Lurker > UF8

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ok i managed to fend off sleep for now so before i evaporate for longer than expected since i forgot about the new game i got, here's some much more misc songs i have to mention (i might do the remaining gens in a few days time lol)

Typing - Bright Sunshine | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFjAqVpQd5o
Unite - Auroma Park | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abAv0RbvC-8
PMD Wiiware - Cheerful Meadow | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3F5itani_k
PMD2 - Ending (combined) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lFGu1174gM
Conquest - Grass Battle | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXkADwEnSD8

hoenn

themes
RSE - May | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuckMsnNvaQ (i'm probably like the only person that actually considers brendon's theme over may's sometimes. right now i'm leaning may though)
RSE - Team Magma Appears | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT6xv8lCTUo (i think generally speaking aqua's theme is considerably CONSIDERABLY more popular and given some of the arrangements i can understand the sentiment, but gen 3 itself and i'm absolutely vibing hard with both)
RSE - Team Aqua Appears | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm57PTGAQfA
RSE - Trainers' Eyes Meet (Cooltrainer) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrtNahdLHdk (he's just so cool)
RSE - Victory! Gym Leader | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6UCkaTZzQA (maybe the best in the series? it's absolutely up there at least)
RSE - Route 104 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkYqmn_dG08 (maybe the most left field route theme to put here lol, literally everybody else would surely put 111/113 or maybe 119/120 but this is the glue that held it all together for a reason imo)
RSE - Dewford Town | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK9FoAnwf-I (honestly i don't really have much of a read on rse town themes, i think this is kind of the fringe pick? though admittedly i don't really know what one most gravitate towards the most. slateport? anyway this and verdanturf are the main two i've liked to chill at most frequently just for the music, sometimes lavaridge too. lilycove is okay but the platinum arrangement is the best iteration by far)
RSE - Oceanic Museum | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF0s609N3fY (probably literally the only person in existence to enjoy the museum more than slateport's theme)
RSE - Mt. Chimney | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF1Rgbmt4hQ (doesn't get enough respect with all the talk on pyre)
RSE - Surf | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLc5r72Ys5U (the fact that i have this here probably says a lot about how many hours i have in gen 3)
RSE - Dive | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YswbiKLBKCI (often would consider this the best pre-emerald rse theme)
RSE - Victory Road | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdpIY8_FBHU (the biggest problem for this victory road is just that it's had numerous basically fully improved arrangements, otherwise it's still excellent)
RSE - Room of Glory | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf65YtyvjUs (underappreciated)
RSE - Battle! Regirock/Regice/Registeel | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLj9ETUP8KI
RSE - Battle! Elite Four | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1bqgWrbtXE
RSE - Battle! Champion | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXW0OPjWh0Y
RSE - Ending | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKexVADeo6E
RSE - The END | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq49QtfeC9c (probably the credits and postcredits i somehow think about the most often)

and even though there weren't that many and i've already posted deoxys literally 80% of emerald's songs are just in the top like 10% of the rse soundtrack so i shall post all the ones that live in my head forever
Emerald - Battle Frontier | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhr0On0tRkE
Emerald - Battle Pyramid | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE0WAHxY2uU
Emerald - Battle Factory | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=768Jvmpj1eE
Emerald - Battle Pike | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXXGjweRBBA (this one ESPECIALLY lives rent free in my head but genuinely all of these listed ones cross my mind at least once in a while randomly)
Emerald - Battle Palace | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RA8qXzqWBY
Emerald - Battle Dome | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evv46oAqh-g
Emerald - Battle! Frontier Brain | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTFFaf6sUnI (yeah the gen 4 one is... probably better in my mind, but this is also still super high up there for me)

too tired to review oras versions rn so gonna leave the post like this... (definitely about to pass out lol, surely being up since 24 hours and 10 mins ago doesn't have anything to do with it (oops))

actually for now i'm just going to start with real gen 2 because heck it was so much better than gen 1 tho

GS - Intro | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dj1VBRZQuI (deep appreciator of intros starting with this of all ones. yeah, not gen 1, not crystal. controversial, i absolutely know, but one thing that is likely to be the case on every gen with a third version is that i just pick the original duo's intros because i think i just prefer them overall in every single case???)

