Board 8 > FL81 ranks VGM (ranking phase)

(+) Yeah! (+)

pyresword posted...

Damn. Seeing as I made it this far I was hoping I could survive until the halfway point.

I'm almost there, but I still don't see it as a realistic expectation.
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#68 Swan Song - The Sun
Nominator: NowItsAngeTime (4/5)
Link:

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

The 119th song nominated for my topic, man you really missed out on the opportunity to have the Swan Song track as the final nomination heheheheh
Anyways, here's one of those "atmospheric sadvnsong.mp3" tracks that I was complaining about early on in this topic, but on the contrary this one I actually quite like. At its core, this is a very simple piece, but the strings in the background give this whole thing a really foreboding feel to it. I guess what really makes these types so hit or miss for me, is if I can really get into the "feel" of it or not, otherwise it's just sad piano background noise. This one gives me the feel of "tragedy and hopelessness" which is always a cool sound to have in a song.

For a moment I had forgotten you'd already had a song of yours ranked here ;>_>
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Yeah I was hoping I could get the rest of my 4 in the top 50 but going 40-50 spots is pretty good
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And now for a complete tone shift from the previous song

#67 Sonic Adventure 2 - Live and Learn
Nominator: Janus5k (2/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gPBmDptqlQ" data-time="

Y'know I actually used to really hate this song. To me, the Sonic vocal music all sounded like generic radio rock to me and I honestly couldn't find any worth in it.
Revisiting it years later (and after this song became sort of a meme), this is actually kinda good. It's one of those songs where after listening to it a bunch, it's really grown on me. Very upbeat song, listening to this gets me all pumped up. Also, I don't remember this song being so long, must be an extended version or something (or the version I'm most familiar with was the cut version, at any rate this one is a lot better)

Everything from this point on is a 7/10 or higher song for me
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FL81 posted...

Everything from this point on is a 7/10 or higher song for me

Wow. Low standards or awesome music. Let's hope for the latter. Still, that's some serious competition then.
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azuarc posted...

FL81 posted...

Everything from this point on is a 7/10 or higher song for me

Wow. Low standards or awesome music. Let's hope for the latter. Still, that's some serious competition then.

This happened to be a particularly good batch

If I were doing a larger sample size (like 300 or so) I wouldn't expect it to be like this, kinda got lucky here
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#66 Divekick - Boss
Nominator: pyresword (4/5)
Link:

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

I've been shuffling around the position of this track a lot, up and down until I could really find a spot where I feel good about placing this, and I've decided around here is good enough (although I still think it might be a tiny bit too low). This one doesn't really give off much of a "fighting game boss" vibe to me, maybe more of a beat 'em up boss vibe (granted I've never played this game before), but it's still pretty cool. I like the fast part around 1:20 in, a lot of cool guitar riffs in this.
Some days I'll listen to this and think "this is pretty okay" and others I'll be "Wow, this is really cool"
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FL81 posted...

Some days I'll listen to this and think "this is pretty okay" and others I'll be "Wow, this is really cool"

To be honest this is the same with me lol

I'm not like a super fan but it's pretty solid for what it is, I think.
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pyresword posted...

I'm not like a super fan but it's pretty solid for what it is

Yep, basically this
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The cheesy Sonic lyrical songs are usually better than some people like to give them credit for. Maybe you could call them a guilty pleasure, but I think they're better than that. Maybe it helps to ignore what the lyrics are actually saying though.

The Divekick song is pretty decent, but the the change at 1:12 really elevates it. Love that.
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#65 Fire Emblem Fates - Thorn in You
Nominator: OrangeCrush980 (2/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQD11drYtpE" data-time="

Ah yes, another sad orchestral 6+ minute long Fire Emblem track. Even back in the VGMCs of several years past, these were always very hit or miss for me, and this is still true today. Fortunately, this is one of the "hits" and is the highest ranked Fire Emblem nomination in this topic! I've always been a sucker for "sad strings" (although I realize one of my earlier writeups may have given the opposite impression). However, this one does it right, invoking in me images of sadness and beauty, being something nice to listen to, and not even making me feel like this is a whole 6 minutes long.
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Still upset this song died in noms this year. I loved it tbh
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#64 Rhythm Thief - I Can Dance for You
Nominator: NFUN (4/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycR4ibHvrnk" data-time="

R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-RABBIT
When I saw Rhythm Thief nominated for my topic, I was expecting something more along the lines of the song that was in the most recent VGMC. It seems to me that NFUN decided to go with more of a meme pick here, which I'm kind of disappointed in since that other one was one of my favorite discoveries this year. Finding a placement for this was pretty difficult, but it's a very fun track that while still staying very wacky, manages to not be annoying like a lot of the previous meme nominations. I enjoy this.
I just wish it were Phantom R's Theme here instead
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#63 Divinity: Dragon Commander - Watching the Clouds
Nominator: azuarc (5/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD4WiyVOxpQ" data-time="

Ooh, nice piano track here. I see this is going for a more minimalist style, melody is fairly simple and the instrument just seems to be a solo piano. I'd argue even that this track might be a bit too simple if not for the fact that I love fast technical piano music (especially when it has that dark sound) just like this. Not much to comment on here, since it's pretty short and repeats a bit, but I like the sound it went for.

