Board 8 > [VGMC] The Video Game Music Contest 14 champion is. . .

(+) Yeah! (+)

for the match:
Idola Phantasy Star Saga - Endeavour

Thank you for hosting azuarc! And lefty!

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The Extreme > Endeavour > Despair of ELFERIA > Sunshine Coastline > Seize the Truth! > Scars of Time > EXSPHERE > MGS2 Main Theme > Papillones > Hope > Zero > SPHILIA > Emil/Karma > Reset (Thank You)

If you want to count that as an Endeavour vote in the bonus match sure. Top 4 are excellent, next three are great, next four are still solid and the last three exist

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Scars of Time

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Toxtricity posted...

Also I picked a bit more conventional wide-appealing, less weird picks than usual (Isoleucine apparently being the biggest hit of those hahaha).

WHAT

don't get me wrong, this was easily my favorite VGMC too, but i need my super weird mycro picks that get blown out in round 1 :-/

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Good contest, I kinda regret having given up on voting halfway through, not really sure why I did. Endeavor is a solid winner, I would say. I liked it a lot the first time I heard it, though I've come down on it slightly. I'm also glad TIGAR retired, and am hoping Sayonara eventually makes its grand return.

Also thanks for the hosting, azuarc, it's been a good set of contests.

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Nice!

I vote Scars of Time. That one is a classic. Endeavor is amazing too though.

Mr Lasastryke posted...

WHAT

don't get me wrong, this was easily my favorite VGMC too, but i need my super weird mycro picks that get blown out in round 1 :-/

I mean this wasn't really a conscious decision! it just happened. other people already nommed stuff like B.T Dutch and Tong-Nou Theme so I didn't have to!
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Welp. I won't pretend I'm not a bit disappointed but Endeavour is a song I can at least enjoy (if way way far from being in my favorites).
Still, thanks thanks for hosting the contest azuarc, it was a lot of fun!

I'll be waiting patiently for next year, can't wait.

Idola Phantasy Star Saga - Endeavour

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Endeavour

i've only been here for 13 and 14 but i can't fathom the amount of work that goes into running this contest, both nominations phase and the daily posting of topics while having it all go smoothly. thank you so much for hosting, az
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Scars of Time

Wait, Endeavour got more votes than Isoleucine? I need some time to process this...I'd already accepted fate once I saw 19-11 for Isoleucine and now my emotions refuse to adjust

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PIayer_0 posted...

Wait, Endeavour got more votes than Isoleucine? I need some time to process this...I'd already accepted fate once I saw 19-11 for Isoleucine and now my emotions refuse to adjust

to be fair, it only won by 2 votes and azuarc shouldn't have counted moonroof's vote imho.

but yes, it won.

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Mr Lasastryke posted...

to be fair, it only won by 2 votes and azuarc shouldn't have counted moonroof's vote imho.

Just for kicks I did a recount excluding anyone who voted for "Endeavor" with no "u" or "Isoleucine" with no brackets, but Endeavour still won 23-21.

Thanks azuarc, and everyone else who helped run this! This was my first VGMC and I enjoyed it a lot. I feel like my experience was atypical, as over 70% of matches went the way I wanted, but I'm certainly not complaining.

I vote Endeavour for the bonus match. That upload of Time's Scar is pretty awful, clipping constantly past the first minute, so I listened to a different one to make the fight a little fairer.

Scars of Time for the bonus match by the way.
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Chrono Cross ~Scars of Time~

Thank you for hosting azuarc!!! Contest took a sharp, sharp downwards turn for me basically as soon as R4 started, but it was still a fun ride the whole way through! I'm excited to take the reigns on this shindig and bring more fun to come, especially after I had so much fun hosting BOST5 hehe. Can't say we'll see 6 of that coming soon, but I may or may not have a small little something I'll want to run to test something out in the near future... we'll just have to wait and see hehehe

I wonder how the contest would've gone had I decided to participate in it.

I'm kind of bummed I only voted once or twice throughout the entire contest, and not in every match as I planned since Day 1 (I wasn't aware of when the contest started and more than 60 people participated on the first day! What a bummer!).

But maybe it was better this way. I don't know. On one hand, it helped me get some time off and relax, and participating in 208 matches requires an awful lot of consistency on a personal level, especially when doing write-ups and stuff. On the other hand, though, I missed azuarc's swan song for VGMC, but hey, I'm sure he's not going anywhere either!

I still look forward to future VGMCs. I hope next year goes more along the lines of VGMC12 and 13, where we had a traditional 128-song contest with a side-bracket. More than 2 months for a contest (be it a Board one or a site-wide one) is too long for me, tbqh.

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Advokaiser posted...

I still look forward to future VGMCs. I hope next year goes more along the lines of VGMC12 and 13, where we had a traditional 128-song contest with a side-bracket. More than 2 months for a contest (be it a Board one or a site-wide one) is too long for me, tbqh.

haha

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What's so nfunny?

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crazy to think if a few of the people who didn't vote consistently did so we might instead be celebrating VGMC14 champion Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

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Advokaiser posted...

What's so nfunny?

It's traditionally a 256-song contest, which we're likely going back to next year.
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Janus5k posted...

crazy to think if a few of the people who didn't vote consistently did so we might instead be celebrating VGMC14 champion Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

That's...hmm...wow, yeah, uh...

