Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 42! feat. Keys, Coasters, Deserts, Royalty, Reality, and Immortality

(+) 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

GROOVE COASTER - Got more raves?
[-Aka-] - Desert-Duo
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for reality

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/0/AAcM16AAEl9c.jpg
desert
reality

raves is hard :(

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for reality

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/7/AAfGkeAAEl9j.png

GROOVE COASTER - Got more raves? -Full Ver.-
[-Aka-] - Desert-Duo
Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke >> Desert-Duo > Got more raves? -Full Ver.- > EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/. > Kings > Reach for reality

Ar tonelico was actually decent today, huh. Like how it just entirely invalidated my last comment on the last match LOL. Got more raves? was solid. Desert-Duo was nice idk I wasn't paying much attention admittedly. Kings, like AC music in general, is Not My Thing. Somehow, Reach for reality is *less* interesting. RftM is pretty well timed here, I just relistened to the GaMetal remix pretty recently. Never been a fan of the ZUNpets, but the rest of the song is good. Not a great day today.

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for reality

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia - EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
[-Aka-] - Desert-Duo
Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for reality

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for reality

match 1 is evil and i want both to win. both match 2 and 3 are against my favs bracket i think, during fav bracket making i was feeling more of the old favorites than new discoveries but the past week or so i've been doing a lot of new discovering and so kings and reality are hitting WAY better now. sorry mokou :( i secretly hope you win still....,

From TunnelScene:

Got more raves? (GROOVE COASTER)
Desert-Duo ([-Aka-])
Reach for reality (htoL#NiQ)

speaking of gust. i like gust!

this doesn't get as rhythmically unhinged as later e.g.g stuff, but you can still tell it's the first in a series that would. my favorite bits of this are actually specific to this long version---the super atonal computery sequences like at :17

I love sitar! and pitched down roland tambourine metal sound that sounds like undersea palace chronotrigger or the cave levels in frogger:he's back

very ace combat-y and I l8ke that

reach for reality has become probabaly a top 50 song for me and I know it is tked's top 1 song but THANK YOU for showing it to me. tked had shown it to me way back but my response wasn't nearly as intense as it is now. a lot of that comes down to that my preferences are a lot more centered around "cool synth sounds" than they were back then and this track is exactly what i look for in regards to that. einhander-tier. and also im more fixated on pitch than rhythm (though this is rhythmically extremely cool in a intriguing multilayered way I dig), and tonally this does a decent deal of what i like as well---just specific intervals get focused on. that high transforming glass sound at 3:52 is INSANE. also I always love SLOW PITCH BENDS and this had a lot of that in a very Gahreesen Corridors or Ancient Cistern way(two other songs in my top 50). overall it is a very Grand Way to sell a mix of mysterious abandoned technology with a nature tree in it at the same time and EPIC CONCLUSION. all in this very subtle way I am kinda obsessed with. what a perfect piece of music

why do I keep putting rftm against songs I overwhelmingly love.

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

< P0's Top 16 >
9.3 (0 left): Memories in the Mist
9.1 (0 left): Apex of the World (Rain)
8.9 (0 left): Crocus
8.8 (0 left): The Best Is Yet To Come
8.7 (0 left): Purna
8.4 (0 left): Journey To Candle Hill / For All of You
8.3 (0 left): Duel in the Mist / Another Winter / Narcolepsist / Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
8.2 (0 left): Nilah, the Joy Unbound / SHAKE YA BODY / Shutoko - Spiral Maze / "Don't speak her name!"
8.1 (0 left): Waltz of Meditation Part2

Reach for the Moon is still one of the greats, but BOST 6 finally showed me a Touhou song that I like just as much - Gensokyo Millenium ~ History of the Moon! It's pretty similar so we should try that one sometime.

