History of music from Heroes of Might and Magic
Imagine the situation: to write music to the spin-off of one of the most popular RPG 90s, they attract a rock musician who does not lead a dude from the gaming industry, which is why he agrees to perform work for only $ 400 in a bedroom with an old computer and mattress in the corner. Then together they accidentally choose the wrong speed of recording an important track and leave everything as it is, and they generally create a legendary musical theme on the basis of an audio collection with samples. What happens in the end?
It feels like nothing good. But you have already clicked on the article and understand that there will be masterpieces that turn the genre of fantasy music for video games. It will turn out the soundtrack of the Heroes of Might and Magic series.
Birth of the Might and Magic series
In the yard of the 1970s. The era of protest, the heyday of the hippie movement. Pong, Asteroids and Space Invaders conquer the hearts of gamers on both sides of the Atlantic, and the legendary tanks in monochrome design and with the name Tank take the first steps on Atari production devices. And all this wildly attracts geeks in all the United States, and they also really like the dungeons & Dragons series of desktop players gaining popularity.
One of these geeks was student John van Kanegem.
In the afternoon, he went to a lecture at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of California at Los Angeles, and in the evening he was going to leave his friends with friends and plunge into the enchanting world of magical fantasy. On one of these gatherings, John meets the programmer Mark Koldwell, and he introduces him to the Apple II computer. The technological miracle so sinks to John in the soul that he … throws the medical faculty and is transferred to the faculty of computer sciences. And two hobbies are new and the old begin to unite in one. By the time of graduation, John realized that he wanted to create something of his. Your enchanting world, full of magic and secrets. In 1983, he began to create a role -playing game. He begins to create Might and Magic.
The creator of the series and the main game designer of the Might and Magic series John van Kanegem
Mark Koldwell. Leading programmer Might and Magic and the founder of New World Computing
I played board games all my life, and then met D&D. No matter how I like the subboty bargains in the tables, I wanted to play more. And as soon as I learned about the existence of video games, from what opportunities they give, my head just went around. Education, passion for games, as well as a passion for mathematics and programming, convinced that nothing would prevent me from creating computer games!
John van Kanegem
Like all great achievements, the case of John and Mark began with a small. But if at the disposal of the creators of Apple or Google there were at least garages, then John and his friend Mark were content with the bedroom in the house of the first. This was the first office of the newly formed New World Computing. It was a real rock and roll. Crystallized creativity, creativity on enthusiasm for the sake of creating a dream project.
For the purchase of equipment and software, John even took a loan, having made it the truth under the guarantees of his parents, well, okay, a little later he will return to them in full. Nevertheless, in 1985, the New World Computing moves to the new office, which was now located in the bedroom of John himself, where in a year in 1986 he was finishing work on the game and thinking about finding the publisher.
The plan worked, but not as conceived. The most profitable offer sounded like this: 1 dollar profit with each copy sold. At the cost of the game of 60 bucks, and you remember that the game was distributed on two discs, and their number did not affect the cost. At least 1, at least 2, at least 10. If this is one game, then they ask for 60 dollars, regardless of the number of carriers.
I needed a new plan:
It would seem that it may go wrong? Yes, in fact, anything, however … The bet played. John did not stop the phone in the bedroom of John, for which all printed copies scattered. And now the publishers began to come and offer varying degrees of delicacy of the conditions for promotion. It was a success.
Creating music for Might and Magic (not yet Heroes)
Success was not least well -deserved due to musical accompaniment. But first you need to add a little context of the era. Let’s listen to how the standard RPG RPG sounds that the soundtrack was there.
Example of 1985 RPG soundtrack
Even if you are back to the fact that the carriers of the information of those years simply did not allow to record full -fledged compositions, the father of Might and Magic John Van Kanhegem understood that sound accompaniment is an integral part of the immersion in the world created by him. And already to the third game of the series attracted the real composer Todd Hendricks. The musical design has become more diverse, dense, but this still did not suit the main game designer. Something else was needed. I had to change something. All the increasing ambitions of New World Computing forced to grow and team. It was no longer a group of a couple of enthusiasts in the bedroom. It was a small one, a team of 15 people with a successful series of role -playing games. The staff has grown even more to work on the 4th part and composer Tim Tally is connected to it, but the soundtrack is still far from the ideal.
