Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 33! Duality / FINALE / Last Battle / replayer / Galaxy / Greenpath

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 15, an annual celebration of the best of the best video game music according to the voters!

Important Links:
Bracket: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=474630
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XAaBMDuUnQ4c5AxQNL9ZhvD7VG5kQyrXWWZxnkrn-o
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79443554
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0xt7lOF1eB-H4NpAaF1yAnU
Compatibility sheet (courtesy of Haste!!): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iGYWo_ifr_p2uYpD_I6TwBQS2tm7zJtPCxYZfRJcG8I
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
Discord: ht

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

GRAND FINALE has some cool moments, but it feels like its constantly on the verge of doing something cooler and then just doesn't
Last Battle is... weaker than some of the other Layton songs, I fear. resurrectedreplayer is weaker than some of the other zts Uminekos but its still quite good.
Hot damn, the first ten seconds of Galaxy Generator are just perfect. The rest is really good but it never recaptures the feeling of that intro. This match is still really tough though, Greenpath is also good.

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Advance vote from pyresword:

GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath
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GRAND FINALE
Theme of the Last Battle
Greenpath

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

I guess so for match 3?

Duality [8.5]
resurrectedreplayer [8.5]
Grand Finale [7]
Galaxy Generator [6.5]
Greenpath [6]
Last Battle [6]

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Snatchers of Raillore - Duality
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - resurrectedreplayer
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Bowser's Galaxy Generator
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GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

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Duality
Theme of the Last Battle
Greenpath

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GRAND FINALE
Theme of the Last Battle
Greenpath

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

hehe snatch hehe rail. Grand Finale feels like it loops a lot earlier than the opening post says it does...

Speaking of songs that feel like they loop early... At least Resurrected Replayer is great (despite not quite being one of the top big zts songs - I might even put it in the bottom 2!).

BGG is fine but it's a weird song to get into the contest as many times as it has. There are a whole lot of Mario songs I like more. Greenpath is somehow real good! I really like listening to it. <3

resurrectedreplayer > Greenpath > Duality > Bowser's Galaxy Generator > Theme of the Last Battle > GRAND FINALE
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GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

ok so, GRAND FINALE is the kind of song that Really hits me emotionally. Possibly stronger than any other vgm!! I've kind of gone into this hearing that The Devil Game was ultimately cancelled and never finished, and regardless of if that's even the case or not, I feel like GRAND FINALE somehow feels extremely fitting as a song for "a grand finale for an event that will never happen." Just the beginning, with that intense, lone chord, followed by those careless messy drums... it really evokes some sense of emptiness, sadness, that work was put into this grand event but it didn't work and things are falling apart. but then the song starts anyway. The song itself has this happy / "fighting" mood to it, but those chords in the background keep this omnipresent feeling of "bittersweet" sadness that despite putting on an active, happy (purple) face, there's something wrong going on. And with all this in mind, jeez that SCREAM (guitar) at 2:22... it just really hits some part of me, hard. This song speaks to my depressive feelings so powerfully I feel like this write up can't do it justice. trying to be happy through hard times, having overly ambitious ideas ultimately fall apart into nothing, it even sort of speaks to my past in a way, maybe it manages to kinda hit some nostalgia points for me -- at :33 it seems like it uses a sound from my favorite song from Kirby 64, (Rock Star Quicksand, I don't think this song gets much attention, especially since I think it's randomly absent from some versions of the OST?) (this later feels like it also references the Kirby 64 Ruins song with those bells at :55, which I think is a bit more popular of a track but it's still alright). And there's probably still something to say about that guitar that comes in late halfway through with that...scream, and goes on to kind of do it's own thing in the 3rd loop that I like.
GRAND FINALE is definitely one of my favorite finds from this contest.

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

Bracket C rankings:
Duality (9.0 - 11th place) / GRAND FINALE (8.1v - 24th place)

Bracket D rankings:
Theme of the Last Battle (7.2v - 37th place) / resurrectedreplayer (8.1^ - 21st place)
Bowser's Galaxy Generator (8.9 - 13th place) / Greenpath (8.4 - 18th place)

Rankings below are revised, though not perfected by any means. Once I get through Bracket D I'll probably go through the top 50 [of the entire contest] and revise the rankings among those again.