GSC - New Bark Town | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq0I91Gnlr0 (boring take but i can't not)
GSC - Violet City | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-sOVqdnWJI (hi)
GSC - Game Corner | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si9nmOpKvlU (another boring take but i can't not even if i prefer hgss)
GSC - National Park | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3pygYi9lSA (see above lol)
GSC - Ice Path | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0K6RVdIBm4 (i hadn't really realised i still like og ice path this much)
GSC - Surf | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqP9taVCAbA (this song really driving home just how good the gen 2 themes were even before the remakes)
GSC - Trainers' Eyes Meet (Girl) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhVNabNZIRc (the first good generic encounter theme tbh. warning for future reference, i fucking love encounter themes)
GSC - Radio Tower Takeover | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2bR7fLdB_A (most predictable selection)
GSC - Radio: Pokemon Lullaby | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiBHBCWaYkM (almost definitely least predictable radio selection tho)

before hitting battle themes i will say battle theme rankings for me are basically never ever consistent so these are just the ones i'm feeling right now
GSC - Battle! (Team Rocket) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpmqlI3bTjo
GSC - Battle! (Rival) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a1wD3ppJc0
GSC - Battle! (Gym Leader - Johto Version) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Y4KQccq3w
GSC - Ending | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRIWrA7cWhY
GSC - The End | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMcupcRevMw (i've definitely cried to every "end end" song like this at least once)
GSC - S.S. Aqua | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLiVnMKXUew (why can't they make bote themes this good again)
GSC - Route 2 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcPcCds2ci0 (honestly, gen 2 is probably the main reason gen 1 doesn't work for me that well. i've just always adored the arrangements)
GSC - Pewter City | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtuDGbMIdM8
GSC - Lavender Town | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmnRIKGxDTA (it is unfortunate being one of the only fans of these versions)

Puzzle Challenge - Lance (Danger) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqKc4r4kE10 (and that's the main reason i didn't have lance/red before now lol)

rather unfortunately, even though i'd definitely rank gsc over every iteration of gen 1, pretty much all of these are also songs where i thought the hgss arrangements were even stronger...

aight i feel like dropping literally every pokemonsong i really like in each game here goes nothing

for gen 1...

RGBY - Rocket Hideout | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2si3R-3kwc
RGBY - Victory Road | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbmPBMl5j1c
FRLG - Mystery Gift | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08neWmPJyLo (very underrated tbhq, it's a shame this version never came back though admittedly i'm very partial to literally every other mystery gift song too lol... besides let's go version because i just don't like anything when it comes to let's go arrangements)
FRLG - S.S. Anne | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h8N9cYo7do (i'm pretty split on whether frlg really improved the songs but this was one case where it definitely did imo)
FRLG - Violet City (Sevii Islands) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZHDB7A1IE (i've been on the record as saying violet city is maybe my favourite gen 2 city theme and that this is my favourite version maybe, so of course i'm including it here)
FRLG - Final Battle! Rival | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSZBsWOk3hQ (it's not the best version but it's still AMONG the best at least)
FRLG - Ending | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCeHZ36rNEY (it's still not making my top 5 pokemon ending themes but it has so much more too it than gen 1 that it feels like a crime not to bring it up and admittedly i'd include the ending themes on almost every game)

overall i feel like neither og nor frlg (and especially not let's go) really stands out a ton so my choices are relatively clear cut

oh i also nearly forgot about
FRLGE - Battle! Deoxys | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnytJYRxwiA (what a damn next level battle theme even now, also oras has nothing on this just like it has nothing on 90% of the rest of gen 3)

Linking with curious creature
Solitary wanderer
Visiting man

with sincere condolences to sophie if it loses because of these votes, sophie 2 songs here are really hecking good and i would've voted them (esp the latter two) over a LOT of the sets so far, which have been very consistently great, but these sephonie selections either hit me like a truck or totally absorbed me into their worldview, or both. it's unfair

Thermal Vent (Lost Atlantis)
Pest Friends (Insect Hive)
Castle of Illusion

i don't want to betray my support like this but... i mean, it's pc98 virt, i couldn't help it

sergiocornaga posted...

