Rating: 6.4 Comment: Good vibe, but that's about it. The melody catches your attention, mostly because of the sample and its prominence, but it can't really carry the song.
179. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 - Blow It Up Uploader: Harmonica (151)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: I respect Klepacki's work in the Command & Conquer games, but I don't think this one does anything particularly special. Voice sampling, hard rock, pretty typical fanfare.
Rating: 6.4 Comment: I was going to accuse this video of having horrible quality, but it's actually just the song. I'm a huge Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) fanboy, but that love doesn't carry over nearly as fervently into the sequel. SD3 lacks a lot of the same charm that SoM has, both in terms of gameplay and music inspiration. This also wouldn't have been my first pick from SD3, but it's ok-ish as far as that soundtrack goes.
177. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Old Metal Gear Uploader: Harmonica (207)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Cool western feel. It reprises the main melody from the MGS2 theme, and gradually evolves it, while seeming like something a Mexican cantina would play. I think the guitar player stepped on the piano player's turn to solo, though.
176. Sora - Rendezvous Uploader: Ed Bellis (400)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: The mysterious Sora, which stunned everyone (except the nominator) in the Just For Fun bracket of the Best OST contest. I don't remember which song in particular, if any, I liked from the game, but this one's not bad. It's just a bit too long for me to maintain the adrenaline rush. I must have thought this looped and stopped listening halfway through before, because I definitely don't remember a slower section with a singer.
I've been mostly pruning the not-so-good songs. I know you'll argue that I broke a few eggs to make the omelette, but there's plenty of wheat left once we separate the chaff. The cream will rise, and such. (Any other idioms I can apply?)
I guess you should be more concerned for the converse of my "horrid taste" that was on display from yesterday -- what will make it near the top that probably has no business being there. But even if there are 5 songs in the top 50 that seem off, (and I'll be happy to defend my top 50 choices,) there are quite a few recognizable and expected songs up there.
175. Raiden IV - A Stormy Front (Level 1) Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (048)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Energy, it has it. (You didn't really think you'd go two days without an upload, did you Nee?)
174. Rama - London Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (489)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Haunting, but it's so ambient. Not really something I would choose to listen to so much as something that augments the mood of something already going on.
173. Evil Zone - Danzaiver ~ Right Way Uploader: superangelo128 (348)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Bright instrumentation, particularly the trumpet, are what catch interest at first, deservedly, but it's really the breakdown at 1:30 that's good.
172. Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream - Cecil's Garden Uploader: Ed Bellis (267)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: This song was a bit too cutesy-pie. It sounds like something you'd hear while Bambi is out roaming in the meadow. My original comment read "sonorous," which doesn't make sense, since this song really isn't. Then again, my original rating was a 6.4, which doesn't seem appropriate either.
171. Donkey Kong Country Returns - Aquatic Ambience Returns Uploader: Pikachu025 (395)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: I'd like this a lot more if I didn't know the original. On its own, the piano background is alright, but the melody itself is lacking. And honestly, I'm still probably having trouble dissociating it with the original AA. I dearly love the DKC1 soundtrack, and I was not impressed with Fear Factory Returns during VGMC5 either.
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Typical Blazblue sound, which for me is usually a point in its favor. Unlike yesterday's Blazblue upload, it didn't hurt my ears, which is another point in its favor. Condemnation Wings gets off to a strong start, and only slightly takes its foot off the gas later.
169. Grandia - Duel with Gadwin Uploader: Kleenex (140)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: This song's much too happy for a duel, particularly the flute melody that kicks it off. When the trumpet plays essentially the same exact part, the sound isn't nearly as bright. Just the same, if this were a song from an American Western, it would be a song played while the hero and his posse are galloping across the desert, not a song played while he marks off twenty paces in front of the saloon.
168. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Wandering Ghosts Uploader: Pikachu (423)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: This might be the only SotN song I actually kind of like. I know I haven't been terribly impressed with the others I've heard. The...I'm not good with sub-genres...fusion?...is really cool. The three minutes it plays for go by surprisingly quickly, which should be testament to the quick tempo and lively parts.
167. Pump It Up - Beethoven Virus Uploader: superangelo128 (201)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Energetic and lively, but I'm questioning the use of the dance beat throughout the whole thing. Lazy composer, too. "I'm gonna take a recording of a symphony playing Beethoven, speed it up, and play it to a drum machine." I mean, yeah, it sounds decent, but if this didn't come from a music game, I would have told the composer to write his own stuff.
