Diablo 2 - Tristram | Reacting To Video Game Music!

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#Diablo2 #Tristram #Reaction

[@vaxellimus]

Vaxell here! This is indeed the last moment of peace before going to hell, this is the theme of the main hub in Diablo 1 and a returning song in Diablo 2! Almost all you had is perfectly spot on, it's peaceful but unsettling, and evil, because from the cathedral right at the entrance of Tristram evil is pouring out like blood from a wound. It IS supposed to be invasive, and it is supposed to create that false sense of security inside you. Demons are not only good at bloodshed, but also at corruption after all. Also the spiraling downwards comparison is perfect: In Diablo 1 you get into this monastery filled with demons, and keep going downwards until you reach hell, all while trying to repel the demon invasion (spoiler alert, quite unsuccessfully in the end, the demon lords in Diablo are always three steps ahead of you even though it might seem like you won). The "it sounds like something good happened" thing you said works in the sense that when you hear this you're in town, the only safe place in the game, but other than that it's, in your own words, chaos. And even this false sense of peace and security is destroyed in Diablo 2 when you revisit Tristram, now completely destroyed and infested by evil. I will be the one to request more Diablo, it is not usually requested because especially 2's OST has no battle music, its a genre that I like to call "evil ambience", it's unsettling, scary and disturbing and fits the mood of journeying through a bloody, gory dying land perfectly. Its the kind of music that reflects the mood of the game world and as such does not make you jump out of your seat headbanging, which makes it somewhat underappreciated, but I'm here to hopefully remedy that. Another reason why not many people aren't familiar with the OST even after hundreds of hours is that the game is pretty grindy, and after the first playthrough everyone just has twitch or youtube on the side, or listens to their own music. Thanks for the incredibly accurate reaction by the way, this is why I'm a Patron. I get that mine was a bold statement by the way, but I guess that you perfectly nailing down what the song wants to encapsulate proves my point!

[@Swishyhead]

Thank you for requesting this! 😊 I'm new around here, but seeing a D2 song pop up pretty much made my day. I'm curious: what made you choose this particular track? My go-to is always Rogue Encampment, since I love that it perfectly encapsulates a refugee camp by sounding so patchwork itself.

[@vaxellimus]

@@Swishyhead When I think of Diablo my mind wanders instantly to the first strums of Tristram, it's just such an iconic song that it would be the most obvious entry point, although I also love Rogue Encampment. I definitely want him to check out most of the OST one day, and next month it's probably gonna be Wilderness from me: gotta introduce Jesse to the incredible world of Matt Uelmen's drums. I also absolutely love Harem, such an incredibly evocative song, and one genre of music that you basically never hear in a videogame, which is why I'm torn between requesting one or the other. But next in line would be either Rogue Encampment or Harrogath.

[@kethryverisk4224]

"Tristram" is the menu theme for Diablo 3 as well.

[@chroipahtz]

"I feel like I'm in Hell, or on my way down there." Yep, that's Tristram.

[@beo3828]

Can't miss it, right next to the hellhole.

[@pailofstars]

Technically, the first five minutes was the Tristram theme from Diablo 1, and the electronic guitar parts after that is added in Diablo 2.

[@guigomez3441]

its more dark because of tristram destruction, logical yes. All D1 music are still great to listen nowadays

[@Torenhire]

Man, the hours I must have heard this song back in the day. Nostalgia trip.

[@Beuwen_The_Dragon]

Diablo II is one of those games whose atmosphere has stuck with me for decades, and I can return to it time and time again.

[@Raider8784]

Old Blizzard games had such incredible music. OG Starcraft had some bangers too.

[@Cerealcasual]

I don't think we'll ever have that era again. That was def Blizz's golden time

[@chupasaurus]

Even though I'm Zerg for life, all Terran themes are indeed dope.

[@Deorman]

@@chupasaurus the SC I Zerg are also amazing, I've never sense music that I was "organic", part of a live hive thing since.

