Hi all, I purchased the AOE DE soundtrack on Steam yesterday and noticed 2 minor issues and one major issue that I hope will be address.
The Minor issues first:
-After extracting the tracks I found they had no metadata which I had to add myself via MusicBrainz Picard
-The official Metadata lists the tracks in the wrong order (Graysky is before Cave when Graysky should the last of the base game gameplay tracks)
And the major issue:
-The track Stephen is entirely missing
The missing metadata and improper track listings I can live with. I can fix those. I can’t fix a missing track on my own. I’m not sure if the Amazon/Physical/any other releases share these issues but if you’re planning to purchase the soundtrack I’d keep eye out. I planned on putting this in a review on the Steam store page, but as I have no play time in AOEDE (I own it on the Microsoft Store, not Steam) I was unable to place a review.
The Metada was also missing for the AOEDEII soundtrack but the track order and number of tracks seem correct though I may want to check more.
I hope this issue can be fixed. I also wish Forgotten Empires and Todd Masten the best.
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Hi @VivisectorGames, Thank you for this post. I have let the team know about the meta data. Unfortunately the track Stephen was left off the remastered soundtrack no matter where you stream or purchase it.
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Oh? Any idea why? Was Stephen cut from the remaster?
I have no idea why the track Stephen was cut from the remaster. If you’re able to contact the composer they may be able to tell you why.
Alright so update: it seems the track Stephen is not missing? Its just been renamed to Wally and I can’t determine why as I’ve never seen the track released under that name before.
In terms of the track order I’m making my own track order that I could share if others are interested.
Someone has also pointed out that the Steam release is of a lower bitrate than other releases or the actual game audio itself. As well there are no flac releases which could be more for audiophiles.
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Glad you figured it out. I noticed awhile back there were a few track names changed.
As far as file formats, there was a limited run physical CD of volume one for giveaways on this site but unfortunately I did not receive a copy. As far as I know volume 2 was never released as a physical CD.
I agree that buying the soundtrack through Steam should include MP3 and FLAC files. Other game publishers on Steam do the same.
This is my current custom track list for the Age DE soundtrack:
Disc 1 Total Tracks: 14
- Main Theme
- Wonder of the World (Cave)
- Canyon of Death (Death)
- Battle of Kadesh (Battle)
- Cesar’s Revenge (Gamelan)
- Caravan (Party)
- Seasons through the Ages (Rain)
- Holy Man (Hunt)
- Battle of Tunis (Thunder)
- Siege of Winter (Stephen) Renamed (Stephen) was (Wally)
- Gray Skies (Gray Sky)
- Mission Won (Won)
- Mission Loss (Loss)
- Campaign Intro
Disc 2 Total Tracks: 19
- I shall Return (Tango Alpha Bravo)
- Mountain Temple (Polyester Jammy)
- Ransom at Ctesipon (Hyman’s Wrath)
- Singing Bronze Bowls (Polyrhythimic Pong)
- Year of the Four Emperors (Slow and Spacious Mix 2)
- Queen of Palmyra (Mean)
- Whirling Dulcimer (Medieval Melody)
- Coming of the Huns (Sh’washa)
- Pyrrhus of Epicurus (Crawly)
- Spear Rhythm (Fretless Salsa)
- Revolt of Spartacus (Bigelow’s Bungalow)
- Cradle of Civilization (Sick State Rittim) ***
- Mist Along the Nile (String Attack!) ***
- War Drums in the East (The Old One Sleeps) ***
- Temple Bells (Slow and Spacious) ***
- Release Trailer
- Splash (Introduction)
- 30sec Trailer, Ver. 1
- 30sec Trailer, Ver. 2
*** I’m not sure where to put these tracks. One is an alternate version of Slow and Spacious which I’m pretty sure doesn’t play in the game? The other tracks I can’t recognize so they might be remasters of MIDI Exclusive tracks? It looks like the MIDI version of Rise of Rome may have had some different tracks to replace some of the redbook audio tracks in case they didn’t convert well but I can’t be sure without hearing from Stephen Rippy. They may also play in the campaign? Though I doubt it since campaign custscenes appear to have been nixed. If anyone has some insight on this it would be appreciated.
I’m not 100% on this track listing. There are some tracks that I don’t know where to put them and I should maybe move Splash (Introduction) to Track 1 of Disc 1. I want it to sound more like you’re playing a match and the tracks are playing in proper order. The Age 2 DE soundtrack is closer to this but still not quite with the first 2 tracks of Conquers being interrupted by a bunch of things and then resuming. I’ve moved the base game tracks to disc 1 and the Rise of Rome tracks to disc 2 which I think makes more sense, Especially since I feel more people will have familiarity with the base tracks than the Rise of Rome ones and thus will want to hear them first.
If anyone has feedback on this tracklisting or wants my track list for DE 2 Please let me know!
I’d love it if they reissued the metadata for these soundtracks so that nobody has to edit the track order themselves like I did. And I hope any future Age releases have proper soundtrack releases. I love the music in these games and I want to see it get the respect it deserves.