Board 8 > [VGMC] d15: Confronting Myself vs Last Surprise, Banbard vs Tokyo Trials

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 12, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=469506
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lzzbpDP2whgvOTN2XHETfWg79IyPs01jdwIQu_L2C7k/
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/76419785
Main bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RFBXCwz0vAKZg8V0rnrKHsE
Side bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RFI-vkdyFa8-bXzbFLMLl1X

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.
- 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!

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Match #1:

Celeste - Confronting Myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_oEDGONSc4" data-time="

Persona 5 - Last Surprise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFVj0Z6ahcI&feature=youtu.be

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Match #2:

Iseki-jima to Nanatsu no Mahou (The Island of Ruins and the Seven Magics) - Banbard ~piano arrange~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyhgmSj5I2E" data-time="

7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-wU8_cl6qY" data-time="

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Side bracket:

Wild Arms V - Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXEz-i-oORk" data-time="

MegaMari - Patchouli Stage 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXBhOelze5w" data-time="

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Easy vote form:
Confronting Myself / Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~ / Tokyo - The Trials Grow C

Confronting Myself
Tokyo
Terrible Monster

Sorry mozell; one of your instruments bugs the hell out of me in this one
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Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Patchouli Stage 3

Every match was pretty close for me today
Side bracket > Main bracket today.
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Persona 5 - Last Surprise
7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
MegaMari - Patchouli Stage 3

azuarc putting four good songs in the same fourpack? YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMING~!
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Confronting meself
Banbard
Terrible monster attacking Cruz
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Match 1: Last Surprise

Persona 5 and it's amazing soundtrack. Other song ain't bad, but it doesn't hold a candle to Last Surprise. It never saw it coming.

Match 2: The Trials Grow Complex

Eh. Yeah. Really don't like either. But this one was a bit better, the other song really rubs me the wrong way.

Side Bracket: Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Ok, that was a cool song. Not bad at all. Don't like the other though.

Confronting Myself
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

I guess I'm more receptive to the weird synth polyrhythms in Confronting Myself right now than I was when I filled out the bracket. LS is okay but I always thought it fell kinda flat without proper context.
Banbard is really annoying, sorry
Patchouli Stage is fine, but not super memorable. The WA song is pretty neat though.

EDIT: Forgot to actually make my choice in the first match apparent - it's for Confronting Myself. Sorry!
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7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
MegaMari - Patchouli Stage 3
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Last Surprise - CM has too many parts I don't like. LS is not one of my favorite P5 tracks, but it gets pretty good at some points.

Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex - It's been 3 minutes since I listened to Banbard and I don't really remember it anymore, but Tokyo is excellent! Will hopefully vote for it a few times this contest ^_^

Terrible Monster Attacking Crew! - Terrible Monster is pretty good! From what I recall, WA5 has the best WA OST, so it's nice to get more from it in the contest.
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Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Last Surprise is for sure not my favorite Persona song. It's not bad, since I do like most of the song, but I'm not a fan of the vocals during the verses which noticeably brings it down. The chorus is pretty great though, and the ability to do All-Out Attacks to the "YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMING" grants it like a million "in-context points". Either way Confronting Myself is not something I'd vote over it. Having trouble pinpointing exactly why but it just doesn't do much for me.

Bleh. I don't like either of these songs and for similar reasons, which is that I think both of them have the wrong instrumentation for the type of songs their trying to be. The Trials Grow Complex has the melody of an emotional ballade, but the instrumentation and tone quality says it's trying to be a heavy, overbearing synthpop song or something like that, and it doesn't really work at all for me. My complaint for Banbard is less critical, but the instrument/sound playing the top melody line specifically just doesn't sound right to me. Like the twangy slurring nature of it almost makes it sound like a folk song or something, when the rest of the instrumentation and the way the melody is composed says "aggressive electronic dance music". As I said this is a less major complaint which is why I'm voting it, but it does bother me a pretty reasonable amount.

Terrible Monster Attacking Crew is great! This is one of those nominations I wanted to support but couldn't, and I wish it made it into the contest. It's got a good overall tense feel while interspersing some really interesting melodic lines (see 0:52-1:09 for example) that I like a lot. Basically it does a good job mixing things up and not feeling repetitive. Feeling repetitive isn't something I always think is a problem, but it's much more likely to be one for this style of music than for others, and that's also a pitfall I feel a lot of RPG battle themes fall into which this one avoids very well. Unfortunately I don't really like anything about it's opposition. The melody of Patchouli Stage 3 is one I find dull, and I also have significant problems with the instrumentation. (In this case it's more just "I don't think it sounds good at all", as opposed to being the wrong style like in match 2.)

