Lurker > Paratroopa1

Sax of Opportunity
Deep Blue
Guilt, Duty, and...

Tyrion Cuthbert is a game that I'm trying to evangelize to Ace Attorney fans, and one of the reasons I'm so high on it is that I legitimately think it has a better soundtrack than any Ace Attorney game. Insaneintherain played almost all the instruments for this soundtrack and they sound great, and the compositions are super on-point. The 'pursuit' theme here by Shady Cicada is probably the most on-point, I think - it's like, the platonic ideal of an Ace Attorney pursuit theme. It couldn't be any better. 10/10

I really like envidia, but I don't really envision myself coming back to it that much, for whatever reason. I listened to it once, I enjoyed it, and I think that's enough for me. 8/10

Deep Blue was a really pleasant surprise. This is a jpop-anime-anthem-thing done right! Clean composition, good vocals, not too cheesy, just really solid and catchy all around. Also I like that big wolf, this has nothing to do with the song I just like him 8/10

The issue with The Blue Sanctuary isn't how long it is or how ornate it is - it's just too SATURATED. There is an insane wall of noise that permeates nearly this entire track and it makes this whole thing DIFFICULT to listen to. I want to like it more than this, but this is a really severe mixing problem and I honestly can't even listen to it for that long without getting a headache. 5/10

Guilt, Duty, And is a long-time guilty pleasure of mine, from my Motoi Sakuraba era. Look, it's not that I hate Motoi Sakuraba, it's just that he has made a LOT of soundtracks and it's REALLY funny that they all kinda sound the same. But I do genuinely have a soft spot for Golden Sun and the mid-00's Tales soundtracks, what can I say? Again, major guilty pleasure here. This overworld theme always got me hella pumped up. It's not the most creative thing ever written but I'd be kidding if I said this wasn't a fave. 9.5/10

Predestined Fate is completely fine. I don't like VVVVVV's soundtrack as much as everyone else, but it's not because it's done anything wrong. 6.5/10

And also yeah, the fact that Moe specifically brought Regina so that she could hear the truth - seriously, Moe's a great character, I just love that he's actually a really calm and thoughtful voice of reason underneath his absurd clown schtick. It's just a fascinating contrast to me that the game doesn't overplay.

MrSmartGuy posted...

Yeah, this is legit the best part of the entire case to me. That and Moe bringing Regina to the trial on day 2 so she can learn the cold, hard truth. Moe's first day is actually pretty funny to me, though he doesn't stand out, but his second day is fantastic.

Yeah a random bit in this case I like is when Maya is like "Isn't Regina in the stands right now?" and it's just like, oh yeah, she's listening in on all of this. Kind of heightens the tension of everything that happens after that even though we don't see her react directly - I just wish Regina was a better character lol

Random Max Galactica thing I like: I really like how in the first conversation with him he's initially dismissive of Phoenix and doesn't care about the card he gave him, but after he opens up and Phoenix takes his case, he reveals that he actually did remember what card Phoenix had all along. Chad shit.

Max: 7
Regina: 3
Ben: 5
Moe: 8
Acro: 6

Honest to god, I love Moe and I feel like people misunderstand what they're trying to do with this guy. I think he has honest to god depth to him that makes him interesting. He's not just a comedy gag character - the fact that he's annoying and not funny is what makes him funny to me, but unlike Ben/Trilo who just exist for a stupid gag, there is an actual human underneath the veneer here. I feel like the takeaway from his character is that he's not all that great a clown but he has a real honest-to-god heart that WOULD make him a good ringmaster. Him and Max making up at the end of the case and realizing they want to make the circus great together is a really fun character arc and I think they do better with it in the anime.

Max is also great, though it's way better in the anime when he doesn't have the whole 'marrying Regina' plot because that's fucking weird. NOT because Regina is 16. I'll be frank, I don't give a shit about that - every character's age in this game is completely made up and makes no sense, as far as I'm concerned they don't diegetically have ages aside from "young" and "old", so the exact age limit on a healthy relationship is not that important to me here - Max is only 21 himself anyway, and I realize that 21 and 16 is not ok in real life but like... I'm sorry but I have a hard time caring about it. No, what's actually CREEPY here is that Regina is obviously mentally a CHILD, not a teenager. But like, okay, whatever, honest to god I just ignore that shit and I don't care lol. I otherwise like Max

Ben and Trilo have WEIRDLY SORT OF GROWN ON ME over time? I know that seems kind of insane but I just think it's hilarious to remember that TRILO IS A FUCKING PUPPET AND NOT A REAL GUY and Benjamin Woodman is just the most fucking committed to kayfabe human being on the entire planet. His whole thing becomes bizarrely hilarious to me when viewed through this lens.

