Board 8 > [VGMC] d6: TIGAR vs MA*DA*RA, Return to Oblivion vs The world of spirit

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 14, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss/edit#gid=320804650
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=473292
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78524521
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1REnVI_W6yELaDP6Zac8b0Wq
ToC playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RE-TQMj19D0k5nm-0zeH12J
VGMC compability sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lpX4faqnn_geI0y4i6MrZ2AXpV6SWXoWrIA6_eyx-yM/edit

Rules:
- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite of all-time and S

MADARA
The world of spirit
ASGORE
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Mouryou Senki Madara - MADARA
Final Fantasy XIV - Return to Oblivion
Umineko no Naku Koro ni 1 - system0

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
system0

TIGAR (All Phase Mix) (6.5/10) / MADARA (5.5/10)
Return to Oblivion (6.5/10) / The world of spirit (7.5)

Bad day of music, relatively speaking. I love that baby robo voice in the Dariusburst track, though!

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Blue Reflection - TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Final Fantasy XIV - Return to Oblivion
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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Return to Oblivion
system0



Best round thus far. Possibly better than any round from the last two contests, but then I can't actually recall any specific past rounds to accurately judge.
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Tigar
Return to Oblivion
System0

Tigar is so weirdly warm and fuzzy. I don't know how it does this when half the time it's scrambling around or doing zoom-zooms or whoops or other things that probably have Actual Names but it just feels like a warm embrace saying no matter how crazy things get the melody plays on or something i dunno. i love how the melody from around 1:10 gets brought back with these beautiful huge base chords with synth doing sixteenth stuff in the background and then the violin comes in over it and ~~~~~~~~~~

gasp someone put a non-ascii character in the song title azu's gonna be so mad~ It's actually pretty good, just completely blown out.

I'm not sure what Return to Oblivion wants to be but I wish it were more of that. I kind of like it more when it's louder, but when it's quieter it's too simple or something? not quite sure why, wish i understood my tastes better sometimes.

World of Spirit didn't grab me. I'm not sure why; I feel like it should.

Believing quoting Star Trek to be perfect is often a sign of a sane mine. And I'm definitely not saying that because I've watched too much Star Trek while under house arrest no sirree~ The track itself post-intro is mostly nice until the giant WAHS at 1:40 that are amazing and everything after that point is a joy.

Doop deep ~this is a comment~ doop deep ~here's some more comment~ doop deep ~i dunno why i'm being mean to asgore it's solid and doesn't deserve any of this I'M SORRY.
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[abstain]
Final Fantasy XIV - Return to Oblivion
Undertale - ASGORE

I like maybe thirty seconds of TIGAR and maybe no seconds of MA DA RA. Probably won't be not-abstaining but if I do I'll go for the former

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MADARA
Return to Oblivion
system0

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MADARA
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Return to Oblivion
system0

Maybe I would have voted for ASGORE if it had bergtrucking though.

Or not. I troll.

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE

One of these days I'm going to give in and play FFXIV, and it will almost certainly be the soundtrack that pushes me to do so.

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
system0

wow I like Tigar a lot more this year rawr, just not the middle section go away kurt
Brain Power lyrics nfun what are you doing in the comments section, I've definitely come to appreciate the first half of this song more instead of just considering it buildup
Undertale music hasn't held up as well as I thought, though Asgore is still one of the better songs for me

deo day

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MADARA
The world of spirit
system0

I think I overrated Fax Factory a bit which is messing with my other scores so that's been adjusted.

Blue Reflection - TIGAR (All Phase Mix) at 6.5 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! I regret not having the forsight to register the account "bluereflectionhater" but it is what it is. This song does a lot of things, and none of them really do much for me. I don't actively dislike this song, it's just kind of there. Although for some reason I don't really like the violin melody, even though it's something I probably should. Maybe I just associate it with other, worse Blue Refl--oh there we go. Song's actively not good anymore pack it in guys. The gross electronic shit plus the same cloying saccharine instrumentation I complained about years ago in Overdose make it feel like something rotting to me. This soundtrack is almost something I like which is probably why I'm repelled by it so much

Mouryou Senki Madara - MADARA at 8.5 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! lol MADARA vs TIGAR r1 rip deo. Unlike My Justice, I don't get why people like this one so much. It's not exceptional, just really solid.

