Board 8 > [VGMC] d28: Isoleucine vs Snowman, Looking Up at Sky vs Toccatina, R2 ToC begins

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azuarc
04/25/20 9:42:55 PM
#1:


Wildcard B3 preference










Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 14, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VNrPnFRI7nJ4PqFiURBW0NWqxvXiuasoq8Sn_O169ss/edit#gid=320804650
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=473292
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78524521
Bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1REnVI_W6yELaDP6Zac8b0Wq
ToC playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RE-TQMj19D0k5nm-0zeH12J
VGMC compability sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lpX4faqnn_geI0y4i6MrZ2AXpV6SWXoWrIA6_eyx-yM/edit

Rules:
- Listen to both of the songs. Links h
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Pyromide
04/25/20 9:45:47 PM
#2:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!
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Bluenugget64
04/25/20 9:50:30 PM
#3:


-(Isoleucine)-
Looking Up at the Sky
Seize the Truth!
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xarlable
04/25/20 9:52:22 PM
#4:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!
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NFUN
04/25/20 9:53:44 PM
#5:


-(Isoleucine)-
Looking Up at the Sky
Seize the Truth!

---
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Mac Arrowny
04/25/20 10:02:50 PM
#6:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

Don't think I like Isoleucine quite as much as the last 13 Sentinels song, but it's still quite good. Some phases are awesome. Way better than Snowman, a mystifying perennial smash entrant. Also cannot believe the picture uses Ness instead of Lucas...

Like Isoleucine, Looking Up at the Sky isn't the best song from its game. Unlike Isoleucine, it's not a good song at all. Ugh there are so many Trails 3rd songs I like way better than this. Toccatina is not the hottest, but it's good enough to win this one easy.

oh hey a better Trails song... it did a lot better than it should've, but it's still good. Ricordando not totally my thing for Umineko either whoops.

-(Isoleucine)- > Seize the Truth! > Ricordando il Passato > Toccatina > Snowman > Looking Up at the Sky
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Hbthebattle
04/25/20 10:05:07 PM
#7:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!
---
Patience.
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SuperNiceDog
04/25/20 10:19:30 PM
#8:


13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(Isoleucine)-
Evenicle - Toccatina
Ao no Kiseki Evolution - Seize the Truth!

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SuperNiceChao about to win the Oracle 2020! TsunamiXXVIII and me will destroy all you noobs
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GameBopAdv
04/25/20 10:24:42 PM
#9:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

Isoleucine is a song that has really grown on me since things this contest began and is one of my favorite discoveries of the contest (a phrase that I feel holds less strength than it ought to, as most of my favorite discoveries did not make it past nominations :< it does not feel right putting a frowny face at the end of something in parentheses so this text here is pure buffer) There's a lot of great in this song, I really like the very digital instrumentation, and the contrast of it being mixed with the very non-technological stuff like the strings (even though I typically complain about those, they're limited enough to not really bother me, and instead contribute to decent variety) and speaking of variety I really dig the variety in the different feels a number of the sections have. Like it starts with a sort of calm passive computer systems start up, which transitions into a more active adventurous feeling, And then like 1:57 is a pretty distinct moodshift that I really like though I don't know what fictional scenario to describe this, but it doesn't last long before suddenly shifting to ANOTHER segment I really like at 2:22 with that high note tumbling away it turns into this bass-heavy beatdown, and then the instruments enter "calming recovery mode" and suddenly it's act 2 of the song it's like a stronger remix of it's own self! I really like the sort of heavily repeated notes at 3:25. the repeated section works out so well, and honestly I do appreciate that the bass-heavy beatdown is abridged this time rather than played full thing again -- worked great played in full the first time and worked great played short the second time. Honestly while this may not be my favorite song in the contest, it certainly is up there, and so I would say this is my pick for the ideal "likely" winner of vgmc14. Now I may be wrong in terms of predicting what does well and what doesn't (hey there is a non-zero percent chance fax factory can wildcard win it all !! ) but this song just feels like the highest combination of what seems like it would do well here, and what would do well in my heart. And with the very nicely used combination of the digital focus & the more organic strings focus it also feels like a good way of bringing two distinct sides together. Or maybe it doesn't, I don't really know what others think of this song yet, but I do really like it myself. Oh right there's another song in this match. I get the impression that I would strongly prefer the original of this song, considering I'm not so much of a fan of this instrumentation, and certainly not the chants at the start but those quickly go away. The main feel of "Snowman" is trying to be too calm relaxy for me, though, I do love how the tune goes at :36. Really great tune right there, one of those things I don't know how to describe why I love it. But overall this doesn't come close to Isoleucine.

