Board 8 > [BOST] Day 14: Automata v Cloudbuilt, PSMD v Off-Peak, SUGURI 2 v Dusk Tiebreak

(+) Yeah! (+)

Greetings, and welcome to the results and bracket/contest discussion topic for Best OST Contest 5! In this contest, you and fellow video game soundtrack lovers will come together to once and for all answer the question "What is the best video game soundtrack? (For now.)"

Links:
Contest Bracket and Info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sD964sXfa3trbXrr14mFKeEIA14cGM2RtHmW9TqGBmw
Discussion Thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77915805

-

VOTING RULES

- Each match will be between the songs representing each game, not the game as a whole. Please remember to listen and vote with this in mind! Any votes referring to a game name rather than a song name will not be counted. You have been warned!
- Listen to both songs!! If one is your literal favorite song in the world and the other is something you hate with a passion, listen to them both!!
- No alts, no rallying, no begging for something to get more votes, etc., etc., you know the drill.
- If you change your mind and would like to swap your vote, you may do so. As soon as it is 24 hours since the match topic was started, you may not change your vote and new votes will not be counted.
- If you would like to vote in advance for matches you know you will miss, please let me know in the discussion topic.

-

Main Bracket: Match 1

NieR: Automata - Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPXuopwIdBo" data-time="

Cloudbuilt - Cloudbits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9sNm2BHR28" data-time="

Main Bracket: Match 2

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Tree of Life: Roots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo5IRUjNaEA" data-time="

Off-Peak - Revealed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwRsPqQxdGk" data-time="

Snubs Bracket Tiebreaker Match

Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - Begins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpl3ypir22A" data-time="

Dusk - Run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPrHzFF-GoQ" data-time="

-

Vote Form:
Possessed by a Disease (Vocals) / Cloudbits
Tree of Life: Roots / Revealed
Begins / Run

Cloudbits
Revealed
Run

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Tree of Life: Roots
Begins

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Tree of Life: Roots
Begins

Very nice Gust-style vocals on the Nier track. Cloudbits is still a solid 7.5/10, unchanged from my ranking topic.

The only thing worse than a boring song is a boring song that's 10 minutes long. It does something halfway through but then just continues to drag on. ToL:R is okay.

IT BEGINS
---

Cloudbuilt - Cloudbits
Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Tree of Life: Roots
Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - Begins
---

Possessed by a Disease is top tier Nier...which is to say that it's pretty decently intense background music. But it's still not something you'd listen to purely for the sake of listening to it. To nobody's surprise, I'm voting for my own nom over Automata.

Speaking of BGM, there's ten minutes I'm not getting back. Revealed is actually kinda cool, but it takes forever to get to what it's doing. But those parts put it over Roots.

Cloudbits
Revealed
Begins
---

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Revealed
Begins
---

Cloudbits
Tree of Life: Roots
Begins

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Tree of Life: Roots
Begins

First match has two okay songs from great soundtracks. Tough to vote here. I do enjoy both songs, but wouldn't call either of them great (I consider the Automata setlist pretty weak in general, which is why I skipped nominating it).

Tree of Life is solid. Nice. FL81 nailed it with his Revealed description.

I like both snubs songs a lot! They're my favorite two songs of the day!
---

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Tree of Life: Roots
Run

Alts made me flip my vote oh no
---

Cloudbits
Tree of Life: Roots
Begins

First match is pretty good.
---

NieR: Automata - Possessed by a Disease (Vocals): 8.5. God this song is good.
vs.
Cloudbuilt - Cloudbits: 2.5. Fancy modern chiptune. I find this particularly unengaging and repetitive. The chiptune instrumentation prevents it from being even lower.

and

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Tree of Life: Roots: 8. God this song is good.
vs.
Off-Peak - Revealed: 9. But this. This is an amazing song.

and

Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - Begins: 6. Fun trance number. Doesn't do anything exceptional but it's still a pleasure to listen to.
vs.
Dusk - Run: 7.5. This is really great! Nice energy. It keeps mixing things up while still maintaining its solid base. Very cool!

Votes:
Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Revealed
Run

Changed my vote from the alt showdown.

NieR: Automata - Possessed by a Disease (Vocals) - 8.5/10
One of the better Automata songs if I'd have to say, this goes from pretty powerful vocal and orchestral parts to emotional calmer parts, and never really loses my interest despite how long it is. If you're going to have some sort of chanting in your song, well it's hard to explain but this song definitely does it right.

Cloudbuilt - Cloudbits - 8/10
This accomplishes a shocking amount given the soundchip. A ton of nice and emotional melodies here. Makes me almost long for an orchestral remix, haha. I could see myself voting this on some other days, but man the nier one is great too.

Voting for Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Tree of Life: Roots - 10/10
I'm the reason this one is here too lol, feel bad about being kinda forceful about it but I just love the power to this. Probably my favourite PSMD song (a lot of competition for that honestly), it's just super powerful and emotional and the bridge does so much for it too. An amazing "end of the adventure" kind of song to me really. Was considering nomming this for next VGMC lol, dunno if I will but I do know I will vote it here regardless of the opposing song pretty much.