Bracket C Complete Rankings
1) over-nove (TRianThology)
2) Vast Ice Mountain Peak (Pokemon PMD: Exp of Sky)
3) rhythm-changer (Umineko)
4) One Last Trial (CrossCode)
5) Natural Life A (Muramasa)
6) The Big Ride (LittleBigPlanet Vita)
7) Tactical Field (Senko no Ronde DUO)
8) To the Distant Sky (Skygunner)
9) The Thief (Binding of Isaac: Antibirth
10) Duality (Snatchers of Raillore)
--------------------------------------------------
11) Tidal Tempest (Sonic CD JP/EU)
12) Gallant Gunshot (Ginga Force)
13) Nilin the Memory Hunter (Remember Me)
14) Catabolism (Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX)
15) Love You Love You Love (Onee-San) (MSF!)
16) Battle was Just "To Continue That Future" (DDPDFK)
17) Breath of Forest (Mad Rat Dead)
18) String Theocracy (Library of Ruina)
19) Upper City (Robots GBA)
20) You're Not Here (Silent Hill 3)
21) Chrono Trigger (Chrono Trigger)
22) Elegy for Old Identities and Nostalgia (AHFJEC)
23) DigiFamily (Aurora Memoria)
24) The Shackled Wolves (Rain) (Fire Emblem: 3 Houses)
25) MARIA (Atelier Ayesha)
26) Working (Spacechem)
27) High Above the Land (Shovel Knight)
---------------------------------------------------------------
28) Seraph, the Traitor (Monster Train)
29) Kill Command (Danganronpa 2)
30) Pioneer's Horizon (Timespinner
31) Vrdels (This is the Police 2)
32) Mikazuchi (Ar nosurge)
33) Anka (Signs of the Sojourner)
34) GRAND FINALE (The Devil Game)
35) Kimi ga Tame Re:boot (Utawarerumono 2018)
36) Pursuit ~ Lying Coldly (AA Investigations)
37) Tonitrus (Gahkthun)
38) Karma (Tales of the Abyss)
39) Bound Together (Pyre)
40) Targets! (Super Smash Bros. Melee)
41) Unfinished Business (Skullgirls: Encore)
42) Battle -Threat- (Oninaki)
43) Space Mode (Teen Titans Go!: Stellar Showdown)
44) City Ruins (Rays of Light) (NieR: Automata)
45) Ancient Land (Ys: Memories of Celceta)
----------------------------------------------------------------
46) Paradise (Stay Forever) (Paradise Killer)
47) Desert After Tears (Ys IX)
48) Painted Foothills (FFXIV: Heavensward)
49) Roll Me In (Katamari Damacy)
50) IMAGE -MATERIAL- (REFLEC BEAT limelight)
51) Battle (Gokinjo Boukentai)
52) Rising Up (Tales of Zestiria)
53) Valestein Castle (Ys III PCECD)
------------------------------------------------------------
54) Teknopathetic (Jet Set Radio Future)
55) Casio Hellburst (Casio Mario World)
56) Voyage of Promise (Bloodstained: RotN)
57) Overcome the Rocky Path (Ys VIII)
58) I'm Back (to Rise!) (Killer Instinct 2013)
--------------------------------------------------------------
59) Xepher (beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY)
60) Normal Battle (Pokemon TCG)
61) Calling (The World Ends With You)
62) We All Lift Together (Warframe)
63) Everlasting Love (We Love Katamari)
64) Heavy Arms (Gundam Wing: Endless Duel)

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Not a strong day for me, but I could just be in a mood from work. Sorry, lads.

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

I really like resurrectedreplayer!!! I also can't get excited for it at all!!! There's just too many zts "agent noun"-titled songs that I like better because apparently that's what words like replayer are. I don't think it beats any of the retired ones either, though it definitely gets close to miragecoordinator. My brain is just too quick to recognize the sensory input patterns from this song as ones that I've heard in other zts songs, and then I think of how much more I'd like it if it did the same things as them, not just consciously but unconsciously as well...

Now if this was actually my favourite zts song, I wouldn't give a HOOT that there's already 6+ of them retired, the chosen one must ascend to its rightful throne! That spot's comfortably occupied by dreamenddischarger or lastendconductor, though.