How would I format abstaining from voting on one match if I wanted to?

i think you can just skip lines just fine, or you can just put a - there

*looks at my game library*
uhhhh all of them?

for this year i'd like to heavily pressure people to pick up these ones especially:

All things considered PARANORMASIGHT has done incredibly well, as a virtually indie vn that Square Enix somehow decided to publish yet didn't even bother marketing. Better than Centennial Case (also underplayed) and also the best game they've released this year tbh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUO4isKRg4Y

Ghostpia Season 1 is an incredible solo-produced full animated visual novel (presented like a tape or dvd of an anime miniseries, basically) that harnesses tonal whiplash very well. It's a game overloaded with personality that is absolutely making my top 5 for this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdAEjRJjZgo

Affogato is a unique mix (or blend, rather) of what should've been fully incompatible gameplay concepts, being somewhere inexplicably in between Cherry Tree High Comedy Club and VA-11 Hall-A, with themes derived from Persona 3/4/5, adapted in a way similar to Anodyne but if it had reverse tower defense elements with card mechanics. Has surprisingly fantastic japanese AND chinese dubs, it actually does have a bit of a following in china itself since it's from a small indie studio helmed by a popular Bilibili-based content creator but it hasn't really had much traction elsewhere. Oh yeah also the soundtrack is super catchy, so much jazz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptJU98mL7UI

Alice Escaped and Glimmer in Mirror are two metroidvania-lite titles with very vibrant visuals, released around the start of the year. The former's inspired a bit by games like Rabi-Ribi as well as Ice Climbers and has a wonderland-themed setting as you'd expect. Soundtrack's also a bop. The latter is an incredibly beautiful Hollow Knight clone that also, rather clearly, derives some influence from Ori. It's still unfinished but the foundation already puts it on top of countless other clones out there. Neither is really at the level of being worthy of being considered genre-defining but both are very well made given their statuses as near solo developed games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzt7pb_ryV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTtGiW_QUGE

Volcano Princess is NOT an underplayed game objectively, it randomly turned out to be the best selling indie game in china this year. But same as Affogato, I think most gamers anywhere else don't even really know of its existence so I'll count it anyway. It's just a very respectable raising sim, basically, with a lot of features packed into it that you just don't see otherwise in the genre, which has been seeing an unseen renaissance lately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPzzhcQBw9s

Cave Fictions is weird lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WioNWX2d-og

Sailing Era has been kind of successful tbh but i think a lot of people are still unjustly writing it off as an Uncharted Waters ripoff when it is honestly on par with peak uncharted waters, introducing some truly great and innovative features. filled to the brim with deep mechanics, very satisfying gameplay loop, and just really polished in general, it has to be said that this team have really outdone themselves here with their unofficial entry. i've mostly played the switch version and surprisingly not only is performance unexpectedly well optimised, controls are also very straightforward despite the game very much seeming like micromanagement w/menu hell at first glance (and really, it kind of is, that's part of why it appeals to me lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjMy9O8_tSE)

I still haven't gotten onto the full release yet but even then WORLD OF HORROR is already my favourite horror game of the generation. A true old-school masterpiece that is already very acclaimed but I think could still be more than that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8jIwzGp8U

finally, it's not out in english yet and isn't quite dead in the water as of yet, but i want to mention that despite being on mobile, Aster Tatariqus is a literal must-play for fire emblem fans, and is legitimately almost on par with Engage. Featuring an involved storyline, a >200-song soundtrack mostly from Shimomura and just a level of polish totally unseen in mobile srpgs otherwise, i'm really hoping this game doesn't bomb on global https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXxJPv-XURc

i suppose i should day 4 results in here, i wasn't planning to be the sole resultsposter in here but whatev

Day 4 Results:

Genshin Impact | 20/09/28 (HOYO-MiX)
vs.
LIVE A LIVE HD-2D Remake | 22/04/27 (Various Artists)

Thunderings of the Merciless vs. Megalomania | 10-11
Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie vs. Playing with Psychos | 11-10
Irresistible Force vs. Knock You Down! | 13-8
Cumulative | 2-1

