Board 8 > [VGMC] d37: Akeldama vs Tong Nou Main, Celestial Resort vs Best is Yet to Come

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 14, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss/edit#gid=320804650
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=473292
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78524521
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1REnVI_W6yELaDP6Zac8b0Wq
ToC playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RE-TQMj19D0k5nm-0zeH12J
VGMC compability sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lpX4faqnn_geI0y4i6MrZ2AXpV6SWXoWrIA6_eyx-yM/edit

Rules:
- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite of all-time and Song B is from a series you hate... Listen. To. Both. (If I have suspicions your vote is not based on a fair and impartial preference, it will be disqualified.)
- Obvious contest rules apply (no alts, one vote per person, no rallying, etc.).
- Please make your voting options clear, rather than burying them in text.
- Each set of matches lasts 24 hours, even if the new one isnt up by then. (Matches do not begin until at least 10:00 EDT.)
- Always vote on the versions of the song provided, not versions from different sources.
- If you know ahead of time that you're not going to be around and you want to vote in advance, post your choices in the discussion/bracket topic.
- Please do NOT post tallies/score updates in the middle of the match, as this has a tendency to directly influence matches.
- You don't have to vote in all the matches, but it'd be cool if you did!

.

Match 1

Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland - Akeldama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=breIA5O34M4

Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou - Main Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UMSh3qFz2Q

Match 2

Celeste - Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-fmYK81MUQ

Metal Gear Solid - The Best Is Yet To Come
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1bzqjoZye

Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)
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Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX
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Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland - Akeldama
Celeste - Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Sunshine Coastline

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Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland - Akeldama
Metal Gear Solid - The Best Is Yet To Come
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Sunshine Coastline
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Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland - Akeldama
Metal Gear Solid - The Best Is Yet To Come
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Sunshine Coastline

songs today are very good, Sunshine Coastline in particular is great

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Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong-Nou - Tong-Nou Theme
Celeste - Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Rivals of Aether - Luna Ascension EX

Wednesday, August 7, 1991
"A Weird World Inside a Video"
While watching a video, I find myself inside its world. There are unfamiliar gigantic animals and flowers everywhere. They are colorful, too. I feel like I'm lost in a world of animals and flowers created with a Macintosh. Square-shaped dinosaurs and gigantic flowers with dozens of layers of strange petals. I see a mountain over there. It looks like they are all wandering around the mountain.


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https://youtu.be/3J-ewMbeEP0
i know you were referring to other songs but i was reminded of this

Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

Akeldama alright. Tong-Nou theme annoying.

Much good karma in CR. TBIYTC eh.

Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) > Akeldama > Main Theme > The Best Is Yet To Come
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Akeldama (20th) vs Main Theme (133rd)
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) (41st) vs The Best is Yet to Come (191st)
Sunshine Coastline [8th//10th] vs Luna Ascension EX [12th//15th]

yaaaaay akeldama!!! Akeldama combines the things I love most about Hayato Asano production and composition and the things I love the most about "Atelier game music" in a way that I can't tell which of the two categories any specific part of the song actually fits into!! Besides the guitar which is so Asano lol but yeah this song is just... so pure. Soooo good god damn. In a departure from Transmigration which I did not particularly care for at all, I actually love Tong-Nou Main Theme!! it may be "only a 7.0" but there's still even a few songs I'd give a 7 below it in the ranking lolol. VERY good beat and chords that come through like you are hearing through the magnifying glass cause that piano is so FAKE but I LOVE FAKE PIANO giving me the CHORDS OF THE DARKNESS. the bit at the beginning of the last minute is a trip in a very very good way ALSO I DIDNT HEAR UNTIL RIGHT NOW LISTENING FOR MATCH IS THAT A MARIO VINE GROWING NOISE AT 3:28 HOLY SHIT LMAO sure this is "20th vs 133rd" but this is one of the best matches of round 1 by far lmfaoooooo great match but the preference is very, very clear to me. also tong-nou's opening video is great