Off-Peak - Revealed - 7/10
It's about as good as atmospheric music gets for me.
10 minutes still feels a bit long but at least it's comfortable and it does keep me entertained without me hoping for any big melodies to come from it.

Voting for Tree of Life: Roots

Oh boy a tiebreaker and ofc for a match i wasn't there to vote for

Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - Begins - 5/10
I kinda forgot I had this on to rate it tbh, it's so generic. I honestly don't know what else to say other than that.

Dusk - Run - 5/10
Also fairly boring. I mean I guess these were just Alts for a reason. I think probably while I may like the feel of this one a bit less, it at least does more to make me actually think about it.

Voting for Run

Cloudbits
Tree of Life: Roots
Run

Possessed by a Disease
Tree of Life: Roots
Run

Cloudbits isn't my favorite version of the melody, while PbaD is friggin' cool. Easy choice.

I like Tree of Life, but I feel like it's hungry for a vocal version. Pretty sure none exists, but I'm putting that out there anyways.

holy shit there's tracks on an Orange Juice soundtrack that are less than an hour long wtf
---

Cloudbits
Tree of Life: Roots
Run

Really good first and second matches today.
---

NieR: Automata - Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Tree of Life: Roots
Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - Begins - sorry Dusk, but I can't vote for you this time.
---

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
---

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Revealed
Run

Possessed by Disease-- probably my favourite track in a soundtrack I really like. The combination of choral section, drums and strings give this a wild, fevered feel and energy to spare.

I don't mind Cloudbits but I also don't think it really plays to the soundtrack's strengths-- the chiptune work isn't particularly remarkable and deprives it of the sharp arrangement work that other Cloudbuilt tracks have. I also think the medley gives it an unfocused feel, while making the overall effect of the chiptune aesthetic more tiring. It feels like it overstays its welcome (he says, while voting for a ten-minute track).

Tree of Life is real nice. Non-trumpet solo brass! We don't get enough of that. Very pretty. The buildup to the more powerful section at 0:55 is done well, and then we do another buildup in 6/8 time. One of the more heroic-sounding Pokemon tracks I've heard.

It's unfair to Revealed to say I mostly look forward to the second half of it. The first half is full of interesting things-- the different elements of the track build on each other to create an organic-feeling, lush soundscape which also feels necessary to establish the effect of the second half. But man, that second half is maybe the most tense section of music on the soundtrack-- the repeating saxophone hinted at in the track's intro begins to take over, while short synths and electronic sounds tap out nervous, mechanical figures. Different parts of the track rise in a wave and then recede-- it's frenetic, almost chaotic. I was originally somewhat lukewarm to this track relative to much of the rest of the soundtrack but those last five minutes feel incredibly rewarding on subsequent re-listens.

Begins is surprisingly brief. The progression in the middle of the track is kinda neat. I don't love the plainness of the beat or the rigidity of the structure it follows.

Run is also somewhat brief. This has a more conventional FPS/TPS feel, and lacks some of the fuller, crunchier feel of the track that previously represented it. I like its rhythm, though, and the mood it sets.

Cloudbits
Tree of Life: Roots
Begins

Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Tree of Life: Roots
Begins

oh hey my favorite automata track and more than likely the only one i'd possibly vote for in the contest against the soundtrack i vastly prefer but PbaD is way too good... sorry cloudbuilt :(

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by Revealed! This was an extremely close match, but the time I spent just kinda listening to Revealed while not actually feeling very engaged weighs it down enough that I'm voting for Tree of Life here.

Begins is pretty good trance but is way, way, WAAAAAAY too short. Kinda bizzare that a DEKU song has this problem but here we are lol. Run is alright but goes kinda nowhere as well which is ironic since the song name is literally Run what the heck!!

Cloudbits
Reveled
Run
---

NieR: Automata - Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Off-Peak - Revealed
Dusk - Run

Tough break for SPMD, though. Tree of Life is a very chilling listen and I would have happily voted it over most things but this is literally Off-Peak and Off-Peak is one of my absolute favorite things. Surreal exploration games are my love and O-P's music perfectly captures the hypnotic, maximal atmosphere of its world.
---

Cloudbits
Revealed
Begins

Oh bouy, when a song has (Vocals) in the title, you know I'm gonna be in for a , time. Actually for a song with (Vocals) it's not really all that bad, the (Vocals) are mostly passive rather than demanding my attention, and the whole song flows decently well all together. Meanwhile the chiptune, I wasn't really feeling it at the start too much, beginning felt a bit weak and the super repetitive part felt a bit confusing (which, for me, can sometimes be a positive? I like confusion good job), but as the song kept going I got more into it.