166. Sonic the Hedgehog - Marble Zone Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (195)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Why did old school video games so often have the hardest level be the second one? As a result, I have both good and bad memories of this song. I think the song is more significant to Sonic than Green Hills Zone is, and it always seemed like the caterpillars on this level were creeping along in time to the music. The tune itself is slightly better than passable, with the end section of the loop certainly being the best part, but this is one song I can't completely listen to in a vacuum.
165. Zwei 2 - Risking Everything on This Moment Uploader: Kleenex (483)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: This song is surprisingly progressive. You think you know what you're getting with it initially, and then it shifts sound routinely. From (0:00) a sweet soft sound to (0:30) a brass melody with a techno background that changes character a few times to (1:40) a lighter melody that keeps the brass and the rumbly bass to (2:03) a sparse section with streaking violins for a background to...you get the idea. I'm not sure there's a section I like more or less than the others; it's all pretty much the same quality, which is to say it's all moderately decent.
164. Yakuza 4 - For Face Uploader: Kleenex (343)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Proof that I can appreciate a simple, fairly calm melody. Granted there is a certain air of intensity behind this one, like we're in the calm before the storm. And then at 1:54 it takes that intensity up another notch. But it's certainly not a busy song, and yet it's still elegantly beautiful.
163. Ys 7 - To Reveal the Way to Go Uploader: Pikachu025 (304)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: I feel like I was supposed to really like this. It was rousing and all, and it seems like my style, but it just never clicked with me. Why is anybody's guess.
162. Professor Layton and the Last Specter - The Last Specter's Theme Uploader: Kleenex (413)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: I'm not a big fan of Layton music, but I give credit where it's due. Sometimes. Violin with accordion seems like an odd mix, like it's something you expect to hear while walking through some old Italian city. I have nothing against accordions, but the violin parts were far superior. The best was about two minutes in when they and the piano started playing off each other.
161. Xenoblade Chronicles - Satori ~ Phosphorescent Land / Night Uploader: Kleenex (364)
Rating: 6.4 Comment: Wasn't expecting the vocals 2 minutes in, but they helped buoy the song when it was starting to go stale.
160. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Overworld Uploader: Ed Bellis (365)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I've heard the SMB theme far too many times to get very excited over it, but it was a nice touch uploading it on day 365. Gonna do the Zelda theme on #730?
159. Final Fantasy VII - Jenova Absolute Uploader: superangelo128 (061)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I like the FF7 battle music, but I dunno I need to hear it repeated with all kinds of different variations. Can't we just hear the normal one with the cool flute part at the end of the loop? Still, this does present a certain measure of intensity to select scenes that Hurry! can't match.
158. Sonic Colors - Aquarium Park Act 2 Uploader: Pikachu025 (493)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Happy, pretty, peppy. Both mellow and energetic. Starts to sound more like a traditional Sonic track at the one minute mark when the alternate melody enters, but doesn't lose any of its flavor.
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Level 7 has a really cool melody and a bass part that would make Flea proud. In hindsight, I feel like I should have taken this one higher. I mean, it's even got a cowbell part!
156. Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn) - Panic Puppet Act 1 Uploader: Kleenex (035)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I don't know the setting this plays in since I haven't played a Sonic game since Sonic 2, but the ambience this creates is menacing and likely with a lot of Robotnik/Eggman/whomever's robot monsters. Yeah, that describes pretty much every Sonic level, doesn't it. There's a mellow passage that the song uses to back away from the heavy techno flavor, but it gradually melds back into the electronica. I may not know how the song is used, but the song itself stands on its own just fine.
155. Last Ninja 2: Back with a Vengeance - Central Park in-game Uploader: Ed Bellis (477)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Part of me is very impressed with this song and part of me isn't much at all. I respect C64 tunes a great deal, so the chirpy effect the song opens on doesn't phase me at all, and sets up the bass well, which in turn leads to the initial riff. The melody that enters is fine, albeit we lose some of the other parts due to hardware limitations. I'm not completely sold on the stop time section in the fourth minute, but besides that there's nothing objectionable, so I'm not sure why this doesn't reach higher. The truth is, each time I listen to it I get a different impression, so I'm not going to constantly contradict however I rated it the time before, but I was perfectly content listening to it just now.
154. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - Title Screen Uploader: Pikachu025 (227)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Hypnotically catchy. Ridiculously so, to the point that if I weren't guarding against toe-tapping and head-bobbing, this might have tricked me into giving it a high score.
153. Bastion - Terminal March Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (370)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Ahh, gypsy industrial at its finest. (Gypsy industrial?)
152. Baten Kaitos - The True Mirror Uploader: Pikachu025 (171)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I haven't played Baten Kaitos, but I have played Eternal Sonata. I was VERY confused. See if you can figure out why: ...eh, same composer. I shouldn't be surprised. And it's really only the early melody that matches up. If I had to pit them against one another, The True Mirror is better because all the other parts of the song are actually decent, whereas Leap the Precipice is kinda boring.
151. Suikoden IV - La Mer Uploader: Kleenex (371)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Good song, with a Latin flavor that is very smooth and easy to listen to. It's just not my favorite, but I could easily see it being justifiable for this song to be far higher on someone else's list.
Considering I haven't heard to more than 2 thirds of the channel, I just don't know what to expect right now.
Aren't you the one who's been trying to do a ranking for like months or something. You haven't even heard a third of the songs?
Hehehe, at least I'm glad someone noticed that! You see, my history with the channel has been really long and complex. Through October 2010-January 2011 I worked really hard every single day on doing my long-awaited perfect ranking. The ratings became more and more polished through time, but then it really wasn't easy to rank the songs I previously had been trying to rank when then a new song came up every day to screw things up a little bit more. Then I became obsessed. I had listened to every song from Day 1-100 at least 10 times each by that time.
Anyway, at around Day 120 I had to stop because of some weird illness and left the project for months. Then I decided to continue with the songs I wasn't quite sure where to place them exactly before proceeding to later days. This was to establish a basis on my rating system which would had later become an enormous help on rating songs. When I was perfectly sure some songs had the right rating and ranking, I painted them with a different color than the rest, and so I've been doing up to this day.
So for example, now that I know that the songs above 6.6 have a definitive ranking it's been surprisingly easy to rank them now, so I've been trying to work first on each and every song I discover throughout the channel that I'd give a rating above 6.6, and the rest is piece of cake. The ones below that rating still need a lot of work, specially the ones on the lowest tiers (mainly, thank God, to the lack of bad songs to compare with), so I'm not willing to place new songs on those places right now.
You see, that's long story short. Right now I have to finish a lot of books, so that definitely keeps me away from the project, but I hope to get it all done :) Also, I'm planning on doing a Shadow of the Colossus playthrough topic, but only God and time will tell.
-- SuperNiceDog waggs his tail better than your regular, standard dog.
Ed: I plan on posting the list of the top 50 pre-emptively. I wasn't intending to do 100. Not that would it be hard if all you want is an explicit list.
Advo: Well, I find that if you don't listen to two songs in the same day, it makes it very hard to compare them. I listened through everything once and gave it a preliminary rating. It was more of a screening process so (in theory) the really bad stuff would be together, the really good stuff would be together, and I could work on the junk in the middle. With the second pass, I evaluated a bit more carefully, and tried to carefully develop what each rating point meant to me, but since I can't do this all in one day, there are some cases where a song didn't get the rating it quite deserved. If I wanted to do it "right," I would make a third pass through to catch obvious outliers and to ask myself "do I really find #236 to be better than #237?" To try to insert songs into the middle of the list like you're implying you're doing...it just doesn't work.
Well, it works for me. You'd be really surprised to know how useful some of the resources I've found throughout have turned out to be. I can give out some of them if you wish.
-- SuperNiceDog waggs his tail better than your regular, standard dog.
150. NIGHTS into Dreams - Spring Valley Uploader: Kleenex (329)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Not sure what to make of this one. Is it boring? Is it awesome? It was BGM that was actually quite engaging. The background is entrancing, and the melody just sits lightly on top of that, not daring to ruin the bubble that it creates.
Rating: 6.6 Comment: This got burned pretty bad in Best OST. It's no MeGaLoVania, but wow, folks. This song is good. Why you no like? Well, maybe not the part from 1:35 to 2:15, but up until that point it is.
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I was going to rate this song higher, like you, but then I took a memory of how much better the basic Morrowind theme is to the knee.
147. Mega Man 5 - Darkman Stage Uploader: Pikachu025 (402)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Damn good NES chiptune, especially the opening seconds. It's not quite elite, but it's not to be ignored either.
