Lurker > MetalmindStats

I know you can do this, and I know you can overcome your current struggles some way or another.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

I'll listen to Speak Now again tomorrow, and so I should be able to give my ranking by 3 PM Pacific, if this week lasts until then.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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CasanovaZelos posted...

I usually tally the results in the morning but I can put it off. I don't think that would be a problem since the topics are open for a whole week.

Thank you. Yeah, the tally was what I meant by "if this week lasts until then".

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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Snake5555555555 posted...

105. Grace Le Domas (Ready or Not)

What a great write-up! I feel like there's something to be said about the profusion of strong yet human-feeling (for lack of a better term) female protagonists in horror in particular (versus other movie genres) over the years, as you touched on. At least to me, Grace Le Domas is certainly a shining recent example.

Also, I too find Otherside Picnic intriguing based on your description.

Speaking of concurring with others' thoughts, hopefully your computer issues are resolved sooner rather than later - though I too am happy to wait and have write-ups of your current quality standard.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

I rather love the original Tremors, and now this talk is making me wonder if I should check out the sequels.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Support DOOM (1993) and Dragon Quest, sure.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Snake5555555555 posted...

And it's just a bangin' song too.

Seems like a successful nomination to me!

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Hype!

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

1. If U Can't Dance
2. Naked
3. Wannabe
4. 2 Become 1
5. Love Thing
6. Mama
7. Say You'll Be There
8. Who Do You Think You Are
9. Last Time Lover
10. Something Kinda Funny

Spice might not be a bottom-three album I've listened to for this topic series, which is a compliment even though it doesn't sound like one.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

7.5

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

1. Vienna
2. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
3. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
4. Only the Good Die Young
5. The Stranger
6. Just the Way You Are
7. Get It Right the First Time
8. Everybody Has a Dream
9. She's Always a Woman

I kind of knew my first take was indeed wildly premature once certain songs popped into my head as I revisited this topic to compose my original thoughts. The circumstances in which I conducted my second listen leave only one explanation, which is that I, for whatever reason, decided to have a contrarian opinion and initiated this week looking to fit that narrative. Without that baggage, I found The Stranger roughly as enjoyable and to my taste as I had expected all along.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

I guess I'll Support DOOM (1993).

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

ChainLTTP posted...

I know there were low votals, but I am honestly shocked that this wasn't #1 or #2. It's easily the most accessible song on that album (I would say the most accessible Knife song period, but Heartbeats exists).

If it says anything, I for one would actually rank Marble House still lower today (even though I liked it). I didn't give myself really any time to sit on Silent Shout after my third listen, but my appreciation was and continues to be mostly a result of its more singular songs. As for the album at hand this week, though...

The Stranger was probably the single upcoming album I was most looking forward to - I was planning to participate this week back even before I decided to try returning in full. I guess my first listen brought me face-to-face with the flipside of setting expectations rather than going in fully open-minded, though. In short, my initial impression of The Stranger was unexpectedly middling, milquetoast, and generally mediocre. Now I'm hoping familiarity will ease me into numbers 2-3 the way it usually does, rather than breeding contempt - but if not, I guess I'll always have Vienna.

Then again, I actually like We Didn't Start the Fire, so take everything I just said with a grain of salt.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Since others are voting on DQV without having beaten it (and I nominated it for KP's ranking way back when), I guess I'll vote too...

9

I think the archetypal nature of this particular tale's wrapping tends to accentuate its deviations more than anything. For example, I'd guess there's very few other RPGs where the equivalent of (minor spoilers) the moment that ends the first generation is quite so shocking, no matter how well-executed.

Evillordexdeath posted...

Sometimes the ratings in this topic make me think B8 doesn't understand any method of storytelling besides copious dialog lol

Well, at least Celeste got a pretty good score (for example), especially considering multiple voters kind of proved they didn't understand any method of storytelling besides copious dialog. And anyways I'd guess that the people who wouldn't love Higurashi pretty much haven't played it (such as me).

Speaking of stories without copious dialog, I'd also like to nominate GRIS.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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1. The Captain
2. Na Na Na
3. Forest Families
4. One Hit
5. Still Light
6. Like a Pen
7. Silent Shout
8. Marble House
9. We Share Our Mothers' Health
10. Neverland
11. From Off to On

Silent Shout was far from a lock for me to enjoy or even appreciate, and ultimately, I don't think enjoyment is a term that fits it very well anyways. That being said, for as singular as the album is, I really do appreciate it - in an unambiguously positive sense, not just because I'm glad it broadened my musical horizons.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Whoa, congrats!

