Board 8 > [VGMC] d7: EXEC_Z/. vs FLIGHTLESS, GUERRANT-OFENZA vs Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth

(+) 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 Song B is from a series you hate... Li

EXEC_Z
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Meaning of Birth

Songs today are not great, Meaning of Birth is the best of them

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FLIGHTLESS
<placeholder>
Meaning of Birth

match 2 is really REALLY fucking hard

help
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EXEC_Z/.
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

This is a great day, everything here is good. I was surprised I liked Flightless despite its length and, uh, origin. Bad opponent for it though.

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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Meaning of Birth

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Ar tonelico III - EXEC_Z/.
Phantasy Star Online 2 - GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Atelier Rorona Plus - Flash Frost
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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z/. vs FLIGHTLESS: Woah crazy Ar tonelico music time. EXEC_Z/. I can only describe as a weird techno rave gone wrong in some way that makes it even better than what it was originally. It's kinda fun to listen to at first but slowly starts dragging on the longer I listen to the song. By the end of it I'm not glad that its over, but I'm also not sad that its ended either. Speaking of dragging on, FlIGHTLESS does that a lot. FLIGHTLESS has its moments of having me going "YOOOOOOOOOOOO" and has its moment of me wondering where the magic went. The song has an amazing lift off for about the first 6 minutes, then crashes until the 8 minute mark for a quick save. Pretty good stuff

GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE vs Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth: GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE might be one of the most intimidating titles for a piece of vgm ive ever seen. Its got a very floaty, almost whimsical vibe to it that I like. The song doesn't really develop much to me though, and it feels like ive just been listening to the first minute until the 4:20 mark, where i start feeling some differences and start getting back into the song. Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth really hammered home the "dreamy" vibe it was going for. Its a very chill track that while a bit repetitive, is the good kinda of repetitive. Probably gonna end up listening to the song for the rest of the night at this rate.

Meaning of Birth vs Flash Frost: Meaning of Birth is not my thing at all. Sounds extremely cheesy to me if anything. Flash Frost actually has some kick to it. The first minute is pretty solid but then starts to decay into the usual atelier sound after that. The parts with the guitar are easily the best parts of this song. There isn't really much else to say about this match up, both songs didn't really stand out that much.

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EXEC_Z/.
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost
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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Meaning of Birth

EXEC_Z/.
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z/. (6.5) / FLIGHTLESS (5.5)
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE (9.5) / Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth (7.5)

Too bad DSL doesn't get to face EXEC Z or FLIGHTLESS. Oh, well. GOSU is full of win pretty much every moment of the track.

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Ar tonelico III - EXEC_Z/.
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Atelier Rorona Plus - Flash Frost

FLIGHTLESS was on my consideration list so it hurts that it runs into EXEC_Z/. here when I'd vote it over any of the other 4 songs today.

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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

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Ar tonelico III - EXEC_Z/.
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Atelier Rorona Plus - Flash Frost

MATCH 1

EXEC_Z is one of the EXA_PICO songs that I come back to listen to all the time. At least as of late, it is. It's just so infectiously catchy! I can't really say why, it just is and I love it. I was very close to putting this song as my bracket winner for my favorites bracket but ultimately decided against it (picked L.L over EXEC_Z round 5). Not much to say about it other than that it's super good!

I like the piano parts of FLIGHTLESS, but I don't really feel anything towards the rest of the song. Don't really know why that is. I know I don't really like the robotic vocals, but other than that, I guess the rest of the song that I haven't mentioned just feels kinda plain.

MATCH 2

G-O-S-U has that "epic music" sound but done very well. I really like that intro from 0:00-0:14. Definitely a pretty memorable song, although I don't have a lot to say about it.

Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth is really cool and definitely came as a surprise to me! I normally don't like Yoko Shimomura songs, so it's really nice to hear an exception like this. This song paints a really cool atmosphere that I like a lot. It's very mysterious and also gives me this image of traveling through somewhere to get to a really important destination. Maybe like a "final dungeon before the last boss in the game" kind of vibe. I feel like I may have gone the other way if BATALLURA was the song from PSO2 that made it in. For whatever reason, I feel like I enjoy that song more than G-O-S-U. Still, though, both songs are good here and I'm okay with either song advancing.