I don't care for Regina. I don't really think what they did with her character really worked. I think she's the weak link - not really that funny, but also hard to empathize with the human underneath her gimmick.

Acro's weird. As an opponent in court I would rate him higher, but I think his motives for murder don't actually make a lot of sense and are EXTREMELY unsympathetic - killing Regina out of revenge is an insane thing to do and I DON'T accept his apology for it at all. So I'm kinda taking the difference here - as a court opponent he's like a 9 out of 10 but as a human being he's like a 3 out of 10. I just don't really 'buy' his motivations or his character, really.

I'm not bothering to rate characters that don't appear but why are we rating Russell Berry but not Bat?

Grey: 6
Morgan: 2
Miney: 7
Hotti: 1

Miney is great! She's fun and has hilarious animations. Not much more to say about her.

I think Morgan is one of the biggest wastes of potential in the entire series. She could have been a *really* cool villain spanning this game and the next but they do absolutely nothing with her - you basically never get a confrontation with her at all, you do one quick testimony with her in which you don't even point out any contradictions and then you never see her again. Such a waste.

Grey does his job. He doesn't overstay his welcome, because he gets fucking murdered, and for the time he's there, he sucks ass, but in a good way, you kind of get why Mimi wanted to kill him. Totally effective character.

Director Hotti is one of the characters in this series that I *actually* hate. The joke doesn't work for me and I think he's just gross. There are very few characters in this series that I actually feel that way about.

Drilbur/Dubwool
Honedge/Zorua
Fletchinder/Espathra
Azumarill/Armaldo

Sword of the Surviving Guardian
Rage Rave
Pledge of Demon

I have been kind of obsessed with Void Stranger's OST, which is why the other song in this contest is my nom - just a really weird and cool soundtrack that matches my tastes. I fucking love this meat grinder of a sawtooth wave lead, it's just so gnarly, like industrial machinery and I love it. 9/10

Metallic Madness is just obviously great. This is good cheesy Sonic shit. The hook is immediately catchy and the rap in this one works. 8.5/10

People seem to like this Ar Tonelico thing; I do not like it as much as the other Ar Tonelico thing we just did. 6/10

I can't hear Pledge of Demon normally. iateyourpie is a streamer who does Pokemon challenge runs with 1 Pokemon only, permadeath, and a bunch of other hard rules, and every time he fights Brock he plays Pledge of Demon over it, so now for me this is a Pokemon theme, not a Yakuza theme and I'm pretty sure if I heard it in Yakuza 0 I would just be confused. Anyway, it's good. 7.5/10

Director Hotti

Torterra/Kangaskhan
Centiskorch/Haxorus
Sewaddle/Chimchar
Meloetta/Riolu

Honestly, I feel like you could make a legit argument that you're more likely to see someone dressed like Maya in Los Angeles than Tokyo

Franziska von Karma

Random Franziska thing I like that I was just thinking about: I like that she gets shot in the same shoulder as her father, but unlike her father, she gets the bullet removed. Normally these games aren't super subtle about themes, but they never mention a word about this one in the script, it's an entirely unstated characterization.

Two of Braves
Menu
The Phantom World

Two of Braves isn't my fave MMBN song but pretty much every MMBN song is really good - I just love this franchise's sound to death. Not much more I could say about it. 9/10

Megalomaniac is cool in a weird way, though it grates on me after a bit. 7/10

Fixytext Menu is one of the weirder and more interesting pulls for this contest. It's a fun little soundscape. 7/10

The Fox's Lair is fine. 6.5/10

I did not like Blissade/Egregori. Grating. 3/10

I was expecting to like Phantom World more than I did. Just kinda empty. 5/10

Breloom/Sandshrew
Salamence/Archeops
Helioptile/Croagunk
Lunala/Girafarig

10/10

I've been forgetting to vote in these and I need to remember (I should go back and give ratings for some days I missed). Anyway I love Franziska fuck you lol

Sword of the Surviving Guardian
Try, Try Again
Cold Metal

I don't have much to say today.

