Board 8 > cakophon ranks 128 VGM

(+) Yeah! (+)

Spreadsheet with results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d9FNZ2HsbDaUP32qfVyrnEoN_2NvzytBcP2sy5fV3cs

Hi everyone, and welcome to my first-ever VGM ranking! Before we get started, I'd like to explain the process I used to score songs. I set four criteria for a song to be scored on. Lets go over them now:

Criterion 1 [MEMORY]
Memorability/Catchiness: How well does the song stay with me, and how repetitive or generic is it?

Criterion 2 [PENJOY]
Personal Enjoyment: How much do I personally enjoy the song?

Criterion 3 [SOUNDQ]
Sound Quality: How much can I enjoy (or tolerate) the songs sound quality and/or instrumentation? How well does it complement the tone?

Criterion 4 [TASFAC]
Task Factor: How well does a song accomplish its goal when directed at me? (i.e. how well a battle track provides energy, or how well a rest area track calms the listener)

Each criterion is scored on a scale from 0 to 5, divided into fifths. Together, they add up to a maximum total of 100 points. This means that each category is worth a maximum of 25 points in the total score.

other thoughts: i hate the word memorability and asked four different people if there was a better word; none of us could come up with one.
in retrospect, the next time i do a ranking i want to split up MEMORY into memorability and genericness because those two sometimes clash.
also possibly remove TASFAC and replace it with a different aspect as its too similar to PENJOY and can be extremely unfocused. im taking suggestions

...This method of scoring tends to skew upwards, which I feel is mostly fine, because thats generally how I feel about music anyway. It is extremely imprecise and variable though, so in the future I plan to modify it to be less vague, if only a little.
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128.
Song: The Sky, the Clouds, and You
Game: Xenogears
Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda
Nominator: Haste_2
Score: 5 (0.4/0.2/0/0.4)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb3wPZrpxus" data-time="

This song has one purpose and one only: to make you feel light and happy. It doesnt do either of those for me. The song is predictable as all hell to the point of being downright annoying, and the instrumentation certainly doesnt help its case. Its fairly catchy but you would not catch me listening to this voluntarily again.
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tag
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127.
Song: Playrooms
Game: Shadow Man
Composer: Tim Haywood
Nominator: Shonen_Bat
Score: 12 (0.4/0/0.2/1.8)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV0kLXBnmyI" data-time="

Why would you force someone to listen to this.
Ignoring the glaringly obvious, the way the bells echo is muddy and not fun to listen to. The actual musical composition in this, Brahms Waltz in A-flat major Op. 39 No. 15, is good on its own, but its so completely murdered by everything else here that its impossible to take it seriously. Heres some of my least favorite sounds in this piece:
moaning and crying
squeaky toy
maniacal laughter
organs being mutilated?
Yeah, that about covers it.
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126.
Song: Kukulkan, The Wind God
Game: Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
Composer: Undercode
Nominator: Pirateking2000
Score: 19 (0.4/1.2/0/2.2)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Hg57FQZEg" data-time="

Really dislike the overall sound; its extremely busy. Aside from a solo at 0:53, this literally does nothing interesting, only repeating the same riff countless times. The solo is pretty impressive, and is probably the mostif not the onlyredeeming part of this song.
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cakophon posted...

memorability

stickiness
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Tag.
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NFUN posted...

cakophon posted...

memorability

stickiness

yuck
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you should put all of the nominated songs into the spreadsheet
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Tag.

I think I did a meme nomination for this one but hopefully you liked the songs anyway.
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tag

I don't even remember what I nominated for this!
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NFUN posted...

you should put all of the nominated songs into the spreadsheet

done. it's not very pretty so i'll fix it up in a few hours
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oh yeah i forgot that i did that with you too

oops
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NFUN posted...

oh yeah i forgot that i did that with you too

oops

how unsophisticated
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tag
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I'll have you know that Mitsuda himself likes The Sky, The Clouds, and You! How do I know? He remixed it on the Xenogears Creid album!