oh hey it's my favorite b-side song!!! I think this is the only stage in the game where I prefer the B-side track to the regular one lol which I've come to understand is not even close to a common sentiment but yeah. Sure it's like 2 minutes of melody soloing over a static backing but THATS ALL YOU NEED FOR ME repetition good!!! BUT THEN... 1:50 happens. holy FUCK this part is so good. beep BOOP noise GO EVErywherE BEEp boop this entire back half of the loop is just so groovy I love this song!! I don ot like best is yet to come the girl with the generic voice puts me to sleep zzzzzz i actually think my opinion of this has gone down since last year, and it was already down there lol

yeah toc owns a lot lmfao sunshine coastline is very PRETTY while also being POWERFUL WTF??? love that synth lead a lot like. A LOT unisuga synths are usually just downright fuckin amazing and this might be my favorite. luna ascension ex is literally all about sexy synths wow this is Battle of the Sexy Synths i do not like that i have to choose!!! but i will cause i think sunshine is just... idk better. idk i actually can't really justify my answer this time which is pretty rare for me, i just know which one i prefer lmfao

Akeldama > Sunshine Coastline > Luna Ascension EX > Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) > Main Theme > The Best is Yet to Come

Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

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Tong Nou
Celestial Resort
Sunshine Coastline

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Main Theme
The Best Is Yet To Come
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

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Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX

Akeldama (7.5) / Main Theme (7.5)
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) (7.5) / The Best Is Yet To Come (5.5)

Akeldama sounds like a mix of CC and Atelier. The xylophone-like instruments are so charming, plus other rustic instruments are nice. Eastern Mind is so weird, but not nearly as weird as the video. Creepy chanting/moaning/noises... um, yeah. Very cool minor/major chords to go along with the main melody that I don't think are used in the other Eastern Mind track used last year. Cool bubble effects. 3:10, in a way, reminds me of Class:exsphere in how it gets more and more wild until it suddenly stops? Very close match here...honestly it's hard to tell which one I like more since they're so different. I'll decide tomorrow who to vote for.

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Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

gust. Tong Nou goes from kinda weird to fine but unremarkable to very weird then back to fine but in a weirdly abrupt way. Not bad but not really my thing
Celestial Resort was uh not what I expected from Celeste at all. Pretty cool though! TBIYTC is... actually I'm okay with it now, though I still like its opponent more
this is the happiest ToC match of all time

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Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

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Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

Akeldama
The Best Is Yet To Come
Sunshine Coastline

Place has asked for someone to vouch for Sunshine Coastline so here I am to VOUCH. I think the first 1.5 minutes are alright, the song treads the line of overly saccharine by relying on two standard chord progressions...but oh man, when they switch up in the second half and it lays on the thick synth layer and it's all sweet sweet guitar and synth riffing, you feel like you're on top of the world! It's weirdly nostalgic in a way - not for the early childhood days as is typical, but more for a period of adolescence. Yeah, the rebellious teenager days when you felt unstoppable and wanted to take on the entire world! I'd blast this song on the aux cord while speeding down the freeway in my convertible, joking with friends as the wind rushes through our hair with the sun high in the sky...

Also the drum fill at 1:08 is

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Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou - Main Theme
Metal Gear Solid - The Best Is Yet To Come
Rivals of Aether - Luna Ascension EX

Match 1: Akeldama is standard Atelier music, it works but it isn't one of the great ones (like Stargazer ). Tong-Nou is weird, and I respect weird. Kind of a close match.

Match 2: The more I listen to Celeste music, the less impressed I am by it. Conversely, TBIYTC has grown on me a lot.

ToC: Sunshine Coastline I'm also not too crazy for anymore. Luna Ascension is still great!

