Board 8 > [VGMC] d58: It's Not Over / Yesterday's Opponents, Distorted Happiness / Ignith

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 13, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=471679
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17rEeB1_oYWgryWzIxOaZXw2a381gKGnMegjHCG_2OTQ
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77672812
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RF28glW72G6s_5M1e4kcSxR

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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:

Granado Espada - It's Not Over 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3GmQJIL_7A" data-time="

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients

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

Match 2:

Caligula - Distorted Happiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXTMp2CderA" data-time="

7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Ignith of the Final Attack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymNbe47KbXs" data-time="

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Easy vote form:
It's Not Over 1 / Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness / Ignith of the Final Attack

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Song lyric trivia: You and I've been through a lot together. That's just the way the story goes. Even though your heart breaks, And your down on your knees, Anyway you'll laugh again someday. And if you're down, you'll get up again. Dust off a bit, and go along your way. But don't you know, you might find, before too long, you're on your knees once again!
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It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack

azuarc posted...

Song lyric trivia: You and I've been through a lot together. That's just the way the story goes. Even though your heart breaks, And your down on your knees, Anyway you'll laugh again someday. And if you're down, you'll get up again. Dust off a bit, and go along your way. But don't you know, you might find, before too long, you're on your knees once again!

Not voting yet, but Dreams of our Generation

Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack

A pretty good day, I like everything here. Nothing blows me away, but no result would be terribly disappointing either.
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness

Close calls, it's interesting how relatively similar today's songs are to one another. It was definitely thanks to that that I've found myself voting contrary to my own expectations here. (well okay, one of the matches matched my expectations but it was close)

It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack
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Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients, which I've finally decided is my favorite Atelier music this contest.
7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Ignith of the Final Attack, but it's a close call. I would have voted for Distorted Happiness, but the whispering that I hate has to be done FOUR TIMES in one loop....
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Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Caligula - Distorted Happiness
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Mac/PSI - what are you trying to say? it's a foregone conclusion! (hopefully in favor of what I want to win)
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Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Ignith of the Final Attack
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness

Yesterday's Opponents
Distorted Happiness
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack feat. riya(eufonius)

all four of these own

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Caligula - Distorted Happiness

Match 2 is too good. No hesitation in voting against my own nomination because Distorted Happiness is too good. why is this only a round 3 match
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Granado Espada - It's Not Over 1
7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Ignith of the Final Attack

this entire set is not my thing! oh no

Windows Production
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Granado Espada - It's Not Over 1
Caligula - Distorted Happiness

These are all pretty cool, although I am sick of YOATI at this point.
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Today's
Attack
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack
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It's Not Over 1
Distorted Happiness

Yesterday's Opponents Are Today's Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack

Ignith > Distorted Happiness > Yesterday's Opponents > Not Over 1

i like the second match, but the first match not as much. sort of feels like yesterday's opponents has sneaked its way through the bracket cause i think it's above average and everything it faces off against i think is average or below that but VGMC is not about just my tastes alone it is about everyone's tastes so either i'm not in the audio 'target audience' for this song or everyone's doing the same as me and voting yesterday's opponents above songs they like less. it's probably a mix of the two. BIG THINKING
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It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack

2nd match is grim.

what a fourpack.

can't decide who to vote for right now. maybe i'll have better luck after work.
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack
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It's Not Over 1
Distorted Happiness
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It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack

Ignith's okay, but I'd rather have both songs from match 1.
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It's Not Over 1
Distorted Happiness

It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness

Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Ignith of the Final Attack
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28. Granado Espada - It's Not Over 1 (6.5) (for Warning Call)

vs.

55. Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients (3) (for Soilscraper)

It's Not Over 1 keeps growing on me. It's a fairly simple melody but the instruments are pleasing and the presentation is engaging; I'm hooked when the guitar kicks in. Yesterday's Opponents is more bland Atelier. It repeats basically the same progressions over and over and I'm just like, why? Why not branch out, try something different? I wish Soilscraper was here instead.

and

60. Caligula - Distorted Happiness (2) (for Nice Day, Ryoshima Coast)

vs.

10. 7th Dragon III: Code: VFD - Ignith of the Final Attack (8.5) (for A Toccata Into Blood-Soaked Darkness)

Distorted Happiness is what would happen if you took a bunch of musical tropes I dislike, shook it up in a blender, and spat it in my face. Actually wait, I guess that's Where the Sky Ended, but the same principle applies here. There can be more than one blender with more than one mess of music. There isn't much I like about this: it has elements of rhythm game seizure music, crinkly guitar, overpowering whispering, and audio production that gives me a headache. This would probably rank even lower if I redid these rankings.

