Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 99! Id (Purpose) vs resurrectedreplayer!! THE FINALS!!

(+) 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/79595092
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: https://discord.gg/WDvMS4a

Rules:
- Listen to both songs in a given match, at least throu

Fire Emblem Awakening - Id (Purpose)

---

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - resurrectedreplayer

---

Id (Purpose)

---

I remember back in VGMC10 when ToC2 was run, this song "lastendconductor" made a finals run that annoyed me to no end because the song didn't seem to have good enough ideas to justify its length. it made me think I didn't like Umineko music, or at least not "zts epics", and while The Executioner and goldenslaughterer were a bit better it wasn't enough to override my distaste for it.

Funny how silly first impressions can be.

resurrectedreplayer

---

resurrectedreplayer

THE DAY OF RECKONING HAS ARRlVED

---

resurrectedreplayer

Id (Purpose)

---

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - resurrectedreplayer
---

I remember back in VGMC10 when VGMC was run, this song "Id ~ Purpose" made a retirement run that annoyed me to no end because I didn't like it. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because I hadn't liked it. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because I hadn't liked it. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because it wouldn't go away even though I should've liked Fire Emblem music then. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because it made me hate much Fire Emblem music by association as Id grew to represent everything sick about these contests. Thanks for helping to ruin a franchise's music that I should like, Id

resurrectedreplayer

---

resurrectedreplayer

Purpose
---

NFUN posted...

I remember back in VGMC10 when VGMC was run, this song "Id ~ Purpose" made a retirement run that annoyed me to no end because I didn't like it. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because I hadn't liked it. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because I hadn't liked it. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because it wouldn't go away even though I should've liked Fire Emblem music then. And then it showed up the next year and I didn't like it because it made me hate much Fire Emblem music by association as Id grew to represent everything sick about these contests. Thanks for helping to ruin a franchise's music that I should like, Id

https://i.imgur.com/bd10p.gif


---

id

---

resurrectedreplayer

resurrectedreplayer

If I am being honest with myself, Id (Purpose) is closer to a high end [7.5] or even [8] normally, but I am just extremely peeved by the mediocre main theme vocal cover butting in and killing off the first half's vibe. It doesn't help that I am slightly down on rr right now making this far closer of a match than it should be.

Id (Purpose)
---

resurrectedreplayer

Not gonna be late today, I already know my vote and it's an easy one

Ironic, I kept joking about "lol umineko wins on b8" but this deserves it enough

Id ~ Purpose

---

Id (Purpose)
---

resurrectedreplayer
---

Id (Purpose)

---

resurrectedreplayer

---

resurrectedreplayer

I suddenly like both songs a ton more than before what THE HECK. well umineko is my winner but fire emblem would be an amazing turn of events. I don't care anymore, but because i like everything. Very much learned to appreciate a lot of music i used to dismiss or perceived way differently before, kind of a rewiring of my brain's music taste, for the better I think. I enjoy a wider variety of music now, which is kinda sick. Thanks to submitters and mycro/deo for this. Quite a ride. (pls don't tie)

One is a Castlevania-style track from a VN, and the other is

Id (Purpose)

---

Id (Purpose)

---

resurrectedreplayer

from a shits and giggles standpoint, Id Purpose winning would be pretty funny ngl

---

resurrectedreplayer

---

resurrectedreplayer

This truly was, VGMC15

---

Fire Emblem Awakening - Id (Purpose)

---

Id (Purpose)

Fire Emblem Awakening - Id (Purpose)

Whether you win or lose, you're a winner in our book!

---

Oh hey, it's the finals, just over an hour ago! Definitely tagging for later.

Wait, Id Purpose made the finals of a VGMC?! Wow... Then Reach For The Moon can do it as well if it keeps trying, lol.

---

resurrectedreplayer

---

resurrectedreplayer

Id

---

Id (Purpose)

---

resurrectedreplayer

---

redurrectedreplayer

---

Id (Purpose)

Id (Purpose)

---

(

---

Id was on purpose

Id (Purpose)

I remember back in VGMC10 when- wait, no I don't! I wasn't on the board yet! Well, I did drop in to see what all the Undertale-Best Game Ever fuss was about, but it was during the VGMC offseason - ahem, what I MEANT to open with was: When this year's contest started, if I was given the choice to go straight to an Id (Purpose)-resurrectedreplayer finals instead of trying my luck with the bracket, I'd take the offer in a heartbeat! For the first time since I've participated in VGMC (that is, year 13), I came in with zero knowledge of my vote because both finalists were so good. More specifically, I was planning resurrectedreplayer, listened to the songs and gave a big swing to Id (Purpose), then cut the gap really close upon a relisten until finally sticking with Id.

