Lurker > Earthshaker

The Thief (and whatever the theme for Sheol is called) made its way onto a personal playlist, so that's fun.

ZSHOOK TAKA TAKA ZSHOOK SHAKA SHAKA DING DING

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Vast Ice Mountain Peak
Elegy For Old Identities and Nostalgia
Calling

Tales vs. PMD: VIMP sure sounds like a Metroid area for the opening. The rest of it doesn't grab me. Tales, meanwhile sounds like one of the better anime openings, again. Am I generalizing this? Perhaps, but as someone who doesn't watch a whole lot of anime, ehhhhn.

Stepmania vs. Colon Blow: I have extreme distaste for Xepher. It's not the song's fault, nor any of the nominators, it's the jackass from my dorm way back in the stone age who would blare his rhythm games at 3 in the fucking morning, invariably when I had an 8 AM the next day. I do not like the eurobeaty sounds in it. Elegy is much more calming, and I like the funky opening and the varying tempo.

TWEWY vs. JSRF: WAKE UP, LEAVE NO HESITATION, WAKE UP, TIME FOR US TO REALIZE, WAKE UP, SHOW APPRECIATION, WAKE UP, TIME FOR US TO REALIZE.
Okay I'm biased, but ehn. Teknopathic is also deliciously funky but I gotta go more pop, and go with Squeenix here.

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Toxtricity posted...

Pokemon Vietnamese Crystal

Trainer put bag fuck.

For me, it's probably party games, although a Burnout game probably did, more because of how absurd the physics could go.

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Vrdels
The Thief
High Above the Land

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Catabolism
Bound Together
Natural Life A

Dariusburst vs. Ys: Catabolism lives up to its name by starting by putting me to sleep, but then provided energy to do something more exciting. Those are some sick changes during the song. Ancient Land doesn't do much to excite me in comparison, and it's not just my lack of affinity for Falcom - the violin goes places, and the music is triumphant, but it just doesn't vary enough to excite like Catabolism did, and it really doesn't seem to fit a mood that "Ancient Land" would imply.

Gokinjo Boukentai v Pyre: A cheeky battle theme wherein the... ska piano? sort of grated on me a bit after a while. Pyre grew on me a bunch even if the lyrics are... um... repetitive, but the duet just hit the right buttons for me, I guess.

Muramasa v Skullgirls: Lots of interesting things going on with the traditional Japanese instrumentation versus Yamane doing... jazz?! I think I liked Muramasa better, but that's more my own, personal dislike of saxophone talking (even if this one was very well done.)

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What windows are there to worry about in GNB? I feel you get to dump everything in No Mercy already, then the long cooldown tank buffs, but I'm only mid 60s and not sure if they get much else beyond QoL improvement.

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Heavy Arms
One Last Trial
Anka

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Truly? Maybe it's a signature of physical ranged DPS.

Dancer doesn't have many either (your usual whack-a-mole of single target, your whack-a-mole of multi-target, your single target and AoE fan dances, the whack-a-mole of third fan dance proc, your two-step dance, your four-step dance, shield samba, healing waltz, devilment, flourish, improvise, 3x zoom, and role actions)

Nor does Bard (DoT 1, DoT 2, DoT refresher, burst shot, refulgent arrow, barrage, Sidewinder, AoE sidewinder, bloodletter, AoE bloodletter, 3x songs + pitch perfect for one of 'em, party damage buff during song, apex arrow, utility healbuff, raging strikes, instant-esuna, shield doot, role actions.) And yet it manages to be the most hectic class I play by sheer amount of things you need to dump in a single window without overcapping stacks or letting DoTs or songs drop off..

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City Ruins (Rays of Light)
Voyage of Promise
Breath of Forest

Two today that aren't a big surprise from my tastes, and one that is (that katamari song just isn't my jam, and the Mad Rat Dead one is.)

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Kimi ga Tame Re:boot
We All Lift Together
MARIA

Nothing indepth today. Felt more slow-measured than beep-boops (also I like Warframe.)

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Cyanotic. Blue, related to asphyxiation-death, can be construed as a Pokemon name if you add a "k" on the end.

Edit: all the weirder if you take the Final Fantasy pronunciation of "Cyan" and go "Shee-an" because then you have Shiinotic and haha oh no.

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Painted Foothills
Pioneer's Horizon
Normal Battle

Today is difficult for me, as it's a "was definitely considering voting against my own nomination" day. I didn't, but I considered it.

