Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 3! PurpTown/1stCampaign, HODO/YeehawDB, MoonConcert/Origin

(+) 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 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!

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Match 1

Borde

Purple Town instruments have kind of an annoying sound to them. I don't like harmonica that much. Speaking of harmonicas, First Campaign sure sounds like a Falcom song. In a good way, though.

I've heard a lot of good RO songs, but HODO doesn't really do much for me. Yeehaw is silly, but not in a bad way.

oh ya my girl akiko shikata. I really liked this when I first heard it last year, so I'm glad it got in this time. Origin does nothing for me. Not a fan of the MIDI sound.

The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Moonlight Concert

Moonlight Concert > Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.) > Origin > Yeehaw DeliveryBoy > HODO > Purple Town

Purple
I wish I knew how to use hodo to say something clever
Origin

Purple Town / Battlefield
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Oops I cut off that first vote wrong, that's supposed to be a vote for Purple Town

Purple Town
Yeehaw Delivery
Origin

Purple Town > Origin > The First Campaign > Yeehaw Delivery Boy > Moonlight Concert > HODO

Etrian Odyssey Nexus - Battlefield - The First Battle (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Pizza Tower - Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
GENETOS - Origin

Etrian Odyssey Nexus - Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Ragnarok Online II: The Gate of the World - HODO
The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince - Moonlight Concert

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Purple Town is ridiculous. Yack going his absolute hardest. I was an outspoken fan of Purple Town since well before this year's contest and that damn video of the cat playing the harmonica, so seeing it in here was a welcome surprise.
Origin is very nice fauxhou music. Pretty great day today

Purple Town >> Origin >> Moonlight Concert > I cooka da pizza > Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.) > HODO

I completely missed the first two days oops

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

The First Guitar Solo
naru hodo
Moonlight Concerto

grapeville doesn't sound like what I expect border down to sound like. which is apparently a world without capital letters. am i going to make that a thing for today's writeups? we'll find out, I suppose. Welp I ruined it. But yeah, this honestly feels more like Baldr stuff to me than OH nope there we go this is border down all right <-- this reaction was to like 1:10 ish? I think i liked it more when it sounded more like Baldr, though.

i'm not sure how i feel about this remix. Well, more specifically, I'm not sure how I feel about this specific synth. I feel like it's supposed to be invoking the FM original, but it doesn't really sound like the FM to me either? The guitar coming in improves things a lot. The bridge? coda? whatchamacallit? at 1:40 or whatever is interesting here, but i dunno. It's a song I'm fond of but don't love, and while it's not my least favorite rendition, it's not my favorite either. That feels accurate. OH WAIT IT DIDN'T LOOP. Okay this guitar solo is pretty rad. That moved it up a bit in my rankings.

HODOR! fun bouncy world music with fake language chanting is hard for me not to like. but the instrumental is kind of lacking? the violin solo is really nice around 1:55. I wish it and the vocals got to countermelodize. That is totally a word don't you red squiggle me spellcheck! Anyways we get a little bit in the last minute but it could've started earlier.

I don't get pizza tower. I almost get the music, the whistling flute thingy is kinda nice but it doesn't really gel. And then we get freaking don't understand what's going on here sample it's like a siiva rip. oh. I understand the audience now, at least.

FAKE TONELICO! unfortunately I don't think it holds up to a lot of my favorite Shikata pieces, and that's what I have to compare it against. Like just put this up against Lxa Ti-cia and I pick Lxa Ti-cia every time. It's bringing a knife to a Song Magic fight.

On the origin of music. I had nothing to write at all until suddenly TEMPO SHIFT is this a soft landing? It still doesn't have enough going on to really interest me though. Why is the loop point 4:30 in a 6 minute video this is weird.

Purple Town
HODO
Origin

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Purple Town
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Purple Town
HODO (i'm over the age of 12)
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Vgmc the third

Purble place town
Yeehaw deliveryboy
Moonlight concert

Not a lot to comment here, first match was a difficult pick

Purple Town
HODO
Origin

this year continuing the trend of EO songs i would prob take to retirement if it was the original FM

From TunnelScene:

Purple Town (Border Down)
HODO (Ragnarok Online II)
Moonlight Concert (Liar Princess and Blind Prince)

I love the aggressive harmonica. . yack is probably honestly the most important musician to me and basically the biggest influence on my music/taste. even if reich/metheny came first for me, yack (and i guess zuntata in general) showed me what direction I wanted to look HARD and I never looked back. this ost has always been one of my favorites from him and this song is certainly a defining one for it.

how much for that rock

yoko Kanno world

don't underdobtmmnDont undersDont undersWARI9 is such a goof ball

I listened to the first 5 seconds and thought IS THIS THE NONSENSE THAT BOARD 8 LIKES!?@??@ and decided . . . that I loved it to such an EXTREME that it is better than touhou and uminkeo and art tonelico . i don't even have to listen to anything past the first 14 seconds to know. I'm voting for this

some neat ct/metheny feeling changes at the start actually. I like the fake mallet perc layer. if this song was in banjo Kazooie it would be my favorite song in banjo kazooi3le

Purple Town
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Moonlight Concert

Yay, it's my favorite song ever made. I hope it can get at least a win today. That's what I'm mostly hoping for. I mean, asking it to win the entire thing is a bit precipitous, and it's not like the Round 2 match would be in a month at the least. Regardless, I can't stop thinking how much this song changed my existence. I'm a bit ashamed I haven't listened to everything Shikata up until now, but I just never get tired of anything made in this particular style, it's truly the cream of the crop when it comes to music. I adore these two goofballs enormously and I wish them the best of luck.

