Board 8 > [VGMC] d21: MirrorTemple B vs ChaseDaybrk; Mdnght Lady vs Thermosphere + rematch

(+) 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... Listen. To. Both. (If I have suspicions your vote is not based on a fair and impartial preference, it will be disqualified.)
- Obvious contest rules apply (no alts, one vote per person, no rallying, etc.).
- Please make your voting options clear, rather than burying them in text.
- Each set of matches lasts 24 hours, even if the new one isnt up by then. (Matches do not begin until at least 10:00 EDT.)
- Always vote on the versions of the song provided, not versions from different sources.
- If you know ahead of time that you're not going to be around and you want to vote in advance, post your choices in the discussion/bracket topic.
- Please do NOT post tallies/score updates in the middle of the match, as this has a tendency to directly influence matches.
- You don't have to vote in all the matches, but it'd be cool if you did!

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Match 1

Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnwVvXkWq0

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
https://youtu.be/oZndhf115L4

Match 2

Beatmania IIDX 25 Cannon Ballers - Midnight Lady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHVJrubwwsQ

Einhander - Thermosphere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN5jGNNUFAk

Tiebreaker

Tales of Zestiria - Flaming Bonds are Being Tested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz073EhZgeQ

GITADORA OverDrive - Douwa Kairou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEhGUmXcG2Y

Easy vote form:
Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) / Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Midnight Lady / Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested / Douwa Kairou

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

meh
how dare this match
rematch

No poll? 0/10
also match 1 is evil

Mirror Magic
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested
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Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Beatmania IIDX 25 Cannon Ballers - Midnight Lady
Tales of Zestiria - Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou

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Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou


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Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

I don't particularly care for any FE3H music outside of the game. I could say the same for most Celeste tracks too, though. I don't dislike either of these songs, they're just not terribly exciting to me.

ML is not one of my Cannon Ballers songs of choice. It's still solid at least. Thermosphere's a bit cooler I think.

I dunno all four songs are around the same quality level today I can't really rank them.
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Match 1 is mirror temple is cool like a night out at mystery and chasing day break rain fails to catch my interest too much though it has some real cool key changes in the middle like 1:06 but the instrumentation and the occasional chanting is less preferable so easy pick here..

Match 2 is probably the two highest songs that have appeared in a match together for me so far, both are great and whichever loses becomes prime candidate for wildcard material which is frustrating because I sort of want Hoi Level 5 to be wildcard too though my main concern for yesterday was for Hoi to not lose to one of if not my least favorite song in the bracket and then it did so I am sad anyway. But any way this match is a thing. Midnight Lady is an interesting song that I got to replace the Surface music in La Mulana Randomizer, which was an interesting experience because I opened that one little path that just connects two areas inside the middle of the rocks long before I actually got out to the real surface so whenever I'd pass through I'd hear that radio stuff before getting to the real music. And the real music is good stuff, a lively strong beat that I can really get into. :46 with that saxophone which often I do not like but this case is good, is a real nice section with a retro nostalgic jazzy night feel. Song may be a little repetitive and doesn't go a lot of places but is still solid through and through though guess what I don't like when the people speak up. Thermosphere has a less appealing beat that's like in the uncanny valley of not good slow or good fast but in the middle. But the instrumentation is much more distinct and interesting for me. The piano part that starts at like :41 I like less for the simpler instrumentation and it lasts for quite a bit, then we get back to the starting part again which is good still and then we get to 2:15 which is great, it's slow but has great digital sounds and an atmosphere of wonder, what a world. This is a difficult match! Midnight lady is like a solid consistent line of quality whereas Thermosphere's line of quality is much more wavy and dips below Midnight Lady at it's low points and rises above it at it's high points. But I feel like Midnight Lady being so "consistent" is a slight flaw on it's own because Thermosphere has more variety (the radio does not count!). Therefore Thermosphere is my gut pick here and I can't come up with any arguments to counter this decision.

Toc Tiebreaker was closer for me than the Zadok match so I'm giving this more of a real thinking relistening effort to see if my viewpoint has changed. Actually I think I like Douwa Kairou a bit more this time but not enough for me to push it over Quite yet so I'ma look at the write ups from last time to see if anyone's write ups can convince me to change. Hm maybe not that was probably a silly idea. Eh, both songs have strengths and weaknesses and while Douwa Kairou feels more "distinct" it just fails to really catch me as much as some of the varied parts of Flaming Bonds does, like at 1:40. I'll stand by my earlier vote.