146. Mario Party - Everyone's a Super Star Uploader: superangelo128 (453)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I'm a super star? You're a super star, too! *EVERYONE* is a super star! Wee! Well, except for Luigi, who lost 3 stars in the last turn and we get to mock mercilessly. This song is so painfully triumphant that it's such a mockery when you don't win. The section that reprises Overworld is a very nice touch, though.
145. Chrono Trigger - Corridors of Time Uploader: Pikachu025 (157)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I don't get nearly as awestruck as the CT fanboys. There are a lot of awesome songs in Chrono Trigger, but I really don't think this is one of them. I get what it is, and what it does, and in-game it fits well. On its own, the vibe isn't nearly as strong, though it's still decent. It's still not even top 5 from the game.
144. Grand Theft Auto IV - Soviet Connection Uploader: Harmonica (130)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: In Soviet Russia, song comment on you! When the real tune began, I thought aww, ****'s about to get real. But it didn't. It stayed a relatively tame Russian-Arabian sounding piece that was moderately intense for how tame it was, but not at all what I was initially hoping for.
143. Jurassic Park 2 - Raptor Attack ~ The Jungle Uploader: Harmonica (102)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I was surprisingly impressed with this song. I'm not sure why, but I had absolutely zero expectation for a song from Jurassic Park 2: the video game. Instead we get this fairly awesome panflute jungle tune.
142. Xenosaga II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse - Communication Breakdown Uploader: Kleenex (350)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: I'm going to sound like a typical B8'er when I say the vocals were the weakest part of the song, even though they weren't actually bad. They were just a bit too intense, and the very end was off-key. The music box halfway through was a switch.
Rating: 6.6 Comment: Sorry nio. It's certainly not a bad song, but I knew there are some folks who love this song to death. There's also more than one version, and I like this one better than the intense orchestral disc 2 version. Still, I'm really not sold on the children's chorus. Or the instrumental parts, for that matte
140. The Last Story - The One Who Rules All Uploader: Harmonica (249)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: This is bad? Well, the first 1:10 is, but after that?...wait, did that groaning just say "By Ysmir's Beard?"...ok yeah, there's some stuff later in that maybe isn't so good either, but the main song is respectable, no? Anyone else feel like the riff at 1:48 should go into the Power Rangers theme?
139. Homestuck - Savior of the Waking World Uploader: KamikazePotato (254)
Rating: 6.6 Comment: There's definitely an uneasy tension to this song, this sort of "well I guess it's up to me to go kill the boss. I'll, uh, I'll get right on that, then." The piano at the end is rather pretty.
Rating: 6.8 Comment: The main melody isn't particularly interesting, but the two interludes are.
137. Hearts of Iron III - Land of the Rising Sun Uploader: Harmonica (417)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: This style of symphonic composition goes one of two ways for me -- either I find it boring or I really like it. In this case, I liked it. Not intensely, but I did enjoy it. The melodic line wasn't anything fascinating, but the progression was solid and the moon and tension of the actual instruments themselves does the rest.
136. Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space - Unholy Workshop Uploader: Harmonica (473)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Little sax and clarinet action going on~ I dunno what this scene is about, but between the name and the picture, I can take a pretty good guess. The song does a great job of conveying the mood of some evil industrialist Santa that slavedrives his elves. Despite being a saxophonist, I'm really not into smooth jazz (which this isn't really, lemme make my point,) but I was obliged to listen to Unholy Workshop through to the end each time.
135. Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana - Undeveloped Region Uploader: Pikachu025 (045)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Good melody, background, energy, etc. Nothing really go complain about on this song, other than that maybe I ranked it too low.
134. Mass Effect 2 - Suicide Mission Uploader: Kleenex (098)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Between a great sound and rather boring development, I could justify a really wide range of ratings for this, but this is a fine compromise.
133. Tales of the Abyss - Finish the Promise Uploader: superangelo128 (488)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Part of me likes that the same background pattern is used the entire time, but part of me says that it's monotonous to hear that for 3 minutes. The melody/countermelody throughout is good.
132. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Sleeping Treasures in the Sand Uploader: Pikachu025 (010)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: The song has an entrancing quality to it. Good flute parts. Good drums and rhythm. Good desert tune.
131. Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm - Rain of Blossoms Uploader: Pikachu025 (122)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: It's a good song, but a smidge weird at times. I'm not in love with the opening "riff" that shows up later, but most of the other parts are good enough to make me almost question why I didn't rate this higher.
