Tracklist:
Disc One
01 - Opening Movie
02 - Main Title
03 - Thing That Destroys Everything
04 - Three Heads ~Chimera Battle~
05 - Character Edit
06 - Forewarning of Destruction
07 - Heart
08 - Cassardis
09 - From a Different World
10 - Breathing Earth ~Gransys~
11 - Normal Battle
12 - Encampment
13 - One-Eyed Giant ~Cyclops Battle~
14 - Mark of the Enlightened One
15 - Azure Limestone Cave
16 - Forest of the Cursed Master
17 - Tension Battle
18 - Witch Doctor of the Forest ~Selena~
19 - Elysion’s Warning
20 - Thing That Crawls at Dawn ~Hydra Battle~
21 - The Road Presenting the Fruits of Battle
22 - Men and Warriors District
23 - Gran Soren Metropolitan Area
24 - Everfall
25 - Temptation from the Abyss
26 - Wyrm Hunt Duty ~Maximilian~
27 - One Who Understands Dragons
28 - Hill Figure Shrine
29 - Disorienting Fortress
30 - Stolen Fortress
31 - Pagan Underground Graveyard
32 - A Curse Echoing in the Mausoleum
33 - Cave at the Farthest Reaches
34 - Imperial Command Duty ~Audience~
35 - Inside the Castle Town
36 - Love and Corruption ~Aelinore~
37 - Rendezvous’ Compensation
38 - Conviction and Dignity
39 - Disgrace
40 - Blade at the Throat
41 - Blue Moon Tower
42 - The Roar that Stabs Heaven ~Griffin Battle~
43 - To the End of a Life and Death Struggle
Total Time:
73'15"
Disc Two
01 - Heavenly Earth ~Gransys~
02 - Hopeless Battle
03 - Quarry Ruins
04 - Strong Stone ~Golem Battle~
05 - The Water God’s Altar Ruins
06 - Darkening Metropolitan Area
07 - Breathing Spirit Gorge
08 - Jet Black Wings ~Cockatrice Battle~
09 - Dried Up Villa
10 - Helping Hand
11 - Farewell
12 - Chief Fortress
13 - Grotesque Magician ~Wight Battle~
14 - Hymn of Destruction
15 - Impure Mountain
16 - Choose
17 - Decision
18 - One Without Wings
19 - Throbbing
20 - Decisive Battle ~Dragon Battle~
21 - Collapse
22 - Existence
23 - False Triumphant Return
24 - Unusual Event
25 - Strange Beast of Holy Darkness
26 - Impulse ~Drake Battle~
27 - Sorrowful Melody
28 - Atonement
29 - Truth Exists in the Depth and the Heights
30 - Depths of the Underworld
31 - One Who Protects the Forest
32 - A Thing Clad in White Scales
33 - Dragon’s Beat
34 - Truth
35 - When You Make a Choice
36 - Public Peace
37 - Fate’s Choice
38 - Final Request
39 - World Without End
40 - Thoughts Continue
41 - Those Who Hand Down the Knowledge
42 - Eternal Return ~Dragon’s Dogma Main Theme~
43 - A Violet Light Shining in the Darkness
Total Time:
74'23"
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Dragon's Dogma has one of the most incomplete, incoherent, and forgettable soundtracks I've ever heard. Within the context of the game, the soundtrack is forgettable at best and inappropriate at worst. Outside that context, there's even less incentive to listen to 147 minutes of generic, perfunctory fantasy music, some of which falls below the mediocre mark. If you're anything like me, you'll forget the soundtrack is even playing about four minutes after you click play.
Most of the music attempts to be hyperambient, but instead creates a confused atmosphere when it's not being mundane or outright noxious. An odd mix of styles and the juxtaposition of various world music themes in some of the town and exploration themes makes for an awkward and amateur sound. Such an approach isn't inherently the wrong approach, but the arrangements are haphazard and thoughtless.
Choosing tracks to pick on is difficult since they all seem to run into one another in one interminable serpent of sound. I distinguish about three or four varieties, however, each more beastly than the last! There are the token vocal tracks that haven't been interesting in years, such as "Opening Movie" (the airy, optimistic female sort) and "Conviction and Dignity" (the bass, ominous male sort). There are also a variety of ordinary tracks for exploration or combat and almost all of them sound like "Encampment" or "Tension Battle." Some include embarrassingly cheesy electric guitar riffs, such as the aforementioned battle track and "To the End of a Life and Death Struggle," the final battle theme. Some of the ambient tracks include Asian or African sounds or vocals alongside guitar and typical orchestral instruments for a truly muddled mess. "Blue Moon Tower" is a typical example.
And that's just disc one. Disc two is even more forgettable. The laziness and apathy behind this soundtrack isn't quite apparent until the second disc, a collection of unfinished scraps. Even the melodramatic main theme, "Eternal Return," combines banal lyrics, hackneyed composition, and even a little guitar to ghastly effect.
The Dragon's Dogma OST is among the worst game soundtracks I've ever heard. The instrumentation is boring, the vocals are hackneyed, the arrangements are incoherent, and most tracks feel unfinished, making the soundtrack as a whole something best ignored and forgotten. Fortunately, that shouldn't be too tough.
Reviewed by: Kyle E. Miller
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