Oh, wait, nevermind. I only did three nominations. No ROBOVoice on there.
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Oh cool, this is the one I nominated Ready to Shave for.

Gonna get first place for sure.
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Memorability, Stickiness, Uniqueness, Distinction, Originality, Subversion, Charm, Engagement, Fascination, Captivation, Personality, Novelty, Intrigue, Stimulation, Identity, Spirit, Distinguishability, Longevity, Persistence, Freshness, Permanence, Wow Factor, Lasting Impression, Staying Power
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cakophon posted...

i hate the word memorability and asked four different people if there was a better word; none of us could come up with one.
in retrospect, the next time i do a ranking i want to split up MEMORY into memorability and genericness because those two sometimes clash.
also possibly remove TASFAC and replace it with a different aspect as its too similar to PENJOY and can be extremely unfocused. im taking suggestions

Catchiness, indelibility, notability, remarkability, strikingness, vividness, distinctiveness...
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125.
Song: The Sims 2 Main Theme
Game: The Sims 2
Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh
Nominator: Raka_Putra
Score: 19 (1.4/0.4/1/1)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF90l7zWHMg" data-time="

Royalty free commercial background music Cheerful1.mp3
I dont like how the instruments interact with each other here. They dont go together very well, and the way the leading is switched between them seemingly at random is disorienting. Something I find interesting about this is the way phrases play out. The first phrase is four measures long as expected, but the second is six measures, followed by four, two, and six, after which the pattern repeats. This is pretty odd and doesnt fit nicely back into a divisor of four, which makes the piece just a little more unpredictable.

Did you know Mark Mothersbaugh also composed the soundtrack for the LEGO Movie? I thought it was pretty good overall.
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124.
Song: Bowser's Battle!
Game: Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time
Composer: Yoko Shimomura
Nominator: Zyzyx0
Score: 23 (2/0.4/0.2/2)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6daPF-SkY

Its mario!!!!!! I dont like his instruments, although to be honest the strings arent terrible. the brass is just REEAALLY bad.
Im inclined to think that based on the name this is a final boss song, but as Im not really familiar with the M&L games Im not going to make that judgement.
This is a pretty repetitive but intense piece.

Also is it just me or does the initial melody vaguely sound like this line from Panic! at the Disco - Dont Threaten Me with a Good Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHqGPsYxcNM" data-time="&start=55
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Grieves, Destruction, Mutation, Collapses, Solitude, Death, Evil, Regret, Fragile, Nirvana, Laziness, Mirage, Desire, Impulse, Inking, Stagnation, Whisper, Curse, Despair, Ruin, Sacrifice, World, Convict, Suffering, Sneers, Admonition, Mad, Degeneration

uhhh...what?
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123.
Song: Uprising - Final Battle
Game: Overwatch
Composer: Derek Duke, Neal Acree, Sam Cordon, Cris Velasco
Nominator: GammaDelta
Score: 33 (0/1.4/2.4/2.8)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ2H6xjHaAY" data-time="

Generic intense orchestral schmuck, but it gets the final battle job done okay. The small bit of blending between natural and sequenced instruments/sounds is handled pretty well though.
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Psh. Final Battle had four composers. Obviously it must be amazing!

(just kidding. I'm sure it was the OST as a whole that had four composers)

Oh, yeah, and when I said "nevermind" I wasn't referring to anything I said about The Sky, The Clouds, and You. I was just referring to that I thought I nominated a certain song, but it wasn't nominated. And while on that subject again, when I first encountered that track in Xenogears, I thought it was dumb/cutesey/generic, too. It took a few years for it to grow on me, no joke.
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122.
Song: Colosseum
Game: Devil May Cry
Composer: Masami Ueda, Misao Senbongi, Masato Koda
Nominator: Snake5555555555
Score: 37 (0/1/3/3.4)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNHvP2wFALw" data-time="