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Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

-[Akeldama is my 70th favorite in the contest! I can't believe it's not Ken Nakagawa! this does a good job at sounding like Ken Nakagawa lol, fits right in with the original Rorona ost even though it is Hayato Asano. I legitimately thought it was Nakagawa until I looked it up, imo Asano doesn't do stuff this clean sounding usually unless he's being electronic (Blue Reflection / the weird ineligible Ciel Nosurge songs) so hearing him tackle pan flute accordion forest music this crystalline in sound surprised me, the production is great! this isn't musically super interesting to me, mostly just all within the same diatonic minor scale the whole time and its few deviations from those 7 pitch classes in the same tonal center the whole time are pretty predictable, but music of this aesthetic doesn't have to try as hard to impress me compositionally as other styles I like do so i'm still a fan! Unfortunately i can not show my support for this because of what it is against.. . .]-

-(Main Theme is my 3rd favorite in the contest!!!!! A 10/10 song for me. HERE We go ok so where do I even start. I guess I'll just explain how it fits into the general qualification of what i even give 10/10
\
the rare stuff i'll give 10s to is anything that simultaneously (a)-I've liked at the level of "one of my favorite songs" for at least like a year, (b)-hits every corner of my taste in music at once (or at least as many as possible), and things that do it are difficult to find because my taste's pretty self-contradictary! but, this does it. basically no matter what i'm looking for, i'll find it in this song. This is simultaneously:
[1] electronic (VERY cool sounds)
[2] (and 90s dance music as its form of electronic at that) ((also recognizable samples of the period- including one used in my favorite game ost, sonic shuffle!))
[3] "world music (natural)", lots of my favorite "real instruments" present here, especially love all the tuned percussion and sitar. the echoy vocals are fun too
[4] also sounds like i am in giratina's non-euclidian distorted reality house when i am listening to it. the reversed elements and relentlessly chaotic parts enhance that
[5] hypnotic aggressively 4/4 and repetitive, and as counter as that is to much of what i'm known to like, i actively love that about it. and the parts that aren't that?...well
[6] the intro is actually subtly very rhythmically fascinating lol, cool pseudo-polymeter / metric modulation, and the way it transitions to changing my perception of the tempo so smoothly when it kicks in, depending on what layers are playing, is fucking amazing. like the difference in feel (where i feel the pulse) of before vs. after :33 is strong when i'm paying attention but not something i notice when i'm listening passively
[7] has a "weird chord progression" (the exact type of feeling of chord loop this has in that piano is ridiculously hard to find, and something i actively go digging for and struggle to find things similar to. only consistent source of it is zzzv music. probably my favorite aspect of this)
[8] in general fairly complex and dark
/
biggest thing with this to me is i really really strongly love it's "melody" on that harsh stab sample at :41, at the same time as this having one of my favorite chord progressions ever in ANYTHING ever written. I also think it's fascinating how that melody is later used in Transmigration from the same game (which was in last year! transmigration has grown on me i think and i already loved it to begin with!). In the context of transmigration it's really beautiful but in this one it's really harsh and tense. and that difference is mostly just because of the pace/instrumentation difference between this track and transmigration, it's not like compositionally wildly different. I think maybe that's a reason I find repetition to this track's benefit as well, getting lost in this and having its weirdness blasted at me repeatedly gives me time to comprehend the bizarre stuff and realize it's not as bizarre as it initially sounds.
\
This gives the vibe of dark, tense, and ominous, but almost expressing that darkness as if it's a Good thing. like you're falling into a chaotic death realm of unreality, a strange unfamiliar world, you know you'll never see the things you once loved again, your former life gone, but the strange place you've fallen into enlightens you to how vast the universe is, and your position in it, and you realize that it's not a bad thing that this happened to you. it's like, idk. I just like things that give me that exact feeling. whenever i hear it i just feel like "wow i am really small and the universe is really big", but more grand than that, like the TRUTH of how reality works is being revealed to you actually everything is just a simulation the MATRIX. the TRUMAN SHOW. it feelsl ike THAT. that feeling of having just taken the pill that kills your perception of everything you thought you once knew, all the darkness that comes with that, but also all the awe and wonder that comes with it. that is what this song makes me feel every time I listen to it. all these distant sounding elements really help evoke that to me, the really high echoy whistly windy patch at 1:14, and honestly (again) the piano's chord changes. the backing synth pads at 3:50 fill the air with exactly the right feeling to enhance this to me also
/
unrelated to the song but this track is relevant to my interests in other ways as well. My VERY FAVORITE genre of game is "Myst-clones", that is why "MycroProcessor" is spelled with a Y instead of an i. Something about the interface of 1st-person-point-and-click, and presentation of environment as prerendered 3d, really lends itself to the types of gameplay experiences I like, and just the type of atmosphere I most like to experience in a gameMACROMEDIA DIRECTOR IS THE BEST GAME ENGINE. i love abstract "multimedia experiences" in "CD-ROM" format in the 90s. Eastern Mind only pseudo-fits the definition of myst-like but i still categorize it as a Myst-like anyway. Ridiculously over-the-top surreal/weird is always a plus to me, it's that on top of me just liking the format of game it is
\
NOt to be a HIPster about something so trivial but i was deeply interested in this game long before it amassed a huge cult following, I remember looking up prices for the disk online and they were fairly cheap since no one even knew what this thing was. Now EVERYONe knows and it's like $600 for a physical copy or something at least last time i checked. definitely a bittersweet feeling to see this get a huge amount of attention, positive feeling to see something I love be appreciated by many, but also frustrating to see it kinda get a status where i feel a lot of people are only in it for the "haha wtf weird game LOL so Funy" freakshow showcase piece reaction (and no longer being able to buy a physical copy reasonably). though at the same time, the attention has allowed it to reach more people whod be most genuinely interested in something this niche, and that's wonderful (i'm not even close to being the biggest osamu sato fan here!)
/
definitely worry that this being presented in such a silly way with the game's bizarre intro video being shown and the goofy preview pic will make people interpret this as a purely joke/meme nom or something. but it is very deeply, genuinely one of my favorite pieces of music to have ever been written. and the fact that it's to such an intriguing piece of media of categories i have passion for is a wonderful bonus!)-