This is still a standard generic fenter of those years, but after all, the series itself, her ENT, her heart is far from the usual adventure. This is a world tied to perhaps one of the most curious laws of the writer Arthur Clark
I have always been a great fan of science fiction, as well as fantasy. Arthur Clark came up with the phrase “Any fairly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. This idea plus an episode from the Star Way “for the world is empty and I touched the sky” formed the basis of the original story Might and Magic. But I did not want science fiction to penetrate the world until the very end of the game. I wanted to create an unexpected ending similar to how this happens in the episodes of the series “Twilight Zone”
John van Kanegem
John Van Kanegem, like no other, understood that the series needed the same non -standard soundtrack. Only now the Creator could not find the right path and more and more plunged into a corporate routine.
The biggest test for me was to remain at the same time a designer, creator of games and general director of the company. This double role always gave rise to personal conflicts. On the one hand, I wanted to make each game perfect, add more chips, improve … and on the other hand, I had to pay on the bills. It was a constant compromise: the company should remain profitable, otherwise I can not create my next game. At the very beginning, I was engaged in the programming of the whole game, but as the projects became more, I had to focus on the leadership of the teams.
John van Kanegem
With each new project, John was increasingly moving away from that very feeling of novelty, that very sensation of the experiment, that very feeling of rock and roll. And then one day he realized that the series needed. Need an experiment. And for this experiment, a real rock-nanist was required.
From early childhood, Rob King dreamed of playing a real rock band, but fate ordered differently: in the mid-nineties of the nineties, the New World Computing was noticed, which by that time, in addition to Might and Magic, had already begun to produce other projects (you remember that the company was also a publisher?). One of these was the adventure quest Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb, where Rob was taken as a co -author to write musical accompaniment.
But Rob wanted more, and his bosses were not opposed, especially since his previous task was coped. And now he is already the main composer of the next game, which was also released by NWC. Iron Cross strategies. So when John Van Kanegem decided to turn his adventure RPG into a strategy, the author of the music suggested as if by itself. A passionate musician with ambitions and fuse, who has not yet been mired under the yoke of corporate tasks, and even with experience, and even tested on previous projects. An ideal candidate, he receives complete creative freedom to write music to the branch of the most successful game series of the company. To Might and Magic. Everything was put on the card, he immediately takes up the matter … and hires a person who is not at all familiar with the game industry.
Paul Romero was born in California and began playing the piano earlier than went to first grade. According to Paul itself, he simply understands at some intuitive level how music should sound. He feels her and knows how to perform a particular work.
I started playing piano when I was three years old. We had a small tool at home. My parents did not play and bought it as a decor. I just learned myself. Whenever I heard the sounds that I liked, I don’t know how, but I could reproduce them. Your hands learn to duplicate – it’s like learning a language with your hands. I did not listen to rock and roll, so I do not lose Elton John in his head. I can’t even play Elton John, I don’t know how to do it. My hands have naturally developed thanks to European music of the 19th century. If someone asks: “Oh, you can compose music in the style of Prokofiev, Mussorgsky or Handel?”. I will answer “yes, it’s easy, because I don’t even need to think about it. My fingers know where to move “.
Paul Romero
At 9, parents sent Paul to a music school. By that time, he already knew how to play Rachmaninov and Chopin, but did not understand anything about the music itself. He did not know her theory, he did not know how to read a note, could not write down what he composed. Paul studied diligently, but he not just memorized the compositions of the classics, he made their sequels.