[@rexmandrake4182]

Warcraft 2 as well. Blizzard was one of my favorite companies back in the 90's Sadly, it all went downfall after Activision bought them.

[@nukem8128]

The music and animations are still top tier, but the games themselves are pretty garbage.

[@EternaltheGrey]

I suspect that first Tristram chord is almost as recognizable as the Final Fantasy 'Prelude'. It's an iconic piece of a bygone age of gaming.

[@Matthew-vz2kh]

It's just a E minor chord dude

[@parasitelights3158]

@@Matthew-vz2kh Ho-ho-ho! If you say so. I by no means claim to have a perfect pitch, but my tech seems to dare to claim it's measuring something a little bit different. Maybe try it yourself. Tune your instrument of choice, play the AB, and then start to detuning slightly. At the end, you might even start insisting that it's C minor. Or maybe a major.

[@christerjakobsen8107]

@@Matthew-vz2kh 8-bit Music Theory recently did a video on why the Tristram Theme is a classic, it's an interesting watch.

[@christerjakobsen8107]

@@parasitelights3158 I think 8-bit Music Theory said it was an A sus2 chord (I am by no means an expert, just relaying what he said in his video).

[@JohnDCrafton]

Diablo 1 and 2 both have some great atmospheric music. Matt Uelmen really knew what he was doing.

[@guigomez3441]

this guitar style is really iconic

[@SONICgokuverine]

I’ve always loved the false peacefulness this song gives you. It perfectly set the tone of the first game, and really impacted my imagination for years to come. It tricks you into thinking “this is nice”, all while keeping you on edge subconsciously. You feel that something isn’t quite right in your bones, even though the guitar is trying to trick you into thinking it is.

[@tonyyoung1991]

its never a peace song if you've played the game especially the first one you can definitely tell that it shows people there had some hard time surviving

[@rahbeat9785]

to whoever requested this... you rock! the entire D2 soundtrack is an atmospheric masterpiece

[@GashPlague]

Oh man, the nostalgia factor is off the charts...

[@sukie1394]

"I feel like I'm in Hell, or on my way down there." ...I mean ...the way you're literally not wrong, like... at all, considering all that happened. "All that's left of proud Tristram... are ghosts and ashes."

[@FelipeF78]

Another great D2 track is Wilderness. It has awesome drums.

[@MrMUERETECTM]

the first part of the song is a prelude to the tragedy what are you trying to stop the second part is when you come back and find tristan in ashes and all his inhabitants slaughter

[@DeerlordJ]

The nostalgia, it hurts so good.

[@Vohaul86]

And basically this is Diablo 1's comfort zone music. The stuff like the theme of Catacombs with distant crying etc. was a pure nightmare fuel when I played this as a teenager.

[@eznoob1812]

So I guess the next diablo track to listen is rogue encampment from diablo 2 which is also super iconic.

[@rahbeat9785]

.

[@celadore]

Wow, you definitely fixed the stereo panning on this video! I've never played Diablo either so this was a fun way to dip into the soundtrack for the first time.

[@TarundiMC]

It sounds like the audio quality is also better overall in addition to fixing the panning issue. This video sounds a lot more clean than previous ones.

[@joelhastings9373]

This is one of the most amazing compositions in history, not just for a video game.

[@SuddenFool]

Man watching you appreciate the song was like watching my dad. It just hyper speeded me back to the 90's and a wonderful memory of both gaming and a time where life was simpler. Really enjoy'd your input on the song Jesse. Stay safe man.

[@mjtechnoviking44]

We were children. We had no idea what was coming. Now here we are.

[@chairmanofthebored6860]

One of my favorite pieces of video game music. I always loved this soundtrack and the many many hours I spent playing this masterpiece

[@dreambiscuits]

Tristram is one of my favorite songs of all time. The first game I've ever binged and been consumed by. Diablo 2 will forever be burned into my soul ❤️

[@duman173]

Diablo was the first game i ever saw my dad playing when i was 6, when I turned 9 my dad was unsure but he knew i loved watching him play, even in the scariest parts as a kid, and got me diablo 2 as my first game ever, i don't have words to express just how much this track means to me, it's truly a time portal for my soul

[@Tohlemiach]

I gotta admit, I don't remember most of this song. I had no clue it was this long. I don't think I ever spent that long just sitting in Tristram to actually hear the entire thing lol.

