Board 8 > [BOST] BOST5 Winner Announcement: Umineko no Naku Koro ni!!

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

64 game's soundtracks entered this contest and only one came out on top... in a three-way battle between Umineko no Naku Koro ni and Blue Reflection, the absolutely unthinkable (to no one) happened and Umineko no Naku Koro ni has emerged as the Best OST Contest 5 Winner!!! Here are the results for each match in the Grand Finals against Blue Reflection:

worldenddominator wins 19-7 over Sayonara (ALL PHASE MIX)
goldenslaughterer wins 16-10 over DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Hope wins 15-11 over Albireo Lake

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Let's take a look at the songs that absolutely ravaged the competition en route to the title:

Round 1: Hope 19-11 over Fez's Knowledge

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

Round 2: System 0 16-13 over Ys 3 PCE's Illburns Ruins, and the closest Umineko would ever be to being topped

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs4wKRHmiR8" data-time="

Round 3: Umineko no Naku Koro ni 16-10 over Xenoblade's One Who Gets in Our Way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1PkR56lgZk" data-time="

Quarters: goldenslaughterer 20-9 over Touhou 11's Lullaby of Deserted Hell

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

Semis: dreamenddischarger 16-8 over Caravan Stories' Raging Spirits

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

Winners Finals: worldenddominator 14-9 over VVVVVV's Piercing the Sky

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

And shoutouts to the Alternate song, dir, which never saw the light of day... or even really came close to seeing the light of day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSKWf_20Lkg" data-time="

Here's an overview of the other soundtrack that performed exceptionally well and made the Top 16!

1st - #4 - Umineko no Naku Koro ni
2nd - #10 - Blue Reflection [sent to Losers by VVVVVV, eliminated by Umineko no Naku Koro ni]
3rd - #3 - VVVVVV [sent to Losers by Umineko no Naku Koro ni, eliminated by Blue Reflection]
4th - #9 - Caravan Stories [sent to Losers by Umineko no Naku Koro ni, eliminated by Blue Reflection]
5th - #19 - Pokmon Super Mystery Dungeon [sent to Losers by VVVVVV, eliminated by Blue Reflection]
5th(6th) - #59 - Kirby's Return to Dream Land [sent to Losers by VVVVVV, eliminated by Caravan Stories]
7th - #13 - Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea [sent to Losers by Xenoblade, eliminated by Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon]
7th(8th) - #20 - Xenoblade Chronicles [sent to Losers by Umineko no Naku Koro ni, eliminated by Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
9th - #47 - DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Black Label [sent to Losers by Blue Reflection, eliminated by Xenoblade]
9th - #48 - REFLEC BEAT colette [sent to Losers by Caravan Stories, eliminated by Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon]
9th - #17 - Spark the Electric Jester [sent to Losers by REFLEC BEAT colette, eliminated by Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
9th - #21 - Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. [sent to Losers by Umineko no Naku Koro ni, eliminated by Atelier Shallie]
13th - #2 - Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star [sent to Losers by DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Black Label, eliminated by Atelier Shallie]
13th - #54 - Drakengard 3 [sent to Losers by Kirby's Return to Dream Land, eliminated by Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon]
13th - #14 - NieR: Automata [sent to Losers by Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, eliminated by Spark the Electric Jester]
13th - #37 - Pokmon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum [sent to Losers by Touhou 11, eliminated by Xenoblade]

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Thank you to everyone that participated in this contest!! I was really anxious about how my first time handling a contest like this was going to go, but I had a lot of fun hosting it and talking about it with you guys, and I'm pretty happy with how it ended up. You might be asking now that its over... when's BOST6? Well... it's definitely not out of the question, but I'm not quite sure if I'll do it same time next year... or next year at all yet! Or if it'll even be by me again!! But running this has definitely given me some ideas as to what to do with it next time around should the opportunity arise.

Regardless, if you have any comments on how the contest ran, things you'd like to see done differently or added next time, or just anything about the contest at all, please don't hesitate to let me know! I'd definitely love to hear what people liked and what people didn't like.

