Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 22! BreathForest/ChampRit, YWRON/SagaFro2Mdly, ParaBellum/DoUThink

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 16, an annual celebration of the best of the best video game music according to the voters!

Important Links:
Bracket: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=475935
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IU5iCFTM_4WEx8ZWKwznMz5v2tarCKh1Ag0mxIgAes
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80027411
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0xxfgkmGKvEyWfHvNZ53Kbn
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XAaBMDuUnQ4c5AxQNL9ZhvD7VG5kQyrXWWZxnkrn-o
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
Discord: https://discord.gg/WDvMS4a

Rules:
- Listen to both songs in a given match, at least through the loop time provided (to make sure you don't skip before you've heard the whole thing!)
- Please consider the loop point listed when judging the song; if a video loops one minute 5 times, don't treat it as if it's a repetitive 5 minute song
- If it's a match between your favorite song ever and a song you despise, still LISTEN TO BOTH! Votes can and will be disqualified if there is suspicion songs are not being listened to, and you may be discounted for the rest of the contest for repeat offenses.
- No alt accounts, no rallying or begging, etc., etc.... You only get one vote! Swapping votes is alright, just make clear that you've already made a vote and are swapping.
- Make clear what your voting options are! Please keep votes separate from any comments, and use the titles given in the topic post.
- Voting in all matches is not mandatory, feel free to skip matches you do not wish to vote in.
- Vote based on the links provided, and not other sources of audio. Links are specifically chosen for best quality and the like.
- Don't discuss vote tallies in this thread, or in other threads, as they may influence votes. Likewise, please refrain from looking at the running tally before voting.

Voting Period:
- Today's matches will last 24 hours from the time of posting, or 24 hours from 10pm Eastern, whichever is the later time.
- Please note this may mean that two topics will be active at the same time!
- If you anticipate being unable to vote in a given day, please send an absentee vote to @banshiryuu, or post your absentee vote in the discussion thread!

.

Match 1

Mad Rat Dead - Breath of Forest
Composer: Kazuya Takasu
Loop Point: 2:31
Genre: WOODED FANTASY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twEzOm2iJQo

The Devil Game - CHAMPION RITUAL
Composer: Enzo Dalmaschio (brutalmoon)
Loop Point: 4:02
Genre: BRUTAL PERCUSSION

WOODED FANTASY
J-BATTLE MEDLEY
SUPER LOUNGE MUSIC

7.7
7.65 (oof)
7.4
8.5
6
8.55

WOODED FANTASY
J-BATTLE MEDLEY
INDUSTRIAL NIGHTMARE

"How do you think?" That's easy, I don't

abstain
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

For some reason, not super keen on Xenoblade today. For some other reason, not super keen on the chill tune in round 3. Maybe it was the vocals. Maybe because Heartland had a Castlevania vibe at points. Either way!

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Para Bellum is probably my favourite discovery of the contest.

Breath of Forest [9]
Champion Ritual [7]
Recall Names [8]
SaGa Medley [6]
Para Bellum [10]
how do you think? [8]

1. Turok 2:Seeds of Evil (GBC) - Scroll Stage
2. Super Mario 64 - Staff Roll
3. ???
4. ???
5. Warframe - Sleeping in the Cold Below
6. Heartland - Para Bellum
7. ???
8. Alto's Odyssey - An Endless Desert
9. Phantasy Star Online 2 - Yggdrasil
10. Shatter - Argon Refinery
11. The Caligula Effect 2 - xxxx/xx/xx (Remix)
12. Napple Tale - Dreams in a Pie
13. ???
14. ???
15. ???
16. ???
17. GITADORA OverDrive - Jupiter Guns Novel ( Long Version)
18. ???
19. Lightning Returns - The Glittering City of Yusnaan
20. Mad Rat Dead - Breath of Forest

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

CHAMPION RITUAL
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
how do you think?

Mad Rat Dead - Breath of Forest
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - You Will Recall Our Names
Heartland - Para Bellum

Breath of Death VII
Lord of Saga
For Whom the Bellum Tolls

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

CHAMPION RITUAL
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
how do you think?

Pretty cool day. I actually thought it would be harder, but it surprisingly wasn't, I'm set on my picks.

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

I'm officially back after forgetting that VGMC was a thing LOL.
Anyway I'm super busy today so no writeup but, match 2 hurts. I really want to support what is possibly my favourite game soundtrack of the past decade, but on the other hand you can't really beat the power of Hamauzu. Nishiki's arrangement chops surprised me on this one too, I mean I like Nishiki most days but this was even more interesting than the Nishiki I'm used to.

CHAMPION RITUAL
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
how do you think?

think i'll abstain on match 1 instead actually

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Pretty good day, last match particularly.

Mad Rat Dead - Breath of Forest
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - You Will Recall Our Names
Heartland - Para Bellum

The Devil Game - CHAMPION RITUAL
Lord of Vermilion Arena - SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Planet DOB - how do you think?

CHAMPION RITUAL
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
how do you think?

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

CHAMPION RITUAL
You Will Recall Our Names
how do you think?

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

I am really thankful for being exposed to how do you think? though. Even though I consider Para Bellum to be more impressive of a song, I'll definitely pay more visits to Planet DOB in my future. Thank you nominators for showing me two really cool songs I'd never find otherwise!

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

Forest is good, CHAMP takes too long to get going and I'm still not really feeling it when it does. I like the first 20 seconds though.
Recall is a rare Xenomiss for me, I like bits and pieces of it but as a whole it feels less than the sum of its parts. Bit bland. SaGa isn't all hits either but it has segments I like.
Think is chill, I like it quite a lot, but unfortunately it's up against my fav song today in Para Bellum. Bellum is doing a lot of stuff and I'm amazed how well I like all of it considering the actual soundfont (if that what it's called) doesn't sound super pleasant to me. It's a great achievement, my fav bit is probs from 4:37.