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

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Duality (139th) vs GRAND FINALE (90th)
Theme of the Last Battle (237th) vs resurrectedreplayer (102nd)
Bowser's Galaxy Generator (50th) vs Greenpath (174th)

i look at galaxy generator's placement and think "wtf that's so low" so yeah i LOOOOOOVE galaxy generator like a lot, its almost definitely in "top 10 Mario songs (that are from a mario game and not mario vs pso2)" and its def one of the songs i am most happy made it despite me not being able to support it

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

-(this song is like, well, i feel like it's ridiculously obviously something i would like. big string chords, progressions that rapidly jump between tonal centers to feel like "sky" and i like the moments it goes to those cool ascending places at times i dont expect; it just forces me into THE SKY and that's so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in the good way for me. sine waves that sound like nekomata master or elebits (shh) . oh right it's in odd time ,who cares. anyways. i am NOT going to compare this song to pat methane group because that would be too easy so i am going to compare it to Hiroki Morishita who i like because thery remind me of pat methenys. actually fe is too easy a comparison too, except that's never this happy. WHO CARES ABOUT COMPARISONS this song is my thing)-

-[GRAND FINALE makes me think of Kirby and apparently I am not the only one who has think this. that's very useful. there's a lot of things in this song that i think are musically cool. jazz harmony, weird pso2 sounding parallelism stuff, all the arps of the mallet perc that sound like THREADS OF FATE. I think that this song can make naruto real.WHAT THE HECK; my ears that have been messed up this ENTIRE contest, where i could sometimes only hear out of my right ear, and from my left ear it was usually 50% or less volume (though it had been getting better than that lately). They just like...made a weird pop sound...and now...I can hear out of my left ear TWICE AS LOUDLY as my right ear. THey like INVERTED what the heck. well i just thought you all should know that my ear problems i'd been alluding to for over a month, are fixed...??? (probably only temporary) to like some overcompensated degree, and this happened in the middle of listening to this song. what an experience]-

-{prog anime}-

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-(i am pretty sure this is the sort of song i would like a lot more if it was real; too much of it requires imprecision and expressiveness that doesn't come across in how this is sequenced to me. the actual composition is fine or even doing some things i really like i think, but it's like impossible for me to "feel" it in this form)-

-[i forgot this match was tonight; i was actually trying to get myself into the mood for zts umineko trance for "various reasons" while i was taking a shower so i was singing as much of worldenddominator as i could from memory except "upside down" . . . i can't believe i didn't remember that this had its match today while i was singing that song. Oh and I had a lot of fun imitating the glass/chandelier jingling sounds or what ever you people call them. i feel like there is not much i have to say here that is something didn't say in 2009-2020 when umineko trance songs existed all the time. this is one of them but i like it less than worldenddominator and lastendconductor. I'm not sure where it ranks because i don't know the rest well enough. the thing with these zts trance epics; I consistently like them, but there is a specific set of things they do that i like A LOT and the songs that do those things are boosted to near 9.9/10 levels (wed, lec, and possibly a couple others). this song doesn't do those things so it's more a 7 or 8. well ,it has "cool soujnd design" and some pretty epic floaty chord cchanges, but nowhere near the explosive intrigue of examples of those things in my other favorite umineko trance friends. and also it doesn't have any polymeter which is one of the other BIG factors that boosts wed/lec to me
~~~~~
anyways these comparisons are inevitable when you know all these songs, but meaningless outside of those comparisons. if this was the only umineko song i heard i'm not sure i would imagine it has any songs i like nearly as much as wed/lec (or rhythm-changer/psy-chorus/etc), i'd just be like "ok this is a song. and so it leads me to have to feel that a good deal of positivity i feel here is that it reminds me of songs i like more than this song which isn't exactly "t}}}}}}WHATS YOU DOING ZYS well my favorite part of the song is 1:36-2:03 because it reminds me of patrick BRUCE metheny
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WAIT WHAT THE FUCK THERE Is POLYMETER IN THIS SONG and i just didn't notice it the first time. ok now ithis song has jumped up 50 slots. ok it's only "sort of" but a [10+10+10+2]/4 over 4/4 pattern happens in the harp at 2:44 and in the super saw at 3:42, though the last time it happens just before 4:09 it syncopates a bit. if you are a computer man you can decide to say that it is "19/8" over 4/4 polymeter for 2 bars (no one would say this except for the silly mans). The whole polymetric section in general is very cool because the EXTREMELY straightforward "dun dun dun dun dun dun - - " rhythm is. . . very simple and straightforward for contrast which is good BUT ITS EVEN BETTER because it actually ambiguifies where beat 1 is literally /because/ it is so simple? that's actually really fascinating, especially when there's all these crazy accents, and if i'm not paying attention carefully i lose it and hear multiple places as all just as correct feeling and it feels so cool....the worldwhere all options are correct
~~~~~
i should be clear. i don't just like polymeter because of some dumb reason like "i '''''know''''' music theory so i can talk about numbers" bull shit. I like polymeter because it's hypnotic (well it also just is good for evoking "various environments" i like to be taken to, or "various emotions", but 'hypnotic' is the easiest descriptor for why i like polymetric layers so much in songs), and that's important for the genre of music that is called "trance" especially, and i have always been disappointed that the genre doesn't use it as a technique enough because it's SO perfect for it. for generating the feeling of "TRANCE" like, i know it's sorta a misnomer name because the genre evolved so far from its initial incarnation and grew to sound nothing like what it started as but seriously. this song's appeal is heavily that it entrances (en-trances, not "entrances" like a door) and polymeter as a technique helps amplify that because there's a whole layer that is desynchronized from everything else, there's too many places for your mind to focus at once for you to become focused on one specific thing, but the music is simple enough that any given layer of focus becomes the central convenience store of miracoules %[joeseph albers suicng my month friend from spain. at least for me, if there's only one thing happening it doesn't take me to the dizzy world wher ei can zone out and feel like i have no thoughts but am in 90 places in the world at the same time and can equally perceive every past and future event and become one with the earth because it is just like a. like this is why people in africa learned how to teleport and shit because their normal traditional music is so polymetric/polyrhythmic they can teleport now and it's so cool like this shit should be seen as NORMAL not "esoteric and for the college students and prog nerds only" it's not like it only exists to be some "smart" thing or what ever AN YWAYS, so [every layer aligned to 4/4] trance (99% of trance) doesn't work as strong to me as polymetric trance like this. anyways zts music does this a lot and it takes me to cool places as a result. thank you zts.]-

