anyone else really disappointed in the soundtrack?

[stormyxcloud]

LOL The music in NH is so boring that I actually mute the game and play music from the old games over it​

 

[davidlblack]

NH has some good ones here and there but my goodness, NL had an incredible ost.

 

[KiwiFlavouredBubbles]

I feel like most of the music in NH sounds the same?? In previous games, you could tell what time it was by the track playing, but there's only a few songs I can do that with in the NH soundtrack (mostly 5pm lol). That's the only thing that kinda disappoints me.

However, I hate that the soundtrack isn't as... calm as previous games (at least, Wild World and New Leaf as those are the only other games I've played)? A lot of games like this tend to have nice, soothing soundtracks, and because I'm very sensitive to sounds, sometimes the NH soundtrack gives me anxiety, instead LOL.
I tend to play with it muted or on very low volume, unless I'm fishing.

 

[randomforeignguy]

I agree, but i just put music players outside so different parts of my island have kk jams

 

[Mairen]

I don't know if I can say I'm disappointed or not. I don't hear the music of this game and feel unhappiness or anything. It hasn't driven me to want to turn the sound off and play a different music because I cannot stand it. But at the same time, I'm not loving it and wanting to always turn the volume up and really soak in the tunes. I've never really expected anything legendary from the animal crossing soundtracks, but maybe because I've never referred to it as a soundtrack, but only as background music.

 

[monsieurberry]

Honestly remember people saying this about NL and complaining it was too weird. I'd say let's see how we all feel next year.

 

[biibii]

My all-time favorite soundtrack will and always be WW. It holds so much nostalgia for me-- and I would say that indeed NL deviated the most from the original animal crossing's with its lack of funkiness, but really compensates with actual melodies and emotion. I think for NH someone just cranked the funky dial two clicks too far.

Personally, they missed the mark

 

[mizzsnow]

Honestly remember people saying this about NL and complaining it was too weird. I'd say let's see how we all feel next year.

waiting for the day people don't complain about the soundtrack literally every other day because it's not a 1:1 copy of NL's

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

waiting for the day people don't complain about the soundtrack literally every other day because it's not a 1:1 copy of NL's

This is me every day, seeing how people compare NH to NL in every single aspect.

 

[Corrie]

I agree. I'm trying to like it but it's just barely working. There's a few tracks I like but overall it's disappointing. I can barely hear it anyway though, over the wind and waves so I think that has something to do with it too. They all sound similar to me.

Post automatically merged: May 3, 2020

waiting for the day people don't complain about the soundtrack literally every other day because it's not a 1:1 copy of NL's

I don't even like NLs much. I prefer CF/WWs.

 

[Xane_MM]

for me, it’s the early morning ones.

Same! I mainly like 7AM, 8AM, and 9AM (the latter being my favorite). Problem is, I'm not up at those hours so I only hear them if I'm "time travelling" to return to the present. I also kinda like 5PM. It's no New Leaf 5PM (which is my favorite there), but it's still a good hourly theme. They should've made 5PM Bossa Nova again like they did in that game and the original Animal Crossing, then it could've been my favorite again.

I wish we had the option to mute the music but not the sound effects. I'd totally just play NL's soundtrack while playing NH.

i think that overall, NH has better sound design in terms of ambient noise and sound effects, but the soundtrack is definitely much weaker than past games.

LOL The music in NH is so boring that I actually mute the game and play music from the old games over it

I don’t play with sound as often anymore either.

It's never been done in an Animal Crossing game, but really, Nintendo should have a way to mute the hourly music so we can hear the nice ambient sounds this game has. Sorry, I can't hear you over the constant drums and synth notes when not standing on the beach, wind and rain sounds! I'll always say it, but there's no excuse when the official website had gameplay footage that didn't play any music, only ambience. The game is capable of this! Just tell the game to play one of the "silent" BWAV files instead of the hourly ones, simple!

In fact, letting people choose past soundtracks, the repetitive prologue guitar music, or even no music instead of the hourly soundtrack would be great choices. I don't really have the sound up when outdoors much anymore because I'd rather hear older Animal Crossing soundtracks...unless it's one of the few NH hourly songs that I like.

I really didn't understand how different NL was until I looked up the soundtracks to the previous games. The first time I heard the original AC music, I HATED it! I like it now because I gave it a chance. I feel like NH helped me appreciate the previous soundtracks better.

Same. Years ago, I really liked Wild World's music and thought the original was just plain weird-sounding with its odd instrument samples and beats, but lately I got the Animal Crossing Music extension and when I listened to some of the original music, it's still weird, but is better than I originally thought...still not as good as WW/NL's music, but at times could be better than the more forgettable NH songs (other than 7-9AM and possibly 12PM).

When I listened to the awesome 5PM from New Leaf, though, someone mentioned it was basically a reference to the original Animal Crossing's 5PM. I wasn't expecting anything good from the original game's soundtrack, but that song surprised me. It's almost just as good as its New Leaf counterpart!