Terrible Monster Attacking Crew > Last Surprise > Confronting Myself > Banbard > The Trials Grow Complex > Patchouli Stage 3
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Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Easy first match. Damn you azuarc for throwing my nom agaist another song I really like and honestly expect to win here. Side match also easy.

Confronting Myself
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Persona 5 - Last Surprise
Iseki-jima to Nanatsu no Mahou (The Island of Ruins and the Seven Magics) - Banbard ~piano arrange~
Wild Arms V - Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Confronting Myself
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Confronting Myself is a lot better than I remember from my first skim-through

also not the MegaMari track I would've picked for this
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Surprise
Banbard
Stage 3
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Celeste - Confronting Myself
7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Wild Arms V - Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
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Persona 5 - Last Surprise
7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Wild Arms V - Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Last Surprise - YOULL NEVER SEE IT COMMMIIIIIIIIIIN i didn't see the Celeste track being really hot coming that's for sure, but Last Surprise is a certified bop. Will be fine with either of these tbh

Banbard ~Piano Version~ - WEW HERE WE GO. I'm an absolute sucker for mozell, and while Banbard is a fair bit off from my favorites of his, this song still never ceases to just make me actually grin ear to ear. The "chattering" bagpipes in the backing behind the main melody ones are so good like aaaaa. Fun to the maximum. Trials Grow Complex is an alright song, but far from a good majority of 7th Dragon III's OST, which itself is miles away from the fantastic OSTs of 2020 and 2020-II.

Terrible-monster attacking crew! - Listen to this Metal Squad ass hot song man. My favorite track from the entire Wild Arms series and probably has a spot in my personal Top 100 list, I honestly can't believe someone managed to find one of the songs that I'll probably end up picking over my own nominations. Patchouli Stage 3 is one of the only songs I /don't/ like in MegaMari... although the only one I would've considered voting for would be Udonge Stage, and even then not over TMAC.

Last Surprise
Banbard
-

I'll get to the side bracket later
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Last Surprise
Tokyo
Patchouli Stage 3

Really enjoy the MegaMari soundtrack in general but that's a weird song choice for this.
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Confronting Myself
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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MycroProcessor posted...

Definitely feel like I ranked this one a little bit low,

you are forgiven because
MycroProcessor posted...

69th

Confronting Myself
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Patchouli Stage 3

Confronting Myself
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
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Confronting Myself ~ Oh, look! Another Persona 5 song that sounds exactly like all the other Persona 5 songs! I'm starting to wonder if the OST is by Sakuraba. Hard pass on Last Surprise.

Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex ~ I'd like Banbard more if it was just piano and not that other, super-midi-sounding instrument, too. This one was good, though.

Terrible Monster Attacking Crew! ~ Azuarc, dude, why? Why are you making me choose between these two? They're both so enjoyable and fun! I liked this one just a smidge better, though.

Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Patchouli Stage 3
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Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Everything in the main bracket was decent today. Confronting Myself didn't blow me away as much, and I do love Last Surprise. The second match was very close and I like both a good amount, I think Banbard is just a bit more to my tastes. The side bracket was really easy because Patchouli Stage 3 was too straightforward and bland, whereas Terrible Monster Attacking Crew was cool enough.
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Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Confronting Myself
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Confronting Myself opens pretty aggressively with an ominous-sounding chorus on top of a polymetric synth arpeggio and, later, a pretty complex cymbal/hi-hat line. It leaves an immediate impression and I like that a lot. The main synth (which has a pretty awesome portamento effect) spends some time laying down a wandering melody before going back to a motif that recurs throughout the soundtrack (at 1:12). Then it does the whole thing all over again, except with an added layer of chaos-- hard gating and distortion effects on the vocals, and static cutting in and out. It's a really cool effect that ups the intensity of the track. It's the details that really make this track tick, and make it an enjoyable listen for me as a whole.

Last Surprise is pretty rad and probably comes closest to capturing the kind of style I go in for from the Persona franchise (among tracks in this contest). Funk pretensions with an absurdly catchy toe-tapping chorus? Sign me up. The bassline isn't super complicated but it really puts in work here. Maybe the most infectious song I've heard in the contest so far.

I feel like Banbard relies too heavily on the four-on-the-floor kick and clap, piano line, and frenetic bagpipe melody (later) that's established at the start of the track. It gives the track a shot of energy from the beginning but wears on me by the end. A lot of this is the various instruments riffing on effectively a repeating four-bar bassline (it changes at 2:30!). Some of that is cool but I don't get a real sense of progression, or a hook for me to keep tuning in for the entirety of its four and a half minutes.

