I still remember FF8 terrible love song.
lol. Sounds like we have vastly different taste in music. A song doesn't need to have vocals to become an
earworm.
You're really talking about two different ways to use music. Eyes on Me and Liberi Fatalis (both FF8 songs) were only really used in cutscenes. I don't think anyone can realistically argue that a song with lyrics during a cutscene is a bad thing. It's been done... a lot.
When it comes to music during gameplay...
Anyone against the idea of songs with lyrics during actual gameplay has not played Saints Row: The Third during the mission where you skydive onto a skyscraper while Kanye West sings Power (I don't even like Kanye). Vocal tracks still work great even when voiceovers are talking over the top of it.
But the real danger is that it gets repetitive. We can hear a cat meow a hundred times without it bothering us, but there's only so many times we can handle being talked at by a cheese vendor.
Yup, it all depends on the how and when - Eyes on Me I felt was dropped out of nowhere, in a game featuring quasi exclusively instrumental. Liberi, as the intro song, was okay - it was literally the first thing you heard in the game. Maybe Eyes on Me would have dissonated less for me had they put more songs throughout the game...
You're right about SR3, but one could argue that's not the only time they used song during gameplay. Actually they do it almost all the time. From radio stations, mostly. Although they also feature "You're the best around" during that awesome luchadore fight involving sharks and "We need a hero" during one of the climax endings. As well as that time when your char sings along Pierce during a car ride.
What I mean is that in games featuring song, it has to feel seamless. Either for the intro credits, end credits, or by being featured all along the game ( through various pieces in order to avoid repetitivity ) - hence why I really didn't like Eyes on Me at all and felt it was awkward and out of place.
So anyway, yeah, lyrics? Naah. DOS musics are mostly instrumental. Mostly.
