Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 12! Feat Seas, Rain, Umbrellas, Ponds, Lakes, and other Seas

(+) Yeah! (+)

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - The Apex of the World (Rain)
Touhou Gouyoku Ibun ~ Sunken Fossil World - Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
abstain

The Apex of the World (Rain) > Dead Sea > Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever > The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond) >>>>> Lake [Corruption]

I like the vibes of Dead Sea, but The Apex of the World just grows on me the more I listen to it. I'd probably like Troupple Pond more than the Touhou song if it had real instruments, 8-bit music isn't really my thing (even if I can appreciate the compositions). Not listening to the Octopath song because I haven't played the game yet and want to hear all of its music in-game... whenever I get around to it. I did listen to Lake though, and... yeah that's absolutely corrupted what the fuck is going on here who thought this was okay I am not finishing a loop of this fucking song

dowolf posted...

I can only assume this plays when you go after the Dead Sea Scrolls that reveal how mankind turned into squids as a result of nuclear holocaust or something i dunno i am not a squid girl. iddle, the sheer power of it all.

Not quite, this is just one of the Alterna island themes afaik. The squids are actually the ones that turned into humanoid creatures after "psycho-reactive liquid crystals infused with lingering human thoughts and feelings leaked into the ocean surrounding the settlement". (thanks Inkipedia, couldn't have put it better myself)

The Apex of the World (Rain)
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Battle on the Sea

Dead Sea has some interesting ambiance to it, it mainly kicks in for me during Phases 3 and 4. In fact, I wish the whole song was more like the last 2 phases, that would've caught more of my interest.

Apex of the World is a very good, if not competently standard, Fire Emblem track. Its buildup in the beginning is satisfying as is, and then those muted vocals come in and start painting the dramatic vibe for me. The chorus is absolutely one of my favorite parts for this, it just hits that "critical moment" feeling really well. Admittedly, I do think Apex would be less interesting if it never had the key change for the last minute, that's a touch I really appreciate when a battle can't be over in less than 3 minutes.

I really like the cool echo-y synths used in Beware the Umbrella, and combined with the piano and strings - and even that small bit of Japanese flute! - this makes for a real cool song overall. This doesn't do anything too crazy, it's just a real pleasant song to listen to.

I've yet to really know much of anything about Shovel Knight since I still need to play it, but I admire how clear the personality behind the song sounds like, you can feel the pompous, smug persona that this song is setting itself up as. I want this to grow on me, I feel like this could easily become one of my favorites in-game with how fun this track sounds.

I thought Lake would be a bit more headache-inducing, and it surprisingly isn't. However, at this point I just want to hear the clean version that's without all the printer-like noises, I KNOW I would enjoy the song more if that were the case.

Don't know much about Octopath Traveller II, but I DO know a really good sea shanty-inspired battle theme when I hear one. Everything about this is really good; the flute, the violin, the rough electric guitar, the acoustic guitar, the rousing drums - everything does its part to keep the tune forward and exciting, and it pays off remarkably well!

Splatoon 3 - Dead Sea
Shovel Knight: King of Cards - The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond)
Golem no Maigo - Lake

Dead Sea [ ]
The Apex of the World (Rain) [X]
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever [=]
The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond) []
Lake [ ]
Lake (vanilla) []
Battle on the Sea [ ]

Dead Sea
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Battle on the Sea

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - The Apex of the World (Rain)
Shovel Knight: King of Cards - The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond)
Octopath Traveler II - Battle on the Sea

Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever

Dead Sea
The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond)
Lake

The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond) > Dead Sea > Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever > Lake > Battle on the Sea > The Apex of the World (Rain)

The Apex of the World (Rain)
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Battle on the Sea

