Liberal Arts Major
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB-M5o0kLEI&hd=1
Outside of Song of the Ancients / Fate, I feel like this is the most "popular" NieR song. ...It might even be more popular than SotA / Fate, I don't know. These kind of things are hard to follow, it's mostly me just guessing. Anyway, this is one of the more "important" songs in NieR IMO, like Song of the Ancients, it also plays in a few different forms and places. Unlike Song of the Ancients though, I've found it's usually treated as one song though, with the variants not being different enough to warrant separate consideration. There's one exception, but I won't go there because of spoilers. Well, I will, but under spoiler tags later. Anyway, Shadowlord is probably first thought of as the final boss theme of NieR, but it's also the opening song, so yeah. It manages to work for both, but IMO it's used better in the final boss battle, but a lot of that is just how well that's placed together. You'll note that you can roughly divide the song into two sections, the slower part at the beginning, and the faster one at the end. This is not an accident. Without going into much detail, NieR's final battle blends scenes/dialogue with the actual battle very well, and you'll have the slower part playing during the scene/dialogue sections, with the faster part kicking in during the actual battle. Personally, I prefer the faster part, although I definitely really like parts in both sections of the song, like 2:15 - 2:53 in the slower section, and 3:23 - 3:47 in the faster one.
[Spoiler for NieR, click to show]As for that one variant that deserves special recognition, IMO, it's the music box version that plays during the final, final part of the boss. That's another thing about Shadowlord that is done exceptionally well, IMO. During the final phase of the boss, as you do more damage, more of the song gets "stripped away" until, when only one hit remains to win, you're simply left with the very beautiful sounding music box version of Shadowlord. [/spoiler]
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
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SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBwait wrong game
It's pretty good. I remember liking it enough when I played KH2, too. Not my favorite battle theme even in KH2 though!
Let's go with... 6/10, high 6 though.
Touhou Project: Perfect Cherry Blossom - The Doll Maker of Bucuresti
Pretty okay Touhou. It just seems kind of... safe. Never really does anything extraordinary. I honestly wouldn't say it ever hits "cluttered", if only because it just stays "safe" throughout. That said, it sounds nice enough.
6/10
Angel
New Moderator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcvvNO4v5eY&fmt=18
So, I did not know this, but apparently the person who composed the Kingdom Hearts soundtracks did Parasite Eve's. I watched a Let's Play of Parasite Eve, but playing it myself is unlikely. Interesting final battle theme though. It has a foreboding atmosphere to it. Those vocals I could see going either way. I personally find them sort of funny just because of how I hear them, but they do have a sort of ominous quality. This is definitely a hit or miss piece, and for me, it is a hit.
Rating: 6.5/10
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Editor
Mass Effect - Battling Saren
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTXGdztRpxg&hd=1
A really cool battle theme from a game with surprisingly decent music, considering I basically noticed absolutely none of it when I was actually playing it.
While this would be pretty cool on its own, what really pushes it over the edge is two things. First of all, love the percussion. Not sure if it's trying to sound like any sort of non-instrument sound or not, but it could pass for a lot of different sounds of warfare. I feel like that was more the intent than anything specific, though I love to read too much into these things, so it could just be some percussion that the composer liked. Who knows. But what I really like about this piece is that "voice" chanting things in the background. I don't think it's an actual voice or saying actual words, but you can still kind of make out the message: Listen, to Sovereign... Listen, to Sovereign... Listen, to Sovereign... It's unique, it's appropriate, and it's pretty damn creepy. Definitely my favorite part of this.
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Liberal Arts Major
This is probably a shade over average for the first half. Not sure if the second half is a credit to team though. 5.0/10.
[Spoiler for Mass Effect, click to show]Mass Effect - Battling Saren [/spoiler]
The "vocals" are the most notable part of this, but the song seemingly gives up on them, or at least drowns them out, far too early. 4.5/10.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH9X1iRAjC0&hd=1
One of my favorite Castlevania pieces that I've heard, I know there's other versions of this, but none I've heard come even close to this one, IMO. I don't have too much to say here really, I just really like a lot of the sounds used in this, especially at parts like 0:08. In terms of Castlevania pieces... this is probably Top 3 for me. ...I think. Tough for me to say, it's not something I think about too often.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhXXJRRHKGw&hd=1
Memories of You is the ending theme to Persona 3. I think I prefer it more to Brand New Days (the ending theme to The Answer) but I can never make up my mind there, probably because neither song really comes close to making my "omg awesome" tier. Nevertheless, I do like Memories of You, although I do think it suffers when the vocals are not there, they really carry this song for me. I'm not sure I really have a clear favorite part, it's basically "any part with vocals," but let's say 4:18 - 4:52.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb6MF0IfsvQ&hd=1
Couple of other Crisis Core tracks have been posted in this topic. They've been pretty okay. This one is pretty okay too. I hear it was in a VGMC at some point, too. What's not to like?
