Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 37! TownTimePpl/Daring, CityCentre/Tempstissimo, BlueSanc/DancingMad

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Video Game Music Contest 17, an annual celebration of the best of the best video game music according to the voters!

Important Links:
Bracket: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=477304
Contest info sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SAJKYJmYhccLvbf_H-5uSA7-eMwXfW8k1q74Qho1bLU
Contest discussion thread: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80433657
Main bracket playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT3m7iohpL0wlcxj-kHQRU1yHo-kpMxGe
Last years spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IU5iCFTM_4WEx8ZWKwznMz5v2tarCKh1Ag0mxIgAes
VGMC total stats sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1XdLWiUKB2kX99qYBgnRbLU_sCz4dvZSByKKJHCT6o
Discord: https://discord.gg/WDvMS4a

Rules:
- Listen to both songs in a given match, at least through the loop time provided (to make sure you don't skip before you've heard the whole thing!)
- Please consider the loop point listed when judging the song; if a video loops one minute 5 times, don't treat it as if it's a repetitive 5 minute song
- If it's a match between your favorite song ever and a song you despise, still LISTEN TO BOTH! Votes can and will be disqualified if there is suspicion songs are not being listened to, and you may be discounted for the rest of the contest for repeat offenses.
- No alt accounts, no rallying or begging, etc., etc.... You only get one vote! Swapping votes is alright, just make clear that you've already made a vote and are swapping.
- Make clear what your voting options are! Please keep votes separate from any comments, and use the titles given in the topic post.
- Voting in all matches is not mandatory, feel free to skip matches you do not wish to vote in.
- Vote based on the links provided, and not other sources of audio. Links are specifically chosen for best quality and the like.
- Don't discuss vote tallies in this thread, or in other threads, as they may influence votes. Likewise, please refrain from looking at the running tally before voting.

Voting Period:
- Today's matches will last 24 hours from the time of posting, or 24 hours from 10pm Eastern, whichever is the later time.
- Please note this may mean that two topics will be active at the same time!
- If you anticipate being unable to vote in a given day, please send an absentee vote to @banshiryuu, or post your absentee vote in the discussion thread!

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Match 1

Clannad - Town, Flow of Time, People
Composer: Shinji Orito<

Crossy Road Castle - Dance Of The Daring
Sleepwalker - City Centre (Construction Site)
Missing-X-Link ~Ten no Yurikago, Togi no Hana~ - The Blue Sanctuary

new link for Dancing Mad btw, sent this to Deo at the beginning of the month but https://youtu.be/ltu96KBTWZk

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre
Dancing Mad

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

CLANNAD - Town, Flow of Time, People
Sleepwalker - City Centre
FINAL FANTASY VI - Dancing Mad

Dancing Mad > The Blue Sanctuary >= City Centre >> Town, Flow of Time, People > Tempestissimo >> Dance of the Daring

Town was nice. DotD I think I spoke too soon in calling "music". City Centre was a really nice surprise, that actually kinda ruled. Tempestissimo might've gotten my vote a few years ago, but not anymore. The Blue Sanctuary was way cooler than I would've expected going in, even if I'm not quite sure it justifies its length. Dancing Mad is Dancing Mad.

Clannad - Town, Flow of Time, People
Arcaea - Tempestissimo
Missing-X-Link ~Ten no Yurikago, Togi no Hana~ - The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Dance
City
ded x_x

damn i was kind of excited to vote for the clannad song

Dance of the Daring
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Dance Of The Daring
Dancing Mad

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

two songs that don't quite justify their length but i think the taishi track is stronger on average

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

blue sanctuary easily my favorite discovery of the whole contest, this song is just. wew.... i need to know the context of this as an insert song in a vn lmfao cause holy shit

From TunnelScene:

Town, Flow of Time, People (Clannad)
City Centre (Sleepwalker)
Dancing Mad (Final Fantasy VI)

oh my gosh it is Joe Hisaishi from 1984-1996studio gh

this match is ridiculously painful. I RESPECT the death out of this song and I hope it wins. but I would be lying if I said I preferred it(the curse of being an edge lord but wanting"tonal complexity" more associated with cute music). absolutely bonkers chord movement in the first 30 seconds in particular. and then the chord stab transpose spam is so powerful