-{zts might as well be a really enthusiastcic donky check out my new game called the only two artist si have ever heard of are pat metheny group and steve reich}-

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[continued...]
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[...continued]

-(Bowser is getting so big!!!!!! i feel like when this game out i had the DUALITY of two reactions: Reaction 1[this song is going to be "too popular" because the intro is so "epic" so i HATE it]. Reaction 2[wow mario is getting SERIOUS boys, i'm so proud of him, i am glad that the intro to this song is big and serious so that way mario is so cool and bowser]. and i probably loudly expressed the first one rather than the second because it was counter to my identity to relate to epic orchestra songs at the time. Now that I no longer have the social pressure of trying to express any given identity, i can be MYSELF and what do i think??? actually i think neither of these things. i think this song is very big.)-

-[greenpath stood out to me instantly in the game and i think that's for the very simple reason that it sounds like the sparkly night sky and twinkles like a (good , very epic) lullaby. it reminds me of a lot of things i am fond of but those things probably odn't even sound like this ("disney" "western animation that is nostalgaic"). love all the mallet perc that is so happy : ) all of the tiny bells and the marimba and the harp and the plucked strings. the light sounds of an "evening" that i love. oh and oboes/bassoons yay~! yeah this is just picking all of my favorite "real instruments" except for vibraphone because that sounds too "cool" for this song probably]-

-{good moths }-

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ranking positions.

Duality (26th/196)
resurrectedreplayer (44th/196)
Greenpath (57th/196)
GRAND FINALE (136th/196)
Bowser's Galaxy Generator (140th/196)
Theme of the Last Battle (183rd/196)

i honestly thought greenpath was going to be my 2nd favorite of the day and that resurrectedreplayer was fairly low as far as the big zts umineko songs go, but i wound up listening to resurrectedreplayer even more repeatedly than usual for this contest so obviously it's doing something right!!
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The Devil Game - GRAND FINALE
Professor Layton and the Last Specter - Theme of the Last Battle
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Bowser's Galaxy Generator

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Ooh super close first match. mamomo is an artist I discovered recently after some friends in another Discord server recommended them to me as music that sounds similar to Atelier (I nominated one of their albums for Raetsel's ranking topic and it placed well!!). I did not know mamomo also did VGM, and this is the first one I've heard with vocals. Pretty cool song (and I always appreciate when the uploader includes subtitles)

GRAND FINALE sounds like one of those super-obscure VGM tracks I discover on a 2 A.M. YouTube binge of listening to other obscure VGM (this is a good thing). Cool set of instruments here.

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Theme of the Last Battle is almost good, but it kinda repeats the same thing too much. I feel disappointed, expecting it to do a lot more, but then it doesn't.

Umineko music! I don't even remember where this plays in-game and I kinda feel it gets overshadowed by other tracks similar to this, but it's still a bop.

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Match 3 is kinda whatever, definite preference for Greenpath though.

