Board 8 > [BOST] Day 59: Kirby RtDL v Spark, Touhou 11 v Shallie, XenobladeX v Caligula

(+) Yeah! (+)

"Greetings, and welcome to the 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

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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.

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Main Bracket: Losers Round 6 Match 1

Kirby's Return to Dream Land - C-R-O-W-N-E-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POPD80fxcD4" data-time="

Spark the Electric Jester - Lunar Bass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgEAV4C2Us" data-time="

Main Bracket: Losers Round 6 Match 2

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Hartmann's Youkai Girl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4syvy2vjvQY" data-time="

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella ~ Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MhoL2Zy9TY" data-time="

Snubs Bracket: Round 3

Xenoblade Chronicles X - Yakou Mori

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

Caligula - Suicide Prototype

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1ZFayCCows" data-time="

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Vote Form:
C-R-O-W-N-E-D / Lunar Bass
Hartmann's Youkai Girl / Stella ~ Part 2
Yakou Mori / Suicide Prototype

C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Stella ~ Part 2
Yakou Mori

Kirby's Return to Dream Land - C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Xenoblade Chronicles X - Yakou Mori
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Lunar Base
Stella
holy SHIT what is this Suicide Prototype song???

lunar base is definitely my favorite spark song yet

This iteration of Stella gives me vague Blue Reflection vibes (the "saccharineness" of Overdose, specifically) but it's definitely much better overall

caligula was too electronic in the middle for a bit but the rest carries it
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Lunar Bass
Stella 2
Yakou Mori
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Yakou Mori

Tough choice. Lunar Bass is way better than any of the other Spark reps so far. I think I'll side with Kirby's Return to Dream Land - C-R-O-W-N-E-D just because it's more unique?

If it were Stella part one I would have voted for that one easily...I just don't get the lack of love for that version. I don't like Part two as much, so it's a hard choice here. Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Hartmann's Youkai Girl, it is.

Xenoblade Chronicles X - Yakou Mori - oh, hey, I'm finally voting for an XCX track. This probably means everyone's going to vote for Suicide Prototype! (Just like everyone voted opposite of me pertaining to Killer Instinct)
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Spark the Electric Jester - Lunar Bass
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella ~ Part 2
Caligula - Suicide Prototype

MATCH 1

C-R-O-W-N-E-D just kinda makes me go "hey it's those Kirby motifs, neat!" but at the same time, it doesn't really suit my tastes all that much. Has a bit of an orchestra feel to it, but not the kind that's exciting to me.

From my RtVGM writeup of Lunar Bass: "Really nice song! The instrumentation's very good. I like the piano a lot and the rest of the instruments work really well with this song. The changes from a slower-paced piano to a more upbeat song work nicely here as well." I'll add onto this a bit by saying that it's easy for me to jam out to this song, which is definitely a good thing. Everything just flows really nicely as well, adding onto that last sentence. Probably deserves a better score than what I gave it in RtVGM now that I think about it. Will probably change that eventually.

MATCH 2

It seems the RNG gods are having a lot of fun at my expense with the matchups Shallie songs have been getting as of late. This is the second time in a row now that I've been faced with a ridiculously close match when it shows up. I mean, Silhouette of Thirst vs. You Will Know Our Names was a crazy good match too, but at least I had a clear choice there! Okay, enough of that now, onto the match!

Hartmann's Youkai Girl is a very iconic Touhou song and for good reason! It's just a really energetic and hype song. My favorite part's definitely the softer part from 1:14-2:00. Possibly my favorite Subterranean Animism song? There are quite a few good choices from that particular game, so it's hard to say.

This probably would've been more easily and quickly decided if it was Part 3, but when I originally had it in my list, quite a few people mentioned that they liked Part 2 more, so Part 2 is what I stuck with! While I really enjoy the energy from Part 3, Part 2 has a very pretty instrumentation that I like a lot as well. It's still a pretty tough decision to make just like Scorpio vs. XIO_PROCEED was, but I have a bit of a clearer preference in mind so no abstention from me this time. Sincere apologies to Hartmann's Youkai Girl though. It's super close, but Stella Part 2 just barely wins my vote here.

MATCH 3

Oh no, really good songs from my nomination's opponents twice in the same day! Yakou Mori is really good for the first 2 minutes or so, but gets a lot less good after that. I really enjoy 1:20-1:49! Feels like some kind of motivational music to play in the background alongside footage of people hiking and mountain climbing or something like that.