-{osamu sato's head spins around in sync with the beat of all the songs of the day todayl}-

[continued below...]
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[...continued from above]

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Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) is my 128th favorite in the contest! I really love how this one starts rhythmically (i really don't like the actual note choices though) and it flows really nicely into the drums coming in. Goes from bouncy over-the-barline stuff to straighter 4/4 and layers those ideas atop each other. Definitely not the side of celeste music I like but it's not terrible and still has cool things in it i think are cool. 1:50 where it gets atonal (literally microtonal "out of tune" I think cool broken evil computer sound that gives that). Very mixed feelings.

The Best Is Yet To Come is my 139th favorite in the contest! I like this A LOT more than i used to holy shit. I still am not a fan of how simple the melody is and how much it avoids using anything outside of like 4 notes ever but somehow that aspect doesn't ruin this to me anymore. it used to bother me more that it was this really simple thing being presented in a GRAnd context. I think now I can appreciate the atmosphere/instrumentation with enough of my focus on that so that it's not like this tone mismatch of "hey look it's a powerful song *presents a not powerful thing*", that was the whole crux of the problem for me. but i no longer feel that, i think it's cool! wind solo at 1:15 is expressive and nice. only reason it isn't higher is because i do feel like it kinda drags on a bit and there's not much here, but i like the "feel" it has anyways. Something else that's a pastiche of this specific song but maybe a melody i like more, that'd make this for me and make me /love/ it, but at least now it goes from "usually bottom 5 of the contest" that it's been the past 11 years, to the "i like this song" zone

very close match. I actually thought I was voting TBITYC at first (and might flip to it). both tracks I have very mixed feelings on and could flip if i decide to prioritize differently.. I dislike more of celestial resort, really do not like it's tonality except at the 'weird' parts and am not fond of the specific synth patches it uses, but the elements I like I REALLY like. TBIYTC I like more overall throughout, but doesn't have any individual moments that stick out i just like "the type of song it is"

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Sunshine Coastline is my 50th favorite ToC Entrant! a pretty anti-me song by nature, it's everything i dont like about falcom music, the chord progression it stats off with and the drums are not my thing; and melody line is too much of the focus yeah i say these things too many times BUT I LOVE the piano part at :35-:54, when that bit kicks in it becomes so HOPEful and I get happy!!! just random little bits i like Was definitely disappointed with this being a contest winner but it's not as bad a falcom pick as it could be a i guess. though now that i realize i actually like the majority of falcom music it makes songs in the vein of this and seize the truth winning and being what represents it even more frustrating a feeling

Luna Ascension EX (RoA) is my 19th favorite ToC Entrant!!! this song makes me so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love floating in the air flashyGOODness is so GOOD that's probably why the word "good" is in their name yeah i know i talked aobut this r1 who cares i like this song it's so fun!