DR2: This song is just.. really good. I kind of wish it had delivered on the metal opening a bit more throughout, but I am in love with the bassline, and I love when the electric guitar shines through more than the trumpets and such. I especially love that part at ~5:40 or so. (Moment of honesty, I like the non-Kill Command investigation music just a tiny bit more.)
Heavensward: It is very hard to vote against this one for me. It is my absolute, absolute favorite "open area" music in FFXIV. It starts low, slow, and emotional, and just hits the right notes as it swells, and is very much a "listen to the end" when the music ascends to a more uptempo peak at ~4:00, to a slow ending note at 4:45. I like how the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion all get their time in the limelight during the song, with another section or two taking over the secondaries, and... well, I just have a lot of memories about this song, okay? I am a bit annoyed that this upload does cut off the last couple of seconds, which is just some added harp plinking as it slows a bit more before it cuts out for a few seconds and loops, but such is life in the time of Squeenix takedowns. Gotta stick with it though it'll probably lose this round anyway

Sonic CD - Something about this track just doesn't sit well with me. I think it's because it's, for a Sonic song, just so SLOW. Perhaps it was also the... "airy?" three-note "Phendrana Drifts" alternating in key was distasteful here with the drum going on. I like a lot of Sonic music, but this just wasn't for me, and sounds more like it belonged in a Bomberman game, honestly.
Timespinner - I do rather enjoy when percussion mimics a clock, and the harp and string opening sits well with me, as does the flute and the staccato strings providing its backup melody. After 1:08, it also reminds me of some of the later DS Castlevanias for some reason, which... yeah, it worked really well for me. This one got my vote.

Ys3 - I dunno how I feel about it right out of the gate. It's channeling some severe 90's beat-em-up arcade with the opening and the percussion off the bat, but the panpipes going on there are more reminiscent of Golden Sun? When the panpipes aren't playing, I get more confused than anything what it's actually trying to accomplish, but it keeps drifting back to 90s arcade. Let's see how it goes with its competition.
PkmnTCG- Heh. The actual dealing of the cards lends it a bit of character. This is funkier than it has any right to be for old Game Boy, and while its "percussion" is almost necessarily messy, it has a good bassline, and does some interesting things with the limited capabilities the original GB had. Like Upper City yesterday, I think it's got my vote just on sheer pique.


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I have a niece, that's enough for me.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Looking back a few days to commendation priority:

(As healer:) cohealer, impressive DPS judgment (no vulnerability stacks on a long fight, backup RezMage/SMN if party is struggling,) tank that does well on non-braindead fights with Reprisal/nonpersonal defense >>> floortanks that appear to be trying >>> selfish tank > most other DPS > cohealer if they're being a red SCH/AST > no commendation > that one DPS that keeps blowing a limit break during a bad time during third pull (i.e. blowing it on Nabriales before the rift phase.) After that dreaded scale is "Rescue into a death and leave them on the ground."

(As tank:) Cotank if they were properly doing things, ranged DPS that dodged mechanics, healers >>> everything else.

(As melee DPS:) Tanks that stand still so I can position > DPS that use party buffs > competent healers >>> everything else >>> tanks that multi classed into Dancer.

(As range DPS:) DRG/DNC that targeted me > everyone else.

(As caster:) Tanks > everyone else.


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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Might be a dumb question, but with the stats of the preorder earnings....is there any reason to hold onto ANY War or Magic earrings below level 70?

Below 79, you mean? Glamour, mainly.

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Katamaritaino (Roll Me In)
Casio Hellburst
Upper City

Katamari - Delicious acoustic guitar with a... Latin rhythm? Lyrics and soft(!) saxophone that don't detract from the beat. I haven't much played katamari, but this tune is... delicious.
Also, I want papaya now. Wonder what that's about.
Monster Train - Ehhhh. It's not my thing, which is odd, since I very much like Lady Tears, piano, spooky choir, and the mood it's trying to convey.

Casio Mario - I have big respect for original composers for the ROMhack community, having wanted to get involved with it myself a bit (and was plotting to - at least the randomizer community - right before I got my full-time offer in the land of pre-COVID.) This song (nay, the entire soundtrack) does a LOT from a technical standpoint with the regular, emulated SNES sound chip, and it's all the more impressive for it.
Gahkthun - There's that accordion again. I swear, you get one of those out and the wind-instrument equivalent of a drum circle starts springing up. It does a bunch of really cool things (the accordion, the strings, the soft piano going with 'em) but it felt... almost a bit generic despite it? I don't know. I gotta give the props to Hellburst instead for this matchup.

Umineko - I'm a fan of the tone, and the higher-octave piano going on with the bells and the electronic beep-boops, but despite this, it doesn't actually seem to change it's rhythm all that terribly much? Good background music for sure.
Robots - Was suuuuuper not expecting a licensed game to have this cool of a soundtrack, especially on GBA. This also makes for good background music, but I think what's making me vote for this one over Umineko is the added focus on the drum.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Return to Oblivion
The Best Is Yet To Come
Rising Up

Still feeling off, but, well... it's FF14 day!