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Beatmania IIDX 25 Cannon Ballers - Midnight Lady
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou
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Mirror Temple Magic Mirror
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou

mirror mirror on the youtube who's the jazziest of the... crew's boobs? that's a tough word to rhyme ngl.

Chase Daybreak is not Shackled Wolves! this is a crime. This track in particular, I just want more from basically constantly. It gets close, especially with the bit around 1:30 going into horn solos and chanting, but the whole thing feels strangely muted? I dunno. Maybe it's the relative weights of the percussion and the not-percussion that bothers me.

lady thinks it's midnight JOKES ON HER IT'S 11:30 this is nice?

"Einhander" that's a very funny way of spelling "kingdom hearts 3." It's nice I guess but I never really understood why this soundtrack is as beloved as it is. Whatever y'all keep being you~

Will I unswitch my vote in the tiebreaker?! ...no. the children story train is going at full speed to the north pole where it will convince santa that penguins and raindeer deserve to live together as friends. Like dude Santa I know the penguins did you wrong a thousand years ago but you gotta learn to let things go.
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
*RANKING TOPIC SPOILERS*
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Douwa Kairou

Does that work better for you, azuarc?

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) (6.5) / Chasing Daybreak (Rain) (6.0)
Midnight Lady (5.5) / Thermosphere (9.5)

Let's talk about Thermosphere! This rep never got a chance to be used in BOST, so I'm glad it got to be used here. That keyboard is so, so yummy. What an aura it evokes when it comes in. LOVE those beeps at the 1:08 section. Tasteful slow triplets, tasteful chromatics at 1:21. 1:35 man..... the false tempo shifts there! The way the beat subdivisions change from 16th notes to triplets, but using the triplets as if they were 16th notes, making it sound as if time/space itself just got warped... plus, awesome chords, too. It's the coolest thing I've heard in any track this contest.

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Einhander - Thermosphere
Tales of Zestiria - Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Match 1: I misread the topic title, and thought we were getting Miror B's theme instead . Mirror Temple kinda sounds if Hotel California were elevator music (as good as that sounds, I'm not a fan). Nowadays, I don't really enjoy symphonic music as much if it doesn't have much melodic substance, and Chasing Daybreak is kinda meh for me. This match is kinda meh for me.

Match 2: Midnight Lady somehow reminds me of both Sonic and Drift Stage, very '80s dance-ish. Thermosphere has that late-'90s/early-'00s synth used in a lot of VGM from that era that I love very much. Better match, Thermosphere is the highlight of today not counting TB.

ToC: Still not a close match at all. Douwa Kairou is neat and all, but it just doesn't feel like retiree material to me, whereas Flaming Bonds is a great example of why Go Shiina is such a great composer.

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) is my 141st favorite in the contest! a lot of people had complaints about confronting myself that are basically my complaints about every celeste song that isn't confronting myself. i remember getting kinda annoyed at a lot of the contrarian way much of the statements about it felt but i feel that way about this. it feels like it's selling myself to me something that is dishonest about it's advertisement. I hear surface like "chill electronic jazzy thing that's like mysterious and kinda melancholic", something i should like, but in the end i wind up feeling the actual synth patch choices in combo with the jazzy style is unappetizing, i can't perceive it as mysterious or sad because "chord progression isn't my kind of progression it's too easy" so i think it's cheesy kitsch i can't take seriously instead. even if the loungy jazz chords individually in themselves are cool. they are very cool! I like the delay echo vibraphone too because i like delay echoes and vibraphone is my favorite instrument : ) this is definitely not one of the celeste songs i get excited over, and there's many I love. Sorry song : (

Chasing Daybreak (Rain) is my 112nd favorite in the contest! there was a bunch of FE nommed and this was one of the few tracks that was NOT on my radar, normally love fe music. I never remember what it sounds like until i click play and listen to it. and then i forget what happened after. I have to type about it while listening or itk does NOT work. i feel "it's not memorable" is a kinda shallow complaint, since it has little bearing on whether or not I like something more/less (memorable=bad to me, very often), but like I just mean I literally can't talk about it unless i'm listening to it as it's playing because it's so abnormally unmemorable. ok yeah this song sounds like fires elbmen. i think i like a lot of its indiv. elements on paper, cool chords, it "sounds like modern fire emblem" and has a part with reversed/abrupt cut off choir fade in effect which is something i am addicted to. there's some neat sneaky fun modulations but it's nowhere near the "every chord's a different key" or other cool morishita stuff i like for (i suspect this particular track is not by morishita). I guess i don't have room to complain about this being musically unadventurous when Desire Below (Flow) of all fe things somehow got in, thank you Desire Below (Flow)

bonus bonus boys. 2203 houises. 2 songs with music from the same thing that i like WAY more than these examples. hard match to vote in. could flip.

