Lurker > NFUN

bamp

@FL81

Holy mother of God, look at that album art. Off the bat, this is a song I'm surprised that I haven't heard (as far as I remember) at a ski place, or some other place of business that likes to portray itself as vaguely youth-oriented and cool without really committing, whether out of a fear of appearing to be trying too hard or just laziness... I don't think that's supposed to be an indirect way of describing the music. Like, it's straight-forward hair metal, it is what it is and the 80's were a wacky time. Wait, this is from 2007? I guess that's pretty contemporary with Dragonforce. I guess that's surprising because where Dragonforce and even Blind Guardian are pastiches of this kind of music, Gamma Ray is playing it pretty straight here. It's not committing to much more ridiculousness than what is inherent to the genre, aside from the plot.

Ultimately, I think Land of the Free II is kind of monolithic. If I were somebody that naturally paid a lot of attention to lyrics, I might have found it more interesting; as it is, most of it blurred together to me. It's been <x> years since I reviewed it, but my feelings are probably very similar to what I'm guessing they were for Beale Street, where it's enjoyable, but fatiguing and something I have trouble with treating more than background music. I did appreciate when for brief sections moods were mixed up, and the goofy energy of MONDAY TUESDAY! and Real World's Bob Dylan impression[?????] were welcome. If it utilized the occasional mood swing more effectively and incorporated genre changes into the core identity of the album instead of just the periphery, it'd be a lot more interesting. It'd be a better concept album too. When telling a story, especially an overwrought one like this, you need to have some kind of journey, and let the listener experience the awe and the trials and the pain, instead of them just being chanted at them. I know you love Wheel of Time, and I think that song shines brightest where this album falls hardest

Rating: 7/stargate
Favorite song: Opportunity

bump

gesundheit

maybe i'll do this soon

i promise

up

beep

No

surely

someday

e

e

m

p

l

e

h

bump

NBIceman posted...

The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
https://open.spotify.com/album/0TCkVVN1AfEtMP3IjVD1Zi

@NBIceman

In my headcannon Bitter Suite IV is about Nyarlathotep

In an all-too-important sense, it's a good thing that this topic is taking so long, because if it wasn't, you'd all be beyond done with how often I use the word "indie" to describe things (but at least I'm not overusing "alternative"). This album has a lot of different takes on genres, and to be concise, the unifying feel to the tracks is that they feel... indie. I have to give it to the album, it really did a good job getting me into it and selling me on that kind of sound, and here, unlike most or all of the other """"indie"""" albums I listened to, this quasi-perjorative label gradually faded to inconsequentiality as the album progressed. I didn't like Waves because of it, but by The Line it felt natural, even if in isolation I'd probably dislike that one a fair amount. Really, in general the album did a superb job of sampling different styles while making them feel its own. The tracks had a consistency that *felt* like a deliberate stylistic decision rather than a crutch which could be the result of a similar album done by a less competent group, and there was a good amount of creativity even outside of the variety you'd expect from an eclectic group of styles. Even Squeaky Wheel has little bits of dissonance that make it a lot more interesting than comparable songs. I'm fairly confident that this is near the zenith of albums in its vague sphere of genre.

Score: Super Meat Boy/VVVVVV
Favorite Song: Bitter Suite VI

i just have to write them up!

I listened to the next two albums!

UF8 posted...

good rating

d-

c

4. Starlike | Alcamuine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_edf5A3u0w
Composed by mozell

also fuck it i'll be good and replace Suite Photoconductivity with

2. Alice Gear Aegis | CROSS PARADOX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDh1mvGoKr0
Composed by Masaki Mori

but also listen through suite photoconductivity at some point in one sitting

sorry, meant to specify that people would like the name better if the name was entirely different

colliding posted...

A lot of people hate the name of the game, but to me it has this real old school videogame energy that I dig. It's like the name of an Atari game or something. I feel like people are just hung up on triangle for some reason. Like if it were called "War of the Triad" people would think that was better.

"If the game was named something entirely different people would like it better, so people are just irrationally hung up on it"

do you know what bayesian statistics is?

eh let's have this for now

3. Rolled Out! | Foggy Mountain | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5oZabUj-Y0
Composer: Baycun

HasteDeux posted...

Well, two of my front-runners for Day 1 nominations this VGMC are Pokemon, and I know you like at least some Pokemon music. ....sooooo I might as well just make it four of my front-runners, even if I'm not expecting you to like the other two very much! Well, maybe you'll like the Hamauzu one, I hope.

