Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 8! APOPHENIA/LayerCake, Underwater1-4/Crocus, LumaPools/CrystalCaves

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 17, 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=477304
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SAJKYJmYhccLvbf_H-5uSA7-eMwXfW8k1q74Qho1bLU
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80433657
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0wlcxj-kHQRU1yHo-kpMxGe
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IU5iCFTM_4WEx8ZWKwznMz5v2tarCKh1Ag0mxIgAes
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 through the loop time provided (to make sure you don't skip before you've heard the whole thing!)
- Please consider the loop point listed when judging the song; if a video loops one minute 5 times, don't treat it as if it's a repetitive 5 minute song
- If it's a match between your favorite song ever and a song you despise, still LISTEN TO BOTH! Votes can and will be disqualified if there is suspicion songs are not being listened to, and you may be discounted for the rest of the contest for repeat offenses.
- No alt accounts, no rallying or begging, etc., etc.... You only get one vote! Swapping votes is alright, just make clear that you've already made a vote and are swapping.
- Make clear what your voting options are! Please keep votes separate from any comments, and use the titles given in the topic post.
- Voting in all matches is not mandatory, feel free to skip matches you do not wish to vote in.
- Vote based on the links provided, and not other sources of audio. Links are specifically chosen for best quality and the like.
- Don't discuss vote tallies in this thread, or in other threads, as they may influence votes. Likewise, please refrain from looking at the running tally before voting.

Voting Period:
- Today's matches will last 24 hours from the time of posting, or 24 hours from 10pm Eastern, whichever is the later time.
- Please note this may mean that two topics will be active at the same time!
- If you anticipate being unable to vote in a given day, please send an absentee vote to @banshiryuu, or post your absentee vote in the discussion thread!

.

Match 1

Arcaea - NULL APOPHENIA
Composer: N
Loop Point: 3:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-3XBYnKaCU

Persona 5 - Layer Cake
Composer: Shoji Meguro
Loop Point: 2:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFJxgfPYiMI

.

Match 2

Frogger Beyond - Underwater Lv. 1/4
Composer: Chuck E. Myers, Brady Ellis, Lisle Moore, Tino Saiki, Walter B. Gaisford
Loop Point: 2:00
https:/

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Luma Pools

abstain
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

Cake
Crocus
Caves

c.

Did some prelistening today

Layer Cake
Underwater Level 1/4
Crystal Caves

Arcaea and Ryza weren't for me today. Ori was, but got absolutely robbed for going against its matchup, I feel (though pretty much anything would be for CC, I also feel.)

Layer Cake
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout - Crocus
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Luma Pools

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater
Luma Pools

CRYSTAL CAVES > Crocus > NULL APOPHENIA Layer Cake > Underwater Lv. 1/4 > Luma Pools

Arcaea - NULL APOPHENIA
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout - Crocus
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - CRYSTAL CAVES

Luma from Galaxy 1 clears Luma Pools btw it's not even close

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Luma Pools

Layer Cake
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

Three matches where every song is at the same level, wow. Difficult decisions here, had a nice time. Also, rare instance where I support Persona 5, but here I go.

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

Layer Cake
Crocus
Luma Pools

< P0's Top 16 >
9.3 (1 left):
9.1 (1 left):
8.9 (0 left): Crocus
8.8 (1 left):
8.7 (0 left): Purna
8.4 (1 left): Journey To Candle Hill
8.3 (4 left):
8.2 (4 left):
8.1 (1 left):

It still hits! Now that the Ryza trilogy has finally concluded, I appreciate Crocus all the more compared to the second and third ending themes, and it's a great sendoff to this chapter of Atelier. DON'T YOU FORGEEEEET IT'S YOUR HAND I'LL HOOOOOOOOLD

Null
Underwater
Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Luma Pools

I was pretty sure I was going to vote for Crystal Caves, but the chords in the intro of Luma Pools are strong

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

sorry rhythm gamers ;___; also swapping on my match 2, crocus is actually hitting rn wow. anyway crystal caves is now probably what i want to win bracket a (maaaaaybe shinin queen idk)

From TunnelScene:

NULL APOPHENIA (Arcaea)
Underwater Lv. 1/4 (Frogger Beyond)
Crystal Caves (Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom)

the same category as opn I bite through it where it's just a common 3+3+2 rhythm but presented so aggressively and rapidly that it winds up sounding super erratic instead. I like that! crazy sound design that's always evolving

p5 so often features these amazing basslines with lots of constant 16ths that I really love