[@Antis14CZ]

Ahh, Tristram. This may be the best piece of atmospheric music ever written. It just MAKES the mood. What you said about it, feeling you were in hell or on the way to it, that's exactly what it is.

[@DarkLeviathan8]

I loved your reaction man. Anyone who appreciates music just know how much of a masterpiece this track is.

[@notchjohnson2540]

Soundtrack of my youth. This song always invokes the most intense nostalia deep within me, and in a very melancholic manner, which is also in the true spirit of the song. 8:32 - Considering the theme of Diablo, you couldn't be more point ;)

[@aresxero]

Diablo is one of the games I played to death, I would even just stand around in tristram just to listen to the music, but had to love how disturbing the game is with its music, it has no "battle" music, it's all just area background music and the sounds of combat, which can make even the few quite times between enemy groups nerve wracking as the music just keeps going, it's the same

[@beo3828]

Oh yeah, the whole ambience of Diablo 1 & 2 is "Something is TERRIBLY WRONG", rather than the violence of Doom, this is more the unease of a festering wound.

[@rahbeat9785]

beautiful comment

[@Revanchism]

Diablo really is a game series, specially Diablo 1 and 2, that nails atmosphere through music. If you ever have some free time, Diablo 1 on GOG is pretty cheap, worth every minute played. Diablo 2 is also game that defined a decade+. Blizzard in the 90's and early 00's was absolutely next level.

[@vaxellimus]

I'd suggest Diablo 2 honestly, while Diablo 1 is absolutely a masterpiece and a genre defining title, I feel like it's now too old to be enjoyed by someone who doesn't game a lot. Diablo 2 on the other hand even without considering the remake is absolutely playable and enjoyable even for today's standards.

[@Irisfantasies]

@@vaxellimus Diablo 1 "old" self can be fixed with patches that make the game a lot more "up to date" if you wanna call it that way

[@chocobofangirl]

Fun facts this is the first game I can ever remember playing, my family was hyper nerd enough to have four computers strung together to play LAN, Blizzard is probably the only game Dev my mom can name besides Niantic, she would host us six to eight year olds and load mod maps with loot because we suuuuucked and needed cheated gear to make it to the end. Also we all used battle.net so just so many years of unsupervised chatroom access, not even mentioning downloading hundreds of custom maps for Warcraft III. It's why these songs hurt so much more with how shit actiblizz is, there's nothing I can say about kotick that wouldn't put me in jail xp

[@AlexTheRed1985]

What a classic. Brings me back straight to 1996

[@errorabortretry3694]

... those Hallowed tones...

[@HoldinContempt]

This was written in 1995 for the original diablo game on CD-Rom. This was the First Real Time Action Role Playing game ever made and was a huge ground-breaking technical achievement in the video game industry. by a musical genius named Matt Ulemen. His direct inspiration for writing this song was the Led Zeppelin III Album. There are several other musical themes for Diablo 1 and 2 that are as good as tristram that you should listen to as well. The newer diablo games are trash but you can probably download diablo 1/2 as freeware and play them on any modern computer easily.

[@Zanderuu]

I love how this song just keeps on giving

[@seiaghen]

this track is from act1, so imagine a woody, rainy, mostly foggy, no sun, cavey, old dungeons and jails, catacombs overrun by demons

[@frankmichetti5780]

Great reaction. One of the best video game sound tracks imo. What a classic. Thank you!