Looking up at the sky. I hate the moodysad feeling this song has, I hate the sound of the vocals, and I hate the limited instrumentation at the beginning. bottom tier song for me. Toccatina is really fun rhythm piano. Love the jazzy volume switching staccato notes intersperced throughout the first half. Then the second half goes to a nice spacey sound. 1:13 is two really good chords.

Seize the truth is a pretty alright song. Nothing especially great about it, but nothing especially bad about it either. The quiet synth tones that become prominent when the strings go away at 1:27 are pretty nice, but also as I said a bit awkwardly quiet for a focused instrument. I feel like the melody and tune of this song are pretty strong and the sort of thing that could maybe grow on me. Ricordando il Passato is fairly emotional sad chanting and vocals with high strings and little else I hate those, this is another easy match.

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luigi says: "and"
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UF8
04/25/20 10:26:29 PM
#10:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato

it's difficult to pinpoint exactly why i like isoleucine. i think there are a lot of reasons and i can't actually tell what they really are. the nekomata-esque sounds, the pulsating rhythm, the general blue reflection-adjacent feeling and loose shmup vibes, the occasional cool chords... but most of that doesn't even seem to scratch the surface or necessarily even accurately enough describe a fraction of it. not that I've ever said i had any insightful commentary. point is tldr i think it's good.
i feel sorry for snowman here, i think it is a genuinely underrated song in the modern vgm environment (or whatever you want to call it that doesn't make me sound even more full of it than the last writeup) as a song that rarely gets looked at from a game that barely gets looked at directly now. it wasn't even counted as a brawl nom at first >_>. anyway, yeah. it's actually a minor favourite of mine and i really wanted it to have a fair chance at being remembered among the smash classics... this isn't it.

solid animesong? nothing special but not bad. it doesn't really try to do that much given how long it is
toccatina also doesn't do that much, but is bright, jazzy and vibrant enough to be the TitS 3rd song's achilles heel. I wouldn't exactly call this a strong match so much as a remarkably inoffensive one

now exploring yet another side of... anime... but also falcom. Seize the Truth is a decisively average Falcom song featuring the trademark strings and even guitars, but is also lacking the EXTREME energy of the ones that I feel truly earned their past success. I still cannot fathom how it won.
RIP is still on a godly level in this full cut. i may never stop singing its praises
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UF8
04/25/20 10:30:33 PM
#11:


Mac Arrowny posted...
Also cannot believe the picture uses Ness instead of Lucas...
i mean it should really be ninten but
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Team Rocket Elite
04/25/20 10:31:21 PM
#12:


13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(Isoleucine)-
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Looking Up at the Sky
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato
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Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Contest!
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TheArkOfTurus
04/25/20 10:51:57 PM
#13:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

---
Our eyes were removed
For our own safety
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Raetsel_Lapin
04/25/20 11:04:36 PM
#14:


Snowman
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato
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PICARD IS SAD BECAUSE HE LOST. HE'S REAL SAD. HE'S EVEN MORE SAD THAN THAT.
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Collen
04/25/20 11:22:14 PM
#15:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

---
The sun always shines on TV
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banshiryuu
04/25/20 11:53:18 PM
#16:


-(ISOLEUCINE)- (12th) vs Snowman (181st)
Looking Up at the Sky Ending version (170th) vs Toccatina (81st)
Seize the Truth! [18th//15th] vs Byakumu no Mayu ~Ricordando il passato~ [44th//28th]

adding rank out of songs alive for post-round 1 rounds!! so it'll be TOTAL//ALIVE. also going in reverse order today

