Board 8 > [VGMC] d91: LastPandemic vs Rude Buster, Scars of FAUNA vs Battle! Colress

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 14, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss/edit#gid=320804650
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=473292
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78714595
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1REnVI_W6yELaDP6Zac8b0Wq
ToC playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RE-TQMj19D0k5nm-0zeH12J
VGMC compability sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lpX4faqnn_geI0y4i6MrZ2AXpV6SWXoWrIA6_eyx-yM/edit

Rules:
- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite of all-time and Song B is from a series you hate... Listen. To. Both. (If I have suspicions your vote is not based on a fair and impartial preference, it will be disqualified.)
- Obvious contest rules apply (no alts, one vote per person, no rallying, etc.).
- Please make your voting options clear, rather than burying them in text.
- Each set of matches lasts 24 hours, even if the new one isnt up by then. (Matches do not begin until at least 10:00 EDT.)
- Always vote on the versions of the song provided, not versions from different sources.
- If you know ahead of time that you're not going to be around and you want to vote in advance, post your choices in the discussion/bracket topic.
- Please do NOT post tallies/score updates in the middle of the match, as this has a tendency to directly influence matches.
- You don't have to vote in all the matches, but it'd be cool if you did!

.

Match 1

Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeBrwUmWWLA

Deltarune - Rude Buster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k0qYU29K0U

Match 2

jubeat saucer fulfill - Scars of FAUNA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWO_nVJSTww

Pokemon Black 2/White 2 - Battle! (Colress)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1DWNsV

Rude Buster
Battle! (Colress)

would be fine with either outcome on the first match tbh

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jubeat saucer fulfill - Scars of FAUNA
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LastPandemic
Battle! (Colress)

both very close matches for me! (32nd vs. 35th for Last vs Rude in particular)

round 3 is full of a lot of matches i'd call very close, and in cases like today, both matches where it's close between two things I love too! I'd say it hurts to vote against the opponents, but I'm feeling a more optimistic perspective today: Regardless of what happens I'll be happy whatever the victor! and I am guaranteed to like at least one retiree since I love everything in this fourpack in particular!
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Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

match 2 is pretty close for me.

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Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
jubeat saucer fulfill - Scars of FAUNA

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Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA
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LastPandemic (31st) vs Rude Buster (3rd)
Scars of FAUNA (17th) vs Battle! (Colress) (9th)

starting off with one of the many amazing four packs

re-ranked just the top 64 cause some things like Desire Below, HYMN, Desire Blue Sky, and Bitbop were like 30 spots too low and jumped over multiple songs that are still alive so i think i'll just stick with the new ranks

Rude Buster
Battle! (Colress)

Denying (solid) gust and even (near peak) nekomata here, very high quality day here.

I spent... some time fine-tuning my top 100 list today after 4 songs that weren't on it blew me away all of a sudden. It was a pain and a half reorganizing everything and I hope that doesn't happen again. Anyway...

LastPandemic (80th) / Rude Buster (16th)
Scars of FAUNA (23rd) / Battle! (Colress) (74th)

A is my group of death. Too much stuff here I want to just insert elsewhere for easy retirement, but alas... that can't happen.

LastPandemic
Battle! (Colress)

Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

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Rude
Fauna
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LastPandemic
Scars of FAUNA
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LastPandemic
FAUNA

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Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
Pokmon Black 2/White 2 - Battle! (Colress)

Close match #2

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Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

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Rude Buster
Battle! (Colress)


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Rude Buster
Battle! (Colress)

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LastPandemic
Battle! (Colress)
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Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
jubeat saucer fulfill - Scars of FAUNA

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Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

Hey, it's round 3, and that means the start of WRITEUPS

Note that all rankings are out of 64.

44.Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
vs.
10.Deltarune - Rude Buster

What I had in my favorites bracket:
Silver Star Crysta Kaleido > LastPandemic

I like LastPandemic (44 out of 64 is still a 6.5! Strong field this year). I like how it builds from the little chime-like instruments to this whole big production, carried along by the wispy vocals. Not a big fan of the key change, but that's about par for the course for me. LastPandemic's entire fourpack was very close for me, and I think I went against my bracket and voted against it at least once.

Rude Buster is a lot of fun. Infectious, catchy, with a great beat, a great melody, and lots of energy. Very nice "pop music." Will likely take it over what's left of A1.

-

16.jubeat saucer fulfill - Scars of FAUNA
vs.
60.Pokemon Black 2/White 2 - Battle! (Colress)

What I had:
Imbrium > Battle! Colress (wildcard)

Scars of FAUNA is Nekomata Master is doing his thing. Very world music, strong pan flute presence. I've said it before but average Nekomata is like above average almost everyone else. This is certainly above average Nekomata. Fairly intense without being overwhelming, like, say, Dark Legacy and Despair of ELFERIA (note that I like both of those songs more than Scars of FAUNA, so maybe I secretly like being overwhelmed!). This is probably the odds-on favorite to take A1, and I can't say it's a bad choice.

