Board 8 > [BOST] GRAND FINALS! Umineko no Naku Koro ni [W] vs Blue Reflection [L]

(+) 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

-

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. Especially since this is grands and each game exists in each match. 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.

-

Main Bracket: Grand Finals - Match 1 (Song #1s)

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - worldenddominator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVr0IUQ6BwE" data-time="

Blue Reflection - Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6jDbcWm4k" data-time="

Main Bracket: Grand Finals - Match 2 (Song #3s)

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - goldenslaughterer

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

Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilZXD75ntXI" data-time="

Main Bracket: Grand Finals - Match 3 (Song #5s)

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Hope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTAcJ0ZcUkI" data-time="

Blue Reflection - Albireo Lake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAKhI7Yd28" data-time="

-

Vote Form:
worldenddominator / Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
goldenslaughterer / DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Hope / Albireo Lake

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - worldenddominator
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - goldenslaughterer
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Hope
---

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope

wed > Sayonara > gs > Hope > DNF > Albireo

sorry BR
---

wed
golden
hope
---

Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Hope

BR lucked out here by getting all 3 of my preferred songs from its set, two of which are really high. About the only way it could've been higher was if the alt was included rather than AL.

Umineko's 1-3-5 on the other hand is more like... Getting DNF (GS) and Tigar (wed) alongside... Well, i guess I'd compare hope best to overdose even though I'd probably take it over that

Sayonara (9.8) > DNF (9.5) >> BR (8.4) > Albireo (7.9) > Tigar (7.8) >> Breakthrough (6.6) > Overdose (6.4)

ded (9.7) > gs (9.2) >> Umineko (8.6) > system0 (8) > wed (7.7) >> hope (7) > dir (6.8)

Something like that.

Anyway I'd just like to say that despite everything, I actually thought the format to this contest was really good. I really respect what you did with it. There were some drawbacks, but I have no complaints. It put a fresh spin on it all, and it all culminated in a really good championship bout here that far exceeded my expectations... Next time though, maybe make it so the people granted automatic snubs nom slots aren't taken from slots held by other people that missed out. :P

First two matches are easy for me. Last match is much closer, but...

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Albireo Lake
---

"Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do"

Blue Reflection - Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Blue Reflection - Albireo Lake

---

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - worldenddominator
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - goldenslaughterer
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Hope

MATCH 1

It's a match like this that makes me really happy that grand finals rolled odds instead of evens. This kind of match is basically top-tier zts vs. top-tier All Phase Mix and it's much easier to decide here compared to if the #2 songs faced off. If it was evens, then this first match would be top-tier zts vs. favorite Blue Reflection song, which would really suck having to vote against one. Granted it does here too, but I don't feel like I need to beat my head against the table in order to decide, unlike a dreamenddischarger vs. Overdose match.

MATCH 2

Another fortunate match here, since as I said the last time it was up, goldenslaughterer's a bit on the weaker side of Umineko zts music for me, but so is DNF for Blue Reflection music. Once again, I fortunately feel that this is a relatively easy match for me to decide, but it easily could've been different if the order was chosen differently.

MATCH 3

Unfortunately, though, I don't go 3 for 3 on easy-to-decide matches. This one is really tough to decide, actually. These two songs feel pretty close to dead even for me, but I think I can actually make a decision here, as much as I had to think about it, so no abstention here. Hope is definitely a top-tier dai composition for me. I think I said this the previous time Hope showed up, but it doesn't suffer from feeling a bit boring to me like some other dai songs (Higanbana's music, I feel, is very guilty of this). I definitely enjoy soft, emotional piano compositions like this and Hope does a very good job at being that type of song, even if it isn't the best of what Umineko has to offer (I also enjoy Thanks for Being Born a lot, just to name a similar song from the game).

Albireo Lake is also really good, but I feel like I may be losing a lot of my initial interest in this song from when I first heard it. Not to say that I don't like it anymore, I very much do, but I guess it's something that wore off after enough repeated listens. I honestly could've voted for this on another day and I was expecting to today, but I feel just a little bit more into Hope today.

worldenddominator > goldenslaughterer = Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX) > Hope > Albireo Lake > DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)

This is definitely a very "me" grand finals, so I'm very pleased to see it turn out this way! Super strong matches and songs all around with my lowest-rated song of the day, DNF, being probably an 8/10 for me. Couldn't ask for much more from a grand finale, honestly.

worldenddominator
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Albireo Lake

wed is too good i can't not vote for it fuck

Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
goldenslaughterer
Hope
---

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope

Sayonara might beat Hope. That's the only permutation that could have led to a vote for BR.
---

worldenddominator
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Albireo Lake

I like Sayonara a lot but man, wed
---

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope

Kind of a boring vote, but none of these matches are even close
---

Whops just realised i erased the wrong song from the vote form on match 3 while i was distracting myself with ratings

"switch" to Albireo Lake

Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Albireo Lake

This seems like a fun, special voting bit for the last match, which sort of feels like a shame in that both of these games feel very similar to me in some ways of how I look at things (the songs from these two games tend to be sort of lengthy, anime sounding songs with a focus on realistic, at least semi-traditional instruments, but with more digital synthy backing elements) something like that. Also whoops I'm voting all three from the same game, darn.
---

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope

Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
goldenslaughterer
Hope

Fitting 37.5-minute day for the grand finals (probably)

Originally said I would vote Albireo Lake but I totally misremembered how much I like it whoops

Rankings on the day:
goldenslaughterer
Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
Hope
worldenddominator
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Albireo Lake
---

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - worldenddominator: 9.5. Weird rankings I gave this contest: System 0, goldenslaughterer and discolor all over this. Still a great song.
vs.
Blue Reflection - Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX): 6.5. A much improved score from my first rating (I gave it a 4). Lots of neat things going on, though some parts stretch out too long for my liking.

and

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - goldenslaughterer: 10. Evil evil evil: the song.
vs.
Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX): 6. I guess this is fine. Feels like a less engaging version of Sayonara.

and

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Hope: 8. sadvnpiano.mp3 done really well.
vs.
Blue Reflection - Albireo Lake: 7. Fun mixed meter.

Votes:
worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope

Sayonara
DNF FW15C
Hope

i dunno i just needed to hear hope today.
---

worldenddominator
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Albireo Lake

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - worldenddominator
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - goldenslaughterer
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Hope

...yep
---

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope

Despite my professed hatred for Blue Reflection I must confess that I do actually like Sayonara. Not that it matters in this match, but it might at least be worth saying. Umineko OST the GOAT.
---

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Albireo Lake

first and third matches were easy choices, but the 2nd is extremely close for me and I'm still not confident in my choice
---

The one bad thing about these Grand Finals... the tracks are LONG! And these are hard decisions to make, too.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - worldenddominator
Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Blue Reflection - Albireo Lake

I seriously could go either way on all the matches! Despite that, though, Match 2 > Match 1 > Match 3!

EDIT: Ummm... can anyone understand Mycro's puzzles?
---

Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
ranking spoiler Albireo Lake

Haste_2 posted...

Match 2 > Match 1 > Match 3!

agree but
Albireo > DNF = goldenslaughterer > Sayonara = wed >>> Hope basically
---

worldenddominator
goldenslaughterer
Hope
---