[TOC] Seize the Truth!!! I love Yukihiro Jindo!!!!! I know a lot of people really do NOT like his Epic Battle Composition but the raw power he manages to cram into his songs through use of cresendos literally blows me away. Like I recoil when I hear them. This has a little bit less of an example between 0:07 and 0:11 where the quick break really accentuates when it PUNCHES YOU at 0:11 (if you want the one that really really gets me..... the intro to Get Over the Barrier! -Roaring Version-. oof. OOOOF.) really good earwormy melody mmmmmm saki mommyama thank you bless you queen. One mommy beats out the other mommy today in this ToC match (don't worry the use of mommy is ironic i'm not really that cringe..... i swear) also while i love this song the fact vgmc9 finals was not kurokami vs dark legacy is a sin okay end thread

Looking Up at the Sky managed to take a really, really nice chill area theme that I love to listen to and make it so chill that it becomes very boring and kinda puts me to sleep. Wish I could appreciate this version like other vocal versions of instrumental songs from this series (cry for me so good) but yeah I can't bring myself to really care for it. Toccatina is VERY FUN!! I LOVE STACCATO SCALEY PIANO STUFF WTF leave it to my boy PK Turtles to fuse classy piano and upbeat dance music in a great way. its sooooo good yeah this is very easy match lol.

Snowman is literally the same case as Looking Up at the Sky, I like the song normally but this version is just so much nothing to me. I like the vocals a lot! That's about the only thing. Bizarre that it's in a Smash game. And it's opponent is (technically) my absolute favorite discovery from this contest!! Wow!!! Crazy synths and crazy rhythms!! Psytrance kicks!! Multiple phases!! Melodies with scales going up and down and everywhere!!! 2:23 makes me wanna BECOME PIXELS AND DRAG RACE IN KIRBY AIR RIDE PYRAMID STAR oh yeah no you are not seeing the ranking wrong btw, this is my favorite song from this game now even though i literally nommed -[DEOXYRIBOSE]- myself lmfao oops United Nations Confirms Basiscape OSTs Are The Key To Everlasting World Peace IT COMES BACK AT 4:34 AND MAKES ME HAPPY AGAIN THE GRUNGY PART grrrrrjgmejjegeeemggemege this is the most polarizing match in the contest for me that doesn't literally involve my 1st place song so. strong feelings. thank you for being in the contest song!!!

-(ISOLEUCINE)- > Seize the Truth! > Toccatina > Byakumu no Mayu ~Ricordando il passato~ > Looking Up at the Sky Ending version > Snowman
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Prody Parrot
04/25/20 11:54:36 PM
#17:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!
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Haste_2
04/26/20 12:01:28 AM
#18:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato

-(Isoleucine)- (9.0) / Snowman (8.0)
Looking Up at the Sky (8.0) / Toccatina (8.5)

Great music today!

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loweffortmemes
04/26/20 12:41:47 AM
#19:


13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(Isoleucine)-
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Looking Up at the Sky
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato

MATCH 1

Isoleucine's a really neat song! Pretty upbeat but also somewhat soft and subdued as well, at times. The intro kinda feels like the video game version of house music. Later on, there's also some neat chiptune-sounding stuff and violin melodies. 2:04-2:23 in particular's really cool. The melody's pretty cool but what's actually even cooler is the chord change at 2:10 and the bassline doing work right after that. This is definitely my preferred 13 Sentinels song in the contest and I really enjoy it!

Snowman's also a very nice song! Very relaxing song. That flute melody from 0:08-0:36 is my favorite part. It sounds very nice with the backing guitars and synthy keyboard sounding stuff. The other parts where this melody plays with the more full-sounding drums is nice too, though I would prefer a little less decay, if that's the right word, in the drum hits during that part (see 1:06, 1:10). The vocal portions are really neat too! I'd actually take this over quite a few songs throughout the bracket, but not Isoleucine.

MATCH 2

Looking Up at the Sky's really good! Once again, I really like emotional vocal songs like this. The soft keyboard melody in the intro and the piano chords during the vocal parts are great. And, of course, the melody in the vocals is great as well. I also like these transitions between piano backings, guitar backings, and then the full strings and guitars for the backing as the song goes on.

Toccatina's a very catchy song! Not much to say about this. Cool melody and chords.