Shadowbangers: I camped the raid where this music scroll dropped for three solid weeks and still haven't gotten it. It somehow has NOT gotten old (but it is missing a certain gravitas trying not to die to one of the many, many instadeaths while someone who has been voiced by a shrinking violet all expansion suddenly puts on her big girl voice.) I love the bass. I love the percussion. I love the opening calling (admittedly not very far) back to Footsteps in the Snow. I... am okay with the vocals. It's better during the chorus (AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN) with a backup, lyric-free accompaniment. Bold upload though, being Savage tier, where almost every single one of those things going on is "wellp, your group wiped when you got hit by it."
EJ2: Okay, I gotta be fair to it, it's enjoyable, and I can appreciate the steady, heavy drum focus, but... man, you really had to throw this against RtO for me :(. I definitely would've voted for it at some other point in this contest, but not versus this.

Tree of Savior: For the most part during it, I don't much think the singer suits the headbanger going on, but it was pretty nicely well put together. If only she were a little... angrier? I dunno. Not that it matters, 'cuz...
MGS: This song. This freaking song. I somehow dodged it for like a full decade and still immediately recognized it. It's too damn pretty for its own good, and I look forward to it slaughtering its competition for a few rounds, even if it happens to be RtO. Hot prediction. It's... I don't even know the translated lyrics, but the emotion in it still drives me to tears.

CT - if I'm honest? I thought when this was nominated it was going to be the clock ticking startup theme. Instead, I get the song I didn't actually realize was CALLED Chrono Trigger, which is the source of my absolute favorite part of Scars of Time, a song that made me buy a musical instrument I have no idea how to play. Such is life. Apart from that part? Ehhhn, I'll get back to you after the second listen.
Zestiria Emblem - No, seriously, this sounds like it belongs in a Fire Emblem game, but that might be because I'm more used to the other Tales fare of being Sakuraba experimenting on another variation of the same ten themes. The singer, not so sold on, but the rest of the song is really good!


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• Pretty much the majority of Breath of the Wild.
• Xenoblade Chronicles X also starts you in Primordia, which qualifies, kinda.
• If we're going older games, Ultima 7 part 1. (Part 2 is more "open" but also more linear/gated with less to actually do in the open areas.)
• In a similar vein to Ultima, the Savage Empire (except the "plain" is a mountainous jungle) and Martian Dreams (except the "plain" is... Mars.)

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Exhaustion 3
La Mer
Balance Slays the Demon

Still feelin' a bit off today.

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It's not really a "celebration" holiday, but yes, I grill/potluck for the day off.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Not feeling well today, no long writeup (although Match 1 and 3 both are too close for comfort for me)


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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

A Long Fall
Op. 13
Immanence

THD - It's an interesting beat for "anime opening/10", sort of like a mix between spooky-in-the-vein-of-Kagome-Kagome Japanese and Egyptian, but in a roundabout way it's almost samey to other anime opening stuff. As a point of detraction, I keep getting distracted by the anime titty monsters. Stoppit.
Shadowbangers - Okay I am well-known for being a FF14 fanboy to the point of distraction, and yet I feel some minor distaste for this song. This is unfair to it, since it is due to personal experience of having run this dungeon too much. Musically it is CONSTANTLY IN YOUR FACE and draws inspiration from a few different songs in the whole Final Fantasy series (Crystal Tower, the "start of battle in ff1-6/9" riff, eScape, the Prelude, the Allagan empire's leitmotif itself are what I'm picking up on one pass alone) and as such this gets my vote at least for this round. (Oh, and one other criticism for it - unsure whether it's Soken or Koji-Fox singing the lyrics that are even-more-warbled Omega, but the vocal component probably shouldn'tve been in it.)

Octopath - Okay, accordion block, I want to change the channel now. Octopath is at its best when it's doing interesting things with, say, the vocals in one of the final battles, or honestly, if they had done more with the accordion at the start, or used the castanets a bunch more. Then the castanets and accordion go away and the song becomes generic RPG battle fare and I'm just here waiting for it to stop.
Rondo - ...Oh who am I kidding it's Castlevania of course it gets a vote of mine unless it was from Lords of Shadow or something. It's 90s funky and amazing, and while I like Castlevania best when it's trying to go for sweet+spooky orchestral, Castlevania when it goes funky is just as iconic and great.

RE: Your brains - This song is a LONG order, but it varies enough to remain interesting throughout. The wubs that I usually dislike in other song are low-tone enough to not overbear the rest of the music, and the song uses choir decently and sparingly. I rather kind of like it!
Poyo! - I love me a lot of Kirby things, and this is kinda cool (and WHAT is that bassline) but it's... well, less overall INTERESTING than Immanence up there. Alack, alay, you're not the star today.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

pyresword posted...

Very pleasantly surprised to see You Were There actually win a match though.