2
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Akeldama
Celestial
Ascension
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Main Theme
The Best Is Yet To Come
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

Akeldama
The Best Is Yet To Come
Luna Ascension EX

not feeling tong nou. i like a lot of things in it conceptually, but in practic there are elements that drag it way down.
i'm not sure i really need to say anothing about the second match at this point, my feelings haven't exactly changed on either since the last time they showed up
i doubt i ever said it during its run, but i will now: ricotta is cute. also super hard agree with janus. fuck this is hard tho, they're basically perfectly even factoring in their pros and cons. definitely the kind of match i'm going to regret committing to later on after i side with this in my favourites bracket

Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline
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Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX

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AKELDAMAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
The Best is Yet To Come <-- this is a lie AKELDAMA was the best and it just happened
Sunshine Coastline (but it's close)

i really like akeldama :) now that's a gust track. it's so bouncy and fluty and fun.

man what a happy song day <-- what about match 2 <-- shhhhhhhhh
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Main Theme
The Best Is Yet To Come
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX

Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

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Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

Pretty unhappy about any of the main bracket today.

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Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

Did not expect to vote the way I did in the ToC.

Main Theme
The Best is Yet to Come
Luna Ascension EX

Akeldama vs Main Theme: Woah Atelier. Pretty good stuff here, especially the flute. Unfortunately thats all this track really has thats worth mentioning. Main Theme sucks in the beginning but then 0:40 hits and then I'm like YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Its an extremely funky track that just pulls me into the wacky stuff its got going on. Then 3:20 happens and all the wacky fun stops and leaves me wondering why that part was even included but by the songs pretty much almost over so I don't mind.

Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) vs The Best is Yet to Come: Celestial Resort had be hooked for the first 28 seconds where everything I liked about the beginning of the track was shoved to the back. Very sad how this song seemed like something I'd like but then just dips out of that vibe. TBIYTC is incredibly somber and is some very good Metal Gear stuff. Its not my favorite song in the series but it's up there. Its one of those tracks that once you hear it, it sticks with you.

Sunshine Coast vs Luna Ascension EX: Luna Ascension good. Sunshine Coast bad. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

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Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

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Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland - Akeldama
Celeste - Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Sunshine Coastline
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Main Theme
Celestial Resort
Luna Ascension EX

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Akeldama
The Best Is Yet To Come
Luna Ascension EX
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Akeldama

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Akeldama
The Best is Yet to Come
Luna Ascension

The first two are easy and easy-ish. The third, I might feel differently tomorrow, but the sound in Luna Ascension is just a bit cleaner, and beyond that the two songs are very very similar.

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Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

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Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

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Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

whoops almost forgot to vote.
first match akeldama sort of makes me think of pokemon super mystery dungeon with a funkier beat maybe. Does Tong Nou count as a vocal song? It's cool and very weird and a part of me wishes it didn't come with that video because the video is too good and should not affect my opinion on the song cute octopus. I did kind of prefer the ending theme from last contest however. This is still good and honestly this match is really close for me.. Tong Nou is much more bold and experimental and I like rewarding those good job.