About the other matches, these votes are close. I think they're good for themselves, mostly siding with the Koshiro sound and being more catchy. Origin is decent, but held back by it's MIDI instruments. A fine day, if I may add.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/9/9/AAfGkeAAEekn.jpg

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Cool rhythmic part in HODO I wasn't expecting at 2:11

The weird bits in Moonlight Concert are fun :-)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/1/3/AARWb-AAEek1.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/1/4/AARWb-AAEek2.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/1/5/AARWb-AAEek3.png

so the thing is, nexus first campaign isn't inherently bad. i just find it automatically inferior to the original because of how much more generic it is outside of fm, especially when the fm version is tuned so sublimely that i simply don't think it could've been changed to flow any better than it does. even the neat extra solo sections in this one don't have the natural catharsis the original has. with that said, it again still isn't inherently bad, it just made me mad to see it picked over the original (and indeed most of the EO songs that saw exceptional orchestral adaptations in the 3DS games) like some deliberate psyop against classic EO and perhaps FM in general. the original's a song that even saw use in a collab for a gacha game i remembered yesterday, it's just that good that they went out of their way to use it in this day and age... anyway I was going to say i might've actually picked it if it was in either of the other matches but that isn't true, but over either match 2 song was possible at least. drawing purple town still wasn't the most fortuitous thing it could've exactly had today

also match 3 is filthy. rest in peace weird genetos planet god thing
https://imgur.com/a/zvihiHF

this final stage is still my favourite stage in any shmup tbqh

also write-in vote for poll as [VGMC] Day 3! feat. best way to name the title for todays topic

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Still no ranking but honourable mention to First Campaign (rip EO5 second battle theme)

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Origin

Purple Town
HODO
Origin

Third match was cool, I thought I would be auto voting for Akiko Shikata but both are very good and I was more in the mood for Origin.

abstain
abstain
Origin

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
HODO
Origin

Purple Town
HODO
Origin

yeehaw delivery boy frustrates me as a song enough that i can't vote for it even if i think i'm more into it stylistically
this third match is nuts

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

I've got no comments to make on the first two matches as they are quite clear cut for me, but I felt that while Origin has higher peaks, Moonlight Concern is more consistent overall as a song.

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town: The high-end instruments on this one are mixed too loudly, but it's still a pretty good song. Good melody and the compositional structure is pretty well-done. The acoustic guitar solo at 2:59 is the highlight for me. Good song.

The First Campaign: This sounds like a Falcom song without the annoying violins The lead synth is very whatever, and the melody doesn't do much to interest me either. I do like the section at 1:31 though. Nice call and response effect between the e-guitar and the synth. Okay song.

HODO: Probably my favorite song in Bracket A. Gabriela Robin vocals are always the best. And Yoko Kanno mixes have so much detail, even when they don't seem like there's a lot going on. The violins, percussion, synths, acoustic guitar, The rhythms combined with the synths at 2:34 are definitely my favorite part. Awesome song.

Yeehaw DeliveryBoy: I kinda like the bassline in this one, but that's about it. Not sure about Pizza Tower music in general, there hasn't been much that's clicked with me that I've heard. This song just kinda goes, and the vocal sample feels very out of place.

Moonlight Concerto: Very nice song. Definitely feels like an Ar Tonelico song. Love the vocals and harps. Not a lot else to say on it, but I approve of this one.

Origin: 0:50 is pretty cool here. The MIDI instruments are very much not my thing, and I think this one would benefit a lot from using real instruments. It's a decent composition otherwise.

I have very clear picks for all three matches today, making it a mixed day as a whole.

Votes:
Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concerto

Purple Town
Yeehaw Delivery
Origin

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
HODO
Origin

Purple Town
HODO
Origin

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Moonlight Concert

Purple Town
HODO
Moonlight Concert

Oh wow I actually like Purple Town a lot. The harmonica part is obviously the highlight, but the rest of the song also has this pleasant and relaxing vibe which really accentuates the occasional high energy outbursts from the harmonica. Etrian Odyssey music as a whole as never clicked with me, so I can only assume I'm just not the target audience. This one gets my attention more than most because I like the guitar part and the ending, but I'd still only describe it as "good" or something.

HODO is one those songs that I like a lot but it's hard to describe why. If I had to describe the picture this song brings to mind in my head it's something like a primeval celebration that people understand but the precise meaning of which has been long since lost to time. I don't know if that helps at all but yeah. The vocals and the violin are neat I guess. Yeehaw Deliberyboy is fun but overall not really my thing.

Moonlight Concert is not my favorite Akiko Shikata song which means I'm only going to take it over something like 85% of other songs in the contest. Her vocal style is always a treat though and the climax here is very pretty. Origin has some parts that are nice but others that feel a bit disjointed to me.

Another very good day. I'd be happy with any of the top 3 being retirees to be honest and the others certainly aren't bad.

Purple Town > HODO > Moonlight Concert > The First Campaign > Origin > Yeehaw Deliveryboy

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
HODO
Origin

Both in Match 1 are fine, but I particularly like the calmer non-guitar parts of Campaign.
I've not been a big fan of RO2 songs so far but this one is pretty interesting, I like the instrumentals.
Origin's piano is my fav part of the day.

Battlefield - The First Campaign (Etrian Odyssey Nexus Ver.)
Yeehaw DeliveryBoy
Moonlight Concert

Border Down - Purple Town
Ragnarok Online II: The Gate of the World - HODO
The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince - Moonlight Concert