Forest: 3.5/5
CHAMP: 1.5/5
Recall: 2.5/5
SaGa: 2.5/5
Para: 4.5/5
think?: 3.5/5

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

I like Breath of Forest significantly better than I liked Emmental Catalepsy. Nice piano, and I like the whistle as the primary instrument here. Nice erhu section as well. Melody is solid, but definitely not something super memorable. Fun song overall.

The panning in the bass of Champion Ritual is a bit much lol. Switching channels every beat isn't exactly pleasant to listen to. I gets better about 2 minutes in. But it never gets particularly interesting compositionally for me. So this is a fairly easy vote here for Breath of Forest.

You Will Recall Our Names is definitely the weakest Xenoblade entry in the contest. But it's still pretty good. Some nice melodies, e-guitars, and horns used in this. Some nice basswork in the background as well. Probably gonna get my vote for this match.

There are some nice motifs used the SaGa Frontier 2 Medley. Though I'm not a huge fan of medleys in general, unless they're well-executed. This one's just the typical "lets put a bunch of songs one right after the other regardless of whether they go well together or not" type of medley. Though this one's better than a lot of other medleys I've heard as far as cohesion goes. This one does drag quite a bit as well, so another fairly easy match for me.

Para Bellum is pretty interesting. I like some of the motifs, although I'm not a huge fan of the instruments all sounding super fake. But yeah, not a huge fan of this overall.

how do you think? is pretty interesting with the synths it uses. Interesting DnB instrumental as well. Vocals are solid, but nothing special. Just an ok song all in all, but it's definitely better than Para Bellum, so it'll still get my vote.

Eh, kind of a weak day today tbh.

Votes:
Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
how do you think?

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

YWKON >> YWRON

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest still maybe my favorite MRD song. Champion Ritual has a great start, and some fun little bits.

Recall is a fine sequel to Know. Medley goes a lot of different places, as I could've expected from a medley I guess. I like the part before the 6 minute mark a lot. Interesting match.

Para Bellum's pretty solid and has moments of greatness. Think is pretty forgettable.

Breath of Forest > You Will Recall Our Names > SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit- > CHAMPION RITUAL = Para Bellum > how do you think?

CHAMPION RITUAL
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
how do you think?

CHAMPION RITUAL
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

I was torn on CR at first because the beginning is slightly annoying and takes almost 2 minutes to get to the main part of the song. But once it starts, it's better than BoF.

1. PowerOne
2. You Were There
3. Scroll Stage
4. ???
5. Staff Roll (Super Mario 64)
6. Dreams in a Pie
7. ???
8. ???
9. CHAMPION RITUAL
10. Passing Through the Forest
11. ???
12. ???
13. ???
14. ???
15. ???
16. ???
17. ???
18. Kusanagi Village
19. ???
20. Calling
21. LIN NE KRO NE
22. Egg Reverie
23. ???
24. ???
25. The Glittering City of Yusnaan
26. ???
27. ???
28. Sky Tower
29. ???
30. The Elephant's Foot of Obnoxious Music
31. Time Moves Slow
32. The Apex of the World (Rain)
33. Radical Dreamers ~Unstolen Jewel~
34. Interwoven Stories
35. ???
36. ???
37. ???
38. ???
39. The Wretched Automatons
40. It's Dangerous to Go Alone
41. ???
42. ???
43. xxxx/xx/xx (Remix)
44. Yggdrasil
45. ???
46. ???
47. SaKuRa
48. The Rain Formerly Known as Purple
49. ???
50. Kaze no Ne

CHAMPION RITUAL is my favorite discovery of this contest! I love percussion in songs, so while others might be bored by the fact that a good chunk of the song is drums, I love it. My suggested genre, BRUTAL PERCUSSION, reflects the intensity of the drums as well as the composer, brutalmoon.

Votes:
CHAMPION RITUAL
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
how do you think?

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
abstain for now

Breath of Forest (9.7 - 1st place) / CHAMPION RITUAL (8.4 - 20th place)
You Will Recall Our Names (8.2 - 24th place) / SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit- (8.73 - 15th place)
Para Bellum (7.9 - 29th place) / how do you think? (6.9^ - 45th place)

Mad Rat Dead - Breath of Forest
Lord of Vermilion Arena - SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Heartland - Para Bellum

so yeah I'm pretty much sure now

Para Bellum is my favorite VGMC16 discovery

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

Breath of Forest :) CHAMPION RITUAL is fine once it picks up but it's outclassed here.
YWRON is a style I generally like a good bit but not a great example of it - feels kind of muddy and occasionally too busy at times. And even if I was just in a JRPG mood (I often am) the SaGa Frontier 2 Medley delivers that in a much neater package.
Para Bellum is really cool! Surprisingly "epic" rock song given the soundfont. I do not think much of its opponent in any way.

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
how do you think?

Breath of Forest
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

CHAMPION RITUAL
You Will Recall Our Names
how do you think?

7.2
7.9
9.2
7.5
8.7
9.9

mfw two of my favorite new VGMC16 discoveries get put against each other r1

how do you think? is just a really good piece of electronic music - definitely not the type of thing I was expecting to find from VGMC. Almost sounds like a Ryksopp track

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
how do you think?

Breath of Forest
You Will Recall Our Names
Para Bellum

forest
medli
wad

8
8
7
8
8.5
8