About a week ago, I started a thread that was exactly backwards of the way the typical "Rank 100 songs" threads work. Normally the host takes submissions, 5 from each person who wants to submit entries, and then listens to them for a while, ranks them, and then reports back with feedback. This thread was different. We turned the formula on its head. As host, I presented a list of 100 songs, and I gave 5 songs from it to anyone willing to rank those songs. Some people did one set. Some people did nearly all 100. And at the end, I found the composite rankings of all the songs.
This is the results of those rankings.
The 100 songs were chosen to be a broad mix. I made sure there were a couple total turds in the mix, and some really good songs, and the majority were things some would like and others wouldn't. Given my range of tastes, that wasn't really all that challenging. All the songs (except for #100) are songs that I like or have liked on some level, even if at times it was only because I was able to laugh at it.
After giving each song out twice, I split the songs into the top 25%, second quartile, third quartile, and the bottom. From there, the next two rounds were given only from within each of these subsets. After round four, I reranked them to reflect that some songs had risen and others had fallen. The final two rounds were given out with this in mind.
When a reviewer got their songs, they gave them a +5, +4, +3, +2 and +1 in whatever order they chose. Since each song was ranked six times, that means the highest possible score is 30 and the lowest is 6, with an average of 18.5. I did my best not to give the same song to the same person twice.
I also recorded all of the reviwers' comments, if they had any, to give you something to read for the songs' write-ups besides my own thoughts. In light of the way the thread was done, I figured it only appropriate I rank them myself as well, which I have done hastily.
A big thanks to everyone who participated in the rankings. This project would have been completely meaningless without you.
Game Song Goldeneye: 007 - Archives Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue - Ascend to the Heavens Romancing Saga - Beat Them Up! Blast Corps - Beeton Tracks Zone of the Enders 2 - Beyond the Bounds Bust-a-Move / Puzzle Bobble - BGM Pilotwings 64 - Birdman Elemental Master Blood-Stained Lake River City Ransom Boss Battle SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2 - Brahman Touhou: PCB - Capital City of Flowers in the Sky Sonic the Hedgehog 2- Chemical Plant Zone Perfect Dark - Chicago (Stealth) Star Fox - Corneria Trine - Crystal Caverns Super Mario 64 - Dire, Dire Docks Braid - Downstream Legacy of the Wizard - Dragon Killers Mega Man X - Ending Contra - Energy Zone Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness - Erana's Garden Dynasty Warriors 4 - Eve Epic Pinball - Excalibur Donkey Kong Country - Fear Factory EverQuest - Felwithe The Impossible Game - Fire Aura Final Fantasy VIII - Force Your Way Raptor: Call of the Shadows - Four i maed a gam# w1th z0mb1es 1n it!!!1 - Full song LoZ: Ocarina of Time - Gerudo Valley Sanctum - Glade Action Final Fantasy - Gurgu Volcano Dungeon Fighter Online - Hamelin Treasure Quest - He and Beauty Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - Heavenly Flight Xenosaga III - Hepatica Wizball - High Score Final Fantasy VII - Hurry! Final Fantasy Tactics- Intro Music Guitar Hero 2 - Jordan Beautiful Katamari - Katamari Dancing Secret of Mana - Kind Memories Shatter - Kinetic Harvest Super Smash Bros. Brawl - King Dedede's Theme Illusion of Gaia - Larai Cliff ~ Where the Wind Doesn't Reach Final Fantasy Adventure - Let Thoughts Ride on Knowledge Granado Espada - M.I.S.A Mass Effect - M4 Part II Myth II: Soulblighter - Main Menu Song Marathon 2: Duranda l- Main Theme Trine 2 - Main Theme Gran Turismo 2 - Moon Over the Castle F-Zero - Mute City Lost Odyssey - Neverending Journey World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - Nightsong Halo 3 - One Final Effort Seiken Densetsu 3 - Path to the Heavens Pepsiman - Pepsiman Phantasy Star II - Pleasure VVVVVV - Positive Force Dynasty Warriors 5 - Primitive Power Deadly Towers - Prologue Theme MegaMari - Prologue, Title & Final Battle Left 4 Dead 2 - Re: Your Brains Baldr Sky - Ruins of Silence Unreal Tournament - Run Sol Survivor - Running Out of Time Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - Sacred Sonic the Hedgehog - Scrap Brain Zone Amplitude - Shades of Blue Legend of Heroes VI - Silver Will Conker's Bad Fur Day - Sloprano Jazz Jackrabbit - Sluggion Tyrian - Space Journey 2 Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II - Stage Theme 2 Sword of Vermillion - Statts Mana Khemia: Alchemist of Al-Revis - Stigmata Mirror's Edge - Still Alive Touhou: PoDD - Strawberry Crisis!! Dynasty Warriors 7 XL - Teary Edge Donkey Kong '94 - The Final Showdown...? LoZ: Link's Awakening - The Frog's Song of Soul Final Fantasy Legend II - The Legend Begins Ace Combat 6 - The Liberation of Gracemeria Castle Crashers - The Race Around the World Double Dragon - Theme The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Theme Tomb Raider - Theme R.C. Pro Am - Title Legend of Mana Title Theme Wild aRMs To a New Journey Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge - Track 3 Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - Training Theme Homestuck - Umbral Ultimatum Chrono Trigger - Undersea Palace Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes - Unification of the Land Excitebike - Victory Stand Portal 2 - Want You Gone DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label - Xanadu Final Fantasy X-2 - YuRiPa Battle 3
100. LoZ: Link's Awakening - The Frog's Song of Soul
Score: 7/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 100
Comments: (TheArkOfTurus) a 28 (second) song that is incredibly obnoxious. I hate this. (SoliPants) What? Haha. Game was great but this song is not. (Kenri) Wow, this is awful, but at least it has the good graces to end really fast, which is something I can really appreciate... (MycroProcessor) Haha this is pretty absurd and I am curious about the context of this....wow why do I never dislike anything
Oh, was there ever any question about what would lead things off? Inexplicably the song did get a lone 2 in the final round when Kenri wanted to emphasize just how badly he hated another song. But let's be realistic about what this song is here for: every "rank 100" thread needs a Crazy Bus. I do not disappoint. Also, I may have done my own personal rankings VERY quickly and haphazardly, but there's no way I'm going to look back on this one and go "what was I thinking?" More like people are going to see the inclusion on the overall list and think that instead.