Under the Apple Tree is a very simple, soulful acoustic guitar song. It reminds me of Castle in the Mist in more way than one. Specifically, in three ways, the three characteristics I just listed, but whatever, shut up, I'm tired and want to play OoT so let's just get through this. I'm not a huge fan of the first 10 or so seconds of this, but starting at about the 12 second mark I start really liking it, and it just gets better from there. Acoustic guitars are so awesome, way better than electric guitars and seriously underutilized in video game music. Not sure if Under the Apple Tree is better than The Price of Freedom or not, but I'd definitely rank them close to each other, at least. And now I want to play Crisis Core. Ah, well.
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Liberal Arts Major
Definitely inferior to The Price of Freedom. Not bad, but not even close to The Price of Freedom. 5.5/10.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCSIH7vsmTY&hd=1
Well, Chrono Trigger is pretty consistent. Consistent at keeping practically all of its best songs connected to Zeal in some way, which is totally fine with me because Zeal is the best part of the game IMO. That said I could see Schala's Theme being a bit hit-or-miss here, I like it, but I can definitely see the other side to this. I like all of the song really, but my favorite parts are where you have more stuff going on.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Editor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrNOM6pp5Q&hd=1
A vaguely nostalgic, borderline melancholic instrumental piece. White Knight Chronicles has a soundtrack that's decent if not exceptional, and after listening to the whole thing, I determined that this was far and away my favorite (aside from maybe The Travelers, which I have no idea what to make of). The recurring trend while I was listening to the game's soundtrack was the feeling that I had heard every single track there before, in some other RPG... I'm not claiming it stole anything, just that it had a "generic RPG" feel to it. I can't even rightly claim this one completely avoids that, but I think it hits it on a level where it sounds familiar, but not generic - Insect Valley is too good to classify as generic. And that feeling of familiarity might be what led me to describe it as nostalgic earlier! I dunno.
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Liberal Arts Major
...This makes it to roughly "fairly good" I suppose. 5.5/10.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C9EwSORHdw&hd=1
This was always one of my more liked songs from FFX, though never at the absolute top or anything. I just think that in general it's pretty well put together, because I have a hard time pointing to any one thing that makes me like it to any truly notable degree. That said, there are certainly "weak points" in it to me. Because of that, it's less that I have a favorite part and more that my favorite part is everything but the weaker sections, so I'm just not going to try and bother with that this time around.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UuY196_euA&hd=1
Just give me life and grant me no reprieve...
Obligatory potential spoiler warning for L.A. Noire. I haven't played the game, so I wouldn't know!
L.A. Noire has a really cool soundtrack, lots of orchestrated tracks with jazz influences that sound like they'd be more at home in a movie than a video game. So of course I picked... one of the few tracks that isn't like that! Oh, me.
I'm not even sure why I like this song. I guess I've mentioned before that I like music from the '50s, and this does kind of remind me of that. It's also got some rather clever wordplay... mostly in the form of double entendres, but hey, that's fine too. Actually, I think this song is a good example of how to do simple rhymes well. I was down on Across the Border for trying to do stuff like rhyme "hittin'" with "kickin'", because that's failing even at a simple rhyme. Then you compare it to this song and... well, I probably should have been even harsher on AtB!
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Liberal Arts Major
When I first heard the instruments, my alarms started going off. Then the vocals started. ...This did not improve the situation. 3.5/10.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77A_WQ8605k&hd=1
Going to mention this in the beginning. I'm aware that the end seems kind of abrupt. Technically that's where a loop would begin. It's just, the loop starts again at around 0:54, and it goes on like that indefinitely. However, it would seem the only choices I had was this one with the abrupt ending, or one that loops a bunch of times. I went with this, albeit it reluctantly. It seems none of these versions even try to make that ending seem less jarring by trying to fade it out or anything. So, try to ignore that if you can.
