Lurker > pyresword

I was planning to to play that on release day, but apparently starting Xenoblade 3 was a mistake because I will not finish the game before the end of time.

Ok but Juna has the distinction of being the only member of the cast to get a W on Campanella that has to be worth something right? Or at least the only one I can remember anyway...)

Juna is awesome. Definitely in my top 10 characters from the series. Randy might squeak in also to be honest, and Tio doesn't miss by much. Crossbell cast so good.

Yeah I've definitely been having fun with this event.

On a separate note though god this game badly needs to make its tutorials optional.

Sewers
[ai]
I'm Your GPU

Ruan Mei is pretty much good with everyone, to be fair.

tag

Sherbet Land [CD]
Your Inception
Whisper of Relics

Prowler is definitely one of those "less than the sum of its parts" songs for me.

On the one hand MAL rankings don't mean shit, but on the other hand Frieren's reception means that Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is now closer to 30th place than it is to 1st place.

Tag.

I don't know if I want to try for a high score or a low score.

HaRRicH posted...

Two lists with four RPGs

I thought about changing my list just to prevent this, but ultimately rpg's are just 90% of the games I play.

Not counting VN's which I've always preferred to classify as their own medium

I thought Rufus was at least ok before Reverie at least but yeah I more or less agree there.

Trails in the Sky SC
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Persona 3

I will mention that I am playing through Xenoblade 3 which has a shot at making the list. However I am not finished yet and it will have to nail the landing, which Xenoblade games have a history of not doing. Time will tell I guess but the question was asked today so

Leonhart4 posted...

This show has had some pretty good one-off characters

This has definitely seemed like one of the strengths of the writer here.

I only made it halfway through both Monster and Pluto though so I only have like half a leg to stand on when making that claim >.>

Birdman
We form in crystals
The Apex of the World (Rain)

Got 11 stars but no DoT characters makes this one difficult. Topaz will actually help with the fire weak side I think once she's built, but idk for the other one. Maybe I'm supposed to to build Sampo here?

Frustrating thing is you can't really even use Clara on the physical-weak side which is how I did the last DoT one, taking advantage of the action advance part of the passive.

Hard no.

Mobilezoid posted...

Oh that's good to know, thanks! Dear Brother is on Tubi too, so not difficult to watch, maybe I'll just give it a try.

Wait really? I'd been meaning to watch this show for ages but just assumed it wasn't available anywhere. Will have to look at this when my freetime is not taken up by Xenoblade and Trails

Also what the heck is Gilbert doing here yeah. Worst character in the series and it's not close.

Unfortunately Falcom will never cement the romance of [girl introduced in Cold Steel] with [character that isn't Rean].

Edit: Ok I guess in fairness it's not like they'll do any romance with [character that is Rean] either.

Song of TRIANGLE STRATEGY
Faster Than Light
Lunar Bass

I think TRIANGLE STRATEGY would probably jump up an entire point or two (out of ten) if it were sung (entirely) in a fictional language or a language I didn't speak. The actual song though I think is very good. I also usually am not affected in lyrics to a song at all, but this is just such an extreme example where I can only mostly ignore it. Norfair--while a solid song--has mostly not the type of musical ideas that interest me. Would still vote it over a decent chunk of stuff though.

Cascaraffa I'm mostly neutral towards. Pleasant song that doesn't do much that makes it stand out to me. Faster Than Light also doesn't do a whole lot to stand out but creates a very nice ambience. The later parts of the song have a great warm vibe to them.

Arcana has really good vocals but not so great instrumentals, especially when it goes into the heavier metal and electronic parts. I like Bang Dream music more than D4DJ music for the most part, from what I've heard. Not much to say about Lunar Bass but it's an all-around solid song. Starts simple and fun and gets way cooler as it goes on in a way that makes the entire song feel stronger.

Lunar Bass = TRIANGLE STRATEGY > Faster Than Light > Arcana > Norfair > Cascaraffa

Yes

Fu Xuan is very good for the Swarm fight because in addition to just being a busted sustain her ult helps you get Weakness Break on the little bugs.

pyresword posted...

Decided to throw a few 10-pulls at the Topaz rerun banner, mainly on the basis that I wanted Xueyi eidolons. I don't really want Topaz too much, but she would definitely be a help to my account if I happened to get her, and I could afford to spend a few jades without seriously impacting my likelihood of getting Firefly in 2.3.

Welp did one more 10 pull and apparently I have Topaz now. Was only at like 10 pity to. I should still be fine for at least getting Firefly, but it probably means I can't go for a light cone or whatever unless I get lucky.

