Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (Mark Griskey)

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Apparently the full promo of Mark Griskey's The Force Unleashed 2 can be listened to here:

http://tracksounds.com/specialfeatures/behind_score/force_unleashed_2/force_unleashed_2.htm

Does anyone have any clue on how to extract the music from the SWF file to store them somewhere for proper listening?

[King Mark 3,631]

hmmm, this is strikingly good

when something is good you know right away.You don't have to listen to it multiple times "searching" for interesting stuff.

Compare your first impression of the music in this video to any cue in HP7 for example

[Wojo 2,453]

Does anyone have any clue on how to extract the music from the SWF file to store them somewhere for proper listening?

Actually, if you use Firefox with Download Helper, you can save them as MP3 files without having to convert from FLV or SWF.

Any browser you use will save the files to your "cache" before you can hear them. If you use IE, you can hunt for them in your Temporary Internet Files folder, but Firefox and DownloadHelper make everything so much easier.

Compare your first impression of the music in this video to any cue in HP7 for example

Uh...

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Seems Internet Explorer didn't save the files in my Temporary Internet Files at all; not a single MP3 in there.

[Jay 37,369]

There's your problem: Using Internet Explorer!

It's old, out of date, and not secure.

I STRONGLY recommend you try Firefox or Chrome.

[Wojo 2,453]

Seems Internet Explorer didn't save the files in my Temporary Internet Files at all; not a single MP3 in there.

Then the files were saved in a hidden folder, but I can't tell you exactly where because the location is different on everyone's machine.

[Henry B 50]

This music is marvelous! Griskey's personal style is becoming very evident. Let's hear him score a film.

"Discovering Dagobah and the Cave" ... now that's the kind of mystical, suspenseful writing you don't hear enough of these days.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

nice! it seems most of the good (if not all) cutscene music is there

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Then the files were saved in a hidden folder, but I can't tell you exactly where because the location is different on everyone's machine.

HA! Got it! Your comment combined with this page helped me figure it out:

http://www.walkernews.net/2008/03/17/where-is-ie7-cache-folder/

[Wojo 2,453]

Yes, that's the ticket. It had been so long since I used IE and went spelunking in its hidden folders that I had forgotten it was called content.ie5 and I was not about to ask for your OS, IE version number, bit size, etc.

A program like CCleaner could also probably find it if you view the temporary internet files that it designates before you delete them.

I will say this about Firefox, I haven't found a good way to extract many files from its cache. Like if you clear your temp files, then view a lot of photos, in IE you can copy those photos to another location. Firefox just gives a bunch of longass filenames with useless extensions. Are they all JPG or GIF or TXT or what? Who knows.

[Jacob 0]

Wow.

Assault on Kamino is kinda one of the best things I've ever heard.

[EDIT]

I was searching for an image to use as cover art.

Found something I did:

[rpvee 805]

So the promo score was recently, erm, released, and I must say it sounds fantastic! Great use of some of Williams' themes and pieces. The only thing I feel is lacking is Juno Eclipse's theme from the first game, which I thought was absolutely beautiful. There is some kind of love theme this time around, but if it's the same one, it's changed beyond my recognition. A true shame, since I was really hoping for some nice variations of the original theme.

Still, a great score by Griskey, and surely worthy of the Star Wars name!

[Jonesy 55]

Don't search more Jacob, I just add two custom cover. Here

[Incanus 5,715]

I found this to be a very good score. For a SW fan this is nearly instantly likeable for its SW style and mood, for a Force Unleashed score fan it feels very familiar but perhaps a bit more refined and accomplished than the previous score. Griskey walks the fine line between completely imitating JWs sound and known pieces and composing his own material. I do hear a nice balance of "in-between" sound meaning that the composer is taking the timeline into consideration melding the sound of Prequels with the Original Trilogy quite succesfully as this story takes place between the trilogies. The opening of the Escape from Kamino for example displays obvious influence of General Grievous music from ROTS but veers towards Griskey's own writing towards the end of the piece. These same urgent and rhythmically brutal tones can be heard on track Aboard the Salvation as well. The thematic quotes from Williams canon are quite cleverly done and integrated into the music and the score retains an air of SW throughout and the established Force Unleashed themes get equally well constructed reprises in this score.