99. Secret of Mana - Kind Memories
Score: 9/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 43
Comments: (NioraptH) a bit boring (Ytterbium_70) that accordion or whatever I think it is really ruins it all (Kenri) Simple, but cute. I sort of like this! Even though I don't have much to say about it...
I'm really disappointed in all of you. All of you. And I even have myself to blame, because I performed fill-in duty for this song and assigned it a 1 myself! (I blame the group of songs it was pitted against.) Sigh, my dear sweet Secret of Mana...this is really one of my favorite songs from the game, even if it is rather short. I understand Ytt's comment about the "accordion" sound, but I actually think it works really well. Kind Memories, aka Dyluck's Theme, is a song that works really well within the game (IMO) and I guess just doesn't translate outside to non-fanboys.
98. EverQuest - Felwithe
Score: 9/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 97
Comments: (Kenri) *listens to song* *cannot remember a single thing about it even seconds after it ends* *listens again* Oh, it's just unexceptional in basically every way. That explains that. (NioraptH) those random trumpets aughhhhh (Ed Bellis) not bad, just nothing special
I played EverQuest for a long time in college. Entirely too much. There's practically no music in the game at all, so what little there is sticks out. One other track I nominated for VGMC and lost in round 1, Kelethin, is actually not half-bad if you don't mind MIDI files. Felwithe is more of a personal nostalgia factor for me because it plays right outside my main character's home town. I make no illusions over it being a great song, and there are plenty of at-least-decent songs to choose from, so I'm not the least bit surprised to find this at the bottom.
Didn't get much commentary from the peanut gallery on this one. I know it's not quite what we're used to hearing from a Bungie game, but Power of Seven do an ok job of giving us something that's at least entertaining to listen to for the initial however many seconds it takes us to load our last saved game. As for listening to the whole thing? Well, yeah, it does get a little monotonous, I suppose, but I think the track manages to sustain its energy to the end. Apparently the rest of you don't agree.
96. Conker's Bad Fur Day - Sloprano
Score: 10/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 66
Comments: (SoliPants) The lyrics are just silly and I don't care for the singing. (Kenri) This song always catches me off-guard with its language, in a good way (I think?). I feel like I should hate it, but I actually find it sort of funny... until I have to listen to the whole thing, because it really can't support itself for five minutes.
I like this song way more than I should. For someone who usually doesn't give a damn about the actual lyrics and just takes vocalists for another instrument with a wide range of sounds, I sure do get some giggles out of joke songs. This song, in particular, though, I at least got to witness first-hand when my college roommate was playing through Conker's. Watching him throw toilet paper at an opera-singing giant turd? I mean, c'mon, how is that not completely awesome? I have to imagine Robin Beanland had a lot of fun writing this one, because I sure would have. Sadly, reviewers brushed it aside, which I'll just chalk up to them liking other songs more rather than this one less. (Even if mathematically those are technically the same thing.)
Comments: (xp1337) Okay, I figured after three songs I liked (which was already a shocking overperformance to me) things would come crashing down. Katamari's music tends to be pretty hit or miss with me. And here we have a miss! If you actually ignore the vocals, I think this is a lot better, which is saying something since I tend to be inclined towards vocals in VGMusic. That said, despite calling this a miss, it could have missed a lot worse. (Kenri) Man, I don't even know. Except I know this is too long, that much is evident. It's sort of catchy, but only for about two minutes.
Oh, Katamari. You and your goofiness. I liked the energy this one gave off initially, and it isn't terrible, but it gets grating after a while considering how often it repeats the same parts, and then goes into the weird outer space breakdown part. Plus, does anyone have any idea what the words actually are? I did a misheard lyrics write-up on this one because I couldn't tell. And since I think I still have it saved, aha! Yes, here it is! I'll indulge you to my rendition of what I thought I heard.
Every body gifles are starting body tonight
(But Luigi) Dance, dance Let's get together, stand up for galaxy Friday wander knife Just as I notice Cheri Point as they fall like Bonnie
(no idea what he's mumbling) (But Luigi) Dance, dance Let's get two gallon, why don't the lice do starway? Jump, Jeff. I'm ready to go we've got the thing to get start like clay
ohhhhh ooohh to clay, to sing, to widen we all wayside Get on!
Tense this Let's get to kettle, fighting the sorry taxi Just ennui Grab that, allow to the wards We seem to knife this hallway
(no idea what he's mumbling) (But Luigi) Test this Let's get to feel it, rife in the starlight Pauline Jump, Jeff, and get him c'mere You've got to puke to get some like clay
ohhhhh ooohh Cephology and me, I ahhh-ahhh-ahhh Come on! Every body to full, tenor ding dong Every body for while one last sample Body forever we'll tether stamp aid Buddy Eddy, almost on my tail
(mumbling)
***Ultra Echo Section*** Sleepy chicken Chicago Not even I, nein. Say Pinnochio Thank you, chicken asiago Cone of Palau, so steal a bit, Iwo Jima So, uh, row a bit to Houston
'fornia - welcome You and me - you and me Smee down cha-cha coo modern - D'animal!