130. Tales of Vesperia - Fury Sparks Uploader: Pikachu025 (108)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Ooh, I love Dynasty Warriors!...oh. Wait. This came in with a melody that wasn't a guitar. Right, BlazBlue, of course. Should have known.
Rating: 6.8 Comment: The beginning 15 seconds are absolutely amazing for being on GameBoy. I restarted the song a couple times to listen to it. Too bad that isn't actually part of the loop, and the loop isn't nearly as amazing.
Rating: 6.8 Comment: A little overblown, but certainly a good song. In the right mood, I'd probably rate this very highly. Unfortunately I do most of my listening in the morning after waking up.
Rating: 6.8 Comment: The song isn't really awesome in the conventional sense, but viewed over the whole, the song's development is quite good. In other words, it's a typical Ace Combat song. (Or at least typical of what little I've heard from Ace Combat.)
TheKnightOfNee posted... Another update with no songs of mine!
Also, when I uploaded that Decap Attack song, I was worried nobody would enjoy it. Glad to see someone did.
With all the other things you've uploaded, you were honestly worried about that song being unlikeable? Or do you just worry about most of your songs? (I'd be worried if I had uploaded Ground and the Sky, but not because I was hopeful someone would enjoy it. Or Inner Goldfield. Or Texture. Or...)
I would jump in on the joke of having no songs left, with only one tomorrow as well, but you get five the day after. At least those are in the top 100 though!
In any event, yeah, I thought Decap Attack was cool.
I was going to post a list of what was left, but I decided it's more fun for you to just be surprised in wondering "hmm, what's left at this point?" For now, anyway. We'll handle the top 50 differently.
125. Xenosaga II - Lamentation Uploader: superangelo128 (075)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: It was a lovely, well-written song, with beautiful melodies and everything. But I get the feeling it was supposed to play on my emotions, tug at my heartstrings...and it simply didn't do that. I'm not sure why. I do have said heartstrings, and this song seemed to be built for tugging them.
124. Nekonade Distortion - world eyes Uploader: KamikazePotato (205)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Pretty. It earned its two wins in VGMC5.
123. Granado Espada - Ni Miedo Uploader: Harmonica (032)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: This makes three songs in a row that are more about mood and vibe than about energy or melody. (Well, World Eyes was about melody, but y'know what I mean.) I really wasn't sure where to put this one. At times it makes me feel inspired, and at times it just sounds "good," and I'm talking about the same parts on further listens. I've liked the music I've heard from Granado Espada, which totals two songs so far, but (and I'm probably alone on this one,) I actually prefer M.I.S.A.
122. Shikkoku no Sharnoth - DORCHADAS Uploader: KamikazePotato (177)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Decent. And I guess this sort of makes four in a row.
Rating: 6.8 Comment: The background drowned out the lead guitar. It sounded like a decent part, too, but I couldn't really tell. The rest was good, other than the main riff was a bit overplayed.
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Add this to the list of songs I feel as if I should like more. And add it to the list of songs that just missed the 7.0 cut-off. And probably, therefore, add it to the songs that people will probably refer to for their claims that my taste in music stinks.
119. Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space - TKO Uploader: Harmonica (340)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Neat song. There were three Sam & Max songs on the list, and this one sounds nothing like the other two, which are more driven by woodwinds and a jazzy feel. Not because of that, but this one trumps them due to its melodies and countermelodies, and perhaps because of the alternative instrumentation.
118. Max Payne 2 - Late Goodbye Uploader: Ed Bellis (372)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Oddly enough, I could hear the band Fuel playing this -- at least with the replacement singer, anyway. Not sure Scallions would fit the vocals. I definitely appreciate the somber mood the song creates. I think an ending would suit it better than a fade-out.
117. DJ Max Portable Black Square - Proposed, Flower, Wolf Part 2 Uploader: Ed Bellis (323)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: I was up and down and everywhere in-between in trying to decide on this one. 'Wolf Part 2 has quite a few distinct sections, and while they're all rather respectable, there's a sort of scatterbrained "what am I listening to again?" sense that comes from the excessively progressive nature of the piece. I like certain progressive bands, so merely adapting as the song goes on is hardly a sin to me, but the shifts in this tune are jarring at times.
116. Shinobi III - Whirlwind Uploader: Harmonica (466)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: I liked the intro and the melody. The backdrop to that was a little too noisy for my liking.