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

You know, speaking of polls on one site deciding everything, how terrible an idea would it be for Allen to post contest matches on GameFAQs' Facebook page and tweet about them using GameFAQs' official account next contest?

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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Yay, Spooktember has officially returned!

Banjiha
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley novel)
Grace Le Domas (Ready or Not)
Late-stage capitalism
SCP-2776

Essential viewing for that last nom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7iVsdRbhnc

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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squexa posted...

Do you also have the Oracle numbers for BYIG? I recall that was the year when TRE or Luster recorded everything by hand.

I'm afraid I don't, sorry. That checks out to me, though, since they're not on the Oracle site.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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squexa posted...

Anyone (presumably @LusterSoldier ) have the GameFAQs stats page for BYIG, CBX and GotD2 (with prediction %, Anonymous vs user breakdown, etc)? I'm trying to update the wiki when I have some time.

BYIG (without the vote breakdowns; not sure if this contest had them): https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/features/byg_stats
CBX: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/features/cbx_stats
GotD2: web.archive.org/web/20200508234125/ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/features/gotd_stats (remove the space)

Hopefully someone like Luster has the missing GotD2 data.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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I thought I would take a longer hiatus from this series after failing to become Experienced, but apparently not...

1. Something I Can Never Have
2. Down in It
3. Sanctified
4. Ringfinger
5. Head Like a Hole
6. Terrible Lie
7. The Only Time
8. Kinda I Want To
9. Thats What I Get
10. Sin

Kinda I like this album, surprisingly enough. However, while my opinions on most of the individual songs are substantially positive, the entire effort nonetheless adds up to something significantly lesser than the sum of its parts for me. I struggled to locate why exactly until I read some of the previous posts in this topic, in particular this one:
ChainLTTP posted...

Head like a hole / black as your soul is pretty much the quintessential angsty teenage male lyric

Extend this to the entire album and it quite largely puts my thoughts into words: this is pretty much the quintessential angsty teenage male take on synthpop. That musical tradition is one I'm quite fond of, but here it's handled in a way representative of all that I seek to distance myself from, or to put it still more dramatically, my antithesis. In sum, I suppose I enjoy Pretty Hate Machine quite a bit for what it is, just as long as I never have to listen to it again.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

2019 horror movies

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Para put my thoughts on this subject better than I think I could.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Inspired by MSG's nomination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcUB-3lud60

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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Movie Setpiece
Parasite Making Themselves at Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO8YKp1-LiM

There we go, at long last.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Ok, I guess I can participate too...

Bianca Whitaker (Dragon Quest V)
Grace Le Domas (Ready or Not)
Mia Dolan (La La Land)
Ramona Flowers (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)
Veronica Sawyer (Heathers)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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B8 contests

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

There is no such thing as an objective best game ever made rather by definition IMO.

As for me personally, I gave OoT (3D) 12 hours of my time several years ago in hopes I'd see what so many others did in it, but to no avail.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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Great winner, great lead-up, great contest! Thank you for hosting!

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Vote Form:
+1 Bowser (Super Mario Bros.)
-1 Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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1. All I Need
2. You Make It Easy
3. Sexy Boy
4. Kelly Watch the Stars
5. Remember
6. New Star in the Sky
7. Le voyage de Pnlope
8. La femme dargent
9. Ce matin l
10. Talisman

I think I've always remembered music mainly by its lyrics, and the unfortunate result of that here is that I prefer each song with them to every song without them three album listen-throughs in. Still, I enjoy even the instrumentals for what they are here - I just find and have found it difficult to evaluate and fairly compare the intermixture. Paradoxically, I think that all is part of why Moon Safari makes me think of my hopes I can live a fuller future, alongside qualities more inherent to the music itself.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Two more nominations for now:

Classic Rock Song
Elton John Crocodile Rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75r0nQu-hMs

Movie Setpiece
Shaun of the Dead Don't Stop Me Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4tVH7BPb-Q

Kind of a clich choice, perhaps, but this feels fitting even though your focus will be on the set itself. That being said, I'll happily replace it if you'd prefer me to avoid that overlap. (And sorry if you were hoping for the even spread I said I would try for back in your interest-gauging topic.)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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+10 Count Bleck ADVANCES
+9 Bowser ADVANCES
+8 Edgeworth ELIMINATED
+7 Aerith ELIMINATED
+6 Samus ELIMINATED
+5 Samus ADVANCES
+4 Aerith ADVANCES
+3 Edgeworth ADVANCES
+2 Bowser ELIMINATED
+1 Count Bleck ELIMINATED

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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BlueCrystalTear posted...