MATCH 3

I feel like I tend to find Falcom trance songs kinda boring, but Seize the Truth doesn't suffer from that at all. This song has some nice guitar and violin melodies to keep the song interesting for me. There are definitely better Falcom song retirees, but this is still a pretty good song! I feel like it's not quite "VGMC champion" material, but looking at the VGMC9 bracket, I can understand how it went far with some of the matches it had. Several of the matches it was in would be clear Seize the Truth votes for me (namely its rounds 1, 2, and 4 matches). That said, if I was filling out a favorites bracket for this, I'd have Hitomi no LAZhWARD > Seize the Truth for the round 2 match. I guess even then, it's a little bit close?

Ricordando too good, sorry Seize the Truth.

Ricordando il Passato > Looking Up at the Sky > Seize the Truth! > -(Isoleucine)- > Toccatina > Snowman

Oops I just now realized I like Isoleucine more than Toccatina, which means the former should've been my C2 wildcard pick in my favorites bracket instead of the latter, but whatever. Good day today!
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tennisboy213
04/26/20 12:51:19 AM
#20:


Snowman
Looking Up at the Sky
Seize the Truth!
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FL81
04/26/20 12:58:04 AM
#21:


13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(Isoleucine)-
Evenicle - Toccatina
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato

Match 1: Cool thing going on in Isobutane, reminding me of some of the Ar Tonelico entrants in this year oddly enough. I love the SSBB (and by extension SSBU) soundtrack to the extent that it is one of my all-time favorite soundtracks, but man, Snowman is not the track I'd pick to represent it.

Match 2: sadjrpgsong.mp3 I'm sure this works better in context as with all sad VGM, although there are plenty I love without the context of having played the game! This sounds like your average anime soundtrack song. Okay so funny story, the first time I heard Toccatina was when I was looking for meme game songs to throw into hard for one of my VGMGGs and I figured huh why not throw in something from Evenicle and I ended up using something else, but this was on my shortlist and thought it was pretty good too. Surprising seeing someone else nominate it for VGMC lol.

ToC: Even though heavy metal Ys Falcom music is totally me, I still don't get how this song in particular managed to be a VGMC champion. Don't get me wrong, I really like it, but it doesn't sound like something that would've made it as far as it did. Ricordando is still amazing though, so I'm voting that.

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MoonRunes
04/26/20 1:02:45 AM
#22:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato
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Janus5k
04/26/20 1:08:20 AM
#23:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

why is the Snowman so sad
why is the Falcom so sad
why is Rean so sad *Cold Steel spoilers* it's because C's the Truth

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HBJDubs
04/26/20 1:47:47 AM
#24:


-(Isoleucine)-
Looking Up at the Sky
Seize the Truth!

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Save in the name of true love
~Project 1000~
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KCF0107
04/26/20 3:11:52 AM
#25:


Iso
Toc
Pass
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If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu
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TsunamiXXVIII
04/26/20 4:11:31 AM
#26:


-(Isoleucine)-

Man, what a weird path Snowman took. I was really hyped about getting it back into the contest, enough that it was one of the nominations I had cued up in advance. Possibly even as a double? And then I was told that the version in Ultimate actually was a straight rip from the Brawl version, but that was fine because it wasn't one of the many songs Brawl retired, and my enthusiasm just kind of disappeared; it was actually one of the things I kept considering for dropping earlier, and only kept bringing it back because it was getting support. It's just too bad it's not in the second match so I could vote for it!

Seize the Truth! > -(Isoleucine)- > Snowman > Toccatina >>>>>>>> Looking Up at the Sky > Ricordando il Passato

Wait, why does my phone already remember this? We're not into R2 of the ToC already, are we?

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handsomeboy2012
04/26/20 4:47:39 AM
#27:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!
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th3l3fty
04/26/20 8:37:22 AM
#28:


13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(Isoleucine)-
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Looking Up at the Sky

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato
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I have a third degree burn in flame-o-nomics -Sir Chris
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xp1337
04/26/20 8:47:57 AM
#29:


Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Snowman
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Looking Up at the Sky
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato

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sergiocornaga
04/26/20 9:11:26 AM
#30:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

KCF0107 posted...
Pass
This could be read as abstaining from voting, maybe you could post a clarification just in case.

TsunamiXXVIII posted...
-(Isoleucine)-
Did you mean to only vote in one match?
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Sceptilesolar
04/26/20 9:23:48 AM
#31:


Second match is a snoozer.