Winner:
Genshin Impact

as i already said, congrats to genshin for pulling off the seeding upset here, and congrats to xenoblade 3 for getting to stick with its original nominator next round lol. in a way, genshin's path is kind of like fighting odio a bunch of times, except in this case it's hb sets lol

also i didn't get the chance to talk about it before but i liked how az (whether intentionally or not, i don't know) picked to match the opponents thematically here, like a forceful song to face knock you down, and a mercy-themed (or lack thereof) song against not-sans lol

jesus this group has got to be the most stacked one in the whole of snubs btw, especially with their sample song choices

congrats to genshin for pulling off the seeding upset here, and congrats to xenoblade 3 for getting to stick with its original nominator next round lol. in a way, genshin's path is kind of like fighting odio a bunch of times, except in this case it's hb noms lol

2-1 (10-11 | 11-10 | 13-8)

about an hour left, i'm preoccupying myself with day 9-12 discord threads and alerts and also prepping the day 5 topic so this is my last bump

bump

FL81 posted...

what exactly is a mist train girl anyway

a gacha roll character

(jk it's actually more that they have normal anthropomorphised train girls kinda like Maitetsu and they fight mist that's covering the world because idk why lol)

Ridley
Death

Thunderings of the Merciless
Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie
Irresistible Force

Day 3 Results:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 | 22/07/29 (Various Artists)
vs.
Rise of the Third Power | 22/02/10 (Licensed from AudioJungle)

Carrying the Weight of Life vs. Irish Fast Rock | 15-7
Fort O'Virbus/Night vs. Northern Wilds | 11-12
Kaleidoscopic Core vs. Epic Inspirational | 19-4
Cumulative | 2-1

Winner:
Xenoblade Chronicles 3

day over, congrats to Xenoblade unsurprisingly and also congrats to Rise of the Third Power for avoiding the 3-0 loss by clinching the 2nd match at the end there despite all the drawbacks of the set.

Final Result
2-1 (15-7 | 11-12 | 19-4)

Gonna be another 8ish hours till the next topic goes up, so reminder that the snubs bracket matches for yesterday and today are still open, and you can still cast more votes for them on discord too. Also, if you think you can't make it to the next match given the schedule change, you can also send advance votes in the R1D4 thread also under #bost-vgm.

final hour bump

bump

oh yeah also MAMIYA complete collection (nov 21st) is fully on my radar too and it's nigh inevitable i'll pick it up eventually too seeing as it's one of the only fruitbat factory-published vns i don't have yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUyPGh8D7rM

honest truth is i have no money for videogames currently

i do want to pick up Fashion Dreamer and Star Ocean on special at some point though (maybe smrpg remake, talos 2 and momotetsu world too)

also i am so down for TEVI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V82G2moK54A) you don't even know, especially ever since the voice acting confirmation

oh and i guess i'm also pretty interested in this gluck game that's finally dropping on steam in a couple of days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oArk_DBa_kA

azuarc posted...

TIL 1-1-1 ties are broken by overall votals.

i had been mentioning it a number of times prior, but yeah. if overall votes are also tied then i just ask for the next voter to tiebreak it asap, we came pretty damn close to that being the case here...

Carrying the Weight of Life
Fort O'Virbus/Night
Kaleidoscopic Core

Day 2 Results:

Rogue Legacy 2 (Gordon McGladdery (A Shell in the Pit)/Judson Cowan (Tettix))
vs.
League of Legends (Various Artists)

Subterranean Sunrise vs. Nilah, the Joy Unbound | 17-9
The Stygian Study vs. Renata Glasc, The Chem-Baroness | 13-13
Pishon Dry Lake vs. KSante, The Pride of Nazumah | 7-19
Cumulative | 11 (37-41)

Winner:
League of Legends

---

Also Day 3 here
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80606689

note here that DEM is a filthy cheater abusing host privileges and otherwise this match is OVER (you can still vote on the snubs poll though)

congrats to League on the narrow victory

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/7/2/AARWb-AAE_NQ.jpg

final 10ish mins bump (the snubs poll remains open for another week but time is running out to vote on the main bracket matches...)

