Board 8 > Best OST Contest: Bracket and Discussion [VGM]

(+) Yeah! (+)

ah, i thought i remembered Snowbound Land in the quick early look where i didn't see Zinger. but i guess i confused it with Snakey Chantey.

wouldn't Hot-Head bop be used in the loser's bracket? i thought i remembered azuarc saying that's what the alternates would be used for if he ended up having a loser's bracket

The alternates are only used for tiebreakers and for rematches AFAIK. ...And potentially the Loser's Bracket Finals, I suppose, since I think the set-up for that is still a secret.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX

Didn't azuarc state somewhere that the winner of the Winner's Bracket would be against the winner of the Loser's Bracket?

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I think I broke the LOL

Yeah. That match is necessary because since it's a double elimination, neither of those songs will have been eliminated, as the winner of the Loser's Bracket will have only lost once.

At that point, the Winner's Bracket OST only needs to win that match once to win overall (because any win will result in the second loss for the LB Song). The Loser's Bracket OST would have to win twice (presumably with different song match-ups) in order to win, one win won't suffice because that just puts them both at one loss.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX

bump.

Also, tomorrow will contain a do-over of one of yesterday's matches. I foolishly ended the matches early and one of them was too close to truncate the last 90 minutes of. Since this is to fix an error, and not a true rematch in the sense of breaking a tie, we will not be using the alternates instead.

Will that be the only match tomorrow or added on to the next two on the schedule?

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HBJ - Second City Saint
~Project 1000~

Added on.

If we run a tiebreaker, it will take one of our alloted two slots since that is a genuinely different match. However, I see no reason to slow down the progress of the tournament if in all likelihood people's votes won't change. In fact, I've recorded all the votes from the original topic, and I will assume your vote is the same unless you change it.

Advance votes:

Anxious Heart
Blue Water, Blue Sky

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HBJ - Second City Saint
~Project 1000~

The first half of round 1 is over...sorta. After 16 matches, the top of the leaderboard is Hannyabal with 13. If the FFT > MMX match ends up overturned, he'll be tied with Chocobo, Ed, and two of MP's brackets, each of whom currently have 11. (The people with 12 also all took FFT.)

bump

-Thoughts so far: Many ups and downs, as I expected for such an unpredictable contest. Not that it's a bad thing, though... I like being taken by surprise in these kinds of things!

-Expectations for later Rounds: Many ups and downs as well.

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I think I broke the LOL

bump

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I think I broke the LOL

Ugh, dreading tomorrows match, Frozen Synapse, my one nommed game that got in with an amazing ost vs. VVVVVV, another great indie with a great ost. I honestly will be picking Frozen Synapse because I think the song is better, but that VVVVVV song isn't bad at all either.

If more people would have just supported Frozen Synapse like I asked them to it wouldn't be a 16 seed and therefore wouldn't be up against VVVVVV, hehe.

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Indie game board: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/293-indie-gaming

haven't listened to any frozen synapse yet but my experience with VVVVVV has been that it's soundtrack is grossly overrated

which means that frozen synapse is probably doomed because lol b8

up

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"Anybody interested in grabbing a couple of burgers and hittin' the cemetery?" -Royal
"Oh sure, walk to the sun"- Guybrush

Looks like Frozen Synapse is in pretty good shape after all.

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Indie game board: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/293-indie-gaming

oh man, I feel like I should just put this one out of it's misery. 27-5? We've only had one match til now that was even a tripling, and if one of those five switches their votes, this would be x7! Poor Link's Awakening, lol.

Honestly I'm surprised it got 5 votes, heh.

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Indie game board: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/293-indie-gaming

So, upsetting 1-seeds actually IS possible. And by nearly a doubling!

Too bad that that wasn't the case with Castlevania: Curse of Darkness...