Anyway, this song didn't originate in BBS, though I'm pretty sure that BBS has its own unique variant of it, and I like it more than the ones you hear in the other games I've heard it play in. The highlight here for me is the part that is actually the "Battle Version" that starts up at 0:54 and continues to the end. Though my absolute favorite part is at 1:23 - 1:41, which is just excellent IMO.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wFRIWFraWQ&hd=1
Hey, another Touhou song that I don't think runs into the "cluttered" problem, even while maintaining a pretty fast pace throughout a lot of the song! Anyway, I mainly like percussion (surprise) and the piano (...at least, I think that's what it is, but I'm not totally sure) in this, although the latter seems (to me) to make only a few appearances here and there, nonetheless those parts are among my favorites in the entire piece. Anyway, as I'm sure everyone can see by now I just like Touhou songs in general, and this one is a pretty great one, IMO, and doesn't even have to "rely" on doing things I really like to balance out the "clutter," so that's always nice.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
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I like it. It's pretty interesting. It works quite well to give a foreboding feeling, like you said. It also becomes definitely recognizable as Shimomura's about halfway in. I would be very happy to fight a final boss to this track!
7/10
Castlevania: Bloodlines - Iron Blue Intention
Yay, Castlevania. Iron Blue Intention isn't my favorite track, but I'd actually never heard this version before, and it's way better than the Portrait of Ruin version, so that works in its favor. Overall I think it's just pretty darn good, but it never really wows me.
6.5/10
Persona 3 - Memories of You
It's okay. Again, it doesn't really wow me. It's nice to listen to but it doesn't get much further than that for me.
5.5/10
Chrono Trigger - Schala's Theme
Never been a big fan of this, especially when I know that Chrono Trigger has better. It straddles the line between enjoyable and "why am i here"... and I'm just going to give it a score that represents that rather than trying to pick a side!
5/10
Final Fantasy X - Sprouting
FFX's soundtrack is just killer IMO, and while this isn't one of the strongest tracks, it's definitely good. Enough to stop the bleeding, at least.
6/10
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Another Side -Battle Ver.-
This is pretty good, yes, abrupt ending aside because I can't really fault the song for that. KH continues to be one of the few RPGs that I actually trust to make an enjoyable battle theme. yay.
6.5/10
Touhou Project: Phantasmagoria of Flower View - Flowering Night
...I'm hesitant to pull out the "circus music" card because I feel like Flowering Night doesn't deserve that, but honestly circus music (or maybe carnival music) is really what this reminds me of. It also hits a certain pitch that just starts to grate after a minute or so. So yeah, overall not a fan, though it's better than some Touhou music I can think of.
4/10
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Editor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD4hSyz_hu4&hd=1
Another case where you can bail after a few minutes if this doesn't suit your fancy; it never changes particularly radically. It might loop somewhere in there, I dunno.
Anyway, I spent a good part of my day, a few days ago, listening to music from various VNs/eroges, and... didn't get as much material as I would have liked, though I did find some really cool songs, like this one here. It's a frantic, frenzied, high-energy piece of the kind I generally don't like, but for whatever reason it resonates with me. Think it works best as background music (which is what I was using it for while working on an assignment yesterday), and I can definitely see it being very appropriate for a high tension situation in a game. I've mentioned about a million times that I really like songs with a good sense of movement, and this absolutely has that (and it doesn't really fit too well with the stills of girls painting or sleeping or whatever in the video, but you can't really blame the song for that).
Annnd because I missed yesterday...
"Hello, world." - Global Network
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOdd0hUAwuU&hd=1
I have no idea why the two songs I liked the most from this game both have to do with the Global Network. Hell, I don't even know what that refers to! I don't think these are variations on the same track, either; at the very least they're completely different in both feeling and content. Global Network goes for an almost tragic-sounding strings instrument front and center, which is like... I don't think you can get any further from the technoish influences of the previous one. Really like some of the background elements in this one, too. I have no idea how to describe them, but they're just something unique that really help to elevate this above "yay another strings-heavy piece".
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Liberal Arts Major
Eh... again, not bad, but I wouldn't really say it's good either. 4.5.
