Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 97! THE FINALS!!!

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Last Specter's Theme

Professor Layton and the Last Specter - The Last Specter's Theme

Solid finals this year, probably the best I've been a part of? Either that or 16, but Last Specter is still an easy vote here, it'd be the first time a song I supported won, which would be very cool. It's just such a nice piece.

Once more, with feeling!
Sonic R - Back in Time

Back in Time

Both of these songs are very good, but Sonic R takes my vote.

The Last Specter's Theme

The Last Specter's Theme

Professor Layton and the Last Specter - The Last Specter's Theme

So this year's champion is unfortunately going to be the weakest of the 5 years of champions for me from the years I've participated, but given how much I liked those years' champions, that's not really that bad! Both songs are solidly in the 7/10 range, so while not what I would think of as champion-tier, it could be much worse.

The grand finals, eh? I don't have anything to complain about these two, both are S tier and very uplifting compositions. They also happened to crush two songs I liked a lot in round 1 (Hourai High Dungeon and Sasha's Theme, respectively). No big preference for one or the other, both really proved their worth on the road to here. But either way, let's give them one last listen and see if I can decide for one.

Last Specter is still a magical song, where I love the variety of instruments and how they mix with each other, most notably the accordion. The melody allows them to go wild, specially on the second half with all those crazy solos! Magnificient. On the other hand, Back in Time is so nicely upbeat, with this 80s-in-the-90s pop feel that is somehow really catchy. I love these lyrics so much too, since day one. The singer also has a pretty voice and nails them well.

I think these tracks just represent well what makes their franchises so beloved. Still, I think I'll pick one. I choose: Moonlight Concert! Oh, how I wish. But it did a great run too.

Vote: Back in Time

The Last Specters Theme

The Last Specter's Theme

Solid finals I guess. Last Specter's Theme would be a great winner and Back in Time would at least be acceptable even if I'd probably rank it as one of the weaker champions.

Back in Time

Finals at last!

So, Back in Time ended up being my #1 song for this year, both bracket-wise and retiree-wise (thank GOD). I still really enjoyed almost every other retiree we had, but having TJ Davis come this far into bracket was absolutely the cream of the crop for me. That said, a brief confession: I was actually super thrown off by this version that got submitted, because I grew up listening to another version that had a flute sample in it that supposedly is the same one used in a Sonic Unleashed song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_5dFQG5ePw - for reference; said sample shows up in the instrumental version as well, it seems.) But really, it's the smallest of petty gripes I could ever have with any song, it's STILL the best song on the soundtrack for me and it's made me love TJ Davis ever since.

And its opponent is no slouch either! Last Specter brings it with its superb instrumentation. The piano, violin, accordion and acoustic guitar coming together to form this banger of an opening track is nothing short of great, and once it hits that 20-second mark, I'm taken away to what feels like a simpler yet still pivotal adventure with the Professor.

Both songs today have had great runs, and now it's time to finally bring this to a close. Thanks to all for submitting great tracks this year, and for a satisfactory retiree set as well.

Thanks for all the believers who pushed Banbard Piano (and Chroma, of course) in bracket and ended up giving me my second retiree to date!

And of course, big thanks to deo (and tox) for putting all this together. Your work will never go unnoticed, I promise.

Until next year, folks!

The Last Specter's Theme / Back in Time

pretty close.

Last Specter, I guess

The Last Specter's Theme

This contest could've gone better but it also could've gone much worse in my opinion. I think this is a good finals but I understand how other people may feel otherwise. I wish we could have a finals we all agreed on so we could all be happy but I guess that's not possible.

Tough to decide because both are good but I am 0% invested in either. Guess Back in Time has the slight edge

Apologies for the unnecessarily tense voting time but it was 9:53 when Back in Time popped into my head and I started feeling guilty I hadn't voted for anything, and at that point you just gotta

Professor Layton and the Last Specter - The Last Specter's Theme