I like the triangle which reminds me of two 80s pop songs and one 90s pop song that had a triangle that did that. also nice roland sound canvas sounds ~ !

t+pazolite is the ultimate Halloween Party musician

ftr putting this against dancing mad was less a "bracket meme" as Mac had put it. it was more like it lined up with seeds/no overlapping supporters/etc. and i thought "oh! rhythm game song! yes obviously dancing mad should be against a short 2 minute song like all rhythm game songs are". and then realized what I had doneand actually realized it is ALSO perfect. tbh it's probably more fair to judge two long tracks against each other than one short and one long that are way harder to compare. but at the same time yeah I do apologize for the length of today's listening.

dancing mad is Emerson Lake and Palmer - Tarkus for millenials. a very top tier nobuo umentas song for me because of its 70s prog adjacency and Quartal Runs and odd time sigs and all that stuff I love. if you know me you know I tend to dig thru ridiculously obscure games just to look for music inspired by post-tonal prog in a way that clicks most with me, but honestly the chaotic quartal run bits of movement 4 here is some of the best anyone's ever done it. and even parts of mvt1-3 have their adjacency to the really particular dissonances I look for at moments. at the moment one of the only super mainstream vgm things I can think of at this level of "getting the keith emerson influence right" is Hajime Wakai with like Gohdan in wind waker and stuff (who is ALSO a Emerson Lake and Palmer fan). but that or other mainstream examples like it aren't usually what people think of when they think of those soundtracks. well I am very happy that people who like Keith Emerson make video game songs

Dance Of The Daring
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Dance
City
Dancing

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

Town works excellent in-game, but it's meh on its own. Nothing really enjoyable about it. Dance sounds a lot like a Kirby song to me. Pretty solid.

City Centre is fine. Tempestissimo's a ton of fun. T Pazolite often delivers. ^_^

I think the gimmick of long song vs. long song is a bad one and shouldn't be done in the bracket, but oh well. Both of these are great, and I'd be delighted to see either retire. Voting BS basically just because it's new.

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

i still do not consider key bgm overall exactly special in terms of the overall vn scene given how much shit exists all over it (see also: another song today lol), but i do have to still say shinji orito is a good composer who can make very capably (man this is guaranteed to sound like a diss as long as i say it this way but i'm serious) interesting, if subtle, songs, that in cases like this can punch above their weight in unexpected areas

i must confess i know very little about crossy road but it is kinda wild that it'd have songs like this in it to me

i think i wasn't totally fair to city centre during noms, partially because of reasons i just happened to divulge on at vgmusic. been thinking since then that sure, it isn't the same song as the zoo stage, but it has so much of what i love from that in an alternate slant. sleepwalker songs like both have such a unique mood

i get what tempest goes for and i respect it. it goes hard

note to self for a later point, look into taishi vn bgm more. dude is a borderline mythical being in the trance scene to me who rarely ever fails to claim huge respect from me for his songs, it surprises me that he had any sort of following in this community since i'd totally missed any mention of anything he'd done here before... well, before immanence last year really (outside of me occasionally mentioning zts and key arranges once in a while). this aspect i concede is surely not for everyone but i love how much is packed into them. also still surprises me taishi/noriko mitose has just been a thing historically and how well it works

dancing mad is still a revolutionary piece

Dance Of The Daring
City Centre
The Slue Sanctuary

What is a flow of time, people of the town? Can it go faster? Slower? Should it? Must we be brought to tears, time and again, only to go back for another dish of pain? Have we no sense of self-preservation? More seriously, I think this pales compared to some of the tearjerkers in this OST, but it's solid.

To all you flow of time fans: just remember that song is ranked 9th on top nine vgm on the top nines website. It will probably be remembered nine more in the nine run than its opponine.