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I think I broke the LOL

Nothing "nearly" about it: 23-10 is most definitely a doubling. I certainly wasn't expecting that out of VVVVVV. I had thought once Chrono Trigger had pulled through in a tough match that all the ones were going to make it. Okami still has to defend the two seeds, but they're 3/3 so far. The biggest "upsets" so far have been (3) CV:SotN and (4) MMX. MMX in particular went against an underseeded Umineko, so that one was understandable. For the mostpart the biggest vote-getters have held their own in round one, so for V6 to take that kind of beating is uncanny.

Finally into the last full day of round 1.

I'm actually pretty nervous on Happiness of Marionette vs. The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls...I absolutely ADORE HoM, but the board probably sways a little differently...

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http://images.wikia.com/onepiece/images/0/02/Luffy_and_Charloss.gif
~Future Impel Down Gurdian~

Hannyabal posted...
I'm actually pretty nervous on Happiness of Marionette vs. The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls...I absolutely ADORE HoM, but the board probably sways a little differently...

I'm worried too, but for the exact opposite reason.

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Shoulda been in there instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml9GkiS10xg
[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

may possibly not be here to vote for the next 2 days so just in case

ADVANCE VOTE
Saturday
Theme of the Last Time Travel (seriously Xcarvenger why did you put this song first)
God's Footprints (side note: Bayou Boogie is a little better I remember)

Sunday
Fishy Aroma vocals (seriously Regaro? I dont mind this but wouldnt nom it. Also that Lufia 2 song is obnoxious)
Girl Who Stole the Stars (is somewhat boring. Luckily Parting Forever is even more boring)

Extra just in case there's a tiebreaker match or something.
Neon Mines

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Want to listen to more video game music every day?
Check out the VGMusicoftheDay Youtube Channel sometime!

You might want to put in a vote between the following for tomorrow:





And to be fair to Xcarv, I made him change the first song. He originally had the main theme, which carries over from the first game. I think originally he had the current song fifth?

Tiebreakers forcing AT2's R2 match back a day, so I have to dread that match even longer! (I still have a really bad feeling about that match)

...Or are we going to L1 after W1 finishes? I feel like we may have discussed this at some point while the nomination topic was dying down and I was coming up with a few different ways the rounds could play out, but if we had an answer on that, I forget what it was. I remember my initial idea had the winner's and loser's bracket playing mostly simultaneously, but that was scrapped, IIRC. ...And probably for the best.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX

The plan is to run the whole winner's bracket first. While part of me would like to start the loser's bracket, there are logistics issues with doing so, mostly after W2 and L1 would complete because the loser's bracket has two rounds for every one in the winner's.

And if it makes you feel any better, the DKC2 song sounds boring to me. Then again, I also voted against Forest Interlude, and that upset didn't happen.



While we're on the subject of discussing the loser's bracket, I should probably mention that losers entering the LB will be reseeded based on their performance. Thus, a game that narrowly lost in a tiebreaker will have a (theoretically) better situation than a game that got tripled on. I'm doing this using a derived statistics that works sort of like a reverse X-stat. In round 1, it will just the percentages, but moving forward losers will be rated by a combination of their rounds and how well their opponents had done heretofore. (That's a funny word...heretofore. It alternates vowels.)

So if you've looked in the spreadsheet and seen some goofy complicated "points" stuff on the rounds sheets, that's what that's about.

up

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"Anybody interested in grabbing a couple of burgers and hittin' the cemetery?" -Royal
"Oh sure, walk to the sun"- Guybrush

Finally into round 2, wee!


Biggest blowouts of round 1
1. Metroid Prime (86%) over Link's Awakening
2. Guilty Gear X (80%) over Xenosaga 3
3T. Youhou 8 (82%) over Kirby's Epic Yarn
3T. Youhou 10 (82%) over Ecco the Dolphin

Tightest (decided) matches of round 1
1T. Layton (52%) over Okami
1T. Donkey Kong Country 2 (52%) over CV: Curse of Darkness
3. Final Fantasy VI (53%) over Jets'n'Guns

Biggest seeding upsets
16. Frozen Synapse over 1. VVVVVV
15. Layton over 2. Okami
14. Tales of Legendia over 3. CV: Symphony of the Night
14. Skies of Arcadia over 3. PW: AA - Trials & Tribulations