Don't start, don't stop!
Dance this Let's get two killers, stand up for galaxy Friday Wonderknife! Grab that, I know that you're new Ron doesn't feel like carding Dance, dance Let's get together, rye dough the lights to starway Junk Jeff I'm ready to go, you've got to puke to get stunned like Clay
ohhhhh ooohh (mumbling) Baby, the wad is at the door! They cry at my poor, less-than-frolicking toy! I knew, I enjoy the frolicking toy I knew, I enjoy the frolicking toy More, can I beg? Everybody tendril say bah-gee-gee nahhhhhhh
Comments: (MycroProcessor) This is very repetitive but that isn't a bad thing. I love that really bizarre marimba part right before the lo5op, where it just keeps removing a note until its the same note repeated over and over. It's so MINIMALIST that it's almost silly but that makes it awesome to me. it als5o has5 re5ally aweso5me whole tone-ish things and simple but interesting t5ransposing everything around as chord changes. WOW I LIKE THIS PIECE IN GENERAL it has a funky -243134346. AND THIS SOUNDTRACK HAS AWESOME SAMPLES. snare
When your only commentor is Mycro, you don't need anyone else chiming in, because jeezus dude. The song itself is very cool in a chill sort of way, but the one thing that I find completely uncanny about it, even though there's really no "context" for it, it's way less effective outside the game. I'm really not sure why, but when I got to the area where this song was played, I just found myself really loving this track. When I hear it outside the game, it's just meh. I can't figure out why, in this case, that happens to be.
93. i maed a gam# w1th z0mb1es 1n it!!!1 - Full song
Score: 12/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 94
Comments: (Ytterbium_70) Wait, that full song for zombies is 13 minutes? Goodbye sanity (Mega Mana) Long, but rather enjoyable (Vengeful_KBM) I have heard a million musical epics like this. Almost all of them were better. Wow. Ouch. (Kenri) For what reason was this song created? For what reason does it continue to exist? Answer me that. It went on for 13 minutes. It never had a single minute that was above mediocre. Why does it still exist?
I think this song is a riot, not because it's necessarily all that funny by itself, but because it just perfectly compliments the half-assed-ness of the game it comes from. That, and, if I ignore the grating annoying singer and decide to listen to it simply for music's sake, I can actually get into the 13-minute jamfest. If I was feeling generous, I could have easily ranked it higher than I did, like Mana did, who not only gave it a 5 but also put it fairly high on his overall power rankings. Everyone else just looked at me funny for draining their sanity.
92. Myth 2: Soulblighter - Menu Song
Score: 12/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 73
Comments: (Mega Mana) Wish this were longer (Tom Bombadil) Waywayway too short. Had potential but I blinked and it was over.
My complaint is the same as the two guys above me -- it's too short. However, I do like what we have to work with. There is a track on the game's soundtrack that includes most of the menu song...I can't remember what it is...but I don't recall the rest of the track adding much of value. Either way, I just like the mood this creates, and just like the Marathon song, this one's just a main menu song, so you listen to it for exactly as long as it takes for your savegame to load. Granted, with Myth, that was often a while, but the track is effective at what it does.
I mentioned how I sorted stuff after the completion of the second and fourth rounds? Because it implies that the songs in the higher tiers in those later rounds were up against stiffer competition, and more likely to take a hit because of the quality of their competitiors (or the exact opposite happening for songs at the bottom getting a shot in the arm,) I thought it only fair to favor the songs that did well in the earlier rounds. So I have this goofy formula I worked out so if one song got 10 points early and 5 late, and another got 5 early and then 10 late, the 10-5 gets ranked ahead of the 5-10. There's practically no ties when I use that second filter.
91. R.C. Pro Am - TItle Screen
Score: 13/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 91
Comments: (SoliPants) Meh, not bad. Way too short though. (NioraptH) too short (Ed Bellis) eh
I really don't have much to say about this one. It's fun. It's from an old childhood game. And I imagine, for most, it's easily forgettable.
90. Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II - Level 2
Score: 13/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 82
Comments: (SoliPants) This game... I hear this song and I'm reminded of the game, which was just awful. I try not to associate the song with the game, but it's just impossible for me here, I hear this song and I cringe a little. (xp1337) This time, this is the only song of the 5 I wasn't familiar with. Eh... it's okay, I guess. (NioraptH) this has that "dead empty castle" feel to it (Ed Bellis) zzz
I played this game one night at a sleepover party when I was like 12. The only thing I remember about it was jumping around on some clouds, and this tune, which was easily the best thing about my night. (I hated the kid whose house it was.)
89. Final Fantasy Adventure - Let Thoughts Ride on Knowledge
Score: 13/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 50
Comments: (xp1337) I kind of dreaded this a bit when I saw it. While I wasn't immediately aware of what song this was in particular, I am aware of FFA's music. And there's this thing about me and chiptunes. I wouldn't say we don't get along, it's more... I don't get along with many of them, at least compared to most people, I think. This is not an exception. (Ed Bellis) the more songs I hear from this game the less I like it (Kenri) The melody's interesting but I don't really like the samples. YEAH I KNOW IT'S A GAMEBOY GAME but they seem worse than usual.
Wow, such haters. And all three Seiken Densetsu tracks in the bottom 12, tsk tsk. I had forgotten how harsh the samples were on this, and I admit the ritardando isn't worked exactly perfectly, but it's a great melody, and however bad the sample may be it still lets that melody soar. A remake would probably do a great job with this song.