-(Isoleucine)-
Looking Up at the Sky
Ricordando il Passato

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Just killing time until the world ends.
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xx521xx
04/26/20 9:51:45 AM
#32:


Snowman
Looking Up at the Sky
Seize the Truth!
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Optimism is the first step to disappointment.
xx521xx
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Flamander
04/26/20 11:28:46 AM
#33:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato

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cathode on discord
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rwlh
04/26/20 11:43:02 AM
#34:


-(Isoleucine)-
Looking Up at the Sky
Seize the Truth!

EDIT: accidentally voted for Toccatina.
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tazzyboyishere
04/26/20 11:54:31 AM
#35:


Snowman
Looking Up at the Sky
Ricordando il Passato

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PSN/Steam - RoboQuote ; NNID - TazzyMan
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azuarc
04/26/20 12:44:06 PM
#36:


TsunamiXXVIII posted...
Seize the Truth! > -(Isoleucine)- > Snowman > Toccatina >>>>>>>> Looking Up at the Sky > Ricordando il Passato

@TsunamiXXVIII should I extrapolate your preference in the other two matches from this?

Wait, why does my phone already remember this? We're not into R2 of the ToC already, are we?

[VGMC] d28: Isoleucine vs Snowman, Looking Up at Sky vs Toccatina, R2 ToC begins


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VGMC13 champion: Ar Nosurge - Class::EXSPHERE_NOSURGE;
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azuarc
04/26/20 12:53:47 PM
#37:


I
T
S

a-me

<3 Seize the Truth, though it would never win again with the current group of voters

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VGMC13 champion: Ar Nosurge - Class::EXSPHERE_NOSURGE;
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NFUN
04/26/20 1:51:11 PM
#38:


13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - -(Isoleucine)- at 9.4 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! Why is this so song? I have no idea. It's just so good. Even the wubby part isn't offensive, somehow. Almost literally everybody voted for this for a reason

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Snowman at RANKING SPOILERS is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! It's chill... GEDDIT??

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Looking Up at the Sky at 9.7 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! Looking Up at the Sky in all of its forms is incredible. The melody itself is beautiful and gets all of the feels across, and this singer compliments it perfectly. She packs so much emotion into it that you can almost understand the lyrics without being able to speak the language. This song wears its cards on its sleeve and there isn't a lot to say about it... besides vote for it. I somewhat prefer the original but you fucks didn't let it get in last year so this is what you're getting.

Evenicle - Toccatina at 9.3 is my ???th favorite song in the contest!! I almost nominated this; shame it's against such a champ. Really solid jazzy tune. Should've kept the original thumbnail

Ao no Kiseki Evolution - Seize the Truth! at 8.9 is my ???th favorite retiree in the contest!! Real solid if uninspiring Falcom battle tune, except the melody a minute in which always gets me. Definitely feels like a compromise champion, but one of the better ones I wouldn't be too upset about.

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PIayer_0
04/26/20 4:50:28 PM
#39:


Snowman
Looking Up at the Sky
Ricordando il Passato

Bring back Deoxyribose!
NFUN's signature is talking to this song, it's a positively radiant source of light that bathes you in its warm glow
Seize the Truth reminds of...New World Order, especially 1:33 and and 1:44

yay vocals

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-Abraham Lincoln
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Arti
04/26/20 5:33:03 PM
#40:


Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Snowman
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Looking Up at the Sky
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato

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dowolf
04/26/20 5:54:22 PM
#41:


-(Isoleucine)-
Looking up at the Sky
Ricordando il Passato

isoleucine doesn't represent what i like in the ost oh well.

snowman just isn't my thing. Sorry!

Looking up at the Sky is a low-tier Trails ending theme. Sorry!

Not a big fan of the Evenicle OST, I don't think.

Of all the Crossbell tracks to retire... Actually I kinda like it but.

