Board 8 > Final Fantasy Music Contest (FFMC) Day 16: Featuring Zanarkand v Fight On!

(+) Yeah! (+)

We've reached the end of round 1, and it's going out with a bang!

Note: I'm planning to move the round start time 5 hours later beginning with R2, to better accommodate Americans. Also running yesterday's poll again with the most popular options, I can understand the arguments for both and I don't want anyone getting burned out on the contest.

Full bracket (we're currently in the 'Lower' section): https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=475177
Results & Discussion Topic: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79743704

Rules:
-You may vote for one track in each match.
-You do not have to vote in every match, and you do not have to vote all at once.
-Please make your votes clear.
-Please familiarise yourself with both of the tracks in a match before voting.
-You can vote based on any metric you wish, as long as it is about the music.
-The matches will last 24 hours from the posting of this topic.
-The track with more votes in each match moves on, the other is eliminated.
-If a match is tied after 24 hours, that match will remain open until one more new vote is cast.
-No alts, no rallying, no trading votes, no deleting posts.
-Please do not provide any updates to the scores.
-Have fun!

Match 1

(3) Plains of Eternity (XIII-2)
Composed & Arranged by Naoshi Mizuta
Lyrics by DAGMUSIC LTD
Vocals by Joelle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUV2THyrIyM
v
(14) Aerith's Theme (SSBU)
Original game: Final Fantasy VII
Composed by Nobuo Uematsu
Arrangement supervisor: Keiichi Okabe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGdAq203sJU

Match 2

(6) Zanarkand (X)
Composed & Arranged by Nobuo Uematsu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG3CZx5dLV8
v
(11) Fight On! (AKA Still More Fighting, Those Who Fight Further) (VII)
Composed & Arranged by Nobuo Uematsu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ia92lVRmTw

Match 3

(7) Break the Limit! (Brave Exvius)
Composed by Junpei Fujita
Arranged by Evan Call, Natsumi Kameoka & Sachiko Miyano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZMA4WuZehk
v
(10) Balamb GARDEN (VIII)
Composed & Arranged by Nobuo Uematsu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1hePBCcJ3o

Match 4

(2) Battle 1 (Mystic Quest)
Composed & Arranged by Ryuji Sasai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UNwLHA6x1Y
v
(15) Insanity (XIV: Shadowbringers)
Composed by Masayoshi Soken
Arranged by Masayoshi Soken & Ken Ito
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc4w0AXWcnI

You can listen to all of today's tracks together here (121-128): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUV2THyrIyM&list=PLFj0gJtesYY_F4VpWk2KONwsFBVgt6X1w&index=121

Easy vote form (Delete as appropriate):
Plains of Eternity / Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand / Fight On!
Break the Limit! / Balamb GARDEN
Battle 1 / Insanity

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Fight On!
Balamb GARDEN
Battle 1

Third match real hard

---

lol...

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

Back to an even playing field.

Aerith's Theme
To Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand
Balamb GARDEN
Insanity

---

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Insanity

match 2 is unfair

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Balamb GARDEN
Battle 1
---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Battle 1

What is this second match

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Fight On!
Balamb GARDEN
Battle 1

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Balamb GARDEN
Insanity
---

plains of eternity
Zannyland
Limit Break
Insanity

fourth match way too strong
---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Battle 1

good stuff

---

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Insanity

yeah no I still can't deal with this remix I am sorry
the song that got me obsessed with learning how to play FF music on the piano for a few years versus one of the most formative Cool Rock boss songs of my VGM experience. yeah that definitely sounds like a round 1 match, very cool
god I love Break the Limit
Battle 1 is fun but man there's just so little to it

---

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Insanity

Love PoE so much.

-
To Zanarkand
Limit Break
1 tabble

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

---

dowolf posted...

fourth match way too strong

Yeah, man.... there have been some struggles this contest, but that moment when listening to Battle 1 and really enjoying it, but then realizing that Insanity is going to be up next... and listening to Insanity again... and now listening to the 67 minute Insanity loop on youtube. Tough break.

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Balamb GARDEN
Insanity

(14) Aerith's Theme (SSBU)
(11) Fight On! (AKA Still More Fighting, Those Who Fight Further) (VII)
(10) Balamb GARDEN (VIII)
(2) Battle 1 (Mystic Quest)

---

(14) Aerith's Theme (SSBU)
(6) Zanarkand (X)
(7) Break the Limit! (Brave Exvius)
(2) Battle 1 (Mystic Quest)
---

zanarkand

still more fighting isn't even the best battle theme in ff7!
---

(3) Plains of Eternity (XIII-2)
(6) Zanarkand (X)
(7) Break the Limit! (Brave Exvius)
(15) Insanity (XIV: Shadowbringers)

---

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Balamb GARDEN
Battle 1

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

The second match was tough!

