Board 8 > [BOST] INTERLUDE DAY: Kirby RtDL v Pokemon SMD, Atelier Shallie v Xenoblade

(+) Yeah! (+)

Greetings, and welcome to the 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: 5th Place Rumble

Kirby's Return to Dream Land - C-R-O-W-N-E-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POPD80fxcD4" data-time="

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Second Dark Matter Battle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXGr9WerPg" data-time="

Main Bracket: 7th Place Rumble

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYks_mK1Sfc" data-time="

Xenoblade Chronicles - Unfinished Battle

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

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Vote Form:
C-R-O-W-N-E-D / Second Dark Matter Battle
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze / Unfinished Battle

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So, here's a secret little day as a buffer for Grand Finals which will take place starting tomorrow. This match is just kinda for fun to break the two ties in Top 8, and to also use the two 1 slot songs that we hadn't heard from Top 8 games Atelier Shallie and Xenoblade!

Grand tomorrow will be between our qualifying games: Umineko no Naku Koro ni on the Winners side, and Blue Reflection on the Losers side. The RNG has spoken and given us... the odds! Which means the following matches will make up Grand Finals:

Match 1: worldenddominator [W] v Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX) [L]
Match 2: goldenslaughterer [W] v DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) [L]
Match 3: Hope [W] v Albireo Lake [L]

And congratulations to beatmania IIDX 24 SINOBUZ for being our snubs bracket winner, with a narrow victory over Tokyo Xanadu eX+!!

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Second Dark Matter Battle
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze
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These are all #1 reps, right? Nice. Also, heck yeah, SINOBUZ won the snubs! Well deserved.

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Second Dark Matter Battle - I know I previously said this was my least favorite on the setlist, but....not anymore. It's probably like my third favorite now. >_> There are multiple moments in SDMB that are super epic and give me the chills.

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze - I love that energy, and I love the way that playful violin melody gets incorporated into the climax later. Oh, yeah, and that french horn rip! And I love the rhythmic structure of 1:19 - 1:38 before the climax. It's my favorite track from the game.

FCDH > Second Dark Matter > C-R-O-W-N-E-D > Unfinished. Even Unfinished Battle gets an 8.5/10, though! I'm super pleased that you ran these bonus matches, banshiryuu!
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Second Dark Matter Battle
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

oh my GOD I love all of this, voting against Unfinished Battle is especially sad but FCDH is straight-up my favorite VGMC discovery and a contender for my favorite VGM song of all time
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Unfinished Battle

Two strong contenders for best final boss theme in a Nintendo game this decade in the first match. Both set somewhat of a new standard for their respective series in that regard, despite both already having songs with wide acclaim (especially Zero Two and Dialga). The former ended up getting superseded by basically every one in every major kirby game since but it's remained my favourite. The latter has some extremely good moments, but comparing it now... It's not really consistent enough to make it that close, honestly.

You'd think I wouldn't still like Unfinished Battle, considering how antagonistic I am towards the vast majority of Shimomura's songs these days. Surprisingly though, her songs in Xenoblade have always been exceptions. I wonder why, exactly. Meanwhile FCDH is FCDH, a song I like but generally not nearly as much as the board, so... Another straightforward enough match

C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Unfinished Battle

Second match > first match
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

Second Dark Matter Battle
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

Second Dark Matter Battle
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

First match > second match
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Second Dark Matter Battle
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

Unfinished Battle's really good too, though I don't like it as much as I once did.
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Quite happy with how snubs turned out! Xanadu was definitely my preferred soundtrack, but IIDX 24 just had the better finals rep. Thanks to deo for hosting the extra bracket!

Second Dark Matter Battle
Unfinished Battle

Finals-worthy second match...guess I'm the first one to vote for both battle themes even though they're actually all battle themes hehe
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Second Dark Matter Battle
Unfinished Battle

C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Unfinished Battle
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Unfinished Battle

crazy how im 0-2 for voting shallie over xenoblade but this time its not because i dont like the shallie but rather unfinished battle is a huge favorite of mine lmfao

Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon - Second Dark Matter Battle
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze

MATCH 1

C-R-O-W-N-E-D just isn't really my kind of song. Can't put into words why though.

Second Dark Matter Battle kinda feels like more of a Kirby song than the Kirby song here in some way (more like Second Dark Mind Battle am I right?). I mean, mostly no, but the melody from 0:36-1:02 kinda gives me that impression? Well, in any case, this song's definitely more my kind of thing so it's an easy vote here.

MATCH 2

Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze is definitely a strong contender for my favorite Atelier song. I just love the instrumentation and melody. I feel like this song has a nice and seamless transition from the really pretty strings and flute to the drums and electric guitar. Why did this lose to Emil ~ Karma in VGMC11 finals?? Emil ~ Sacrifice > Emil ~ Karma

Unfinished Battle is really nice too, but Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze is the clear vote here. If memory serves me right, I'd say I prefer several of the Xenoblade Chronicles songs in the setlist to Unfinished Battle, but it's still a good song.

Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze > Unfinished Battle = Second Dark Matter Battle > C-R-O-W-N-E-D

Second Dark Matter Battle
Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze
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