The Apex of the World
The Buzz in the Grotto
Lake

with Dead Sea,,, it really was dead. I kept waiting for it to start up and then it never really days lol. Those weird gurgling sounds made me think collapsing rift from hat in time would play, and then it didnt

buzz in the grotto was probably my favorite

Dead Sea
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Battle on the Sea

Dead Sea feels more like ambient noises than ambient music. And I mean there's definitely a place for that and it's probably pretty eerie in-game, but I have trouble equating that to whether or not this is a good song. The later phases move things in the right direction, admittedly, and I actually rather like phase 4. Relistening again I think I'm more willing to weight phase 3 and 4 heavily so I think I'm quite positive on the song overall. Apex of the World is fine orchestral Fire Emblem music. Some solid climactic moments and nice strings but mostly doesn't stand out much for me.

The Touhou song is pretty good. The percussion might be a bit too loud, but overall a nice calming song, and I really like the string part about halfway through. Buzz in the Grotto sounds like a Shovel Knight song sounds, which means I like it quite well.

The uncorrupted version sounds like it might be solid, but the corruption definitely doesn't help the experience for me. Octopath music is always a treat. This one is a nice blend of traditional "medieval" music and rock.

No overall ranking mostly because I have absolutely no idea where to put Dead Sea.

Lake

The Apex of the World (Rain)
The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond)
Battle on the Sea

Water tracks all three times, huh? Weird.

Dead Sea
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Lake

The Apex of the World (Rain)
The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond)
Battle on the Sea

Dead Sea
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Lake

I'm surprised to be voting for Touhou over Jake Kaufman, too.

The Apex of the World (Rain)
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Battle on the Sea

Dead Sea
Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever
Lake

Somehow Lake sounds actually acceptable on speakers. I will concede that it's a war crime of a song on headphones though. Alas for Octopath fans, I am on speakers right now.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - The Apex of the World (Rain)
Shovel Knight: King of Cards - The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond)
Octopath Traveler II - Battle on the Sea

MATCH 1

I've said before that I'm not really a fan of ambient stuff, and I'd classify Phases 1 and 2 of Dead Sea as that. Phase 3 gets a little better by introducing something more melodic. Phase 4 has a more prominent melody, but I don't actually like the instrumentation as much here, so I'd put it lower than Phase 3 in terms of enjoyment. But even if it was just Phase 3 by itself, it wouldn't be good enough to beat its opponent.

Though I've only scratched the surface of Three Houses' soundtrack, Apex is still the premier Three Houses song among those I've listened to. It handily was my winner for this 8-pack in my favorites bracket. Overall, it has a pretty good melody, and I also like the piano at 0:22 in particular.

MATCH 2

I really like the original version of this song from Touhou 12, and I would've picked it here in this match, but I sadly don't like this version as much. A lot of the parts I liked from the original were arranged in a way that felt a lot weaker to me. I think the most clear example of this is at 1:22. Compared with the same part in the original (link for reference: https://youtu.be/AmslIIu9WTA?t=39), the way the notes are arranged to be arpeggios really makes this part shine to me as opposed to how the notes are a little more sparse and elongated in this version. Though, I like what the arranger did with 0:33-0:55, especially at 0:38 and 0:49. The way the notes flow there is pretty nice.

The Buzz in the Grotto has a fun melody that I like. 0:47-1:48 I'd say is the highlight of the song for me that really shows off the playfulness of the song. The syncopation (I hope I'm using that word right lol) in the melody the second time around during that part adds to this as well.

MATCH 3

I have to say, I actually think it's really amusing in a good way the discovery that what made this song cool to a lot of people was actually a glitch in emulation or something like that and the "real" song doesn't sound like this at all. I can totally see how this appeals to people, and I honestly don't even mind it myself. Granted, I like the flute and strings way more than the distortion, but like I said, I don't dislike that distortion either.

Did I mention yet that I like folk-sounding songs? Of course I have! And I'll say it again for Battle on the Sea as well.

The Apex of the World (Rain) > Battle on the Sea > The Buzz in the Grotto (Troupple Pond) > Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever > Lake > Dead Sea