Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 46! Round 2! DrmsInPie/Laby5, FrestScret/Kobayashi, Mechonis/KazeNoNe

(+) Yeah! (+)

Dreams in a Pie
Secret of the Forest
Kaze no Ne

pie's dream
forest's secret
ne's kaze

...i feel so devious right now

Radiant, Imaginary Field

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Secret of the Forest
Mechonis Field

Dreams in a Pie
Imaginary Shopping District
Kaze no Ne

--
Dreams in a Pie [9.1]
Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital [8.4]

Secret of the Forest [8.5]
Imaginary Shopping District [9]

Mechonis Field [8.2]
Kaze no Ne [8.8]

Still a good showing from all these songs! Admittedly, I think I've cooled off a bit for Mechonis Field and Kaze no Ne, but this is still a strong showing for the start of Round 2. I'm sorry Koshiro and Mitsuda, but there's some strong opponents here that know what they're doing.

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Secret of the Forest
Mechonis Field

Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream - Dreams in a Pie
Chrono Trigger - Secret of the Forest
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Kaze no Ne

Dreams in a Pie
Imaginary Shopping District
Mechonis Field

re: Imaginary Shopping District
unclassified (b1/b2?)

This track grew on me a lot during and after noms; it's always the intro that grabs me, very Kudo chords and stuttering, and the way the phrase ends at 0:08 is really his style too. It's like a bunch of things I like about his style, compressed into 30 seconds. I also like the quick synth arpeggios that show up at 0:46. It's just a pretty freewheeling, high-energy track I always have a lot of fun listening to.

other notes:
-I was confronted with two matches I could have reasonably abstained on, but ended up picking something for both. I think it's a very good day of music

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Secret of the Forest
Kaze no Ne

Dreams in a Pie
Imaginary Shopping District
Mechonis Field

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Imaginary Shopping District
Kaze no Ne

Yay Forgotten Capital made it out of round 1! It's funny how this song contains almost every element of my taste that I listed yesterday, it just needs vocals but that would probably break my rating system! First, I really love the diversity of the instrumentation - you've got brass, traditional woodwinds, reed instruments, strings, rock band, and even good ol' piano represented, and my ear can naturally pick them out at any point in the song! They blend so well together to create an appealing musical texture that stands on its own, this mix is exactly what I think of as a "lush sound" since I tend to think in terms of instrumentation more than chords.

Something I only noticed this contest is how consistently the melody follows the same pattern: a leap to a high note before gradually descending to a resolving note. Sometimes the leap is more like a hop, sometimes there are detours along the way, but this basic contour is followed in every section of the song! "No matter how far you travel on your journey, you will eventually find your way home" - that's what I hear this song saying. It's especially fitting because Forgotten Capital uses key motifs from the opening song of the soundtrack, On an Adventure Gliding Through the Skies! Although this song is the final dungeon theme, I always imagine it playing after you've conquered both the dungeon and the final boss, making your way home, now a changed person at the end of your hero's journey. I see a battle-worn band of heroes slowly but surely walking into the sunset, determined to return home yet surrounded by an air of melancholy after all the trials they've faced.

If you want to check out the actual instruments and score, Yuzo Koshiro uploaded this song to his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsWqDwdzfzE) - his video description is an apt closing to this writeup:

"Dystopia and Dawn...
One of my favorite dungeon BGM of the Etrian Odyssey series."

I didn't even get into how much this song means to me personally as THE song to get me back into VGM in 2017. A story for another time! Genre: FALSE PARADISE

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Imaginary Shopping District
Kaze no Ne

From Toxtricity:

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital (EO4)
Imaginary Shopping District (Miss Kobayashi) [[extremely good and close match!!]]
Kaze no Ne (FF Crystal Chronicles) [[was dreading this potential future match because I LOVE BOTH]]

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Secret of the Forest
Mechonis Field

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Secret of the Forest
Kaze no Ne

7.9 (7.6 - 8.4) - Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream - Dreams in a Pie
8.3 (7.8 - 8.5) - Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan - Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
8.1 (7.9 - 8.4) - Chrono Trigger - Secret of the Forest
5.4 (4.7 - 6.2) - Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath - Imaginary Shopping District
8.2 (8.0 - 8.7) - Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - Mechonis Field
8.4 (7.7 - 9.3) - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Kaze no Ne

Chrono Trigger - Secret of the Forest

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Imaginary Shopping District
Kaze no Ne

Yeah, I'm having a day... I'm up on this song and down on Mechonis Field right now, probably both at their extremes that makes me want to vote this way right now (it wouldn't happen any other day). Kaze no Ne does have good instrumentation (representative of the game as a whole) and a decent melody. It's really just the vocals that make me not like it as much, but if I listen to it in a certain way I can mostly phase them out and try to listen to the instruments. That being said I probably won't be voting for it again even if it wins.

Dreams in a Pie
Imaginary Shopping District
Kaze no Ne

Probably won't be as many write ups and ratings going forward as I've already stated my opinions on the songs. I suppose if i have extra things to say, i'll put them here.

These matches are going to start getting tougher, now that we cut half the competition. Matches 2 and 3 are already a bit tougher wow.

Labyrinth V - Forgotten Capital
Secret of the Forest
Mechonis Field

Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream - Dreams in a Pie
Chrono Trigger - Secret of the Forest
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Kaze no Ne