In a music school, I began to study the serious classical music deeper – Brahms, Bach, Tchaikovsky. And I realized that I was all wildly bored. You sit, learn concert No. 1 for the piano with the orchestra and fall asleep.Then I began to improvise. Taught the beginning of great compositions, and then invented continuation in the spirit of the original. So I learned different styles of the game and so several brilliant authors affected me at once. Whatever their style, I could catch it and continue.
Paul Romero
A little later, Paul was written his first piano concert. And speaking a little later, this is literally at the age of 13. Now realize the moment. At 13, he did not just write a concert. This concert was executed by the National Symphony Orchestra in the center of Kennedy, Mstislav Rostropovich conducted, and the party on the piano was performed by the young Paul Romero himself. The same concert was played in the hall of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. And it’s all at 13! In general, Paul grew on the repertoire of Bach, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and all the galaxy of the authors of classical music. And he was constantly improved, but at the same time he could not engage in music on a professional basis.
When I was in 20, when I finished college, I could not get a job. I did not show activity musically – I worked as a cook, worked at a construction site, sold goods for IBM … I was engaged in everything except music, because I could not force anyone to listen to it. Zero, nothing. And when I was hit 30, I thought: “God, in my life there will never be music again”. I believed that she disappeared from my life, because it is simply impossible to make people listen. I wanted, but nothing happened.
Paul Romero
Paul played the music https://new-king-casino.co.uk/ of his own composition in the style of authors of the classical era as much as he remembered. Parents at home, at school, friends and acquaintances at parties, at one of which Rob King noticed him. It was long before the creation of the heroes, but that meeting changed everything.
A friend introduced me to Paul back in 1992 at one of the parties. I remember the moment when I saw the floor playing the piano. I was extremely impressed not only by his abilities, but also to how sincere man he turned out to be. We immediately found a common language and have since become best friends.
Rob King
Heroes of Might and Magic Music
When it was time to find a person to write game music for the first Heroes of Might and Magic, Rob King hired Paul Romero, a man without experience in the industry, not only because they were friends. Rob knew that Paul had something that he himself has. Talent to compose music in a classic style. After all, this seems to be on the surface, but for some reason, for some reason, does not notice: classical music with orchestral parties is exactly what the genre of fantasy needs. Someone should become a pioneer. They should become Heroes of Might & Magic.
I advise you to turn on the background while reading
Only despite his already legendary sound today, the soundtrack was created in the conditions of very, very modest, and the work of a talented composer cost some funny even at that time of money.
Rob called me and said: “Hey, you don’t want to record some kind of music, but we will pay you $ 400?”And, of course, I wanted to earn $ 400. But I thought it was work at a time.
Paul Romero
At the appointed time, Paul came to my meeting. Then I had a neighbor in the room, and my “studio” was, in fact, my bedroom with a bunch of equipment and a small mattress in the corner. We began to exchange ideas and came up with a couple of compositions. I knew that we were going to do something special. Thanks to his classical education and my experience in rock and pop music, we complemented each other. In our music there were elements of good classic arrangements, but they did not repel the mass listener.
Rob King
The resulting schedule has a structural complexity that has not previously met in game soundtracks. It occurred to a few composers earlier to apply an approach to writing classical music to music for video games. Unless the authors of The Dig, inspired by Wagner’s works, reached something like that.
But back to the “heroes”. Few melodies even today have such a powerful and confident party in their arsenal as the composition “Barbarian Town”. At first, one string join the dynamic loss on the harpsichord, then more and more, so that at the strongest moment, repeating the main batch to give a powerful counterpoint for five different tools, and at the end, as if exhausted. To go to the second round with renewed vigor.
And the rest of the tracks are not lagging behind. General topic of music – repetition and strengthening of the main motive just works reliably. Almost every composition is a real work with a tie, development and climax. This approach is applicable not only to the themes of the cities, but also to the title composition that sets the tone for the whole game, the tone for the whole soundtrack. And “sorceress town” completely contrasts itself with the dynamics of other melodies, bringing the strings to the forefront, introducing all the instruments smoothly and naturally, until all of them are finally overshadowed by the captive sound of the harp, which gives the real atmosphere of magic without that magical music.