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

Duality is extremely good.
Grand Finale is also extremely good. Why the heCK does it have to be in the same match as duality argh. I basically voiced prior to now that it was basically the only thing in its bracket quarter that i'd seriously consider over over Duality and while I was starting to really question why I'd have ever said that with the various other good songs in this division, now that we're actually here, with due respect to Shackled Wolves/String Theocracy/Image Material/Targets/Gallant Gunshot/You're Not Here, yeah, I stand by what I said. Gonna have fun sorting out all my ratings i'm behind on eventually...

Theme of the Last Battle is pretty good. Kind of outclassed by the rest of today, but it's not bad.
There are too many zts epic themes. Frankly, past the big 3+death and executor, I really struggle to remember how the rest go until i actually hear them again. But then I do hear them and immediately realise, god damn, that's good. resurrectedreplayer is insane. Maybe not the same kind of insane as the character depicted on the video, but insane nonetheless.

Bowser's Galaxy Generator also isn't exactly my go-to Mario song of choice, but that likewise doesn't mean it isn't fantastic. Really just love absolutely every part of this, I was going to say something to the effect of "that part from about 43 seconds in really sells this for me" but actually on second thought i don't think there's any part that doesn't sell me. It's stunning.
Greenpath is a perfect complement for the most wonderful area in Hollow Knight, a game which despite its best efforts to the contrary, CAN come across as perhaps a little too bleak at times. It's an excellent mood-setter that also drives you forward. Thank you Greenpath. Not siding with it here, and it's maybe a bit of a push to say this was really a tight match, but Greenpath definitely is respectable.

the start of bracket d might seem kind of weak and unassuming especially hot off a match like the first one here (and especially factoring in how strong tomorrow is going to be too) but actually nope

Snatchers of Raillore - Duality
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - resurrectedreplayer
Hollow Knight - Greenpath

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GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

Voting against Greenpath hurts me so much ;_;

Grand
Resurrected
Bowser
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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator
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GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator


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GRAND FINALE
Theme of the Last Battle
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

first match is really solid, actually a lot closer than I remembered it being too
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUU this is actually the first zts song I ever heard thanks to an old Stepmania sim. gets eclipsed by the big boys but still a good bit to enjoy here.
didn't expect to be voting for the (somewhat) calm ambient song - that's usually not my thing at all - but just got into it more tonight. I like the way it steadily builds.

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GRAND FINALE
Theme of the Last Battle
Greenpath

GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

PIayer_0 posted...

My brain is just too quick to recognize the sensory input patterns from this song as ones that I've heard in other zts songs, and then I think of how much more I'd like it if it did the same things as them, not just consciously but unconsciously as well...

This happens to me too, feels quite strange since I know so little of the Umineko soundtrack. Speaking of which, I'm a little sad we didn't quite get both Umineko and fake Umineko matches on the same day.

GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Duality
Theme of the Last Battle
Greenpath

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

I want to like GRAND FINALE cause it does cool stuff, but none of its melodic or harmonic ideas really grab me, and I feel like it lacks forward momentum. Duality, on the other hand, has some really cool elements in its composition and instrumentation. I'm not typically a "vocals bad" kind of person, but this is a case of a neat song that feels like it's degraded by the fact that it needs to fit a pop song structure. Thankfully it doesn't fully devolve and there's plenty of interesting stuff in there even after the vocals come in.

The Layton track is... alright I guess. It's middling. I've heard better from this series for sure. Anyways... ZTS! ZTS! ZTS! Now resurrectedreplayer wasn't even close to my first choice for a zts to nom, but it gained traction early so I supported it. And it does deserve it because it's still an absolute banger. There's not really much to say here.

Last match was a tough call. Greenpath is beautiful but there's something I love about the sheer bombast of Super Mario Galaxy's music, and this particular track goes all in on that aspect. Not even something I'd consider a standout for SMG2, but a great piece nonetheless.

Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

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GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

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The Devil Game - GRAND FINALE
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - resurrectedreplayer
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Bowser's Galaxy Generator
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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

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Duality
resurrectedreplayer
Greenpath

Good day. Really liked Duality.

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Already made an advance vote but tbh this probably my favorite r1 day of the contest. Probably would have voted all of these in several r1 matches.
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Duality
Theme of the Last Battle
Greenpath

Snatchers of Raillore - Duality
Professor Layton and the Last Specter - Theme of the Last Battle
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Bowser's Galaxy Generator

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GRAND FINALE
resurrectedreplayer
Bowser's Galaxy Generator

Damned good first match, no losers there for sure

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