Board 8 > [BOST] Day 12: Blue Reflection v Persona 5, RO2 v AGHR, Accel of SUGURI 2 v Dusk

(+) 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

Blue Reflection - BREAKTHROUGH.EXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoN6jYBVNi8" data-time="

Persona 5 - Beneath the Mask

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2P_hqhu5rQ" data-time="

Main Bracket: Match 2

Ragnarok Online II - Boss Battle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzE2SPI6FJw" data-time="

Aliens Go Home Run - City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4WnCznduRE" data-time="

Snubs Bracket Match

Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvtNbMp32J0" data-time="

Dusk - Reflections of Violence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVa9B8RPw3Y" data-time="

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Vote Form:
BREAKTHROUGH.EXE / Beneath the Mask
Boss Battle / City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best) / Reflections of Violence

rwlh's vote in advance:

Beneath the Mask
Boss Battle
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

Janus' vote in advance:

BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the not-at-all-close-to-best-but-still-better-than-the-other-song)

Persona 5 - Beneath the Mask
Ragnarok Online II - Boss Battle
Hmmmm........ Reflections of Violence, I guess. It's slightly more grating than SUGURI, but it's a bit more interesting. This is my least favorite match so far this contest.
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Ragnarok Online II - Boss Battle
Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)
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BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
Boss Battle
Reflections of Violence

Didn't get to vote in yesterday's match but I should mention that Floro Sapiens Caverns and Silence in the Sunlight are both damn good songs. Probably my favorites in their respective setlists.
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BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)
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BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

MegaMan.EXE sounds almost exactly the same as the other Blue Radiance music, but I will say that the glitchy sections are a nice touch. I'm still not terribly fond of the vocals in Behind the Mask.

Both of these second match tracks are pretty cool. City (like the other AGHR track that was in VGMC13) manages to hit all the right notes for me when it comes to retraux.

Stratosphere (Suguri really is the best) is the highlight of today. I'm a real sucker for that generic melodic trance sound. Blue Reflections of Violence just sounds like Rammstein lol.
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Beneath the Mask
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
Boss Battle
Stratosphere
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BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Reflections of Violence
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BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
Boss Battle
Reflections of Violence

(In a bit of a change since VGMC12, I really like Beneath the Mask-- it feels like the perfect Persona relaxing/chilling track, and the instrumental version literally plays in my PS4 home screen [though actually now that I think about it I switched to the Tetris Effect theme recently-- but you get the point]. Tough match.)

Beneath the Mask
Boss Battle
Reflections of Violence
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Beneath the Mask
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

Pretty good day! I have a feeling that I'm not really gonna like more of these BR songs, though.
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Beneath the Mask
Boss Battle
Reflections of Violence

Beneath the Mask
Boss but it's close
Reflections
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BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Reflections of Violence

Stratosphere sounds like it uses some cool sounds right at the start, but then the song mostly focuses on typical dance synths, and is both rather plain in what it does and is really hecking repetitive about it.
Reflections of Violence does some decent harsh-ish dark stuff. I think I'm in one of those moods where it's much easier for me to mentally notice what I dislike about something than what I like about it, so now might not be a good time for write ups oops. RoV is cool though. Other two matches, my choices shouldn't seem too surprising if you vaguely know the sorts of things I'm into so I don't feel like write ups for them.
Actually no, shout outs to boss battle for having some fun rhythms. But I love AGHR's City more, it's my favorite song from the soundtrack actually.
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Beneath the Mask
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)
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BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
City
Stratosphere (SUGURI the Best)

Persona 5 - Beneath the Mask
Aliens Go Home Run - City
Dusk - Reflections of Violence
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Blue Reflection - BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
What a cool song! This one goes all over the place. It's crazy, glitchy, and overall a super fun song to listen to. I was driving down a big hill when this song came on and let's just say that added to the fun. I haven't heard much from the OST before this, but it's going on my MP3 player TONIGHT-- so ready to drive down many more sine wavey hills to this.