Awww so close, almost made it out of the bottom half with all your nominations
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FL81 posted...

Awww so close, almost made it out of the bottom half with all your nominations

Was about to say this until I saw that you did it for me.

And now that the seal is broken, I can watch the other 4 drop. Considering there's nothing super awesome in my nominations unless you just happen to really love them, I really don't expect to have the lowest average ranking, even though I'm (probably?) the last person to drop a song.
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azuarc posted...

even though I'm (probably?) the last person to drop a song.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are a few others
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Few? Few? As in, like, 3 or more?
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I've counted three more users without a nom appearing yet
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#62 Granado Espada - Rio Tranquilo
Nominator: NFUN (3/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS7Zot1Wz10" data-time="

Much like the earlier song in this list, Beat the Angel, I feel like the recording quality on this is pretty bad, the sound is way too crackly. That combined with the entire first half of this track taking forever to build up and get to the point made this one difficult to rank overall. But, once it gets to about halfway in, this is really good. I love the usage of the violins here with the Spanish guitar, would be great at setting the mood in game. Shame that this was recorded on a Game Boy Camera.
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Guess I missed one, there were actually four players who have yet to lose a single nomination (well, there are three now!)

#61 Rance X - Decisive Battle
Nominator: JONALEON1 (5/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-PB6zBMxv4" data-time="

LOTS OF ELECTRIC GUITAR but it sounds kinda like that fake FL Studio MIDI guitar used in a lot of VGM. This one's rockin' but kind of in a generic way, this could pass off as a Great Value Ys or Trails song (yes I'm going to keep using the Great Value metaphor). Interestingly enough that part at 2:13 that lasts a couple seconds with the acoustic guitar is my favorite part of this song. But, it's still pretty hype.

And this concludes the bottom half of my rankings! Thoughts, comments, complaints? Anything you're surprised to be out already or that's still in this? SHIT'S ABOUT TO GET REAL
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FL Studio MIDI?
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woodman posted...

FL Studio MIDI?

their default electric guitar preset sound
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fl studio guitar, maybe it counts as a vst idk
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woodman posted...

fl studio guitar, maybe it counts as a vst idk

You know what I mean ;>_>

I'm no audio production expert
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Whoo, every song I wanted to do well in the top half.

Hopefully I can get the biggest gap between nominations award. What do you mean there's no award for that? There is totally an award for that.
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MycroProcessor posted...

FL Slayer / reFX Slayer is the name of the electric guitar plugin you're probably thinking of. Like most of the plugins that come with FL studio it's not really exclusive to FL (so they could be using any DAW) but it definitely gets overused because of coming with a DAW as popular as FL. Not sure if that's what's actually used in that Rance track but I wouldn't be surprised.

Yep, that's the one! To the best of my knowledge, it probably isn't, but it's the first thing that popped into my mind when listening to this.
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#60 Runescape - Newbie Melody
Nominator: handsomeboy2012 (5/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNW9TAwImBY" data-time="

Starting out the top half of my rankings is this RuneScape track. Funny thing, I was actually playing RuneScape while listening through the nominations, so when this came on in the playlist I thought for a moment that I turned the in-game sound on! One interesting thing to note about this nomination is that the link handsomeboy2012 used is actually for the very old soundtrack. Sometime in 2006, RuneScape switched their soundfont from the default Windows MIDI to their own soundset. Now in general, I prefer the newer sound they use, but in this specific case I like the older sound of this song (new one has a weird trumpet)
Current OSRS Newbie Melody for comparison:

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

Anyways, Newbie Melody, while never really being my favorite or most memorable track in the game (Autumn Voyage is my jam), it's still one of the more nostalgic ones.
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Newbie Melody got stuck in my head in because I couldn't get out of tutorial island in 2005. I still play OSRS, but rarely turn on the music, so the old version is what I went with, though the 2006 one really is better.

Oh and finally I can say all my songs (just) made it in top half!

