Board 8 > [VGMC] d30: DNF FW15C vs Outer Wilds, New Chapter 2016 vs Butterfly Girl

(+) Yeah! (+)

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 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. (Matches do not begin until at least 10:00 EDT.)
- 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

B

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!

every song today is good wow
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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

Outer Wilds
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

Voting against one of my noms and flipping on the tiebreaker. Apparently I'm not myself tonight.
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Outer Wilds
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) vs Outer Wilds: DNF doesn't do anything for me until the 3 minute mark and thats where I go from neutrality towards the beginning to a very tired sigh. The usual Blue Reflection stuff here and the usual hard pass on these tracks as well. Outer Wilds reminds me of some stock music that I heard during a commercial one time. It isn't anything special but it isn't a Blue Reflection song so it gets my vote.

Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016 vs Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya): Apollo is some pretty good AA stuff. Its not the stuff I like from the series but its a pretty solid track anyway. Nothing really stuck out about this track as well. Butterfly Girl caught my attention for a bit but then lost it once those strings came in. It actually sounds pretty good at 1:30-2:05 but thats all.

Seize the Truth! vs Ricordando il Passato: Nothing to see here, just the same vote as last time.

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
abstain


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Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Granblue Fantasy Versus - Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato
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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

Not that into the first phase of DNF, but it's good after that. Outer Wilds is super good in-game. Not sure how high I can rank it on its own.

Oh hey this AA song is probably better than the last one. And we finally get to a song I'm passionate about! Hell yeah Butterfly Girl.

Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya) > DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) > Outer Wilds = Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

Wild
Butterfly
Pass
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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) (9th) vs Outer Wilds (174th)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016 (111th) vs Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya) (44th)
Seize the Truth! [18th//15th] vs Byakumu no Mayu ~Ricordando il passato~ [44th//28th]

Welcome back DNF!! I was very conflicted on whether I should try and bring it back after it came so close last year, and chose not to. Luckily Raetsel made the decision for it to come back for me so of course I had to hop on after that. I'm such a sucker for the slower first sections that actually give you the room to let you take in all the electronic goodness that the following two phases are gonna cram into your brainspace and DNF not only does that, but actually uses this to set up flourishes and melodies that will recur in -II- and -ZERO-. -II- is actually one of my favorite single pieces from this game, second only to binGe's final phase!! (maybe next year binGe...) Unlike many of the other phased boss songs, -II- goes a little easy on overloading the senses as well I feel like. Which is all just setup for 4:48 when -ZERO- kicks in and goes absolutely insane immediately with the constantly rising arpeggios softly that then come back LOUDER at 5:00 which is probably my actual favorite part of the song lol. In general this song really is just the most "refined" song in the Blue Reflection soundtrack; it doesn't step outside its comfort zone at all which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all! In other songs you have dubstep wank section like in TIGAR, Sayonara, and binGe's second sections, but that never really happens in DNF. But it still offers up crazy cool sounds and that's what gets me going the most!!! Outer Wilds is a really good sound, but not something that grabs me at all. Sorry Outer Wilds fans, but this ones an absolute no-brainer for me.

I mostly like Ace Attorney music when its a more upbeat style rather than chill stuff like Courtroom music or Cross-Examination Moderato music, but this song manages to strike a perfect middleground between those kinds of songs and Pursuit themes, which I appreciate a lot. 1:08 sounds like a bridge in a shmup stage song so I like this section a LOOOOOOT, all those little synthy sounds and then a guitar with a fake sort of twang in it that is really cool. Butterfly Girl, however, is like an Ace Attorney Pursuit theme on crack. Violins and hyper techno YES PLEASE it's kinda funny that the title has high quality in japanese when the quality is actually pretty garbo but what can you do (i have the gamerip i guess i should make a reup but w/e) god bless the background ostinato WHOA suddenly 0:50 is very pokemon-esque somehow whoa AND THEN 1:30 IS RHYTHM GAME THIS SONG IS EVERYTHIGN I LOVE IN ONE it's really good!! one of my favorite discoveries from the contest for sure. Kinda easy match here too even though I love both songs!

same vote is same go go falcom

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) > Seize the Truth! > Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya) > Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016 > Byakumu no Mayu ~Ricordando il passato~ > Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

Bloody hell on a turnpike covered in lard and mixed with gasoline, what is going on. What is anything, really? Is there a god? If there were, could he have allowed this match? World wars, these things happen. The coronavirus, pretty bad. But Outer Wilds vs. DNF? Some things are just beyond the pale. Like in the end I *guess* I have to vote for the one that makes me cry every time but. It's not okay. I'm not okay. I don't deserve this. We don't deserve this. Nobody does.

other matches happen too I guess.
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https://youtu.be/IVhxswjdmp8

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

no write ups from me today

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) (7.5) / Outer Wilds (7.0)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016 (8.0) / Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya) (7.5)

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Outer Wilds - Outer Wilds
Granblue Fantasy Versus - Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Ao no Kiseki Evolution - Seize the Truth!