The Juno Eclipse/Love theme is infact integrated into the score but Griskey interestingly pulls the Force Unleashed main theme into a counterpoint and darkens the mood of the Love theme considerably and thus adds a touch of Across the Stars mood into it on the last track The Reunion of Juno and Starkiller as he combines strains of both the Love theme and Main theme. There is a lovely quote of the Love theme on Discovering Dagobah and the Cave starting at 4:49 in which Griskey cleverly interpolates a lilting string motif, similar to what can be found in Yoda's theme, with the Love theme and economically does not have to quote Yoda's theme itself.

These are my first listen observations. More to come I am sure. Interesting and enjoyable score.

[Giftheck 916]

I really enjoyed the quotes Griskey took from The Empire Strikes Back's score - The Imperial march, some hints of the Battle of Hoth Suite in there, and the ending of the score is a nice quote of "Carbon Freeze".

[bondo 33]

http://www.tracksounds.com/reviews/the_force_unleashed_2_mark_griskey.htm

08 - Assault on Kamino is the best!! Plenty of Darth Vader present in that track

[Giftheck 916]

Did you notice the hints of the Battle of Hoth suite in that track? I did

[Andy 4,138]

Hmmm... I wonder what this sounds like.

[Incanus 5,715]

Here is an extensive article on Force Unleashed 2. There is a review of the score and an interview with the composer Mark Griskey. You can also listen to the complete promo on the same site. TrackSounds

And e.g. Firefox has all kinds of useful extensions one can apply to certain media.

[Trent B 337]

I have the promo downloaded at home, haven't had a chance to listen to it but hopefully sometime this week I will be able to. When I listened to the music in the game I thought it was pretty awesome. In fact when going through the game rips I had to really pay attention to the music. There were times Griskey's music sounded almost too close to something Williams wrote for the Prequels.

[BTR1701 59]

Does anyone have any clue on how to extract the music from the SWF file to store them somewhere for proper listening?

Actually, if you use Firefox with Download Helper, you can save them as MP3 files without having to convert from FLV or SWF.

Worked perfectly. Thanks for the tip!

[BTR1701 59]

http://www.tracksounds.com/reviews/the_force_unleashed_2_mark_griskey.htm

08 - Assault on Kamino is the best!! Plenty of Darth Vader present in that track

How are you guys listening to these tracks? All I get at that link is a review of the score, one promo track (the main title) and a track listing, but there's nothing to click on or play or listen to. I'm probably missing something simple, but I just don't see it.

I did get a chuckle out of this quote from the review:

As it stands, the future of THE FORCE UNLEASHED franchise is cloudy at best. As the

Dagoban saying goes, “Always emotion is the future.”

Someone seems to have misheard Yoda. It's "always in motion is the future."

[Wojo 2,453]

http://www.tracksounds.com/reviews/the_force_unleashed_2_mark_griskey.htm

08 - Assault on Kamino is the best!! Plenty of Darth Vader present in that track

Hmm, from the other page, it seemed like you figured it out. Oh well.

How are you guys listening to these tracks? All I get at that link is a review of the score, one promo track (the main title) and a track listing, but there's nothing to click on or play or listen to. I'm probably missing something simple, but I just don't see it.

1) Install FireFox

2) Install DownloadHelper

3) Go to that page

4) If the 3-atom molecule logo DownloadHelper is rotating, it found something. Left-click the arrow to the right of the logo, and click "01.mp3" to save it somewhere.

5) Fast-forward |>| to the next track, and repeat process for track 2, and all 9 tracks.

The original link over in the Music of the Old Republic thread has a link to a different site that contains the soundtrack from the first TFU game as well as a 30 minute interview with Mr. Griskey.

This is legal because FF and DH are legal, and the mechanics of the internet saves the files to your hard drive for listening anyways. If you can't find those files, this method downloads them to a place you specify.

[Incanus 5,715]

How are you guys listening to these tracks? All I get at that link is a review of the score, one promo track (the main title) and a track listing, but there's nothing to click on or play or listen to. I'm probably missing something simple, but I just don't see it.

There is the samples player at the top right side of the page just underneath the title of the review that has the Main Title and the Test Chamber as the first track. You can use the arrow buttons to skip to the next track to continue listening.

[BTR1701 59]

http://www.tracksounds.com/reviews/the_force_unleashed_2_mark_griskey.htm

08 - Assault on Kamino is the best!! Plenty of Darth Vader present in that track

Hmm, from the other page, it seemed like you figured it out. Oh well.