[@nurulururu]

Ah, theme from my childhood. It was one of the songs which made my music taste. Love it so much! Thanks for reaction of this piece of art, Jesse 🖤

[@DaedalusRaistlin]

I've been playing Diablo 2 a lot recently but watching other videos while I do with music turned off...thanks for reminding me of what I've been missing out on. This always reminds me of the Dwarf Fortress music, which is also an awesome composition and I'd love to watch a review on it.

[@AndragonLea]

An absolute classic, made for a singular purpose and managing it with seemingly effortless ease.

[@TheSuperRetroBros]

I had no idea if anyone would ever react to something like this - so I looked it up. You were the first and only one I could find. Thanks! Diablo's soundtrack is timeless, there are some truly amazing songs that play and immerse you in the game.

[@christoferarvidsson2315]

This always takes me back, fantastic.

[@animagamer2]

Can't wait for you to react to more Diablo. The soundtrack is absolutely killer and like the sender said, they were very intentional with it.

[@JessesAuditorium]

Songs mentioned in this video; Ozzy Osbourne - Diary Of A Madman kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6i6h3huabR4f6M

[@vaxellimus]

I heard the resemblance instantly. Love me some Ozzy, Thanks for the suggestion!

[@krykry606]

From the times Blizzard still made good games. Right now Path of Exile took up the baton and does tracks like this, Lioneye's Watch OST is inspired by this.

[@Vulkans]

One of the first guitar melodies I learned to play, I always go on a nostalgia trip when I hear Tristram play. It's very hard for me to pick a favorite piece of music from Diablo 1/2 as all of it is so, so very good. but I would say "Dungeon" (And it's Diablo 2 version "Spider") is the perfect representation of the oppressive feel that Diablo 1/2 is going for. Then there's "Siege" which is just a powerhouse of a piece, totally reminiscent of Holst.

[@ballsavage]

New to the channel but a big fan of Diablo. I love watching the music wash over you. Very cathartic. Still surprising to me how complex this composition is.

[@sverd3901]

Holy shit when you mentionned Death I instantly thought of Voice of the Soul!

[@PazuChill]

I liked the Death shoutout. This theme does sound a bit like Voice of the Soul in parts. I hadn't realized that before.

[@AmountStax]

Played d2 since release and now with d2r, ive probably listened to this song for 15K hours.

[@pointlessmanatee]

BRAVO great song choice

[@SonicTheHedgehog17]

2:11 - yes, yes it is. It was added as a toy in World of Warcraft and let's you play the opening notes of Tristram while you're in an inn.

[@SMNtheNight]

What an absolute timeless classic. This song is from Diablo originally yeah, but it came back in Diablo 2. Still genre-defining 2 decades later, yet also a great example of how NOT to develop a game lmao.

[@yourmomsaidhibitch8317]

nah youre wrong. Its a perfect example on how to make a gritty, dark game. More games need to look at this for an example of quality, unsettling mood setting

[@SMNtheNight]

@@yourmomsaidhibitch8317 If only you knew how much of a nightmare the actual development of the game was, you would not be saying that. It was 20 years ago and I still feel bad for that team, no wonder they burned out and a bunch quit, including the lead designer himself.

[@PPN462]

@@SMNtheNight Indeed. The game was so successful after waves of patch that people tend to forget that Diablo 2 was a development hell that killed the old guard of Blizzard North, and that it launched completely botched with huge crash-inducing memory leak and broken multiplayer.

[@HyperGamer14]

I'm not a huge fan of the Diablo OSTs, but damn is the Tristram theme amazing and iconic!

[@geletrode]

I didnt think this would be a good request song but I have crazy Nostalgia for this game as it was my fav game for a long time by a lot.

[@yourmomsaidhibitch8317]

Still is for me!

[@jdangernoiz5861]

Ayyy as required by Jesse law I must say hello to another Jesse

[@kendement071]

I can hear the "Stay awhile and listen". Rip deckard

[@Boelzinator]

The acoustic guitar you hear in the first track is most likely a twelve string guitar and not a mandolin. Not because i heard it, but because i know that the composer uses it quite often. And the original piece was composed in a twelve string guitar if i remember correctly.