Chronicle
Kings
Reality

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for reality

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

super evil first and third matches also please don't die desert

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

GROOVE COASTER - Got more raves?
[-Aka-] - Desert-Duo
htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary - Reach for reality

harsh round 1 :(

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for reality

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for the Moon

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
abstain
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

Chronic Key
Dessert Duo
Immortal Smoke

I really do think Chronicle Key is a Hymmnos that works much better in context, but EXEC_CHAOS_MUSIC/. is not gelling with me today.

who put ENGLISH LYRICS in my middle-eastern-set Japanese VN this is a TRAVESTY. Seriously I prefer the la-las of the normal desert, but this is still good. Kings is also suprisingly good?! It reminds me of the best of Ace Combat. Probably deliberately, given the genre, but perhaps they're both being influenced by some cinematic trope that I'm not familiar with.

reality is kinda interesting when it starts accelerating but it's a lot of atmosphere that doesn't really appeal to me. immortal smoke deserves to be happy.

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Chronicle Key is one of the nicer slow AT songs. Raves is disappointing, since it's not a rave song.

Aka has a lot of good songs, but this is not one of them. Sad it'll probably win. Kings is one of my favorite recent discoveries. Sorta has that Ace Combat feel to it, but interpreted in an entirely different way.

Reality's got a funky feel to it, though I dunno if it needs to go on this long. Will this finally be RftM's year? No, which is why I'll never support it getting in, but I'll still vote for it every time.

Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke > Kings > EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/. > Reach for reality > Got more raves? > Desert-Duo

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

would vote Kings over anything else today

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for reality

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
reality

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Match 2 is rough. Both songs are much better than most of the recent songs. I'll go for Desert-Duo since it's more unique and I'm more likely to regret voting against it.

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

oh my god those strings are so gorgeous. i love this fake language, how it always feels haunting or mythical. when i listen to vocal ar tonelico music i am bearing witness to an incantation in the works. it's just unreal man!

i definitely listened to this before???? but didn't like it apparently??? but going back and relistening for the contest, im surprised i didn't even save it bit chaotic and all over the place, but i wouldn't say that's necessarily bad. not quite my thing, but i don't hate it either.

aka my beloved <3 gorgeous, airy vocals. like with the at track, i almost feel like im exposed to some kinda magic. those little bells and shakers that pop up occasionally is a nice little addition that seems kind of inconsequential, but are something i cannot imagine this song going without.

kings is pretty decent ace combat imitator. i definitely don't hate it, and it doesn't feel super cheap either. the war thunder song from earlier this year, even though i liked it enough, definitely felt a bit "cheaper". that being said, this doesn't have as much as the kind of rhythm im looking for? i like most from the more orchestral ac pieces. the build up that starts after two and a half minutes is some of what i'm talking about here, so it isn't all "meh". i keep imagining some siiva rip to come in and turn this into daredevil at some points lol.

i considered supporting reach for reality in noms. instantly taken by the texture and atmosphere. i love this sort of darkness, this kind of sound. very adventure game-y or something from a horror visual novel. it isn't scary though, just moody, foreboding. ugh i love it. how it builds in intensity. there's some sounds in the latter part that kind of remind me of metroid prime, too. which is always a bonus. cool, dark music.

i always liked the intro to reach for the moon, immortal smoke (yes i am typing the full title) it's a good lead in. i like it when songs have an intro that sounds different from the rest of the composition. ive cooled on zun's music over the years, feel like i enjoy the music more because i love the world of gensokyo than because i think this stuff is actually good. (there's always exceptions) oh, and of course the mighty doujin scene helps too. i think i voted for both touhou remixes this year lol

close-ish match 2. i feel like ive been saying that a lot lately, but it's true. in the end i think desert duo is better even though kings is probably technically more "my thing".

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Match 2 is ANOTHER hard one from bracket D, and another one where Ill be happy with either winning. The orchestra in Kings keeps building and building against the intense percussion until the choir finally swells above. Reach for reality has a cool rumbly atmosphere.

Ultima III - Exodus' Castle - The Isle of Fire, my oldest favorite VGM, uses the deep tones of the Apple II Mockingboard to create the feeling of venturing into an ominous land.

Got more raves?
Kings
Reach for reality

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

abstain
Kings
Reach for reality

GROOVE COASTER - Got more raves?
[-Aka-] - Desert-Duo
htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary - Reach for reality

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/. []
Got more raves? [ ]
Desert-Duo []
Kings [=]
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke []
Reach for reality [ ]

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Kings
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Got more raves?
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality

tough top match

EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Desert-Duo
Reach for reality