Series Performances (min 3 entrants)
Final Fantasy (1-5...or 1-6 if FFT is included)
Mega Man (1-3)
Youhou (4-1)
Castlevania (2-2)


Moar like Best OST Contest: Touhou's Revenge

Good grief. I got five soundtracks in, and out of those, only Order of Ecclesia advanced. I was hoping Okami would since it's one of my absolute favorites, so I'm really saddened that it wound up losing by one vote at the last second. I don't have high hopes for any of mine doing too well now, though hopefully some more people will find Order of Ecclesia's soundtrack enjoyable, it's one that I was hoping would get some more attention through the contest.

I think the biggest shock was VVVVVV losing in round one, but I bet it'll do well in the loser's bracket.

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You laugh at my Celtic Guardian, until I use my Scapegoat, and then United We Stand, Mage Power, and 3 Axe Of Despairs, with Gaia Power out.
11900/7800

Spreadsheet and loser's bracket are updated to reflect the completion of round 1. This includes the reseeding of our round 1 losers. lol @ Mega Man mirror match. As if they weren't placed close enough together in the winner's bracket.

If it makes you feel better, CG, I think Okami is virtually guaranteed to win round L1. It drew the highest seed among the losers on account of losing by one vote, and so it gets the biggest blowout recipient, Link's Awakening. LA's round 2 song doesn't look to be any better than round 1's.

Moar like Best OST Contest: Touhou's Revenge

have to admit I've been kinda addicted to touhou music lately though I've barely played the games, I used to hate touhou music from whatever people would nominate here too, ZUN's style just grew on me

what is LA's round 2 song?

To be fair, it seemed an unanimous thought that Okami would win against Layton. Then again, I think that idea was in mind before its first round piece was switched, with the second being, apparently, far stronger...

Still, I'm hopeful that it moves on past Link's Awakening. I don't think it'll bomb as badly as Intro did, but...

I love Touhou music, so even if a lot of it is advancing, I can't say I mind much. I sort of wish there was more variety in the series brought in, but if they all have good soundtracks, what can you do? =P

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You laugh at my Celtic Guardian, until I use my Scapegoat, and then United We Stand, Mage Power, and 3 Axe Of Despairs, with Gaia Power out.
11900/7800

Face Shrine, iirc. Which is a little creepy, but otherwise it doesn't have much going for it.

I noticed in the losers brackets you messed up a few losers matches since some have already advanced to r2

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Want to listen to more video game music every day?
Check out the VGMusicoftheDay Youtube Channel sometime!

Upcoming songs in the winner's bracket:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCBB919AB6C055B37&feature=mh_lolz

And for posterity, round 1 of the loser's bracket when we get there:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL01EA3BCCCB7F183D&feature=mh_lolz


What's coming up that looks good in round 2?

Performance points of Round 2, Division 1:

(win/loss, name, points before, points after)
L - DKC2, 52, 33
W - AT2, 67, 87
W - Lufia, 73, 88
L - Chiru, 66, 51
W - CC, 63, 93
L - LO, 63, 33
W - Shatter, 59, 65
L - SoM, 57, 51


Performance points are a reflection of a game's efforts from round to round. The better a game does against its opponent in vote percentage, the greater number of points it leeches from the opponent. It's like a reverse X-stats, and yes I totally made it up. Every game started with 50.

DKC2 has the most underwhelming round 1 win in this region, and after getting pantsed by AT2, it leaves with the lowest round 2 total so far. However, Lost Odyssey managed to match it after getting destroyed by Chrono Cross, who currently has the highest overall mark, surpassing Lufia who entered riding a 73% win in round 1. One could possibly interpret this as Lost Odyssey being the biggest poseur that snuck into round 2, or perhaps just the victim of a stunning blowout.

azuarc posted...
One could possibly interpret this as Lost Odyssey being the biggest poseur that snuck into round 2, or perhaps just the victim of a stunning blowout.

I told you, that entire fourpack was weak. Chrono Cross should lose quite a bit in Round 3.