How are you guys listening to these tracks? All I get at that link is a review of the score, one promo track (the main title) and a track listing, but there's nothing to click on or play or listen to. I'm probably missing something simple, but I just don't see it.

1) Install FireFox

2) Install DownloadHelper

3) Go to that page

4) If the 3-atom molecule logo DownloadHelper is rotating, it found something. Left-click the arrow to the right of the logo, and click "01.mp3" to save it somewhere.

5) Fast-forward |>| to the next track, and repeat process for track 2, and all 9 tracks.

The original link over in the Music of the Old Republic thread has a link to a different site that contains the soundtrack from the first TFU game as well as a 30 minute interview with Mr. Griskey.

This is legal because FF and DH are legal, and the mechanics of the internet saves the files to your hard drive for listening anyways. If you can't find those files, this method downloads them to a place you specify.

Yes, I got the Download Helper plug-in working and was able to save the "Main Title & Test Chamber" cue, however from some of the comments here (like the one above-- "08 - Assault on Kamino is the best!! Plenty of Darth Vader present in that track"), it seems like people are listening to all the rest of the tracks as well and all I'm getting is that one Main Title cue.

[ETMusic 1]

Yes, I got the Download Helper plug-in working and was able to save the "Main Title & Test Chamber" cue, however from some of the comments here (like the one above-- "08 - Assault on Kamino is the best!! Plenty of Darth Vader present in that track"), it seems like people are listening to all the rest of the tracks as well and all I'm getting is that one Main Title cue.

Click the next track button and then go back to Download Helper. Rinse and repeat.

[Wojo 2,453]

You can click fast-forward on all the tracks, and DownloadHelper will build a list of all the files to download. The website doesn't "know" there are more tracks until you fast-forward, which loads the next song into the buffer. You still have to download each track individually, there is no "download all" feature.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

the quality of the files is rather decent. nice touch

I prefer ne reworked love theme.

This one sound more starwarsih, the other sounded too much of stargate main theme.

[BTR1701 59]

Yes, I got the Download Helper plug-in working and was able to save the "Main Title & Test Chamber" cue, however from some of the comments here (like the one above-- "08 - Assault on Kamino is the best!! Plenty of Darth Vader present in that track"), it seems like people are listening to all the rest of the tracks as well and all I'm getting is that one Main Title cue.

Click the next track button and then go back to Download Helper. Rinse and repeat.

Ah, I see. Thanks!

[Giftheck 916]

I got mine the hard way - I downloaded the flash app and opened it in Adobe Flash, opened the debuger and in the variables section found the file locations.

[Nemesis 245]

I downloaded it with download helper, worked perfectly.

Great music also!!

[King Mark 3,631]

I listened to the MP3s. Pretty good. Some cues are better than others

Is this the same music as "The Old Republic" clip we had before?

[Joe Brausam 214]

This is great stuff! I wish Griskey were working on the Clone Wars series.

(Though I'm sure he wouldn't have the same creative freedom to write in a style similar to how he has on these games.)

[Koray Savas 2,251]

when something is good you know right away.You don't have to listen to it multiple times "searching" for interesting stuff.

I agree.

Compare your first impression of the music in this video to any cue in HP7 for example

A John Williams-sounding score and then a Desplat score.

[Romão 2,274]

hmmm, this is strikingly good

when something is good you know right away.You don't have to listen to it multiple times "searching" for interesting stuff.

I'm sorry, but I don't agree at all. With that mindset, you are missing out on a plethora of great music that requires multiple listens in order to get a better grasp of its (often complex) structure and aspirations. There are too many examples I could name

[Incanus 5,715]

hmmm, this is strikingly good

when something is good you know right away.You don't have to listen to it multiple times "searching" for interesting stuff.

I'm sorry, but I don't agree at all. With that mindset, you are missing out on a plethora of great music that requires multiple listens in order to get a better grasp of its (often complex) structure and aspirations. There are too many examples I could name

I agree Romão. Not all music is instantly accessible or makes immediate impact. Some of the most profound pieces of music I know required multiple listens to fully appreciate.

There are nice JW stylings in the score I have noted on subsequent listens: The strings at the start of the Hanging City and the use of the Mystery motif from Episode II on several tracks. Interestingly Griskey chose the Mystery motif over the actual Kamino motif but I guess it is easier to integrate into his own music.

[Ollie 1,059]

Both scores to the Force Unleashed are rather decent.