Snowfield's boring. 3.5/10

Sword of the Surviving Guardian is not my fave Forgotten Land song. I love this game's soundtrack but this isn't what I would pick. 6/10

Try, Try Again is fine. 6/10

Challenge is also fine. 6/10

Cold Metal is super cheesy in a way that kind of grew on me after a bit. 6.5/10

The Merciless Savior is solid, but no strong feelings about it really. 6.5/10

Nope, not at all.

I think the only important thing to do here is not to saddle yourself with an unnecessary obligation. It's valid to want to keep it or to want to get rid of it for any number of reasons but the choice is up to you.

Mankey/Relicanth
Espurr/Terapagos
Ninjask/Lurantis
Buneary/Wartortle

Acid

No Turning Back
Quatera Woods
Hook

This Genshin Impact thing is decent, a little bit too cliche but it's solid. Which, of course, means it slips into my R4 in a weak 8 pack. 6.5/10

The Mission THINK thing is just kinda whatever. I don't really have an opinion on it. 5.5/10

Dearly Beloved is boring. 4.5/10

Quatera Woods is... yeah, it's very Ys. It's not terrible but I'm not that hot on it. 5.5/10

Matchup of two pretty weird songs. I wanted to like Prontera Field but ended up finding it annoying for some reason. I don't really get what it's trying to go for. Some interesting sound design but I didn't really like listening to it. 5/10

Hook's the only thing I like today. You have to be into avant-garde sound-music that sounds like it was randomly generated by an algorithm, but I am into that sort of thing. Nice little music box of weird rhythms and sounds. 7/10

Caves of Mul
I Don't Understand Your Feelings
A Hopeful Astraea

Brief writeups today, I don't have much to say anyway

Caves of Mul is pretty good! 7.5/10

Castle of Sand is good although it isn't really the sort of thing I'd come back to 7/10

I already don't remember I Don't Understand Your Feelings but I think it was fine 6/10

I don't like You Will Know Our Names, I think it's cheesy 4/10

A Hopeful Astraea was better and more interesting than I was expecting 6.5/10

Release the Seal is kinda somewhere in between fun campy and too campy 6/10

Aggron/Bulbasaur
Cursola/Dratini
Bellossom/Mantine
Poliwrath/Piloswine

Farewell, My Turnabout (2-4)

Anagram posted...

Someone I know on a Discord server called this case "too good" for the rest of Danganronpa 2, and I sort of agree.

you can say my name anagram lol

Meat on the Bone

Charmeleon/Serperior
Rockruff/Kabutops
Clefable/Tyrunt
Kingler/Dudunsparce

Balearic Birds
Gravity Man
EXEC_ViiBaCi_MjiiRa/.

Look, I don't care how hot these horse babes are, this is a tough one to sit through 3/10

Balearic Birds is, I dunno, sitting right on the border of fun and annoying for me. Tee Lopes is kind of hit or miss - some of his stuff I really like and some of his stuff grates on me. This is somewhere in between. 5.5/10

It's funny that Gravity Man isn't my nom, because it's on a very, VERY short list of my favorite VGMs of all time, and it might be my actual #1. It's above a 10. I have spent a large portion of my life trying to learn how to write music like Mari Yamaguchi wrote it in this exact track - it's one of the most influential pieces on my entire life. 10/10

Supermoon's really good. I was worried it might win this match, honestly. Something about this kind of gives me a Silversun Pickups shoegaze vibe in a good way. Powerfully moody without being overbearing. Great drumming. It's a winner, it's just up against my favorite piece of vgm of all time lol 8.5/10

Barcelona is, uh.......... a choice? It's, um, "interesting?" Well, I can't rate this a 1 on principle, because I reserve that for stuff I hate and I don't hate this, I just find it perplexing. The melody is completely out of tune and the structure and overall idea of the song is strange. It sounds like outsider music and I'm normally quite soft on outsider music but I really don't know what to rate this. Uh, I don't think it's very good. That guitar melody is truly nails on chalkboard. 3.5/10 just for the novelty mostly

Ah, Ar Tonelico, long time no see. This is like, the most quintessential vgmc franchise to me - would never have been aware of it without vgmc, it's extremely ornate and strange in a way that only vgmheads would appreciate, and yeah, it's a little up its own ass - but that doesn't matter to me. It's exciting, powerful, exotic, and slightly haunting. Superb stuff. It's in the same fourpack as my favorite piece of vgm all time though lol 9/10

