Board 8 > [BOST] Day 2: Eschatos v Celeste, Spark v REFLEC colette, Pharaoh Rebirth+ v SMB

(+) Yeah! (+)

Greetings, and welcome to the results and bracket/contest discussion topic for Best OST Contest 5! In this contest, you and fellow video game soundtrack lovers will come together to once and for all answer the question "What is the best video game soundtrack? (For now.)"

Links:
Contest Bracket and Info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sD964sXfa3trbXrr14mFKeEIA14cGM2RtHmW9TqGBmw
Discussion Thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77915805

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VOTING RULES

- Each match will be between the songs representing each game, not the game as a whole. Please remember to listen and vote with this in mind! Any votes referring to a game name rather than a song name will not be counted. You have been warned!
- Listen to both songs!! If one is your literal favorite song in the world and the other is something you hate with a passion, listen to them both!!
- No alts, no rallying, no begging for something to get more votes, etc., etc., you know the drill.
- If you change your mind and would like to swap your vote, you may do so. As soon as it is 24 hours since the match topic was started, you may not change your vote and new votes will not be counted.
- If you would like to vote in advance for matches you know you will miss, please let me know in the discussion topic.

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Main Bracket: Match 1

Eschatos - Extermination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_j2u9A_1P0" data-time="

Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnwVvXkWq0" data-time="

Main Bracket: Match 2

Spark the Electric Jester - vs. FARK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzkj6fFYy9Y" data-time="

REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H--X5A-UP2k" data-time="

Snubs Bracket Match

Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htV-auM8vZc" data-time="

Super Meat Boy - Fast Track to Browntown

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

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Vote Form:
Extermination / Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
vs. FARK / L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride) / Fast Track to Browntown

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

Pretty easy choices.

1:40 of Sinai Mines is very cool.
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Eschatos - Extermination
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide
Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)
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(I might add explanations for my ratings later, but I'm not that in the mood currently)
Eschatos - Extermination - 8/10

Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) - 8.5/10

Vote for Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)

vs. FARK - 9/10

L'avide - 8/10

Vote for vs. FARK

Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride) - 8/10

Super Meat Boy - Fast Track to Browntown - 7/10

Vote for Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

Eschatos - Extermination
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide (my favorite of the day)
Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)
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Eschatos - Extermination
Spark the Electric Jester - vs. FARK
Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

Now this is the strong day that the contest should've started on!!
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide (sorry spark ;-;)
Fast Track to Browntown

ive accepted that i'm never going to be happy with any of these matches
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Eschatos - Extermination
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide
Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

MATCH 1

From my memory, Extermination is one of the better songs from this game's soundtrack. I love this upbeat rock rhythm and the melody's pretty cool as well. This is the kind of Yasui stuff that's the most appealing to me, for sure. I find it funny that at the end of this video is what I expected to be another loop of the song but instead is what sounds like the player crashing the vehicle and failing the mission as the pilot and the vehicle go down in flames.

Mirror Temple's nice and groovy. Cool beat, I guess. Not much to say about it.

MATCH 2

vs. FARK is a pretty cool and upbeat song. I like the guitar and the drums are pretty crisp. This almost feels like someone arranged a Mega Man song and ended up with this song because I guess it sort of has that vibe to me?

Woah, L'avide is very quick to capture my attention. Love the vocals and the melody in the background is really great too. You even get this Gust-esque chanting starting at 0:12. The rest of the song is very nice as well with the melody in the vocals continuing to be good. The flutes that show up in the background midway through the song are pretty nice too. That bagpipe sounding instrument is super good though and probably my favorite thing about this song besides the vocals.

MATCH 3

Both songs here aren't really all that exciting. Sinai Mines has this nice adventure-y sound and I guess Fast Track to Browntown does too, but less good, so Sinai Mines is my pick for this match. I'm not particularly enthused about this match though.

Extermination = L'avide > vs. FARK > Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) > Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride) > Fast Track to Browntown

Extermination -- Easy, this song is great for me while the other is too slow & mellow
vs. FARK -- Easy, this song has a great impressive feel even if maybe a touch repetitive, while other song has too traditional instruments for me and also, you know, vocals
Fast Track to Browntown -- Medium? Pharaoh song is pretty good but I don't care for the high strings so much, while Meatsong is pretty good too with no buts.

I feel like this post has some understatements so I'll restate that hey there's 4 great songs for me today
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Extermination
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown

All three of these votes cause me immense physical pain. I really like every song today except for vs. FARK, which is from a setlist I like otherwise.
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Extermination
L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

vs. FARK is really, really good tho too damn

Extermination
L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

close and very strong first match

less close second with apologies to FARK

unlike yesterday, snubs is cleanly the weakest this time. mixed feelings on sinai mines since i was pretty unsold on it after the first half or so and only really got into it in the last minute, especially when it started sounding like a fusion between pocket card and pokemon typing lol. the meat boy song exceeded expectations but only because i had none

Mirror Temple
L'avide
Fast Track

wasn't into the SMB song until it turned into CotN
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
vs. FARK
Fast Track to Browntown
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I'll try not to cut it so close this time

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
vs. FARK
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

Extermination
L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

EXTERMINAT(ion)
L'avide
Sinai Mines

None of the matches were exceptionally close for me, but I did enjoy all 6 so!
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Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide
Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)
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Extermination
vs. FARK
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Don't have any strong opinions on the third mstch, so I'm probably just going to abstain from it.
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Fast Track To Brown Town

sorry eschoats... . . it got stuck with probably my least favorite pick from the list against my favorite celeste pick. it's not much of a match.

match 2 was closest so far. i like weird instruments and cool vocals so l'avide.

listened to smb's soundtrack A LOT before - i've played through both games so i know context for both and they both play in pretty 'rapid' situations. fast track to brown town does a better job of portraying the situation it does, though - imo.
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
vs. FARK
Fast Track to Browntown

Amusing third matchup
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Eschatos - Extermination = 8/10
Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) = 7.75/10

Very close. Both are awesome but slightly held back by a lack of real variety.