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-[Midnight Lady is my 147th favorite in the contest!this song sounds like it would be called Midnight Lady. wtf who is that guy ggoing like "ohh yeah" he's so big. cooll instreuments i dont' care about the song though because it's too fun and i don't want to have fun. guitar solo is "epic" i like it. this has so many parts that sound like persona 5 and modern jake kaufman]-

-(Thermosphere is my 2nd favorite in the contest!!!!!!!!!!!! constant 16ths quartal run assault right off the bat! Tarkus arranged for "shmup synthesizers", i'm addicted to anything with rapidly jumping 4ths/quartals (or quintals or 5ths) basically songs that sound like they're imitating tarkus, but this is one of my favorite examples in the world (it is my 6th favorite piece of music in the world (it is deo's 7th and I will forever rub it in that I like this song exactly one slot more than he does)). One of my favorite moments in this community is when i just randomly said "who likes this song more, me or deo" when it was playing in a vgmgg, and he revealed it was his 7th favorite song ever right as I revealed that it was my 6th favorite song ever. The closeness of that and "NOOO" reaction of me BEATING deo at LIKING THERMOSPHERE MORE is just too hilarious to ever forget.
\
1:35 is a contender for favorite moment in any piece of VGM. The flipping between 16ths and "triplets except they're groups of 4 triplets" is TOO GOOD, and like even though there's even crazier metric modulation / crazy tuplet stuff / polyrhythm/wHAT ever stuff in music, it doesn't matter what something mathematically IS, what matters is how it feels, and holy shit nothing has ever beat the way that part of this song FEELS to me. Taking non-4/8/16th/etc length values, but having the actual feel of the division not being where the barlines/beats are, it feels like a tempo change even though it's not. When the kick comes in and solidifies that it's NOT just a tempo change and it's just a triplet rhythm but with groups of 4 accents it FEELS LIKE A X RAY OF A HAND BONES just picked me up and threw me up into the thermosphere and then i died. I actually like the kh3 arrangement of this song but i'll never forgive it for that being the one section of the song not really explored.
/
2:15 is in 7/4 (with some 6/4 bars) and i like that but also i just like every sound that is floating into my ear drums at that part. that glassy period-specific VAST synth sound world it creates. It's beautiful. It's easy for it to slip by my mind how cool the synth bass is there. that's a cool sound. More importantly, the chord progression is EXACTLY the kind of chord progression I like the most, the kind that makes me FLOAT IN THE AIR INTO THE THERMOSPHERE AND THEN DIE and become very excited : ) Melodic layers having to snake their way through that maze of abrupt tonal center changes in the chord progression to get it to sound natural, it results in some of the coolest most intense emotions I ever feel from music. extremely difficult to play along to by ear even if it doesn't sound like it would be because of how smooth and natural the melodic lines make all the chord changes that'd be disjointed otherwise. There's a lot of stuff in this direction on this soundtrack, but the 2:15-to-the-loop part of this song is likely my favorite bit of the ost tonally (some of the similar stuff in Afterimage is a close contender). Every time the melody leads me to another unexpected chord I feel like my body is being turned inside out AND THEN I DIE FROM THE i'm in the thermospher.e The beepy layer has a few sequences of cycling up 4ths intervals which is nice and connects it to the tonality of the chaotic beginning, even if the way they feel in this context is very CHILL instead.
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one of the biggest things I appreciate about this song (and this is a thing that defines most things i'll rate a 10/10) is that it manages to touch very disparate elements of my music taste all simultaneously. I feel like that's very difficult to do because my taste is so self-contradictory. This touches on "futuristic shmup synth sound", "danceability in pulsing, very 90s

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Mirror
Lady
Tested
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Left side day.

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou
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Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Beatmania IIDX 25 Cannon Ballers - Midnight Lady

GITADORA OverDrive - Douwa Kairou
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)

i love the cold dark hazy choir pads in the background of this, combined with the jazzy discordant piano - it creates a really chill atmosphere. reminds me of streets of rage 2 when the sax isn't there - when it is, it's somewhat blues-y. very wobbly, almost gelatinous synths. i love the lead synth. one of those songs that makes me FEEL LIKE I'M EXPLORING a maze with COOL THINGS TO SEE. i love those sorts of songs.