Comments: (NioraptH) kinda zzz (Natwaf_akidna) Zzzzzz-whuh? Oh, yeah, this. Relaxing piece, but... boring. Which reminds, I don't remember if I ever actually finished Pilotwings 64... (Kenri) super chilled out
I was going to comment on how people were being overly-critical of the laidback nature of the smooth jazz here, but then I realized I wasn't putting it all that high on my own rankings either. Still, IMHO, this track is the lone redeemable quality to Pilotwings 64, which I had on launch.
87. Phantasy Star II - Pleasure
Score: 13/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 63
Comments: (Ytterbium_70) Eh. Couldn't drive much pleasure from this song (xp1337) Eh. Except this time the end doesn't make me so sad.
After a 4 in the first round, Pleasure was ground into the dirt thereafter. Apparently people don't like happy town music. Or Genesis music. Or Phantasy Star music. Or maybe all three, I dunno.
86. Touhou: PCB - Capital City of Flowers in the Sky
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 58
Comments: (MycroProcessor) This is a touhou piece I like more than most other touhou PICEs3, possibly considering it somewhat of a FAVORITE one. I think in general the more times I listen to individual Touhou tracks the more I like them, I think because it helps me distinguish them from each other, since the style used throughout all of the games doesn't very particularly much (though I don't think that is a bad thing like many other people do). Anyways yeah my brother likes this one and we have it on a mix we listen to sometimes so I've heard it a lot more than others. HOWEVER I DO THINK even if that weren't the case I'd still feel similarly since there are a lot of things I just like in general here. This melody is particularly SAD while still being quite fast paced of a piece, and I enjoy that! Lots of these samples I'm a fan of too. This mixing is way worse than I remember though, tons of clipping and stuff, I'm not sure if that's just the video or if that's in the actual music. Still ranking this highly anyways.
Well, like I said before, if you're only gonna get one comment, get it from Mycro. I think if I had put more time into my own rankings, this one would not have fared nearly as well.
85. Blast Corps - Beeton Tracks
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 28
Comments: (Ytterbium_70) 0.5 - WTF is this? It's just flat-out rediculous, and z0mb1es is the only thing keeping it from dead last. Still, I'd rather get tortured with pitchforks then listen to this POS ever again. (NioraptH) The only thing I got from this is... Australian rodeo (Vengeful_KBM) Holy God is this annoying. Only gets an extra point for not being 15 minutes long. (Ed Bellis) hahaha this song rules. GO FOR IT...Beeton Tracks is basically Yodeling in Meadow Hill tier. And that means it beats the other four easily. what is wrong with me
Nothing, Ed, nothing at all. What is wrong with all those other people who gave it sub-5 ratings? This song is freaking awesome, and that's all there is to it. I never thought I'd be able to say that about a song that uses a spring sound sample, and I absolutely LOATHED the game itself, but you can't tell me this song isn't fun. No. Stop. You can't. You're not allowed. Lalala, I'm not listening!
If I had known you were using comments we'd written (or at least, if I hadn't forgotten that fact), I might have put effort into them. Eh, probably not. It's kinda funny this way anyway.
Oh, no. It's much more entertaining this way. Some of them come off looking like movie review ads.
Kenri - This is actually really cool and not at all what I expected out of this game. Ed Bellis - eh, it's alright Drakeryn - 5.5/10
Besides, if you have additional comments, you can certainly make them here. I'm pretty sure there are at least a couple that I missed, cause I remember someone mentioned calling this next song "Bob's Theme," which I don't have.
84. Bust-a-Move - BGM
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 75
Comments: (Natwaf_akidna) Would be better without the random "voices". Catchy little ditty. (Vengeful_KBM) D'awwww. This is insanely cute. Makes me nostalgic for early-90's games. (Ed Bellis) oh my god; SNES version is better than whatever version this is though, even though the random sound effects are awesome (xp1337) Well, this was kind of neat... for a bit. I don't think I'd say it's good, but I also don't think I'd say it's terrible either. Actually, for some reason it reminds me of something out of Mario Paint. Might just be some of the sound effects.
This song is classic. Or at least, it is for me. I sang a few bars to my roommate one time, and he didn't know what the hell I was talking about. (And no, he's not a complete ignoramus.) The "random sound effects" are part of the song to me, and I wouldn't want to hear this song any other way.
83. Deadly Towers - Prologue Theme
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 92
Comments: (TheArkOfTurus) [After assigning it 1 point,] Better than I was expecting from a song from Deadly Towers, though! (SoliPants) Wouldn't think I'd be giving this one third. You know what though? It's not that bad really. (NioraptH) ...I'm thinking random spiraling staircases (Vengeful_KBM) And this makes me nostalgic for my parents' old Atari 800 games from the early 80's that I played growing up. Makes me happy. (Ed Bellis) not bad, just nothing special
I grew up with painful memories of this game. You know how when you're little, every game you're exposed to is somehow significant to you? I have a much older sister, and so when I was like 7, my brother-in-law had this and I would occasionally get to play it at her place. I used to chuckle years later when people would talk about how awful the game was, because really it was no worse than half the crap on the NES...just not the stuff that people actually owned. Anyway, like a number of other songs I've already mentioned, this song was my one take-away from that game.
Comments: (Ed Bellis) heard this before, it would be pretty great if it weren't so damn repetitive and actually went somewhere; seriously the song is basically 30 seconds long (Kenri) Four's pretty decent and, at the very least, pleasant to listen to. It is kind of repetitive, but it's also short, so I don't mind. Yeah, I'd listen to this again. (xp1337) Huh, this is kinda interesting, but nothing I'd say is great. Not bad though.
