Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 1!!! ZeldaTitle/NEFrostSt, NotamMenu/Little Princess, Gullveig/MNN+@0

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 17, 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=477304
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SAJKYJmYhccLvbf_H-5uSA7-eMwXfW8k1q74Qho1bLU
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80433657
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0wlcxj-kHQRU1yHo-kpMxGe
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IU5iCFTM_4WEx8ZWKwznMz5v2tarCKh1Ag0mxIgAes
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

brexit

gaming

Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street
Kaze no Notam - Menu
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)

match 1: abstain
an old classic vs a new cool song from a pretty solid ost. Hard to say which is better. Zelda main theme is one of my favorite songs ever, but it depends on the version, and I love other iterations of the main theme in more recent games and the 25th anniversary version significantly more than the NES version. The NES version is one of my least, if not my least favorite version of the theme. It's still fantastic though.

On the other hand, Northeast Frost street is probably one of the best songs from Kirby and the Forgotten land, and ost which I myself have nominated from in the past. It can't contest with the Zelda NES title theme on recognizably or impact on the video game music industry, but it's still fantastic.

If this had been almost any other version of the Zelda theme, I'd probably go with Zelda. But since it's the NES version, I don't know what to vote for.

match 2: Menu - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind
Would've probably voted the other song if it used real or higher quality instruments. Oh well.

match 3: MNN+@0 (Ma-non Ship Day) - Xenoblade Chronicles X
Very easy vote here. Sorry FE, maybe another day.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street
Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character - Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

th3l3fty 5/12/2023 11:02:28 PM#4
Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street
Kaze no Notam - Menu
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)
thelefty for analysis crew 2008 imo -transience
I have a third degree burn in flame-o-nomics -Sir Chris

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

debated doing some rating thing this year but i highly highly doubt i'll be able to keep up so not this year!!! oops!!!

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to rate music this year, either. (except for the ones I really like, but I'm going to be listening to those a decent amount first and then rate/rank, which will end up being maybe 40% of the bracket?)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street
Touhou Kishinjou ~ Double Dealing Character - Inchlings of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0

Title BGM
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

I had a whole stream of consciousness write-up and then an accidental refresh went and ate it. Awesome.

Title BGM
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

wooo voting!!!

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

title bgm
kobito
mnnnnnnnnn

no strong feelings about either of the first match songs but title bgm edges it out because i admire the simplicity, i guess

i think the instrumentation hurts kobito more than it would some other touhou songs but zun can write a fucking hook, menu is hookless by comparison

gullveig is in the elephant's foot of obnoxious music slot for me this year: very good and very up-my-alley despite being transparently weird, unfortunately going up against a song that is basically perfectly constructed

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

I don't exactly think I have anything against the Zelda title theme, but there just isn't a whole lot to it either. Northeast Frost Street I like a lot. The melody itself is calm and soothing, and I like the sense of progression the song has--starting as something like a mix of ambient Xenoblade and SMT music before the full string and woodwind section comes in halfway through.

Kaze no Notam music is always unique for sure. Here I especially like the (presumably) deliberate banging on the piano part. I'm not actually sure how much of the effect is due to the backing percussion but whatever. The piano parts in the Touhou song are neat, but I'm not huge on the overall composition or instrumentation.

What is the point of opera style vocals if you're just going to edit them to sound muted and then blast over it with a bass drum? This Xenoblade song has a really cool groove to it. Sawano has such a unique and cool style when he's not making vocal music. This sort of mixing of traditional instruments and electronic music is something I usually like a lot when done well.

Northeast Frost Street > MNN+@0(Day) > Menu > Zelda Title > Kobito of the Shining Needle > Vs. Gullveig

From TunnelScene:

hi everyone ^^ I'm not going to be around much yet still but I'll still be voting and paying attention to the contest to the extent I can! I hope you enjoyed the bracket I helped construct, and can have fun in the contest!

Northeast Frost Street (Kirby Forgotten Land)
Menu (Kaze no Notam)
Vs. Gullveig (Fire Emblem: Heroes)

Famous song o.0 well. I like that one

kirby is like if 20th Century jazz-classical bone heads like kapustin would drink the fuckin dorumon slush with epic modulations that represent your mental revelations. the fact that you've figured it all out. I've figured out the reason behind all wars is because hbthebattle was trolling and went back in time to convince everyone to start a war. that's why his name has battle on it(warning: I am NOT crazy. this was a joke)

OK well HONESTLY menu is one of my top 50 favorite songs in the world at this time in my life. I've always been fond of the sound design/composition style of this soundtrack, but the mood I identify with much more strongly than anything else the game has to offer is the somewhat tense/uncertain/somber slight tinge this one has. it's like the lonely balloon take off site WAITING for the balloon to take off, but it's not ready yet. the particular tone with this slightly dissonant fake piano and clustered chords stabbing in a cool icicle. and then these unanticipated tonal center jumps it's justexactly the style of composition I want. AND the sounds i want. super fluid sound design with both organic and inorganicthe lo-fi effects on random bits and these constant filters warping everything. its just perfect. and it takes me exactly where I want to be. nature and tech merged. I think collen described this track as something like "machinery overgrown by nature" as a feeling and that sounds about right.