"Hello, world." - Global Network
I like this one more though. 5.5.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOR0EOExd7Q&hd=1
Deep Crimson Foe is a boss theme of sorts. Well, it's definitely a boss theme, but NieR can get a little strange regarding them. As in, I couldn't figure out a "pattern" as to what plays where usually. For instance, one boss has its own unique boss theme, but I have no idea why it only plays in one place. Or perhaps I was just awful at figuring it out here, wouldn't surprise me at least. Anyway, I feel like Deep Crimson Foe was one of the more used boss themes, and for that I'm glad, because I quite like it. Mostly for that intro, I think the song drops off a bit after that, but that opening is just so great. For reference, I mean 0:00 - 0:52, and particularly the vocal sections in that. Don't get me wrong, I still like the song after that, but it's definitely inferior to the beginning, IMO.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcllGFaY8qA&hd=1
Hey, remember way back when Pollyanna showed up in this topic? This is my favorite version of it, at least out of the ones I've heard. This completely destroys the "normal" Onett stage theme, and this song probably made Onett one of my favorite SSBM levels, as it probably is my favorite SSB song. For some reason I really like the first few seconds too, no idea why.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8gIvHhloNg&hd=1
Goes with everything, apparently, including this topic. Anyway, I never really encountered this meme until very recently, and I think I ended up being spoiled by my first encounter probably not going to be topped at all, but that's going on a tangent. It's kind of hard for me to explain why I like this song so much, you know, without being generic and unhelpful like, "I like everything this does!" (See: like 80% of my writeups) but it's true! there's also like a billion versions of Guile's Theme (and I think I have the correct one listed), There's actually a version that does this a little better IMO, but after the halfway point, it apparently decides to pull a "Rundas" and become less awesome, so overall, I think this is my favorite version. Guile's Theme might be up there with Mega Man 2 Wily Stage 1 for my favorite song from the 16-bit era and before, but watch me end up proving that statement wrong soon! Anyway, can't really point out a favorite part to this, because as I was (unhelpfully) saying, "I like everything!" ...Aren't you glad you read this write-up?
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
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I would absolutely not be able to identify this as Nier music if you hadn't told me, which is... odd, but not a bad thing. Anyway, it's pretty good. It is sort of weird in that it seems to be building towards something, but then the "payoff" is just... not as good as the build-up. Still pretty good overall though.
6/10
Super Smash Bros. Melee - Mother 2
For whatever reason, I like this a lot more than the Brawl version, even though they're basically the same song. Dunno what's up with that! I'm not sure if this beats Chiptune!Pollyanna for me, though, and I know it doesn't beat I Believe In You. This version just has a few sections that are kind of... "what", to me.
Going with 6/10 here, which is the same score I gave Chiptune!Pollyanna.
Street Fighter II Turbo - Guile Stage
Yay, Guile Stage. I like this, though I like it more in the beginning than the end for whatever reason. For whatever reason it also kind of reminds me of Winning Run, which is neat.
Let's go with 6.5/10 here.
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Editor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPE8EesftLg&hd=1
Another ZOE opening theme. This one isn't nearly as good as Beyond the Bounds, but I still like it well enough. Not sure if the vocals are credit to team here or not, especially because I can't figure out wtf they're saying about 99% of the time. If I had to pick a favorite part, I'd definitely say the opening, the first minute or so, and add that the song pretty much gets worse as it goes on... which makes it the opposite of Beyond the Bounds for me, actually. Funny coincidence.
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
Liberal Arts Major
Hey, I like this. At first I was onboard with "not sure if vocals are credit to team" but later on I think they are, if only because I really like their high points. When they're not there I could see the case made that they aren't, but I think it averages out in their favor. I'll say 7.5.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpkQHhdTzys&hd=1
More battle themes! According to the video (as a side note, I think the annotation in there might have some spoilers, so you may want to turn them off if that concerns you. Don't worry, the first one is just some general info and not spoilers, but later on...), I think this is the final boss theme, that or it's like the penultimate battle theme. Anyway, Termination mixes a lot of different things together, and I think it does a very good job at it, between the vocals, electric guitar, and everything else, resulting a rather "epic" song. For my favorite part, I guess I'll say 2:08 - 2:35, but Termination doesn't have any true weak points, IMO, so I could pick out nearly any section.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Editor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atGUBsp6adw&hd=1
I sincerely apologize for that image in the video there. You probably don't want to have any family members around when opening that link, just for the record.
Anyway, this is a really cool chiptune, created by a really cool musician named Ryu Umemoto, who I only know about because he died recently. Very sad, especially because he was fairly young and really quite talented. There were at least a couple of his tracks that I wanted to post, but this is probably my favorite of them. Normally, I pretty much hate songs like this, which change a bunch over the course of just a few minutes; I'd rather they pick one thing and just do it exceptionally well. However, this one just does it so well, and in such a way that every change feels distinct, yet natural, that I can't find it in myself to complain about it. I really can't even pick out a part as my favorite, though I think I generally do like the second half of the song better than the first half.
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
New Moderator
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - The Tower of Dawn
I have this too, but once more, never played. Might want the sequels before I try.
Here is a rare case of an introduction that I like far more than the rest. Usually that does not happen for me. The rest does well enough, but I really like those vocals for whatever reason. The background music is above average at least. It does seem to get cut off way too soon though, I think my opinion would be higher with more vocals and a longer playing time.
