Board 8 > [BOST] Day 37: Pokemon DP v Touhou 11, Ys 8 v League, Gravity Rush v MurasakiTsu

(+) 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 3

Pokmon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum - Battle! Dialga/Palkia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2pq9yBXunA" data-time="

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Last Remote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX5kXNo-O8U" data-time="

Main Bracket: Losers Round 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Next Step Toward the Unknown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K4Ad5XCxlI" data-time="

League of Legends - Neeko, the Curious Chameleon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rKhj0N_eaU" data-time="

Snubs Bracket: Round 2

Gravity Rush - Discovery of Gravitation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRf5XKeo-DQ" data-time="

Murasaki Tsurugi - Healthy Unicorn Girl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32PNOzgLBA" data-time="

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Vote Form:
Battle! Dialga/Palkia / Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown / Neeko, the Curious Chameleon
Discovery of Gravitation / Healthy Unicorn Girl

Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl

The first match is everything i would've wanted from a match involving these games. There aren't many songs in touhou I'd actually take over Palkia/Dialga.

Both of these are like a 6 to me close match but I'm kinda indifferent

Discovery of Gravitation goes places, though I feel it would've been stronger had it not departed. The 4 and 5 of the tsurugi set are two I specifically put on because they're polarising as heck but I love them, and I'm glad we got to one of them here. They were both hit kind of hard by the album to in-game transition though. Healthy Unicorn Girl here is missing the last minute or so from the album version (which is pretty major when it's not even a 2 and a half minute loop). Hopefully that doesn't hold it back too much.

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Last Remote
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Next Step Toward the Unknown
Gravity Rush - Discovery of Gravitation
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match one: too similar to decide
match two: too indifferent to decide
match three: both too good to decide

i hate bost

(subject to change)
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Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl
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Last Remote
Neeko, the Curious Chameleon
Discovery of Gravitation
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Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl

Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl

This first match, THIS FIRST MATCH wow. Here we have a 9/10 song vs. an actual 10/10 song for me here. This is the strongest match of the contest yet, and I would not be sad at all if this is where my nomination gets bumped down to LB. But man, the way Last Remote goes from really tense, to calm piano, then the main melody hits me hard each time I listen to this without fail. That bit of piano starting 48 seconds in is my favorite little section of any Touhou song, even if it is brief.

Second match is also pretty good, a lot more close than I thought it was going to be, but NSTtU is my clear favorite here, being more reminiscent of the Ys 7 soundtrack (I feel like a lot of stuff from Ys 8 is too short).

There have been some really good discoveries from both of these soundtracks in the Snubs match, so thank you nominators! DoG is very pleasant, but I just wish it were a tiny bit longer. Really nice Studio Ghibli instrumentation here. HUG is really cool freestyle chaos. Ahhhh tough choice!
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Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl

how is last remote so good why did diamond and pearl have to get the one song i actually really like from this game aaaaaaaaaa

Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl

had to make sure I wasn't listening to the Touhou song first by accident in the first match
neeko neeko niiii is actually nice and relaxing and I like it just not enough
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Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl

Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
abstain
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Last Remote
Neeko, the Curious Chameleon
Healthy Unicorn Girl

Pokmon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum - Battle! Dialga/Palkia - 6/10

Am I the only one who doesn't like this one all that much? From someone who likes most of the battle themes from this game quite a bit (namely giratina and lake trio of which i think neither are on this list grr) this one never felt that impactful to me. It's an interesting tone of being dark and mysterious, but it doesn't really stand out much to me nor make me feel much. The main thing bringing it up for me I think is the fact it adds that high-pitched almost hopeful part near the loop, it's a bit of deviation that goes a long way in terms of making it memorable, I think.

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Last Remote - 7/10

Now this is a really good Touhou song (Though weaker than I expected it to be, admittedly). It kinda starts similar to Dialga/Palkia at the start, and some of the more chaotic (but not that chaotic) parts also have similar feels, but the main melodies that come through a couple times in the song are what really sets this quite a bit above. I will say the remix I'd heard of this prior to hearing the original I enjoyed quite a bit more though. I wish it could all be that piano melody part.

Voting for Last Remote

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Next Step Toward the Unknown - 7/10

One of those songs that just hits me right away. A lot of strong, desperate stuff at the beginning, really great. Then it kinda...backpedals for a bit? The lone violin (not certain if it's a violin but I'm gonna call it one) doesn't really carry the same kind of weight. Then the rest pick up after with it and it does get quite a bit better again. Basically whenever the guitar is playing are my favourite parts of the song, it somehow is so driving here. There are some weird things they do with rhythm a couple times that kinda just throw me off more than anything, but the idea of the song is focused and consistent, and I do really like it for that.

League of Legends - Neeko, the Curious Chameleon - 7/10

There are a lot of things this song does that make me almost dislike it, and a lot of things that make me very close to liking it a lot, but neither really end up fully coming through for me. The part after the vocals was a nice touch that brought it up honestly quite a bit though.

That's gonna be an Abstain from me chief

Gravity Rush - Discovery of Gravitation - 5.5/10

This is definitely not what I expected from this song at all. It starts out almost Layton-y (though not quite as great as their main themes, for example) then it kinda gets almost Harry Potter after that? It's definitely...interesting but just kinda feels more inconsistent to me than it being a positive thing in this case.