Mildly sad that it was against one of my noms :(

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Id (Purpose)
Brave New World
Fateful Confrontation

Awakening - I had this song on highest settings before Corrin existed on the Fire Emblem levels in Smash 4 for a reason. I kind of want to see an accordion-off in this bracket, but besides that, apart from the lyrical section being maaaaybe a few bars too long, it's just glorious.
Contra - I see the composers, and I get excited, but then I realize it's just Konami namedropping their sound team. This doesn't sound very impressive to me, unfortunately. Even trying to give it a fair chance, it's just giving me a slight headache in comparison.

NxC - One of my greatest vgmgg host shames is using the inferior Project X Zone during the most bullshit "name the theme" themed block I ever ran. BNW gets stuck in my head a LOT and I have no problem with that - in fact, it's one of the songs that got me into the outskirts of the Megaman ROMhack community (thanks to Quick Man's level in Rockman no Constancy.) Unless its competition extremely "wow"s me, it's getting my vote here.
Civ6 - It's a good "hmm!" and not a "wow," alas. It's impressive, and versus some other matches I've been antsy on I likely would've voted for it (choral orchestra is a huge plus in my book.)

TitS - If I didn't know the name and if Konami didn't outright kill the game franchise, I would say this sounds like a modern Castlevania climax bossfight, except it's got some guitar shredding going on instead of a harpsichord. Pretty good!
Dead Cells - Mood music needs to grab me a lot earlier than this did. That runtime is a *big* ask. It does its job of mood well, but out of context, I don't think it performs too admirably, even with Nier-esque vocals during the second-half.


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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Apex of the World (Rain)
Unknown Pollution
08:16 Home

Short ones since I'm late today.

Three Houses - Fire Emblem tends to have good "closing chapter" music (hence why "End of All" has a variant that's retired.) This is no exception - at least I *think* it's end-of-game - I kind of lost interest in FE after Fates, sadly.
Library of Ruina - I just really don't like the speaker/singer in this one. I would like it so much more without it, but as it stands, they bring the song as a whole down.

Raiden - I'm torn between liking this song and not really finding it memorable at the same time.
Kaze no notam - I hate to draw a comparison to Discovery into this, but where Discovery impressed me, this one is just a chill vibe that doesn't go anywhere entertaining for me.

Ciel nosurge - I actually rather enjoy the singer in this one (but not the "monotone creepy lyrical" singing.) Peculiar, it's usually the other way around. The melody apart from that doesn't really strike me too hard.
Haven - I don't like when the volume swells and smacks me in the face, but otherwise, this is something I would personally throw on and chill to in the future. Maybe.


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NFUN posted...

what does you exiting the building have to do with smoking

Just an aside that I probably wasnt very desirable to hook up with when my teeth likely tasted of rum soaked vomit.

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Former fratboy stereotype. Smoking ain't a dealbreaker (and back when I cared, people who smoked were usually more open about hooking up) but if there ain't at least a gum chewing before anything, the "anything" ain't happening.

I imagine this went in reverse on me on a night or two when I went full Roman Vomitorium to drink more.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Execution-wise, and I know it was said elsewhere in this topic, Final Fantasy XIII.

If we get to count MMO expansions, I'm also going to gun for Battle for Azeroth from WoW.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Octopunch
Bingo Highway
The Fine Draw

Atelier Shallie - I am simple man. I hear accordion sounds that aren't trying to tug at heartstrings, I enjoy. This song has whimsy, a good bassline, a good melody and a good melody, and even coming as the outsider like "what is the big deal with it?" it's pretty cool.
OMORI - Oh dear, it's an accordion-off. This one's got more tempo, better percussion, and tries to use the accordion as its main melody, and succeeds admirably, but ultimately I need to vote, today, for the one that is a bit sweeter with it.

Ico - Starts with anxiety, and then goes into a chill acoustic melody with light vocals. I want to like this song, but the actual singing is simultaneously far too quiet compared to the accompaniment, and it is far, far too high-pitched for me.
Sonic Heroes - It's a wonderful, in-your-face cacophony of electronic slot-poker noises and DAMN IT I LOVE IT. I think what strikes me most about it is the "modern Sonic guitar" is at most an afterthought of a staccato background instrument while the percussion and beep-boops take center stage.

NieRe[in]carnation - I am firmly in the "like most Nier music" camp (Weight of the World notwithstanding) and this one is good... for a little while, anyway. Then the lyrics pop in, and it remains pretty good, but I kind of wish it went somewhere else during the song.
Minnesota Fats - A chiptuney sports lounge done right. Given I don't like a lot of Genesis tracks, I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did, but I actually did, with the only gripe being the xylo-style synth was a bit too strong for the rest of the track. It does speak volumes, however, that I'm voting this over Nier >_>;

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Nier Quest spoilers

Boy this all sure was a thing.

Yep, sounds Nierish, all right.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Gentle Slope Cave
BWLAUTE BEIRRD
Sight of Silence

Guess bracket B is going to be where I have at least one match a day that's a personal coinflip?