Tree (roots) of Life starts out with big brass. I don't like the big realistic brass. I'm not really too into the orchestral instrumentation it's going for but the big echoey hits are pretty nice at least. Revealed's got some Realistic instrumentation too but it's not orchestral, more interesting, and a helpful example of what I can like with "realistic" sounds. I've been listening to a few other Off-Peak songs because it seems weird & interesting (I wonder what sort of game this is) and honestly this feels like the weakest one I've come to so far, a bit too calm / atmospheric without seeming to do too much other interesting quirks, or at least how I think some of the other OffPeak songs do. Still a neat weird atmosphere though, I'll take it over Orchestral Root Beer. Golly it's long though.

I feel like I like Begins' synths better than yesterdays, though this song is pretty plain & short, one repetitive section followed by a kind of better & less repetitive one. Really though it's not That bad, it's got kind of a nice peppy energy to it, even if it doesn't do all that much. On the other side though I'm not really too much of a fan of Run's instrumentation aside from that sharp low synth, but especially not that chorus. I'm just not feeling this one. Also lemme just say "Revealed, Begins, Run" we got some interesting song names because I feel like one-word song names aren't usually of verbs in the past, active, or future tense. Or like, things not ending in -ing really. maybe. Interesting to have all 3 together like this how odd. Hm the 3 songs I picked look like that thing I think KCF did in the VGMC where he'd cut bits of his vote choices until it looked like a legible sentence. cool good job
---

NieR: Automata - Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
"Posssessed by a Disease" has a very hymnos/EXEC_SPHILIA vibe to it and I can't get enough of it. The vocals are beautiful and the song itself is too. It's atmospheric and ominous, all while taking listeners on a musical journey. "Cloudbuilt" was a little too grating on the ears for me. I defs appreciate what it was trying to do, but it just wasn't my kind of song.

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Tree of Life: Roots
What a fantastic song. I'm always on the lookout for Pokemon music and was sad I hadn't found this gem sooner. "Tree of Life: Roots" captures the adventurous spirit of the Pokemon games gorgeously, all while being a fun listen. Atmosphere aside, this is such a beautiful composition to listen to on a blustery, windy day like today. Thank you to whoever nommed this-- I love it!!~

Dusk - Run
Another amazing composition in what seems to be odd time! Anything in odd time with a prog influence is bound to have my vote. I still see the Animals as Leaders prog/metal influence here and it makes me soSO happy to listen to more dark math music! I already LOVED_ the Dusk song from two days ago and today's pick was even more of a jam! The composer behind this song is incredible and each song on this OST packs one heck of a punch. This was a great pick from a great OST!
---

NieR: Automata - Possessed by a Disease (Vocals)
Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Tree of Life: Roots
Dusk - Run

MATCH 1

I honestly forgot that Possessed by a Disease was a song in the game. When I was listening to it as the idea to add this to the setlist was being thrown around, I had to check where it played in the game because I definitely missed it when I watched a playthrough of Nier Automata. I'm surprised I missed it though because this is definitely a really cool song! I remember saying that Class::EXPAJA sounded like a crossover between Ar nosurge and Nier Automata. Possessed by a Disease is probably the best example in the game's soundtrack of the inverse of that. As others have alluded to, the vocals strongly remind me of those types of songs--more so than other songs from this game. I think it sounds really neat, although I usually prefer Emi Evans' style of vocals. At least in this case, the way the vocalists are making their voices sound, while interesting, don't sound as good to me as just regular singing. Though, that's just a minor nitpick at the most (I'm not personally trying to offer criticism when I say that) and I think the song's pretty great.

Cloudbits sounds pretty neat too. I'm not too big of a fan of the intro but the rest of it sounds quite nice! I especially like the melody from 1:08-1:31. I think I tend to like chiptune stuff like this more than authentic NES type of songs. I imagine it has to do with chiptune songs like Cloudbits being able to add more depth to the song than than the hardware of those older consoles can do. Ultimately, though, it's not enough to beat Possessed by a Disease.

MATCH 2

[Will edit this with the rest of this writeup soon-ish]

Cloudbits
Revealed
Run

those are cool ^
---

Oops I ran past the time to edit the last post. Oh well, here's the rest of the writeup for anyone who cares.

MATCH 2

I've never listened to any of the PMD music from past Explorers of Sky so it's pretty surprising to hear the quality of Super Mystery Dungeon's music, particularly in this song. I'd never expect this kind of orchestra-esque music to come from a PMD game. It's pretty good too! Not my favorite PMD song ever, but it does a nice job at what it does!

Revealed is an interesting song, but not really my thing. Too avant-garde, for lack of a better word, for my tastes.

MATCH 3

This is an interesting match because I like this AoS2 song more than the last one, while at the same time, I like this Dusk song a little less than the last one. I guess melodically, Begins is more interesting to me. Still not a huge fan of this style, but it's definitely an improvement. Run has a really cool atmosphere. The vocals towards the middle of the song are pretty neat. I slightly prefer the regular metal stuff from the rest of the setlist to this, but this is neat too. Bit of a closer match, but still in favor of of Run here.

Possessed by a Disease > Cloudbits > Tree of Life: Roots > Run > Begins > Revealed