Final Fantasy XIV - Return to Oblivion at 8.6 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! I kind of see why Squeenix insists people use gameplay videos for all OST uploads of this game. I kind of want to play it ngl. I don't think the soprano is super good; at least the rest of the singing is pretty interesting. It's good. I'll let Pyro get into details as to why, because I'm sure he will. If this song stays in, I bet it'll grow on me a lot.

Dariusburst - The world of spirit at 9.4 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! The beginning always reminds me of Smoke on the Water (this version specifically https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liRljEi7174, which is what i was referencing in the comments PLAYER TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION) for some reason. After that you get a pretty typical Darius song, in that it's not typical at all. What the hell are these soundtracks? Kimera II isn't in this ToC but if you've been paying uncomfortably close attention to my ratings of in in RTVGM you'll see that I like it a lot and it keeps getting higher. This song ticks a few of the same boxes even if it isn't quite as good. The distorted vocals are oddly appropriate and the song nails the aesthetic it tries so hard to hit. Well worth a support.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni 1 - system0 at 8.7 is my ???th favorite retiree in the contest!! We lived only to face a new nightmare... the war against the machines. I am going to vote against this song because there are too many Umineko songs retired and it is not fair to the other songs which are not as good as the Umineko songs that keep retiring. Angry face.

Undertale - ASGORE at 8.2 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! I am not afraid to beat a dead horse so I will say that Bergentruckung really should be with this, especially given that like four All Phase Mixes are in the contest. REGARDLESS I think I listened to too much Undertale when it came out like when I ate TOO MUCH macaroni and cheese as a kid and now i cant listen to undertale or eat mac and cheese except when I do. SO.
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MADARA
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE

TIGAR (All Phase Mix) [9.0] > MADARA [5.8]
Return to Oblivion [6.5] < The world of spirit [7.5]
system0 > ASGORE

.
-
/
-

wow weak match here
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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Return to Oblivion
system0

TIGAR's solid stuff. No Sayonara, of course, but mostly enjoyable MADARA's okay I guess. Worse than the average SMB1 level music.

Oblivion starts out alright. Gets awesome around the 1:20 mark and stays that way. Spirit builds up and gets better, but the 'climax' of the song lasts way too long and is eventually just the same thing over and over again, which ruins it.

System0 a classic. ASGORE is probably the most popular Undertale song I don't "get". It's just kinda nothing. Something like Death by Glamour is way better than this.

System0 > Oblivion > TIGAR > Spirit > ASGORE > MADARA

dang almost had the three all caps songs at the bottom
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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

TIGAR (ALL PHASE MIX) (14th) vs MA-DA-RA (7th)
Return to Oblivion (136th) vs The world of spirit (33rd)
System Zero [34th] vs ASGORE [22nd]

hate match 1 a lot i HATE IT do not make me vote in this. i refuse to vote in this. .... i will vote in this. TIGAR is "middle of the pack all phase mix" for me but like its still absolutely fucking amazing in every way and it has the best motif usage of all of them (sayonara is a bit too on-the-nose and the best parts of binGe are the non-motif parts) and the fucking WALL OF SOUND that just suddenly blows your mind as Michael comes in is like the whole reason i fucking love asano's production style in general just SUDDEN BANGER it's actually crazy. MA-DA-RA, on the other hand, is a one-of-a-kind song. it is so far the single only VRC6 song produced when it was actually like properly a thing (not shovel knight is what i'm trying to say lmfao) that really makes me go WOW SOUNDS!! the saws on the melody make it just fuckin POP out at you and the melody itself is so fucking good like actually earworm. i like the woooOOOOOOOWOOOOOOO in the latter part of the song way too much too like AAAAAAAAAAA this match is so stupid i hope i win. but also i hope i lose. fuck.

Return to Oblivion is a very shocking departure from other FF14 ventures that I'm very familiar with like Wayward Daughter/Worm's Tail/Rise and I don't mean that in a bad way at all!! The balance of serene with the vocals and backing vocals and blood-pumping boss music with the heavy bass kick and instrumentals is so cool, but in the end it really falls short of having a lasting effect on me like those aforementioned songs and so many other ones from the game. The world of spirit, however, is a Darius final stage song. And Darius final stage songs ALWAYS know how to put on a show. From the beginning subtle ritardando on the staticy music box all the way to the climax when the transistion to the boss happens at 2:35 this song reminds you that you're in a strange and dangerous place that somehow manages to stay beautiful, and when that boss abruptly forces its way in, it's here to ruin everything and anything. The contrast from the graceful beginning to the murderous ending is just... wow. I love murder weapon space fish!!! Feel very strongly about this match, which has been kind of a rarity these days.