Touhou 8 - Now THERE'S the Touhou sound I'm starting to learn. Amazing how a change in instrumentation makes all the difference, as I find this MUCH better than 14.5's version. Even discounting that and having it stand on its own merits, I like it a bit, except for the trumpeting bit after 2:10, and it uses its speed variations sparingly but well. It's rather close with...
Super PMD - Not the instrumentation I was expecting throughout, nor is it particularly "Gentle," but it is quite good! The tempo began picking up and it sounded like some odd amalgamation of Kingdom Hearts, Kirby, and an indie soundtrack, despite being very clearly none of those. This one's a toughie for me.

Bird up - Guilty BWGLAEUTAER BEJIRRRDOCK. It's good! (Interlacing letters like that hurts my feeble brain.)
Battle Network - I like a lot of Mega Man/X music. BN, not so much - it hasn't exactly been a favorite of mine, and the GBA instrumentation isn't doing it a whole lot of favors. Not my taste, alas.

Gurumin - The bass playing is technically sound but I kind of wish it was an octave higher to match the high piano. The song relies heavily on its piano melody for me, and everything else is just complementary, but unremarkable otherwise.
Bastion - I'll give it points for weird, funky instrumentation, but I was, unfortunately, never that big a fan of this track. The acoustic strumming taking occasional center stage serves more to grate on me than anything.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

The Bloody Rose
To the Center of the Supervoid
Fortune Favours The Bold

Match 2 is a doozy :(

NMH2 - I might've voted for Subuta a few days ago, but apart from the jazzy feel and the nice bassline, I just kinda can't get into this track at all except for the very beginning and the ending. The lyrics are so cheesy I can't quite shake my distaste of it.
Trauma Team - Starts off with a Silent Hill-esque intro, and then goes really freaking hard into the percussion and drums, and then swaps back and forth between that and a nice melody.

Pokken - If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was an OCRemix of Route 210 (the Smash version, so a remix of a remix?) Yes, I know the melody isn't the same, but I'm enjoying it much all the same. Also, see Arknights from yesterday.
Supervoid - Now this is peculiar. It's simultaneously pleasing and unsettling at the same time. Then 2:00 hits, and it gets more menacing. It does a LOT of interesting things until the end, ultimately boiling down to "fever dream in sci-fi Castlevania." I was initially leaning towards Pokken, but Supervoid kind of won out just by having the gall to do a bunch of stuff different and, to my tastes, making it actually *work.*

Dicey Dungeons - I think I was in a similar mood as with Supervoid when I supported this track. It is a SLOW boil, but oh man, when it takes off, it has, what I feel, a little of something for everyone (except for lyrics or a slow pace, or a definitive ending.) Rare is the track that has a saxophone where I enjoy it (though that's just a personal hang-up) but this one worked great.
Einhander - Not a fan of the instrumentation of this one, and the track itself doesn't really vary enough to grab my attention for very long.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Arcanist is the *worst* early on. I hope they take a look at their early levelling in Endwalker, 'cuz Summoner itself doesn't get fun until 70 and Scholar just never feels fun after they nerfed the crap out of it from Stormblood.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Stay Gold
Dreamy and Boisterous Holy Land
Neuchatel

Arknights - Triumphant Celtic-sounding march that somehow reminds me a lot of my days of Ragnarok Online back in ye olden times of phasing out dial-up Internet. Very good use of instrumentation. Arknights is an odd duck in that I have no desire to ever play it but I think I always comment that "huh, weird, it sounds familiar and I like it, but oops, wait, I never played it." Funny, that.
Wheels of Aurelia - I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. I tried both on speakers with a hearing aid and with my headset on to see if it was a problem with me, but while I'll applaud the lyrics attempt, I think it fought the instruments rather than complemented them, and the instruments won. Also, Italian sounds so similar to Spanish sometimes that I was more focused on THAT than the song, both times through.

Trails in the Sky 3 - That is a SLOW boil for the opening (props for that), and the payoff was great, but then it's a lot of organ-mashing and just constantly in your face. When it slows down the instruments in the forefront it does well, but I'm not a fan of the organ sections or the part right after it? I don't know my instruments well enough. Anyways, tl;DR: A lot of boisterous, not a whole lot of dreaminess. I like about 75% of it quite a bit.
The Sims - And now we have dreamy, but not boisterous. Hm. It's a piano piece, which gives it points, but it's not one that I can really get into, even though I can give it props for being technically sound. It just doesn't scream "vgm" to me at all, or really scream at all. Sorry to Sims fans, but I gotta go for boisterous here.