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(This space for rent...okay, not really)
[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]

Okay, where's the new topic?

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(This space for rent...okay, not really)
[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]

Okay, fine, here's the votes.

Theme of Love (MGS4) gets the nod over Armored Armadillo. Very strong song.
The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls easily wins the second matchup.

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It's okay. You did good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd7tpeTsWJQ
Now, avenge your fallen comrades: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivqTgUKJ9k

TsunamiXXVIII posted...
Okay, where's the new topic?

Err... http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60778751 ?

Put up thirty minutes before your post. But I'll put your votes in for you.

azuarc posted...
TsunamiXXVIII posted...
Okay, where's the new topic?

Err... http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60778751 ?

Put up thirty minutes before your post. But I'll put your votes in for you.

Ah. I'd been searching "Best OST", so it didn't show up in my search.

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(This space for rent...okay, not really)
[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

Hmm, taking a look at the field now, some general Round 2-and-a-half observations:

-Chrono Cross edges its way even closer to activating its instant win. Should Chrono Cross reach Round 5, every other remaining OST should probably just surrender to avoid getting embarrassed. Even if there are potential match-ups at that point I'd side against Chrono Cross from that point on (NieR/Neootokyo have better songs in a hypothetical R5, IMO, for example). However, on a realistic level, Chrono Cross probably cruises to an easy victory if it makes it to R5 and can unleash Dreams of the Shore and Scars of Time on the field. I think Shatter in R3 has the best shot at stopping it. I won't quite rule out AT2 having the slightest chance in a R4 match, but the safe pick there would be CC easily. More on that later.

-NieR v Neotokyo is one of the best match-ups in the entire contest, IMO, from an overall OST standpoint. From that particular R3 matchup, I take Neotokyo and Imbrium without any hesitation, because Hills of Radiant Wind just isn't a strong NieR song IMO. However, I don't expect the match to play out like that. I'd anticipate a match where NieR is never really threatened. However, my track record in match predictions is hilariously off, so watch Neotokyo score a blowout win or something.

-I don't think Umineko is quite as invincible as everyone makes it out to be. I think it's extremely solid, and on the average it's arguably the strongest entrant, but I also feel the stronger songs from some of the others can give it more than a fight in the later rounds. Umineko's strength, in my opinion, is that it has no weaknesses. Something that no other soundtrack may be able to claim here. That doesn't help as much when it starts facing something like Dreams of the Shore though. Still, I think Umineko is in pretty good position, though I think the NieR/Neotokyo winner might be able to give it a bit of a fight.

-Over on the right side of the bracket... IMO, this is a much weaker half of the bracket. To the point where I have to believe the last OST standing from the left finds itself having a much more difficult time in the semifinals than in the finals, but that's obviously influenced by my own opinions.

-I guess the upside of this is I can't pick out any immediate favorite over there. I could see almost anything happening on that side.

...And somehow I ended up going over the character limit on this, so the second half is upcoming.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX

Now a "bonus" analysis for my only remaining nomination in the contest.

-I go and get worried over AT2 in R2 and it ends up outperforming its R1 match. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but that was a bit of a shock to me. I was worried about its R3 match as well, but not as much anymore. After that R2 match, I think AT2 can hold its own there. Assuming it wins R3 (which I'd like for a number of reasons, but a less obvious one is that it would ensure that EXEC_SPHILIA plays at least once somewhere in the contest, and seeing as how that's my favorite song...) R4 and R5 is the most brutal stretch for it. I was (and still am a bit) worried about R2 and R3, but that's because I felt that was where AT2 was the weakest, and that it was completely possible for it to go down there without getting to what I considered its best songs for this contest. By R4, it's there IMO, but its reward could be the two toughest matches it faces in the entire contest.