Of all the tracks on this album to be VGMCC eligible... Also I like it but.

man i'm negative today "whoops"
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Nonsense. "Testing" is for when you're still guessing--and now, I have no need to guess. -- Agatha, Girl Genius
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JONALEON1
04/26/20 5:56:34 PM
#42:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato

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Advokaiser was wiser against all the other Gurus!
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Toxtricity
04/26/20 6:13:58 PM
#43:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato

-(-(Isoleucine)- is my 5th favorite in the contest! ok here we go time for THIS. I said some of this in deoxyribose but i'm a much bigger fan of this one so i'll get into more detail here. So 13 Sentinels Aegis rim is my favorite soundtrack released between vgmc13 and 14. I consistently LOVE basiscape and have been going through their endless amounts of stuff like mad for the past year or so now, but this impressed me even more than a normal ost from them would. it's actually an incredibly varied ost and I feel a bit odd that there are TWO very similar -(bracket)- tracks representing it this contest, that's only representative of what tiny portion sounds like. Some of it's more like chill pat metheny jazz fusion-adjacent composition, some of it's like trippy 999-esque stuff, wide variety of type of futuristic electronic stuff (some of it with among the coolest synth sound design I've ever heard in ANY music), and the archtypal "when basiscape does orchestral" sound and uhh...anime op sounding stuff somehow...and Brat Overflow just sounds like gust lol. The moment in my early listening through this that i heard this track, I just knew "this is the song to nominate for vgmc", something about it is just the exact right amount of energy exerted to be strong, while still doing enough compositionally that's exactly to my tastes for me to be as excited about it as everyone else. My 2nd favorite track from the game out of all 83 (I'll probably nominate my favorite from the game, In the Doldrums, next year. or if bost happens again that'll at least be in the BOST set)
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Yoshimi Kudo, the specific composer of this is one of my favorite basiscape members (did all of Raiden V, and deoxyribose as well). Before the individual composer credits were confirmed I predicted this one was him (though kao helped me figure it out) but i guess it shows his style's distinct if we both got this right. The one thing Kudo does that I find most attractive is (predictable set of words to come from my mouth in 5...4..3..2..1..) unpredictable chord changes. though the very specific way he does them is a bit different from the other basiscape people who tend toward that, with Kudo it's very often simply just "first 3 chords in progression are 'normal' but the 4th one is 'weird'", 4th chord suddenly randomly modulated to a different key from the first 3 or something, requiring a different scale to be played underneath abruptly if anything's to accompany it, and I love that a lot specifically maybe even more than an actually complex progression. I think the repetition of it prevents the 'weird chord' from feeling like a dramatic subversion, and instead shifts the focus of it from "woa wtf weird note" to just allowing for a wider spectrum of notes that work throughout the 4 chord loop. EVERY time that last chord every phrase happens i go WHOA as if it's the first time it ever happened, it's not leading me to anything, just there to give more room for melodic content to do cool things. and the melody, backing arpeggios, everything, all makes it flow together. I really like how the chords are presented to you here too, funky super syncopated synth chord hits that make me want to DANCE to the BIG SONG are the first thing you hear that gives any indication of the progression and they sound SO cool, especially once phase 1 hits at :52, that sound is so BOUNCY it reminds me of Chasing Down the Miniboss from Kirby Triple Deluxe and I like that song!
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the rapid constant 16th arpeggios in this make this song so COMPUTER. I think the contrast of all the near atonal (though as far as i can from playing along to it right now, tell it's mostly arpeggiations of the actual chords, i originally thought it was more out-of-key quartal/quintal atonal explosion stuff, still, lots of jumpy 4ths/5ths fun that sounds like TEMPORAL TOWER except inside a computer) parts, with the almost lighthearted comfortable melody line, that contrast puts this track in the exact right zone I think. You get this like anime jrpg town theme zone in the same song as evil rotating cylinder in Tron1982 computer boss being mad at you and this seamlessly blends the two extremes beneath the same progression/aesthetic somehow. 2:36 is like CYBERPUNK PMD1 SKY TOWER lol. 2:49-3:01 is definitely one of my favorite parts chord-change-wise. 4:26 is one of the more extreme dark constant 16ths moments and i looove it. Other contrasts involved, "neutral computer like :39-:53" and "epic orchestra part at 1:45 whoa". so many VERY different feeling things yet the aesthetic of this is so well defined that they all work within the same song seamlessly, one with such a weird chord progression tying these entirely dissimilar things together that too
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One thing i'm only noticing now, around 4:00 there's really syncopated/funky low strings. That reminds me A LOT of Kudo's contributions to Caravan Stories, like the 5/4 part of Bunwaii Desert? I think that's one of the other traits I adore about his style. he's funky but in like this really 'heavy' way, syncopation feels powerful because it's playing on these huge synth block chords or low strings or whatever, rather than feeling "loose" like syncopated stuff tends to be associated with. every syncopated rhythm feels INTENSE and very Not relaxed. this song is very CUTTING EDGE it is everything I want and MORE maybe a brave little toaster 1 remake would be ok if yoshimi kudo arranged all the music
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I have no idea what my favorite part of this song is. I love it so much, everything about it. I have listened to this near every day since i found this soundtrack in mid january. by nature i'm neglecting to say tons of the things i love about it. I love everything about it. 9.9/10. i am happy to have had a role in introducing it to here and that so many others here at least like some of the tracks as much as I do!)-