One of those songs that harkens back to my DOS Shareware days. You'll rarely go very long with me discussing VGM before I bring up Tyrian, and Raptor was the closest thing Tyrian had in terms of competition. Gameplay-wise, that is, as the music wasn't even close, but I liked the simple melodies that Raptor used, even if they were all simple little ditties that lasted like 15 seconds each. I'm surprised that on the actual list this held out above 18 other songs, though.
81. Tyrian - Space Journey 2
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 83
Comments: (Ytterbium_70) This fast-paced song is actually sort of neat, but outclassed by... a small margin (Ed Bellis) I didn't think anything could actually be below Teary Edge, but there you have it; augh those samples
Oh wow, what impeccable timing you have there, Tyrian! We were just talking about you....There's a ton of tracks I like from this game, some of which are genuinely decent, and some of which are just Azuarc Specials. This one probably falls more into that second category, but that doesn't mean I didn't sit for hours listening to the sound test for this game while I watched the pretty lights go flashing by. (If you never saw the sound test in Tyrian, you wouldn't understand. It's probably the best sound test ever.)
80. Jazz Jackrabbit - Sluggion
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 72
Comments: (ImTheMacheteGuy) Meh. It's okay, but not great. Gets better at around 1:02. 3.8/10
Man, the shareware games are dropping like flies. Epic Pinball's still hanging, at least, right? Jazz Jackrabbit was never my favorite game. It seemed too much like a Sonic knock-off with a gun, (ok it was, but it seemed like nothing more than that,) and I wasn't a fan of playing Sonic the not-a-Hedgehog on a keyboard, even though I did it for tons of games back in the day. I never even gave the soundtrack to the game a passing thought until much more recently when I got linked to some stuff. Probably Tubelectric, since that's the popular track from this, but I actually kinda like Sluggion. The sounds are a little strange, and it has Robert Allen written all over it, but still I am entertained.
And I wasn't saying Deadly Towers isn't bad. It's terrible. But it's not legendary-class fail the way so many make it out to be. Compared to some of the crap I played from novice programmers on old computer systems, man, Deadly Towers is a f**king masterpiece.
#98. Yeah, Felwithe sucks. The music, the High Elves, the city, the location, everything about it is terrible. Qeynos FTW. The only two things even good about the Faydark are Kelethin, the coolest looking town in the game full of people trying to sell **** before Luclin, and Crushbone, which I was wish was right next to Blackburrow so I would die from playing too long.
#98. Yeah, Felwithe sucks. The music, the High Elves, the city, the location, everything about it is terrible.
I take offense to this! I played a human first before switching to High Elf, and I never looked back. (Not being able to see in the dark might have had something to do with it.)
79. Treasure Quest - He and Beauty
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 69
Comments: (Mega Mana) He's not here to fix your plumbing! (Ed Bellis) this is hilarious and not awesome (Kenri) ...This isn't Prophecy. Occasionally it has glimpses of... not really brilliance, but of something I'd at least listen to. The rest of it... not so much. (TheArkOfTurus) I enjoyed... Parts of it?
Thanks to the weird, awkward nature of Treasure Quest, a puzzle game with no solution included and where you were supposed to mail your answer in for a $1,000,000 contest, I listened to this soundtrack a little more than what's considered healthy, looking for clues. Probably a futile effort considering that the album was made by the publisher's owner's daughter and not the producer. (It wouldn't be until 2005 before Gnant would professionally record music again, thanks to trading the fellow from oneredpaperclip for a recording contract, but she's not bad.) Back when I "played" the game, this was my favorite track from the album. These days, not so much. Like Kenri, I like Prophecy a lot, and there's a few other tracks I haven't subjected you all to yet that I would take over this one as well. Who knows, maybe I'll nominate TQ for Best OST 2. =)
78. Final Fantasy X-2 - YuRiPa Battle #3
Score: 14/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 89
Comments: (Jeff Zero) must I give this a point? Must I? (MycroProcessor) Really cool synth orchestra rock mix and COOL synths in general. SLAP BASS _ _ _ _ _sound design being APPEALING TO MY PERSONAL TASTES. whoa there was a metallic hit sound thing that sounded like a sound that I like I like that sound. (Vengeful_KBM) Middle-ground track. Not too much to say. Pretty good battle theme. (Ed Bellis) flat-out unpleasant to listen to
This is one of those songs that I cringed at the first time I heard it, during a YouTube compilation Ed posted of all the FF battle themes. Later, I played FFX-2, and I have to admit that after a while you start to get into it. It's certainly a noticeable deviation from other FF fight music, and while I'm not normally a "bass" person, I think that the way the sounds in this are handled is pretty cool. At least, now I do.
77. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - Heavenly Flight
Score: 15/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 11
Comments: (Vengeful_KBM) Now THIS is absolutely beautiful. Damn. (Ed Bellis) the only DQ song I've heard that I like, and I really like it (xp1337) This is okay, I guess.
Talk about pulling up out of a nose dive. 9 of those 15 points came from the last two raters, and good thing for them, because this is the largest gap so far between list position and my ranking. The only other song so far that comes close is Beeton Tracks (85 vs 28). There may not be a lot going on in Heavenly Flight, mostly just a piccolo backed by an arpeggiated harp, but that hardly makes it boring. I haven't played DQ8, but I imagine this works beautifully for a flight theme.
Comments: (Kenri) Sakimoto's music usually just comes off as bland to me, and this is no expection. The first few seconds are a pretty big nostalgia bomb though, so at least there's that? ...Not that I can really even factor that into a ranking. (Mega Mana) Abrupt end =( (xp1337) This might be one of FFT's better songs. Which doesn't necessarily mean all that much coming from me, but it is definitely better to be one of FFT's better songs than one of its worse. Well, it starts out as one of FFT's better songs, then it makes me all sad towards the end there. Nevertheless!
