Lurker > Paratroopa1

Embarrassingly, I STILL have not watched the anime

Grand_Kirby posted...

"IT'S THE CAHPS!"

https://youtu.be/QznlPpodPn4?si=kgvlg4dFBYpCKx1o

10/10

I wasn't sure if he was doing a bit until the Dustin Prince one

8/10

In my opinion, he suffers very lightly from Larry syndrome where he starts off strong and gets a little more buffoonish as time progresses. I think the first game strikes the best balance between Gumshoe being a little bit down on his luck while still carrying at least a little bit of authority - he feels the most like a guy who actually has a job in the first game whereas the later games, especially the Edgeworth games, treat him too much like a sad puppy dog than an actual detective. Gumshoe's a professional! Treat him like one!

Link's Awakening winning does not surprise me and pleases me greatly as it is my favorite game

Dedf1sh posted...

Wait, Wario Land 2 ranked lower than 3 AND 1? What the fuck?

This surprised me, because I had WL2 on my list but not the other two

Zebstrika/Excadrill
Shedinja/Meowscarada
Poliwhirl/Furret
Ho-oh/Latias

Chimera Lab
We form in crystals
Title Screen

I know I've heard Birdman somewhere before aside from the game but I can't remember where. It's bothering me. Anyway, it's mildly amusing elevator music that serves its purpose. 6/10

I don't have a lot to say about Chimera Lab but it's like, kinda fun. This means it wound up in R4 of my bracket for some reason because this 8 pack was desolate. 6.5/10

We form in crystals is so odd. There are so many drum hits, especially cymbal crashes, that sound like they're completely off any sort of rhythmic structure and it doesn't even feel intentional. I like the melancholy vibe though. Very weird song. 6.5/10

Necrofantasia is, to put it shortly, embarrassing. Points for competency at something I merely think is bad taste I guess. 3/10

I don't like Robocop title theme as much as I'd like to. The NES arpeggio is not, in my opinion, a very flattering sound and you shouldn't use it quite so flagrantly as anything but texture, but for some reason some western composers, especially british I think, seemed to favor them. The result is loud, but uninteresting. This song is way too repetitive and has a really boring hook and doesn't go anywhere for a long time. I don't hate it but I found it terribly disappointing. 4.5/10

Apex of the World is just... ugh. It's so over the top. I'm tired of this kind of music. 4/10

10

I feel like giving Maya my first 10. I feel like every spunky sidekick they've introduced since have been trying to go back to the Maya formula but they don't have the sauce. Maya's silly but she's not too silly. She's less of an airhead that she's putting on. She has actual human relationships and emotions. It's a hard character to get right but Maya gets it right and it's kind of a shame that she gets shoved into a dark room in so many of the games she's in. One of the few characters that actually leaves me wanting more of her, which I guess is a good thing.

AriaOfBolo posted...

Estradiol

I was gonna make this same joke

Totodile/Articuno
Fezandipiti/Ursaluna
Finizen/Tepig
Xerneas/Pinsir

Togekiss/Kilowattrel's probably my pick for star there - you wouldn't think those two have star power but they crushed.

I feel bad that I had to vote against Chinchou/Cradily - that's a group where I really, *really* like all four Pokemon.

Even in the Carpathians, taking a train is still faster than riding a ghoul
Mechonis Field
Kitsch

Here's my rule for music - if you can't impress me, then you should at least try to surprise me. Sometimes I think I mistake being surprised by a song for being impressed by it, at first, and then the magic kinda wears off but at least it's still an entertaining list. EIICTATISFTRAG is one of those little mystery box tracks that kinda keeps doing surprising little things that makes me go "ah! oh, that was fun!" but then at the end I'm not really sure if I liked it or if I was just being distracted from evaluating it as a whole. Eh, I guess I like it. 7/10

Devil Forest is assuredly the most neutral track in the entire contest for me. I can't imagine feeling strongly about it one way or the other. It's plain white bread. Doesn't do a single thing wrong, but makes me feel absolutely nothing at all. It just exists. 5.5/10

Flamerock Refuge is a bit of a cliche but it's pleasant. I would probably enjoy listening to this in the area that it plays in. 6.5/10

Mechonis Field is a track I immediately fell in love with despite not having particularly strong emotional ties to Xenoblade - I did play the game for like 200 hours on the 3DS and still felt a little bit underwhelmed by it but I LOVED exploring this area. Big old school PSO vibes here that immediately put me in a nostalgic mood. I love this post-millennial Japanese retro-future shit, it's great, one of those cliche things that I always like. 9.5/10

Spiral of Erebos is more epic music but at least it's decent enough. I very, very mildly like it and probably would like it more if I played the game, maybe? 6/10

Kitsch is cute. It's got a fun little beat and those ooooooh bah bah's are fun. It's got that one hook that keeps reminding me of the first two seconds of the Mega Man and Bass title theme for some reason and I find that distracting through no fault of its own. Doesn't really stand out enough to be anything more than merely decent. 6.5/10

Payne: 7/10

Mostly for rookie killer Payne. He's kinda whatever in his other appearances but he's a show-stealer in 3-1, and I love that for him.