---

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Battle 1

okay match four is actually WAY harder than i thought it'd be... underestimated how much i liked both of them by a lot lol

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Insanity

I'm sad that Fight On is going to lose badly, but if Break the Limit can pull through, it's fine!

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

Zanarkand / Still More Fighting is probably the toughest match of Round 1 for me, but Battle 1 / Insanity is right there with it.

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Balamb GARDEN
Battle 1

Match 2 is an easy choice but I'm still sad it's a r1 match.
---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

---

Plains of Eternity
Still More Fighting
Balamb GARDEN
Insanity

just thinking about this version of Aeris makes me angry. i hate it so much.

SeabassDebeste posted...

still more fighting isn't even the best battle theme in ff7!

doesn't have to be, 5/6 of them are excellent. FFVII really nailed battle themes.

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand
Balamb GARDEN
Insanity

---

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Insanity

why did this version of aeris get in
i have a friend who unironically watches "unusual meme compilation" videos regularly. thanks to him i've unfortunately been exposed to the fact that stuff like zanarkand comes up in them so the song's ruined for me forever
i'm down on (most) choirs currently so my views on btl are weaker than usual... buuuut i think i'm still gonna take it. close though
i said (most) i don't mind this one and even if i did insanity's got plenty else to it

-
Zanarkand
-
-

I have an omega headache so none of these songs sound good right now. I want to keep my perfect voting attendance though so I'll vote in the one match where the winner is clear
---

Isn't it To Zanarkand?

---

Cavedweller2000 posted...

Isn't it To Zanarkand?

People usually refer to it this way for some reason but in all OSTs and most official listings it's just 'Zanarkand' (or At Zanarkand, from the Japanese translation).

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Battle 1

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Insanity

i was a little disappointed when the lyrics of plains kicked in, but i soon grew fond of them. think i am more attached to aerith's theme overall in the end. this is probably why i shouldn't go into some of these songs blind.

wow break the limit is so fucking cool!

i'm still unsure about insanity's use of vocals to be honest. ff14 music is either a resounding hit or something that i don't outright dislike but still aren't sure how much i like either.

Plains of Eternity
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Battle 1

God, what is this match 4...Easily one of the better XIV songs we've had this contest going up against the goodness that is Mystic Quest's battle themes. Battle 1 barely wins it here for me, but I won't be sore if Insanity moves on.

andylt posted...

People usually refer to it this way for some reason but in all OSTs and most official listings it's just 'Zanarkand' (or At Zanarkand, from the Japanese translation).

this song wasn't on iTunes until 2005. if you look at the wikipedia history, it's referred to as "To Zanarkand" until September 2005. the soundtrack i downloaded in 2003 calls it "To Zanarkand" and presumably was called that since the game's release. so it had 3.5 years to propogate under that name, and it's hard to just undo that. same goes for older games that had even longer to spread other names.

---

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

difficulty: 2 > 3 > 4 >> 1

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Fight On!
Break the Limit!
Insanity

---

Aerith's Theme SSBU
-
Break the Limit!
Insanity

Really shocked at this second match. Zanarkand is great, but I don't remember liking Fight On at all. Too close to vote.

Plains of Eternity
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Insanity

Aerith's Theme SSBU
Zanarkand
Break the Limit!
Battle 1

Echoing many others here, this is a very tough day. Plains of Eternity is great, maybe my fav track of XIII-2 and I would've nominated it if nobody else did. But something about this version of Aerith grabs me, I keep coming back to it.

rwlh posted...

Zanarkand is great, but I don't remember liking Fight On at all.

Same! Though I still like Zanarkand more, it's tighter than I thought.

Balamb GARDEN is a beautiful track that I'm very fond of, but Break the Limit is one of my fav discoveries of the contest and I'd probs take it really far. Bad matchup for Balamb!

Last match is the easiest for me, I simply don't feel it with Insanity.

---

Reminder/heads up: Round 2 won't start until 4PM PST/7PM EST/12 AM GMT tonight. That's about 5 and a half hours from now.

Xuxon posted...

this song wasn't on iTunes until 2005. if you look at the wikipedia history, it's referred to as "To Zanarkand" until September 2005. the soundtrack i downloaded in 2003 calls it "To Zanarkand" and presumably was called that since the game's release. so it had 3.5 years to propogate under that name, and it's hard to just undo that. same goes for older games that had even longer to spread other names.

Ah cool thanks for this, it was weird to me how several games have so many well known tracks under different titles, some of them not even fitting the Japanese translation. V-X all have this in abundance, except for VIII weirdly.


---

10 mins left of round 1!

Disillusion posted...
Wow I'm used to you posting in the last 5 minutes :O


---