115. Jet Grind Radio - Sneakman Uploader: Ed Bellis (358)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Awesome feel. How can you listen to this song without at least kind of liking it? However, the novelty of the song does wear off after about a minute and a half, leaving you with over two more that feel the same. (It probably loops somewhere, but I didn't notice.)
114. Final Fantasy XIV - On Windy Meadows Uploader: Harmonica (193)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: More than anything, I'm thankful this isn't the song that's ALWAYS playing when my roommate is on FF14, even if it the same main melody. I wonder how many times that melody gets used...
113. Ragnarok Online II - Din Don Dan Dan Fo Uploader: Kleenex (399)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: That's some seriously intense background music! OK, not completely fair, but this comes from an MMORPG? Every MMO I've played had relatively tame music. I need to start playing more Korean games...*goes off to play some DFO*
112. Command and Conquer: Red Alert - Soviet March Uploader: Harmonica (347)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: In Soviet Russia, nice legs have the girl in picture....I made an earlier Soviet Russia joke, didn't I? Oh well. This one certainly just feels Russian, with the choral style and the instrumentation behind it to make Shostakovich proud.
111. World of Goo - Cog in the Machine Uploader: Kleenex (294)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: A haunting piece with a very thin sound, it's probably not for everyone. And to think, that at 6.8, this is the LOWEST of three World of Goo pieces on the list. I'm not sure why I like these pieces; it goes against what I seem to consistently comment negatively on, but I really like the WoG tunes.
110. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - Electric Power Building Uploader: Kleenex (210)
Rating: 6.8 Comment: Really cool song, considering it doesn't actually *do* anything. Except be cool, obviously.
109. Elvandia Story - Theme of Elvandia Story Uploader: Harmonica (025)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: I could do without the meaningless beginning, but the rest was good. Most of it, anyway. And I'm not normally down with orchestral stuff. Oh, and hey, we're into 7.0 territory.
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Probably higher than it should be, but T.M.N.T. was part of my childhood. And it's still awesome, even if the game it's from was horrible. (Screw you, dam level!)
107. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - After the Crash Uploader: Harmonica (438)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: I liked this more than I expected. Still, there's an excessively long build-up at the beginning. I listen to Dream Theater. I can appreciate a prolonged build-up. Hell, my favorite song from them builds for 11 minutes. But at least it *does* something, unlike the two minutes of ambient noise in this. But it's cool ambient noise, so it gets a free pass, and there is a payoff of sorts.
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Castlevania, the arcade game, eh? This doesn't look like it's from a Play Choice 10. Best part was at 1:18 with the soli violin.
105. Acid Tetris - Tearing Up Spacetime Uploader: Kleenex (049)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: So why is it called...never mind, I don't want to know. Potential drug references aside, it was a song that seems like it'd be good to listen to on a trip. Not that I'd actually know...
104. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time - The Tower of Dawn Uploader: KamikazePotato (275)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Driving drums, odd vocals, cool persian backing, and then it's just suddenly over. I'm not entirely sure where I sit with this one.
103. Xenoblade Chronicles - You Will Know Our Names Uploader: Pikachu025 (360)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: This song lets you know it means business right away. And then it lets you know it could have been written for a Dynasty Warriors game just as easily, before mixing in some brass instruments. The breakdown at 1:37 got my attention when it started to drift.
102. Sid Meier's Civilization III - Stars Full Uploader: Harmonica (256)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Elevator music, but very good elevator music. I played Civ 3, and I certainly don't remember this song. Truthfully, I don't really remember any music from Civ 3, but that's besides the point. Civ 3 is certainly the forgettable one. (Moral: If you're going to play a Civilization game, don't play 3, even if the music is apparently alright. Remember, 4 has Baba Yetu!)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Stickerb(r)ush Symphony is vastly overrated, but that doesn't mean it isn't good. The remix edition for Brawl is about the same in quality, trading the atmospheric feel of the original for more energy.
I'm shocked that Nee has the third-most remaining. He had a lot of songs below the fodder line. And looking at how many songs are set to drop out in the 7.0 and 7.5 range, I'd say tomorrow is shaping up to be all Bellis, all the time.
It was certainly looking that way earlier when you had the fewest uploads at nearly every split, so if you hold that pattern into the top 50, you're going to be almost impossible to beat.