Aliens Go Home Run - City
Ragnarok Online II's song is really cool and I dig the Celtic influence, but "City" stole my heart around the 1:00 mark. This song feels like something I would have been absolutely obsessed with in high school. It reminds me of the time I was just discovering the Amiga/Commodore demo scene and some of the great work that came from independent tracker artists. It is retrospective, all while being something driving and new. Also gotta love those synths...!

Dusk - Reflections of Violence
This song was a bit of an easy pick for me, as it reminded me of a lot of the stuff I used to listen to about ten years ago-- metal and hard rock. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a very specific song that will definitely take you back to the year 2009-- "Suicide and Redemption" by Metallica. I appreciated what "Stratosphere" was trying to do, but it got a bit repetitive. I listened to a lot of trance music when that stuff was breaking new ground... and "Stratosphere" just didn't really do it for me. "Reflections of Violence" was a little repetitive to me too, but it ALSO reminded me of a prog/metal group I really like (Animals as Leaders) all while simultaneously reminding me of Metallica and 2009.
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Blue Reflection - BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
Ragnarok Online II - Boss Battle
Dusk - Reflections of Violence

MATCH 1

Aaahhh this is a sad round 1 matchup! This is probably the first time this contest that I was faced with a matchup between two really good songs where I wanted to see both win. BREAKTHROUGH.EXE is very reflective of the songs I like in Blue Reflection's soundtrack. Really upbeat DnB-esque tracks with great melodic lines with pianos and violins. Tracks like these also get right into the strength of the songs unlike some songs like DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) that take a bit of time to get into their respective peaks.

And to contrast with the high energy of BREAKTHROUGH.EXE we have a very soft chill-out song in Beneath the Mask. I think pretty much all the vocal songs in Persona 5 are ones that I like a lot. Really great vibes with this song. Like I said, I really hate that I have to vote against this song because it's great but BREAKTHROUGH.EXE is just too strong.

MATCH 2

This match is definitely easier, comparatively. Ragnarok Online II's setlist was pretty surprising in how good it was! Pretty much every song, including Boss Battle, had this really cool folk sound to it that I like a lot. Definitely pretty fond of songs that sound like this. Especially the sort of Celtic sound that this song has.

I think I like City more than I liked Final Boss Theme from VGMC13. Pretty neat melody and rhythm. Perhaps I should check out more of +TEK's stuff sometime. Ultimately, though, Boss Battle's definitely more my thing than City is.

MATCH 3

Stratosphere just feels like more of your usual DEKU trance stuff. I've never really been that much of a fan of it. I guess it's pretty neat around the 2 minute mark, but it sure takes a while for it to start getting interesting.

Dusk was another very surprising setlist. I'm actually quite a big fan of metal so this song is pretty appealing to me!

Would do rankings but not enough time oops.

Blue Reflection - BREAKTHROUGH.EXE
Ragnarok Online II - Boss Battle
Dusk - Reflections of Violence

I flaked on two of these during nominations and would have supported if I didn't do that!! oops

Wasn't the biggest fan of the Blue Reflection cuts in the last VGMC, but I gotta say that the setlist here was really well picked and weirdly tailored to my love of music things containing many noise. This song travels to many places and even on repeat listens it feels like I'm travelling to those places for the f1rst time.

When DireKrow and I were building the BOST VGMGG list, we shuffled the games in the bracket and drew from it semi-randomly. I pulled RO2 not knowing what to expect, but ho-whoah am I glad for everyone who voted this in. Yoko Kanno is one of those really prolific, multi-faceted artists where you could be listening to a song or album for years and never guess they'd be behind it (compare this sound to Bebop or Napple Tale to name a few). This jams--celtic flavors layered on top of an inspired 9/8 sig. Really, really blows that I have to vote against AGHR here.

Dusk is just shy of being 'my thing' but [I will have to finish this writeup later there is one minute left for the post to count argfhreagrn]
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