ToC is quality as hell!! Love both of these songs, but I definitely still have a slight affinity for ASGORE over System Zero. I think System Zero still hasn't quite sunk in with me yet; I can appreciate a lot about it but I think I still need some time to figure out what its all about and what sets it apart from other -45 works. God -45 is so good. You know whats also good? Bergentruckung. Actually my favorite song in the game. Anyway, good match.

MA-DA-RA > TIGAR (ALL PHASE MIX) > The world of spirit > ASGORE > System Zero > Return to Oblivion

MADARA
Return to Oblivion
system0

Tigar (All Phases Mix) vs MADARA: I am allergic to Blue Reflection songs like this one so MADARA getting my vote here isn't very surprising. MADARA on its own is kinda funky already, so I feel it still did a good job in getting my vote.

Return to Oblivion vs The world of spirit: MAN, Return to Oblivion is super good. At first I wasn't feeling the vocals but once I heard that "TURN THE LIGHT OFF" everything started clicking into place for me to be able to enjoy this song. An absolute banger. The world of spirit is also super good as well. Love the chanting going on throughout the entire song, and if this somehow manages to beat Return to Oblivion I wouldn't even be mind.

system0 vs ASGORE: Something something often a sign of a delusional mind. Yeah system0 is one of my favorites from umineko so I had to go with it over ASGORE. Both are great but system0 just hits a lot harder with the suspenseful crazy vibe its got going on. Although the "final boss" vibe on ASGORE does hit pretty hard as well, especially the opening, That part of the song never fails to get me wanting to hear everything else.

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Mouryou Senki Madara - MADARA
Dariusburst - The world of spirit
Umineko no Naku Koro ni 1 - system0

Match 1: TIGAR is better than the amelodic machine noises that make up a good chunk of the bracket this year, but it's still low-tier as far as Gust music goes. MADARA is a super catchy NES tune, and I'm pleasantly surprised it even got nominated this year.

Match 2: RtO is pretty good, but overall not very memorable. The vocal style is pretty cool I guess. Really cool instrumentation and mad wailing in The world of spirit, very unique song.

ToC: Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind.
Toby Fox's works are either totally amazing or just average I don't get it why these are popular. ASGORE falls into the latter category. system0 is a legit 10/10 though and I'd probably choose it over anything from Undertale. Actually, relistening to ASGORE, it just sounds like a worse Rude Buster now.

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

in the first match the madara song feels so plain it kind of caught me off guard. Maybe there's some thing about it that I'm just completely missing. I dunno I'm really not in the mood for doing write ups.

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
system0

TIGAR (All Phase Mix) is my 78th favorite in the contest! This is the stereotype of blue reflection music to a fault. That is something that I enjoy! I think this lacks much to really distinguish it from the style of anything in the rest of the ost BUT if I heard this without knowing what the rest sounds like i'd go WHOA THIS IS VERY DISTINCt but because I know blue reflection music's style solidly at this point I'm just unable to distinguish it from the rest. This isn't really a complaint so much as an observation. Phase 2's probably my favorite part, the barrage of synth chords on cool weird sounds from 2:07-2:28 is wonderful, and shortly that being followed by a section with huge piano/string chord hits on slightly out-of-grasp wordy "hayato asano rhythms" really hits me the right way. The tiny sorta polymetric 7/8-against-4/4 arpeggio sequence from 3:44 - 3:55 & 5:48 - end is also one of my favorite bits unsurprisingly. Asano does that kind of casually placed in polymeter as a background compliment thing and I really really love that. Blue Reflection music is so dense and detailed that it's difficult to summarize, but it's good music to explore as someone who's way of perceiving music is mostly observing smaller specific details at the expense of any cohesion or larger structure...i don't really care about that. Blue reflection music I don't usually find memorable or catchy or structurally sound or emotionally effective or even aesthetically distinct, that is not where it excels for me. Instead i'm just being bombarded with 5000 different unrelated cool things...and that is ok! That sort of overstimulation works well for me as someone who's reactions are attached to random 2 second moments, random background stuff, single layers in a pile of 90 things at once. There's always something at any given moment interesting enough to keep my attention and that's what keeps me ranking it high even if it doesn't do some of the same things for me at other levels as other stuff does.