MATCH 3

I swear I've heard Meaning of Birth somewhere before I went through the ToC bracket. I haven't played any of the Tales games so it couldn't have been from there. I'm really not sure! Maybe I just went through some of the retirees one day and listened to this while I was going through them. I definitely don't like it as much as the other Tales song that just showed up the other day, Starry Heavens, but this is a pretty good song too! Feels like a nice, emotional (probably even more in context), final battle song. Simple, but good!

Flash Frost was a fantastic entry in VGMC13 and I'm happy to have helped push it to retirement! I love the melody here and all the backing instruments that accompany it give it this depth to its sound that generally speaking, I really enjoy in songs. Yet another example of how much amazing music there is in the Atelier series!

EXEC_Z/. = Flash Frost > Meaning of Birth > Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth > G-O-S-U > Flightless

Fuck it....

Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
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loweffortmemes posted...

I swear I've heard Meaning of Birth somewhere before I went through the ToC bracket. I haven't played any of the Tales games so it couldn't have been from there. I'm really not sure!

Well, Meaning of Birth is based off Karma which was performed by Bump of Chicken idk maybe you heard it that way?

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EXEC_Z/.
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Meaning of Birth

EXEC_Z a very good AT track. Flightless could've beat it if it were shorter though! Everything after 6:40 or so is bad.

Guerra feels kinda different from other PSO music I've heard, but not in a bad way. I like it. Somnom is aptly named for how sleep-inducing it is (not that it's terrible or anything).

Meaning of Birth I love a lot and it's cool that it actually managed to retire. FF's pretty cool too.

MoB > EXEC_Z > Flash Frost > Guerrant > Flightless > Somnom
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Rrha ki gagis EXEC gyen hymmnos VOTE.

EXEC_Z/. (5th) vs FLIGHTLESS (182nd)
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE (35th) vs Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth (132nd)
meaning of birth [48th] vs Flash Frost [6th]

EXEC_Z/. is like the love child of EXA_PICO and rhythm games and it's absolutely beautiful and amazing and banger and AAAAAA i love it so much. At first when I listened and I heard the guitars I didn't even bother to actually listen to the song lol, I thought there was no way I'd be into it and I was never really into listening to "whole OSTs" so I skipped it until about two years ago. Turns out it turns into this techno masterpiece oops!! honestly i appreciate how most of this song is actually in Japanese but adds the hymmnos flair instead of being mostly/all in hymmnos which IS SO WEIRD because hymmnos is why! i love ar tonelico!! BUT THIS SONG IS STILL SO GOOD WTF this is actually my second favorite exa_pico song after exsphere lmfao soooooo yeah. I wish I could say something about FLIGHTLESS but I manage to feel absolutely nothing from literally every single part of it despite its attempts to "evolve" soooooooo I'm grognak listen to EXEC_Z/. more azaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa EEEEEEEEEEEXEC DIIIIIIIIA ART WALAAAAASYE OZ_REVAAAATAAAAIL

phantasy star lonelin 2 is good ost yes. hello episode 5 i am not familiar with you yet but this GOSU thing is uhhhhhhhhhh kinda banger? kinda nutty? suPER NUTTY THIS IS THE BEST TALES OF ZELDA SONG I'VE HEARD. great instrumentation that is so different than the earlier stuff in the game but still manages to be just as unique and "PSO2" as all the other stuff and yeah great fuckin song. It's really unfortunate that I have to feel so strongly for it over Dreamy Somnom because I do really like Somnom too!! I actually pretty the regular one but the way this sells the "dreaminess" is just way too good. Damn good match even though the 100 place gap might not make it seem so!!

