Board 8 > [VGMC] Video Game Music Contest 15 - Bracket Discussion and Results Thread!!

(+) Yeah! (+)

so, i want to talk about elegy for old Identities and nostalgia. this is one of my favorite songs in the contest (so far) and i was thinking about mycro saying it has complex chords in his writeup. like... does it? i guess it does for the most part but i feel like the chord progression that starts at the 0:06 mark is actually super common and predicatable. but here's the thing: that's how i WANTED the track to go. when listening to it for its match, i was like "i hope the composer is going to use this chord change" and when he actually did, i was like "AHHH SO GOOD." this made me think of how my dad told me that he hates music that's predictable. for one thing, that's total bullshit (he adores budapest by george ezra lol) but for another, i've never really understood this mentality. i would rather have a "predictable" song with chord changes i love to death than a song that's batshit insane but also sounds like poop.

i don't know if i want to get all "deep" and "music theory discussion" in this topic (probably not, as i understand very little to nothing about music theory). but EFOIAN really fascinates me and it made me think about the way i experience music, so i thought that was worth pointing out, at least!

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elegy is mostly complex like, indiv harmony-wise. the changes are pretty normal and predictable lol

my lean is toward "unpredictable chord changes that still sound 'right'. " , but unpredictable+superweird is good for me too, but often for quite different reasons. but i don't think it's very common to be like that. and most people who say they hate predictability still have some lean toward something that's predictable

personally i don't get emotionally moved if something goes where i expect (although, part of why i like calling so much is because of the contrast of the more "commonly heard loops of chords" against the moderately more unusual ones). but if a song goes somewhere i don't expect but still feels 'right', then i start FLOATING IN THE AIR basically and that's where i feel emotion strongest in music
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I liked 5 out of the 6 songs yesterday, and would have expected to vote for them in a random R1 match.

Elegy was the sixth.

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Nom tracking, huh. I have a general feel of how this will shake out but let's see the exact stats...

Songs I ended with a nomination on are 2-6. Of the 6 losses two were by 1 vote, one by 2 votes, and the sole original nomination that made the contest lost by nearly as much as the other 5 combined.

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Day 31 Results!

The Shackled Wolves (Rain) 36 v 23 String Theocracy
Pursuit ~ Lying Coldly 37 v 22 Love You Love You Love (Good Morning Onee-san Mix)
IMAGE -MATERIAL- <Version 0> 37 v 22 Targets!

Day 32: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79506096

Making advance votes for the next 2 days @banshiryuu @Toxtricity

Day 33
GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Day 34
World's End Valentine
In the Doldrums
Speartip of Judgment

Man these days are stacked.
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Day 32 Results!

Paradise (Stay Forever) 40 v 24 Working
Battle -Threat- 33 v 29 Overcome the Rocky Path
Gallant Gunshot 40 v 24 You're Not Here

Day 33: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79507881

Dang it, was hoping to avoid having to kill Battle Threat next round...

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Day 33 Results!

Duality 38 v 24 GRAND FINALE
Theme of the Last Battle 11 v 51 resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator 25 v 37 Greenpath

Day 34: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79509472

For a sec I thought it was Bowser's Galaxy Generator that got 11 votes. That would have been like... >.< I love Mario Galaxy music, and I love their orchestra!

I think this is the first time a contestant has gotten over 50 votes this contest! Oh, wait, no, that's wrong. The Explosion got 52 votes. (edit: resurrected still pulled off a bigger blowout, though) Regardless, I don't think resurrectedreplayer would make a bad retiree. I think I like it more than worldenddominator, even!

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Day 34 Results!

World's End Valentine 32 v 29 Besaid Island
In the Doldrums 33 v 25 Iron Lotus
Speartip of Judgment 43 v 18 Pursuit

Day 35: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79511246

see you again next year Besaid Island

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I wish I could have voted Besaid but it was up against probably my favorite new discovery of the contest :(
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Day 35 Results!

Tundra Man Stage (Instrumental) 32 v 30 Tron's Castle
Sky of Twilight 39 v 22 Rival - Omega
A Beautiful Song 43 v 19 Give Me!

Day 36: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79513239

piston dick: given

When you're in a mood like this, the resolution might be to go on eating...
Cause when you join the party, you feel as though small worries or problems fading...

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Oops thought I had posted Day 36 but I guess I didn't!! So another double update for ya'll

Day 36 and 37 Results!!

Passion in Blue 38 v 28 Sim Broadway
Danger (ARM version) 37 v 28 Five
444 46 v 19 Vs. 'Merican Yo-kai

Battle! (Colress) 37 v 24 Gaze at my Sour Cream Burrito
Bahram Attack -Nekomata Master Remix- 48 v 14 Exercise Mode
I Believe 22 v 39 Wavetapper

Day 38: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79518016

PIayer_0 posted...

Credits was my #1 retiree last year, so I certainly hope Wavetapper can replicate its performance! The retiring part, not the makes-round-2-and-gets-doubled part...

Hell yeah Wavetapper, but I just realized it's against Bahram Attack next round...

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That's 44446 votes vs. 19 votes!!! (that's how good 444 is, pretty much) Also, wow, I ended up with a perfect record in R1. (I doubt any of them are gonna retire, though.) I was surprised to see Danger pull it off. That makes three Secret of Mana victories in VGMC history! And two of them were from the PS4 soundtrack, oh, the irony....

I'm surprised to see I Believe fail so hard. Maybe Wavetapper is strong? (I don't want it to beat Bahram, though)

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HasteDeux posted...

And two of them were from the PS4 soundtrack, oh, the irony....

I'm cringing. And crying.

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HasteDeux posted...