MADARA is my 187th favorite in the contest! extreme contrast from what i just said about blue reflection, really do not like that this song is catchy & memorable because I dislike it and i do not want to remember what it sounds like because I do not want it to be in my head. One thing this ranking has pointed out to me is that I'm most likely to rank stuff low if it is "memorable/catchy 'good' music" at the same time as being something i dislike. Something i don't recall's going to rank higher as is something that's "bad", but like "well put together but i do not like it" is far worse because it means it is actually effective at doing things that I do not like. My favorite part here is probably :45, that part's kind of neat and i wish it were expanded on because it loops too soon to explore that more! I also am fairly impressed with the sound design given the format that it's in. but that's much more a 'game soundchips are an interesting topic' than 'i actually like listening to this' way

by far the easiest match today (mostly because match 2&3 are both really close)

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Return to Oblivion is my 126th favorite in the contest! really underranked this one in my initial ranking, if I redid this this would be way higher. I LOVE the choir chords at :17 - :45 wow WOW. Right when that part ends i lose a lot of interest though and I think the overall mixing gets rid of a lot of the clarity of the elements I want to be able to pay attention to. if the melodic content of this resolved in less predictable ways i can see this moving up like 50 slots. as is it...probably can move up 50 slots anyways because i'm enjoying this way more than I remember. like holy shit the vocals at 1:14 wow. Love how echoy the space this song takes up is

The world of spirit is my 52nd favorite in the contest! this is a pretty straightforward track for a dariusburst track but that's not a bad thing. it doesn't have any parts that excite me as much as my favorite parts of Return to Oblivion, but it also doesn't have anything i dislike about it like at all. The echoy guitar at 1:45 really gets me strongly for some reason, it feels so distant and uhhhh...spacey...experiencing the Vast Organic Objects In The ENvironment of Nothing Worlds! One thing I find attractive about a lot of the parts 2:36 on is actually stuff that's almost like "bad' about it, like how it feels almost like haphazardly splicing together the start and the end of a section, like 3:03/3:31/4:35, something about the way that's arranged gives this very sharp intensity to when the next phrase starts, and the jankiness feels like it only adds to the metallic mechanical Darius Music vibe. It's weirdly cluttered from 2:36 on to the point i'd call it "bad mixing" but in this exact instance something about that just adds to the appeal. It makes it feel HUGE and mysterious even if i'd complain about it if something similar was done in other songs, big choir taking over the space world cool. I guess my interest in this track is mostly the instrumentation and it's enough to carry it this high. weird portamento fake voice, cool crazy expressive flute stuff that makes this feel like a forest suiddenly. and the whole thing's enforcing a generally intense and intense and intense drama epic bibtk4pakrgpos[pjth04kae[0rkg0-g] (

Despite the difference in ranking between the two, since doing the ranking Return to Oblivion has grown on me a ton and I think I ranked world of spirit a bit higher than my actual interest level is. I still love it but this match is closer than it appears! Very close match actually and I can imagine last minute switching.

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system0 (6/10) -45 is such a weird composer. has such a distinct style and I "respect" the weirdnesses their stuff has even if it often slips into directions that are far from my taste. This actually avoids going too far in the wrong direction for me ever though compared to any of his other stuff I'm familiar with. Though I've also warmed up to stuff in this vein in general this year compared to last. I went into this expecting to dislike it because in the past I have disliked it, but I actually came out liking it this time around! Anyways it's very DARK and I like dark : ) both atmospherically and compositionally it does everything to create an intimidating world that I am afraid to be in and that's cool in my books.

ASGORE (6/10) I do like this song, though my favorite parts are mostly the bits recognizable from other tracks in the game and it's hard for me to know how I'd react to those if I wasn't familiar with the soundtrack as a whole. Heartache is a bit more my thing than this one and naturally my favorite part of this is the part that references it, and I LOVE how it takes the s

TIGAR
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE

Return to Oblivion is probably my favorite song in the entire championship! either that or Shadowbringers at least. i just got so incredibly blown away by this song the first time i heard it, the way they incorporate Footsteps in the Snow is sooooo coool, just the fact that they added lyrics to a song from 5 years ago like they planned for it is such a power move, this song also just has so many little details and callbacks to other songs and i really like the lyrics and ONTOP of all that it just sounds really really great gaaah let's hope it does well

TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
system0

zzz

yeah actually return to oblivion isn't actually bad i will admit i may have been harsh on it (thankfully not publicly) in noms and bracketmaking (thankfully not directly). thaaaaat said it's still kind of just there because i don't really get much of a sense of progression from it. still would effortlessly take something like madara at least but world of spirit is kind of comfortably above it really, which is kinda sad when i'm not really on the right wavelength with it either. weak day, huh.