Hello karrmmmma (instrumental) oh wait jk karma (instrumental) is A DIFFERENT THING this is karma (fake instrumental final boss) my bad!! I like the Karma melody a lot but unfortunately non of the versions of it actually present it in a way that is very appealing to me at all. meaning of birth definitely is the best of the bunch, though, and despite me knocking it it's definitely something I enjoy!! But it is kinda out of its league among the absolutely kino ToC lineup. Which includes Flash Frost!! Asano I love you!!!!! I'm sorry I didn't vote for you before BUT I AM NOW AND YOU won anyway so i can vote for you again!!! this songs so damn good like actually how are all the kanji idiom series so good (fcdh, this, thistle lotus, behind the clouds, spring wind skylark actually isnt that crazy but i still like it a lot)

EXEC_Z/. > Flash Frost > GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE > Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth > meaning of birth > FLIGHTLESS

enter inna Vg_Mc => SH chsee zwihander xl EXEC waath

FLIGHTLESS
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z/.
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z/.
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z/. is my 91st favorite in the contest! This doesn't actually do much in specific that stands out for me beyond the like..."it has the general sound of ar tonelico series hymnnos/vocal music and I like that". I like that style enough for it to jump to the top half of my ranking list even if i wouldn't say it actually does anything particularly special to me but I'll point out the things I can. I really like the harmonization and filters/effects applied to the vocal layers, really make this more than just like "an anime song" and turn it into "a cool song". warpy acid synth bass is a cool sound I don't point out my appreciation of almost ever, because I never really consciously think about it, but it's a cool sound it makes things automatically seem like they came from 2001 and that's a cool year for things to have come from. Despite the very four to the floor trance-y style this lives in, I never really feel like it's repetitive or gridded, there's always at least one thing keeping it organic. REally dig the DARK moments like 2:20, and the "tabiji o" higher choir on the cool chord in the background at 2:25 is a really nice contrast from the darkness for a split second to enhance it when it comes back immediately after. Rhythmic gated saw lead stuff is cool..! All the reversed effects around 3:27 make that part come to life for me, one of my favorite musical effects in the world!!!! Honestly think this could grow on me a lot if I listened to it more often because more and more details stick out to me every time I listen. Doesn't have the potential to be one of my favorite vocal exa_pico things at all but my interest level slowly crawls up just a bit more every time I listen.

FLIGHTLESS is my 163rd favorite in the contest! really wish I liked this more. I like "glitchy stuff" a ton as a style and the 'concept' of this song is cool, but it's all done to pretty much my exact least favorite type of composition...absurdly cheesy classical pastiche stuff that makes me want to throw up. Really conventional chord progressions that don't really do anything to convince me to like them even if i do sometimes like them, they almost go out of their way to be as rote and unsatisfying to me musically as possible. I honestly actively dislike listening to this more than most of the songs in my bottom 10, for the most part, purely because I hate the composition so much (plus it's 10 minutes of listening to it), but the reason it's given the high placement of "163" is because the few things it does that I do like excite me a lot. and also I just appreciate what it is, no matter what i think about the actual end result. Some moments luckily completely avoid having anything i dislike, 6:37- 7:29 has a trippiness I really adore, the way the loop points of the samples are just so casually destroyed and turned into a glitch hell is really Drakengard1-esque and one of my favorite effects. My reaction to flightless is pretty similar to my reaction to the Rhythm Doctor song in the contest last year. It's the kind of thing that if you described it on paper I'd expect to like it "10min prog epic going through a bunch of different styles and with a very glitchy aesthetic and unexpectedly dark despite the name", but because I hate the underlying composition so much (and honestly most of the sound design too outside of the "glitchiness", which is the only thing I like about it. these choices of synth patches and use of them spatially feels like just a bunch of unappealing dirt and makes me cringe), it's very hard for me to appreciate the things I'm "supposed to" like. I think if this didn't have any of the glitchy elements and didn't have as much to it as this does, i might say it's my least favorite song in the contest, but the fact that it does saves this. Regardless of my opinion though, I respect its existence and i'm glad that something as ridiculous as it got into the contest

