The Most Memorable MMORPG Soundtracks

MMORPGs belong to a unique genre. We don’t just ‘play’ them, we get lost in them. A sense of immersion is not just a welcome extra but a key feature of a successful MMORPG. This sense of immersion is achieved through many means including art style, lore, a persistent game world, and can even be aided through a game’s soundtrack. Chances are you’ve spent hundreds, even thousands of hours in a single zone or town during the lifespan of your favorite MMO. There’s a good chance the tracks playing in the background in one of these zones could very well be the music you’ve heard more often than any other in your life. With that in mind allow me to share with you some of my most memorable MMORPG soundtracks:

Ragnarok Online
Developer: Gravity
Composer: SoundTeMP

Let’s start off with a bang. Ragnarok Online has some of the greatest and best known BGMs of any game. The stellar work of the Korean studio soundTeMP, combined with the grind-based gameplay means players often spent weeks or months in certain zones during their RO careers. The capital city of Prontera has my all time favorite theme music and listening to it still brings back nostalgic thoughts of simpler days. The comments on YouTube for the theme show that I am not alone in this thinking. With the second closed beta for Tree of Savior right around the corner, nostalgic RO veterans will hopefully have something worthy to sink their teeth into rather than reliving past glories on private servers.

Granado Espada
Developer: IMC Games
Composer: SoundTeMP

Granada Espado, known for a time in the West as Sword of the New World, offers a unique 3-character gameplay style but the biggest surprise for me was the quality of the soundtrack. When I first tried the game, I had no idea the soundtrack was composed by the same studio that worked on Ragnarok Online. The 3 character system allowed players to camp in strategic locations and watch as their party handled respawning monsters on their own. I often kept my headphones on and listened to the music as my party grinded away.

MapleStory
Developer: Nexon
Composer: Studio EIM, Joe Hisaishi

MapleStory is another case of ‘memorable due to repetition,’ The nature of MapleStory during its early days all but required players to spend dozens of hours in a single tiny map while grinding off the same stream of constantly respawning monsters. I must have killed tens of thousands of green slimes outside Ellinia and just as many green mushrooms in the Henesys hunting grounds. The iconic main theme and the BGM for some of the early zones are now and forever seared into my memory. Luckily, the music is pretty good so I have no regrets!

EVE Online
Developer: CCP Games
Composer: Jón Halur Haraldsson (aka Real-X)

Part spreadsheet simulator, part nerd chat client, EVE Online is another one of those games where most of your time is spent doing a whole lot of nothing. This may sound tedious, and it often is. Thankfully, the music helps create a relaxed atmosphere. I’ve had friends tell me that the only thing that kept them playing EVE was the music. Players can progress by having the game run in the background and fiddling with in from time to time. Released way back in 2003, EVE Online offers an extreme deep gameplay experience for those willing to invest the time to learn the mechanics. For many others, it was perhaps the first ‘progression’ game -- think Cookie Clicker or Clicker Heroes. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but that was largely my experience with the game.

World of Warcraft
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Composers: Jason Hayes, Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford

With over a decade of lore behind it, World of Warcraft was all but guaranteed to hit the ‘immersion’ ball out of the park. Seeing familiar characters, monsters, and environments was a thrill when I first started playing WoW. But what stopped me in my tracks was the moment I entered Stormwind for the first time. The awe I felt brought me to a standstill on the stone bridge between the outer and inner walls. I just stood there listening to the music for a few minutes before going on to explore the rest of the massive city.

As with music in general, everyone has different tastes when it comes to soundtracks. The songs that mean the most to us likely evoke pangs of nostalgia from our early gaming days. If you haven’t played a particular MMORPG on my list then there is no reason for the music to resonate with you. With that in mind, I look forward to hearing what your most memorable MMORPG soundtracks are. Most tracks can be found online, for example our music section contains thousands of songs. Many more clips are available across the net on sites like YouTube for your listening pleasure.