It makes me wonder how many people who dislike NH's soundtrack started with NL? I remember being taken aback when I first heard the hourly music in NH, but I had been craving funkier music for some reason so it just landed in the right place at the right time for me.

I started with Wild World and barely played New Leaf (because back then I was dumb and assumed nothing could be as good as Wild World's music). Therefore, I don't have nostalgia for New Leaf, but I still think it and Wild World tend to have better, or at least more memorable hourly music.

I also liked how it changed based on weather, I hope that maybe that'll come in a future update?

Technically, the game still changes how the music sounds when it's raining/snowing, but it's not as obvious this time around, at least for rain. All that changes in the rainy variants is that the drums stop playing and a weird marimba-thing starts playing occasional background notes. Snowy variants replace the lead melody with "dings" like New Leaf and throw in whatever that bell-heard-in-Christmas -music is every two measures.

As for the main question of this thread (not a reply to any quote above): Yes. Previous games had a lot of memorable, distinct hourly songs, but New Horizons throws the exact same synth, guitar, et cetera at nearly every hourly theme. Also, some of them have the same tempo and drum beat, adding to the repetitive, samey sound New Horizons has. As mentioned above, I do have songs I like, but it's only like 16-20% of the total 24.

Now, one thing that applies to all Animal Crossing soundtracks, not just New Horizons, is the overuse of the main theme, slipping it into nearly every hourly tune. I feel that drops my liking of any song that does that (and feel it's a lazy composing technique). Now, I do ironically think 9AM is my favorite despite blatant theme reuse from the first note, but I suppose it's that good. Songs like New Leaf's 5PM I find I like even better because that overused 5-note piano motif from the theme never plays, as far as I can hear. This has even messed up my enjoyment of Wild World's nostalgic soundtrack, knowing the title theme is everywhere. (And predictably I like songs where it doesn't seem to play, like 10PM, 12AM, and 2AM.)

Ah, but I'm going off-topic now so I'll just leave it at that. It still affects my enjoyment of New Horizons' somewhat-disappointing hourly soundtrack, so it kinda counts.

 

[astoria]

Maybe unpopular opinion but NL is probably my least favorite soundtrack out of the series. I think NH sounds better, although I wouldn’t say it’s amazing.

I’m eager to hear the new seasons’ soundtracks though; I wonder if there’s a different feel they go for with each one.

I time traveled to December and

Spoiler

the music literally sounds the same except with Christmas bells here and there. It’s barely noticeable like when it rains and a marimba is heard

 

[frogslime]

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily disappointed, but it hasn't become as memorable as it's predecessors... I guess I'll wait a few years and see, haha.

 

[Lady Timpani]

I time traveled to December and

Spoiler

the music literally sounds the same except with Christmas bells here and there. It’s barely noticeable like when it rains and a marimba is heard

Oh boo, I had seen somebody on Twitter, I believe, say that a Treehouse member had hinted that the songs would change with the seasons/months. Idk if they just haven’t patched it in yet or if it was just a misinterpretation of what that Treehouse member said, but now I’m kind of bummed.

But tbh it does make sense, otherwise I guess Southern Hemisphere people would have been discussing the different soundtrack. Unless it’s linked to months instead of seasons, but who knows.

 

[Dewy]

I like it but don’t love it.

I think it makes sense that it’s so different from the other games though. I honestly prefer for each game to have unique soundtrack and not be too similar to the last.
So far I haven’t gotten sick of it which is great. I got very sick of New Leaf music

 

[ThomasNLD]

I like them. They suit the role they are supposed to fill probabably, like soothing background music. They don`t really feel like a real big pressence, which is kinda the way I like it.

 

[marea]

I dislike it and i play on mute right now. Wish they would add the option to mute the music while keeping the other sounds, if such a thing is doable.

 

[drchoo]

I like NH's soundtrack and I always look at all soundtracks, and anything in life really, in perspective to its time. The game is still new and we tend to look at things in the past with rose-colored glasses. I'm sure when WW was released, a good number preferred the original soundtrack over that, and same with WW to NL.

I've only played the original on GameCube and now NH on the Switch so I can only speak on those two. Each has its merits and fits. In NH, I love the 10AM, 12PM, 3PM and 5PM tunes. The shop closing one is good as well.

 

[axaniao]

I am, but there is one song that reminds me of nl and I love it a lot.

5 am. Too bad I'm never up at that time to hear it, and I don't usually tt to that time. But it's the best hourly song imo

 

[Ganucci]

I honestly think this music is overall way catchier than previous games. After I put the game down I always have a song in my head. It helps that they use pieces of the NH theme in basically every track, which I know some find annoying, but I don't think it's repetitive enough where I'm getting frustrated by it.

It's definitely a very very different vibe from all previous games with a lot of it sounding more...electronic? However, I do think this game does the best at having the music "arch" as in upbeat during the day and mellow during the early and late hours. While I can jam to the 8am and 5pm tracks, I don't love them as hourly tracks as I think overall, hourly tracks should not be this energetic.

Anyways, I enjoy it, I think it's original, and 7am is pretty great.