Mad Rat Dead - Starts with some neat piano, and then tries to Necrodancer, and then back to piano, and I have whiplash now, but then it tries to put instruments over the piano and turns into Castlevania, and oh no I've gone cross-eyed. I don't like the parts between the piano much, but the parts where it's layered in or taking center stage are just gravy. Moment of honesty here: Heartless Being was the first MRD song I'd heard, and it's another one where the first impression kinda skewed me on the rest of the soundtrack. Neuchatel is pretty good, more than my initial rating during pre-listens indicates.
Aurora Memoria - Perhaps I'm getting fatigued. I listened to this several times tonight and it just hasn't clicked for me at all. Also getting a weird sense of deja vu when I say that the heavy electronics throughout try to carry the song, but didn't quite capture it for me (a bit more of whatever plucked string near the end probably would've done it better.)

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Unrest - The End of the Raging Waves
Collapsing Rift
Beyond the Bounds

Chaos;Child - I don't hate lyrics, I promise. This sounds like a sweet ending to a sappy movie, and I kind of lost focus a few minutes through during both listens. Not too memorable, alas, but not objectionable.
Etrian Odyssey - This melody, on the other hand, is apt to get stuck in my head. Unlike some OTHER earworms I've dealt with this competition, that's not a bad thing.

A Hat in Time - I think I heard clips of this on TikTok *is shot, stabbed, and lit on fire.*
Oh, okay, ow. But for real, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Maybe it's the clock noises? I can't quite put my finger on it.
Sailor Fuku - You know, it's the darnedest thing. I usually enjoy this sort of thing, but I'm not feeling this particular flavor today? Even tried listening to it on repeat and it didn't just click with me like AHiT ticked with me oh geez not aga*is shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned again*

Z.O.E. - Enjoying the bass far, far more than the vocals. ZoE is weird to me, though. I don't personally like a lot of the songs, but some parts are amazing, if that makes any sense? The strings at 3:45, in particular, resonate with me.
Coded Soul - Sonar noises, synths, and basslines can only get you so far, song. I wouldn't mind throwing it on loop for a half hour, but it doesn't also hold my attention that strongly.
Difficult match for me to choose between, but I think ZOE's good-to-bad ratio outweighs Coded Soul's "meh" factor. Again, my opinion.

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Oh no we've lost another one

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

*Looks at character list*
*Cries in Crystal*

It's fair, though. One of my IRL gaming group people is a teenager, and as such went for a female Au'ra to stare at, and constantly gets horny DMs as a result. Mateus and the Balmung visitors sucks, sometimes.

In comparison, I've been DMed for three wishes before, because apparently male Elezen are like genies in their rarity???

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Fly to the Leaden Sky
Ice-covered Love ~ Kohri
Subuta.1

Battle Garegga - Very arcadey shmup-sounding music with a good, balanced use of Sega-era bass/percussion, where I usually dislike it (the Sega part.). This, though. This is pretty good!
Umineko - Vocals are giving me flashbacks to my DDR days for some reason. Who knows why? Anyways, a nice track that feels a bit long, IMO, and despite the vocalist being good, I can't help but feel I'd enjoy the whole song without her there, even though she's not even in the bottom half of all the songs I've heard with lyrical Japanese so far.

PSO2 - I am not into PSO2 music. This track puts a "most" between "PSO2" and "music." I like the combination icy-instrumentation and heavy percussion a whole lot!
Outer Wilds (not Outer Worlds, Isq. Keep up.) - I can see myself enjoying this any other day, but for some reason the past two days it's just kind of... there. Slow, emotional music, but nothing from it really grabs me throughout the whole one.

NMH2 - Note: judgment suspect: my nomination. I am absolutely, utterly in love with the drumming throughout, the mood whiplash of going from heavy cymbal crashes to some eerie piano, to some softer piano and basslines while the cymbals clash with it, and mmf. I even love the long, droning organ, which would otherwise jar and annoy me, but works just perfectly here.
Ar Tonelico II - I was feeling nicer today, so I'll refrain from my initially planned writeup, but... vocals hitting a note where it's almost keening is a right turn off for me. It also can't seem to decide which genre it's going for, and the tone-of-voice change doesn't always keep up (or severely outpaces) said genre-shifts. Not my cup of tea. Props for a good use of an ending after the "ending," though, whatever that may be called.


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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

The Explosion
Lucky Charm (Cuilan phase 1)
Pressure Cooker

Cladun of Dissonance: this is a minimal review. A fan of the progression of it.
Grand Theft of the Night - Well, this is certainly something I might throw on a random radio station and then forget it's playing. The opening kinda turns me off, and then it sounds boy-band-gone-solo-house. Given I'm a child of the 80's and 90's, that ain't a bad thing, but, well... it doesn't do much in a competition setting, I fear. Nice little bit of radio chatter at the end, though.

Ronde of Blood: The instrumentation on this is exactly what I WISH Mega Man 11's soundtrack was like. Unfortunately, it has a cool-as-hell opening that doesn't really go anywhere for me.
Order of Caligula: It's an anime opening metal idol rap that went on for three minutes too long. I do dig the ladies' rapid-fire DIE (I guess?) and KAWAII (also I guess?) but I'm more confused than anything, really.

