don't seem to be complete.

For the end credits, I used mus_jedi.wav and tacked on kotor_march.mp3 from Griskey's site. Simple, but I think it gets the message across. The game's original credits medley is terrible.

Also... KotOR2's cutscenes feature some KotOR music in higher quality than KotOR does. I've edited cutscenes from the two games to make cleaner, crisper versions of "Arrival at Dantooine" (the much-coveted statement of the Force theme) and "Departing Tantooine" (Carth's theme is used here, interestingly). KotOR can also be augmented with the mus_quest... MP3s from Star Wars Galaxies, which feature some cutscene music free of sound effects, though with noticeable MP3 compression. I'm still hoping that clean versions of "Escape from Taris" or "Breaking the Sith Lines" (50.bik). What amazing cues; and Jeremy Soule is surprisingly good at adapting the Star Wars themes (the Force theme numerous times; and if you listen very carefully you will also hear Luke's theme and the Rebel fanfare in the game... I'm NOT talking about the main/end titles). I suppose that, all things considered, I have one of the most complete KotOR soundtracks out there (of course, Jeremy Soule has the whole thing, as do some LucasArts sound editors, I suppose). All the cutscene music and game music arranged in the best order I could figure.

 

^^Impressive!

 

I like more KOTOR1 theme, these are my favorites:
* Captured by Levithan
* Darth Malak
* Jedi Academy

But in KOTOR2 I like a track named Kreia's Dark Theme (the score when you click on the KOTOR2 icon on PC)

 

Glad you mentioned Miles Sound Tools, Cerrabore, because that's what I used also.

In find your comment on mus_a_800core.wav interesting. Obviously it was cut out of the game, as you say, though are you certain it was meant for M4-78? You see, I first heard it on the official website. When you go there, questions will pop up, and the theme of the site changes depending on how you answer. If you give DS answers, everything will eventually go all Sithly and red, and Nilihus's Theme begins to play. On the other hand, if you give LS answers, mus_a_800core begins to play...which leads me to believe it was originally meant as a sort of 'Lightside' theme. Whatever it was supposed to be, I rather like it.

 

Well, that's just the web site. LucasArts was probably given some music clips for use with it. Also, one of the modules of M4-78 was the "core."

 

I've opened Miles Sound Tools, and am playing evil_ending from KOTOR. Problem is, that's all I can do.

 

Hmmm, I've converted a whole bunch of the .wav's to .mp3's and I can listen to most of the tracks. Thing is, there's a good chunk of files that still don't work, so is there any way to listen to them?

 

How do you convert the .wav's?

 

Eh, I just changed the file format from .wav to .mp3

It worked for the first few, so I went through and converted them all (quite tediously) but as it turns out about half of them still don't run.

 

It is like ANH and TESB.

ANH makes the setup, introducing the musical themes (KOTOR I does the same), TESB plays with them, alters them and adds new ones (KOTOR II).

KOTOR II has some bits and pieces of the first part, but overall I think KOTOR I has the better music, mainly because it is so memorable:
Themes like "The Old Republic", "Dantooine outback", "Sith battle" and "Final Confrontation" are just as memorable as "The Imperial March" or the "Star Wars Main theme".
This does not mean that KOTOR II has bad music, on the contrary, it takes the music of the series to the very next level "Darth Kreya Theme". But KOTOR II is much more background music, than thematic.
Still I love both.

 

In KOTOR I i like:

The Old Republic (played when you create and character)

The Jedi Academy (when you are in the jedi academy)

Darth Malak (when you first meet Malak in Levithian)

Captured by Levithian (the cut-scene when the Ebon Hawk is dragging into the levithian)

and in KOTOR 2 i like:

Darth Traya (when the ebon hawk fly to Korriban and on PC you start the main menu, not in the game)

Ruins of the Jedi Enclave (when you have found all jedi masters and return to Dantooine to talk with them in the jedi enclave)

Iziz Cantina (ehh you enter the cantina in Iziz)

The Mandalorian Outpost (when you first encounter the mandalorian outpost on Duxn)

 

KOTOR I has the most star warsy style to its music but the darkness and despair to KOTOR IIs music fits in very well with the game itself.

 

I agree with the above posts. Some of my most favourite pieces:

KOTOR I: Dantooine Outback, Bastila Shan, Apartments. All of these are absoloutely magical and have achieved 5-star nostalgia status on my Mp3 player.

KOTOR II: The Sith Lords - This opening track (Opening menu music) Absoulutely captures the spirit of KOTOR II whilst moving Star Wars music in a darker direction. I don't much like the battle music in this game, but the subtle exploration music more than makes up for it. Top honours to Aboard the Ebon Hawk, Nar Shadda, and the Jekk 'Jekk Tar.

On KOTOR II: To quote the words of Willy Wonka, "...Thought it was a bit dodgy in the middle part, but that finale...WOW!"