easy

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GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE is my 6th favorite in the contest! man ok so PSO2 vol7-8 was a very recent listen for me and holy shit if it was its own soundtrack isolated from the rest of pso2 it would be in my literal top 5 favorite soundtracks of all time. As far as like "vaguely complex world/orchestral/new age/whatever music that has cool chord changes and stuff and sounds like a big forest with ancient ruins floating in the sky"(_Electrike playlist music) it literally beats every Klonoa game and every PMD game for me, beats Ar Tonelico II for me. That's fucking insane coming from me because those are long-time favorites of mine that felt pretty unbeatable by anything else in their general style, beats stuff that i've loved for like 10 years. So congratulations Hidekuni Horita and Hideaki Kobayashi and Mitsuharu Fukuyama, you have DONE it. You have created "[pat metheny group on 49900002 steroids that make the chord changes/individual chords AND rhythms even more ridiculous than actual pat metheny group] except arranged for fake orchestra and fake choir and jrpg forest flute sounds and stuff" and that's practically my favorite music POSSIBL:E/, especially for what my mood has been as of late. ok done talking about the "general style of pso2 vol7-8 music" here's what I like about this specific song. I LOVE how in-your-face the 7/8 that starts at :14 (and the many times that idea shows up) is, it feels funky and cool. This is really drenched with parallel harmony in particular, lots of these chords are the entire previous chord transposed up or down, and this happening is super rapid and dizzying, the 7/8 parts a good example of that feel but that stuff is all over this tune. This track's a pretty good example of the specific type of melodic line I actually love, the melody highlights every single outstanding chord change in the song and organically threads together background elements that might otherwise feel unnatural or unrelated to each other without the melody. There's tons of modulations everywhere, sometimes after a long period of being in the same tonal center, sometimes rapidly and only leaving you in one specific tonal center for the length of a few seconds. and like ok i know my writeups kind of infamously get overly technical and have been like that since vgmc3 and i'm trying not to veer too far in that direction this year because...even if i might type that way, it's not like "i'm impressed that it's doing unconventional things because then i can see different numbers when i type up a bunch of numbers and can say a bunch of ;music theory words;", because no, what I love about this is the emotional intensity it makes me feel. every chord change makes me feel like i am floating in the air, every theory-nerd thing i could go on about for hours makes me

[...continued from above]

Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth is my 155th favorite in the contest! I like the picture this one paints through instrumentation, but i find it compositionally has little to grab me...i feel almost no emotions from this even though I'm pretty sure I'm "supposed to". There's all these little moments that feel like they're supposed to be dramatic punches of intensity, but instead it's just returning to the same predictable stuff over and over again in a way i can't feel elevated by, or even changing to something unexpected but it's not like an 'interesting unexpected', just like a 'huh, oh.' dissatisfaction. My favorite moment is 1:07, dropping to the [VI] from being [i] before at a climactic moment is like a really stereotypical EPIC SONG IN MINOR thing to do that I actually love, and I expect a bunch of attention called to that sort of moment...and there...sort of is? but then it just kinda meanders off back to where I'm not feeling anything again. This doesn't do anything I /dislike/, and has a lot to love. I love delay echoes! I love mallet-perc esque sounds, and some of the synths are super cool, and it's nice and dark, and calm at the same time?! but there's very little beyond that of """substance""" to my ears. just kinda cool sounds but would be way more effective if something similar in style was written but compositionally just a bit different. I find i react this way to a lot of Yoko Shimomura music, I probably like her more than a lot of people here who seem bored by her...I like the aesthetic her music often explores and she's attracted to /some/ things I like a lot, but usually doesn't wind up writing music I react to particularly strongly compositionally. I tend to like her stuff more in a shallow genre appeal way "aw yeah odd time epic orchestra battle theme with cool harp arpeggios" or something, but i'm not attracted to any individual moments or melodic content or chord changes or anything, it's just a song in "a style i like". That's how I feel about this except taken a bit to the extreme as far as how boring I find it compared to how much I like the "type" of song it is.

Extremely easy match here again

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Meaning of Birth (6/10), Meaning of Birth? More like Meaning of B****(birth), a really cool level in Super Monkey Ball 2! this is NOT motoi sakuraba, which is unfortunate because i actually like motoi sakuraba a lot. I was more enthusiastic about this one in the past, I like the instrumentation and shifting between super happy and more dark/dramatic and "anime", it's a cool mix of things that have mild appeal to me. These days it doesn't stand out to me very much but i at least get a little bit out of it, and i'm more attracted to some of the things it evokes than i used to be too.