Everything I like about The Trials Grow Complex exists at its periphery-- I think the sound design in the first eight seconds of the track is really cool until it's overridden by the overbearing, remarkably mechanical-sounding drum. The synth playing the dominant melody is similarly uninteresting (along with the melody itself!) and is backed by a saw wave synth that sounds like it's a Sytrus preset or something. But then there's stuff like the moment of complete silence at 1:23-- startlingly effective given how loud the track has gotten by that point-- and the stuff starting at 2:35 brings focus back to more of the accompanying instrumentation again.

Terrible Monster Attacking Crew sounds like one of those standard rock-and-strings heart-pumping battle themes-- but it has several features that I think make it a fun listen. It feels substantially less predictable. Those synth arpeggio runs are great. That four-chord progression at 0:24 gets me every time-- that's really good. Those descending chromatic fourths-- also good! The change in direction to a more tense feel at 1:55. All of these little things make this really work, and not get repetitive or too predictable. It makes the parts that cleave to more conventional compositional tropes just that much more palatable, even enjoyable-- a return to normalcy. A very pleasant surprise from the side bracket.

Patchouli Stage 3 might have been a serviceable (if fairly unremarkable) platformer track were it not for that guitar. I really don't like guitar patches that sound like this. Aside from that, at least one of the drums used here feels too boomy in the sub-bass region, making it actually a little uncomfortable to listen to, and making it sound muddy in the lower registers. I don't know why this approach was taken to this track's sound design-- is it meant to be abrasive?

Great VGMC day-- not because I loved every track (I didn't), but because it was a pretty diverse mix of tracks with something to think and talk about for each.

Confronting Myself
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Average-to-good day.

-First match is kind of meh for me honestly. Celeste's track could've been better (at least using a better chiptune sound), but on the other hand, haven't we heard enough of this Persona 5 singer already?
-Second match: Maybe I'm biased towards liking the notes being played on screen while hearing it, but Banbard is one of my favorite discoveries of the contest; it has a unique style that's not common, and the piano... Man, it sounds so harmonious. Tokyo, albeit nice, sounds kind of dull.
-Third match: Patchouli is nice, but Wild ARMS takes the cake here.

Banbard > Terrible Monster Attacking Crew! > Confronting Myself > Last Surprise > Tokyo > Patchouli Stage 3
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Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Patchouli Stage 3
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MycroProcessor posted...

69th favorite

nice
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MycroProcessor posted...

Confronting Myself
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

kaonashi1 posted...

Confronting Myself
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

MycroProcessor posted...

I LOVE that synth arpeggio that happens throughout the track that's timed as a 9/16 polymeter over the 4/4 everything else. SO hot cool. . I love polymeter!!!!!!!!!!

kaonashi1 posted...

Confronting Myself opens pretty aggressively with an ominous-sounding chorus on top of a polymetric synth arpeggio

MycroProcessor posted...

The static sound with the white noise is so cool too AAAAAAAAAH. I LOVE THAT PART that is my favorite part of the track probably since that's also one of the polymeter parts.

kaonashi1 posted...

hard gating and distortion effects on the vocals, and static cutting in and out. It's a really cool effect that ups the intensity of the track. It's the details that really make this track tick, and make it an enjoyable listen for me as a whole.

MycroProcessor posted...

then it gets WEIRD chord changes from :24 - :30 and I LOVE THAT PART it is weird and every time that thing happens ITS GREAT (IT IS MY FAVORITE PART(s)

kaonashi1 posted...

That four-chord progression at 0:24 gets me every time-- that's really good. Those descending chromatic fourths-- also good!

MycroProcessor posted...

The crunchy dissonant piano at 1:55 is GOLDEN ALso

kaonashi1 posted...

The change in direction to a more tense feel at 1:55. All of these little things make this really work, and not get repetitive or too predictable.

MycroProcessor posted...

Some of the stereotypical HEROIC chord change sections are good too though even if they are not as cool as the weird parts to me..

kaonashi1 posted...

It makes the parts that cleave to more conventional compositional tropes just that much more palatable, even enjoyable-- a return to normalcy. A very pleasant surprise from the side bracket.

get a room you two
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Last Surprise
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Confronting Myself
Tokyo - The Trials Grow Complex
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Ed Bellis Votes:
Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
solid day today
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wait, something's weird. I'm voting with ed again? Wasn't he supposed to be my least compatible person 2 days ago?

Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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Last Surprise
Banbard ~piano arrange~
Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Celeste - Confronting Myself
Iseki-jima to Nanatsu no Mahou (The Island of Ruins and the Seven Magics) - Banbard ~piano arrange~

Wild Arms V - Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!
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