However, they are knocked out of the overall picture, and they will do this for many of the games of the series, combat tracks. They can not reach the same heights as the topics of the castles, and they will not do it soon. But with the release of Heroes of Might and Magic, one thing became clear. This step -by -step strategy is a work that has brought music for games in the fantasy genre to a new level, but the revolution did not happen before another game is released. Before the release of the “heroes of the sword and magic 2”.
Music from Heroes of Might and Magic II
In the second part, the duet of composers turned into a trio, Steve Buck joined the floor and robe, he and the Rob already long ago labali in a rock band called Red Delicious.
The command was faced with a completely obvious task: to make cooler. How? If you carefully listen to the soundtrack of the first game of the series, and then almost any composition from the second part, then the answer that the authors will be quite obvious: add vocals.
I advise you to turn on the background while reading.
But Romero and King would not be geniuses if they simply stuck a conditional Latin there, which for most gamers would sound quite organic there. Often the creators of music do so. But not in this case.
Rob King, as the producer of the soundtracks for the “heroes”, creates rhythmic tracks. He knows the atmosphere suitable for the part of the game that requires more than just an orchestral sound. As soon as he finishes with the creation of the main rhythm and motive, I will compose and arrange the music that will correspond to him. And each type of rhythm will work. Afro, Latin, Celtic, Roman, Irish. Any.
Paul Romero
Many people at that time thought that I was crazy because of the desire to put opera singing in the video game. But I wanted to emphasize the individuality of the franchise on the musical level
Rob King
If you dig deeper, and not just enjoy music, then almost for every castle, each fraction has its own style, including vocal. In the subsequent parts of the series, this separation will be noticeably more distinct, but the point at which it all started was laid here in Heroes of Might and Magic 2. The touching melodies of Barbarian Castle, and the entire Sauntre of this part are clearly inspired by Wagner and Brahms, even almost quoted the classics. Therefore, the vocals are recorded here in German.
Considering how difficult the orchestral plays of Romero were in the first game, in the Heroes of Sword and Magic 2, his opera compositions are felt as real works, and not as a simple stylization. Repetition of the melody and the escape from the first game was replaced by a stormy orchestral sound with constant development, which only enhances the perception of the entire work, and the vocals here complete the atmosphere conceived by the authors. The score contains a huge number of shades from the almost sinister atmosphere of Warlock Town and Necromincer Town to the hill and the hook of the mystery of Sorcerass Town.
A newcomer in the series Steve Buck, meanwhile, under the supervision of the same Rob King, took up the improvement of another aspect of musical accompaniment: landscapes themes. In the first game, this moment was not given so much attention. In the sequel, the authors of music faced a difficult task: to give each area their face, but to do it so that they are too attracted to their attention. Not distracted. Where Romero had to be complicated, the tank needed to be simplified. His compositions, one might say, are opposed to what Romero did. Steve had only a few tools in each composition to draw vivid images of gaming locations. For example, “Snow Theme” gives the feeling of a miracle flute with the accompaniment of the piano, and for the theme of the desert, wooden oven with Arabic shade.
The fact that Heroes of Might and Magic II were able to master two completely different register of emotional expression-opera drives and meditativeness, finally fixes the status of this soundtrack as one of the best orchestral scores ever created for video games. With one exception, which later.
Music from Heroes of Might and Magic III
After the success of the “heroes of the sword and magic 2”, the trio of composers in Paul Romero, Rob King and Steve Buck faced the problem: and where to move on? Music Heroes of Might and Magic II strengthened the weaknesses of the original, became larger. Repeating the same strategy – to become even more grandiose, it was impossible. What could be more magnificent than the opera sound of classical music? The solution was partly strange: to simplify.
I still advise you to turn on the background while reading.