Flash Frost (7/10) this one's also one i like less than I used to. I don't have any real serious problems with it, I like Hayato Asano's style and there's lots of cool standout moments to me like the abrupt key change at :41 and the "rhythmic chord stabs" that are in every hayato asano song ever (also the video credits the wrong composer!). there's cool "90s" synth bells I love in the background here I like a lot, add a good bit to the atmosphere of this i like. I think if this were a bit endlessly and forcefully "melodic" I'd have more interest in it. I don't dislike it as it is but unlike blue reflection this really puts its melodic line a bit too much at the forefront for there to be much else to potentially focus on other than it. Also not really a fan of the way it's mixed...really the same problems I have with FCDH except I like FCDH compositionally significantly more. I know someone who criticised modern Atelier as being "too melodic-line-focused to the point that it's unmemorable and every song sounds the same and becomes meandering and predictable" and stuff but I actually don't really agree even though that's a complaint I've expressed a lot about other things. In atelier music the "anime violin melody" dominating a ton of tracks adds a ton in certain songs for me...this track in particular just isn't a good example of why I specifically like modern atelier music for being that way. It's just the lack of it having other things there for me to potentially focus on going on. Other stuff of similar style that I like more, that's why, because there's higher density of content and more to keep me interested.

not really a hard match but I don't feel super strongly either
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FLIGHTLESS
GOSU
FLASH FROST

Ar tonelico III - EXEC_Z/. at 8.5 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! I probably would've actually loved this a few years ago, or at least more than I do now. This seems vaguely familiar so maybe I did hear it way back in the day? It was in the second B8 VGMGG so perhaps it's just from there. Anyway p good, not as good as most/all of the other gust songs.

Hello Penguin 2 HD - FLIGHTLESS at 9.5 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! Hello Penguin! https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/oneshot/images/e/ec/HELLO.ogg

Phantasy Star Online 2 - GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE at 9.5 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! Wow I love Phantasy Star Online!
Wow!

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth at 8.1 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! You are better than I was expecting you to be, so good job on that. That's a pretty backhanded compliment, but it isn't a damn with faint praise I promise! Really cool atmosphere and instruments

Tales of the Abyss - Meaning of Birth at 7.1 is my ???th favorite retiree in the contest!! Tales is so mean to me, perpetually refusing to refute my opinion about it. I honestly forgot this song was playing for a solid minute. When I noticed noise was in my ears, I had to think for a bit to remember why I was listening to something like this. It's not bad, just like the score in a movie I don't care about to a scene that's meant to be uplifting but instead reminds me of how unimpressed I am with everything going on.

Atelier Rorona Plus - Flash Frost at 8.4 is my ???th favorite retiree in the contest! I remember being happy you were in a few years ago! I probably voted for you up to Sunshine Coastline. Now I regret FAUNA or Eleganza not beating you. You're a decent Atelier song, but at this point emblematic of the type of instrumentation I think Ayesha makes look bad. It's too floaty. I don't know exactly what that means... it's like lots of high pitched, cheerful violins and bells and other strings that are trying to float away without being balanced by "earthy" feeling guitars like in most Ayesha songs or in stuff like Thistle Lotus which I love. FCDH manages to avoid it too. I really hate to make the comparison that the "sweetness" I don't like here is almost reminiscent of Blue Reflection's... and yet...

why was in talking in second person

easy day!
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Hello Penguin 2 HD - FLIGHTLESS
Phantasy Star Online 2 - GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Atelier Rorona Plus - Flash Frost

Match 1: EXEC_Z/. does a bunch of cool Ar Tonelico stuff and I love the vocal style here, but it doesn't really do anything amazing to stand out like EXEC_SPHILIA/. and EXSPHERE_NOSURGE;. It's just good. Meanwhile, FLIGHTLESS is my favorite discovery this year. Like, what even is Hello Penguin 2 HD? Whenever I see it, I think of one of those meme games that pretends to be all innocent and happy then slams you with some sort of a dark twist (like DDLC). Then when I listen to the song, this totally sounds like the sort of thing they would play during that twist. I'm really curious as to what exactly this game is (and apparently there's a non-HD version of this game too). I like the sirens.