Current point totals, by the way: 280.1 - TheKnightOfNee 281.0 - superangelo128 282.6 - Ed Bellis 298.3 - Team-K 329.7 - Harmonica 333.0 - Kleenex 344.9 - Pikachu025
Welcome to National Ed Bellis Day, folks. Be sure to celebrate your Ed Bellis.
100. Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith - Fall of Fall ~ Autumnal Waterfall Uploader: Ed Bellis (484)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #1. Ugh, what a way to start our top 100 -- with me having a difference of opinion with my previous self. I know not every song in the top 100 will be absolutely transcendent, but after some of the songs I panned, I'm trying to figure out how this cracked the 80th percentile. It's good, but it's also a bit boring, TBQH.
99. Kamaitachi no Yoru - Visions of a Distant Day Uploader: Ed Bellis (498)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #2. Loved the background, and the pitch-bending dissonance actually worked. I don't know if it would get this rating again if I relistened, but I went for it today. (That was the old comment. Nope, it's still good!)
98. The Bouncer - Volt Kreuger Uploader: Harmonica (354)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Starts off with driving rock, but gives way to more stratospheric sounds. The rock drifts in and out without fully regaining control, but it doesn't matter. Both aspects of the song are good, and they play off each other well.
97. Ever17 - LeMu ~the far away land of Lemuria~ Uploader: superangelo128 (068)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Great sound, particularly the back-up singers. The lead is mostly solid, but there are a couple places where she seems to falter a little. (I say this with the realization that probably all the vocal tracks are the same person.) The bridge, in particular, is weak, but I liked the rest of the song.
96. Guilty Gear X (NAOMI Arcade) - The Original Uploader: superangelo128 (012)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: The sax part of The Original is great. (I say this with absolutely no bias whatsoever.) This isn't the version of the song I've heard before, and at times the backdrop is severely muddled. It's still really good, but a different Guilty Gear's rendition would have been preferable.
95. Wild Arms 3 - Flying in the Midst of the Storm Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (475)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: The spiritual at the beginning that reprises Into the Wilderness is absolutely amazing, but sadly the rest can't maintain that level of incredible. Even the whistling part can't relive the magic of the original song. I may have underrated this one a bit, since it is still really good, but I was just so disappointed after the first 30 seconds.
94. Ragnarok Online - Dream of a Whale Uploader: Harmonica (088)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Spanish guitar++. This starts off with a feel that doesn't make you expect it, but the guitar part fits that background beautifully. Yeah, about that earlier comment about Korean games...maybe I need to play (or at least listen to) more of them. And I don't mean Starcraft!
93. Ys: The Oath in Felghana - Sealed Time Uploader: Pikachu025 (087)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Really reminds me of old sequenced titles made on FastTracker and the like. (Example: http://chiptunes.emor3j.fr.eu.org/tunes/modarchive.org/R/rba-abhp.xm -- Sealed Time is slightly faster and somewhat busier, but you can probably see the resemblance.)
92. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - Port of Adia Uploader: Ed Bellis (099)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #3. It's a good sign when a song is six minutes long, monotonic, and with some null parts, and I'm still not bored by the end of it. By all accounts, this song should be boring with those characteristics, but it stays ahead of the beat and varies things in just the right way that you're hearing something new constantly.
91. Two Worlds - Opala Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (069)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Sounds like it will just be a soft sweet song, and not the electronic sound that it evolves into by the end. I haven't actually played Two Worlds, but I watched my roommate playing the sequel, and I would not have expected that kind of sound from the game. I might have underrated this one, as it's pretty damn cool.
90. Mega Man 2 - Air Man Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (125)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ah, Mega Man 2...quite possibly the pinnacle of NES VGM. This isn't Wily stage 1/2, but I would argue it's probably the next most iconic song from the game. Amd yes. it is my second favorite as well, but I'm less likely to elicit agreement with that statement.
89. LED Storm - Ingame BGM Uploader: Harmonica (317)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Lessee, Software Creations, Tim Follin, and graphics and sound all point to one thing...this HAD to have been on the C64. Huh, also Amiga and Arcade, eh. Well, it was still written by Tim Follin, and that usually means it's going to be pretty durn good. I know I got that one right, at least.
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #4. This song fascinated me the first time I heard it. It's unlike pretty much anything else on the list. It sounds like someone wrote a masterpiece for the PC speaker rather than GBA. I'm still not quite sure what to make of it, but it's cool. The first 25 seconds are just set-up for the actual song portion of the work, so if you listen along, make sure you at least go that far. The loop begins at 2:47 for reference.
