Can the battle-map music be more epic this time around?
Gentlemen, for the record, I first wish to declare that the opening score for EB I and EB II is the stuff of legend. I remember when I first heard that song years ago when EB I was the first RTW mod I ever played (before Roma Surrectum II and Invasio Barbarorum). That opening song for the menu still gives me goosebumps. It's a masterpiece. For that matter the campaign map music for each faction is simply gorgeous, it is perfection reached as far as songs for video games (mods most of all) are concerned.
And then we come to the battle map, which is something else entirely. It would be generous to say it leaves something to be desired. To put it bluntly: it's no good. The EB team, attempting in good faith to make every aspect of the game authentic to the ancient world, has misguidedly attempted to apply that to the musical scores when I'm trying to have thousands of sweaty men shove swords into people's guts as their enemies cry out in death throes and die before them. Some of the drumming is okay for this, but overall the music is just simply too soft, bland, and dare I say flaccid and sterile for this sort of activity. I might be hopelessly cursed and biased, being a death metal fan, but your music for the battle map just lacks all the oomph, raw power, intensity, and the gritty adrenaline-fueled rage that a real battle would possess, or for that matter a battle portrayed in a movie (think Hans Zimmer's score for the 2000 film Gladiator).
Leaving the menu and campaign map music untouched, I've already modded the "descr_sounds_music.txt" file (with new music.dat and index.dat files) with the following tracks for the battle map. I've noticed right away that my battles finally have some hefty testicular weight, something that was missing all along, that feeling of actual immersion on the field of battle that your noble but ill-judged attempt in making modern takes on genuine ancient music has failed to do. Now it feels like I'm actually fighting to the death in each battle, that each battle means something, the situation is always dire, and I always have to kick ass or face the consequences of slaughter and defeat. Here are some of the tracks I've put into the battlefield, courtesy of the music company Audiomachine and their album "Chronicles":
There's also this from X-Ray Dog, song track entitled "Here Comes the King":
I'm already having a blast with this stuff, but I beg of you, for the sake of other players, in the next release of EB II please consider changing the battle map music. The music of this game doesn't have to be a carbon copy of EB I anyways, even if you guys decided out of nostalgia to use the same music in this mod for the sake of continuity (or perhaps this time around you didn't have the time or resources to craft new music). In either case, hear my plea, and give it a chance. Surely everyone is also tired of hearing the same old songs anyways?
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Originally Posted by Sylon
Thanks EBII team 
It's no skin off my back, because like I said, I already have the music in game. I thought many others would have the same opinion: boy was I wrong! 