V 64: It's VVVVVV, and my personal favorite from it, to boot. Chiptune done mostly right, the only MINOR quibble I have with it is the... I dunno, "wibbling arcadey" noise in the background at 1:17. For the entire track, that's not too shabby! . . . "V."
Lament of Ultimate: A song I didn't actually know existed in Smash, probably because I threw everything Samurai Shodown on Terry's stage and didn't look back. Then I was listening to it after nominations ended, and it got stuck in my head for like three days straight, which in this case stunk, because it's just... there. I don't like it THAT much, but got thoroughly earwormed. Plus, you're against V. Sorry, mate.


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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Glessing Way!
Baluchons
The Butterfly's Temptation

Master Ys pressed Q - Oh God it's Ys. Uh. Uhhh. Okay, so, I think the same disagreeableness I had with Fogbeasts strikes here but I pick up MMX5 vibes, or something, even though they're not intentional, and then the violin swells? Better than Fogbeasts for me, at least.
Keizaron's Pokemon elongated GDQ shitpost - Oof, ouch, ow, that opening. I've heard better off of Megaman 2 GB, and then it turns into something that early indie games tried to imitate. The track goes all over the place, but one part that sticks with me is the slower section a short ways in, mostly because it reminds me of the Wizards and Warriors series for some reason? Anyways, this is a lot of words for "not as bad as I thought, and I appreciate it's here, but augh, that opener."

Nil on the kisses, icky - All right, so if I'm getting my Falcom right, it's some Guilty Gear guitar and percussion, slowed down a bit, with some strings going on in the back? Or maybe Persona Arena? I've somehow not been exposed to much Falcom at all (and no, this is not an invitation.) Instead of aggressively okay, this track is passively good. I dunno.
Saira (dumb forced name not found) - I'm glad this one is here. It's got all the instruments I wish I could've played when I was a kid that my brothers ruined for me, and then it's got some maracas, and some very chill synths after 2:00. I dunno what this game is about, but this song has me interested. However, since I am contractually obligated to post a negative, it ends very abruptly. Boo. :(

Deus Vore - Robo-vocals off the bat are cool. Much of the song is too but, if I haven't made it clear, I absolutely despise the drop/prolonged wub that is the signature of dubstep, and that puts a negative on the song. I rather enjoyed every other part of it, so that's pretty good.
Depression-Undertale - I get the underwater part, but the only promgoers I'm getting from this song is Carrie playing early-'00s DDR with a mod to make the percussion more prominent. A tortured metaphor, I know, but no prom queens here.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Kristi Yamaguchi.

If we go male, then George Takei.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Altered Genos
Sanctuary-SHU
Fairfrozen: Selicy's Theme

Rhythm Thief - I understand that stopping and starting is a thing in this series, but the constant jarring motion doesn't do much for me. I do like the repeating, descending bassline quite a bit, and the stock computerized "3 2 1 go" but not much else from it, unfortunately.
Panzer Dragoon - Peculiar. It sounds like it's going to be from an open-world Pilotwings flight or something, or maybe Skyward Sword Lanayru Sand Sea, and then it becomes a space-age exploration with a weak Monster Hunter fight drum going on underneath it. I don't quite know how else to describe it, but it's a mood.

TASOMACHI - Not a whole lot in the way of variance in this track, but the - is "staccato" the right term? - piano works very well with the underlying electronic elements. I wasn't expecting to like it after the opening but was pleasantly surprised.
Let it Die - It's an early 3D Sonic song mixed with a '00s movie soundtrack. It's aggressively above average to me.

No change in my views on WotW/Selicy.

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Classes get exp boosts if you've got one ahead of the pack. It's getting that initial one to 80 that is a slog, sometimes.

Case in point, I went from 14 Rogue to 50 Ninja in the span of the last week, and I've barely focused on it compared to Bard and such.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Anagram posted...

Wonder why the account got nuked.

Wonder if it had anything to do with a Squeenix crackdown this past weekend for anything else they had on their channel.

Also, hi, I'm a Centaur man "hater." It does not feel like a Megaman song to me, is all, and is the worst in the game for me, except for Tomahawk Man's theme. It's still miles ahead of some other tripe that's already been on this list (but miles behind some things that died early, too. IMO, of course.)

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Suspenseful Third Day
Steam Gardens
Love Psalm

Snatcher - If I didn't know any better, I'd say this came out of a WarioWare game. And given I'm a Supra-goer, I'm contractually obligated to like it. (And I rather do, actually, apart from the random crowd noises at 1:30 or so. Even though saxophone is not my favorite for personal reasons, too.)
Deemo - It's a Deemo track. It's got piano. It's got strings. It's got a notable, delicious shift in tone partway through the song with some percussion. I like it better than Snatcher, but both were good. Rough match.