Yomitsu Hirasaka CORRUPTION > Prison STRIP = Patchwork CHIMERA > Infant Queen BEE > Totem BLUME > System 0 (bold for emphasis) > Fake Red SHOES > The Girls' Witch HUNT > KuiNA > Aci-EL > Solitary Deep Sea fish not capitalised because it STINKS (> undertale ASGORE). in case anyone needed an objectively correct -45 power ranking

this day is weird how is system0 the best song today

Tigar
Return to Oblivion
Asgore

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Blue Reflection - TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Dariusburst - The world of spirit
Umineko no Naku Koro ni 1 - system0

Best day so far and I think the first day where I don't have a negative opinion on any of the 6 songs.

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Return to Oblivion
-

IIRC for all the dnb stuff that has featured so far, TIGAR is the first track to actually use the Amen break. Whatever, the track is ridiculous and I love it.

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
system0

Blue Reflection - TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Final Fantasy XIV - Return to Oblivion

Umineko no Naku Koro ni 1 - system0
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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
system0

TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

MADARA
The world of spirit
system0

TIGAR (All Phase Mix)

The first couple minutes of this are all trance-y in a way I kind of... I'm not gonna say I don't like it but to me it's very much background noise. It exists. It feels like it's a big buildup for the drop at 2:05, which is an amazing drop. It's 'ufo music' except it's not from the perspective from the ufo it's from the perspective of the people on the ground as it slowly washes over everything with ultravibrant yellow blue green and pink beams. After this it continues with that general ufo theme but it becomes more glitchy, synth and drum loops stuttering. I really can't decide if I love this or hate it. Violins are mixed in but there's dubstep later... I think the amount of elements I generally dislike is larger than the amount of parts I love in the song.

MADARA

I LIKE THIS SONG. it is konami nes it sounds like castlevania music that's all struttin up and down stairs and stuff where you feel COOL even if you want to laugh at yourself while being COOL. vrc6 is a very good soundchip. disappointed lagrange point wasn't nommed i wanted broken replicaizer in the contest so we could have vrc7... this song doesn't sound as cool WHOA prog these notes are going everywhere as the castlevania songs i like tho... still better than blue reflection [i like blue reflection it's just retro konami is a sweet spot of mine]

x

Return to Oblivion

oh this is ffxiv music. it's really hard for me to say things about this soundtrack for some reason. all the boss themes feel like 'let's do a ton of thrashy electric guitars and drums'... when the vocals on this song all start overlapping over each over and contrasting i like that. back when i was talking about apostle's maraud i referred to it being like 'caught between the ceiling and the sea' - to me, this song is like being stuck to the floor in a massive cave. In apostle's maraud, it felt like you were being forced into a lot of space that didn't actually exist. In this song, the space exists, but you can't go there.

The world of spirit

yo why do you have to start off a banger like this with a musicbox that's gonna make me uninterested in 5 seconds this is possibly one of the few darius songs that's to my taste as of yet. i love the weird vox out of tune vocals that's going all over the place in the beginning and then later on there's this faded delayed guitars which i really love. AT 2:35 IT GOES HAM WITH THIS CRUSHED SLOW DRUMS and it feels like the world is turning around you. and then these big vocal pads are in the background and start overwhelming everything and oh man it just feels like the world keeps getting BIGGER around you like there's more and more to explore the more you look.

x

system0

SPOOKY PSYCHIATRIST MUSIC. oh no the doctor is going to catch you and feed you organ pipes. this song feels very dark and echo-y... and it has the 'satellite radio noises' i love good. CHOIR PADS LATER ON IN THE SONG. AND THEN HARPSICHORD COMES IN AW YEAH TIME TO GET DOWN OR THE GHOST PSYCHIATRIST IS GONNA TELL YOU TO LEARN TO PLAY CLASSICAL MUSIC.. . .castlevania . . . oh man i just realized all the choir pads in this song totally remind me of dungeons of dredmor. i love that ost.

