Board 8 > [BOST] Day 16: 1000 Memories v Drakengard 3, YU-NO v CrossCode, PSO v LaMulana 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Greetings, and welcome to the results and bracket/contest discussion topic for Best OST Contest 5! In this contest, you and fellow video game soundtrack lovers will come together to once and for all answer the question "What is the best video game soundtrack? (For now.)"

Links:
Contest Bracket and Info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sD964sXfa3trbXrr14mFKeEIA14cGM2RtHmW9TqGBmw
Discussion Thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77915805

-

VOTING RULES

- Each match will be between the songs representing each game, not the game as a whole. Please remember to listen and vote with this in mind! Any votes referring to a game name rather than a song name will not be counted. You have been warned!
- Listen to both songs!! If one is your literal favorite song in the world and the other is something you hate with a passion, listen to them both!!
- No alts, no rallying, no begging for something to get more votes, etc., etc., you know the drill.
- If you change your mind and would like to swap your vote, you may do so. As soon as it is 24 hours since the match topic was started, you may not change your vote and new votes will not be counted.
- If you would like to vote in advance for matches you know you will miss, please let me know in the discussion topic.

-

Main Bracket: Match 1

Thousand Memories - Lord of the Returners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga1T4nEadUE" data-time="

Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axT_RojfaRs" data-time="

Main Bracket: Match 2

YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World - Fate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF2E-SzJLhk" data-time="

CrossCode - Temple of Thunder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqYDUipAIYU" data-time="

Snubs Bracket Match

Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yujoxixeh0Q" data-time="

La Mulana 2 - Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dflKg9kSrMg" data-time="

-

Vote Form:
Lord of the Returners / Black Song, White Scales
Fate / Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium) / Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)

Black Song, White Scales
Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

All 3 of these are the the songs I expected myself to NOT vote for
---

Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales - how is this in the bottom three? It should probably be #1.
YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World - Fate - Tough choice.
Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Added to my BOST "Likes" (music I'm not already familiar with): Fate and Temple of Thunder.
---

Another insane day

Black Song, White Scales
Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Still conflicted about there being no upload with the final minute dialogue in good enough quality for The Final Song, because it's just kind of essential. Having said that, cool as Lord of the Returners is, it's not close enough to take advantage of this like Exsphere was.

Super good and close 2nd match. I like Fate more than I realised. The way it loops shouldn't work and yet it does so well, and the rest is... Well, it's the YU-NO soundtrack, I doubt I need to say. Automatically one of my favourite sets bar none this contest, and Fate is no exception. Having said that, Temple of Thunder is also really really cool. Almost made me think I'd accidentally skipped ahead to the PSO song lol, and you better believe that's praise you're welcome mycro now it's like 91%. Still, god i cannot believe I'm voting against fate here.

Poor La Mulana. PSO's soundtrack is even more insane than I remembered. I could've voted Fallin Tower over like half of the other songs that have showed up thus far in either bracket, but today it's probably the weakest song in the most lopsided match.

Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales
YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World - Fate
Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)
---

Lord of the Returners
Fate
A Longing to Ancient Times
---

Black Song, White Scales
Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times

returners was good but not good enough
fate was good but not good enough
Fallin' Tower was... decent but not decent enough
---

Black Song, White Scales
Fate
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

BSWS is one of those B8 songs that took several years to grow on me, but now I love it. I really like its opponent too, kinda feel bad that I have to vote against it.

Fate sounds so dark and mysterious, I love it! This is my favorite song from the YU-NO soundtrack, and I might even go so far as to say that it's my favorite PC-98 track that isn't Touhou or Rusty. At least that I can think of anyways. Temple of Thunder is pretty cool, but it doesn't quite wow me like its VGMC13 entrant did.