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azuarc your sig is out of date

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Endeavour

Can't complain about the results overall, even if there were a few sour notes. Thanks for hosting, azuarc!
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Endeavour

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FL81 posted...

azuarc your sig is out of date

Oh no, did I forget to put the guru winner in my sig?

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Scars of Time

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Thanks for hosting all these years, azuarc! I want to be optimistic about a 256-song contest, but no doubt it'll feel very long

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barreldragon88 posted...

Thanks for hosting all these years, azuarc! I want to be optimistic about a 256-song contest, but no doubt it'll feel very long

I mean, it would only take like a week longer than this contest due to the wildcards
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Okay, now that the dust has settled a bit, I think now's a good time for me to share my thoughts on the wildcard system we used this year. Honestly, I can't really say I was a fan. I'm all for having side-projects during VGMC (for the sake of argument, I am counting wildcard as a side project), but having two in one year is a bit much. We already had the ToC on top of the main bracket, so having the wildcard to pad it out a little further felt unnecessary. I'd rather just have the auto-include snubs bracket in for exposure of more new VGM (or a losers bracket if we were doing second chances, especially given that only one wildcard even ended up retiring). It has also been brought up before, but simply running a 256-song bracket wouldn't have taken that much longer than what we ended up doing here.

But, I'm not upset we tried something new! Just going forward, I wasn't keen on this idea.

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I don't think anyone is in favor of bringing the wild cards back.

I've tried a variety of innovations to the formula over the years:

• The two-phase nomination system in VGMC10
• Attempting to straddle 128 and 256 with byes last year
• Wild cards
• Locking nominations

Of these, only locking seems to have had a favorable response. And that's really funny, because nomination locking is almost purely cosmetic. While, at the very end, we did have songs on the last day reach 5 votes and not make the cut, I'm going to hypothesize that this wouldn't have happened otherwise, because people would have been pushing their early favorites to 6 instead of diffusing their supports to a greater number of songs. However, for the psychological benefit of safety alone, locking is a trend that I suspect Decro will want to revisit.

I'm fully prepared to come to terms with other possible tinkering, though. It will be very weird to see what someone else does, after five years to ruminate over all my different madcap ideas that were ultimately discarded.

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Direcrow

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Who won the bonus match?

192-entrants using the VGMC13 bye system worked fine. Wildcard might potentially work if we revise the method. What bothered me about the wildcard was the fact that only R1 and R2 losers got a second chance. It would have worked better if we gave R3 and R4 losers a potential second chance, I think. However, I'd rather just get a plain old normal 256-entrant bracket next year. Locking nominations was awesome.... I would be very sad if that gets taken away.

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Haste_2 posted...

Who won the bonus match?

Scars of Time > Endeavour, 16-9 (if we include Tsunami's vote, and I really don't care about the 24 hour rule here.)

Haste_2 posted...

What bothered me about the wildcard was the fact that only R1 and R2 losers got a second chance.

It's not a loser's bracket. It's redemption for a song that got a shitty placement. If you won your four-pack, you performed well enough.

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Whoops, I meant R3 losers, not R4. I still feel like there were some strong ones that lost R3 that may have deserved retirement. Your concern was more getting the chance to win a couple of times, while my concern was more about getting the chance to R5, I guess?

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Haste_2 posted...

Whoops, I meant R3 losers, not R4. I still feel like there were some strong ones that lost R3 that may have deserved retirement. Your concern was more getting the chance to win a couple of times, while my concern was more about getting the chance to R5, I guess?

If you feel some R3 losers deserved retirement, that means you also feel some actual retirees didn't deserve retirement, as a natural consequence. Which retirees are the ones that didn't deserve it?
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UltimaterializerX posted...

Bells make everything awesome.

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Okay I'm cool, I'm cool now...deep breaths...it's been a full week and I finally feel like I can accept Endeavour as the 14th VGMC champion!!!!!! I don't know how late into its run people started to have genuine hope, but personally I was still questioning its win after the results were announced! A two-vote victory over the overwhelming contest favourite, with some first-time voters throwing in their support and lengthy discussions on what makes a "good" champion - that's the kind of drama I like to see in a final that's been over 4 months in the making!

Both finalists went blow-for-blow as they found themselves at an 8-8 standoff to start, after which Isoleucine came in with a seemingly insurmountable 11-3 run headed by none other than Mycro! However, sergio promptly took the helm of the Endeavour train which was topped off by lefty and azuarc to complete the 14-4 counter for the victory!

I only thought the retiree set was "pretty good," but Endeavour going all the way definitely redeemed the late stages of the contest for me! It would always feel like its opponents were retirees with more hype and momentum, and then it just kept winning for some reason! VGMC champions are tough competition, but I'd say it's one of my favourites and a solid top 5 champ. On that note, I'm not appreciating the disrespect Reset is getting in these rankings >:(

Although I liked last year's bracket and retirees better, I had a lot more fun with VGMC 14 because I followed the matches and storylines more closely! Just going by votals and people's comments on past contests, I think azuarc has been a great host these last five years and is leaving VGMC in a good place with a thriving community. I appreciate his willingness to try new things and turn to common sense when something's not covered by the rules! It's an Internet wonder that such a niche contest is still going strong after 14 years, and future generations shall be taught the history of the Ed Bellis-lefty-azuarc trio!

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I'd just like to mention that The Alto Collection, which includes Alto's Odyssey, which in turn includes An Endless Desert, is currently free on the Epic Game Store. Is it a good game? I have no idea. But you can't beat that price~
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