Board 8 > [BOST] Day 24: S-11 v Touhou 11, FF7 v FE14, GiFTPiA v Arkanoid DS

(+) Yeah! (+)

Greetings, and welcome to the 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

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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.

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Main Bracket: Winners Round 2

Project S-11 - Bern Jungle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oYRW_a-Lc" data-time="

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Green-Eyed Jealousy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxrr7tYkCg4" data-time="

Main Bracket: Losers Round 1

Final Fantasy VII - Highwind Takes to the Skies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dnl6NoEVdo" data-time="

Fire Emblem Fates - Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)

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

Snubs Bracket Match

GiFTPiA - CIGNITA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbUhHxx1n0k" data-time="

Arkanoid DS - Dear Friend on All Planet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV-h4WWhBy8" data-time="

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Vote Form:
Bern Jungle / Green-Eyed Jealousy
Highwind Takes to the Skies / Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
CIGNITA / Dear Friend on All Planet

Project S-11 - Bern Jungle - 6/10
Still not really my kind of soundfont, but I think this song uses it a lot better than the other songs I've heard in this ost so far.

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Green-Eyed Jealousy - 7/10
Definitely an improvement over the last song from this game, has some of the emotion of the earlier games that I know (6 and 7 mostly), and while it doesn't quite still capture the same feelings as some of my favourites from that (capital city of flowers in the sky, namely), and also kinda doesnt feel like a boss theme to me, this is more in tune to the kind of Touhou I know and love.

Voting for Green-Eyed Jealousy

Final Fantasy VII - Highwind Takes to the Skies - 6/10
I still feel like the soundfont is kinda fighting it here, and I also can't quite place the exact feeling of a theme like this, but it does evoke some feelings, and is a pretty triumphant piece, I would say.

Fire Emblem Fates - Lost in thoughts all alone (EN) - 7/10
Song I know way too well now. But it's emotional, and I think it does vocals well. Honestly I think the only kinda weak parts are when there isn't singing. It's almost like the song doesn't really know what else to do with itself.

GiFTPiA - CIGNITA - 4/10
At least my vote is easy today. The vocals for this one don't really feel like they add anything to me, and the rest of the instrumental parts have qualities where they could go somewhere, but they rarely try to collect themselves into actually progressing a melody or anything.

Voting for Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)

Arkanoid DS - Dear Friend on All Planet - 8/10
Just feels like that perfect kind of credits theme. Or at least one of the good options, the other being a reprise of other melodies that played throughout the game. This one opts for summing up the game, and just feeling heartfelt and thoughtful, and the actual pinging sound effects add a lot of uniqueness to the song. And then probably my favourite part of the song right at the end, the slow, solemn version of the round start jingle, what is kinda seen as the musical trademark of Arkanoid. One of those credits themes that makes you feel like you went through a pleasing and notable experience regardless of if you just actually did or not. Wrote a lot for just giving it a 8. I guess it just doesn't go hard enough for me for more lmao

Voting for Dear Friend on All Planet

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Green-Eyed Jealousy
Fire Emblem Fates - Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Arkanoid DS - Dear Friend on All Planet
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Project S-11 - Bern Jungle - this game shows how artistic and tasteful even with GB sounds. The composers for this game are Jonne Valtonen (who has done a ton of video game arrangements for orchestra...see Wikipedia) and Aleksi Eeben. Good work getting this in, rwlh. I can't believe I didn't support it.

Fire Emblem Fates - Lost in thoughts all alone (EN) - I had forgotten how good Highwind was. Also, too bad the syllables don't fit the melody in Lost in thoughts, but I like the theme/chords/vocals enough that it still gets my vote.

Arkanoid DS - Dear Friend on All Planet
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Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet
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Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet

I'm kind of a sucker for Touhou sometimes

Youuuuuuuuuuu are the oooooooooooocean's gray waaaaaaaaaaaaves
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Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet
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Bern Jungle
Highwind Takes to the Skies
Dear Friend on All Planet

Bern Jungle
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet

Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet



After the first day, pretty much all the rest of the songs in the SA setlist are at least a high 8 for me.

I kinda agree with the others on the bad sample quality of FF7 tracks. After how far they were able to push the SNES soundchip for 6, hearing this on the PS1 just doesn't sound as impressive. There are plenty of FF7 tracks I really love (and on average would take this soundtrack over the opponent), but this isn't one of them. FEF vocal tracks have grown on me just a little bit.
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Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet

I like a lot of the FF7 soundtrack but this is one of the songs I don't really care about.
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Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet

Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
CIGNITA

I'm pretty sure i sided with the s-11 track of last round, right? it was the touhou one i flipped on iirc. Yeah so, i can't recall if i said it then but it was distinctly because of CT's weakness than an actual like for S-11's sound. Bern Jungle is like a 5 at best just like the rest of the ost. Green-Eyed Jealousy on the other hand is one of the specifically 4 (5 counting alt) songs on the setlist for SA I approve of. It's probably only my 4/5th favourite on it but there's a gap there that makes this a very easy decision here.