87. The Guardian Legend - Intro & Title Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (286)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: For an NES song, the vibe of this song is rather amazing. Not that I haven't heard other songs like it, but I really like the feel this one gives.
86. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team - Ascend to the Heavens... (Staff Roll & Credits) Uploader: Ed Bellis (197)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #5. Unlike the other PMD:Blue song, I wasn't bored with this one. Opens with an air of, shall I say, mystery? The song itself is lighter, with a sense of triumph to it, which is appropriate for a staff roll.
85. Ace Combat Zero - Zero Uploader: superangelo128 (353)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Like most Ace Combat music, it just keeps going and going. In Ace Combat's case, that's typically not a bad thing. The spanish guitar and the latin flair of the song are really good. The voice of the singer at ~1:20 simply soars above the rest of the song (no pun intended), before the real Santana action gets going.
84. Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - History of the Moon Uploader: superangelo128 (026)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Touhou being Touhou. 25 seconds of crazy piano, trumpet solo over subtly frenetic background, back to piano, back to brass with piano lingering...all of it fairly over the top stuff. Like I said, Touhou being Touhou. I don't consider any of that negative, and really I don't have anything negative to say about the song. There are simply other songs I liked more.
83. Sonic Generations - Rooftop Run Zone, Act 2 Uploader: Pikachu025 (430)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: I can like uplifting songs, see?
82. Pop'n Music 10 - Beyond the Earth Uploader: TheKnightOfNee (020)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: The song's description says it's from Pop'n Music 12 Iroha. I didn't care enough to research the matter. The song itself provided a much-needed pick-me-up on a Monday morning. The energy of this piece is amazing -- not in a thrashing, wild convulsive way, but as just an upbeat pulls-you-out-of-a-bad-mood sorta way. The drum feature at 1:11 is especially awesome....wait, did I just admit to liking one of the music game songs? Aw crap, that's just going to encourage them to upload more.
81. Bust-A-Move 3 - Main Theme Uploader: superangelo128 (145)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: I prefer the original version simply as a purist, but this variation's plenty good. And how can you not like this melody...after hearing it for hours at a time? Familiarity definitely breeds contentment. (BTW, 46 second loop. Why 4:34 on the video? If I wanted to hear it six times, I could actually play some Bust-a-Move.)
80. You Have to Burn the Rope - Now You're a Hero Uploader: Harmonica (291)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Some games' songs are sweet and sonorous. Some rock hard. This one's awesome for unconventional reasons, but certainly no less so. I love the dry humor, and the fact that You Have to Burn the Rope has a song at all, let alone this one, is pretty funny to think about.
79. MegaMari - Prologue, Title & Final Battle Uploader: Ed Bellis (393)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #6. This song fools you twice in the first minute. This is gonna be bleh...no, it's gonna be ok...oh, wow. Alright, never mind! -- Unfortunate that the remainder just rehashes the same line over and over. However, I really like where that part enters. The samples in general are really good, but especially the melody's voice (whatever you call that) and the electric organ.
78. Neotokyo - Tin Soldiers Uploader: Ed Bellis (008) Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #7. Somehow in cut-and-pasting, I lost my original write-up. It went something like this. Neotokyo songs are good when they're not being weird. This one is less weird than most, so it's the best one I've heard. I still wasn't sure where to rate it. I went up and down a bunch of times, but finally settled on 7.0, and I'm sure the fans are happier with that verdict than if I had stuck with the original 6.6, which might have literally doubled its rank.
77. Skygunner - Toward a Far Away Sky Uploader: Ed Bellis (127)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #8. Probably not the kind of song I bet you were expecting to see in 7+ land from me, but it earned it's place here. The vocals are really good, (not that I have any idea what the lyrics are,) and the instrumentation backs the singer well. So, yeah.
76. Gungage - Flashback Memory Uploader: Ed Bellis (344)
Rating: 7.0 Comment: Ed Bellis upload of the day #9. Now, see, if I'm gonna listen to background music, THIS is what I'm gonna listen to. (OK, that's a little mean. I meant that to be a compliment, really I did!)
36% Bellis. 0% Kaleb.G, KamikazePotato or Kleenex. I'm just hatin' on the letter K today. (I use N for TheKnightOf*N*ee.)