Board 8 > [VGMC] d55: An Ill Omen/Chocolate Missile, Soaring Sad Blue/Reach for the Moon

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 13, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=471679
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17rEeB1_oYWgryWzIxOaZXw2a381gKGnMegjHCG_2OTQ
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77672812
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RF28glW72G6s_5M1e4kcSxR

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Rules:

- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite of all-time and Song B is from a series you hate... Listen. To. Both. (If I have suspicions your vote is not based on a fair and impartial preference, it will be disqualified.)
- Obvious contest rules apply (no alts, one vote per person, no rallying, etc.).
- Please make your voting options clear, rather than burying them in text.
- Each set of matches lasts 24 hours, even if the new one isnt up by then.
- Always vote on the versions of the song provided, not versions from different sources.
- If you know ahead of time that you're not going to be around and you want to vote in advance, post your choices in the discussion/bracket topic.
- Please do NOT post tallies/score updates in the middle of the match, as this has a tendency to directly influence matches.
- You don't have to vote in all the matches, but it'd be cool if you did!

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Match 1:

VM Japan - An Ill Omen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17T0T2OsGdQ

Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2FRjbvb60Y

Match 2:

Gurumin - Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cdrtnPNero

Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETTk83qis0w

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Easy vote form:
An Ill Omen / Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky / Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

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People keep on calling you like a fallen angel. So much you look like when you flew, you entered the world of evil. You have no thoughts or desire, until you fly. Giving your whole life in pain, but you got speed in return. Whatever happens to yourself, you just keep on boosting up to heaven. All that feeling all alone in the dark....You're the one to be, you're the one to be, you're the one to be-be-be-be-be-be-be...
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An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

ah yes my favorite initial d song Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 - Fallen Angel

Ill Omen
Soaring through the Sad Blue Sky
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Chocolate Missile
Reach for the Moon
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

This is a very good day, but I still think Chocolate Missile is the best by far.
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MoonRunes posted...

ah yes my favorite initial d song Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 - Fallen Angel

you mean rhythm game song
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Chocolate Missile
Reach for the Moon

why settle for the skies when you can reach for the moon
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An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
Gurumin - Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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An Ill Omen
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
Gurumin - Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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VM Japan - An Ill Omen
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

MATCH 1

An Ill Omen is pretty cool, but Chocolate Missile is more my style. Chocolate Missile has these cute vocals and a nice melody that I like a lot and prefer over the kind of sound that An Ill Omen has.

MATCH 2

Another pair of two songs that I like a lot, but one being the clearly better song to me. I like both songs in this match more than the match 1 songs, but once again, Reach for the Moon is more my kind of style compared to Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky. I like the melody in Reach for the Moon considerably more than Soaring's melody.

Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke > Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky > Chocolate Missile > An Ill Omen

All good songs today!

Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

Solid day, could've been better but hey, no complaints with any of these

Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
Gurumin - Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

Second match kinda close. First one not.
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An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

An Ill Omen is one of the better, even if not particularly memorable, "in the VGMC every year" tracks. Really liking this new notDeemo song this year though.

Even with all the excellence these last few days, I want the winner of this second match to take Bracket C.

RFTM > Sad Blue Sky > Missile > Omen
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An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

An Ill Omen
Soaring Through The Sad Blue Sky

Soaring Through The Sad Blue Sky > Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke > Chocolate Missile > An Ill Omen

both matches were somewhat close. An Ill Omen has more drums so that's basically why i voted for it. Soaring Through is better at getting across 'a feeling' in the song than Immortal Smoke i guess. it feels a lot more solemn than immortal smoke which 'feels like zun but epic and sharp discordant synths at the beginning i guess?'
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Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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An Ill Omen
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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Cytus II - Chocolate Missile
Gurumin - Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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VM Japan - An Ill Omen
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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An Ill Omen
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

50. VM Japan - An Ill Omen (3.5) (for Murakumo)

vs.

45. Cytus II - Chocolate Missile (4.5) (for Precious Heart, over Murderswarm)

These are two songs that just don't do it for me. The elements are there for both of them to be real keepers, but they both fall short. An Ill Omen just feels empty - there isn't a compelling melody and the instrumentation, particularly around the three-minute mark, grates on me. It feels more like a collection of half-ideas than a song I can get behind. (Next year, can we nominate Narrative in the Moonlight instead?)