Match 2: Hello song title that is apparently Sardinian? (Corsican?) GOSU reminds me a lot of the Caravan Stories tracks that have been in the last couple of years, but with an added level of energy/excitement. I'm enjoying the overall folkiness of this too. Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth is overall kinda forgettable. I saw M&L in this contest and got all hyped up because I loved In The Final, but this feels more like background music than anything. Re-listening it's a little bit better than I remember, but I didn't remember much of this to begin with.

ToC: Man, that is one obnoxious ass trumpet. After years of letting gen 3 Pokmon music grow on me, I thought huh maybe I actually don't hate trumpets but listening to Meaning of Birth brought back all my painful memories. The last Tales of song we had was a lot better >_>. Flash Frost is another one of those just okay Atelier songs I don't get why everyone else loves, but it's still the clearly better pick.

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xp1337 posted...

Well, Meaning of Birth is based off Karma which was performed by Bump of Chicken idk maybe you heard it that way?

Hmm, that version doesn't seem familiar at all to me, so probably not. For now, I'm just gonna stick with "I went through some of the VGMC retirees, listened to Meaning of Birth, then forgot about it." Seems like something I might do haha.

FLIGHTLESS
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

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Ar tonelico III - EXEC_Z/.
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Atelier Rorona Plus - Flash Frost

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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

so I've been doing la mulana randomizer playthroughs lately where I've been replacing all the songs with random stuff, such as vgmc entrants. Recently I got a run where flightless randomly happened to be...the little death jingle. Sure, it only plays roughly the first 2 seconds of the song, but gosh dang if those first 2 seconds aren't a heck of a good death jingle. Flightles is one heck of an experience. the part at 1:10 reminds me a lot of one of the fake planets in Magic Schoo Bus Solar System PC Game, the one with the alien and the spikes you cut or put gum on. Then the song immediately transitions to what reminds me of another fake planet from MSBSolar but this time the one with the quadrants and music (it's the flightless guitar). There's a lot of weird ness & variety going on here, a lot of weird digital effects that I can definitely appreciate like the reversing note followed by stutters at right at the beginning almost :10. This song does overstay it's welcome sort of being 10 minute sand some slow SAD stuff are less enjoyable for me but this is still a heck of an experience and I'm glad to have. Hello Penguin, where is the 2 is the penguin a 2. The digital voice reminds me of stuff like hypnospace. I guess I should say something about the opponent but I kind of don't feel like it, like it's okay with cool digital stuff but also vocals focus and anyway it's kind of average ish for me.

Match 2 is honestly really close for me. Longcaps title song has a pretty heavy orchestral string focus with it's instrumentation which isn't really my thing. Despite that however, I can still get really into the fun activity of this song, good active rhythms. So it still works quite well for me over it's disadvantage. I dunno, like the Whole Thing is a solid above average, it's real nice, though no part about it ever stands out to me, in either direction so that's kind of a good thing? Problem is, the other song is Also good and above average for me! It's a nice relaxing calm exploration ish piece. Kind of reminds me of Freddi Fish Maze Madness stuff in a way. The way the music does that strong burst of a return from the more quiet stuff at 1:05 is so nice. Really this match is super close for me but I feel like the strengths of Somnom and like how it feels more "memorable" to me or something work for me Just slightly better than GUERRAN so , sorry! could maybe be a good wildcard candidate whichever one loses here.

3rd match is ALSO very close but I don't like these songs as much but they're still okay. mmm, Meaning of Birth comes off as kind of plain to me so on repeated listening I'm less into it than before while Flash Frost is more "impressive" on some level and is maybe more engaging on a repeated listen so it has earned my vote.