Back during the heyday of the PS1, I didn't really know anyone who had one, so I'm not well-versed on PSX games in general. Not long before the PS2, I befriended a guy who had this game, and I watched him play FFT with fascination. I always got to hear about 6 seconds of the intro before he skipped it, which irked me because I wanted to listen to it. He later let me play the game myself, and I sat and listened to this. It had an entrancing quality on me, and it still does -- at least up until where the brass enter. I would have liked to have seen the main portion of this drawn out a little more and developed, as sadly it's kinda short.
75. Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis - Stigmata
Score: 15/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 7
Comments: (Drakeryn) 7/10 (Ed Bellis) Stigmata wasn't awful like I remembered but I still didn't really like it (Kenri) Not a big fan of Stigmata.
Wait, WHAT? Heavenly Flight didn't own the discrepancy title for very long. Seriously, guys? 75th? Where all the people that go "Nefertiti's terrible, Stigmata easily best song from Mana Khemia?" Personally, I didn't get into this song much myself until very recently, but c'mon now. After Drak gave it a 5 in the first round, it completely languished thereafter. Yeah, in the 3rd and 4th round it was doing battle with the top group, but yeesh.
74. Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness - Erana's Garden
Score: 15/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 24
Comments: (Kenri) ...Is this a remix of Erana's Peace? I honestly can't even tell. Whatever. It's pleasant enough to listen to and not much beyond that. Doesn't stick with me like Erana's Peace does, either.
Another song where we're going to have to agree to disagree. (Or disagree to disagree.) No, this isn't a remix of Erana's Peace, however it serves the same function in it's respective game, which is that it plays during the sanctuary created by Erana that the player encounters in the 4th game. Peaceful and tranquil, in spite of having a wailing guitar, the contrast is great. The ending is a little weak, but other than that this song's amazing.
Comments: (Kenri) So this starts off with weird sound effects that sort of sound like the noise of rubbing two balloons together, it's kind of annoying and didn't put me in a good mood. Thankfully at 1:00 in the song suddenly becomes reasonably competent and I'm left wondering wtf the first minute was about. (Ed Bellis) this is hilarious and awesome (MycroProcessor) The melody and rhythms here I didn't like but I liked the sounds, that seems to be a really frequent thing with me and c64 tunes.
The C64 had amazing sound potential, and while most games didn't come close to tapping into that, Martin Galway's efforts in Wizball were one of those earliest times in my life where I would sit and listen to the music. Both the title theme and the high score song are mesmerizing, and for HS in particular, the use of the strange sound effects as percussion only adds to the work. I suppose it helps that I play the saxophone, since the first portion of the melody is a synth sax. I got into a discussion with Nio a couple nights ago asking her what she thought was my style in VGM; based on her answer, I have a feeling she would listen and go "This. This right here is you, az." Kinda sad that after starting with three 4's, the track got straight 1's thereafter.
72. Contra - Energy Zone
Score: 16/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 88
Comments: (Kenri) This is okay. It seems kinda slow at times, in a bad way, but the faster sections are pretty decent. (MycroProcessor) OH MAN ITS THE PARTY| wow this loop is extremely short.
I'll take Contra over Mega Man any day. This is hardly the best track from the game, but the soundtrack is so strong in general that there really isn't much off the NES to rival it besides, well, Mega Man.
71. Final Fantasy - Gurgu Volcano
Score: 16/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 90
Comments: (no comments)
I'm not sure exactly why I love Gurgu Volcano, but in Oematsu's first video game effort, I'm not drawn to the battle theme or Matoya's Cave or the prologue. I like Gurgu Volcano. Sad that it only appears in one dungeon of the game, while most of the other stuff gets reused in various places.
70. Trine - Crystal Caverns
Score: 16/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 85
Comments: (Kenri) Crystal Caverns doesn't really do anything to set it apart from any other piano piece I've heard, but it's pleasant enough to listen to. I like it, in fact -- it's just not very unique or memorable.
I love Trine. I love the vibe and the atmosphere one gets from the game, and Pulkinnen's compositions work perfectly to complement the art style and give the game a storybook feel. Unfortunately, it's a great example of a game that works much better in the game that outside it, as without that atmosphere to frame the piece within, it's just a bland piano sonata. I'm still looking forward to a Midsummer Madness sale on Trine 2, though.
I take offense to this! I played a human first before switching to High Elf, and I never looked back. (Not being able to see in the dark might have had something to do with it.)
I was a Human too! Well, Half Elf first, but Human's better. Who needs being able to see in the dark when you can just carry a Lantern. Or a Moonstone. Or Enchanted equipment? Of course, it really matters hard if you started in Surefall Glade.
But seriously, why High Elf? I think that's one of two or three pre-Luclin races I never got past level 5 with (the others being Erudite because their entire island sucks and Ogre. Troll and Dark Elf were also low.
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"And the theoretical maximum is 2880 messages, so I was only performing at 45.94% posting efficiency." - Luster Soldier
It didn't feel right to me to play a cleric of any other race, except maybe Dwarf, and I'm definitely not a Dwarf type. I've always loved elves. My first character started in Surefire Glade because I wanted a druid and my friends I was playing with were around Qeynos, but once I realized I was a crappy druid and that all I ever did was heal anyway -- that that was what gave me identity in the game -- it was time to start a cleric. It seemed only right to play a High Elf.
And speaking of vision around Surefire Glade, my first experience in the game? I drowned. I walked into the pool of water in the glade and couldn't figure out how to swim up before I slowly sunk under the water and died. My spawn point was outside in Qeynos Hills; I had no idea how I got there or how to get back to SFG. And I had no light source. I eventually got Wolf Form, but that was for outdoors only, and was prohibitive of doing anything else, so vision was always an irksome matter for me -- one that tied up your off-hand for a pisspoor light source when it seemed like everybody else had infravision.