What were you expecting, exactly?

I just didn't think you were focusing specifically on the 'set' portion of 'setpiece', but I probably missed that somewhere, my bad.

Anyways, I think I've settled on one of my remaining noms, at least:

Classic Rock Song
The Police Every Breath You Take
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOGaugKpzs

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Your setpiece clarification was very helpful for me even though it was totally different from my expectations. I think I'll keep my first nom regardless, but I do have a question relevant to my second: will you allow any live-action setpiece from a movie after 1961, regardless of what said movie is, or do you have a more specific definition you're looking for?

Otherwise, I'm still deliberating on my other noms, so this is just a bump for now.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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jcgamer107 posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY45CXIxNi0

I have to agree with the general praise for your cover - this is really impressive! Relatedly, I've also found the album itself quite impressive all three times even if it never really wowed me, enough so that I'll consider checking out future BFF albums without a topic to convince me. It's sufficiently outside my musical wheelhouse that I have nothing of even potential substance to say about it, though.

1. Philosophy
2. The Last Polka
3. Underground
4. Boxing
5. Uncle Walter
6. Best Imitation of Myself
7. Jackson Cannery
8. Alice Childress
9. Where's Summer B.?
10. Video
11. Julianne
12. Sports & Wine

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

GP5: Count Bleck (Super Paper Mario)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Classic Rock Song
Fleetwood Mac Rhiannon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGPi-Al3zQ

Movie Setpiece
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade The Holy Grail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0TalLrtZ24

Like Snake, I'm assuming something like this is what you're looking for in terms of movie setpieces. Also, I'll decide on my third nomination later, since I don't have any particular real-life person in mind at the moment.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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GP4: Count Bleck (Super Paper Mario)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

GP3: Count Bleck (Super Paper Mario)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

GP2: Count Bleck (Super Paper Mario)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

GP1: Count Bleck (Super Paper Mario)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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+10 Count Bleck (Super Paper Mario)
+9 Bowser (Super Mario Bros.)
+8 GLaDOS (Portal)
+7 Samus Aran (Metroid)
+6 Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII)
+5 Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney)
+4 Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney)
+3 Kyle Hyde (Hotel Dusk: Room 215)
+2 Missile (Ghost Trick)
+1 The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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1. Somebody Told Me
2. Everything Will Be Alright
3. Mr. Brightside
4. Midnight Show
5. Smile Like You Mean It
6. On Top
7. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
8. All These Things That I've Done
9. Andy, You're a Star
10. Change Your Mind
11. Believe Me Natalie
12. Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll

Clubby yet grandiose, with some sinister undercurrents to its soundscapes, something about Hot Fuss makes it seem like some of the most generic modern alt-rock possible (from perhaps the most generically named rock band around), not that it quite feels fair of me to say so with my lacking perspective. I found the result rather trying and tiring the first time through, while the second listen still had me convinced that albums like Hot Fuss are why I don't participate in this series nearly as often as I should. Of course, and typically for me with music, familiarity bred affection, hence why my top spot was locked before I started even as I grew ambivalent about said song's lyrics (well, that and the fact that I typically don't consume music as part of entire albums in order). Ultimately, while I won't likely return to most of these songs, I'd probably at least consider Hot Fuss better than a wash three times through without the almost painfully pretentious bonus track to cap it.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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therealmnm posted...

But at the same time, if SpongeBob is powerful, you'd expect the Avatar characters to be powerful as well as they should appeal to older and younger people (Avatar is basically an American anime. TONS of people have watched/rewatched it on Netflix).

Isn't that exactly why it shouldn't be surprising to see the Avatar characters flop? I know that ancillary exposure helps the show skew older than other popular Nickelodeon productions, but I'd think that's more along the lines of teenagers/young adults, or at least people who were teenagers/young adults when it first aired. If anything, I'd guess the anime aesthetic/association is a turnoff to that 35-54ish demographic that seems dominant on The Ringer.

As for SpongeBob, I'd think he's strong for the same reason Pikachu presumably was in their video game character contest: voters probably aren't personally attached, but he became a respected symbol anyways through sheer exposure.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

7.5

Doki Doki Literature Club - 5
Undertale - 5

I'd also like to nominate Dragon Quest XI and Night in the Woods.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
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Immune: Bowser (Super Mario Bros.)
Boot: King Dedede (Kirby)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Immune: Samus Aran (Metroid)
Boot: Naked Snake/Big Boss (Metal Gear)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say

Immune: Bowser (Super Mario Bros.)
Boot: Alucard (Castlevania)

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
she/her or they/them | never knows what to say