Okay, in hindsight, Suicide Prototype might have been a really bad inclusion to this list lol. Especially at the #4 slot instead of like #6 or something. I happen to like this song a lot, but it only recently dawned on me that this song is very not board 8. Possibly anti-b8 outside of Japanese vocals. Might be a thing the Siiva crowd likes more, but I know they're a bit averse to Japanese vocals, so that might turn a few of them away from this too. Yakou Mori feels like the more "board 8" song, so if Caligula goes down in this round because of that, you can blame me haha. I really should've put like Originality Incident in this spot instead, but way too late now oops! Well here's to hoping that enough people here like DnB to give this song a win. Anyway, as for the song itself, I don't actually have much to say about it. I just think it's a really cool song. I've fallen a bit out of favor with it though compared to when I nominated the list, so that only adds to my slight regret for including this song. I still think it's really good though so it's a clear vote for Suicide Prototype over Yakou Mori.

Stella ~ Part 2 > Hartmann's Youkai Girl = Suicide Prototype > Lunar Bass > Yakou Mori > C-R-O-W-N-E-D

Really good day today!

C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Suicide Prototype

Second match was very close and not how I expected to vote
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Lunar Bass
Stella ~ Part 2
Yakou Mori

Lunar Bass
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Yakou Mori
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Stella ~ Part 2
Yakou Mori

I'm not sure how much I like these songs, but they're the preferred choices in each match. Only decent song today is CROWNED.
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Suicide Prototype

C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Stella ~ Part 2
Suicide Prototype

Lunar Bass
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Suicide Prototype

This is one hell of a match.3

First match has my favorite track from both of their setlists. I'll likely go so far as to even support Lunar Bass in the next VGMC!

Touhou vs. Atelier is almost automatically going to be good regardless. HYG is a solid 9/10 track and it isn't even one of my top 3 from this game. Kinda wish it was Stella Part 3 here instead, but my vote would be the same regardless.

Both Snubs songs have very high highs, but with just a couple points that detract. The vocal sections and bits with the flute in Yakou Mori are amazing, but it feels like there's a bit too much filler between them (Ace Combat buildup music?). I love all the energy in Suicide Prototype, although the dubstep is a bit overwhelming at parts. These are still both excellent.

This might just be the most consistently great day of the contest, and also ranks up there for being one of the best overall.
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Change my vote to Stella ~ Part 2
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Lunar Bass
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Yakou Mori

C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Stella ~ Part 2
Yakou Mori
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Yakou Mori

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Lunar Bass
Stella ~ Part 2
Yakou Mori

What the heck I came here for Atelier not Blue Reflection...still pretty decent though


wow thanks youtube
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Lunar Bass
Stella ~ Part 2
Suicide Prototype

Crowned is okay. Bit of a step down from the other Kirby tracks. Lunar Bass isn't as good as the best spark tracks either, but I like the middle part a lot.

I dunno if HYG really stands out from other Touhou tracks. the start of Stella is great. The rest doesn't quite hold up, but I still like it.

Suicide Prototype's some great shit (though Yakou Mori's good too). Video games need more dubstep.
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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Yakou Mori
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Akkrillic posted...

C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Hartmann's Youkai Girl
Yakou Mori

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C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Stella ~ Part 2
Yakou Mori

Lunar Bass is great and all but CROWNED is among the best Kirby songs out there
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Kirby's Return to Dream Land - C-R-O-W-N-E-D: 8. Very very high energy, bouncy but intense. I really like the brief Green Greens reprise.
vs.
Spark the Electric Jester - Lunar Bass: 6.5. This is my least favorite of the Spark songs I've heard in the contest (though I haven't been voting every day, so I probably missed at least one).

and

Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism. - Hartmann's Youkai Girl: 5.5. Fine, I guess. Could be worse.
vs.
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea - Stella ~ Part 2: 7. I like the different movements of this song and the way everything flows together.

and

Xenoblade Chronicles X - Yakou Mori: 5. what is with this soundtrack and random unfitting vocals. Also boy do I like the second half of this (which is basically a totally different song?) way less than the first half.
vs.
Caligula - Suicide Prototype: 7. After how much I disliked Distorted Happiness in VGMC, Caligula has probably been the biggest surprise for me in BOST. I don't love this song like I do Cradle and Sadistic Queen, but there's still so much cool stuff in here.

Votes:
C-R-O-W-N-E-D
Stella ~ Part 2
Suicide Prototype