CRISIS CITY ~THE FLAME ~ SKYSCRAPER ~ WHIRLWIND ~ TORNADO~
Bulletin Combat
Dragon Valley

Convergence is kind of odd. I feel like a lot of the melodies feel out of place and discordant. Otherwise kind of generic. Don't have much to say about it. 5/10

Oh now here's some good Sonic shit. I wouldn't say Crisis City is a particularly good theme but I have a lot of nostalgia for hearing it over and over again from playing it and watching let's plays. THAT TORNADO'S CARRYING A CAR 6.5/10

Bulletin Combat's good! Really creative sound design. I like it quite a lot. 8/10

Arknights is quickly becoming synonimous with "pretty good pop song I guess, not really my thing." Nothing wrong with this except that I find the vocalist's performance a little nasally for my tastes. 5.5/10

I LOVE Freedom Planet 2 and it's one of the games from the last couple of years I evangelize about - it's one of the best platformers I've ever played and I feel like its release got totally glossed over. That said, I found the soundtrack to be a weak spot in this game, especially compared to the first game. Dragon Valley is... fine, I like when the original Dragon Valley's motif comes back and reminds me of a better song, lol. This one's just kinda fine, I don't really like the horns that much. 6.5/10

DearMyFriend was better than I was expecting. 6/10

Scolipede is another mon that I remember getting a ridiculously low result back when its day came up

I voted for Vibrava lol

Giratina/Samurott
Lanturn/Vespiquen
Sinistea/Diancie
Kommo-o/Weezing

I never had any idea why Mienshao dropped so far in the first place, that was a really strange result

The only way the game is aimless is if you don't realize that the stuff you're stumbling upon are clues, and not random lore dumps

Aecioo posted...

Outer Wilds is maybe the most non-b8 game ever made. It's fantastic, but after being here for so many years and seeing what so many people here enjoy, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who posts here.

Loved playing through it.

This is a really weird sentiment given that so many people on b8 rabidly love Outer Wilds lol

To be clearer on that latter point - the reason I'm tight-lipped about this game isn't because I think so highly of it, the reason I'm tight-lipped about this game is because, if you do see it through and enjoy it, then the best experience for it will have been if I said as little as possible, just because of how the game is designed and themed and what makes it interesting

If someone had come to me asking for a more specific recommendation on Outer Wilds because they're not sure if they'd like it or not, I would tell them a lot more about the premise of the game and inform them about what they might or might not enjoy about it - but when I'm just broadcasting the general concept of Outer Wilds to the world I'm not gonna say shit about it because that could undermine the discovery aspect of the game for someone who would really benefit from going in blind

It's a shame that it doesn't click with some people but I guess the hook isn't going to be for everyone and that's just how it is.

I do kind of suspect that it IS for some of the people who have initially written it off because they're under the assumption that it's something that it's not - for instance, the game DOES have an objective and quite a big one but you're supposed to learn what it is from reading all the seemingly-random lore and piecing together that it's actually a big metapuzzle that's telling you what needs to be done, but if you don't see it through far enough to see that there's actually a pretty straight line that goes through everything, you might be under the impression that it's just aimless wandering without an objective.

But for others it's just not gonna hit and that's how it is. Unfortunately, the reason I try to have people go into this game with as little information as possible isn't for the benefit of the people who were never going to enjoy it, who I'm under the impression will just turn the other way when they see that it's a mystery game, but for the benefit of the people who ARE going to enjoy it, where it's better if you know as little of the hook as possible since the game's entire premise is predicated on discovery.

The autopilot works fine. You just need to do the basic job of making sure you have a clean shot to your destination. There aren't that many situations that it won't work - freak accidents are rare, user error is a little more common since there are some situations that are a bit hard to account for (you'll overshoot planets sometimes if they're coming at you faster than they were when you started the autopilot, for instance) but generally speaking it should work pretty well especially if you're just autopiloting from Timber Hearth.