What's next for me? Well, I've got a little ranking project in the works that's a kinda silly on-my-own thing that should be popping up in the next week or so that'll go on for a little bit... I kinda already spoiled it elsewhere but basically BOST inspired me to listen to OSTs I haven't heard before, so I listened to every classic Sonic OST and ranked all the level themes. (of which I had recognized a humongous three tracks from previous knowledge lol) Beyond that... I do have another sort of collaborative ranking project in the works that harkens back to a project from the end of 2011, so look forward to more on that around the New Year!

It's been a pleasure all, and really thank you to everyone that participated!! See you all in future VGM projects!!

Unsurprising, but also very overdue. Was hoping BR could at least win one but oh well.

Fun contest! Got exposed to a lot of new really good VGM.
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Thanks for the excellent hosting, bangenerate! I felt like I heard a proportionally representative sample of songs from each soundtrack and super appreciate the addition of the snubs bracket.

A look at Umineko's performance in BOSTs of past...
BOST1: Top 8, lost to Chrono Cross
BOST2: Top 5 (I think? Spreadsheet seems kinda weird), lost to Okami
BOST3: Top 8, lost to Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable
BOST4: Didn't make it out of noms, ouch!
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Chiru went 0-2 so that question arcs could win! Be prepared for a Chiru victory next year though if BOST6 happens ;)

But anyway, it's no secret to people who know me on discord that I love Umineko to death, so being able to nominate the list that brings it to victory makes me really happy! In general, I'm very pleased with the top 16 since the majority of games in there are soundtracks that I really like, which given the fact that it's been noted by others that my taste lines up pretty well with the board's isn't particularly surprising. Like other people have said, it's been a really fun contest and I got exposed to a lot of cool songs that I never heard before! Thank you for hosting this!

Not gonna lie I really want to know how an Umineko B Team with none of the same songs would do in BOST6 if it happens. I'm not sure it should be allowed but whatever.
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I liked the idea tossed around back in early VGMCs that you could potentially have three viable setlists for Umineko and they'd all be strong (zts tracks only, dai tracks only, and a third for the other composers)
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Wow, Umineko swept the contest! I wasn't expecting that. Good work on this contest, banshiryuu. It was a ton of fun. I'll be interested in your Sonic VGM rankings.

I compiled a pretty big list of all the music I liked that participated in this BOST as a Youtube playlist. Believe me, I will have a few nominations for the next VGMC from that list! (choosing which ones will be the hard part) My next objective is to dive deeper into this OST's introduced to me this contest that I love the most.

And... I have a proposal for how to resolve some of the issues with how BOST is right now. See the link for all the detail. I won't bother giving my opinions directly in the topic.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1afTZT0R7a_-zvrOdvXTox5ewFk0rL8C08oU7Cx_Wu1Q/edit?usp=sharing
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Thanks for running the contest!
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Oh wait, I totally had more thoughts on this that I forgot to write down, and now people are already moving on to other projects! First of all, I'm just surprised it took this many contests for Umineko to win - the game's got 8 VGMC retirees, for crying out loud! As much as the board's tastes shift year after year, I guess some things never change! And I'm definitely starting to appreciate its popularity after being shown some highlight songs this contest. Makes me feel like Chiru deserves a second chance as the spiritual successor - losing twice to Return to Dream Land and Chrono Cross is no way to go out! Overall, my favourite discoveries from the contest were probably The World of Spirit, Discolor, and...all of Drakengard 3.

My general feeling on BOST is that it should fill the role of a "side event" in the empty months between VGMCs. Although I do discover more music through BOST, the concept of having contestants compete against each other just lends itself better to individual songs than it does entire soundtracks. I feel like it could be scaled down and just be a fun bonus thing rather than trying to be as significant as VGMC, given that the setlists are just approximations of soundtracks anyway. Not to mention making it easier on the host - I was pretty surprised at how much work deo had to do to determine which songs would show up based on what point each game had gone from Winners to Losers, and if they had any past tiebreaker matches! Definitely seems like it takes more effort than VGMC, at least in bracket phase. So maybe it could do with a smaller bracket size and/or more straightforward format to make it more of a side event.
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