[VGMC] Day 1!!! feat. New, New New, Main, Main, First, and Waking Up in a Suite

CRYMACHINA - FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Donk! The Samurai Duck (CD32) - Main Title
Sonic Adventure 2 - Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Main Title
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Main Title
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

New Battle!!!
Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

aggressive mix, more like asleepening

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite
New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-

New Battle's a lot of fun! Nice swingy feel to it, getting you pumped up to fight in a different way from traditional epic JRPG tunes. I might even like this better than Torna! It's up against something very good, too! Sakuzyo rarely misses, and this is more my style of song, so I think I like it slightly better? Very close match!

Donk title feels like a boring mainstream song to me. Give me video game music instead plz. I was never a huge fan of The Suite back in the day, but I got more into it over the years, and now I'm actually a fan. It's chill, but has that electronic feel I love, and the way it builds over time really works for me, even if it doesn't have an explosive climax.

I was never a huge fan of Live and Learn back in the day, and after finally playing SA2... that hasn't changed. Still pretty meh stuff. New Bodhum isn't my favorite song of this style in the FF13 games, but it's one I still like very much, since I love the style in general. The ethereal instrumentation combined with vocals was really unique at the time, and a great evolution for the direction VG music could go in general, especially considering that it came out only a few months apart from Nier.

Four good songs today!

New Battle!!!
Main Title
New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-

New Battle!!!
Main Title
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

Second and third match not too hard, first match is tough.

@DanShux you have to select one from each pair to vote

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest

Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite

New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix

New Battle!!!
Main Title
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

deo what the fuck

huh I actually like the suite now, not enough but that's neat

deo what the fuck

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Main Title
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

New Battle is so happy I want to clap along. This is a hard first match.

I like New Bodhum regular mix much more than the Aggressive mix. The regular mixs chill jazzy instruments complement the vocals without overwhelming them, and its more intricate instrumental sections like 1:44-3:41 are also quite soothing. What the Aggressive mix does have going for it is the distortion effects on the vocals which I am a sucker for, 8:38-8:51 being my favorite.

This here is my second VGMC in a row, and Im already feeling like a seasoned player. Maybe this is a common thought people have their second time around, but Im worried that this field of songs wont live up to the greatness of VGMC17s. Ive listened through almost all the previous brackets now, so first-contest glow or no, I feel pretty confident saying that VGMC17s field was my favorite ever. Well however I end up feeling about that, it is undoubtedly a joy to participate in VGMC alongside everyone else. So to everyone here now, thank you, and lets make this the best VGMC ever, until the next one that is. After all, the best is yet to come (I couldnt resist).

CRYMACHINA - FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Enthusia Professional Racing - Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite
???

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - New Battle!!!
Donk! The Samurai Duck (CD32) - Main Title
Sonic Adventure 2 - Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

MATCH 1

New Battle is a pretty fun, upbeat song! It feels like it's in a similar style to other jazz-esque Xenoblade songs like Torna's battle theme, but it never feels like it's repetitive or same-y. The interplay between the guitar, piano, and strings is very nice. The key change is also a cool touch to the song.

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest is pretty interesting. It has some nice vocals and background instrumentation, but I feel like it's missing some melodic oomph that I find myself wanting to hear from the song. I think if there was more of a melodic focus to the song, I could see myself taking it here. That's not to say it's bad, though! It's solidly in my top half of songs for today. I'd take it over either of the match 2 songs, but it got a rough draw unfortunately.

MATCH 2

I feel like there are better 90's dance songs out there, but Main Title still has a cool vibe to it with its danciness! It's not exactly a standout song to me, but it's plenty serviceable.

So this is the fabled suite. The Suite. It's not bad! I only really start to get into it towards the end, though, at 7:40. The buildup to it is fine, but it doesn't really hold my interest all that much, although I do appreciate the chill vibes to it.

MATCH 3

While not my absolute favorite Sonic song, Live and Learn is still a great representative in its own right and is an incredibly iconic song. Jam-packed Crush 40 rock at its best!

New Bodhum is pretty cool too! I like the mix of the drums, piano, and acoustic guitar in the first half or so of the song as wells as the vocals. The delay effect or whatever you call it on the vocals that gives it that echoey sound is a cool addition to the vocals as well. There's a few dull parts with the song in my eyes like 2:28-3:06 and 8:08-8:52, and I'm less big on the trance-like back half of the song than the first half, but overall, I do like it! Live and Learn is the clear pick here for me though.

Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2" > New Battle!!! > FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest > New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix- > Main Title > Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite

Good start to the contest! New Battle and Live and Learn were very close for my A1 retiree pick. Ultimately, I picked Live and Learn, but I'd be very happy with either of them being it.

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite
New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-

right side !!!!

New Battle!!!
Abstain
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

I've always said none of the modern Torna-likes hit as hard as Torna. However, NB takes some tropical-ish percussion instead and I really dig that. The main melody is very catchy too and I dig those solos. Very good, very good. Crymachina is very nice, the drop hits great. Par for the course for VGMC, really.

Donk is very good 80s dance stuff. If I didn't knew any better I'd imagine they'd just license this, but nevertheless it's quite respectable. Enthusia is fine, the final part is really good the buildup doesn't do mind blowing stuff. I guess I'm not feeling either today. And I don't have time to decide, either...

Well, does New Bohdum surpass my liking for Live & Learn? Looks like no, but this song is really pretty, with the characteristic details I adore of FF 13 music, and the second part is a very nice change. I won't be mad if it wins. Live & Learn is just a song that always gets me excited, a tried and true formula. Bless SA2 music. But again, perfectly fine if NB makes it!