Chasing Daybreak (Rain)

EPIC ORCHESTRAL SCORES - THE ENEMIES HAVE WON. . . . and now it sounds like fire emblem awakening but what if it had BIGGER PRODUCTION VALUES. i'm not the biggest fan of fire emblem awakening so i think i will pass but if there was a song i didn't like against this this probably would have been my vote. love the choir at 2:10 to 2:15. just. very cinematic.

Midnight Lady

woah these CONVULSING MACHINE LIKE SYNTHS i love them it feels like i am being caught in a vortex that is not gaseous it's made up of SOLID CRYSTAL and is PURPLE AND PINK and SOMETIMES BLUE. very french house-y reminds me a lot of justice cross album. thank you dirty androidssss.

Thermosphere

something i always found neat about this song is this and vagrant counting song of retrospection have that same arpeggio loop which i find incredibly cool. it's not my favorite song from einhander [that would be shudder lmao - followed by badlands] i love the sound design on this though it feels like i have been CAUGHT IN THE SKYLINE COMPUTER ZONE that sounds like touhou 6 and sometimes it goes really proggy.

Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

motoi sakuraba goes to spain and sees the bulls and becomes inspired!!! hm today i shall write vgm he says. he goes back to his atelier and pounds out a sakuraba song that actually isnt sakuraba at all this is go shiina this analogy is RUINED. computer, please replace 'motoi sakuraba' with 'go shiina'. literally the only go shiina song i remember hearing and accrediting to HIM and liking is mr driller g - i/o. this sounds nothing like that i have to listen to more go shiina.

Douwa Kairou

i think i said this last year but this reminds me of guitarfreaks/drummania v6 chronos it's that guitar solo + piano atmosphere i love it. this song is a lot more gentle and elegant on the piano than that song but the guitar is a lot more raw in how it sounds - there's a lot more contrast in the general dynamics of the sound of the song which i love. sounds like HERO MUSIC.

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

Chasing Daybreak is probably one of the weaker FE3H map themes to me, Mirror Temple isn't amazing but has a nice chill vibe
second match should be illegal


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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

wtf this jams
wtf this slaps also I got recommended kingdom hearts iii - thermosphere thank you youtube very cool
wtf this isn't wild arms

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Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou

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Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

-made the 'mirror magic mix is a bit 2 mello' joke last year. it has this chill lounge feel throughout that I can kind of enjoy in a vacuum but there's a tension and emotion that this lacks, and a sameness throughout. something I always loved about the 'A-side' celeste tracks is that they always made me feel something, and this remix kinda robs the source material of that. this makes me think of an older madeline smoking in a parlour room thinking back on her days climbing celeste mountain in her youth. actually that image kinda makes me feel sad too
-I have a hard time listening to this without thinking of how much more I want from a track from a morishita-involved fire emblem soundtrack. this has cool moments (1:05 jumps out) but it sticks to a lot of safe melodies. this is the kind of track where if it showed up in a soundtrack I had no expectations for I'd be like 'oh this is kinda cool' but here all I can think of is the dynamic feel of tearing through heaven, or the grandeur of apex of the world, or the wildly uncertain moments of paths that will never cross. this just doesn't ignite the same sense of excitement. I spent more overall time listening to other fire emblem music while writing this up than the one in question.

-oh hi it's good to see you back in vgmc dirty androids. midnight lady is cool and funky but I find that I feel the same way about this as I do about mirror magic mix (minus the celeste context)-- a nice vibe that I don't really end up digging as much as I might because I don't FEEL it in my SOUL, or something like that. a uniform feel, a lack of melodic tension or uncertainty. this doesn't ask a lot of questions-- just grab hold of the hook and enjoy! I actually like egret and willow (another dirty androids track from the cannon ballers ost, though apparently originally from sinobuz) and its overexcited fluctuations considerably more.
-thermosphere knows how to make an entrance-- that main synth ostinato is attention-grabbing and awesomely hypnotic. on its own I think the main melody part isn't that interesting but I like its role as a sort of an island of musical order. really love the sounds that come in at 1:08. the part where the rhythm gets really unusual is really cool too but the highlight of the track for me is 2:16, which just feels like a piercing moment of clarity and sky. great track.