Rowlet/Toxtricity
Toedscruel/Mawile
Ribombee/Litwick
Vibrava/Skiddo

Outer Wilds has some of the smoothest controls of any game I've ever played. The motion sickness thing is a real potential issue I could see happening though and that sucks a lot because this game is so great

8/10

seems right

Chromesthesia
Fire Island Volcano
VEX DAY TRANSFUSE.EXE

Dance of Wind is unremarkable - I'm sorry but I'm just so distracted by this, I'm looking at the artwork for this track and I'm just like immediately pegging this artist (or the artist who designed these characters) for being a fat/inflation fetish furry, I'm like pretty sure I have maybe seen this artist around before but I'm not sure but I'm like *pretty* sure, anyway, sorry, that has nothing to do with the music I'm just wondering what this game is 5/10

Chromestesia is pretty good! I think I'm mostly just a fan of the character design though. She's cute. Why am I getting so distracted by the art in these matchups 7.5/10

Stilt Village is a weird one. Usually when I give a song a low score it's just because I don't think the song has good taste, or at least it's not to my tastes (and I think I have good taste), but in this case this is a song that's ostensibly to my tastes but I think it's badly executed? I dunno, maybe it's just the GBA soundchip not doing it any favors but it just sounds really sparse. I don't really like the guitar hook very much. It kinda gets more interesting later but I dunno, this doesn't recapture the DKC2 magic for me. 4/10

Fire Island Volcano sure is a PMD track! It's very adventurous and bombastic and I like it. It's got the right levels of cheese. 8/10

Specimen of Life has way too much cheese. Way, way way too much. I'm almost impressed by its commitment to the bit of making all the most epic choices possible, between the guitar, the violin, the vocals, the random breakdown to a sad music box. I think this is deeply lame, sorry! 2/10

This X-Day thing is no ULTRA GAY MIX but it's pretty alright. I found the hi-hats started to wear on me after a while. I'm glad that this one changed things up right around the times I started getting bored. 6/10

Metal

Decidueye/Latios
Sneasel/Camerupt
Minccino/Zygarde
Mienshao/Rookidee

mnk posted...

(19) Cramorant/Snom - Swellow/Treecko (24)

zzzzzzzzzzz

Danger (ARM Version)
Wildfire
Mortified by Faith

An unused Secret of Mana arrangement! I can kinda see why they didn't - it doesn't really feel appropriate for a looping boss theme after a certain point. Imagine being stuck in a boss fight for over three minutes and suddenly getting jumpscared by a weird vocal break. I don't really love the introduction of vocals into this arrangement but everything else is pretty much perfect. The production's on point and the arrangement's exciting. This one's a winner! 9/10

The Best is Yet to Come, indeed 7/10

Oh wait, no it's not. Hello again, RTFM 2/10

Is this crappy Imagine Dragons knockoff better than RTFM? I guess. Barely. 3/10

Mortified by Faith is pleasantly strange and novel, which is a plus, but I didn't end up grooving to it as much as I would have liked. I think I found those high 'hoooo' vocals to be a bit grating after a while and I never really found any part of this track growing on me in particular. But I appreciate the weird soundscape. 6.5/10

I braced myself around :53 in Evergreen because these types of songs live or die by how unbearably cheesy the chorus is. This one managed to keep it muted enough to be tolerable. It's pretty good but it won't be a re-listen. 6/10

Hart: 7

Honestly, I have a soft spot for her, despite the fact that she's kind of a terrible person, lol. I dunno, I just think she's fun.

Yogi: 6

He's alright. It's funny to play back 1-4 and realize that he's just bullshitting you the entire time. What a comedian!

Polly: 5

Don't forget DL-6!

Same Old Story
Carrot Carrot
RGB

Nazca no Oka's just kinda, too much for me. Not my thing. 4/10

Cassette Beasts's 80's-flavored pop thing is still not really my bag either but it does win this match. 5/10

Carrot Carrot is delightful and has captured my heart. Maybe it's the animation, I don't know. I just really like that trumpet hook a lot. This one did ended up being a repeat listen. 8.5/10

The Dreadful Fight's a classic and I've always been a fan of having old standards like FF4 boss themes in vgmc. I had a tough time picking this one. 8.5/10

I saw the title of this theme and could've sworn I remember it from last year's vgmc, but I heard the theme and I definitely DO NOT remember it from anything. I would have remembered it. It's moody but interesting with creative uses of percussion and one of the more surprising deployments of an accordion I can recall. 8/10

If it's a song that has an oscilloscope display, you know it's going to be at least a 7/10 at minimum. This one is, indeed, a 7/10 at minimum! 7/10

Ivysaur/Greninja
Delibird/Psyduck
Great Tusk/Blaziken
Cramorant/Snom