Spark the Electric Jester - vs. FARK = 6.5/10
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide = 8.25/10

L'avide is one of my favourite new discoveries and FARK is one of the weaker Spark songs for me. I prefer Spark's OST overall for sure, but this particular matchup is definitely in RBc's favour.

Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride) = 6.5/10
Super Meat Boy - Fast Track to Browntown = 7.5/10

I like DannyB's stuff less than I used to, but this one was still a straight forward vote for one of the best SMB songs.

So my votes:
Extermination
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown

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Eschatos - Extermination: 3.5. I don't love most of what I've heard from Yasui; it all sounds very samey in an unappealing way. I will likely forget this song as soon it ends. (I was right!) It's like existentially dull. I question whether things matter when I listen to this.
vs.
Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix): 5.5. Sultry nightclub music with a neat kick. A little repetitive but I like the overall feel, very evocative and mysterious. Makes me feel like sledding in the city. I wish it did more things though; by the end I'm much less interested.

and

Spark the Electric Jester - vs. FARK: 7.5. Aww yeah here we go. Love the melody here, very ass-kicking fist-pumping excitement. Pretty "basic" tune, doesn't really develop much, but for what it is it's pretty solid.
vs.
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide: 8. I really don't want to like this song because I think songs of this style are overhyped in this community. But it wouldn't be fair of me to vote based on that. I like a lot of what this song does, from the echoey vocals to the folksy, playful/mysterious melody. Very cool.

and

Pharaoh Rebirth+ - Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride): 3. Feels too busy, which is generally a surefire way for a song to get on my bad side. There's fun Egyptian stuff going on here but it's all drowned out by other things. When the melody has room to breathe, I like it much more.
vs.
Super Meat Boy - Fast Track to Browntown: 7.5. I'd not heard this Super Meat Boy track before, but it's pretty easily one of my favorites I've heard from the game. Bouncy, fun melody with somewhat abrasive "fauxtro" sounding instruments that creates a nice sense of urgency. Very cool.

Votes:
Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown

Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown

First match is super close. I like them very similar amounts, and they're both solid.

Oddly I feel the same about match two, though both tracks are a bit better here. Colette song has a nice Haruka Shimotsuki-esque feel to it. That's not her, is it?

Oh hey match three is actually easy. Browntown's start is a bit weak, but it gets great. Mines is always worse than the worst parts of Browntown.
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Eschatos - Extermination
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide
Super Meat Boy - Fast Track to Browntown

woah voting in support of two composers i'm normally indifferent/averse to
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Stage 5: Sinai Mines (Mine Cart Ride)

Extermination's progression is remarkably plain. It has some of the feel of a track I might like but I feel like if we swapped out the synths for electric guitar/bass guitar/rock organ it would feel like a fairly generic jRPG battle theme. Well, except for that explosive ending, I guess.

Mirror Temple is okay. I don't love this remix-- I actually prefer the tension of In the Mirror: the intro's feeling of anxiety and impending misfortune, its sudden dissolution leaving behind a feeling of loss and disorientation, the strange, distorted, not-quite-comprehensible whispering that gives the track a strangely personal feel, like we're indiscreetly peeking into someone's scattered inner monologue, followed by the mounting tension again. Mirror Temple doesn't have any of that, substituting it with a loungy take on the main melody. It feels like there's less at stake-- it's, well, too mellow. I like the melody on the strings that kicks in at 1:17, at least. It's all right but it's not CEREBRAWL. Maybe it's not too late. Madeline says: "My climbs are nice!"

vs FARK is a pretty short, pretty simple music idea but I think it made the right aesthetic decisions for itself-- it sells the idea pretty well. But it still feels a bit short on ideas.

I actually think L'avide kinda shares some of the same issues as the above! It progresses in ways that aren't super interesting even if I typically like tracks with this sound and instrumentation. I like a couple of sections more-- the 3/4 segment stands out and there's a few chord changes I like.

I don't think Sinai Mines has the greatest arrangement-- I feel like it leans a lot on its very in-your-face kick drum loop and other percussion to drive and hold things together-- but it's got some moments of interest.

Fast Track to Browntown has sort of a neat intro, then does a thing that honestly kinda reminds me of vs FARK-- it uses a very short recurring chord progression that always resolves to a major chord. This has more of a sense of urgency than FARK and plays a few variations on top of that looping progression but never really leaves it, making the track feel more static than I think it intends to be.

Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
REFLEC BEAT colette - L'avide

Super Meat Boy - Fast Track to Browntown
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Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown

Extermination
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown
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augh you know what

Change my vote for Eschatos - Extermination to Celeste - Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)

Weird day. Everything teeters on being something I'd like but falls just short. I'll hold onto Browntown if only because Newgrounds techno > muddy production. Still don't like you, DannyB.
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Extermination
L'avide
Fast Track to Browntown (But oh boy this match was very tough to decide)