[@guigomez3441]

matt used this guitar style throught both games d1 and d2, sounds accurate

[@idnyftw]

the music of "chill bro, we're not in hell... yet!"

[@chanapkis45]

Bruh now Tekken OST for the intro?! I swear to god you listen to all of the sickest Fighting Game OSTs ever. Cheers!

[@tinycrimester]

i-c-o-n-i-c

[@rahbeat9785]

D2 - Rogue D2 - Wilderness (!!!!) D2 - Harem D2 - Jungle all of thee you'll enjoy very much sir!

[@guigomez3441]

all D1 music too

[@kobarsos82]

I prefer the original to be honest. Tristram from diablo 1. The memories... To hear this as a 13 year old in the city when starting the game, before going to the sinister dungeons for the first time, under the cathedral. Unsettling. Mysterious. Crazy. Beyond memorable. I literally stayed there to listen to it on many occasions instead of playing the game. Stuck to my head forever. Diary of a madman! Thanks for reminding me of this favorite masterpiece!

[@AcadianBacon8]

Oh man, what a swerve! This song is so good.

[@kingcrimson3039]

I can still hear them ... "stay awhile and listen" "what Can I do for ya".

[@themisspultone]

"Shtay a whyle and lishten"

[@IceRuler]

I never played Diablo 1 so I didn't have the same sort of impact other players probably got when they got to Tristram in Diablo 2. Also at least in my case the music sort of drowned out with all the monster sounds, hit sounds and dying sounds so I never really heard this clearly. I knew it was playing, but still. But I do say that Diablo's music is VERY atmospheric.

[@davidkolman]

my favourite one

[@Elidan1012]

Why does the parts at 03:33 and again at 03:46 just scream Hotel California by The Eagles to me?

[@inpimp]

Both diablo1 and diablo2 soundtracks are masterpieces

[@TruthGatherer2013]

gotta be moral and know it and all will work out, if it's true

[@j.f.8502]

In the video game world, we have Matt Uelmen. In the anime world, we had Seiji Yokoyama.

[@kngbowser]

I stayed a while and listened

[@sombrehero3738]

It's Diablo (1). This theme is a masterpiece. It reminds me a bit of Metallica's Call Of Cthlu.

[@rafaspyra9776]

Matt Uelmen is a god

[@nerdzone]

You are not in Hell yet, you are in Normal but you'll get there!

[@ImotekhtheStormlord-tx2it]

the middle part sounds like Bathory

[@patinthechat6452]

It's beautifully evil

[@Skyblade12]

Birthday song? Ooh, boy. Have to think hard over the next two months to decide what single song I should get you to react to...

[@Azarel410]

Wilderness is the best track in the game you should listen to it

[@Shock4s]

Hello my friend! Stay awhile and listen!

[@McTopaz]

I kinda feel it's impossible to really feel the music's true intended impact if you have not played the game. For the Tristram theme I mean playing Diablo 1. Diablo 2 it's not quite there as Diablo 1 regarding this song. After being fighting for a while in the labyrinth beneath Tristram you go back to Tristram. Then this song make you relax while you walk around, repairing your gear, buying potions and doing other things with the NPCs. The mode change between scary labyrinth and relaxing Tristram is such a thing you must experience to really understand it.

[@E3Zen]

Stay awhile and listen

[@nicolaj990]

Yes. Yes that is a 12 string.

[@guigomez3441]

Listen to all diablo 1 music. Some D2 music are good too

[@jlam03]

This makes me think a nice Terran theme would be great

[@rahbeat9785]

Yes Deff Starcraft 1 OST

[@adityapalve2255]

DOOM ETERNAL METAL HELL original mick gordon version please not the koma

[@Zafo24pl]

Its such shame that composer of this turned out to be total psychopath.

[@BadCookies1234]

The original Diablo version was way better. IMO

[@guigomez3441]

its the same lol, just the final more melodic and dark part was added with D2