2nd match is a song in my ranking topic and TBIYTC. This match is not close at all and TBIYTC is honestly probably a bottom 2 song for me in this contest

Toc match is pretty close for me. Sunshine Coast is this odd sort of song for me in that I seem to go back and forth between feeling engaged & feeling bored by it. I've given my thoughts on Luna Extension before but I more for it in this match than the sun shine coast


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Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

Akeldama
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

Main Theme
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)
Sunshine Coastline

Metal Gear Solid is still the worst thing along with everything that's come out of it, and I can't think of anything from this contest that I wouldn't vote over this song. But on the other hand, woah, this Celeste song is way different than anything else that I've heard. That game is mainly known for its slow, "relaxing" style of music (as many people would call it), but this song is way upbeat and poppy. I don't have anything against the regular music, and it it fits the context and theme of the game that they were going for, but it's not something that I want want to listen to outside of the game. This song is more my style and I would listen to it.

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Akeldama [8.8] < Main Theme [8.8]
Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) [7.0] < The Best Is Yet To Come [7.4]
Sunshine Coastline < Luna Ascension EX (aka OST 7)

music thagt feels like it came from if pokemon X/y was cooler
music that sounds like you are ascenting into oriental purgatory, circa 19994
(omy god. i hate music)

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idk how well i can think abt this song unbiasedly. probably one of my least favorite gimmicks in the game i hate counting to 2. actually this is a lot more fun of a tune than i remember. still have massive burnout on it though that doesnt happen with the other b side tracks (except feather mix feather mix does not match the game and it never will??idk wy they did that its a good song byt it doesnt MATCH}
me when i go to the roman catholic church in rome nd then the world gets destroyed. god i love that flute

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sunshine coastline is fun but rly it deosnt do alot. its like an idol song but like it doesnt have lyrics and instead its sonic whichis maybe not that good. just alright. like 7 or something
flashygoodness more like flashyGODness wow how do you make a song so much more epic and battle tendency v that was already epic. idk but it was done. instrumentation is TOPS and i love all the panning layers nd stuff. arpeggios are so amaszing
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Akeldama
The Best Is Yet To Come
Luna Ascension EX

Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland - Akeldama
Metal Gear Solid - The Best Is Yet To Come
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Sunshine Coastline

MATCH 1

Akeldama's a nice, feel-good Atelier song! Has this neat tropical vibe to it. Not as strong as the other Atelier songs that have been in the contest in the past, but given that I'm not a huge fan of the part of the bracket it sits in, Akeldama's the clear winner of the 4-pack in my eyes.

Tong-Nou Theme's a very interesting song. I mainly like it because of 0:41-1:13. Pretty neat chords there. Other parts of the song like the buildup at 0:33 and those sharp reversed notes at 3:12 and elsewhere are also cool for the horror-esque vibe they have. This is a song where I see it as being likely that I vote against it round 1, as I'm doing here, but as I've said, since I don't really like this 4-pack, I would actually be willing to take this song over most songs in the 4-pack (Lake Trio Battle's the only maybe). So, unfortunate matchup for Tong-Nou Theme because I would've actually voted for it if it was matched up against some of the other songs I'm meh about, but I can't here.

MATCH 2

Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix) is one of those aforementioned songs that I feel meh about. I feel like the percussion's a bit too loud and draws away my focus from the rest of the song, and the melody's decent, but not good enough to push it above its opponent. There are definitely better songs in my eyes from Celeste.

The Best Is Yet To Come is a decent song, but I find it hard to point out specific things about it that I can say stand out to me. So I guess I'd describe everything about it as "fine" but I feel like, ordinarily, there would be more standout songs in the bracket that I'd vote over this song. Its opponent here isn't one of those songs, so I feel pretty comfortable voting for The Best Is Yet To Come here. It's a style of music I can enjoy, but not the best execution of it.

MATCH 3

I love how upbeat Sunshine Coastline is! Apparently this is the music for the first area in the game, and I think it's really fitting for that! It does feel like a song that should serve as the backdrop for the beginning of your embarking on a great adventure. A-to-Z from last year was very good too, but I think this is my favorite song that I've heard from Ys 8! Luna Ascension's great too, but Sunshine Coastline's the clear winner here.

Sunshine Coastline > Luna Ascension EX > Akeldama > Main Theme > The Best Is Yet To Come > Celestial Resort (Good Karma Mix)

Main Theme
TBIYTC
Luna EX