Outer Wilds is an amazing song. Thanks azuarc for running this contest and telling me about that one.

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

outer wilds is actually nice if a bit simple, but well... this is still easily one of the easiest matches all contest
gimmick remix of a passable ace attorney song or an ok remix of some animesong... DNF didn't exactly get a difficult path to at least r3, huh

Outer Wilds
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

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Outer Wilds - Outer Wilds
Granblue Fantasy Versus - Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato

Match 1: DNF just sounds like 8 minutes of noises haphazardly thrown together, man I am not fond of this. Outer Wilds - Outer Wilds - Outer Wilds is simple, but has charm.

Match 2: More Phoenix Wright music, it's pretty alright again I guess. is cool anime music.

ToC: My opinion hasn't changed.

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)

oh yeah i forgot i was going to rank these

crazybattle > FFIX > Lufia 2 > Tokimeki Memorial > Fate/Extra >>> SoA > CrossCode > FFMQ >> why would you include the dissidia remix of ff3 battle 2 only a fraction of it is improved > Octopath > DMC3

pointless anecdote so i got around to playing the crosscode soundtrack in someone's car about a month or two ago. we kinda did a joyride down this beach and decided to go through a carwash on the way back. before we got in there I chucked the cd in and we couldn't contain our laughter at how well all of the more action-ey themes like this one fitted for it as i skipped over to them. good times

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) is my 47th favorite in the contest! blue reflection music all sounds the same except it actually doesn't but it is a fairly homogenous ost. I like what it goes for but I never remember what songs are what outside of my absolute favorites and sometimes i find it hard to imagine being someone who can tell them all apart and talk about it with other people and remember what songs are which just from song name, without listening for refernece (I'm saying this as someone who LIKES blue reflection music). this isn't one i think of as a favorite but i like it enough to give it "47th" apparently. lets see WHY O_o yeah fancy edm production ok i like that. atmospheric opening is cool. big thick block string chords good. 3:20 gets me every time, that synth melody line is never going where i expect and the backing behind it's fun, too bad that part is only 10 seconds. One of my favorite parts of this was always 4:04ish, I love how I always lose place of the beat despite how straightforward the drums are, because my focus shifts to the low strings/piano doing that really spirally pattern beneath that doesn't neatly lineup with the beat. I think that's something that prevents blue reflection music from ever being low for me no matter how 'predictable' some of the melodic content or whatever might be sometimes, there's always so many possible things at once to pay attention to. if i don't like one layer there's at least 2 other options and i will surely like at least ONe of the things happening in the song! once 5:21 hits I remember why I always rank DNF all phase mix so high, it's purely because of phase 3 (why don't you just nom that phase so i can rank this 20 slots higher). Those chords this phase starts with on that exact sound are SO COOL, and the 3+3+3/16 over 4/4 polymeter is so IMBRIUJM except not as cool but i still like it... though tbh i guess i wouldn't rank phase 3 that might higher on its own. my favorite bits are lthe end of phase 2 like starting around 4:04 like i said, all the way through the beginning chill bit of phase 3 i guess.

Outer Wilds is my 152nd favorite in the contest! as much as people tend to generalize my taste as "dislikes simple, likes complex" (usually correct tbh), certain brands of folky stuff counter my tendency to be repulsed by simplicity. This is one of those cases, it feels actively important to the aesthetic of the track (which I love) for it to be as minimal as it is. This specific example of it doesn't actually grab me or anything tbh but I love the type of thing it is and some similar things could be 100 slots higher than this example. like if this was longer and just the start to a longer fuller thing, i could really dig this. some of the quiet background elements, harmonica and other winds, reversed strings and echoy stuff, all are beautiful and paint a wonderful picture in my mind. nothing but positive things to say about it. honestly could imagine voting for this over a bunch of stuff even 50 slots above it if in the right mood

Gap is larger than my actual feelings.