I know another sleepwalker. This is very different from that. It definitely has some similarities, enough that this track immediately calls to mind its more familiar compatriot, which probably doesn't speak well in its favor. Like when you know you're the smarter, more talented brother but your sibling HAD to be the one to get elected president first and now nobody wants to elect you. Them's the breaks.

if a fortisimo is a loud forte, is a tempestissimo a loud temp OH MY GOD YES IT IS. look i'm sorry i get gripy whenever someone starts punching my eardrums with a bass drum but in my defense ow.

WHOA I like the art on this song. like seriously i wanna wear that i wanna be the blue lantern witch why can't i be the blue lantern witch for christmas? this feels like a shmup. It is in fact a novel of the visual variety. One with a very uhhh unintriguing main menu splash art. WAIT LYRICS?! Okay I am so confused, are we certain this isn't a shmup boss theme??? I am reading the description on vndb and the first sentence is "Each country aspired to unify the world, but they fell out with each other due to lack of compromising, to the extent that they required military forces." Let me tell you, that is the most VN sentence of all time. It only gets better from there. For those of you who don't know me, the fact that I am Suddenly Intrigued regarding the game means I like the song but damn if this game don't look ultra generic. Looking through character profiles and one of them is just "I am going to put you through pain and suffering, and I'll hate your guts every step of the way, but at the end I'll still make you say you love me." I'm just laughing at the sheer chuu2 of it. No I'm not explaining what that means. Oh god another is "I love you. Unconditionally, and infinitely. After all, my emotions always have been and always will be yours to do with as you will." I like this song I might read this game "'ironically'" someday. I think the background image is a lie though, no idea what that is from.

Dancing Mad is also really good wow. Who decided to put the two epic 10-minutes-and-we're-going-to-use-that-time-well songs up against each other? It is possible this vote reflects the fact that Blue Sanctuary is new to me while I can already sing Dancing Mad from memory. Also I like the "PAL Mix" so much that the "real" version almost sounds lacking to me now, in a strange way. So thanks, Siiva.

i'll be back with lyrics tomorrow maybe (probably).

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

Dance Of The Daring
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Dance Of The Daring
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

fully expect it to get like a single digit number of votes today but GOD Tempestissimo is just so much fun. like it is very much still a "kill all rhythm gamers" boss song but in such a bouncy and upbeat way - actually think it does a pretty good job balancing fun bits with SPEEEEEEEDCOOOOOOOORE and yeah it's super cheesy and over-the-top but whatever I love it.

EXSPHERE literally rewired my brain why else would I nominate an 11 minute Noriko Mitose song. whatever it's great. anyway those are my two favorite songs in bracket D wheeeeeeee

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre
Dancing Mad

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

I've always detested Dancing Mad, and I really like Blue Sanctuary, and Taishi in general, so that's one of the most lopsided matches yet.

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
abstain

Town, Flow of Time, People
Tempestissimo
Dancing Mad

#13, #53, and #347 today. Fortunately for me, they're all in different matches!

...although maybe that's not very fortunate at all. x_x

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

abstain
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

The Blue Sanctuary, by Taishi ft. Mitose Noriko

Recursive nihility
Wafts endlessly
Under divine aegis
Utterly untouchable
Enclosed in slumber

Infiltrating intuition (wells up)
Stumbles upon a grain of light
Vast leagues partition (the couple)
A formless shell
Now to penetrate

A cradle just for two
Inclines with the sun
Towards a spacetime where (The transient)
Songs might be heard
So once more
You could convey

Open wide
Oh true boulevard
That to the helix leads
Let the flames take
The once-lost life
Turn it to ash
And send fate
Twirling to the skies

A gloom-lit box
A mute world
The past cast to oblivion
Irrevocably
Smoke and scarlet

Synchronized time (Into water)
Drowns the consciousness
The awoken flower, with (the couple)
A warm fabric
Envelops the rain

From the scrap of emotion
That buried innocent memory, (A dewdrop)

Within the water, whisper
Towards that place,
The internal paradise

Venture forth
To a future dyed blue
A vain hope
The pulse of an angel
Made by man
Perhaps a dream
Without end
But it suffices

Man, activation, string
In the contours dwells a soul

Open wide
Oh true boulevard
That to the helix leads
Let the flames take
The once-lost life
Turn it to ash
And send fate
Into the brilliant firmament