Murasaki Tsurugi - Healthy Unicorn Girl - 5.5/10

So dissonant. Almost agressively so. I wish I could enjoy dissonance because aside from it some of what this song does is kinda cool. Some parts here do actually sound cool! But idk I'm generally just opposed to dissonance in general. I think I'll probably just vote for this because I'd see myself more likely to come back to it than the other because it feels a lot more deliberately unique.

Voting for Healthy Unicorn Girl

Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Discovery of Gravitation
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Pokmon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum - Battle! Dialga/Palkia: 8.5. I like the Brawl version better but this is still a terrific track. Lots of energy.
vs.
Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Last Remote: 7.5. See, I like Touhou music sometimes!

and

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Next Step Toward the Unknown: 5.5. I like that feeling in the chorus of the notes being crowded into that one bar over and over. That's my favorite part.
vs.
League of Legends - Neeko, the Curious Chameleon: 7.5. A mixture of Irelia and Taliyah's themes in terms of atmosphere. Very cool.

and

Gravity Rush - Discovery of Gravitation: 5.
vs.
Murasaki Tsurugi - Healthy Unicorn Girl: 4.

Votes:
Battle! Dialga/Palkia
Neeko, the Curious Chameleon
Discovery of Gravitation

Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Discovery of Gravitation

DPP's main melody is pretty cool, but other than that I'm not that into the song. Last Remote keeps going in a good way IMO.

Hmm, tough match. I like both of these a good amount. Would be happy to see either win, honestly.

Discovery of Gravitation starts out kinda boring, but I was really digging the buildup until it just suddenly ended. HUG is kinda the opposite. Keeps going on and getting worse.
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battle
neeko
gravity how does it work?
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Battle! Dialga/Palkia
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Healthy Unicorn Girl
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Battle! Dialga/Palkia
Neeko, the Curious Chameleon
Healthy Unicorn Girl

Oh look I'm voting in a bost match again. Grad school is a thing that happens sometimes.

I really don't like the chorus of Next Step Towards the Unknown. I'm sure it was somehow intentional, but it just sounds to me like they're failing to play the rhythm that they were trying to play. (The line at 2:21, for example) I like the rest of the song but man that one particular rhythm really brings it down.

Pretty good day overall tbh.
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Pokmon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum - Battle! Dialga/Palkia - pity vote, though I'm actually not sure which I like more. Last Remote is a mixed bag. Argh, I shouldn't have listened to those who requested the Dialga/Palkia battle, since I don't think it's that great [but still good].... yet it's by far my least favorite of the reps. I prefer the Azef/Uxie/Mesprit battle, by far. I guess I'm lucky this wasn't used until today, since I'm thinking the game would have lost here with both Game Corner and Route 209. DPP is lucky, indeed.

League of Legends - Neeko, the Curious Chameleon - man, I like all of the lower LoL reps than the higher ones.

Gravity Rush - Discovery of Gravitation - Close call. The snubs match is the best match today.
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Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Last Remote
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Next Step Toward the Unknown
Gravity Rush - Discovery of Gravitation

MATCH 1

Dialga/Palkia Battle is a song that's mostly valuable to me for nostalgia reasons. As a standalone song, it's pretty decent, but not exceptionally good. I don't think Pokemon battle themes are the kind of songs that stick out to me personally from the series in the sense of liking them a lot musically. I think I'm more partial to route and town themes, generally speaking.

Once again, Touhou as a series generally has really good music to me. Last Remote is one song that I happen to like a lot. I think it's really good from start to finish, but 0:00-0:32 I think is the best part of the song.

MATCH 2

Next Step Towards the Unknown is pretty good, but a bit weak for Falcom music. Really like the guitar solo towards the middle of the song. I guess it's just not quite the style that I end up loving a lot from their games.

Janus beat me to the nico nico nii joke which means that I don't have to be the one to make it. Thanks for taking one for the team! I feel like this is a song that I should a like a lot during certain parts, but I'm fairly indifferent on it as a whole. Not sure what it is, I just didn't find myself getting all that interested in the song as I listened to it.

MATCH 3

Discovery of Gravitation's a really nice song! That soft piano intro is very nice, but I don't like that E note at 0:22. I think it makes a tritone with the backing piano so that's probably why. Tritones in this style of music, I imagine, are not things that would be well-received by me. I also don't like when that E on the violin comes in either. Not quite for the same reason, I just don't think it fits well. The rest of the song is really pretty! The instrumentation there is pretty nice.

Not really all that interested in Healthy Unicorn Girl. Guess it just doesn't really do anything to draw me in.

Last Remote > Discovery of Gravitation = Next Step Towards the Unknown > Battle! Dialga/Palkia > Neeko, the Curious Chameleon > Healthy Unicorn Girl

after much deliberation...

Last Remote
Next Step Towards the Unknown

and after much more deliberation....


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Last Remote
Next Step Toward the Unknown
Discovery of Gravitation

Shame I have to vote against my favourite DPP song to show up so far.

I hoped that LoL would fare a little better in this competition, but Caravan into PMD2 into Ys 8 is a tough gauntlet to run!
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N/m, after looking at comments it turns out people like Dialga/Palkia. No regrets, then.
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