Predictably one-sided second match

I spent a fair bit of time mulling over this snubs match when doing predix. Dear Friend on All Planet is... basically a trademark supersweep pop ending theme but with with extra beeps that make it cool and stuff like "nice". So what I'm saying is i like it a lot because it's like things i like but more unique. But then CIGNITA exists and is also unexpectedly something i dig a ton. I ended up barely sidding with giftpia after listening to the alts to tiebreak, siding with arkanoid there, and then going "oh wait i think i preferred cignita barely oops". So... i kind of am glad the results seem to be pointing the direction they are because i guess I prefer arkanoid's set in general but cignita specifically is strong to me. Or something like that idk. i hope nobody treats what i say with credibility because i just ramble

Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost In Thoughts All Alone
CIGNITA
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Bern Jungle
Highwind Takes to the Skies
Dear Friend on All Planet

Green-Eyed Jealousy
Highwind Takes to the Skies
CIGNITA

I really don't like the sound of any of the S11 tracks I've heard. This one's a bit better than the others, but still not good. Gree-Eyed Jealousy uses some nice instruments for Touhou.

Highwind's pretty fun. Not the best FFVII song, but good stuff. Lost in Thoughts might be good without the shit english singer.

Huh, I actually feel the same as UF8 with the final match. I like the Arkanoid OST a lot more, but I'm not that into this song, and Cignita's kinda nice.
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Project S-11 - Bern Jungle: 8.5. BERN BERN BERN BERN TO THE GROUND AAAAAHHHH god why is this soundtrack so good every track is just amazing chiptune goodness
vs.
Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Green-Eyed Jealousy: 3. Above-average Touhou.

and

Final Fantasy VII - Highwind Takes to the Skies: 3. Pretty boring rendition of a song I already find boring! Not my favorite in this set.
vs.
Fire Emblem Fates - Lost in thoughts all alone (EN): 2. This grew on me a little as it went along (and I appreciate that it builds differently from typical "verse 2 adds instrumental backing" structure (even though it sort of does that later)), but it's still not something I'd ever willingly listen to again. It stopped growing on me halfway through and just became a chore; I actually sighed out loud at one point, and it wasn't a good sigh.

and

GiFTPiA - CIGNITA: 8.5. The GiFTPiA set I really wanted to nominate because there's simply nothing else like it in VGM. Every song is totally self-contained and uniquely weird. Building the set was a challenge because I had absolutely no idea how anything would be received, so I literally randomized it. CIGNITA is actually one of the more normal songs. If you like it, check out the rest of the set. Heck, even if you don't like it, check it out anyway - they're all really different songs! (My favorite is still icicle, but I saw how badly that did in VGMC.)
vs.
Arkanoid DS - Dear Friend on All Planet: 6. Pretty serviceable dance-type music. I like the record scratching effects and the Mega Man-esque beats. Surprisingly sad, wistful ending that bumps it up a tier for me.

Votes:
Bern Jungle
Highwind Takes to the Skies
CIGNITA

gej
highwind
cignita
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Bern Jungle
n/a unless listening to snippets counts for the "Listen to both Songs!!" rule, then it's Highwind Takes to the Skies
Dear Friend on All Planet

First match is really close for me, two pretty great songs !! Both that seem to really start out the same if you ask me, like it's sort of the same note(s) / key or something? Wildly different instrumentation of course though. I think I'm leaning towards Bern Jungle (do not Burn Jungle !! topical tropical) because while Green Eyed Jealousy has access to much higher quality sounds, it's fairly stagnant in what it does. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing because it sticks with what works, but Bern working with the difficult hardware is a bit more experimental with the different sections, which also work for me, and so I want to hand it to it. I really like the key shift at :29 of Bern Jungle along with those "vibrating" notes that it does, :48 is also great too.

Second match, I mean lets be honest here, it's extremely likely I'd vote for Highwind Skies in this match up, but I just, really don't care enough about either song to force myself to listen to both for the match. If listening to little snippets counts you can count this as a vote for Highwind Takes to the Skies but other wise I'm just gonna skip ok.