Ed: My mistake. Your's stopped at 10. It was another dude's that had all the way up to 13.
It didn't feel right to me to play a cleric of any other race, except maybe Dwarf, and I'm definitely not a Dwarf type. I've always loved elves. My first character started in Surefire Glade because I wanted a druid and my friends I was playing with were around Qeynos, but once I realized I was a crappy druid and that all I ever did was heal anyway -- that that was what gave me identity in the game -- it was time to start a cleric. It seemed only right to play a High Elf.
And speaking of vision around Surefire Glade, my first experience in the game? I drowned. I walked into the pool of water in the glade and couldn't figure out how to swim up before I slowly sunk under the water and died. My spawn point was outside in Qeynos Hills; I had no idea how I got there or how to get back to SFG. And I had no light source. I eventually got Wolf Form, but that was for outdoors only, and was prohibitive of doing anything else, so vision was always an irksome matter for me -- one that tied up your off-hand for a pisspoor light source when it seemed like everybody else had infravision.
I did pretty much the same thing. Not sure if I was a Human Druid or a Half Elf Druid, but that's where Is tarted off, and I definitely drowned in the massive network of caves. That respawn into Qeynos Hills was hilarious. Absolutely maddening. It goes from dark, dark, dark, and more dark with some random caves and cabins to "Holy crap it's bright and there is sky! Where is everything?" Managed to get in a group of other cast-out Human and Half Elf Druid/Rangers and hang out on that mountain at x4200, y200.
Also, it's kind of scary to me how perfect a rectangle Qeynos Hills is. I just remember all these winding paths and different topographies that it never feels like a solid zone. In fact, despite practically living there with a lot of early characters, I can barely remember what maybe 10% of the zone holds. 90% I know like the back of my hand, by the two far corners by Qeynos Hills are presumably just empty, empty spaces filled with rats, snakes, and wisps that lead into the Qeynos zone, and the portion between the lake and the left-side corner was just nothing except a L10 or so guy who you avoid at low levels and only drops beads. He also has a pet snake?
Anyway, yeah, Qeynos Hills was awesome. Surefall Glade sucked and I only made one other character truly start there (Human Ranger, spent twenty-plus hours in Qeynos Hills farming stupid Giant Field Rat Whiskers for post-Planes newbie armor; worst newbie quest in the game), but I loved it enough that most of my characters came from Halas (best place ever) and Qeynos.
And while I rag on Felwithe mostly because I never really got into Faydwer (except for the Stonebrunt Mountains, Dagnor's Cauldron, Crushbone, and the Estate of Unrest; excellent, excellent places), it's nothing compared to the terribleness of Freeport and the Commonlands. The Karanas may suck, but at least they aren't the main lowbie area. And poor guys have Befallen over Blackburrow, the Desert of Ro over Everfrost/Karanas, and a terrible, horribly mapped hometown.
ELITE TRAIN TO PEAKS ENTRANCE! 20+ COMING UP NOW! RUN!
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“So we’ve cornered Andy and Kyle in the Swarts stairwell and then this guy comes out of NO WHERE like ****ing Batman or something.” ; ExTha is the man
Oh, I think you misunderstand me. I took my HE cleric to Blackburrow at like level 8 and hung out there until I was a level for going into HHP. I might have spent some time in Oasis in-between, since that's what my druid did, but I doubt it.
Anyway, I should probably continue...
69. Left 4 Dead 2 - Re: Your Brains
Rating: 16/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 37
Comments: (TheArkOfTurus) Could have sworn I heard this song before Left 4 Dead was a thing. (Ed Bellis) wow this is bad, I couldn't even finish it (xp1337) Oh, good, I can rant again. I mean that sincerely because it will give me something to do during the duration of the song. Speaking of things I don't "get" - this "genre" of music. By which I mean these songs that just make blatant attempts at humor. Still Alive, Want You Gone, this, etc. At worst I just think they're bad on top of trying way too hard. At best, I think they're okay almost entirely in spite of what it's trying to do (Read: everything except the lyrics are good.) Take this, this song does a number of things I really like, but the vocals/lyrics just start driving it into the ground. And I feel like the rest of the song starts suffering in an attempt to accommodate for it and augh.
xp is right about one thing. The musicality of the song actually isn't that bad. However, I don't get quite as down on the song about the lyrics as he does. I think it's certainly a better effort than Still Alive or Want You Gone, even without an iconic character singing it. There's something to be said for a bunch of zombies going "c'mon, it's not like we're gonna eat your eyes."
68. Sonic the Hedgehog - Scrap Brain Zone
Rating: 16/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 52
Comments: (Kenri) I would like this song so much more if not for that knocking sound. I don't even know what that's supposed to be, but it doesn't work on any level. Other than that, Scrap Brain Zone is one of the better songs from Sonic 1, probably only behind Marble Zone. (Ytterbium_70) Come to think of it, anyone l istening to this song has their brain become scrap...
That "knocking sound," aka a really bad concert bass sample, is definitely the weak point of the song. It at least fits the song during the front half, but during the second strain, it just gets applied liberally and detracts from the song considerably. If the rest of the tune weren't good, I'd probably dismiss this one as poorly done, but it is, so it's not.
67. River City Ransom - Boss Battle
Rating: 16/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 76
Comments: (Ytterbium_70) 1.5 - All Boss Battle manages to do is annoy me. At least its soundfont isn't godawful. (Natwaf_akidna) Coin flip between this and number # 3, really, but the opening gives it the edge. (Kenri) Boss Theme is just... bad.