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed - New Battle!!!
Enthusia Professional Racing - AWAKENING ~Nrburgring Suite~ [Nrburgring Nordschleife]
Sonic Adventure 2 - Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2" > New Battle!!! > AWAKENING ~Nrburgring Suite~ [Nrburgring Nordschleife] > New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum - Aggressive Mix - > Main Title > FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest (feat. Enoa (Hikaru Tono))

Y'know what, I saw someone else posting their ratings of songs so I figured "eh fuck it I'll do the same", you have been warned.

New Battle!!! - 9
Not my favorite Xenoblade song, but probably my favorite Xenoblade song of this style (though Fogbeasts is close). Great guitar, great piano, great everything. Also electric guitar + piano is probably my favorite instrument combination so yeah I have some bias here. Already well acquainted with this song, though not from the game itself (maybe someday! :sansshrug:).

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest (feat. Enoa (Hikaru Tono)) - 6
I've heard a few other songs from this game and none of them grabbed me so I don't particularly have any high hopes here. Yeah I can't say as this is particularly my thing, the vocals in the verses kinda remind me of Mili (who's kinda hit or miss for me, love Sleep Talk Metropolis but nothing else has grabbed me yet) and the choruses just feel like generic rhythm game stuff I've heard in Geometry Dash layouts lmfao.

Main Title - 7
...are we sure this is VGM? This just feels like a normal-ass song stuck in an entirely unrelated game for absolutely no reason. It's decent, it's well made, but I've probably heard dozens of other songs exactly like this before.

AWAKENING ~Nrburgring Suite~ [Nrburgring Nordschleife] - 8.25
Okay not entirely sure what I expected going in but this is a damn cool song all things considered, going off of soundtrack placement this seems to be the final "level" and yeah this definitely fits that vibe. Really nice listening up until 7:40, when a fucking electric guitar lead comes in out of nowhere and I love it.I dunno what else to say, probably should've been keeping notes lmao, but yeah this is pretty great.

Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2" - 9.5
So L&L is one of those songs where I love it, but simultaneously I wish it didn't take attention away from other songs I love more in the same category, y'know? Decided to give it a shot anyways just bc I figured this might be the best shot at getting Crush 40 to do well. Anyways yeah all that aside this still fucks lol I do in fact love (most) Sonic vocal songs

New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum - Aggressive Mix - - 8
This is a pretty interesting song (or well, pair of songs I guess), kinda reminds me of the Amy/Knuckles/Tails Mvt. themes from Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon. Admittedly tho, I wasn't the biggest fan of those (much preferred Second Wind - Sonic Mvt.) and similarly this doesn't ***super*** grab me. Still a pretty neat song tho.

VOTES:
Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"

Okay I said I'd come back later on to vote on matches 2-3 so here they are. Voted on match 1 already a while back.

My writeups this year will probably be a lot more brief than they have been in past years due to having less time in general, but I'll do my best.

New Battle!!!: Yeah, none of these Battle!!/Torna clones are nearly as good as the original. It's still a good song, but I'd rather just listen to Battle!!/Torna.

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest: Sakuzyo has some excellent production techniques and his synths are a delight to listen to. The Mili-like vocals are never outstanding, but they get the job done. The breakdowns are my favorite part.

Main Title: Nice 90's-like house song. Vocals are solid too. Not much else to say about it.

Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite: One of my favorites in the contest already. The soundscape is genuinely incredible, and I love slow-burn buildups like this. Worth every second of the 9:48 runtime.

Live & Learn: The lead vocals were not mixed for headphones lol. They drown in the mix with headphones. They sound fine on speakers though. Regardless, this is a fun 2000's alt-rock song.

New Bodhum: And we have a second slow-burn song that's one of my favorite songs in the contest on day 1. Suzuki's synths are awesome and Origa (RIP) has one of the most heavenly voices out there. The Aggressive half is where I really love this track, where the synths get more intense and becomes essentially a trance banger. Great stuff.

Really great day to start things off this year.

Votes:
FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Awakening ~ Nrburgring Suite
New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-

New Battle!!!
Main Title
New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-

Xenoblade jazz always makes me happy! New Battle!!! is no exception to that rule. This doesn't reach the heights of Torna Battle for me, but it's such a happy-spirited, catchy groove that earns my love for its performance. My favorite part is easily 1:28, when the guitar/clapping combo hits my eardrums. Solid theme!

There's some spacey, cool futuristic vibes coming from this CRYMACHINA track, I really like the airy vocals along with the synths working together on here. I definitely enjoy one or two tracks that I've heard from this more, but that shouldn't downplay how weirdly cool I think this sounds.

I've found heaven in this '80s style track with this weird-looking duck. I'm not sure where he came from, but I'm more than happy to follow if he's starting his introduction like this.

So this is the Suite...it's cool! It's pretty chill background music that lets me zone out for a bit. I don't really care much for the guitar part at the end, I kinda wish it was all soft piano synths and low guitar for the entirety of it. I can maybe see this growing on me with time.

Live & Learn is by all means a classic for Sonic in general. I'm not sure if it's the best I've enjoyed from Crush 40, but I find it, the epitome of the phrase "butt rock", really appealing for the era it hails from! That electric guitar and vocal combo screams 2000's for sure, and I think I wouldn't have it any other way.

...God, Origa was such a good choice for vocals in this soundtrack. The song already starts sounding dreamy and everything, and then Origa transforms it into something ethereal . I definitely enjoy the normal mix more than the Aggressive mix, but it doesn't drag the song down in any meaningful way. Maybe it does run for a bit too long, but there's so much to enjoy in this that it's really a minor complaint for such an experience.

FightFirstDeusExMachina_Dearest
Main Title
New Bodhum ~ New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-

New Battle
Main Title
Live & Learn ...Main Theme of "Sonic Adventure 2"