Sahwit: 5/10

He's kind of iconic, I guess! His appearance in E2-2 is a lot more fun.

I'm not going to bother rating Cindy Stone because I don't really know how to, but I think it's interesting to think about her. If you really meditate on her existence in this series long enough it becomes weird. She's THE first character to appear in the entire series (technically you see Sahwit's hand first but eh), and she gets the honor of being the first victim ever! And she's just a random person who was Larry's girlfriend once. Larry doesn't grow from this experience at all and never mentions her ever again, nor does she appear or is made reference to ever again, which is kind of amazing because damn well every character or random thing in the first game has been made reference to again at some point. She's simultaneously one of the least important characters in the AA franchise, while also occupying this space of the high honor of being one of its first characters. I don't know, it's just super weird.

9

He's the judge

Norfair
Cascarrafa
Lunar Bass

Song of TRIANGLE STRATEGY is pure comedy gold. I laughed so hard when the opera singer came in and sang TRIangle STRATegeeeee with as much sincerity as she could muster. Fucking hilarious. I don't think it was supposed to be funny. 6/10

I had no idea Yuzo Koshiro made a Norfair remix. I played Brawl and I cannot for the life of me ever remember hearing this track. It's really good. I've always been a big fan of the original Norfair theme, it's weird and alien, and this makes it really groove in an unconventional way. 9/10

I don't like or dislike Cascarrafa. Not really a big fan of the rock organ. The rest is just *very* Pokemon. It's whatever. 5.5/10

Faster Than Light was boring and the singing's too sappy. This is another one of those where it might have had a lot of emotional impact on a different day, in a different context, but as it is it means nothing to me. 4/10

I was making a joke about "bad anime trash" in the discord earlier. Anyway, unrelated, Arcana gets a 2/10

Lunar Bass wins this fourpack by default! Good job, buddy! 6.5/10

I'm genuinely curious if Super Mario Land is a game that people really like or if it just wound up on lists because people couldn't think of 20 games - I had no problem thinking of 20 GB/GBC games I liked more than SML, I don't really like SML that much, but I'm curious if it's a game that people do really like

There was one thing that I found confusing about Jenny's experience, which is how she said she felt completely overwhelmed by the schedule, and yet also that it didn't seem like there was that much to do at the hotel. I didn't actually get a very good feeling for what her time was monopolized by! It seemed mostly pretty low-key for her most of the time.

Across Dimming Asterisms
Blue Desert Hotel
Take

Across Dimming Asterisms is about as cliche as it gets, but the cliche is a guilty pleasure - this makes me want to go adventuring in a cool desert level and I'm not above that. I'm really into it but it loses half a point for going four-on-the-floor with the kick drum in the last stretch. It's super tacky, the rhythmic equivalent of key changing up a half step for the last chorus because you want things to be REALLY intense. 8.5/10

You know you're going to get a weird, fun surprise when the song is from something that sounds like shovelware, because it wouldn't be here otherwise. Thanks for the weird, fun surprise, Zoo Hospital. 6.5/10

Blue Desert Hotel is a weird one. It simultaneously has an almost elevator music sound to it and seems like it should be trying to convey relaxation, but it's one of the most busy and frantically paced songs in the entire contest, which makes it a strange listen. My brain doesn't know what to do with it. 6.5/10

Oh, Heaven Burns Red again. I don't think I liked this before, either. 3.5/10

Portals vs Take is the most hilarious matchup of the contest; one of the most low-key themes vs one of the most... high-key. Portals is, uh, I dunno, it probably does its job? It's not bad but I wouldn't return to it. 6/10

Even though I stand pretty firmly that Take is not vgm, I'm voting for it anyway because it's great, but that's partially because the music video is amazing which isn't even the music portion but whatever, this rules, I love Take 9/10

Nidoking/Ninetales
Togekiss/Kilowattrel
Murkrow/Roserade
Koffing/Emolga

The fact that Oldbag and Larry appearing together is mostly just a joke on Edgeworth makes it more palatable to me

The more I think about it, the more it's mostly just 6-6 that I have a problem with Larry in. I don't love his appearances in AA3 but he does serve a role in 3-5 at least (3-2 is... weird). I actually LIKE his appearance in E1-5 - it's surprising and short-lived enough that it doesn't grate on me, and Larry isn't exceptionally ridiculous in it - I feel like people blame him a lot for the case being dragged out which is really unfair, it's not his fault. And he's fine in E2-3 too, he's barely in it and he's not being too much of a creep.