I blame Brentalfloss. I had never heard this song before listening to his videos. Well, actually, I guess technically I had since I've played RCR, but I don't even remember there being any boss battles. Anyway, it rocks pretty hard for an NES tune, but that really isn't saying much.
Comments: (Kenri) I forget where I heard this first... OST contest maybe? But anyway, I think I have you to thank for it because I think it's a fantastic song and I like pretty much every part of it. (xp1337) Shades of Blue is better than okay. (Ed Bellis) Shades of Blue was a really pleasant surprise. (MycroProcessor) Trance is nice but this actually sounds kind of "fake" in a way that I don't think is the Best Way at some parts. Still some col sounds thoguh and generally _appealing sound design.
I'm left wondering how it is that out of four commentors, the one who comes across as most negative is Mycro, who "never hates anything." I'm also wondering how with three decent reviews, it comes in at only 66th, but the other three people gave it a collective four points. Still, I love me some Amplitude. Yeah, a lot of it is licensed, but there's a fair bit that's written for the game as well, and although I have no idea if Chris Child is a legitimate artist or simply an in-house alias like "DJ HMX," I've always had a particular fondness for this track. Negative comments scared me off of using it as the track 1 for Amplitude in Best OST, but the game not only reached where I had sunk the track to, but also won with it. (This was in the JFF.) So I think it's safe to say that at least some peple like it decently well. It did better than Stigmata, anyway.
65. Excitebike - Victory Stand
Rating: 17/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 80
Comments: (Jeff Zero) must I give this two points? Must I? (TheArkOfTurus) A 9 second song, but at least it isn't obnoxious. I'd rank this above songs I hate. (Vengeful_KBM) Overrating the s*** out of this because I love it.
I think it's absolutely hilarious that 35 songs came in behind a seven-second jingle. I mean, yeah, it's awesome for what it is, but I can't believe that not once did this song pull a 1. In fact, it got better as we went along -- 2-2-3-3-3-4! Pity nobody jumped on board with me in trying to get this into VGMC6 as a joke nom. Still, I can't help but think that this is the marker for where the fodder line is, because, really, any song of quality should come out ahead of Victory Stand.
64. Final Fantasy VII - Hurry!
Rating: 17/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 67
Comments: (Kenri) Like most of FFVII's OST, Hurry! is... at least competent. I don't think of it as being much more than that, though, especially in comparison to a lot of FFVII's music which is far beyond competent. I also feel like it's way too ambient for a song called "Hurry!" but it does work pretty well in-game so eh. (Ed Bellis) zzz
Not sure what I can say about Hurry! other than that there's no mistaking it as coming from any game other than FF7. The style Oematsu uses in his first PS1 game is very distinctive, and the track does get used about 8 billion times during the course of the story. Maybe I like it more because I've heard it so much, but I think it rates favorably compared to the rest of its OST.
Comments: (xp1337) Umbral Ultimatum is not one of the better Homestuck songs, IMO, and I feel like I like Homestuck's music less than most of the board already.
I first heard this in VGMC5. I'm not a huge Homestuck fan, but there's a few songs I like, all of them more than this one, but this was sort of the first of the bunch to stick out to me. It is a little weird and spacey; I usually prefer things a bit more cohesive, but it's ok.
62. Final Fantasy Legend II - The Legend Begins
Rating: 17/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 25
Comments: (FL81) decent (Kenri) Not a huge fan of this, but it's a reasonably good chiptune that I don't mind listening to, at least. Just doesn't really stand out to me. (NioraptH) I think.. a legend is beginning (xp1337) Eh. As I was saying earlier, I think I just don't "get" a lot of chiptunes.
Well, if I'm about to disappoint Dante, I can at least be disappointed myself first. Just about every one of the songs on this list comes from a bunch of YouTube playlists I have. When I hear something that catches my attention or that I remember I once liked, I add it to the current playlist. I originally started this with the intention of doing one song per day, shortly after VGMotD came about, and listing my songs on another site. That didn't last very long, but this was my very first song choice. What that second top commentor on YT says about the game? Yeah, that's me too, sitting quietly listening to the game's sound test on headphones during long bus trips when it was too dark to see anything, but well before I had anything resembling a walkman (or a music collection.) I love the music from FFL2, and try to give it exposure whenever I get the chance.
61. Illusion of Gaia - Larai Cliff ~ Where the Wind Doesn't Reach
Rating: 17/30 Azuarc's Ranking: 93
Comments: (Kenri) ...Wow, I don't like this at all, or even understand what it's trying to accomplish. I guess it's supposed to sound imposing or something, but mostly I'm just caught up in not wanting to listen to it. (xp1337) Eh, this is okay too. However, it benefits tremendously from being in this group, because I don't think I'd have it score 1st in any previous group I've had. Not even sure how many of those it'd have gotten 2nd in!
Illusion of Gaia was another song I grew up with, but it always had a quirky distinctive sound to it. The samples were definitely trying to sound much more symphonic than anything else on SNES, and I'm not sure how well it pulls that off. Still, there are a number of tracks from the game I like, including the memory song (aka In the Earthen Womb) and the end boss (aka Clash of Light and Shadow.) Larai Cliff is not of that caliber, nor is it on par with Great Wall of China or Sky Palace, but it's a decent enough representative.
If it's any consolation, Dante, the song did get two 5s. It just fared not-so-well with the other four.
Sorry, dante. You coulda done some ranking yourself. You have to admit Larai Cliff isn't the top option for the game, though.
And if you want to talk about joke users confirmed, my favorite game's entry ended up 99th. NINETY-NINTH. The only song it beat was the god-awful racket I put in just so we would have a god-awful racket.