[…] the work of composer Jeff van Dyck. He did the music for the first Rome II trailer, but apparently that’s all. Instead, there’s a new Jeff at the helm: Jeff Atmajian. After chatting about Mark Strong for […]
What Ben says above is completely true, Mr. Beddow may be a good composer, however, he is not a good fit for this genre (Total War strategy games). I’ve listened to the first piece of music released of Rome 2 rolling out in the web, and this has (in my opinion) the same kind of monotone, calm music for a battle as in Empire TW, was a deja vu really, and I’m afraid I’ll be dissapointed again with the music in Rome 2 as I was in Empire and Napoleon TW.
Jeff, definitely that’s a good idea what Ben said about writting your own score for Rome 2, so people can integrate that to his Rome 2 game, and let me tell you, I’ll be one of the first persons to buy/donate to download your score in a heartbeat!. Really, after more than 10 years of following your work, I have absolute confidence and faith in your work, and I wouldn’t hesitate on that.
Think about it, it’ll be a groundbreaking moment for videogames industry as well, since it’s us the customer demanding to game developers QUALITY on all the work involved, incuding the soundtrack. Is the voice of the customer speaking, so it’ll be our message to CA expressing what we want as customers and not what they think we want, simple as that. And hardcore fans of TW series definitely wants you, Jeff.
I’ve already play-tested one of the historical battles from Rome II and the track playing in that battle sounds great and suits the action well however I echo the above thoughts and would certainly purchase an independent Rome II soundtrack composed by Jeff and distributed via his own website, I already intend to mod the original RTW soundtrack into the game to sit alongside Richard’s music so I would add Jeff’s new one as well and make the game three times as epic.
First of all: while i was training in China in 2008 i listened to the Rome 1 soundtrack ( by taking the sound files from the comp and putting onto an ipod.) I listened to forever a million times. the unique blend of traditional instruments and driving beats made me feel like i was in the movie Gladiator.
to the point of Mr. Beddow, I have to agree with the other comments. His compositions were vapid with Empire and Napoleon. He had greatness to work in Empire as he could have utilized elements of Bach and Vivaldi, the former to set the mood and the latter to help with the drive of battle. Instead i felt like half the time i was watching the show planet Earth as i’m trying to wage war…which means 50% of the experience was lost. In Napoleon it was difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment when i was winning on the campaign map because the loading scenes and map were filled with little tid bits of chamber strings that were so morbidly drole that i thought it was going to rain razor blades.
So i’ve excoriated the guy enough, i’m sure he’s good in other things, but when it comes to total war, you have the touch sir. and if you can’t or don’t get the contract then i would implore you to make another rome score for your own pleasure, put it up on a site with a donation button and watch yourself get rich.
Mr. Van Dyck, still there’s any CA request? .Simply put, a Total War game without your music, is souless, we saw that with Empire TW, music was sooo boooring!. You did a superb job in Rome 1, truly Epic score, and in all other TW games you participated, easily 50% of their success is because of your music. I really hope CA come into its senses and asks you to participate in writting the score, for me, is inconceivable even to think of a Rome 2 game without your music!.
Damn! I don’t like Beddow, I kept falling asleep on Empire & Napoleon because the musics are so boring. I thought you’ll be composing the tracks because Total War games is nothing without you, one of the reasons why I love RTW so much is because of your music. I really love the adaptation of Forever at the end of the vid, I thought I’ll hear the full version in R2, since you said Beddow is doing the tracks, I just give up expecting that. I won’t ask you to compose tracks for R2 because I think you deserve to rest from all the hard work, but I just think I might not buy R2 because you didn’t do the music.
Maybe if we ask for Jeff enough on the forums they will bring him back for Rome II (as well as Richard, since both can contribute great things to the game). It worked for Starcraft II and the hiring of the original voice for Jim Raynor to do the character in the sequel, so it can work for this as well!
That’s incredibly disappointing 🙁 I’m surprised CA hasn’t asked you to compose music for Rome II. Richard’s work on Napoleon was great and all, but I can’t see him doing work on Rome.
If you are not chosen as the main composer for Rome II I hope that you try to make a push to do some co-compositions for tracks that would be based of Rome I’s music (Like the piano at the end of the trailer being a remix of the original Rome I theme). That would at least make up for not being the main composer :). I enjoyed the soundtracks for ETW and NTW but your music is the best in the series and truely awesome Jeff! Rome II needs you!
Oh and lets not forget Angela’s vocals! They are very memorable. And having a song featuring the both of you during the credits of the games is basically a standard by now.