Venture forth
To a future dyed blue
At narrative's end
Evidence of a life lived
The heart

And you, my dream
Without end,
Into glory bloom

Clannad - Town, Flow of Time, People
Arcaea - Tempestissimo
Missing-X-Link ~Ten no Yurikago, Togi no Hana~ - The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

this day is pain

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

Dance Of The Daring
Tempestissimo
The Blue Sanctuary

Dance Of The Daring
City Centre (Construction Site)
The Blue Sanctuary

Tempestissimo is a wild ride, a hint of elegance getting chewed up by electronic hell. Could do without the screaming though.

Voted A Journey for You Alone. I had low expectations of Utawarerumono coming in since I didnt like Nuedori from last year, but this one is much livelier and has great instruments.

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

emotionally driven music can be a bit of a hit or a miss, but i always feel like when it's atmospheric like this, it is more likely to hit with me. it feels cold, like winter, like winter vgm i actually like - (none of that christmas shite, thank you.) the added layers are nice, keeps this piece from feeling boring, the drums add determination and the piano levity.

bruh devi you be smoking shit, this song isn't even that weird. very goofy and funky, kind of reminds me of something that would be in a handheld spinoff of a big nintendo series or smth like that with how poppy and punchy it is - though the little "hey! hey! hey!" chants kinda reminds me of fall guys lol. i think the slight discordant nature of it makes it seem exciting and unique and keeps it from being saccharine.

this kind of reminds me a little of waterworld. the dean evans snes waterworld music not like the actual movie itself lol. at least until it stops being pure atmospheric? still really good, the payoff after the build up is absolutely amazing. the only thing im not super jazzed about is that little wind up-y? sound before the music really builds up, but my ears aren't sensitive enough to dislike the song based on that.

i think i was sad that this wasn't another t+pazolite song in noms (that i can't remember the name of) lol as usual with fast songs my brain can't keep up with processing them well. i either like or i don't. oh look it got quiet for a .nevermind it's back to LOUD. this doesn't really get *too* interesting to me until the back half from where it goes all murder clown on me, im not . entirely sure if i like this one! it's weird and not in ways i dislike, but it doesn't really click either. well, it's interesting that's for sure!

every time i come across an adult visual novel song im like "oh boy here's another song i will likely never hear in context" and i gotta say this is one in which i go "wtf would the og context be?" thank you song uploader for clarifying that this is an adult visual novel, for this intro feels kind of like something that would be in a rhythm game? it is fast like tempestissimo. doesnt taishi make rhythm game music? this is pretty good i'll say. it feels a little too long and im one of the long song apologists in this group. but just a little. i think the build up in the front half could have done with just a little more variation. or maybe im just hungry.

i feel like even the dancing mad haters can admit that this piece was pretty revolutionary for its time. a final boss piece with all of these movements culminating into one track? super ambitious. idk where i stand in the dancing mad fandom, some phases are better than others, that's for sure. the intro does a good job with setting up the mood. but then i get lost until that organ solo. its kind of overdone now, but this is one piece where the "holy music that is for something really fucked up actually" trope works for me. and then the next part is like the hypest fucking snes jrpg shit - idk if i believe that rn, but it feels that way rn - and i love the more srs bsns reprise of the kefka theme.

match 1 a bit tough. match 2 kinda easy. match 3 is in between.

Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad

Town, Flow of Time, People
City Centre (Construction Site)
Dancing Mad

Alternate universe where we vote for the uploaders instead of the songs (this is how I passed the time in match 3)

EPIC VGM BATTLES OF HISTORY!

BEN BOOZE
VERSUS!
HIPSTER WHALE - TOPIC

SD ARCHIVES PART 4
VERSUS!
T+PAZOLITE

LUCKY STAR
VERSUS!
SPIFFBOOOOOOOOB BEGIN

Town, Flow of Time, People
Tempestissimo
Dancing Mad

Crying (part 1)

PIayer_0 posted...

Alternate universe where we vote for the uploaders instead of the songs

President Majima S. Based sweeps