What? In the sense of simplifying? The melodies turned out to be cool, you say (and you will be right)! Now I will explain: to simplify is not to use vocals. This was partly the decision of the publisher. But this is not to say a step back, because even without vocal parties to the authors there is still where to grow. Romero slowly cools down and begins to write music more thoughtfully. If earlier he wanted to invest as many ideas as possible, as many aspects as possible in his musical gamut, now, on the contrary, he decides to use less motives and subtexts, but everyone is polished to the ideal.
And again he builds his topics of castles as variations of motive and melodies. Repetition and growth, but this time much more meaningful. Much more … adult, or something. Even the gloomy notes of Dungeon Town remain relatively carefree with their interspersed strings.
In the same way as “Town – Inferno”, meeting formidable oversized, balances them all growing tone with the rhythms of a musical casket. What gives the melody weight, and what is happening is context. The compositions develop in such a way that in two minutes they make more diversity than the tracks of other composers in a several times more sound time.
What is the soundtrack Heroes of Might and Magic III manage to surpass its predecessor, is in the tracks of landscapes. Now they are more similar in style on the topics of castles – more saturated, which makes the musical accompaniment of the third part, in fact, a musical album. Because there are almost no melodies that are knocked out of the general tone and mood. Except, which, again, we will talk later.
Moreover, in Heroes of Might and Magic III, sound effects become part of the sound accompaniment of not only the world of the game, but also its music. Howling of winds, bird singing becomes part of the soundtrack (be sure to listen to the topics “Snow”, “Swamp” or “Water”). The authors show such a level, which, it seems, can not reach already and for themselves.
Music from Heroes of Might and Magic IV
Despite the stunning success of the third part, the affairs of the New World Computing did not go the best. A number of financially unsuccessful games and commercial solutions forced to squeeze budgets and reduce development time.
I still advise you to turn on the background while reading.
And if the gameplay innovations of the fourth part not all fans accepted with enthusiasm, then the music remained true to itself. Even amazing, but for the recording of vocal parties, despite the difficulties, funds did not regret. Here was involved not just vocals, but a real female Bulgarian choir “Nevenka”
The opportunity to work with a huge choir of course, inspired Romero and King. They were already experienced composers, and all the more interesting is the fact that when recording the choir they … moiled.
We had a Bulgarian choir in Los Angeles, which recorded female parties. All participants were Americans speaking in Bolgarian. We needed their accent. When recording, we accidentally used the wrong speed. This made their voices much higher, because of which women sounded like children. We learned about this on the information. Moreover, we could not do anything, because there was no way to collect the choir again and rewrite the party. Therefore, we had to change the music itself in order to match the higher speed of the choir sound.
Paul Romero
But even without the help of the choir, the authors filled their hand so much that all the other melodies sound vividly, interesting. Still magical.
However, the limited budget and, most importantly, the deadlines, made their adjustments. Therefore, for the first time when writing music, samples were used. I will make a reservation: I am not against sampling as an instrument for writing music. It was precisely to create music that the sampling was involved for the first time in the series. Yes, not just involved. Perhaps one of the most popular melodies among fans: a sea theme is built on Sample. Her motives can be heard in the game on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and even in the anime “12 kingdoms”
In general, despite the fact that the melody was not, like the rest was written from scratch, is it bad? In my opinion, not at all, and the soundtrack she certainly does not. After all, the rest of its part is just great. The tracks of the area are one of the best in the series. Celtic and Eastern Slavic motifs with an accordion and violins of the composition “Hope” or the lingering tunes of The Preyer made something dear in the music of the video of the game long before the “Witcher”.
And here we are approaching the exception that I intentionally bypassed at the mention of the previous pair of games of the series. Combat tracks. They practically did not evolve in any way since the first part. These are all the same rhythmic tapping that before. It is difficult to say why this happened, but they are in the first, that in the fourth games they sound very foreign. Their monotonous, gloomy character has not changed much, they are still much less interesting than the rest of the soundtrack. And so it could have ended, because shortly after the release of the 4th part of the New World Computing suffered a complete financial fiasco, closed, and intellectual property went from the hammer. And the revival of the series came from where they did not expect.