It would be nice to see Griskey start getting some film score assignments.

[Quintus 5,399]

Is this good because it weaves the Williams stuff in there or is it good in its own right? Is it full of direct Williams themes references? Only, I'm a little tired of Star Wars music at this point.

[John Crichton 4]

Both really, but moreso in it's own right. Griskey has a distinct voice.

Though I still say the best non-Williams SW is Soule's Knights of the Old Republic.

[Quintus 5,399]

Soule is one of the finest videogame composers out there.

[Tallguy 3,398]

This is really good. I wish the old (yikes, old?) Jedi Knight games had scores this good.

[Laserschwert 475]

Soule is one of the finest videogame composers out there.

And still I think that the people that came after him (Griskey on "KotOR" and Hannigan on "Harry Potter") did an even better job. Don't get me wrong, I like Soule's work, but a lot of his stuff tends to sound too similar, which of course gets even more pronounced by his choice of synths. Both Griskey and Hannigan had the luxury of more live orchestral parts in their soundtracks, which already adds a variation in sound.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

It would be nice to see Griskey start getting some film score assignments.

Chris Tilton and Bear McCreary first.

[rpvee 805]

The Juno Eclipse/Love theme is infact integrated into the score but Griskey interestingly pulls the Force Unleashed main theme into a counterpoint and darkens the mood of the Love theme considerably and thus adds a touch of Across the Stars mood into it on the last track The Reunion of Juno and Starkiller as he combines strains of both the Love theme and Main theme. There is a lovely quote of the Love theme on Discovering Dagobah and the Cave starting at 4:49 in which Griskey cleverly interpolates a lilting string motif, similar to what can be found in Yoda's theme, with the Love theme and economically does not have to quote Yoda's theme itself.

Maybe it's there a bit, but it sounds nothing like the first game's theme.

[Incanus 5,715]

The Juno Eclipse/Love theme is infact integrated into the score but Griskey interestingly pulls the Force Unleashed main theme into a counterpoint and darkens the mood of the Love theme considerably and thus adds a touch of Across the Stars mood into it on the last track The Reunion of Juno and Starkiller as he combines strains of both the Love theme and Main theme. There is a lovely quote of the Love theme on Discovering Dagobah and the Cave starting at 4:49 in which Griskey cleverly interpolates a lilting string motif, similar to what can be found in Yoda's theme, with the Love theme and economically does not have to quote Yoda's theme itself.

Maybe it's there a bit, but it sounds nothing like the first game's theme.

As I remember the first game itself did not contain but a few statements of the theme and I guess there was no room to develop it in the same vein in Force Unleashed 2.

[Giftheck 916]

Griskey did two different versions of Juno's theme for the first game - the "Dark" theme and the version of the theme used to end the game ("Juno Eclipse and Finale")

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

There are nice JW stylings in the score I have noted on subsequent listens: The strings at the start of the Hanging City and the use of the Mystery motif from Episode II on several tracks. Interestingly Griskey chose the Mystery motif over the actual Kamino motif but I guess it is easier to integrate into his own music.

assault on kamino has the kamino motif, doesnt it?

[Incanus 5,715]

There are nice JW stylings in the score I have noted on subsequent listens: The strings at the start of the Hanging City and the use of the Mystery motif from Episode II on several tracks. Interestingly Griskey chose the Mystery motif over the actual Kamino motif but I guess it is easier to integrate into his own music.

assault on kamino has the kamino motif, doesnt it?

The Mystery motif is all I hear used. What I refer as the Kamino motif is the fanfare and the swaying up-and-down figure beginning at 1:52 on track 1 of the Episode II OST which is first used when Obi Wan lands on Kamino. It is then reprised as we see the planet again and one the Kaminoans riding one of the those strange creatures and there is a huge storm outside.

The Mystery motif is heard on the Episode II OST e.g. on track 8 The Meadow Picnic at 2:41 onwards.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Assault on kamino starts with similar strings as 'Ambush on coruscant' from the OST which is obi-wan's arrival to kamino.

The mystery motif if not that.

Unless there is a Kamino motif, and a Kamino mistery motif.

Oh, i think it have mistaken it with the sepparatist motif.

anyway, the motif used in TFU2 is still kamino music, tracked in other parts of the movie. I think.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

It would be nice to see Griskey start getting some film score assignments.

Chris Tilton and Bear McCreary first.

Can you recommend some McCreary that doesn't sound like BSG?