-flaming bonds are being tested. they are being tested RIGHT NOW. this is very go shiina, in ways that remind me somewhat of tekken and god eater. (in particular, the melody feels like it takes a half-step towards the opening melody to duomo di sirio 1st before pivoting to something else.) anyway I think this is all right, if a bit plain in approach. the strings/woodwinds (which definitely have a go shiina flair, even if I can't define exactly what that is) push the pace nicely. THEN SUDDENLY synths and an extended guitar section. I guess he's pulling a bit from ace combat as well. the later synths are such a departure from the rest of the track that it almost makes me laugh, like anachronistic space-age machines are invading my fantasy rpg. hey, I don't know the plot to zestiria! maybe that happens.
-totto totto totto
-I don't love the way the guitar sounds here, but otherwise this track kicks. there's this uplifting energy to the whole thing. chord changes have those totto moments right from the get-go-- major/minor changes that I really like. 1:05's progression is rad too. this is a blast to listen to thanks totto

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) (173rd) vs Chasing Daybreak (Rain) (103rd)
Midnight Lady (88th) vs Thermosphere (2nd)
Blazing Bonds in Trial [43rd] vs Douwa Kairou [21st]

Mirror Temple is pretty cool, I appreciate the chill jazzy-ness of it and how its definitely a unique song within its game, but it ends up just being pretty bland to me. I like the Sonic 3-esque bell things though! Chasing Daybreak is a pretty cool Fire Emblem theme, albeit a tad generic as far as FE tracks actually go. When the vocals kick in though is probably my favorite part just because of how subdued they are; it's not really like vocals, it's more like theyre just another instrument which is something I feel like FE does NOT know how to do (make vocals not in-your-face focal point) and I like that! Castanets good. Cool song and pretty easy match!

Why does Dirty Androids make songs that sound so squeaky clean that you could lick it without fear of disease??? Midnight Lady is not even close to my first DA pick, nor pick from CANNON BALLERS, nor track of this style in BEMANI, but it is incredibly solid. I know there's a huge, HUGE market for this kind of stuff and I know multiple people in the community that would say this is straight up their favorite song in the game. But uh..... yeah it's up against literally Thermosphere so uhhhhh no chance LOL. Thermosphere is INSANE on so many levels!!! just LISTEN to that opening quartal madness and the BOWWWO BOWWWO BOOOWWO everything about this song sounds like technology in space which is very fitting shmup in a black hole THIS PIANO IS TOO SMOOTH! TOO "I AM SAD VN BEING PLAYED AGAINST TECHNO" IS TOO GOOD excuse me?????? 1:35 this faux-decelerando triplet weird craziness is just. the cherry on the cake. absolutely crazy part and then suddenly YOU CAN SEE THE STARS AND THE BLACK HOLE HAS FORSAKEN THEE very pretty space music ending :) i love you thermosphere even though i love you exactly 1 Place Less than mycro loves you i'm sorry!!!!!! (7th favorite song in the VGM though and 7 is my favorite single digit in base 10 so hahaha i liked it so much i bumped it down to be my favorite number that's METAL also my favorite single digit number is actually F and that can't happen anyway what am i talking about?? thermosphere. it's kinda good. pretty good. great. amazing. i love you.

go totto wooooooo

Thermosphere > Douwa Kairou > Midnight Lady > Blazing Bonds in Trial > Chasing Daybreak (Rain) > Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Douwa Kairou

oh whoops i almost forgot to vote. was super tired last night and then almost forgot that because of that i never voted lol

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Einhander - Thermosphere
Tales of Zestiria - Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Mirror Temple
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) at 8.7 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! Probably my favorite B-side theme, though I don't know all of them very well. I definitely dig the vibe that this is going for. It doesn't do anything super new or unique. It's just nice.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Chasing Daybreak (Rain) at 5.0 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! I'm with Mycro... in that I can't remember what this sounds like unless I'm listening. Unlike with Cold Science, I actively hold that against this. It's so fucking generic. Like Id Purpose does some cool things, ok, whatever. This is the FE song that should not be in. It's the epitome of everything lefty dislikes about FE music. Just... shoo. Go away. Come back if you decide to be worth anything. Christ I've listened to it twice and it doesn't feel like I've heard anything. You get a five because you are white noise to me. That isn't how this scale works BUT IT IS NOW

Beatmania IIDX 25 Cannon Ballers - Midnight Lady at 8.4 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! nice

Einhander - Thermosphere at 8.9 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! I don't hear this song very often so I usually forget what it sounds like. My reaction every time I hear it again is "oh yeah, so that's why mycro likes it". The intro doesn't do a lot for me but the pianos at :40 are great. Pretty good at what it's trying to do.
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Einhander - Thermosphere
GITADORA OverDrive - Douwa Kairou