If it gets Chrono Cross in R4 (which I'm not completely sold on, as I was saying earlier) it ends up getting Time of the Dreamwatch. Time of the Dreamwatch isn't unbeatable like Dreams and Scars are, but well, in the ToC AT2 beat Time of the Dreamwatch, but it had The Second Tower there... and it still needed overtime. Pretty sure The Second Tower is the strongest AT2 song on the board, and Mechanical Maze (what would actually be in this hypothetical match) is third strongest at best. So while my optimism wouldn't count AT2 out completely that's an extremely uphill battle. Well, let's suppose AT2 somehow passes that hurdle.

It doesn't get any easier in R5. Now AT2 has SPHILIA here, my personal favorite, but its opponents could include NieR, Neotokyo, and Umineko. There are others of course, but I'd consider these 3 the favorites. Well, okay, Neotokyo isn't a favorite at all, it's just probably my second favorite of that group. If it gets NieR there, it faces Song of the Ancients / Fate, a Top 4 song for me. If it gets Neotokyo it ends up with Annul, which could be anywhere between a Top 5 - 8 song for me. If it gets Umineko it's up against Hope, a VGMC winner. ...So you can kind of see at least from my own view, the actual finals would practically be a breather match after that potential gauntlet. Although I doubt things would really go that smoothly even if AT2 got all the way to the finals. >_>

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX

with Umineko Chiru and DKC2 out i'm pretty sure CC's instant win activation is in round 4

Losing Chiru probably helped CC's R4 chances by a significant amount, but I really don't think DKC2 was going to stop it.

I think Chiru was the only R4 match-up that could face CC without being at a major disadvantage. AT2 and maybe DKC2 are probably the only others there that I think even had the slightest chance there, but they'd both be in serious trouble.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX

Interesting analysis. I have to say that whether I thought it was before or not, I'm definitely looking at Chrono at this point as the odds-on favorite. It doesn't have an auto-win in round 5 simply because even if Dreams did win the ToC, it also didn't win it's original contest, so it is beatable, and clearly there are other world-beaters out there to challenge it.

That said, I don't and probably never will understand the love B8 has with certain songs, Hope and Shadowlord being among them. Umineko and Nier have a hell of a one-two punch at the end as well (supposedly,) and I honestly can't imagine anything else emerging over there.

While I don't disagree that there isn't a single game on the right I would take as a likely champion, or as a game that would be able to consistently go toe-to-toe with any of those three, I think there is a very real possibility of something surprising breaking through on that side and then pulling a miracle upset in the finals. Of the three, I imagine Nier's finalist is probably the weakest (since the alternatives are Scars and DED.) Most of the games with strong R6's on the right, ironically, have been eliminated. That leaves, I'm guessing, JTT as the strongest final song remaining on the right? *Could* that beat Shadowlord? I think it would be a riot to see a freeware game like Barkley win, but I think it has serious doubts about even lasting past round 2. Still, I won't put it past anything to make it to the finals on the right.

Of course, that does bring up an interesting sidenote: The runner-up in the winner's bracket only has to win one match to get back to the grand finale. However, if the East is truly weaker than the West, there's a very good chance that this won't happen.

But who does win the right side? Any good guesses?

From: azuarc | #198
But who does win the right side? Any good guesses?

I have a guess... My little 16 seed, Frozen Synapse :P. I certainly wouldn't count it out, not by a long shot.

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Indie game board: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/293-indie-gaming

It doesn't have an auto-win in round 5 simply because even if Dreams did win the ToC, it also didn't win it's original contest, so it is beatable

Yeah. It lost. To Scars of Time. >_>

I forget the exact record. But Dreams of the Shore and Scars of Time are both something like 13-1 all-time, with those losses being to the other song. The only time those songs have ever lost is to each other. A situation this contest prevents from occurring to them. <_<

That leaves, I'm guessing, JTT as the strongest final song remaining on the right? *Could* that beat Shadowlord?

Maybe. I'd side with Shadowlord on "more likely" but it could be closer than I think.

But who does win the right side? Any good guesses?

Not really. Homestuck was doing okay in VGMC5, so I wouldn't count it out. Other than that though, I'd probably throw my hands up and say one of the Castlevanias, but really, I think that's wide open. I don't think much would surprise me over there.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX