Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 45! feat. Mulne, Budbird, and Vistajade

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 19, 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=479594
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HqEzmlfEUsm6BWJbBxDm6ZUnQQ_2d1ezDlVBN2sYepY
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80981071
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0zm7Svx4DXDy1XjUejSBazd
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HBxgL9woiCMFKNOPuN_qdxmzjStJXSpC3Ocalfsavdk
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
VGMC info site (thank you p0!!): https://p0p0p0p.github.io/
Discord: https://discord.gg/7FVXqWj

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!

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Match 1

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Kaze no Ne
Composer: Kumi Tanioka
Loop Point: 3:34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkQkixyZH68

Phoenotopia: Awakening - Caves of Mul
Composer: sillythewilly
Loop Point: 2:22
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfAM-27PVQU

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Match 2

MementoMori: AFKRPG - XIII. THE BUD
Composer: Bedich Smetana, Takanobu Yabuuchi arr. Takanobu Yabuuchi
Loop Point: 5:29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3qmWeKxwkQ

Shinju no Yakata - Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Composer: Yoh Ohyama
Loop Point: 5:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DSmcq68bW0

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Match 3

Genshin Impact - Jade Chimes
Composer: Yuxi Wang
Loop Point: 2:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L7kpRaOWjk

Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD) - Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)
Composer: Spencer Nilsen
Loop Point: 4:33
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCiLK-9pgJs

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Easy vote form:
Kaze no Ne / Caves of Mul
XIII. THE BUD / Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes / Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Kaze no Ne
MementoMori: AFKRPG - XIII. THE BUD
Genshin Impact - Jade Chimes

Kaze no Ne (Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles)
Loneliness of the Caged Bird (Shinju no Yakata)
Title Screen (Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD))

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Caves of Mul
XIII. THE BUD
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Third match is rough... would have taken Jade Chimes over anything in the first two matches.

Phoenotopia: Awakening - Caves of Mul
MementoMori: AFKRPG - XIII. THE BUD
Genshin Impact - Jade Chimes

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Progressive round 2 write-ups:

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Kaze no Ne received rank 2 of 3 as a strong contender. I've always found KnN to be an incredibly pretty piece while simultaneously very engaging. Every change in the song from the middle eastern drums entering to the chorus to the instrumental solo serve to preserve the momentum and maintain interest without betraying what made the song appealing in the first place. 7.5/10

Phoenotopia: Awakening - Caves of Mul receives rank 1 of 4, and is a fantastic piece that received an unfortunate bracket placement last year, and I'm happy to see getting some respect this year even if it has to go up against FFCC in R2. It does a lot of the same things Kaze no Ne does, while being a chill instrumental piece driven by its vibe and its bass line. 8.2/10

MementoMori: AFKRPG - XIII. THE BUD receives rank 4 of 5. I'm trying to figure out what, specifically, this track reminds me of. Maybe Fontaine from Genshin? The singer certainly sounds like Furina. Over the course of 6 minutes, the track moves around, but mostly follows a 2-pattern focused on a female vocalist who does a respectable job, but in a style I don't absolutely love. I have mixed opinions about THE BUD since it does a good job of selling itself during the highs, but there are also some lows. I'm gonna go with a flat 6/10

Shinju no Yakata - Loneliness of the Caged Bird receives rank 4 of 6. Man, this song takes a long time to build. I spent 2 1/2 minutes expecting any moment for the tempo to pick up, and while the noir portion of the track is very smooth, I was a little exhausted from the "will they won't they" of moving on from this segment, which apparently is the main focus rather than just an intro since it goes right back to that a minute later and more or less lives there. 6.2/10

Genshin Impact - Jade Chimes receives rank 1 of 7. This is not a typical track for me, and yet I find it incredibly *engaging*. You'll notice me using this word throughout many of these write-ups, but I feel it's absolutely the right choice here to embody what Jade Chimes does, and my only regret is that as a Genshin overworld track, it's not given the chance to really fully develop and ends a bit too quickly. Another 30 seconds to wind it down instead of clipping it short would have done it wonders. 8.4/10

Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD) - Title Screen (Aqua Vistas) receives rank 4 of 8. This makes for an interesting match because Ecco and Jade Chimes are quite similar in how they are not very bombastic, but slowly draw you in, compelling you to listen more intently as they evolve. While JC has a very clear build, Ecco has much more of a rise and fall, relying on the prog development to keep things interesting, and is incredibly chill. I expect it to win, but it will be an interesting match regardless. 7.8/10

(I wrote these all a couple days ago, and present me claims no responsbility for them.)

Kaze no Ne
XIII. THE BUD
Jade Chimes

omg i can do this right away cause i dont have to like pay super attention to ranking things on the fly LOL

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

From Hbthebattle:

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen

From Paratroopa1:

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen

Caves
Bud
Screen

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

if Aquatic Ambiance is so good where's- ohhhhhh

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

caves of moi
the bud
Jade Chimes

what is more painful: the pain of forgetting to vote, or the pain of not being able to vote for two songs you love?

there are there vocal songs today and i have yet to make a tl of one of them THIS CANNOT STAND or even sit!!!

Come to me, my beloved
Yearn for the moonless night
When on twilit steps flowers bloom

For the dreams this fleeting life offers are by mischief
Led astray, cast into darkness
Ahh, the siren call
The neverending loneliness of the caged bird

Come to me; I have waited so long
My tears dried, my heart turned to stone
I want to go home, just go home, back to those days
A familiar face; a fragrant flower. Night beckons; the bird beckons

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze No Ne
Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Caves of Mul
XIII. THE BUD
Jade Chimes

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Jade Chimes > Kaze no Ne > Caves of Mul > Aqua Vistas > Loneliness of the Caged Bird > XIII. THE BUD

Everything is good today.

Caves of Mul
XIII. THE BUD
Jade Chimes

caves of mul
loneliness of the caged bird
aqua vistas

Kaze no Ne
---
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Caves of Mul and Jade Chimes have grown on me a lot... (please don't lose yet)

Caves
Birds
Dolphins

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Morning Sky
abstain
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Title Screen (Aqua Vistas) > Morning Sky > Caves of Mul > Jade Chimes > XIII. THE BUD = Loneliness of the Caged Bird

Morning Sky - 8.25
I love that this song has three names and neither the name on the bracket nor the video title is the right one. anyways I remember liking this a lot more but it's still pretty great

Caves of Mul - 8
nice song I like

XIII. THE BUD - 6.5
doesn't do anything for me

Loneliness of the Caged Bird - 6.5
are we sure these aren't the same song

Jade Chimes - 7
yeah I don't get it

Title Screen (Aqua Vistas) - 8.5
now THIS is the good shit

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

For some reason I thought Scratch 'P' was still in even though there's absolutely no way it would be.

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Caves of Mul [A] > Loneliness of the Caged Bird [A] > Jade Chimes [B] > Aqua Vistas [C] > Kaze no Ne [C] > THE BUD [F]

Singer in the bud be like: https://youtu.be/PkDO1lDNpCk?feature=shared

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Sorry Caves, they're both great but I just love Kaze no Ne very very much.

I'm not super into both but Caged Bird really stands out in about everything, beautiful song.

This match is stacked but I'm actually feeling more the simplicity of Jade today. Ecco is a pretty good track though so I'm happy if it wins.

Kaze no Ne
XIII. THE BUD
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Based on my rankings, the gap between these two songs were reasonably wide. I remember finding Mul decent, but not sticking in my mind, while Kaze no Ne is one of those songs that fluctuated in the 8-8.5/10 range. The piano in Caves of Mul hits harder this go around to the point that I might bump it up a bit in my ranking if it's still this memorable later.... I... still prefer Kaze no Ne though!

XIII. THE BUD is one of the Japanese vocal songs that I remember enough to explain how it goes (and not in a bad way). I remember Loneliness of the Caged Bird less than Caves of Mul, which doesn't bode well. After listening, I'm actually surprised I ranked this so low. I can't even blame it on anime game Japanese vocal music fatigue!!!!! I do still prefer THE BUD, but this one is definitely getting a slight bump in my rankings too.

Really wish one of the match 3 songs was in match 2 instead so I could vote for both. Not that I hate either of those, but instead that I really really like these two tracks. I will say that every time I listen to Jade Chimes I want to leave manure in the shoes of the MiHoYo executive who decided that all of the overworld themes in this game had to be so short.

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Tough day!

Caves of Mul
XIII. THE BUD
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

MATCH 1
Match 1 is painful.
You know that these two are strong because Kaze lost by a small amount to Secret of the Forest, and Mul lost by a small amount to Castle of Sand.
It sucks that one of them is going to get back luck again.
And theyre both two of the better songs in the contest imo (not sure about best, but theyre up there. Approximately upper 1/3 for Mul and approximately top 15 for Kaze, at least for me).

MATCH 2
The BUD continues to have vocals that annoy me despite the stellar instrumentation. Caged Bird has similar vibes to BUD but with vocals that dont annoy me, so its an easy vote here.

MATCH 3:
Jade Chimes has grown on me a bit. However, its still not even close to one of my favorite Genshin songs.
Title Screen is wonderful. I feel bad for voting against one of my favorite OSTs, but I guess this is what happens when the rep isnt one of my favorite songs from said OST. Gotta hand it to the dolphin for this one.

VOTES:
Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Match 3 is probably the best (and closest) match today. You'd think I remember how atmospheric Ecco is on the regular, but apparently my mind wiped itself since the last time Aqua Vistas came up!

Caves of Mul
XIII. THE BUD
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Match 1 was hotly anticipated precontest, at which time I expected to vote Kaze no Ne. Come Round 1, I was struck by how good Caves of Mul is, even better than I remembered from last year. Its still a hard choice, Kaze no Nes vocals are as good as ever, but its hurt by the drumbeat getting a little too repetitive. It does have its big wow moment at 2:11, but Caves of Mul has one of its own at 1:36, and is more consistently interesting throughout.

I think most of my preferred mashups have been vocal song plus non-vocal song, which I guess tends to happen when I like a lot of vocal songs. Anyway, imagining the I think Im better then you, Im better than you chant over the clapping in 1996 H.K. is funny.

Caves of Mul
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Caves of Mul
XIII. THE BUD
Jade Chimes

Kaze no Ne
Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Jade Chimes

Loneliness of the Caged Bird > XIII. THE BUD >> Kaze no Ne > Caves of Mul > Jade Chimes > Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Match 2 is BRUTAL. It's first one this contest that where it feels like I'm deciding by a hair length's, and I could see myself rooting for either of those songs into retirement. I guess that's just the nature of VGMC though, and there's more of these heartbreakers coming soon too.
Ultimately, if I had to put it into words, while I find the vocal performance on THE BUD stunning, overall, Loneliness of the Caged Bird feels like the more tightly composed and distinctive song. It feels more evocative.

Phoenotopia: Awakening - Caves of Mul
Shinju no Yakata - Loneliness of the Caged Bird
Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD) - Title Screen (Aqua Vistas)

Rare day where I could just easily follow my bracket and I vote against it