#59 Tyrian - Ending Number 2
Nominator: azuarc (4/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WmLqQb16p0" data-time="

Cool sound design on this, retro shmup music has developed into one of my favorite genres of VGM. This one is short and sweet, nothing terribly exciting, but at the same time having that really cool chiptune sound. I get a very "adventurous" vibe from this. That part from 00:12 to 00:43 is pretty cool.
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#58 Demon Truck - Dead Neon Hell City
Nominator: JONALEON1 (4/5)
Link: https://zirconstudios.bandcamp.com/track/dead-neon-hell-city

Here we have it, the only nomination that isn't a YouTube link ;>_>
Very faux-retro sound here, and it sounds distinctly like the composer took inspiration from Jake Kaufman in writing this piece (this would fit in well in Shantae or DuckTales Remastered). This, of course, is a good thing, since he's one of the few composers who can really make this sound work! As for this being composed by zircon, I actually like this one a whole lot better than the previous music I've heard by them. Anyways, song starts out with that cool dark tone I really like, then midway goes into an upbeat chiptune section. Pretty catchy.
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Man, 58 is pretty great. Can't really get into 59 or 60 though.
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I'll admit, 60 is ranked that highly purely out of nostalgia
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#57 Super Paper Mario - Sammer's Kingdom
Nominator: tazzyboyishere (4/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsvd5pZgT8o" data-time="

Man, picking a spot for this one was tough. Each time I listen to this, I end up liking it more and more, and everything from here on is just really good imo. This has really cool "far east" style vibes to it, and this very strongly reminds me of Byakuya Gentou (old VGMC entrant from several years back that I really liked)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xWNTj9Qi_w" data-time="

Mario is one of those series with so much music to it, and most of it is pretty good, but when it's really good, it's great (like this one).
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Aw yeah Super Paper Mario. Probably not my absolute favorite track from the game, but it does have that really unique upbeat instrumentation that I like a lot of the OST for.
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#56 Gradius The Slot - Survival Challenge
Nominator: banshiryuu/deogenerate (5/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWTgBi-3nuY" data-time="

Fast upbeat trance music is really the only EDM I've really been able to get into. Good music here for getting pumped up, nothing here really too melodically complex or anything, but this is definitely a good mood setter for what I assume is a fast paced shmup game (although with a name like "Gradius The Slot" I imagine this could also be a pachislot game ;>_>). Short, sweet, and exciting
Shmups and Trance music go together almost as well as Shmups and Genesis FM synth
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#55 beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA - Element of SPADA
Nominator: Prody Parrot (2/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-lFQRAX390" data-time="

This sounds like something B8 in general would really love, safe retirement bet even if this were an extended version! This has a nice "soothing" melody to it (for lack of a better word) and the rhythm game song elements that I'm not quite fond of are de-emphasized in this, to the point where all the elements of spada in this track come together really nicely into something good. Even though it's only two minutes like Prody's other nominations, this has enough going on so that doesn't really hurt this much.
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#54 Steins;Gate 0 - Messenger
Nominator: handsomeboy2012 (4/5)
Link:

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

Hey, I remember this from the VGMC12 side bracket! I remember feeling bad about voting against this as early as I did, since I do fairly like this! This one has a pretty hard-to-describe unique sound, very Science Adventurey. Steins;Gate has some of the better VN music I've heard (not the absolute best, but maybe like top 10), and this does well to fit right in with the others. Long~ish track, but never gets boring, has that nice buildup towards the end.
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I liked Messenger a lot more once I started watching the Steins;Gate 0 anime. (had never read the VN before either)

On it's own I found it a bit boring, but I do think it's used really well in-context.
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FL81 posted...

This sounds like something B8 in general would really love, safe retirement bet even if this were an extended version!

safe "can't even get out of noms" bet you mean

i've tried
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xp1337 posted...

FL81 posted...

This sounds like something B8 in general would really love, safe retirement bet even if this were an extended version!

safe "can't even get out of noms" bet you mean

i've tried

to be fair, all these Spada tracks sound pretty same~ish to me

at first glance I thought this was the VGMC10 champion that beat Megalovania
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Oh boy, time for all the VGM threads to be buried by contest rallies!

#53 Yakuza Kiwami 2 - A Scattered Moment
Nominator: handsomeboy2012 (3/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8WGb2gs-F8" data-time="

Two VGMC12 entrants (and handsomeboy2012 nominations) in a row! This kind of slow, emotional piano track is a style that I either love or hate (fairly randomly), and this one leans toward the former! I love how dramatic this is, slowly building up the piano, strings, and electric guitar, and while keeping the melody mostly the same throughout the song, it just builds up the intensity, then straight back to the calm at the end of the song! Solid mid-tier VGMC12, probably in the better half of the entrants.
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Two in a row

Of course this is going to happen once I start to feel pretty good about my nominations

Yakuza series has some great music that deserves more attention. A Scattered Moment is no exception.

Also bump.
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MC_XD posted...

Yakuza series has some great music that deserves more attention. A Scattered Moment is no exception.

Also bump.

