VGMC11 day 18: End of All vs Fear the Dark, Route 209 vs Liela Xea, Max vs MARIA

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 11, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

NOTE: Yesterday's match is still open for another 30 minutes


Links:
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=466312
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d-N92Sis_Ghh-QYE2cQqClPP5H3T-idwlk0CUHOv2ew
Discussion and results thread - https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/75120003
Main bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RFteVUCpIsmLHRwqLStaQJD
Side bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RE35F2S4u6Ie8w1o0jHPKXB

Rules:

- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite of all-time and Song B is from a series you hate... Listen. To. Both. (If I have suspicions you are not doing this, your vote may be disqualified.)
- Obvious contest rules apply (no alts, one vote per person, no rallying, etc.).
- Please make your voting options clear, rather than burying them in text.
- Each set of matches lasts 24 hours, even if the new one isn’t up by then.
- Always vote on the versions of the song provided, not versions from different sources.
- If you know ahead of time that you're not going to be around and you want to vote in advance, post your choices in the discussion/bracket topic.
- Please do NOT post tallies/score updates in the middle of the match, as this has a tendency to directly influence matches.
- You don't have to vote in all the matches, but it'd be cool if you did!

Match 1:

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - End of All (Land)


Aquaria - Fear the Dark



Match 2:

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum - Route 209 (Day)


Atelier Sophie - Liela Xea



Tiebreaker:

10,000 Bullets - The Maximum High Speed

End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
THE MAXIMUM HIGH SPEED

To think not one, but two Gust songs would be undone by cheesy vocals.

Pretty good day overall though. First match makes me sad.

ok I'm here this time so I promise the match won't be tied again

Aquaria - Fear the Dark
Atelier Sophie - Liela Xea
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - MARIA

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - End of All (Land)
Atelier Sophie - Liela Xea
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - MARIA

End of All (Land)
Liela Xea
The Maximum High Speed

End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
MARIA

End of All (Land)
Liela Xea
The Maximum High Speed

End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
MARIA

Fear the Dark
Liela Xea
MARIA

Fear the Dark
Liela Xea
MARIA

Fear the Dark is one of my favorite video game songs, Aquaria had an awesome soundtrack

Fear the Dark
Liela Xea
MARIA

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - End of All (Land)
Atelier Sophie - Liela Xea
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - MARIA

Fear the Dark
Route 209 (Day)
MARIA

End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
MARIA

Fear the Dark
Liela Xea
The Maximum High Speed

I hate you all so much for giving me false hope that I might not have to listen to MARIA another time this contest.

Fear the Dark
Liela Xea
MARIA

Fear le Dark
Le Liela Xea
Le Max Speed

End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
The Maximum High Speed

Kill MARIA with fucking fire, Jesus Christ.

Fear the Dark
Liela Xea
MARIA

I'm on a huge Fire Emblem kick right now, so it hurts to vote against a Fire Emblem song, especially one from one of the most recent games where they really upped the soundtrack quality. But Fear the Dark is just amazing and I would certainly not complain if its next VGMC appearance was in ToC3. My favorites bracket has it coming up just short, but I made that bracket based on "quick impressions", and this song clocks in at almost 9 minutes and, as nice as it is already as soon as the snoozy 45-second opener ends, it gets even better somewhere in the sixth minute. (Also, I know B8's voting tendencies, and I find it making R4 far more plausible than it facing anything I'd actually want it to lose to in said round.)

This...is not one of DPP's better songs. It's acceptable, I guess, but...I don't get it. Why have so many of B8's Poké-nominations been the intentional snoozefests? *checks stats* ...Huh. Pallet Town only got in once, actually, and Littleroot never did get in. I know there was a push for it last year, but it failed. Seriously, though, Pokémon's done a great job with legendary battle themes, and main-series legendary themes have gotten in...never. Pokémon Stadium's Mewtwo Battle has, as has Dialga's Fight to the Finish (which I approve of), but the closest we've gotten to a main series legendary theme is Brawl's Spear Pillar (which is a remix of both the Spear Pillar area music and the Dialga/Palkia battle theme from DPP). ...Not that it matters because very few Pokésongs would be able to get my vote over Liela Xea. Epic rocking and foreign-language chanting in the same song? Yes please. In a different bracket placement, I'd support this song for retirement, but I guess I can settle for being happy that either it or Fear the Dark will be back next year.

Maximum High Speed is awesome jazz music. MARIA is...wait, I distinctly remember hating just about everything that came out of this game's soundtrack last year! And since I had listened to Maximum High Speed during nominations and considered throwing it some support of my own, I didn't even bother listening to make my pick in this match for my favorites bracket. This actually needs more consideration...let me just check the results of the other match from this day...okay, now let's listen to that song...

...Ouch. I know that the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games version of FBZ is inferior to the original, but that's just painful, especially since Sexualizer isn't the type of song that I thought B8 normally liked. I expect MARIA would have a better chance against Sexualizer, but...MARIA does also apparently have a major hatedom. And frankly, I'm not sure which of those three songs I want to go to Round 3! I think it's Sexualizer...but I think I'd be more okay with it losing to MARIA than to Maximum High Speed, so there's your answer! (Which shows me that I need to stop blindly following the favorites bracket I made, since that had Maximum High Speed outright retiring this year.)

End of All (Land)
Liela Xea
MARIA

ed votes:
End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
The Maximum High Speed

sorry, ed.

Fear the Dark
Liela Xea
MARIA

End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
The Maximum High Speed

Dark
209
Speed

End of All (Land)
Liela Xea
The Maximum High Speed

End of All (Land)
Liela Xea
MARIA

Aquaria - Fear the Dark
Atelier Sophie - Liela Xea

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - MARIA

I wish I could get monetary compensation for having to listen to that first match

End of All (Land)
Route 209 (Day)
The Maximum High Speed

End of All (Land)
Liela Xea
The Maximum High Speed

first match too good for round 1. the rest... eh.