Second match seemed kinda tough at first, because Midnight Lady jams really well to start, but doesn't get much better after those first 30 seconds. Still kinda sad to have to do pseudo-future funk dirty.
Androids

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Mirror Temple
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds

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Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Thermosphere
Douwa Kairou

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) [8.8] > Chasing Daybreak (Rain) [8.0]
Midnight Lady [8.8] < Thermosphere [9.2]
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested < Douwa Kairou

mirror magic more like mirror magic on the dance floor (because it is dance music)
fire emblem three houses more like fire emblem fates (because it is fire emblem)

dirty androids more like dirty dancing (because it is dance music)
einhander more like napoleon dynhander (because it is dance music) (until its cool) (2:40-something)

rematch: flaming bonds are being tested? yeah my vote for douwa kairou is being tested
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

I'm so sorry Thermosphere, Midnight Lady is just too good...

Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) vs Chasing Daybreak (Rain): Mirror Magic isn't very magical at all. The first half is pretty bad to me but when the strings start kicking in it gets so much better. Chasing Daybreak on the other hand sounds great all the way through. Its a pretty fun track overall, not one of my favorites from FE3H but its up there. Not much else to say about these tracks.

Midnight Lady vs Thermosphere: MIDNIGHT LADY IS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. Super funky track I love everything about it. I kinda wish it was a bit longer but I'm satisfied with what I got. Very solid overall. Thermosphere is uhhh... something I guess. Not entirely sure what this something is but I don't like it. It sounds a bit too "floaty" to me if that makes any sense.

Flaming Bonds are Being Tested vs Douwa Kairou: Nothing has changed for me in regard to these tracks.

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Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Beatmania IIDX 25 Cannon Ballers - Midnight Lady
GITADORA OverDrive - Douwa Kairou

MATCH 1

Mirror Temple is some nice smooth jazz. It's a nice song to leave on in the background when you're doing something else. Not much to say about this one. Good chill song.

I honestly haven't been all that much a fan of the Three Houses representation in the contest this year. I've mentioned this before but Chasing Daybreak is the type of "big orchestra" song that tends to be pretty hit or miss for me. This song's alright, but not really memorable at all. The best part for me is 1:20-1:50. I like the melody here and it actually stands out, whereas the rest of the song doesn't really make me feel anything. I guess that part in particular just appeals more to my tastes and feels more meaningful than the rest of the song that feels like it's saying to me "hi I'm dramatic!" Maybe it's just a melody thing here because Twilight of the Gods has a similar vibe to it but I like it significantly more than this song.

MATCH 2

Midnight Lady brings the future funk representation! I don't actively listen to this type of music very much, but it certainly has potential to be really cool, so it's neat to see it in video game music. This is a really cool song! Probably a good example of me liking songs with lots of instruments playing together. Good melody all throughout with a really cool rhythm starting at 1:03. Apparently that saxophone at 0:03 is just part of the song slowed and pitched down, but it sounds like a different song entirely to me and I now want to hear a new song with that part included lol.

Einhander's BOST inclusion has led me to some cool songs from the soundtrack! Thermosphere, though, was never one of the songs that I really enjoyed. Apparently I've forgotten about that piano part though because I don't recognize it but I do like it. Particularly 0:41-1:21 minus that high-pitched noise that plays at 1:09 and elsewhere. Other parts like the intro and 1:35-1:48 are parts that definitely have a strong appeal to people who like that kind of stuff, but it's not an appeal that I share, unfortunately. That's probably a good summary of this song in general for me. There are parts I like, but overall, it's a song that strongly appeals to tastes outside of my own.

Douwa Kairou > Midnight Lady > Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) > Flaming Bonds are Being Tested > Chasing Daybreak (Rain) > Thermosphere

Chasing Daybreak (Rain)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Midnight Lady
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
Thermosphere
Flaming Bonds are Being Tested

WOW match 2 is a crazy match between two songs that I really enjoyed. I came out of Midnight Lady thinking that I'd vote for it for sure. It's just solid listening all around. But then Thermosphere shocked me in the first 3 seconds for sounding like Kirby Planet Robobot >__>. At 0:40 when it changed to that "slower" part, I didn't like it as much as the intro, so I was almost went with Midnight Lady for that alone, since I liked that song throughout. But I think overall, Thermosphere is more of the style of music that I'd traditionally like, so I'm more likely to want to relisten to it in the future, and it's more likely to make me look up the rest of the game's soundtrack. I still almost went with ML anyway, but after a few back and forths I decided to come out with this one on top.

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