Music from Heroes of Might and Magic V and the beginning of the Ubisoft era
The French from Ubisoft bought the rights to the Might and Magic universe in 2003 and decided not to rush. According to reliable information from inaccurate sources, it is known that in relation to the fifth part of the New World Computing there were some achievements, but it was decided not to use them for just one reason: Ubisoft wanted a new part to be made in 3D. Then a new engine was needed. In addition, Ubisoft itself did not have enough competent employees to develop a game in the genre of step -by -step strategy. So it was needed and the developer. Who can do both strategies and step -by -step tactics. And in an amazing way, all the necessary components were found in Nival. She had the experience of creating a very warmly adopted strategy of blitzkrieg, step -by -step tactics Silent Storm, and even the latter of the latter was just perfect for new heroes.
I strongly advise you to turn on the background very strongly while you read.
While Ubisoft in Heroes of Might and Magic V decided to make several changes to the gameplay, an extremely wise solution on her was not to change what works and return to the writing of Paul Romero and Rob King. As a result, the composers wrote almost 2 hours of the soundtrack for the main game and then about another hour of music for additions. And it turned out great. The authors again found the path of music development. And now she has found the “main topic”. That is, the guide composition. We are talking about Dies IRAE (DIEES IRE is pronounced if you suddenly are interested in Latin).
Small retreat: Dies IRAE is a sequence in the Catholic Mass, one of the most popular Gregorian singers, which has been used in music for several centuries. The earliest mention of the text dates from the 13th century, and the composers took it as a basis in the 16th century, if not earlier. But it is important for us not so much how the ancient text and other facts are from Wikipedia, but what the text itself tells of the day of the day, about the Kare of the Grishniyov, about the ascension of the righteous to heaven, about the hyenen of the fire … It is ideal for the setting of “heroes” is there not so much? And Romero about all this, of course, knew. He deliberately decided to choose the Dies Irae with a connecting theme.
The sheet used a similar melody. And Mozart. And even Rachmaninov in the “Island of the Dead” – one of the greatest works that I heard when I was a child. Even if you do not know what Dies Irae is, the sound of this melody is very intriguing. For almost a thousand years, people liked this melody on an intuitive level. Similarly, when you hear the “moon sonata” – everyone likes it. I don’t know why. Probably because there is something special in simplicity – it unites people. This is why I always wanted to use Dies Irae.
Paul Romero
The motive of the main topic goes through a red thread through the entire adventure. Through the company of light, through the company of darkness, where before that a soft and calm melody again appears in the rigid performance of the wind. Romero grew up as a composer. He became a real author with a capital letter precisely here, in the fifth part, where the soundtrack finally found integrity and became, in my modest glance, something more than just music for the game.
Finally transformed combat music. Her character has completely changed. Now these are the magnificent combat clicks of the orchestra. On the one hand, they sound like typical music for such battal scenes in games and films today, and Romero and King could be convicted of refusing originality. However, this is how the soundtrack is perceived today. At the time of exit, it was still not so hacking. Yes, it is too simple and corny against the background of the rest of the composition, but such tracks have performed the main function: so that there are no more weaknesses in the music of the heroes of the sword and magic. The compositions accompanying the hero’s wandering in the area are also beautiful and are not knocked out of the overall picture.
The soundtrack became integral. Became the best as Romero admits in numerous interviews. But Ubisoft had a continuation planned. And was there a duet of the authors to offer something more, something that they had already done?
Music from Might and Magic Heroes VI
In 2011, the continuation not only in a strange way changed the name, but also the composition of the authors.
Still timidly, I advise you to turn on the background while reading.