What a contrast with Ignith of the Final Attack! Here's a song that encapsulates a lot of what I like in VGM - lots of variety, a great melody, engaging instrumentation. I love the bit in the middle when the backing drops off a little and the melody becomes even more earwormy. I could do without that constant "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh" though...

Votes:
It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack

After a good deal of thought...

It's Not Over
Ignith
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It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack

Both matches are pretty close for me today. In some ways RecipeSong might be more interesting & seem more like my kind of song but it's got lower lows (playing child moments w/ piano flute high strings) and INO1 has higher highs for me (those triumphant bursts).

Last night listening to the second match I was really Not in the mood for Ignith I guess, and was leaning pretty distinctly towards Distortion, slightly to my own surprise. I didn't feel certain enough and didn't want to listen to those songs that much more that night and now that it's a Brand New Day I'm more in the mood for Ignith again. Lucky for that song I'm so indecisive and terribly unimpulsive
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack

weeb day
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness

the contrasts/dynamics are just too good.
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It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Attack

Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack

Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Ignith of the Final Attack

Hmm...a bunch of early hype that this could be the best year ever by a mile, and then suddenly the later rounds come and everything sucks. Maybe I shouldn't have held back the rant yesterday; apparently I haven't left Idolforums after all!

Votes:
It's Not Over 1
Ignith of the Final Assault

Rankings:

It's Not Over 1 > Ignith of the Final Assault > Distorted Happiness > Yesterday's Board 8 Trash Is Today's Violent Food Poisoning
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Y
I

man i really liked the other version of distorted happiness shame
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It's Not Over 1
Distorted Happiness

Match 1:

Granado Espada doesn't disappoint. I also had forgotten about how Yesterday's Opponents sounded, so it's nice to have a nice rock song with a touch of Gust's signature sound later on. The beginning (first 24 seconds or so) reminds me a little of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness's battle themes, which is obviously a huge thumbs up from my part. Close match; It's Not Over has highs and lows and maybe technically, objectively speaking, Today's Ingredients is a lot better in terms of musical structure and performance; however, both songs are pretty good at what they do, and It's Not Over's guitar chorus is what settles this match for me.

Match 2:

The first thing that caught my attention was how incredibly similar the colors and art style were between both songs' images. Anyway, talking about the actual songs in question, I still can't get over how forced the whispers sound in Distorted Happiness compared to its anime counterpart, and don't get me started on the low-quality and utterly-questionable synth choice! I mean, this song rocks, but compared to the quality of the songs surrounding it this round, it somehow sounds even worse to me than before (which is really strange since maybe every instance in which I've listened to a song in this contest that I thought didn't sound as good the round before, then comes in a round later and it somehow sounds better). It's still really sweet listening to the "tetta te sorewa, tetta te sorewa" part. The title is pretty appropriate compared to the overall sound of the song (both in a good and a bad way). Ignith is not that good, honestly. Not bad (it's a nice vocal song), but it's the weakest song of the day I'd say (without doing my rankings yet).

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...Yep:

If It's Not Over, Then Why Does It End, Huh? > Opponents' Ingredients are Today's Yesterdays > Questionable Sound Choices (ft. Tetta Te Sorewa) >> Da Heck is an Ignith Anyway
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okay i'm switching my first match to Yesterday's Opponents jesus christ tsunami
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NFUN posted...

okay i'm switching my first match to Yesterday's Opponents jesus christ tsunami

er, what? I mean, I'll switch the vote, but...
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OTP
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Distorted Happiness
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Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
-
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Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - Yesterdays Opponents are Todays Ingredients
Caligula - Distorted Happiness

MATCH 1

I prefer Honor Winds over It's Not Over, but It's Not Over is still a good song. Similarly, I prefer the other Atelier songs in the contest over Yesterday's Opponents, but Yesterday's Opponents is my clear preference here in this match.

MATCH 2

This is a very "me" match. Funny that match 2 from yesterday was also a very me match. If Re:Vanishment was the 7th Dragon song up today instead of Ignith, this match would be even more me! Anyway, just like yesterday, here we have two songs that are clear preferences for me over the songs in match 1 (match 1's songs were pretty good as well, though). My preference for Distorted Happiness is very strong in this match, but Ignith of the Final Attack is very good as well and I have no problems with it retiring if it does.

Distorted Happiness > Ignith of the Final Attack > Yesterday's Opponents Are Today's Ingredients > It's Not Over 1