Post-Pokemon ranking, I still constantly mix up the Battle! themes in this contest. Colress, Giratina, Uxie...I remember them as soon as they start, but remembering them by their names is a challenge. Colress is the only one I don't really like. (It somehow won my A2 wildcard favorites because all the songs I actually liked got to round 3.) It's not bad - it's musically interesting, and I like the countdown parts. But the overall package never quite comes together for me.

-

Votes (in case it wasn't obvious):
Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

As an aside, my average for the remaining 64 songs is 7.195. Given that my average tends to run in the 6 range, that's very good! Even though most of my "top songs" are gone, including all four bracket winners, I think the average quality here is pretty strong!

Rude Buster
Battle! Colress

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LastPandemic
Battle! (Colress)

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Rude Buster
Battle! (Colress)

LastPandemic
Scars of FAUNA

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Deltarune - Rude Buster
jubeat saucer fulfill - Scars of FAUNA
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Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

I've given up on this division but I think these picks are favoured in their matches at least!

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Deltarune: Chapter 1 - Rude Buster
Pokemon Black 2/White 2 - Battle! (Colress)

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Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

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LastPandemic
Scars of FAUNA

hbthebattle votes:
Rude Buster
Battle! Colress

Nice. I love when my vote gets cancelled within my own post. You're a pal, hb.

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LastPandemic
Scars of FAUNA

Scars of FAUNA > LastPandemic > Rude Buster > Rude Buster

It's scary how hard these are getting to decide on.

LastPandemic
Scars of FAUNA

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Rude Buster
Battle! (Colress)

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LastPandemic
Battle! (Colress)

Yeah, that first (twelve-pack) was pretty crazy... eight of the twelve are fairly close in ratings (odd ones out being LoZ Title, Brain Power, Fax Factory, and SSCK). LP has grown on me a lot. I voted One Final Effort over it last round, but I don't think I'd do that anymore. My opinion on both Fauna and Colress have a dropped a bit, but Colress is still my favorite of the day....

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Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
jubeat saucer fulfill - Scars of FAUNA

LastPandemic > Rude Buster = Scars of FAUNA >> Battle! (Colress)

I've considered making a ranking of the remaining 64 songs, but I might do what I did last year and only start at round 4 with the remaining 32 songs.

Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA

i am become the late crew, slayer of azu (and my own upload)
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LastPandemic
Scars of FAUNA

Apparently today I don't hate LastPandemic
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LastPandemic > Rude Buster
Scars of FAUNA < Battle! (Colress)

just realizing this now but doesnt scars have a very similar choir sample to confronting myself
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LastPandemic
Scars of FAUNA

lastpandemic - first encountered: probably vgmc11 - trend: slightly up
-it's really the first minute of the track that makes it for me. the first section (the first :20) is the part I remember the most clearly, but my favourite sections are actually at 0:32 and 0:53. re-listening to it reminds me of those sections-- it's cooler than I remember. I also noticed that the electronic percussion is different at 1:32 than at the intro. the one at 1:32 is pretty neat! nice little detail.

rude buster - first encountered: sought out the day after release, probably after seeing a message from Dire in #vgmusic - trend: steady
-rude buster has always been rude buster. it's what it shows itself to be in its intro-- just a fun jam all the way through. catchy. this, field of hopes and dreams, chaos king, and don't forget are the only deltarune tracks I can play in my head from memory. (that's probably partly due to overall exposure, but they're the ones that stick with me, having not played the game.)

scars of fauna - first encountered: probably vgmc12 - trend: slightly down
-two Nekomata ToC entrants are a tough act to follow. I like the buildup starting at :18 the most, revisitng this. scars of fauna is more subdued than the ToC entries-- the instruments are softer, the arrangement sparser, the percussion less overbearing-- and there's charm in that. I miss some of the grandeur of something like ELFERIA, though. the vox during the buildup at :18 always makes me smile a little because it randomly makes me think of K. K. Slider. let's have a Nekomata Master/K. K. Slider collab! CAT and DOG

battle! colress - first encountered: rwlh's ranking, but only listened to with full attention in this contest - trend: steady
-this is cool and I think that's the wall I keep running into-- I think 'this is cool' but I don't feel the level of investment I would for tracks I really like. but yeah, it's cool. the goofy counting is a nice hook and I enjoy it. the way the bass walks around is neat. I like the renewed focus and energy at 1:03, and the startlingly strong melodic lead at 1:23 is nice. maybe this grows on me over some time.

probably can't keep this up but we'll see how it goes