This is like the worst news I’ve ever heard in my life…The first time I heard about Rome 2 being devoloped, first thing that came to my mind is nostalgic pictures of epic battles I played on the first Rome, accompanied with those epic Jeff van Dyck’s scores like “Lost Souls”, “Time to kill”, “Rome main menu theme”, Or my all time favorit “Soldiers Chant”. Hearing that Jeff is not taking part on this Dream Game just makes me feel so sad. First thing I’ll do when Rome 2 comes out is remplace the music with those of the first game. I am not saying that Richard is not great, but its just that his monotone calm style of music is just not compatible for a game like rome….
Noooo Empire & Napoleon’s Soundtrack got boring after some time… but Jeff’s tracks always stay epic, doesn’t matter how often u listen to em! Really great work there!
I hope for you and all gamers who enjoy good game soundtracks that CA will pick ya! 😉
Richard’s work on Empire and Napoleon is superb and some tracks are simply awesome but to a lot of the Rome fans (ok almost all the Rome fans) your music embodies RTW and RTW embodies your music, they are intertwined as one and the same, if you’re not connected to the project then this will be a major blow to a lot of people, it seems strange that they brought you back for Shogun 2 but not Rome II, serious oversight here in my opinion.
Hi Jeff, I really hope you mean by that that it’s too early to start writing the music for the game yet, I don’t even want to comprehend a Rome II without the music being written by your good self.
Speaking of which I’d just like to say I also loved the inclusion of a few bars of Forever at the end of the trailer and when you do start the soundtrack properly I would really love it if you could include both old and new versions of original RTW tracks especially the Roman marching and battle music.
I believe this means that you will continue to work with creative assembly, i am elated to know that you are composing music for Rome2, the piano adaptation of “forever” at the end of the trailer was truly moving, i know you prefer working with instruments authentic to the time period but it feel like it will be a real shame if this version isn’t included in the game and is not available to the fans.
thank you
Hello!
The music from Rome II is amazing. Do you know, if there a possibility to buy a disc or an electronic version in lossless format?
Sorry, I don’t know as I didn’t compose the music in Rome II.
[…] the work of composer Jeff van Dyck. He did the music for the first Rome II trailer, but apparently that’s all. Instead, there’s a new Jeff at the helm: Jeff Atmajian. After chatting about Mark Strong for […]
What Ben says above is completely true, Mr. Beddow may be a good composer, however, he is not a good fit for this genre (Total War strategy games). I’ve listened to the first piece of music released of Rome 2 rolling out in the web, and this has (in my opinion) the same kind of monotone, calm music for a battle as in Empire TW, was a deja vu really, and I’m afraid I’ll be dissapointed again with the music in Rome 2 as I was in Empire and Napoleon TW.
Jeff, definitely that’s a good idea what Ben said about writting your own score for Rome 2, so people can integrate that to his Rome 2 game, and let me tell you, I’ll be one of the first persons to buy/donate to download your score in a heartbeat!. Really, after more than 10 years of following your work, I have absolute confidence and faith in your work, and I wouldn’t hesitate on that.
Think about it, it’ll be a groundbreaking moment for videogames industry as well, since it’s us the customer demanding to game developers QUALITY on all the work involved, incuding the soundtrack. Is the voice of the customer speaking, so it’ll be our message to CA expressing what we want as customers and not what they think we want, simple as that. And hardcore fans of TW series definitely wants you, Jeff.
I’ve already play-tested one of the historical battles from Rome II and the track playing in that battle sounds great and suits the action well however I echo the above thoughts and would certainly purchase an independent Rome II soundtrack composed by Jeff and distributed via his own website, I already intend to mod the original RTW soundtrack into the game to sit alongside Richard’s music so I would add Jeff’s new one as well and make the game three times as epic.
First of all: while i was training in China in 2008 i listened to the Rome 1 soundtrack ( by taking the sound files from the comp and putting onto an ipod.) I listened to forever a million times. the unique blend of traditional instruments and driving beats made me feel like i was in the movie Gladiator.
to the point of Mr. Beddow, I have to agree with the other comments. His compositions were vapid with Empire and Napoleon. He had greatness to work in Empire as he could have utilized elements of Bach and Vivaldi, the former to set the mood and the latter to help with the drive of battle. Instead i felt like half the time i was watching the show planet Earth as i’m trying to wage war…which means 50% of the experience was lost. In Napoleon it was difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment when i was winning on the campaign map because the loading scenes and map were filled with little tid bits of chamber strings that were so morbidly drole that i thought it was going to rain razor blades.
So i’ve excoriated the guy enough, i’m sure he’s good in other things, but when it comes to total war, you have the touch sir. and if you can’t or don’t get the contract then i would implore you to make another rome score for your own pleasure, put it up on a site with a donation button and watch yourself get rich.
This is a travesty! CA wake up and hire this man!
So? Any news?
Mr. Van Dyck, still there’s any CA request? .Simply put, a Total War game without your music, is souless, we saw that with Empire TW, music was sooo boooring!. You did a superb job in Rome 1, truly Epic score, and in all other TW games you participated, easily 50% of their success is because of your music. I really hope CA come into its senses and asks you to participate in writting the score, for me, is inconceivable even to think of a Rome 2 game without your music!.