-[Snowman is my 102nd favorite in the contest! this is a nice pretty song : ) very 90s, fretless bass is one of my favorite "90s sounds" even though it isn't inherently a 90s sound. and also this arrangement is not from the 90s but i guess the combination of instruments is stereotypically of the era to my ears, pan flutes and fake fretless bass and lots of reverb. the glassy older crystalline sounds that dominate this fit perfectly with Snow Music so that is why they used Instruments that are Too Old for the year this came out and I welcome that! the drums at 1:08 are so punchy and i love that powerful snare. some cool backing rhodes keyboards chords, chord progression and melody are both very interesting and flow in a cool way. the echoy sleigh bells are so goood. beepy stuff at :17 makes me think of auroras because it is the ice zone. twinkly cold snow cool yeah this song is pretty...COOL. feel bad this track is
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Toxtricity
04/26/20 6:14:00 PM
#44:


[...continued from above]

Looking Up at the Sky is my 174th favorite in the contest! huh that's way lower than i'd have expected myself to rank this. i guess i didn't feel much from it when i did rankings so it went into 5.x zone, and like yeah i'm not a fan of how much attention it calls to some chord progression resolutions and things but like these individual chords are cool and the space the instrumentation/production fills is nice and full in a way i like. cool sounds. pitched down drums at 3:12 are beautiful. wish the mixing was just slilightly different since a lot of my favorite parts are quiet and hard to hear. i'd rank this much higher if i did a re-rank though at the same time i wouldn't say i super love this. other slow/sad falcom songs are more my thing than this one. this'd probably be like 143-150th or so, i guess that's not that much a boost, but my point is i definitely don't dislike this or find it boring like the other stuff this low

Toccatina is my 48th in the contest! This does a lot with like, constant 16th piano and just accenting the right beats to give it a more deliberate rhythmic/melodic feel despite just being a constant stream of 16ths mostly. this is a style of piano stuff i'm really REALLY into. reminds me a lot of HAYATO MATSUO in the 1990s like G.U.T. from G.T.R. and the very similar Naoko Mikami - Beady eyes from the same compilation album. some amazing harmonies and chord changes. :50's big spread out chord voicings and prominent acoustic bass solo beneath the transposing light rhythmic piano chord stabs is like aaaaaaaaaah!!! synth pad chords in the background at that part fill the space really nicely with something beautiful. the way that seamlessly segues into like rhythmic gated synth patterns subtly in the background is cool too. This is so good and very much my style and i wish this was longer!!!

whats falcon song team jfk

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Seize the Truth! is my 54th favorite ToC entrant! least favorite contest champion. 54th/56th out of this toc. i do not like this song : ( this is the kind of song that made me think i hate falcom music even though i now realize i actually love falcom music just not most of the songs that got talked aobut here but ESPECIALLY NOT THIS ONe. it's just tonally the antithesis of what i want to hear, the melodic line that i dislike is too much the focus, chord changes that place a big emphasis on tension/resolution in predictable places. the instrumentation's ok, i can dig dance music of older electronic sensibilities with violin over it, except the violin is playing nothing i want to hear and also the guitar drags this down, just fills the space with an even more unappealing timbral atmosphere. the electronic elements are great though, especially love pitched down drum loops and stuff at 2:18 are great, and i love fake piano!