I would have nominated it for your topic if I had listened to this track a bit earlier. Also loved it as a final boss theme.

#52 Wolfenstein: The New Order - Ransacked
Nominator: TheArkOfTurus (4/5)
Link:

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

After managing to have the dead-last ranking song, everything else is in the top half, congratulations(?)! This one is definitely an unexpected winner here, wasn't expecting much out of this song when I saw it nominated, but this is good! I love really "powerful" and "hype" songs and this does both well! That super cheesy vocal section halfway in is also cool lol
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Hey FL81,
It took me awhile to get some time and actually listen through your ranking thus far but I finally did it. I gotta say I like your write-up style though. (It's similar to the way I do my write-ups :P)

Anyway, on to the ranking and few comments I have...

#109 Silent Hill 2 - True As a big Silent Hill fan, I love this tune. It's a bit lower on your list than I would have placed it but I get your sentiment. It seems you either are a fan of Survival Horror music or not really. While most songs admittedly lose some context outside of the actual gameplay where it is used I still have a liking to anything as dark and mysterious as this.

#101 I Expect You to Die - Credits Not sure if you noticed but the link was broken on this one. I pulled up a video but it said Intro credits so I'm not sure if I listened to the right one. It was kind of cool either way. Very James Bond-ish imo.

#100 Pokmon Red/Blue/Yellow - Lavender Town Aw man a classic from my childhood. Kinda low but I do agree that it hasn't quite aged well when comparing to all the great stuff we have to listen to nowadays.

#97 Baldur's Gate - Main Theme This is actually in the stack of games I'm working on atm. I actually found the game a few months ago in near mint condition at my local pawn shop for only $4! Totally worth it.

#95 Chaos;Child - Silent Wind Bell Never heard this one before but it's kinda decent for a slow song.

#90 TrackMania Valley - Extra Cologne This is a really good dance/trance beat here. I'd say it might be too low but I have no idea what hasn't been ranked yet.

#86 Blue Reflection - You're not a heroine, it's me
#84 STELLIGHTS - Lucentear These both make me think of the 90's about the same time when Sonic 3D came out for some reason. It was the kind of music I'd hear almost every time I walked into Electronics Boutique (Back before they became EB games... back before they became Gamestop)

#82 Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 3 - Naruto and Kakashi Never played this game before but I really like what I'm hearing here.

#81 Ar nosurge - The Hourglass Doesn't Fall This is pretty great imo. I have added it to my list of tunes to listen to while I read my graphic novels. I briefly read a few pages of Saga while listening to this and it goes amazingly well with the series. This would definitely climb up my list pretty easily even if it were a 10 hour version tbh.

#80-#67 Not really much in there of any interest of mine.

#66 Divekick - Boss Pretty cool song here I've never heard before now.

#63 Divinity: Dragon Commander - Watching the Clouds Recently picked up the first game in this series and now I'm looking forward to getting the sequel. I love almost anything with decent piano play in it.

#62 Granado Espada - Rio Tranquilo This would be great if made into some sort of dance/techno remix imo.

#59 Tyrian - Ending Number 2 Oooh, I like this one. I agree that the chiptune sound here really sells the song. (Maybe I feel that way because of the hundreds of chiptunes I've recently been sifting through for my next ranking)

#54 Steins;Gate 0 - Messenger Digging this tune as well.

#53 Yakuza Kiwami 2 - A Scattered Moment Not exactly what I would have pictured for a Yakuza game but very interesting listen to say the least.

#52 Wolfenstein: The New Order - Ransacked I love the guitar play in this one but when the tempo picks up at around 1:00 in I feel like it could have been better for some reason since it drowns out the cool intro which hurts it imo... but then it gets good again at 2:00 in.

...and I guess I'm all caught up! Looking forward to the rest of the ranking dude. Keep up the great work! =D
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like a third of granado espada's ost is techno in some way
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Se7enthrust posted...

#101 I Expect You to Die - Credits Not sure if you noticed but the link was broken on this one. I pulled up a video but it said Intro credits so I'm not sure if I listened to the right one. It was kind of cool either way. Very James Bond-ish imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht1ZChKF4Ek" data-time="
Yep, this was the one, it looks like!

Thanks for the feedback!

Huh, Rio Tranquilo kinda would work as a techno remix
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#51 Bloody Roar 3 - Mystery Relics
Nominator: MycroProcessor (3/5)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okLWs4h_dpA" data-time="

Man, this one is going all out going for that "tough '80s sound" that you hear in all of the classic '90s fighting games (This is a fighting game right? Totally sounds like it'd be from one of those many, many SNK games)
This sounds very prog rocky, going in hard on the keyboards and electric guitars, I can see this being the entrance theme for the big bad or one of his toughest lackeys. Very cool song, I can imagine this working very well in the context of the game.
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