Theres got to be a petition going on somewhere.. this can’t be! 🙁
Damn! I don’t like Beddow, I kept falling asleep on Empire & Napoleon because the musics are so boring. I thought you’ll be composing the tracks because Total War games is nothing without you, one of the reasons why I love RTW so much is because of your music. I really love the adaptation of Forever at the end of the vid, I thought I’ll hear the full version in R2, since you said Beddow is doing the tracks, I just give up expecting that. I won’t ask you to compose tracks for R2 because I think you deserve to rest from all the hard work, but I just think I might not buy R2 because you didn’t do the music.
Now I know R2 is going to be boring.
A CA game without Jeff van Dyck is like a Steven Spielberg movie without John Williams.
nuff said. Please write music for Rome II!
Maybe if we ask for Jeff enough on the forums they will bring him back for Rome II (as well as Richard, since both can contribute great things to the game). It worked for Starcraft II and the hiring of the original voice for Jim Raynor to do the character in the sequel, so it can work for this as well!
That’s incredibly disappointing 🙁 I’m surprised CA hasn’t asked you to compose music for Rome II. Richard’s work on Napoleon was great and all, but I can’t see him doing work on Rome.
If you are not chosen as the main composer for Rome II I hope that you try to make a push to do some co-compositions for tracks that would be based of Rome I’s music (Like the piano at the end of the trailer being a remix of the original Rome I theme). That would at least make up for not being the main composer :). I enjoyed the soundtracks for ETW and NTW but your music is the best in the series and truely awesome Jeff! Rome II needs you!
Oh and lets not forget Angela’s vocals! They are very memorable. And having a song featuring the both of you during the credits of the games is basically a standard by now.
That’s incredibly disappointing 🙁 I’m surprised CA hasn’t asked you to compose Rome II’s score.
I am a big fan of your work, I really wish you could write the music for Rome II…
By the way the trailer music is simply outstanding! Well done!
If you’re not writing music officially for Rome II can you do a music mod for Rome II then ? 🙂
The let you do the trailer music, but not the game music? What a tease! Please tell me you’re at least a consultant!!!!
Fantastic work, Jeff. That looks epic. Sent a shiver down my spine. Total War goes from strength to strength.
Thanks Nick!
This is like the worst news I’ve ever heard in my life…The first time I heard about Rome 2 being devoloped, first thing that came to my mind is nostalgic pictures of epic battles I played on the first Rome, accompanied with those epic Jeff van Dyck’s scores like “Lost Souls”, “Time to kill”, “Rome main menu theme”, Or my all time favorit “Soldiers Chant”. Hearing that Jeff is not taking part on this Dream Game just makes me feel so sad. First thing I’ll do when Rome 2 comes out is remplace the music with those of the first game. I am not saying that Richard is not great, but its just that his monotone calm style of music is just not compatible for a game like rome….
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
we must have Jeff van Dyck it will not be rome 2 without him.
http://nooooooooooooooo.com/
Noooo Empire & Napoleon’s Soundtrack got boring after some time… but Jeff’s tracks always stay epic, doesn’t matter how often u listen to em! Really great work there!
I hope for you and all gamers who enjoy good game soundtracks that CA will pick ya! 😉
Oh bugger, I was really hoping you would be doing the Music for this iteration!
But if you say this other guy is good. I trust you 😉
Richard’s work on Empire and Napoleon is superb and some tracks are simply awesome but to a lot of the Rome fans (ok almost all the Rome fans) your music embodies RTW and RTW embodies your music, they are intertwined as one and the same, if you’re not connected to the project then this will be a major blow to a lot of people, it seems strange that they brought you back for Shogun 2 but not Rome II, serious oversight here in my opinion.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Richard is a great composer and has won awards for his music. I think he’s going to do a great job.
Hi Jeff, I really hope you mean by that that it’s too early to start writing the music for the game yet, I don’t even want to comprehend a Rome II without the music being written by your good self.
Speaking of which I’d just like to say I also loved the inclusion of a few bars of Forever at the end of the trailer and when you do start the soundtrack properly I would really love it if you could include both old and new versions of original RTW tracks especially the Roman marching and battle music.
Thanks,
Shire
No, at this stage CA haven’t asked me. I believe Richard Beddow is writing the music for Rome II.
I believe this means that you will continue to work with creative assembly, i am elated to know that you are composing music for Rome2, the piano adaptation of “forever” at the end of the trailer was truly moving, i know you prefer working with instruments authentic to the time period but it feel like it will be a real shame if this version isn’t included in the game and is not available to the fans.
thank you
Thanks for your message. At this stage I’m not writing any music for the game.
Cheers
Jeff
Can you composing another Total War game please in the future