Across Dimming Asterisms
Before I Rise
Portals

Genshin Impact has some fantastic world music selections, and this is no exception. Of course, featuring an erhu in any capacity is instantly going to shoot you up my rankings, but I do think the part is very good either way. Also a great sense of progression with the song as a whole. The Zoo Hospital song is pleasant and fun, but it's a bit out of its league here.

Blue Desert Hotel is an upbeat song with a pretty oboe, but the composition overall doesn't work quite as well for me as I feel it should. Frankly I've grown a bit tired of songs using piano in this Blue Reflection-esque style that you see in Before I Rise (I don't know how else to describe this). I guess I just don't think solo piano is well-suited to the sort of ethereal vibe it's going for, but it usually does not work for me. Fortunately I really like the vocal part and the vocalist herself which more than makes up for it. Very pretty overall even if the piano-centric parts are a miss for me.

Portals is...fine, which means it's an easy vote in this match. I should say I don't necessarily mind vocals that sound like Take; it's more the composition style and the rhythm game percussion that kill this one for me. (The vocals don't help either though...)

I feel like I haven't actually played enough games to give a good answer here but

+3 Radiant Historia
+2 Sea of Stars
+1 Xenoblade Chronicles

Afternoon in Crossbell
Secundum Abandoned Mine
d3molish

Match 3 is very rude.

The title of the song has too many characters.

I voted option 1

Gaius's family is pretty boring and also I agree with Mac.

Credits Song
Labyrinth IV - Petal Bridge
Sonic ~ You Can Do Anything

You Can Do Anything might be my second least favorite song in the contest so far.

There's a lot about how Osborne's story played out in the end I didn't care for, but I agree overall he's one of the more effective villains.

Oh I had no idea we were getting 5-star March soon that's cool.

I mean it was obviously going to happen at some point, but yeah

I use it on Fire MC. I think it's also usable on Aventurine, though mine has Salsotto. Probably also Gepard though I don't have him yet somehow

Still never made it past route B in this game

Kain / Salvation
Afternoon in Crossbell
Aeolic Guardian

I am also a Frieren fan, though I guess MAL would suggest that most people are. I really liked that show.

Shop Demo
Arbury Whistles
side A

It's Going Down Now is fine but a bit disappointing for a Persona vocal song. Feels like it's in an awkward middle ground between high-energy and mellow and ends up not leaving much of an impression. I think the intro to Shop Demo goes a bit too long, but it is good at what it does, and the second half of the song is pretty fun.

Arbury Whistles is fun and whimsical, but for my tastes it leans a bit too heavily on recorder--an instrument I sometimes don't like much. Still good, but I would like it a lot more if it were like clarinet or something else. On paper I should probably like Farde Mal Diavolo, but I apparently just don't? If I had to guess I'd say that this instrumentation isn't really suited to the focus on long, epic, held notes like you see here, but idk. The last minute is probably the best part.

MK8 main theme is a fun big band song, albeit a bit trite. I don't really know what to say about Side A as a whole, but it has gong percussion and I like that, even with the low sound quality. I think this would be number 1 for the day by a lot and one of the best in the contest if the same composition was just played by a percussion ensemble with typical modern recording, instead of whatever compressed(?) sound we have here.

Ok you know what screw it I'm a believer--side A still at least in the top 20% of the contest anyway.

These writeups ended kind of negative for some reason, but every song is solid or better.

Side A > Shop Demo > Arbury Whistles > Mario Kart 8 > Farde Mal Diavolo > It's Going Down Now

I don't know if that was acknowledgment or speculation, but in case it's the latter--yes speed on boots is actually rarer than other main stats. (Same with ERR)

People often advise saving the modeling resins for specifically those 2 types of relic, though I haven't really stuck completely to that myself.

Yes the main characters in Carnelia are supposed to be Toval and Ein Selnate under different names. It's also a totally different story from Ring of Judgment.

Are we talking about reading the Carnelia chapters in Trails in the Sky or are we talking about the Ring of Judgment manga? I'm told his best characterization is in the latter but never read it myself.

My experience has been that it's better with one conventional DPS than trying to go all in on Break. Of course probably ideal is using a DPS like Xueyi, but I haven't tested too much specifically with her yet because mine isn't great.

It's also true that if you're starting from nothing it's probably quicker to just get the Break comp up and running than trying to worry about a good Crit DPS build.

azuarc posted...

It's not the end

This is of course the correct lyric, but I always hear "it's Narnia" here >.>

Sog-Gee's Realm (Water)
Can't Wait Until Night
Rubia

Was going to comment how much I liked the soft David Wise-esque sound of Sog-Gee's Realm, but now I see it actually is David Wise. Good song. Actually think I like it more than a lot of his DKC songs. Neat Beat Retreat has catchy percussion but mostly doesn't do a lot for me, and I'm not huge on the vocal part. Ok actually I take it back the instrumental solo part in the middle is actually cool, but not quite enough to vote for it.