WOW NOW i only "have to" do one writeup for certain matches! Ricordando il Passato i ranked 24th, it's in the middle of the pack for me but "at least it's not seize the truth" and i've grown to like the more subdued type of thing Ricordando is more than in the past, easy match
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time
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DoctorJimmy133
04/26/20 6:25:20 PM
#45:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

Matches 2 and 3 real close

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Advokaiser is the man. Congrats!
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pyresword
04/26/20 6:37:12 PM
#46:


-(Isoleucine)-
Looking Up at the Sky
Ricordando il Passato

Match 2 >Match 1, though the match 1 songs are also reasonably good.
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Oh woops. Putting Advokaiser in my sig like this until I think of something more clever
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kaonashi1
04/26/20 7:54:38 PM
#47:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Ricordando il Passato


-year of 13 sentinels. despite being another kudo bracket track I think there's some difference in the appeal between this and deoxyribose-- a bit less overtly epic and big and loud, and with a much more prominent 'digital' aesthetic. it starts with that opening synth, which is great, and along with the strings establishes how the rest of the track moves forward. in fact I love specifically that aspect of this track-- the way the synths and the strings step forward and take turns establishing different cool sections as contrasts to the previous. if I listed all of the transitions I enjoyed this writeup would just be flooded with timestamps. I'll just go through a few examples-- the slightly gritty square wave lead at 0:45 and the way it preps us for the bigger sound that comes in at 0:52, where it serves more as adornment. the way kudo ends a lot of his musical phrases with a somewhat unusual flourish-- you can hear this happen at 1:23, for instance. the one part where things go into more standard epic fare at 1:44, which rises into a signature kudo fanfare at 1:56, then right into a more synth-driven section, then into the most 'dirty' synth-laden section at 2:23. this section is really awesome-- love the way it carries the energy of the earlier epic strings into something completely different. the pads at 2:49 have this mysterious feel, like they're from a VLR story segment or something. this all sets up for the amazing phase 2 section at 3:02 (note more classic kudo transitions at 3:07 and 3:20). it approaches 3:14 like a legit drop! hype. that fast synth that kicks in at 3:54 sounds like kudo called up goddamn nekomata master and asked to borrow one of his rhythm game synths and I love it (it's actually probably just a slightly altered version of the opening synth). given the sharp marcato strings of most of the rest of the track the strings here feel so smooth they're almost gooey. this is the other heroic section of the track and it works so well the way it swells and rises up into something triumphal at 4:13. in short-- this track is awesome. its dad can beat up your favourite track's dad.
-snowman's composition feels downright slight next to its competition. that's selling this track pretty short-- it's a simple but elegant composition in its own right. it evokes the feel of an idyllic memory, which matches the theme of this series exactly. the way the main melody goes IV-I really has a nostalgic feel to it, and the chord to restart it at 0:21 is neat and well-chosen. the movement into the minor section feels effortless. this is a nice track! it's not out of place here.

-another track meant to evoke a sort of wistfulness. this is pleasant and I don't mind it at all. it handles its business well, the melody is pretty straightforward but not in a way that I find off-putting, and the vocals do a good job of delivering the effect the song is going for, especially in the chorus.
-pretty rad little track that does a lot with its 1:30 or so. the piano is mostly the main attraction here (0:34 really gets the head bobbing) but the little synth frills are neat, and the bass solo really kicks as a great laid-back section where the piano pulls in some wonderfully understated background duty.

-seize the truth is one of those straightforward melodies that I do find offputting. it's generic and predictable in a way that really bugs me. this track contains almost every negative falcom trope in my head-- melody, instrumentation and arrangement-- rolled into one.
-ricordando-- still the same softer, more deliberate, but fairly pleasant shikata track I remember. that oboe still rocks when it shows up.
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-hotdogturtle--
04/26/20 8:27:04 PM
#48:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

Match 1 is a cool sounding new (to me) song vs. a song that I already hated back when I played its game.

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Hey man, LlamaGuy did encrypt the passwords.
With what? ROT-13? -CJayC
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Mr Lasastryke
04/26/20 8:47:17 PM
#49:


-(Isoleucine)-
Toccatina
Seize the Truth!

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Geothermal terpsichorean ejectamenta
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Snowva
04/26/20 8:54:23 PM
#50:


Snowman

Sorry for missing a bunch of matches, I've just been preoccupied with a bunch of other stuff.
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