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Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016 is my 166th favorite in the contest! i said this was my least favorite song locked at one point, because, well, it was! doesn't mean i actually dislike it though even if the ranking number's pretty low. a lot of AA music makes me "nostalgic" for megaman zx and i think there's a similarity to zx/zxa tunes albums and I'm attracted to that (basically because "I like those games and 2007 when i played them was one of the most plainly positive years of my life" tbh but it shifts my tastes to an attraction to that style). it feels like that style but more contemplative? probably because if you are a Ace Attorney you have to tHINK A lot. there's some really thick big string chords that are yummmy and taste like Chocolate and some startling chord changes at 1:11 / 1:17 are like when you realize that was just the Coating of the chocolate cake and it's actually liquid fudge that you DRINK and then become a very excited bunnies of ideaas flour bed what's i'm so cool yeah genie

Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya) is my 180th favorite in the contest! this would be higher if it didn't have the parts like 1:46 where it is the blues scales that sound too fake. but even then my reaction's mostly one of indifference. the production is cool but i'm not excited by enough of the musical content to care (at least i can say that aspect of it is nice, i wasn't fond of the instrumentation/production of the other gbfv songs in). too melody focused without the stuff behind it being interesting enough to me to carry it. the piano layers are my favorite elements and the frantic synths backing are fun sometimes

azusa chiba where are you please make me like cygames music more...oh wait we actually know what granblue fantasy songs are chiba now lets see ("Ready...", "Continue", "Game Over"...........all 10-25 second jingles) oh COME ON why did you have to leave basiscape ;-; (listening, I would totally vote the 10 second gbfv game over jingle over half the field lmao. top tier game over theme. chiba hasn't changed at least)

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match 3 still have the same feelings. seize the truth is the kinda song that misled me to think i dislike newer falcom as a whole and i do not forgive it (or other similar falcom songs) for turning me off from a huge set of soundtracks I now realize i love more than not. it'd be like if the only atelier song i heard was maria (or even worse, cygnus) and i assumed thats what it all sounded like..or if the only sonic shuffle song i'd heard was Love Poison......
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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!
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Outer Wilds
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Ricordando il Passato

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars is very pretty and makes me want to play this game
Based on Apollo Justice and Great Turnabout, it doesn't seem unfair to me that Ace Attorney has no retirees
Appreciated Seize the Truth a bit more today, but still don't find it very interesting

Go second options!

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Seize the Truth

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Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Granblue Fantasy Versus - Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato

I like all of today's songs but DNF is a few steps ahead of the rest IMO.

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

I swear, I wildly change my opinion on Ricordando every time I listen to it.

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

Three very cool songs against three okay ones

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Ricordando il Passato

Blue Reflection is still too good.

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Ricordando il Passato

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Outer Wilds
Butterfly Girl
Seize the Truth

It isn't anything special but it isn't a Blue Reflection song so it gets my vote.

Close

go my Falcom

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Outer Wilds
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl
Seize the Truth!

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Ricordando il Passato
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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Seize the Truth!

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ricordando il Passato

Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Granblue Fantasy Versus - Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato
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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Ricordando il Passato

DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Seize the Truth!

Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Granblue Fantasy Versus - Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 8 - Ricordando il Passato

MATCH 1

I agree with Mac that the first phase of DNF isn't as good as the others. For me, it's a bit too slow of a start to the song that carries on for longer than it needs to, and I've said as much last year when this song was in the contest. That said, though, the remaining two phases are very nice and showcase the blending of electronic music and instruments like violins and pianos that I enjoy from Blue Reflection's music.

Outer Wilds is a very cozy song! It gives me this feeling of being in the outdoors. Definitely puts me in a calm mood. I'd definitely take this song over some others in the bracket, but DNF's too good here sadly.

MATCH 2

Apollo Justice is a lot better than many of the other Ace Attorney songs I've heard! Definitely prefer this over Time for a Great Turnabout. Melodically, this is just more my thing. I think I like 0:07-0:15 the most in this song.

Butterfly Girl continues the trend of me liking the combination of violins and electronic music. This one has an electric guitar too which is pretty neat here. Could do without the more dubstep-y portions of the song, but it's a pretty good song overall!

Ricordando il Passato > DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) = Seize the Truth! > Butterfly Girl > Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016 > Outer Wilds

Good day today! DNF, Seize the Truth, and Butterfly Girl are pretty close in ranking. As indicated in the relative rankings, Butterfly Girl's less close to the previous two than they are with each other, but still somewhat close.

Blue Reflection - DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice - Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016
Ao no Kiseki Evolution - Seize the Truth!

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DNF FW15C (ALL PHASE MIX) [9.0] > Outer Wilds [6.0]
Apollo Justice ~ A New Chapter of Trials! 2016 [8.7] > Butterfly Girl (VS Narmaya) [8.2]
Seize the Truth! < Ricordando il Passato

blue reflection : )
snow patrol - chasing cars i didn't steal this joke from p0 i was also thinking of it but i couldnt remember the name of the song

Phoenix wright but he's EDGY and has future instruments that running synth at 1:07 is probably the best thing to happen to this series ever
huh why does this song have a running synth too that's cool
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