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FLIGHTLESS
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z/.
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

FLIGHTLESS
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Meaning of Birth

EXEC_Z/.
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

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Hello Penguin 2 HD - FLIGHTLESS
Phantasy Star Online 2 - GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE

Atelier Rorona Plus - Flash Frost
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EXEC_Z./
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z./

OH NO. there's this big mechanical. thing. it has two legs and it's entire body is a cannon and it's arms are sawblades and its alive and the cannon is loaded and also the legs have tank treads at the end. 'war machine'. and the war machine is after you. it swaps between this and 'anime 2000s music' and 'gust WOOOAOOAO' all of which i love [some more than others] very rhythmic and repetitive cathode likes. wanna point out the vocals from 3:25 to 3:35 i love how they're all faded out

FLIGHTLESS

If I'm being honest, this song reminds me heavily of HOMESTUCK specifically Upward Movement. i think it makes sense dirty chopped beats with sad ORCHESTRA INDIE GAME BACKGROUND MUSIC. the similarities are thick. like a synthwave version of that lol. it also kind of reminds me of toby fox's stuff on homestuck cause there's this lead that comes in at certain points that iirc he also uses in a lot of homestuck tracks especially on the alternia/alterniabound soundtracks which were. massively influential to my own taste as an aside.

GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE

'what if fire emblem awakening... had a soundtrack i liked.' this is the vibe i am getting from this song. i was actually highly considering supporting this but didn't put it in my playlist i'm glad it got in... tox is right it feels like you're being FLUNG AROUND IN THE AIR AND THE SONG IS MOVING ALL AROUND YOU that's one of my favorite feelings to feel in a song. i should listen to the pso2 soundtrack it's incredibly big tho but i'll make TIME AT SOME POINT. EVERYTHING I HAVE HEARD FROM IT IS AMAZING.

Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth

soft clockwork music... lots of cool little chill rhythms in this legit don't mind if it wins this match because both are very good tracks i just love the pso song that's too long to bother typing more. cool percussion. I LOVE MAZE MUSIC IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I AM LOST. meditation. i've been realizing i tend to put more effort into describing songs i like more which makes sense. songs i like more i'd listen to more and be able to hear things i wouldn't than if i listened to them less. this is clear bias but to me it's very hard not to be subjective with this... yoko shimomura's good. this song sounds like stone walls.

Flash Frost

i don't like either song here!!! but i gotta deal with it so... this song has cool guitar i guess. i listen to gust music because i want cool instruments i haven't heard before and also 'wooaoaohoah' vocals. this just feels like. cutesy anime intro music. let's all go to the friendship club and make pies and then in episode 11 there's a tragic betrayal and someone gets stabbed but in episode 13 they get UNSTABBED because there has to be a happy ending sorry we have to sell merchandise..

Meaning of Birth

why does every instrument in this song sound like it's being played through a filter that makes it feel like a midi cover. this sounds like a cover of an anime op that doesn't actually exist. literally anything else i could say would just be meaningless complaining but i really don't like this song it feels like it has 'no context' whatsoever and i hate that. most songs i can make a mental image for, this i have nothing. it feels boring and manufactured.

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EXEC_Z/.
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Meaning of Birth
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Flightless
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z is not a hymmn. it does not sound or feel like gust music. i realize this probably causes me to hate it more than I would if it were something random, but I can't objectively determine how I "should" subjectively like something that doesn't even make sense.

Flightless is cool and weird and like 100 songs at once i like it. especially the parts where it randomly starts sounding like homestuck stuff. the machine voice is cool. i dunno this is a weird song to write about.

gosu more like go super user you're neat but don't scratch that itch. it's so close, but not quite there, you know?

hi Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth you're magical like some perfect theoretical blend of Baten Kaitos and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon like how in this cursed timeline are we worthy of your mysterious haunting dance I feel like I'm exploring a house whose owners disappeared 40 years ago and I'm unraveling the mystery of why it's so cool

meaning of birth more like meaning of the abyss more like meaning of tales more like shrug

FLASH FROST HI you are a pretty typical atelier battle theme but i like atelier battle themes so you're still super OK.
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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

dowolf posted...

it does not sound or feel like gust music.

That's kind of intentional given the situation it plays under in-story, AFAIK!

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I'm not a fan of the scene it plays in the story!
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I'm just saying there's a reason it sounds very different from most hymmns!