I could go on quite a bit about how amazing I think the sound design is in this game's music. one of the most ALIVE soundtracks I can think of. the tracks that truly excite me are kinda sporadic because its a very eclectic ost, but this is one of the ones that's absolutely style. the echoy mallets, reverby guitars? nothing sits still, it's all swirling into this wet vortex and I really feel like I'm staring in wonder at ATLANTIS. it's got that angular "eden 1" ascending sequence. and this distorted percussion oh my god. I really don't know what to say because I just want to say everything. . . I definitely like this track for similar reasons to why I like Opoona music. just the relentlessly trippy dense production and merge of electronic and natural. I think this contest has more 10/10s for me than any vgmc has ever had. this track is somewhere in my top 50 now, along with a great deal of others that weren't originally there when I ran that guessing game. (this isn't the only time I'll say that this contest. I mean I already said it with kaze no notam menu I guess)

mmmm mellotron flute

oh man all the tuned percussion at 2:00 is such a treat. also later on lots of vibraphone. it's refreshing to hear vibraphone in a less "cool city jazz at smoky bar with suave ass holes that i dont like" context and instead to represent nature. it's technically my favorite instrument to play and timbrally my favorite non-synth, but often it's just used in contexts I'm not a fan of. a big thing that made me fall in love with vibraphones is the track "lunch with the king" from American beauty. that has a similar almost computery constant 8ths sequence that somehow manages to evoke nature like this one as well

the FM8 preset sequence that's in both this and ff13-2 the labyrinth of time makes me so happy ^^

From NFUN:

Null Apoidea
Underwater
....tbd

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Crystal Caves

Layer Cake
Underwater Lv. 1/4 /
Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Luma Pools

I don't really like Crocus that much but I'll still take it over its opponent. I guess I liked Luma Pools the most out of the day.

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Crystal Caves

abstain
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Luma Pools

Arcaea - NULL APOPHENIA
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout - Crocus
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - Luma Pools

Tough round for arcaea to be against persona 5 of all things, I hope that it'll get the love it deserves either way

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Luma Pools

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Crystal Caves

Gr8 day to vote on VGMC!!

NULL APOPHENIA
Underwater
Crystal Caves

Bruh null goes hard like how

Persona 5 - Layer Cake
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout - Crocus
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - Luma Pools

NULL APOPHENIA: The synths in this are pretty cool. And it doesn't have excessive kicks, which is something that I feel this type of music does way too much. The irregular rhythms are intriguing as well. It does feel like it just ends though with nothing to set it up. Good song.

Layer Cake: This sure is a Persona 5 song. Not that that's a bad thing, the bass and keys are great. Very chill and fun song.

Underwater Lv. 1/4: This definitely has the Tunnel soundscape, which I enjoy quite a bit. Just a cool song with cool sounds. Unfortunately, it's up against one of my favorite songs in Bracket A.

Crocus: The instrumental on this is about as good of an instrumental as you can get on a vocal song. The soft, yet dramatic first section. Then the shift to a more upbeat instrumental around the 2 minute mark with the guitar and keys. The guitar solo later on is fantastic, finally followed by the impactful key change. The melody is fantastic, and there's so much detail in the instrumental that every time I listen to it, I appreciate this song more. ROXI CHEN's vocals aren't the best thing ever, perhaps being a bit too airy, but I like them. Love this one a lot.

Luma Pools: Two songs in a row that give me chills every time I listen to them. The intro is absolutely magical in this one. Powerful piano chords accompanied by the vocals and the mallet percussion just make a great combo. The piano and the varying types of mallet percussion throughout this just create a wonderful soundscape. 3:36 to the end is probably my favorite with that buildup and lovely piano runs. Fantastic song. A hypothetical match between this and Crocus would be absolutely painful for me.

Crystal Caves: This is a fun song, highlighted by its underlying ostinato and percussion more than anything. The middle section (0:43-1:42) I feel drags a bit with the melody just playing half notes with little rhythmic variation. Good song, but it doesn't stand a chance against Luma Pools for me.

Two absolutely incredible songs, and the rest were also good, so a very good day for me today.

Votes:
Layer Cake
Crocus
Luma Pools

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

I had Crocus in my head this morning for some reason. Didn't know it was up today, weird.

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

wtf is an apophenia? like I guess it doesn't matter, if it's been nulled. This is one of those intros that I like but I can't let myself like too much because I know it's going to turn into a rhythm apophenia and there we go. Stop punching me in the face with a bass, rhythm games. I don't know why you do this and I'm sure I did something to deserve it but it's not nice.

mmmm cake. that said, this song isn't very sugary. This is a very tart cake. I don't know why you'd make a cake taste tarty though that just sounds like a mistake. All that said, this is to me an extremely milquetoast pick from a game with a stupendous soundtrack.

oh hey i'm 25% underwater very amphibian. The whatever-the-stringed-instrument-is-called is really nice with the Atlantis-y rhythm. Definitely a track to explore underwater ruins to. It grew on me a lot over the past four minutes, and if it wins, maybe it'll keep growing on me.

frog vs. croak I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. I like ballads that grow in emotion and energy over the course of their run, and Crocus nails that. I wasn't exactly expecting the jazz turn, not the biggest fan of it here. Or maybe it does work, gives the piece a more mature curiosity. Going from childlike exploration in the first verse, to teenage exploration in the third, and then with the guitar coming in a young adult's exploration? That kinda makes sense. and kinda matches the lyrics I think I dunno her enunciation isn't the clearest.

Puma Lools: Ori is a good series i recommend it. However, Light of Nibel this is not. It's still fine, but again, this is not on that next level, not even close.

Crystal Caves is interesting, not completely up my alley but that initial lick is pretty sick.

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

HidekuniHorita posted...

but the chords in the intro of Luma Pools are strong

TunnelScene

oh man all the tuned percussion at 2:00 is such a treat.

They nailed the two main reasons I like Luma so much.

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Crystal Caves

Arcaea - NULL APOPHENIA
Frogger Beyond - Underwater Lv. 1/4
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA []
Layer Cake [=]
Underwater Lv. 1/4 [ ]
Crocus [X]
Luma Pools [=]
Crystal Caves [ ]

I've gone from having no strong feelings about Crocus to actively disliking Crocus. This metric will surely improve as Crocus continues to be Crocus in these contests. It's Crocus. See you next year Crocus

The icy synths on Crystal Caves are way too good

Layer Cake
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

Layer Cake is some classic Shoji Meguro. It reminds me of the sound test track from Nocturne.
Crocus and Luma Pools are exactly the kind of VGM I couldn't care less about. Sorry. It's not my thing. Hence I've found today's matches pretty damn weak.

Persona 5 - Layer Cake
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout - Crocus
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - Crystal Caves

NULL APOPHENIA
Crocus
Crystal Caves

Null's pretty fun, though a little too high pitched maybe? Layer Cake is solid, but not something that I'd ever pick from P5 to get into a contest...

Likewise, there are literally hundreds of Atelier songs I'd choose over Crocus. Not that it's bad, just disappointing. Underwater is a bit interesting, just one of those songs that feels like buildup that never goes anywhere.

Layer Cake
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

Layer Cake
Underwater Lv. 1/4
Crystal Caves

Layer Cake
Crocus
Luma Pools

NULL APOPHENIA has some neat piano and some cool use of dissonance, but it's held back too much by the percussion for it to have much of a shot at my vote. Layer Cake is low(?)-key one of my favorite Persona songs. Love the contrast between the tense beginning and the jam that is the rest of the song. The guitar part is also very pleasant to listen to, as with a lot of Shoji Meguro songs.

Didn't see this coming at all but I really love how this Frogger song uses weird instruments and echo effects to make this sound like water music. The banjo is a nice touch also. Crocus is still a very pretty song. There's something about it that feels a lot more intimate and earnest than a lot of other similar vocal ballades and it's just a treat from start to finish. I have to vote Crocus here but I wouldn't be sad at all to see Underwater Lv 1/4 go far either.

Luma Pools is a nice calming song and I love the variety of percussion and woodwind instruments it uses. Crystal Caves is a thoroughly fun song that gets me excited, and yet it still feels outclassed compared to most of its competition today. That honestly says more about the other songs though.

Crocus > Layer Cake > Luma Pools > Underwater LV 1/4 > Crystal Caves > NULL APOPHENIA

Really good day. There's definitely been multiple matches so far where Crystal caves would have been good enough for my vote.

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

Today is absolutely crazy bananas - with three easy 9+ songs, two 8+ ones (including one that's a borderline 9!), and one that may fall just a little short of 8, but still a fantastic discovery.

That song in question is NULL APOPHENIA, something that completely passed by my radar in the nomination phase. The intro is strong, brooding and dark. I may have been a little disappointed in the fact that it evolves into rhythm music hell BUT it manages to avoid the trappings of the worst of the genre. The chaos in this instance was more than bearable.

Regrettably, it goes up against one of my 9s. Layer Cake starts out kinda like NULL in a way, darker and moodier in the intro. But man it just shifts into such a groovy tune. P5 is a hard soundtrack to sell to me... It literally took until earlier this week for me to warm up to Last Surprise, but man this song right here is such a slam dunk, such a hitter of a track. God, so good ...

Why must the frog go up against Crocus??? Underwater Cave is so nice .... The soundscape, the mallet instrument, it feels so ALIVE to me. I love it it is always a good day when I vibe with TunnelScene

But Jesus Christ Crocus is just SO GOOD. Those jazzy keys and that guitar backing the soft and airy vocals. Strong and catchy melody. I sing this song to myself on the regular. Jesus Christ why did I vote against it last year????????????

Every match is mean but 3 is maybe the meanest. Luma Pools is definitely a bit of a "me" song. I really do feel as though this song gently picks me up and puts me in another world. It doesn't need to be loud or busy, it doesn't need to go overboard.

But wtf Crystal Caves was very much an immediate support since it was played in previews. Hell, if I was the sort to nominate songs myself, I totally could see myself doing so. Another fun earworm that gets my vote.

Seriously Jesus I love today. If I was banned from listening to anything else today I would not be pissed.

Layer Cake
Crocus
Crystal Caves

big fan of the "OST Ownage" channel name