ASGORE

The context this song plays in game is really thematic to the song. A lot of people have played Undertale, and I don't think I'm understating it when I say it's one of the most popular [and possibly most influential] soundtracks of the 2010s. Toby Fox made a lot of good uses of motifs on this song track. The one that always sticks out to me here is the reuse of the 'Heartache' motif. It makes sense that this motif would be in both Asgore and Toriel's battle themes - they're extremely related characters. I feel like if I go too far with analysing how this song uses motifs I might start talking about Undertale's story instead and this'll take like. 9 paragraphs. This song feels like a vortex that's constantly trying to suck you in and then expel you back out. I love the sense of dimension this song has... how it can go from really thin and like it's not taking up much space to feeling like you're in a massive room, it moves really fluidly.

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MADARA
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE
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MADARA
The world of spirit
ASGORE

180 places between Mycro and deo o_O. MADARA is really divisive, isn't it?

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

First match was difficult; I'm not a fan of either song. The former comes across to me as an ordinary Konami NES tune, while the latter has parts I really enjoy (1:13) and parts I despise (3:12). Second match was difficult for the opposite reason, I would give both picks somewhere above a 9.

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Flamander posted...

disappointed lagrange point wasn't nommed i wanted broken replicaizer in the contest so we could have vrc7.

technically aliens go home run is half vrc7! the whole ost is within vrc7+n163
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MADARA
Return to Oblivion
system0

Man match 1 looking like it's going to be a contender for worst result in contest history. I do not feel anything from TIGAR I'm sorry. I don't know what it is about Blue Reflection music that makes it feel so utterly devoid of substance to me but I don't think I'm ever going to see it any other way.

Return to Oblivion is kinda neat. The vocals are pretty in a hard-rock sounding sort of way. Reminds me a bit of the band Nightwish and I always more or less liked them. Not entirely sure what to say about The World of Spirit but I don't think I'm a huge fan. It's going for some type of ambiance that for one reason or another doesn't do much for me. I think I generally like more active melodies for songs that are going for this type of epic sound? Not 100% sure.
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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE

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MA*DA*RA
The world of spirit
ASGORE

Pretty nice first match. I liked TIGAR last year, but not enough to support it in noms. MA*DA*RA is just too solid though, while TIGAR has to fight off its chaos.

Meanwhile, the only thing Return to Oblivion has to fight off is the usual B8 MMORPG anti-votes. :D Rockin' song; Final Fantasy rarely disappoints. Normally I don't like when songs start off slow but I like what The world of spirit does with the first 20 seconds. It's like a music box. Ironically those 20 seconds could be the deciding factor, because once we get into the main body of the song, I might as well be listening to Return to Oblivion again! Very even match, so that artistic choice ends up being what gets my vote.

Umineko music in ToC3? I thought you guys got all the good Umineko music out of here long ago! Not that this is good Umineko music. Actually, most of the good Umineko music was probably in ToC1, because there's not that much of it!

Not that ASGORE is really any better! I'll have to admit, I wrote down "ASGORE" in my voting section before even listening to either song because I know that Undertale music is at least usually decent and Umineko music so rarely is. But I briefly switched it over to system0 after starting on ASGORE! But I guess it's at least passable-ish.

MA*DA*RA > The world of spirit > Return to Oblivion >> TIGAR (All Phase Mix) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ASGORE > system0

Tournament of Champions more like Tournament of Chumpions amirite?

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

Umineko seems interesting, judging by the soundtrack.

I love the sound design in world of spirit. 2:10 is so cool with that high glassy synth and whatever the drums are doing, it creates this neat sense of space and its like youre flying through the rain or clouds or a waterfall or something.

TsunamiXXVIII posted...

Meanwhile, the only thing Return to Oblivion has to fight off is the usual B8 MMORPG anti-votes. :

ok...what? Is this even a thing like..at all? MMOs have historically done very well in this community and still continue to do well. Ragnarok Online 2 and Granado Espada are examples with retirees. Caravan Stories did very well in BOST and had a song get to r3 last year in vgmc. This year there were like 10 pso2 songs nominated (though who knows how well the few that actually got in will do)

There's some that've never done well (WoW) but that doesn't have much to do with the genre of game it is
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Phase
Spirit
Gore
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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE

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TIGAR
Return to Oblivion
ASGORE

Really good fourpack today. Very strong stuff all around.

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TIGAR (All Phase Mix)
The world of spirit
ASGORE