To be clear, these songs are nowhere near my high tier VGMC picks. Endeavour is my favourite finalist of the last three years and Paradise (Stay Forever) is my favourite retiree this year. I like Don't speak her name! better than Id (Purpose) and was cheering for liberatedliberator over resurrectedreplayer in noms. But it's still the first finals where I wholeheartedly support both songs being here, and by an equal amount no less! Thinking about it, it even feels like a culmination of my time spent in this community, because Fire Emblem and Umineko music are two of my biggest discoveries from VGMC and BOST. My idea of FE before coming here was basically whatever was in Smash Bros. Brawl and I thought nothing of it. I started to reconsider after hearing that 3:28 section of Id in VGMC 13, but not enough to actively seek out more - it took Apex of the World (Rain) and Don't speak her name! in VGMC 14 for me to finally consider myself a FE fan. Umineko was the same kind of slow burn - I'd been into trance and techno before voting in BOST 5, but I clearly didn't "get" the zts epic tracks on my first few listens, and it was only after the finals vs. Blue Reflection that they finally started sticking in my head instead of being forgotten immediately after listening.

This final also gives me some hope for slower/low-energy songs to succeed in VGMC. I've been conditioned by Sunshine Coastline, Class::EXSPHERE_NOSURGE; and Endeavour to expect that only loud, exciting, triumphant songs are truly champion-worthy, and I still have a hard time letting go of the notion that Dreamy and Boisterous Holy Land would be the most "proper" champion this year. To tell the truth, I absolutely love slower songs that gradually build up with emotion - I don't actively maintain my VGM ranking sheet, but last I touched it The Black Song (International Version) was my #1 with a 9.7, a song I love just as much for its first half as its second half. My #2 and #3 are discolor (Umineko Chiru) and Corridors of Time, and my favourite VGMC 15 song was Besaid Island. I'd love for these kinds of songs to do better in future contests and am holding out hope that this year is at least a small step in that direction!

Finally, huge credit to both songs for the sheer longevity they've demonstrated by making the finals in freaking 2021. VGMC has been running for a long-ass time (to use the technical term), with many voters trickling out over the years only to be replaced by new ones, not to mention changes in individual tastes - I wouldn't be caught dead voting for half the songs I did in VGMC 13! Naturally, there are many past retirees (champions, even) that I would be impressed to see make it out of round 1 in this era, yet there also seem to be songs that magically keep appealing to audiences both old and new (I'm still processing the fact that Id won a contest on GamingForce of all things). In my research, I also learned just how insane Id's first few runs were - in year 8, it made round 4 and lost by 1 vote, just barely missing out on retirement. In year 9, it made round 4 AGAIN and lost by 1 to miss retirement AGAIN. In year 10, it made round 4, WHERE THE MATCH TIED, and Id lost the subsequent tiebreaker! If I was even the slightest fan of Id during those years, I'd keep cheering for it to retire too - though it'd probably have been more effective if it took a one-year break at some point, like Zero-Two.

After a 3-month wild ride, I'll say as usual that I've thoroughly enjoyed this silly contest on this relic of a website (forums in 2021???), and can't wait to do it again next year! (hey, at least we won't have to hear Id for the 25th time)

---

)

Id (Purpose)

And that's VGMC15 wrapped up (hopefully). There were some disappointments along the way but honestly I had a lot of fun. Not that I have any room to complain with my win rate.

resurrectedreplayer

Since this could well be the last time to really talk about Id (Purpleasedon'ttie)... Yeah, it's a Great Song. Turns out these are contests comprised of great songs, and Id has been around enough to arguably more definitively prove that there ARE better (and as the years went by surely more deserving) songs that it has actively denied than any other song. Even now I'm not going to forgive the voters for the terrible, very likely outright artificially rigged results to ensure it "stays forever" to loosely quote another song that pissed me off this year (not to mention scumbag nomination tactics, frequently getting in via people who couldn't care less about what else has been nominated, just memes). This year at least, it did get at least initially nominated naturally iirc, so credit where it's due there.

Id won't be my least favourite winner, but it'd still be out of my top 10 and I am glad its legacy will now lie in the past.

As for resurrectedreplayer, what a low key cinderella story it's had. When blackstarlight bombed a few years ago, I really thought there was basically no chance left for zts to amount to anything like this now, especially as trends seemed to decisively shift in the direction of the likes of xaki for umineko (there have even been points where zts non-epics like discolor have likely been more popular too...). And yet, it is here. So many years since zts epics got known better for their mere classification than their reputation, gradually fading as "gust vs falcom" or "atelier nekomata" or "pso2 the animation" became the new in things, a song that would get comfortably beaten by probably about 5 other songs in its humble, roughly 10 song grouping (especially in a full group poll like what we had the other day) is in the final of this year's contest. Questionable as the consistency of songs this year (much like the last few) has been, that's really something else. Whatever happens to it here, it's already indicated that zts songs are as strong as they've ever been, and... well, I'd say that's wild, but taking one last chance to listen without any bias... It's a gold standard for a reason. Damn straight it's strong af

Fire Emblem Awakening - Id (Purpose)

For all that's been said about this track and its history, it's legitimately good on its own merits. A shame Smash cut out the best part.