I'm with Mycro on these La Mulana 2 tracks, they've been sort of a letdown. I feel like Fallin' Tower would be at least an 8/10 with a good soundfont and would even get my vote, but this sounds like a poorly made VGMusic.com MIDI for classic Ys music. I like the other song.
---

Lord of the Returners
Fate
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Black Song, White Scales
Temple of Thunder
Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)

Lord of the Returners
Fate
Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)

didn't have the same actively repulsed reaction I usually have listening to the end of The Final Song but its opponent is really good so
---

Black Song, White Scales
Fate
Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)

Black Song, White Scales
Fate
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Black Song, White Scales
Fate
A Longing to Ancient Times
---

Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)
The Final Song: Black Song, White Scales
---

Lord of the Returners
Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Black Song in the bottom three huh. LotR (heh) sounds very movie soundtracky. I hate the transitions between phases in Black Song. The phases themselves have some good parts, but they can't make up for that.

I don't like the start/stop thing in Fate. Temple of Thunder is alright.

I think A Longing to Ancient Times Part 2 is a lot better than Premium, but this one's still good. Why's the La Mulana song so quiet? I had to crank my volume way up for it. It's solid when you can actually hear it at least.
---

Thousand Memories - Lord of the Returners: 7.5. I'm not typically a huge fan of this sort of orchestral flair, though this has way more personality than, say, your average Radiant Historia song. The fact that it's in 5/4 makes for a neat ride. One of those songs I appreciate objectively more than personally. The song grows on me during the second loop, so I'm bumping it up more.
vs.
Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales: 9.5. Hey now, calm down, song. This song is ALL OVER THE PLACE and I love it. It always keeps me guessing. Very dark and evil, with a little bit of tortured hope thrown in throughout. And then it ends with a very effective music box. Pretty top tier.

and

YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World - Fate: 9. One of my absolute favorite YU-NO songs. The slow build to menace is executed perfectly at the start, and then the drumbeat kicks in and it turns into, like the best YU-NO music, this dreamy otherworldly aural scape. So good. I will say this is the rare song (for me at least) that actually feels less effective after the loop; I don't feel like I discover anything new about the song.
vs.
CrossCode - Temple of Thunder: 8. Ooh, I really like this too! Some real Klonoa vibes going on here. Nice immersive feeling, lots of really interesting textures. Feels very exploratory. My favorite part is around :45, when it feels like the rocket is blasting into space.

and

Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium): 7.5. Wow this is also cool! Normally I find PSO music too "busy" but this works really well for me; there's a lot going on but it doesn't get too overwhelming. The melody is nice and the instrumentation is solid. I also like the breakdown near the end and how the music sort of swirls back in like a time warp.
vs.
La Mulana 2 - Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme): 3.5. Not digging this one as much. The melody is fine but the...production quality I guess feels a bit muddy. It gets a bit interesting near the end. I'd be down with hearing an arranged/remixed version of this to see what they could do with the composition.

Votes:
Black Song, White Scales
Fate
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Black Song, White Scales
Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

All 3 of these are the the songs I expected myself to NOT vote...okay, that's BS. I'm always voting Final Song here.
---

Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales
This song was ominous, yet beautiful. "Lord of the Returners" didn't really capture my attention much, but this song feels poetic in a way...! I love the vocals and it was SUCH a good song to drive home at night to, especially after an emotionally hectic kind of day like yesterday. It's the kind of thing that makes driving feel hypnotic-- watching the headlights shine over the lane reflectors to this song kind of put me in a trance. But enough about my weird commuting habits_!! this song just doesn't feel afraid to explore different emotions: from somber to courageous, "Black Song, White Scales" kinda took me on a journey.

CrossCode - Temple of Thunder
I hate hate hate hate HATE voting against YU-NO because it is such good music, but "Temple of Thunder" just completely blew me away. like "fate" did some really cool things that I really like A LOT but "temple of thunder" was just so indescribably good. It hit all the right notes for me and kind of surprised me. I have not yet had the pleasure of experiencing the CrossCode OST, but whoop I guess it's time to give it a go. It is just so crazy melodic and beautifully orchestrated that I can't help BUT vote for it. It was just the thing I needed to hear last night and good gosh is it amazing.

Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)
This song is so ME! It just has a bunch of great instruments and a freakin' awesome melody that all combine to create a crazy, all-over-the-place kinda song. Music that does a ton of crazy stuff, especially anything to do with synths and a rockin' bassline is typically the kinda stuff I dig. I have listened to this song several times today and yesterday because of how much I love it. It just does a lot of stuff that I really enjoy and all in one song. Surprisingly, I have not heard much else from PSO, but now I want to-- this OST has exactly the vibe I ADORE_~!
---

Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales (The Final Song)
CrossCode - Temple of Thunder
Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Oh man, I think the other two were given but I wasn't expecting to vote against Thousand Memories today. It has an excellent set, too...with this particular one being the weak link. I do think it warrants mention that this game has at least ten volumes worth of music, and having to pick seven standouts from all that must've been a feat in and of itself. Also would like to nod to YU-NO as a worthy contender for CrossCode.

I love you hideaki kobayashi (even when you are arranged by Yoko Shimomura apparen1tly)

---

Thousand Memories - Lord of the Returners - 8.5/10

Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales - 7.5/10

Voting for Lord of the Returners

YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World - Fate - 6.5/10

CrossCode - Temple of Thunder - 6/10

Voting for Fate

Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium) - 6.5/10

La Mulana 2 - Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme) - 6/1-

Voting for A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

Black Song, White Scales
Temple of Thunder
Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)
---

Drakengard 3 - Black Song, White Scales
CrossCode - Temple of Thunder
Phantasy Star Online - A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

MATCH 1

Lord of the Returners is a cool song. The violin melody is pretty nice. Kinda feels cinematic with the orchestra hits.

The Final Song is just way too good, though. It would be nice to see this song again in VGMC14 because being matched up with what would eventually be the champion round 2 of its bracket was a seriously brutal matchup. And I think it had the best performance against Exsphere out of all the songs it beat. I'd hope to put it far in my favorites bracket if it shows up next year. I've since gone back to listen to this song many times because of how much I like it. It's just such a cool song.

MATCH 2

Fate is pretty cool! The main melody from 0:48-1:52 is really neat. The intro bit that comes before that part is kinda meh, but I like that specific part that I mentioned.

Temple of Thunder is also really cool. Very strongly reminds me of 999 music. Mainly the first 47 seconds of the song. I'm especially liking the part that comes after that. Really chill/trippy vibes with some cool pad chords.

MATCH 3

A Longing to Ancient Times is neat. Cool prog rock/jazz fusion kind of vibes. I'm not really liking the very heavy vibrato in the lead like at 0:13-ish. The overall sound of it is really cool though, so that one issue isn't really as much of a detriment to the song. Not to mention, it's not always present in the song. I think my favorite part is actually that lull in the song from 2:21-2:53. I don't know what it is, but something about that part is super cool.

I like Fallin' Tower's rock sound. Most of what I've heard of La Mulana's music is pretty decent. The only part of this song that I don't like is that brief bit of tension at 1:21. I just don't really like how that sounds in this song. This match is somewhat close, but I'm leaning towards A Longing to Ancient Times on this one.

The Final Song ~ Black Song, White Scales > Temple of Thunder > A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium) > Fate > Lord of the Returners > Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)

Really uncertain about most of these rankings because they're very close to each other. Only the first song is definite. Fairly certain about Temple of Thunder at #2, though.

Black Song, White Scales
Fate
Fallin' Tower (Ancient Chaos theme)

Black Song, White Scales
Temple of Thunder
A Longing to Ancient Times (Premium)

I am a distracted fool again, oops

dang it none of these matches are no brainers for me I don't have time to think this over I am a distracted fool with a deadline aa

heck it, I'm voting for vocals w/ some interesting backing especially the notable rising warp sound, over more generic battle orchestration

2 match ridiculously close two neat, slower paced songs with very different, but both very appealing interesting instrumentations to me.

oh no I'm voting against my own nomination, a traitor !! I like fallin tower but this is more about the ancient times being a cool jazzy experience than the tower being weak for me. obviously since I nominated it I mean. something
---