I thought Devil May Cry was supposed to have more rock-like music, but I guess its sort of like Bayonetta in that some of its music is popular remix fodder, some is based heavily on church music, and some is ominous and ambient, like this piece, though even Bayonettas more ambient tracks are pretty melody-driven, whereas this piece rides its ambience to the max. Thats extremely admirable, but myself being not a really big fan of empty ambience, it doesnt engage me a lot. A touch I really like about this is that its possible to hear a crowd chanting and cheering at 0:59 and other points, which really adds to the "impending danger" effect.
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121.
Song: They're Approaching / Low on Ammo Theme
Game: Alien Sky
Composer: Vakhtang Adamiya
Nominator: FL81
Score: 39 (1/2.4/1.8/2.6)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cshq4R7d_k" data-time="

Wow they sure are approaching. I dont think theres really anything wrong with this. Its just completely uninteresting to me.
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120.
Song: Strange Occurences
Game: Epic Battle Fantasy 5
Composer: Phyrnna
Nominator: Shonen_Bat
Score: 40 (0/2/2.4/3.6)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo7lv3P0uwY" data-time="

This is another example of not being BAD or anything. Its just not GOOD. In fact its not really much of anything. One part I do think stands out is the line introduced at 0:54: its more mobile pace gives the song some much needed variety.
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at least it's a better rep than TPF Trans
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Epic (of Gilgamesh) Battle (Final) Fantasy 5

zOMG Shonen meant to nominate Battle with Gilgamesh, but made a typo.
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119.
Song: Match Theme 2
Game: Nintendo World Cup
Composer: Kazuo Sawa
Nominator: Haste_2
Score: 41 (1/3/2.6/1.6)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYRs6qnXCkE" data-time="

This song thinks it is COOL and HIP but it is not. Everything from 0:00-0:14 is obnoxious, then the melody added lessens it. The best part of this is the line at 0:27, which adds a very nice mood change that I would like to have stayed at for longer. Too bad the song loops at 0:39.
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I agree that it's not very good. I'm just a fanboy of NWC, that's all.
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118.
Song: Last Battle ~ Asellus
Game: SaGa Frontier
Composer: Kenji Ito
Nominator: TheArkOfTurus
Score: 44 (1/3.4/0.4/4)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3DD2vDWwOM" data-time="

Overall this is pretty generic fantasy battle fare, but its actually pretty well done imo. The melody lines are fun, and the way they play with the rhythm at certain parts like 0:37, 1:22, and most notably in my opinion, 1:43, when the pattern set of three even quarter beats is replaced with a set of four dotted quarters. cool stuff
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zzz so far
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th3l3fty posted...

zzz so far

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bump ! the next song was taken down from YouTube but i have a backup file but i am verylazy right now and also have other better things to do so uou will have to wait until i. upload that
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oh ok
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song is blocked worldwide cant upload even unlisted :^) so here is a dropbox link

117.
Song: Fighting of the Spirit (Arrange Version)
Game/Album: Tales of Phantasia Original Soundtrack Complete Version
Original Track: Tales of Phantasia (PS1) - Fighting of the Spirit
Composer: Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura
Arranger: Masayuki Sakamoto
Nominator: th3l3fty
Score: 45 (0.6/2.4/3/3)
Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jzgxms7ci2r0cd5/067%20Fighting%20of%20the%20Spirit.mp3?dl=0

This is pretty neat actually. instrumentation is enjoyable and the arrangement is pretty well done, but it's pretty generic overall. my favorite part of this is the pitch bends
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I thought this originated in Symphonia! I think I like the Phantasia version more...the Symphonia version sounds bland.
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Haste_2 posted...

I thought this originated in Symphonia!

oops thanks for that. im pretty unfamiliar with tales so i appreciate the spot

edit: err maybe not as i'm looking

edit again i was right the first time ig
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Yeah, I wasn't clear with that statement. I meant to say that previously I thought Fighting of the Spirit originally in Symphonia. =p Tales of Phantasia is the first game in the series.
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116.
Song: GO->Love & Peace
Game: Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2
Composer: Keiichi Ueno
Nominator: Arti
Score: 46 (0.4/2.4/3.4/3)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ORIS9A0p8" data-time="

"aaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaa"
This song is...kinda boring. It's not particularly bad, I actually think it's kind of charming, and I enjoy the vibe it's generally going for. The problem with it is it just seems too safe.. this song does a lot of like. Boring chord changes. i think there are only like 2 chords in most of the song and like 6 in the chorus. i know this might seem dumb to focus on cause i haven't really before but a lot of the melodic focus in this song in my mind is directly on where the chords lie, which makes both feel stale.

yhhhh good things: i really like the bass instrument used throughout (baba is you) as well as the one second of piano syncopation at 3:11 before it becomes a pattern.
syncopation is my favorite genre of music
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115.
Song: Scorch 'N' Torch
Game: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Composer: David Wise, Kenji Yamamoto
Nominator: Shonen_Bat
Score: 47 (2.0/1.4/2.2/3.8)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFP4wn0dejc" data-time="

This track is very Donkey Kong David Wise. it has the ambient-ish melody played softly over a rolling backing track. Generally, that's not my style, but it does what it sets out to do pretty well. i like the blending of electronic instruments with real instruments, actually works out very nicely here. my favorite part is the vaguely breathy instrument at 1:06, except how the section ends, which feels kinda weak for me.
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I had no idea that David Wise did music for the newer DKC's (I never played them or heard their music).
You can certainly hear the instrumentation influence from the old games. (sorry to dominate the responses)
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Updated the spreadsheet bc i realized I'd forgotten about it
Will try to work on some writeups this weekend while i'm offline
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114.
Song: FIGHT!! Ver. 4 - The Final Battle
Game: Grandia II
Composer: Noriyuki Iwadare
Nominator: Pirateking2000
Score: 48 (0.8/4/1.2/3.6)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p29MCpipZTI" data-time="

hmmmm what time is it? *checks watch* oh its JRPG BATTLETHEME time. hhooray!!
i really enjoy the vibe this has going, it seems really fitting for a final battle battle: intensity, hopeful tone, sequenced orchestra with band (not my favorite)what this does not do for me is to be memorable. its very JRPG BATTLETHEME but doesnt do anything outside of that.
favorite part: I REALLY LIKE THE BASS SWOOZY PLUCK BEND THAT COMES IN AT 1:50. THAT IS MY FAVORITE FAKE MUSIC INSTRUMENTS THING.

a good time to note that this is where songs start getting JUST OKAY and i might not have a lot of things to say specifically about them
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113.
Song: HesitationSnow
Game: Hatsuyuki Sakura
Composer: Satoshi Yaginuma
Nominator: banshiryuu
Score: 50 (1/3.4/3/2.6)
Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTY0mcT4WVw" data-time="

hi anime op structured song that is not anime OP length or extended OP length
eevery time i listen to this song i forget i am listening to it. it is just gone from my brain. the melody is super repetitive, which is not aided by the beat also being repetitive. i dont think repetitive ness is BAD its just that the part that is repeated barely does anything for me. i do not feel emotions from this song so clearly intended to draw emotion.
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TC, I made a mistake when crediting the composer of one of the songs you haven't given your rank for yet.
Any theme from a game called VVVVVV you may have listened to was composed by Magnus Plsson, not Terry Cavanagh, which is what I had written initially. Sorry about that.
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112.
Song: Hej Dunrl fj a szl; Cinege, Cinege
Game: Civilization VI
Composer: Roland Rizzo, Geoff Knorr, Phil Boucher
Nominator: handsomeboy2012
Score: 50 (2/2.4/3/2.6)
Link:

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

As I understand it, the soundtracks in Civilization games are based on folk songs from the country they play for, gradually building them up through different ages. Not having played a Civ game, I can only assume that the atomic here (video title and description) marks its the last iteration of this theme, and all things considered, its done pretty well. The melodic line is enjoyable, while being somewhat moody, and the more dance-y part starting at 2:40, while not really my style, is a fun little tangent from the slower, more traditional feel preceding it. The sixteenth note winds section in that part of the song is also pretty fun. Overall, a fun piece, but probably not something I can see myself coming back to a lot.
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