touhou LOUD girl music. its the music for when you're a real loud girl . it would be interesting to recreate the feeling of hearing a touhou song for the first time. the style stands out a lot, but since there's so much of it and I've heard so much of it. well the extremely distinct thing that it is I can kinda categorize as "touhou. I have heard that before. haha" but its like NOT something that sounds like anything else. so if I heard it for the first time I'd probably be more like "whoa. . . . very intense and crazy stuff o_0how is that existing @_@"

lol youtube is so smart (gave me a fire emblem ad before this started). when this song came out I couldn't stop listening. would just loop it forever and it'd be the only thing I'd listen to all day and I'd be excited at my favorite parts every time they came up (every minute). ~:29 with the sorta softened attack on this fake piano arpeggiating in this calmer but still kinda "prog tonality" way is such a emotionally powerful moment. suddenly ive escaped the hell chaos for just a fleeting moment and im in the beautiful sky above it all in safety for JUST a moment. this track is like the most unhinged bits of ar tonelico in a lot of ways. very dissonant and like "magma" 70s prog band with these low and oppressive vocals.

when talking about the setting I most wanna be taken to and how it defines an overwhelming amount of what i can get into---xenoblade chronicles x seems to paint exactly that(i still know nothing about the game to be clear). mysterious machines in the middle of nowhere in a grass nature world. that's like one of my exact things I most like. this song doesn't go as hard on feeling that as as some others in the series, but the mix of natural flutes and aggressive electronics works well for the imagery I see in the video still all the same.

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

im betraying myself and it's only day 1

Title BGM
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

Happy VGMC, everyone! :D

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street
Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character - Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

That gool ol' day 1 smell. I got a top 30 list primed to go, but none of the songs here tonight are in it so no reveal until they eventually show up :o

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito
MNN+@0 (Day)

MNN+@0 > Kobito > Menu > Gullveig > Frost Street > Zelda

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0 (Day)

Title BGM
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

DeviDoesNothing posted...

Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Northeast Frost Street
Touhou Kishinjou ~ Double Dealing Character - Inchlings of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0

I kinda feel like ranking every song here after seeing others do so, so...

Northeast Frost Street > Inchlings of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess > Title Theme > MNN+@0> Menu > Vs. Gullveig

what the fuck was going on in Gullveig that song is weird and nowhere close to what I would've expected from FE given my limited knowledge of the music from that series

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

The Legend of Zelda (NES) - Title BGM
Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character - Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)

Many funs be had in VGMC!

my votes:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/6/AARWb-AAEeFK.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/7/AARWb-AAEeFL.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/3/AARWb-AAEeFH.jpg

on a side note, i had my flatmate with me so if we're allowed to count his picks i'll just add that he preferred the following

Title BGM
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

no i'm not trying to rig this he legit just disliked manon

Title BGM
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

Bit late to the party but this year is absolutely stacked. A crop of probably 7 of my top 100 VGM of all time are in here. I'll talk about those when they come

Title BGM
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

I would have voted most of the longer Kaze No Notam tracks over Shining Needle, easy

Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess > Menu > Title BGM > Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss) > Northeast Frost Street > Incomprehensible Sawano nonsense

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

I never noticed the faint, scrapey chiming at the very start and end of the loop in Northeast Frost Street before and that's my favorite part of the song now

ARTDINK music :-)

Hiroki Morishita music :-)))

The Legend of Zelda (NES) - Title BGM
Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character - Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)

NE Frost Street
L'il Princess
plus alpha zero

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

video game music

XCX song was pretty neat

LoZ Title rocks. I remember getting into it like 10-15 years back I think. Northeast Frost is weaker than the Forgotten Land songs we had last year.

Menu is awful. Nothing good going on. Kobito's a solid enough Touhou.

Gullveig isn't quite my style of song, but it's got some cool stuff going on. MNN's good creative Sawano shit.

Title BGM
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

Title BGM > MNN+@0(Day) > Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess > Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss) > Northeast Frost Street > Menu

Title BGM
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

The Legend of Zelda (NES) - Title BGM
Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character - Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X - MNN+@0(Day)

Zelda Title is best song today, LAW Tier tbh

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
MNN+@0(Day)

I liked Northeast Frost Street, and the other two were decent. Disappointed by the Touhou.

Northeast Frost Street
Menu
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

Title BGM
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
MNN+@0(Day)

Northeast Frost Street
Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess
Vs. Gullveig (Book VII Boss)

Already voting against my bracket. Twice!