I'm surprised to see I Believe fail so hard. Maybe Wavetapper is strong? (I don't want it to beat Bahram, though)

I Believe also underperformed during the Supra contest, it might just be weaker than other vocal P5 songs. I wouldn't be surprised if Wavetapper had strength based on Credits' performance though

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I think I Believe is one of those songs that sounds way better in context because that story moment is so amazing. I'm not sure my own vote was free from that bias.

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I spend more time listening to video game music from games I haven't played than I do actually playing video games! >_>

so the context is often lost on me

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Throw Away Your Mask is better anyway tbh

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Day 38 Results!

Liber Ark 36 v 25 Rush Hour
Dyed Gradient (Murago) 33 v 28 La Follia damore
Conquest 40 v 21 Shop 'til You drop (Level 2)

Day 39: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79519912

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=559mea13-sg
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I'm pretty sure I Believe is significantly weaker than almost all Persona vocal music. Though it wouldn't surprise me if Wavetapper also has some strength and could maybe retire with the right draw, though I don't know that I expect it to be stronger than Bahram Attack.
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RIP perfect voting attendance, got off work late yesterday, went to the bar, and lost track of a few hours.

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That video looks like something I'd find in Katamari.

I am disappointed in that first match.

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banshiryuu posted...

Dyed Gradient (Murago) 33 v 28 La Follia damore

Well, there goes my favorite song, guess I'm not gonna bother voting anymore.

^ Is what I would have said if this match happened a few years ago. Although, the old me probably wouldn't have voted in the first 37 matches either.

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Day 39 Results!

Into Free -Dangan- 37 v 25 Blue Line (Instrumental)
Vast Poni Canyon 42 v 20 The Dark Messenger
Towards the Horizon 31 v 31 FLIGHTLESS

Day 40: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79521745

flightless stays aflight a bit longer.... again

noot noot

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If Flightless loses, I'm blaming global warming.

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In the lead-up to VGMC, I ran a discord "tournament" where I picked out 128 old songs that had been in VGMC in the past -- either no appearances in the last three years or only one appearance total -- and had people not only guess on them in R1 but also vote for them through a randomized bracket.

I'd like to consider doing something similar for the losers of R1. Only there's two problems.
1) 128 participants takes a long time to go through. It took me four nights to complete that bracket. 32 is about right for a single night.
2) There's not a whole lot of element of surprise on guessing in R1 if the songs are all already known.

So I wanted to ask if there would be interest in such an event and how you would prefer to see it proceed. Either I can do all 128 and it will extend over probably four weekends, or I can ask people to submit their favorite 1-3 and it can be a single night event. Either way, I'll still probably randomize the bracket unless folks wanted the whole thing in VGMC order.

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That was a lot of fun (even if I dropped out of the voting after R1)

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Day 40 Results!!

Title Theme 20 v 39 Cosmic Hero
XaaaCi. 27 v 33 Strange Sunset
Connexion 26 v 34 Sunjammer Midnight Special

Day 41 with a mangled title: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79523373

dople.

BAD DAY

I also just realized that Wavetapper broke yet another run of 11 wins by the first-slot song, which still remains the record and has now been achieved 3 times!

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banshiryuu posted...

XaaaCi. 27 v 33 Strange Sunset

whoa. Isn't this a huge upset or am I just overestimating XaaaCi.?

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You're overestimating XaaaCi, I think. It's not EXSPHERE.

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xaaaci is pretty b8 on paper if you reduce tastes to stereotypes

but it's also incredibly harsh and risky of a nom unquestionably, even exsphere was a surprise to people that it did as well as it did

i was almost worried xaaaci wouldn't even get as close as 27-33 is. glad it put up a real fight
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reminder exsphere got nearly doubled r1 in its first appearance

gust strength fluctuates a lot between years and this year's just not a good one for it

it lost ABANDON HOPE

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UF8 posted...

reminder exsphere got nearly doubled r1 in its first appearance

gust strength fluctuates a lot between years and this year's just not a good one for it

Other Gust stuff is doing just fine. Xaaaci just isn't that strong.
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save for protecta and octopunch (which i don't know whether to count for much, being that blatantly a sff match) and maybe sky of twilight which has generally appeared to be sitting on retirement-level strength in its past appearances anyway, i feel like every other gust song has been underperforming a bit

sen losing to subuta also caught me by surprise, and i guess it'll be apparent what that really means next round

UF8 posted...

save for protecta and octopunch (which i don't know whether to count for much, being that blatantly a sff match) and maybe sky of twilight which has generally appeared to be sitting on retirement-level strength in its past appearances anyway, i feel like every other gust song has been underperforming a bit

sen losing to subuta also caught me by surprise, and i guess it'll be apparent what that really means next round

It means Xaaaci and Sen are weaker than Protecta/Octopunch/Sky of Twilight. Is that so shocking?
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to be clear i was also trying to convey that i didn't think protecta/octopunch/sky were looking that strong either, just... meeting expectations. as the only ones that look like they're getting anywhere near retirement for now.

Stuff with dissonant/harsh sections in general have been doing worse this year than in 13 or 14 (see: 12th chapter)

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12th chapter ever had strength?

UF8 posted...

12th chapter ever had strength?

i mean it probably would have won that match last year!

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i'm anti-purple but a lot of people expect purple to retire so i dunno about that

Day 41 Results!

Final Wishes of the Mist 20 v 40 Central Tower "Axis Pillar"
Dialgas Fight to the Finish! 42 v 17 Subete no Yuri wa Chiri Hatete
Towards the Horizon 30 v 31 FLIGHTLESS

Day 42: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79525072

the penguin takes off