Not really a fan of the soundfont in Don't Wait Until Night, though the song is fine otherwise. Vocal samples bordering on spoken-word like in Tap de Papapaya are one of my biggest turnoffs in music though and will end up entirely cratering most songs they appear in. I do like the chiptune backing part, but yeah.

Rubia was my pet nomination this year, and I'm honestly surprised it even made it into the contest at all, but I'm glad at least some people ended up liking it enough for that. I don't really have much to say about it though. It's just a very pretty song with good vocals, and sometimes if you're good enough at the particular thing I'm looking for then you don't really need to offer anything else. Birdo II is actually a pretty cool rock song. There's also not a lot to this one but I do like the groove it's got going quite a bit.

Rubia > Sog-Gee's Realm > Birdo II > Neat Beat Retreat > Don't Wait Until Night > Tap de Papapaya

I've gotten every Harmony character until Robin, and it's a bit sad because I've got these really strong units like Tingyun who are still just stuck on the sidelines almost permanently.

I managed to clear MoC 12 using no sustain Harmony MC/Ruan Mei/Welt/Dr Ratio, but it was still a cycle slower than just using Aventurine instead of Welt. I think the run could have been faster since I got my Ratio dominated by Kafka during the fight, but still. Not sure how to feel here.

Xenoblade 3 update

No longer am I content to simply walk down the path that's been laid down in front of me. The tyranny of the red exclamation map marker holds no power over me. I will shape my own destiny.

I don't know if this game expects the player to have liberated colonies, 9, Gamma, and Iota while still in the middle of chapter 3, but the game sure gave me the ability to do it without feeling like I was running out of stuff to do. I still haven't even run out yet either because now I've got a whole bunch of stuff around colony Iota, and I'm only a few levels away from being able to safely access another new area in the first region...

Game is good so far. It reminds me a lot more of Xenoblade 1 in that it actually takes itself seriously and doesn't seem to have any of the weird directing choices that the second game did. No field skills is also a huge plus--I guess there something functionally similar in that there are still map traversal abilities you unlock over time, but the whole system feels so much better. In any case I guess I can't comment too much on the story yet--I've been playing for 28 hours but I think 14 out of the previous 15 of those has been spent on side stuff. Because it's Xenoblade I fully expect at some point the story will jump the shark, but for the moment it's been thoroughly enjoyable.

Alternative Root
Badlands
Deserted - Younger Brother and Elder Sister and... (Stage3)

Runescape has a really great soundfont imo, which is enough to basically guarantee any song from the game is at least pretty decent. This one also backs it up with a neat menacing aura and nice chime percussion. Nocturnal 2097 is a cool song, which despite the fact that it's a percussion-heavy rhythm game song actually has a pretty pleasant vibe overall. A very fun song, and the climax with the electric guitar is great and feels justified. Close match.

Not a big fan of Obstructor, largely because the timbre of the bass-drum like part is a bit too abrasive for me. The rest of the song is better, but the chaotic composition doesn't really offer much to latch onto, which would sometimes work fine but not when there's already a specific sound I actively dislike. Badlands is actually an interesting song to have next because it's a pretty clean example of this style working much better for me. The low parts provide a much better foundation to the song, and the individual sounds are all more pleasing to the ear.

Suba Hibi usually doesn't fail to be interesting, at least. This is probably a bit too electronic and warbly for me, but it's a neat song nonetheless. Not a huge fan of the bass percussion in the Espgaluda song, but the higher parts are very cool for the most part.

Alternative Root > Nocturnal 2097 > Badlands > Younger Brother and Elder Sister and... > Les Enfants du Paradis > Obstructor

Unfortunately Xenoblade continues it's 10 year streak since a good song has won a contest match.

Editors note: Xenoblade X does not count.

Decided to throw a few 10-pulls at the Topaz rerun banner, mainly on the basis that I wanted Xueyi eidolons. I don't really want Topaz too much, but she would definitely be a help to my account if I happened to get her, and I could afford to spend a few jades without seriously impacting my likelihood of getting Firefly in 2.3.

Ended up "losing" the 50/50 to Welt, but considering this this is not really a banner I was going for the 5-star on in the first place and it happened around 25 pity, this is probably actually a good result. Welt is also someone I've been wanting to use so grabbing his E1 isn't too bad. Also did get one of Xueyi's eidolons like I was hoping for from the beginning. She's still only E2 and I don't want to spend more jades here, but it's something.

Aurora's Theme
Speed of Light
-

(Already voted in match 3)

It seems like a really boring answer, but my pick for best looking anime I've seen is probably Garden of Words.

If only TV series count then idk probably like Flip Flappers or something.