But 6-6, good lord. First of all, it's been *years* since we've last seen him, so you really feel like he should be a different person - everyone else is. And I guess the idea is that it's supposed to be charming that he's the same person after all these years? But it's NOT! But the fact that he's somehow blissfully unaware that he's not going to get married to Ellen is completely beyond belief - like Larry is naive about women but AA1 never portrayed him as DERANGED like this. He's a total cartoon character, devoid of any kind of normal human thought, and I HATE him. God I hate 6-6 so much. I remember seeing him say he's going to get married and I was like "oh that's cute! Good for him! I wonder what his girlfriend's like!" and just the utter disappointment of realizing that Larry has gone completely off the rails is just... sigh.

I'm not sure why I never owned Pokemon Pinball as a kid, at the height of Pokemon being the coolest thing ever. I've still never played it! I should really go back and play the classic Pokemon games I've never played before.

7/10

Like you said, hard to rate. He's great in 1-4 but really flanderized after that. I'm giving him a little bit of extra credit just because the moment he returns Edgeworth's money in 1-4 is one of my favorite moments and he's just a really fun and well-deployed character in 1-4 in general. It just frustrates me that he actually shows some complexity in 1-4 but has no growth afterwards. He's downright despicable in 6-6 and more childish than he's ever been, which is absurd. Like, you can have him grow while still being "same old Larry", you know? I'm not saying he needs to become a responsible adult but come on. I think it's cute that Larry turns out to be a genuinely good artist and shows growth in his art skills over the years - I just wish he grew as a person.

I don't really have a specific strategy I just vote for whoever I feel like voting for, I don't spend more than 2-3 seconds thinking about it

TomNook7 posted...

The physical manual literally tells you on page 1 not to look at it till after you finish the game lol

This. Don't read it!

Shroomish/Ledyba
Virizion/Kabuto
Noibat/Fletchling
Politoed/Corvisquire

Attorney

Astra walkthrough
Secundum Abandoned Mine
d3molish

How to say goodbye is uh... I dunno, it's fine. I was more excited for it until the singing started, it stayed alright for a while then kinda turned into anime slop. But it was good for a bit! 6/10

Secundum is good, I'd probably like it just a hair more if I was a bigger fan of the trumpets that come in later. 7.5/10

I feel the same about Subterranean Sunrise as I did last year which is that it's just okay. 6/10

d3molish is cool! It's completely doomed to get blown out! 8/10

I don't know why I didn't get into WL3 as much as WL2 or WL4.

transience posted...

I'd probably play a new Blow game. I'm not that black and white -- but when a big appeal of the rerelease is Blow narrating the game, I'm out.

Yeah same

MacArrowny posted...

Is KDL2 better than KDL3? I thought 3 was bad.

You probably wouldn't like KDL2 either then but I don't know

Kirby's Dream Land 2 is great! It doesn't hold up as well as some of the other contemporary Kirbies but I still love it.

I want to change my vote for Phoenix to a 9. I wasn't giving myself enough headroom.

Mia's also a 9.

dowolf posted...

but I'm still not sure how I feel about counting FAD as VGM.

Cytus is another rhythm game right? Does the song originate outside the game?

transience posted...

it's such a bummer that Blow has turned out to be so unlikable because I really liked Braid. I can't imagine wanting to listen to his commentary in 2024 but I would have been all about this in 2009.