No, King and Romero still remained at the helm, but Chris Velasco, Sasha Dikich and Jason Graves were discharged for their help. You can write a separate article about each of them in general. These people both separately and together, worked on series such as: Splinter Cell, Mass Effect, God of War, Darksiders, Borderlands, Starcraft, Dead Space, and this list can be continued and continued. It is important that they were experienced people, but from, so to say, another league. Unlike Romero and King, they are always more gravitors for electronic music, which is noticeable in their work.
Yes, even in the same Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, which was developed in parallel with the fifth heroes, and the music for which was written by Velasco and Dicchanes, it can be seen how much more there is an approach to creating music. And not to say that he would not have a series.
In other words, a vector was set for the experiment. In a number of works, the influence of Asian music is noticeable (as an example of the SANCTYARY track). While other tracks have a more embedient shade, more … electronic. Graves, who created a beautiful score for the second dead space fits perfectly into the fantasy sound of the heroes and does not cause a feeling of foreignness. What is worth at least “Jungles of hashima”.
Romero and King are well worked out that they already get better than anyone else in the industry, write fantasy music for castles and traveling on the map, and they write, perhaps, one of the best compositions in their career. What is at least a violin party in Flight of the Griffin. Or the magnificent main theme of the sixth heroes.
At the same time, Graves, Velasco and the savages simply take out to some unattainable height what has long been an Achheels fifth series. Her combat tracks. The cruelty of drums resembles action-music from Dead Space and is impressive no less. Yes, this is not at all right, but is it really bad to leave the canons? Here everyone decides for himself, because even then not only the visual style and gameplay split the fans of the series (although they “split” after the release of almost every part and earlier), and the times when the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise issued the revolutionary soundtracks, this does not mean that the music became bad in Might & Magic Heroes VI. She became different. This is still a diverse, integral fantasy score, and the decision to attract new facets of this very music to the series. It is a pity that the series was going through the best of times.
Music from Might and Magic Heroes VII and Sunset of the series
Sales of the sixth part were not the most enthusiastic, and Ubisoft by the middle of the tenth was no longer the company that easily goes to the experiment. Probably, therefore, therefore, it was decided not to change the main composers of the Romero and King series, but they also abandoned the invitation of very experimental electronic workers. At the same time, the star duet did not impose something on top, did not give any tough instructions. They just needed to write music for new heroes. And they wrote music for new heroes.
I advise you to turn on the background, while you read, of course, but if you are not turned on by this moment, then you can already not turn it on. Already almost everything.
Not seriously, I have nothing to add to this. The seventh soundtrack is not bad. But he became, in my opinion, with what he initially fought. He became the usual generic fantasy of his time.
King and Romero are still laid out, they still write excellent music, but there is no more the Spirit Rock-n Rolla of the first part, there are no experiments with the choir as in the second game, there are not even funny borrowing samples of the fourth and electronic experiments of the sixth. This is still great music for fans of the series, it is whole, high -quality, interesting, but … absolutely the same as before. This is the first game of a series where there was no experiment in the score. And in any other franchise, this music would look excellent, but for the “heroes” it is necessary more and the composers always gave this “more”, but not this time.
For that, there, the Ubisoft pop -up, still does not plan to bury the great series finally, but what the current company can do with it even scary. At the same time, nothing never dies completely, and the world of Might and Magic has once survived its founding company, giving us several excellent parts, several hours of magical music from talented people. So personally I believe in the best.
The creator of the series John Van Kanegem is still in the ranks and responds with great respect for the whole franchise, Rob King is engaged in his music group Red Delicious and is still friends with Paul Romero with which it works on game soundtracks from time to time. Romero himself willingly communicate with fans and regularly gives concerts at which he plays the very magical music from heroes with a symphony orchestra. And even if the new heroes never come out or go out without Romero and King, their legacy will be vividly. And you can always turn on your favorite composition and as if by a time machine to transfer during your favorite part for a beautiful soundtrack.
If you got to this place, then as a positive, I suggest you listen to how Paul Romero and Heroes Orchestra perform music from Heroes of Might and Magic III. It’s just great!
