LogFAQs > #937886397

Rustling Throb ~ Cloche
Time for a Great Turnabout
Last Surprise

Rustling Throb ~ Cloche is my 11th favorite in the contest! this is possibly my favorite at2 song. I remember when i first got into Ar Tonelico II music I had a very GAMEBOP-adjacent taste compared to now and could not stand vocals at all. This was the first Ar tonelico series song with vocals I remember liking at all (actually might've been A Strange Play ~ The First but what ever), prior to it i just listened to all the instrumental ones. maybe that isn't surprising because this is "basically an instrumental one" and the vocals aren't the focus but it marks a transition for me i guess. It immediately piqued my interest because of the very distinct sounding electronic drums layers and marimba (and other similar glassy tuned perc layers) dominance. The artificial sounding piano THING at :30 still remains one of my favorite parts of this, and the normal more real sounding piano is beautiful too. Perfect synthesis of contrasting organic and artificial in one place. Whole thing is pretty grandiose and shiny! It's a really crystalline Mystic Ancient Ruins aesthetic evoked and that is one of my favorite things. Nowadays i actually actively like the vocal layers rather than trying to ignore them, though they're not centric to my enjoyment of the track the way they are in some other ar tonelico stuff, they're just a thing I think is cool and amplifies my enjoyment (them coming in at 1:15 is a wonderful climax of intensity to this). To this day though, I've found very little that impresses me production-wise as much as this soundtrack and this is just one of many examples, wonderful sounds/electronic effects all around.

Running Hell is my 176th favorite in the contest! i've realized as time has gone on two things: 1) I like cave story music less than I used to, 2) so much of what I like about cave story music is dependent on it having the original instrumentation. the custom ORG fake soundchip is just a way more appealing limitation set to my ears than nes 2a03+vrc6. I don't dislike rushjet i think he's good at arrangements but i'd be SLiiightly more nice to the original version of this. but also this song is literally just not something I have anything positive to say about it feels too much like the skeleton boomerang one yesterday except i don't even like the instrumentation. can't take any drama the track presents seriously because it is too oom-pah carnival beat and tonally it's just really cheesy. lots of music from this game i think is awesome but not this one

Gestation (First Cave) next year?! : (

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Battle YAS 2 is my 133rd favorite in the contest! This blasts you right off the bat with some pretty distinct chord changes that are to my liking, the startling shift to a chord with the bass resting 1 semitone above the tonic at :10/:23 is one of the easiest ways to emotionally PUNCH me in the best way with music. also just love the soaring melody it starts off with and the arps too. in general love the first 25 seconds but then after that it starts to sound like "anime song but with the vocal track replaced with an unexpressive beep that it wasn't meant to be heard on" or something and i'm not fond of most of :25-1:13 or the parts like it, i don't hate them but my interest isn't kept even close to the rest of the song. The dissonant section at 1:37-1:55 is pretty fun, at first i thought i didn't like how empty it was but what it builds to from that initial emptiness is really cool and it turns out to be a welcome quirky dark TENSE break.

Time for a Great Turnabout is my 119th favorite in the contest! love this accordion+strings/brass instrumentation a ton, subtle grace notes/etc really make the accordion part come alive. rhythms are bouncy and fun with lots of groups of 3 16th beats. cool harmonies in each chord. there's some parts that are more stereotypically "classical music that makes the end of a phrase clear with hamfisted tension/resolution that's too 'predictable' for me" that i do NOT like. but honestly other than that this almost sounds like PMD? unexpected chord change at 1:02 is WHOAA and the section right after's progression is really REALLY appealing to me (but then at 1:18 it starts to sound too "cheesy rich people mansion in 1900 music" and iu dion't like it any more because it sounds like real music). mixed reaction but the good parts are REALLY GOOD

I don't remember liking Time for a GReat Turnabout this much even though I ranked it over YAS. Very close match. Two tracks that contain both elements I love and dont. could flip, expected to be voting for YAS initially

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Skyclad Observer is my 34th favorite ToC entrant! I have heard this too many times because of the one thing. I have a hard time judging this fairly because I have heard it too many times... I do like it but it's become like Super Mario Bros Ground Theme-Tier "how do i rate something that i have heard 5000 times". I always liked the heavily-produced nature of it and that it's dramatic at least. Cool sounds throughout. I love reversed piano!

Last Surprise is my 6th favorite ToC entrant! The popularity of this track always surprised me but I welcome it, maybe my favorite persona series track? The backing epiano chords are ridiculously trippy from :16-:44 and are what makes this for me. The funky bass part being so prominent is a big factor in my enjoyment too. Everything about this is simultaneously super musically interesting and super fun to listen to! This has grown on me significantly between when it was actually in vgmc and now.

Surprise!
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