Sigma Harmonics - I've listened to this track three times in a row and nothing with it has stuck with me. It's completely inoffensive and unremarkable to me in every way and gets a big ol' "meh."
SMO - It sounds more like a carnival at a beach with that twangy guitar and baseball organ (for lack of a better term for them) than it does a 3D Mario level. I like the bass being that prominent throughout, though. Props for that.

Xenoblade - For all the Xenoblade music I like, this isn't it. It's overly busy, which isn't a bad thing, but it feels like the piano is fighting harder than I would be. Of course I could be nitpicking because it's extremely long, or because...
SH2 - I am a sucker for Yamaoka's music, plain and simple, even if this takes Theme of Laura and throws a few coats of paint on it. This, however, winds up REALLY GOOD and extremely "Silent Hill when Silent Hill is not going for atmosphere or dread." It's still probably going to lose, but I'll play your requiem, you beautiful bastard.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Fairfrozen: Selicy's Theme
Rose-Killing Carmilla
Anistar City

One Step From Eden - Okay this is EXTREMELY in my face, almost a little too busy for my tastes, but...
NieR:Robutts - Not the FFXIV or Chaos Language version/10. Automata does not lend itself well to a 90s-esque piano ballad, especially not this singer. I love most Nier music, and this is... just not it.

Touhouvania 2 - I never thought I'd be interested in this series ever and then I went ahead and nominated one from Scarlet Symphony that basically ripped off Divine Bloodlines and put a new coat of paint on it. But then you get to THIS game and THIS style of lyrics and we hit Ew Weeb Shit Skip zone.
LSD: Congratulations on becoming my first anti-vote of the competition. It's a brave/interesting track, but it doesn't please me in the slightest. Am I too vanilla? Perhaps.

Pokemon XY Poor Zygarde: An actual good song in a soundtrack largely filled with concentrated Normal-type "meh." Bells will usually get me in a better mood right off the bat, providing they're done right, and this was, very much so.
I can't help but read this as Mecha Kazoo - Okay, let's go. First listen through, and I'm getting Mega Man vibes crossed with a dungeon and then oh dear there's a dubstep drop and we go from Avian to Human animosity. The rest of the track makes up for this mistake, though, going to a high tempo thing, followed by some Metroid-esque drone of dread?

This 3rd match was difficult for me, but XY did nothing during it to offend, unlike... wubbing. Blech.

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I'm mid 30s and my recent dating post COVID has been one 26 year old woman and one 38 year old guy, and both were bad for reasons unrelated to age... But get younger than mid 20s and I have a huge problem with the maturity/wisdom balance.

TL;DR: age gap doesn't matter as much as an age cutoff for me, but I dont know the upper bound to it yet.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

I find it crazy that it does when the DoT doesn't.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Oh, and lest I forget, leveled NIN to 50 as promised. Feels like playing Invoker in Dota, complete with neglecting spells completely like Fuma Shuriken and the ice bind.

I feel I'm likely to drop dagger toss from standard layout at some point to remove keyboard clutter.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.

Level 6 - Face Shrine
Ryoshima Coast
Impossible Worlds

GITADORA - I was actually close to voting for this one, but EXCUSE me who put DOGS in my cat noises and banger track? I kind of actually prefer it was one track (cute, whimsical, cat noises) or the other (guitar thrashing) since it clashes a bit for my plebian tastes, but it's extremely solid guitarplay all the way through the tail end of the track. (But no, really, there's nothing wrong with it, the nostalgia won out on this vote.)
TLoZ:LA - Man, what a rough break for this one. It does an amazing, eerie callback to the Game Boy tune for the same dungeon, and it's just unsettling throughout, but it's against... THAT thing R1. Still, it manages to sound eerie and nostalgic the same time, and it's getting the nostalgia vote as a result.

SB: This one somehow takes me back to my SimCity 2000 days, which, coming off of Zelda, is a surprising bit of nostalgia for having never played Seraphic Blue or listening to its soundtrack for fun. It's better than okay, but I don't like some of the shriller parts of the tune.
Okami: Easily top 3 favorite songs from Okami and I'm not even a little bitter that it trounced Okamiden - Ryoshima South during nominations. The only downside of this submission is that we miss the opening swell for the "midday" section that begins halfway through the song, though both Ryoshima A and B are awesome. Kind of surprised this wasn't retired, if I'm honest.

Terraria Calamity - Despite playing the hell out of Terraria, I never even heard of Calamity mod until this year >_>. I was, um, not expecting something that sounds like a modern 3D Sonic end-boss fight? And then it turns into a guitar solo with a backup choir and strings, because why not. I like it! However...
MV2 - I can't really elucidate why I like this song, but I really like this song for some reason and I don't know why and oh God I'm having an existential crisis please help.

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[Brackets.] - Endless backlog. Presume I'm playing something MMO with some Indies on the side.