It bums me out super hard, The Witness is like, absolutely one of my favorite games of all time, I think it's an absolutely genius game and a truly seminal work of puzzle gaming (I've played a number of games that bear its obvious influence), and it's so bizarre to me that such a well-considered and thoughtful work could be created by someone who otherwise exhibits so little thought or consideration in the rest of his life. It's weird how humans are like that sometimes I guess

Credits Song
Fight Another Day (Andy Tunstall Remix)
The Kingdom

Hey look, it's one of my noms! The first match is a great matchup between two triple threats in Elise Wattman and Darren Korb - singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists (and also Korb voices Zagreus of course because he can do everything). I knew I wanted to get Weapons Drawn Credits in here for a while since I figured it'd have mass appeal. I'm kinda obsessed with this song - Jackbox has a lot of fun music but this one really goes far and above the assignment with a gorgeously haunting bridge and three different solo sections. I don't think I even knew the guitar solo at the end was there for a while because I never sat this long at the end of this game before. Elise Wattman was a hell of a hire for Jackbox and I hope they keep her around for a long time. 9/10

As for Good Riddance, it's good! Better in the context of the game, I think - hearing the two sides of the duet separately before finally hearing them reunited really adds to the effect. It's a beautiful tune that serves an excellent purpose in the narrative of the game and that's what I like to see. I don't want to eliminate either of these tracks r1. 8/10

Fight Another Day isn't all that dissimilar from Credits Song, haha. Maybe I'm just biased to Jackbox because I know what the game is and it's my nom, I don't know. This is solid though, good vocal performance, I don't think I'll find it as memorable. 7/10

Normally I'm a big fan of Yuzo Koshiro (foreshadowing for bracket B) but most Etrian Odyssey stuff fails to grab me for whatever reason and this does too. I dunno, it's not one of his best works. Just doesn't grab me, sorry. 5/10

You Can Do Anything is uh... haha, funny joke, guys. 3/10 because the chorus at the end is pretty fun and there's probably some irony points here.

The Kingdom is a song that I'm still pretty convinced isn't actually vgm, because I looked everywhere for the game that was supposed to be promotional material for this guy's new song and/or album and I never found anything, so I think this might just kind of be a piece of music. It is, uh, maximally prog. I find it sort of interesting despite its questionable taste but I do also suspect that I would get tired of it quickly. 6.5/10

I snorted with laughter at the Delta and Hertz thing, holy shit

Kinda surprised by how much of a blowout that was, but FF6 is a perfectly fine winner, no complaints here even if I prefer SM/DKC.

Staraptor/Espeon
Cinccino/Liepard
Jirachi/Pumpkaboo
Applin/Corphish

10

It feels kind of stupid to not give him a 10. He's Phoenix Wright. Whatever.

There are times where I wish they were a bit sharper or more interesting with his characterization in the later games, I just think there's a little bit more they could have done with him being Trucy's father and Apollo and Athena's boss and mentor. That aspect of him as a character should be really interesting to explore and they just don't do it quite enough. And I don't really feel like he's the same guy as he was in AA4. But there are times where I could hold this same criticism of Edgeworth and I'm going to give Edgeworth a 10 obviously.

Kain / Salvation
Astra walkthrough
Let's Go, Mt. Corel!

I don't really have much to say about this crop.

The Nier thing is boring but not that bad. 5/10

I keep expecting that I should like these Dariusburst things since they're weird but they're never weird in a way that lands for me and I don't really know why. I couldn't get into this one at all. 4.5/10

Crossbell is perfectly ok. 6/10

Astra walkthrough is kinda fun. I dunno, I like it. 7/10

Aeolic Guardian is decent. 6.5/10

Mt. Core is decent. 6.5/10 I earnestly couldn't really decide which of these to pick.

For what it's worth, Red Lobster is still alive for now but I doubt it will be for all that much longer. Probably time for me to start figuring out if I can get the cheddar bay biscuit recipe right. Honestly, they'd probably have more luck if they just re-opened as a series of little shacks that make and sell biscuits.

The

Ooooh look out we've got a THIRTY FIVE year old over here, damn they're so cool

azuarc posted...

Is there a particular reason we're picking on this French guy?

Extremely failed vibe check

VFrench1933 posted...

Dude, you have been here 19 years. Ninteen years. Your account can vote.

I really don't think some 40 year old bald dude needs to be talking trash.

Ahahaha you are gonna get so bullied here

Super Metroid

JonThePenguin posted...

They are. The first title, 1.5+2.5 Remix, is both PS2 games, the remake of the GBA game, the PSP game, and movie versions of the DS games. The second one, 2.8, is the 3DS game, a movie showing some background story from the browser/mobile game, and a prologue to 3. And then the third one is 3 plus its DLC.

This is the only clear explanation I've gotten about what these games means and I'm still confused somehow lol

Like the fact that II.8 or whatever is like just some 3ds game and a movie but is given equal billing to the one that's like the first two games and several other games has me so confused

Also you have to play AA4 to see why it got rated low

You have to play AA4 to get to the much better AA5 and AA6