Pokemon Sun/Moon - Malie CIty (Day)
Minako Adachi
https://youtu.be/ED1D822MfYg

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Glacier Palace ~ Eastern Spire
Keisuke Ito and/or Yasuhiro Kawagoe
https://youtu.be/I106TjiEsuw

Opoona - Rock Castle
Kimihiro Abe
https://youtu.be/3rlI2_iUWJg

Unlimited SaGa - Battle III
Masashi Hamauzu
https://youtu.be/y8SpqPpjh1o

Oh, phooey. My randomizer chose the Mushihimesama series the other day as part of my Kimihiro Abe exploration (still in the very early stages), and it seems you've explored it already. Then again, NFUN at the very least already explored it before VGMC 14. But to add to my frustration, my randomizer chose Soukyugurentai aka Terra Diver the other day, and I went through it quickly and determined it would be good to listen more to it later. I thought "surely no one has explored this obscure-looking game yet". Then NFUN just happened to post a track from that game on Discord! Is there a basiscape soundtrack that hasn't been explored?! Lol....

i posted a terra diver track because mycro had just encouraged rwlh to explore it

1. Caravan Stories | Mauriana Region | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cFcIEGQeDI
Composer: Azusa Chiba

I'll try to keep with the intent of the topic and nom songs I'm considering for VGMC, but I'll still aim for ones I think you'll like. Might help me figure out tracks I'd forgotten about too, though I know regardless I'm going to remember something dynamite right after noms close.

That being said, fuck you I'm going to nominate something that doesn't obey the intent of the topic at all
2. Dariusburst Another Chronicle | Suite Photoconductivity | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtD7qy37XdY
Composer: Shohei Tsuchiya

Gokinjo Boukentai

honestly, based on the smell as it's cooking, I think I made something very similar when I made "chili" from gravy, spices, and leftover beef party meat to use on a garbage plate

I will Han, but if it sucks I'll never forgive you

Nope

Anagram posted...

Quickly checking, it turns out there is.

anagramed, christ. that's like her most famous one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifB662xOZTw

azuarc posted...

Have you played PSO1, by any chance? I got to try that out on PS2 way back in the day -- episode 1, at least -- and although I had a friend who was SUPER into it, so I ended up getting roped into some local multiplayer on a number of occasions, I was never into it. The combat was ridiculously stiff, the gameplay loop wasn't that interesting. It was like playing Diablo 1, clearing one or two map floors, and then going back to futuristic Tristram, except I was never clear on how useful my upgrades were or what I was really trying to achieve.

I'm sure PSO2 is way better, and I don't want to hijack this thread to talk about PSO2 over Lost Ark, but I know how much you champion the game, so I figured I'd ask if you had some sense how much of an upgrade the game was fundamentally. I suppose simply from almost 20 years of technology later it simply has to be better, but the core gameplay wasn't anything exciting, so that's not saying much.

I've never played it and have really only heard fans talk about it so I don't have a firm impression what the gameplay was like. 2 at least, and especially the update, definitely priotized the combat and making it feel fluid

skullbone posted...

Well I played for about 5 hours and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep going or not. I was expecting a better ratio of ARPG and MMO but it's basically 95% MMO and 5% ARPG.

The combat is fine and I appreciate the absolutely ridiculous amount of content but it didn't really grab me today!

sounds like you should play PSO2

what

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

alternatively,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8qcCTMFEyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRYXf2OV3kA

No

what a rollercoaster. you've outdone yourself this time

Gokinjo Boukentai

MoogleKupo141 posted...

lol what this is insane

gruntys revenge is kind of bad, Nuts & Bolts is incredible.

And nobody agrees with you

TheRock1525 posted...

Same as the other topic but which movie or TV or game series has rankings (4 or more) where almost any order would be considered viable or acceptable?

I was thinking Bungie's Halo series may fit that minus ODST.

1-3 > 4-5

oh bungie's halo. i feel like that's kind of whatever since afaik everybody likes all of them

I've heard the game has some Nazi connections. Probably better to sit this one out and look away

5tarscream posted...

Snom is like a weak Magikarp. That's not a typo.

Snom has Ice Scales which halves special damage and has access to eviolite. Unkillable tank

azuarc posted...

That include you?

I bought it for my brother, so I guess I don't technically own it but I purchased it

azuarc posted...

I don't know a single person who owns GTA V. Who are these 164 million (presumably) different people?

Everybody under 30 years old