Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 20! Prairie4 / Narrowsky / Stella / N.Y. / POINT OF NO RETURN / Monk

(+) Yeah! (+)

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

100% Orange Juice - Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella -Part 2-
Eschatos - POINT OF NO RETURN

MATCH 1

I like world music, and Prairie4 definitely delivers it very well! The part at 0:21 is especially great.

Narrowsky sounds fine all throughout. Nothing that I dislike in this song, but it's not a particularly engaging song for me.

Oops, I'm going out somewhere right about now and don't have time for more detailed writeups for the other two matches (even though there's hardly any detail in the ones I already did for match 1 lol), so I'll just say that both match 2 songs are really nice with a clear preference towards Stella. I wish Battle Field didn't get matched up with such a strong opponent (at least in regards to how much I like both songs) because I'd be happy to vote for this for at least one round. I like Stella Part 3 more than Part 2, but both are great.

Point of No Return is my second favorite Eschatos song behind Extermination with Stellar Light as third favorite and the third of my trio of "most noteworthy Eschatos songs."

Stella -Part 2- > POINT OF NO RETURN > Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone) > Battle Field "N.Y. central" > Way of the Monk > Narrowsky - Finale

Strong top 4. Not entirely certain on Point of No Return > Prairie4, but that's my gut instinct.

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN


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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

i usually try not to be dismissive of long songs but man Finale certainly is something
there's like 4 different times where it seems like it's going to go somewhere but it never does

Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

Match 2 was extremely difficult for me.

Narrowsky - Finale
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

The songs in match 1 are really hard to compare for me. Prairie4 is short and simple but gives off a really cool vibe, whereas the other song is this really long epic with several different sections which is also engaging. Think I give the vote to Narrowsky here and I do like both quite a bit, but who knows if this opinion is consistent with how I'd evaluate them vs other songs.

Stella has a pretty violin. I like pretty violin. NY Central does not have a pretty violin. Ok I really like the rest of Stella also I just wanted to make a dumb writeup. Tbh this might be my favorite Atelier song to ever make it into VGMC though. Also NY Central is actually rather good also.

Eschatos is a soundtrack I've never really cared for. This is probably one of the better songs, but it still suffers from the biggest problem I associate with OST which is the overly repetitive and dominant backing tracks. Way of the Monk is quite underwhelming from a compositional standpoint in ways that are difficult for me to put into words, but ultimately this is still way more up my alley than any Eschatos song. Would have taken any song from the first 2 matches very easily here though.
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Prairie4
Stella -Part 2-
POINT OF NO RETURN

Celtic music like the prairie wind. It's a lighthearted, upbeat, fun track, and it does some things to keep it moving along in engaging ways, like the modulations at 0:34 and 0:52; the chord changes at 1:05 are great as well. It's accessible and charming, and as royalty-free music I think it gets exactly what it's looking for.

Narrowsky feels a bit confined and a bit awkward in execution. I think it's going for kind of a sprawling, wandering, almost dreamlike feel, and there's a few moments where it can grasp what it's reaching for, but I try to drift off into the world it's setting up and always get caught up in one thing or another. It's really stubborn about sticking with that one specific major key scale. It's almost certainly intentional but it feels rigid. Some of the instruments feel heavy-handed or unpolished; the drums stick out a lot in this regard, and so does that electric guitar. Some of the synths hit too hard. Everything has this heavy reverb. I think 3:51 is a nice segment, some neat repeating figures that can be built on. It does seem to have some sense of when to grow and when to cut itself down to something quieter for dramatic effect. I think it's taking some big swings, and that's cool, but it's just not on the right footing with me.

Very Asano. Melodies that feel kinda like his Blue Reflection battle themes, beat patterns that match Flying Clouds, Drifting Haze. There's a fair amount of Asano tracks that don't quite feel as immediately reminiscent of this very specific style, and I find myself gravitating a bit more towards them lately. I still enjoy this, even though it edges towards that 'a little too familiar' zone. The intro to the track-- these quick-hitting, rhythmically playful chords that Asano does so well-- is the kind of thing I'll always enjoy.

Very Namiki. The melody and progression at 1:02 are a lot of fun, and the way 0:32 works its way up to that point, using synths with a much softer edge, is nice.

Very Yasui. That means both things I like and dislike. The synth ostinato that's established from the beginning is nice! I like that kind of thing. The quick arpeggio run down and up at 0:47 is cool as well. A lot of the progressions used are telegraphed in a way I don't particularly like-- I think it's 1:13 that feels like the most obvious example of this, though it happens in a number of other places. The track has an energy and form I like but I have reservations about its melodic content.

Very Neal Acree. I'm not just saying that! While I've listened to Neal Acree music through playing various Blizzard games, I think an old VGMC nom I tried a few years ago (I think it was an actual nomination, anyway) was the first time I attached a name to some of that music. The specific track was Revelation - The Chosen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suLsghW0nTY), where Acree's going for a similar East Asian orchestral feel. I like the dynamic feeling of movement in that track, and I think that's something I don't quite feel in Way of the Monk. It's very well-arranged-- kind of a given with Neal Acree-- and pretty, but it stays in one place in a particular way that leaves me feeling a bit restless, until 2:35 (which I think is the best part of the track).

Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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InnerSpace - Narrowsky - Finale [7.0]
BlackRock Shooter: The Game - Battle Field "N.Y. central" [6.5]
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria - Way of the Monk [7.0]

100% Orange Juice - Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone) [6.5]
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella -Part 2- [6.0]
Eschatos - POINT OF NO RETURN [7.0]

Six n' seven kinda day.

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InnerSpace - Narrowsky - Finale
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella -Part 2-
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria - Way of the Monk

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

I feel bad voting against Narrowsky because there is definitely someone out there that thinks it is the pinnacle of vgm and I just do not think much of it
Black Rock Shooter is very cool
way of the monk did not WOW me hohohohohoho

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Prairie4 (Theme of Alicianrone)
Stella -Part 2-
Way of the Monk

Narrowsky does not justify it's super-long length. 2nd match is close I find both pretty decent, and POINT OF NO RETURN is one of my favourite Yasui songs I've heard honestly, and prob the best in Eschatos, so I kinda feel bad that I liked WotM so much.

Narrowsky - Finale
Battle Field "N.Y. central"
POINT OF NO RETURN

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Theme of / Stella / the Monk
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