UF8 posted...

a note by the way, on the snubs group stages
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/5/2/AARWb-AAE_J0.png
you'll have to wait for the rest of them to be featured on each of the threads each day here but all 8 groups can be voted on at any point between now and the end of r1 (at the end of day 9) now, both here and discord (specifically here: https://discord.com/channels/87835278454050816/1168155142978293780)

additionally, there will be a listening party on the last day and i'll be linking back to all of these topics in case people don't have enough time to get on all these 8-way matches any sooner

the main matches will still end after 24 hours though, this is just for the polls

to clarify further since i just realised i didn't make it 100% clear, yes this means everyone now gets 2 votes on the snubs matches

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/5/2/AARWb-AAE_J0.png
snubs polls will be live till the end of next week (you can vote on them any time on the discord here https://discord.com/channels/87835278454050816/1168155142978293780 and on the topic polls each day (which will all remain open till the end of day 9)

the main matches are still 24 hours long each

a note by the way, on the snubs group stages
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/5/2/AARWb-AAE_J0.png
you'll have to wait for the rest of them to be featured on each of the threads each day here but all 8 groups can be voted on at any point between now and the end of r1 (at the end of day 9) now, both here and discord (specifically here: https://discord.com/channels/87835278454050816/1168155142978293780)

additionally, there will be a listening party on the last day and i'll be linking back to all of these topics in case people don't have enough time to get on all these 8-way matches any sooner

the main matches will still end after 24 hours though, this is just for the polls

Subterranean Sunrise
The Stygian Study
KSante, The Pride of Nazumah

VOTES
Trick or Track (Temple Remix)

this one's still a tough call because honestly... i think both of these are barely my favourites on their respective sets currently which may well be a rare take in both regards. the edge i have to give to trick/track tho is that CRC in general very subtly makes me think of an ambitious modern take (or reimagining) of the pokemon emerald battle pike due to some of its instrumentation, and it's the song closest in style to it

Wily
Carmen

tazzyboyishere posted...

Not gonna beat around the bush, this vocalist blows. Sounds like shes having an allergic reaction but was also just woken up from an 80-minute nap. Certifying this person as a bad singer because that is definitely my job and what I critique best. Anyway, the AoS songs Ive heard are pretty good for the most part. Deku seems to excel at creating these warm synth melodies that just make me feel happy. I just wish the singer wasnt here, because this is quite good otherwise. Like, at least a tier higher, maybe two. Ow well.

tbh the vocalist was just the seiyuu for the final boss of Sora and i'm pretty sure she otherwise wasn't a singer at the time. She's pretty good nowadays actually, I'm hoping she returns on deku's next soundtrack (for Fight Crab 2)

Votes:
Dance of the Daring
-
Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit

tough matches, i'm going to try deciding on the middle one again later and i'll prob review the last match again too since it was a close call

the brutal challenge is what makes a superboss a superboss so by default i think my favourite kind of superbosses are ones that are just extra hidden optionals at lategame strength that are only available at an early point that makes them only barely winnable in a best case scenario with optimal builds. getting the chance to lose to them horrendously badly and eventually come back on a later playthrough perhaps to work out how to beat them is what makes them cathartic. better yet if the game doesn't allow you a means of grinding/ng+ to make them trivial by the time you know what to do

Death
Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKDLT0S0zKM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FJ7g2atCG0

Nanis23 posted...

Why doesn't the Kong game have a metascore yet
"Mostly Negative" on Steam with 25 reviews

25 steam reviews is so few lol, lots of games with around 100 these days never get even one professional review

gonna be too busy with world of horror tbh

guffguy89 posted...

lol, imagine playing GTA 6 and being able to actually watch Netflix on a tv in game....yeah, it sounds stupid, but it would be cool for a second.

the sheer marketability of being able to say they "added netflix and chill" to a game makes me think it somehow could've been considered

Haggar
Bomberman

Taizo
Simon

feels a bit unfair not using a proper portrait of taizo so i'm posting one
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/6/3/AARWb-AAE7Xz.jpg

Already Dead

CATS
Daisy