Chocolate Missile at least does some kind of neat things. I like the storybook-esque opening, and how layers keep building gradually on top to make an intriguing package. The chorus is my favorite part. It's not my kind of song, but I can appreciate what it tries - even if I never remember any of it once it ends.

Pretty easy matchup for me. Really wishing Murakumo was here.

and

2. Gurumin - Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky (10) (over SUBLIMATION)

vs.

39. Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke (5) (for Set Me Free, over Yomitsu Hirasaka Corruption)

Soaring Through the Melancholy Blue Azure Sky Sadness got third place in my ranking topic, only behind a song retired from VGMC and a song that would almost surely not break double digit votes in round 1. I love this song and I've waxed poetic about it in the ranking topic - it evokes so many emotions, this complex mixture of hope and trepidation and, well, sadness and melancholy. And it does all this while being as intense as any final boss song. It's remarkable.

Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke...it's no big secret that I don't like much Touhou music. I don't typically care for the composition or the instrumentation. The songs feel very basic and samey. Reach for the Moon is an example of a perfectly average Touhou to me. Some things are not quite bad, like the piano opening, but most of it is mediocre. I'm not clear why this song, above all others, seems to have such a storied contest history.

There is only one song left I'd take over Soaring - and it ain't Reach for the Moon.

Votes:
Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

An Ill Omen
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

Another really strong four-pack!!! It really is getting to that point in the bracket, as much as I wanted to avoid it for just a couple more weeks. I seriously considered abstaining from the first match because of how close it is - I'd feel really bad if my vote ends up deciding it. Ratings for today would be something like 7.8-8.1-7.5-8.4 when a typical day looks like 6.0-6.8-7.0-8.0... (this being the "public education" scale where 80% of ratings fall between 6.5-8.0)
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Chocolate Missile
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke

lIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIl

One of the weakest days from R3. Not bad, but this would be your average R2 day.

Match 1:

Find the l (L):

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Now make a wish. You have to vote in both matches and invite a friend to come over, or else the songs you're voting against will win.

(Sorry, I didn't have much to say about this particular match and this joke came to mind. As for the actual match, it was easy, but Chocolate Missile's language still sounds too fake, like improvised Engrish-sounding gibberish, and thus it carries it down despite the singer's sweet voice, as well as having many inconsistencies throughout. Nevertheless, it's still enough for me to beat Omen, not because it's bad, but because it isn't my style really. It could actually be a good credits song for an action-oriented Eastern film.)

Match 2:

"Must. Resist. The. Urge. To. Anti-vote. GURUMIN!

...Oh wait, the match isn't even close. Good".

Okay, so this match was rather easy as well. I got the chance to appreciate Gurumin's song one more time, but even then it's still not enough for it to give this a good fight. Sad Blue Skies is Gokinjo 2.0, both in the personal damage dealt before (which is even greater that Gokinjo) and in the actual quality of the song (which is much greater than Gokinjo's Battle). As for RFTM, it's fine, but there are way better Touhou tracks. I know it's practically an iconic classic by now, but still. That being said, RFTM still wins by a fair margin.

The Moon >> Tasty Rock Gibberish > The Sad, Sad Sky >> IIIIIlllIIllIIIlIl
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

Argh I forgot to vote for the second time in three days. But at least I make it for a RFTMIS match for once!

An Ill Omen is some really cool atmospheric stuff. Though now I'm sad that Ryoshima Coast is gone.

I vaguely remember falling hard for Chocolate Missile in R1 and I have no idea why. It's not good. It's not like it was facing something bad in R1; hold that match again today and I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to vote against it.

Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky is...there? It's not bad, but I honestly thought I'd have more trouble bringing myself to vote for Reach for the Moon. I'm all for Touhou music doing well, but I don't know if I want to encourage this meme because there's so much better Touhou music out there.

Which is not to say that RFTMIS is bad, because it isn't. It's very good. Maybe I just find it disappointing because it's natural to compare like to like, and Mokou's the extra boss so "like" means things like Cute Devil ~ Innocence, The Grimoire of Alice, U.N. Owen was Her, and Necrofantasia.

Votes:
An Ill Omen
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Rankings:

Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke > An Ill Omen > Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky >>>>>> Chocolate Missile
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Missile
Soaring
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Chocolate Missile
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky

An Ill Omen
Soaring Through the Sad Blue Sky
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VM Japan - An Ill Omen
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke
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C
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