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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

FLIGHTLESS sounds like a cyborg experiencing emotions for the first time.

Somnom is like taking a serious journey, where you dont really feel anything intense and are just kinda lost in the aura of this magical place.

I try not to let my fantasies influence my opinions of the music too much, these two are just really interesting in terms of tone for me.

EXEC_Z/.
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Meaning of Birth

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Flash Frost

Umm excuse me did I fall into a month-long quarantine coma, why are the matches suddenly round 4 quality

Today features four really lovable underdogs for me, since I wasn't too high on them during noms but am really liking every single one today! Awesome day but wow this is tough

Current rankings:
Flash Frost > EXEC_Z/. = FLIGHTLESS = GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE = Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth > Meaning of Birth

Excuse me for 25:43 while I relisten to the first two matches

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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

FLIGHTLESS is my favorite song in the contest and one of my favorite songs in general. It sounds like you're fighting a losing battle to put a stop to the end of the universe, and it just keeps throwing out cool musical shit for ten whole minutes. Can't get enough of the robotic voices and the overdriven guitar.

Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth is my favorite M&L song. Makes me fall asleep but in a good way

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Akkrillic posted...

FLIGHTLESS is my favorite song in the contest and one of my favorite songs in general. It sounds like you're fighting a losing battle to put a stop to the end of the universe, and it just keeps throwing out cool musical shit for ten whole minutes. Can't get enough of the robotic voices and the overdriven guitar.

You're just describing last year's champion
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EXEC_Z/.
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth

Flipping on both matches from my favs bracket (I even had Flightless retiring), it really is that kinda day I'M SORRY

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NFUN posted...

You're just describing last year's champion

yeha except that one only throws out cool musical s*** for six minutes and eighteen seconds

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FLIGHTLESS
GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE
Flash Frost

EXEC_Z/. is just kind of...there, being anime as fuck. I feel like it's the type of thing I would have loved when I was a teenager, but it does nothing for me now. Which means it's all on its opponent to decide if I vote for it or not! (Sadly, the fact that I have to go back and put my votes at the top of the post means you'll know by this point if I did.)

What the why is the video for this literally a Nat Geo Jr.? What is this game? This can't possibly actually be from an edutainment game, can it? *looks it up* It is not. It is far too awesome to be in an edutainment game. I don't think any of the edutainment games I played when I was young had soundtracks worthy of nomming for future contests. Which is unfortunate because a couple of the more advanced ones (i.e. for older children) were surprisingly legit as video games in their own right! I'm sad to learn that The Learning Company went defunct in 2018; their games were awesome and I'd recommend them to anyone who has kids. If you can still find Operation Neptune, get it for them: they will learn math, and they will learn video gaming. And for once, I don't mind this being 10 minutes because it allowed me to go off on that tangent.

More capitals! All the capitals! More goofy generic RPG shit! I feel like this would affect me much more if I'd played the game, because it sounds like some sort of limit break type of theme.

Unfortunately, Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth lives up to its name. EXEC_Z/. vs. GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE might've been a tough choice because they're both just so goddamn generic, but because of their opponents, the one that I wouldn't have voted for in that hypothetical match is the only one of the two that actually gets my vote today.

Oh, hey, speaking of generic, it's the most generic RPG series in the world! *laughs* Tales is a fine series, but it doesn't really do much in the way of risk-taking. At least the ones I'm familiar with didn't. Based on what I've heard about the more recent ones, that's probably for the best.

Which means another easy vote! Every time another Atelier song comes up, I wonder why I thought I hated the series's soundtrack so much. But I guess when there are a few songs you don't like, and they keep showing up and make Round 3 every time they do but still take a few tries to outright retire, it colors your view of the series negatively!

FLIGHTLESS > Flash Frost >>>> EXEC_Z/. > Meaning of Birth > GUERRANT-OFENZA-SUPRONT-UNNE >>> Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth

Damnit, I'm going to have to hear YOATI even more in ToC this year. Not looking forward to that.


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Flightless
Star
Frost
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FLIGHTLESS
Dreamy Somnom Labyrinth
Flash Frost

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