Guitar + Bass in Cignita is alright, decent latin-like atmosphere. Predictably I don't care for the vocals though. But honestly it's decent. Dear Friend on All Planet is interesting grammar but also a decent space fantasy synth sound. It works for me. The real breakdown in the middle is a cool interlude even though it also features robotic vocals. I like the echoey beeps fluttering around this song it's nice good job
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I swear GameBop, if you actually liked pretty music you'd be my most compatible VGM buddy!
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Green-Eyed Jealousy
Highwind Takes to the Skies
CIGNITA
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Green-Eyed Jealousy
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Dear Friend on All Planet

A Touhou song that actually approaches the upper end of being decent!

FEFLITAAEN has 5.7M views that is a big number for being in the lower half of its set! Vocals definitely took some getting used to here.

Unremarkable snubs match
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Bern Jungle
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
CIGNITA

I wish the not-piano parts sounded anywhere near as good as the piano part in the Touhou song. Bern Jungle not my favorite from the setlist but it's the easy choice here.
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burn jengle
highwind
dear friend
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Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Green-Eyed Jealousy
Fire Emblem Fates - Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
Arkanoid DS - Dear Friend on All Planet

MATCH 1

I see that FL81 beat me to making a joke about Bernkastel. Honestly, smug Bern is probably better than any joke I could've come up with so I'm all for it. Anyway, Bern Jungle is decent but definitely not as good as the last song from this game that was up. I'd probably say I like it more than Kenhull Badlands though.

Green-Eyed Jealousy once again demonstrates how I tend to like Touhou music a lot. Seems like that's the opposite of how a lot of b8'ers tend to feel, but yeah, I'm pretty consistent in my liking of Touhou music. I'd probably describe this song as an upper-tier Touhou song. I really like this wistful feeling that I get from this song. I think the piano's the most evocative of that. I'm still a bit surprised that I actually voted the Project S-11 song over Chrono Trigger during that match, but this time, it's not at all a hard decision and one that's not surprising at all for me.

MATCH 2

Pretty strong match here! I really enjoy the triumphant sound to this song. Particularly that melody that starts at 0:14. I also like that chord change at 0:07. Not really sure why, but it just sounds notably good to me.

Lost in Thoughts All Alone is a classic and I happen to like this song a lot. I just really like the melody in the vocals and the backing piano. The English version is very good, but I think I like the Japanese version a little bit more and not just because I'm a dumb closet weeb. I just prefer the vocal inflections of the Japanese singer more for this song. Both pretty good songs, but Lost in Thoughts All Alone is a sort of easy decision to make.

MATCH 3

Oh god what are these vocals. I was actually starting to like this in the beginning until the vocals showed up. Really not a fan of how this singer sings this song. It seems like Giftpia is the kind of soundtrack for "weird" music, for lack of a better word, so I assume this style of singing was intentional, but yeah, I don't really like it. It sounds a bit more tolerable in the chorus. I'd probably like this song a lot more if the vocals weren't there. At least I'd vote it over Icicle! I don't dislike everything about this song though, so just so I don't make this writeup entirely negative for this song, I will say that I like the Latin influences of this song. Feels sort of like Gerudo Valley.

Dear Friend on All Planet is pretty chill and happy, but what's with those random pinging noises? They're all out of key so it's pretty jarring to hear that. Would rather those not be in the song. I feel like this song kind of boils down to "piano good" even if the song isn't entirely piano.

Green-Eyed Jealousy = Lost in thoughts all alone (EN) > Highwind Takes to the Skies > Dear Friend on All Planet > Bern Jungle > CIGNITA

Bern Jungle
Lost in thoughts all alone (EN)
CIGNITA

snubs always hardest match as always as usual
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Project S-11 - Bern Jungle
cool song cool song cool song!! Everything from s11 is great and I love this track a lot. This group of composers that produced these songs did a great job, especially with the limitations of the soundchip. Also this music is very jungle so props to the composers for conveying jungle in song form!

Final Fantasy VII - Highwind Takes to the Skies
Not a fan of either songs from this match but ff7 is the best out of the two. Fire Emblem doesn't wow me at all. They're both okay songs but defs not my faves.

GiFTPiA - CIGNITA
This is a crazy awesome song and I love it. I'm not even sure what the lyrics are, but the song is so vibrant and fun it doesn't matter. Giftpia music is typically a yes for me and while government official 4 is my fave from this ost, I think this song is awesome too. also this is place's alarm so that's cool !
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Project S-11 - Bern Jungle
Final Fantasy VII - Highwind Takes to the Skies
GiFTPiA - CIGNITA

Can't do a writeup today--CIGNITA was my morning alarm for a while

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