Rating: 6.5/10
Kingdom Hearts II - Darkness of the Unknown
Kingdom Hearts, insert copious amounts of bias.
What a surprise, xp and I have different favorite parts. I prefer the faster paced sections, from 1:46-2:11, though I really do like all of it. It definitely has the epic feel one would want from a final boss theme, and the changes in pacing actually make sense in context, even if it might seem strange to listen to outside of it.
Rating: 7/10
Touhou Project: Perfect Cherry Blossom - The Doll Maker of Bucuresti
Keep bringing that Touhou in!
I have a bias towards Alice, even though she is not my absolute favorite from Touhou. She actually sort of got me into it from her design alone, but I really like her themes too. Her other theme, Doll Judgment, is also high in my rankings even if it is mainly due to its awesome beginning parts. As for this, while I like all of it, the later parts are my favorites. 0:51-1:03, followed by 1:04-1:32, then 0:00-0:50, followed by the very ending. ...I really should not bother distinguishing though because it is all good stuff.
Rating: 7/10
Aquaria - Technique (The Cave)
From that one game Kenri talked about a lot in chats.
This surprised me. I was expecting something. Not sure what, but something. I wound up getting a 'quiet' and atmospheric piece. I like it! The bell effect is nice, and even though it is short, the way it loops here does not make it seem short. Maybe it is just because the name of the game is Aquaria, but I could almost see myself calling it a nicer version of Aquatic Ambiance. Have my rating while I move on before I am stoned to death for such opinions.
Rating: 6.5/10
NieR - Shadowlord
NieR, vocals, insert high score here.
To expand, I like the vocals here, but it sounds more like a could-go-into-any-RPG theme, as Kenri mentioned. I like the bell that goes in at a few points. With the way it is sung and that bell, I could see the first part as background music for a church or chapel. The fast part is my preference, though not for that reason, I simply like how it sounds more. I get the feeling this would be higher in my book if I saw it in context, but that should not be affecting my ratings anyway. I try to avoid doing that at least.
Rating: 8/10
[Spoiler for Mass Effect, click to show]Mass Effect - Battling Saren [/spoiler]
OMG YOU RUINED MASS EFFECT FOR ME
I swear, there is something about Mass Effect music. I never notice it when playing, and when I hear it outside, I still do not care about it. Though I never reached this ingame (someday I will), I doubt I will even notice it there! Average all around, though if the vocals remained maybe I would be more interested.
Rating: 5/10
Castlevania: Bloodlines - Iron Blue Intention
What is a rating? A miserable pile of opinions!
I never quite got why this was a popular pick from Portrait of Ruin because that version never stood out to me. I went in a bit unenthusiastic due to that. Thankfully, this is better, though it still does not get into my favorite ranks. This hits good at least. I have never really looked into the soundtrack for Bloodlines, perhaps I should.
Rating: 6.5/10
Persona 3 - Memories of You
More Persona, approval, do want, etc.
No question about it, this beats Brand New Days into the ground for me. The chorus is certainly my favorite part, though I like all of it. (That also is one reason I like P3 FES a lot.) The length does not bother me, probably because it does not feel that much longer than most anime and game openings and endings. Even if it is six minutes, it does not seem like it to me. Though I have never looked up the lyrics, according to what tvtropes says about them, apparently they are fairly important to Persona 3, so 'good job' to the translators for not adding subtitles. Not so much for Persona 3 FES, but yeah.
Rating: 8.5/10
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Under the Apple Tree
Well, I will get to this game someday, as with every game I say that about.
I think I actually avoided posting this over The Burden solely because I felt biased towards the violins. This is still really darn good. Really, they rank about the same in my mind, which is nice because I find very few video game pieces where an acoustic guitar is done well. There probably are ones out there that I miss finding, but nevertheless, glad to hear this one. I really am wanting to play this for its soundtrack after the three pieces that have shown up here.
Rating: 7.5/10
Chrono Trigger - Schala's Theme
I guess I should try to get around to Chrono Trigger sometime soon, huh.
This has some pretty nice portions. I like the overall feeling to the piece, it sort of seems gentle to me, and I hope that was the intention or I will feel utterly ridiculous. There is that one instrument that I like, but darned if I can identify what the heck it is. A horn, maybe? Very big maybe? The 'chimes' or you would call them are good too.
Ranking: 6/10
White Knight Chronicles - Insect Valley
Hey, that game I tried to find out stuff about but gave up far too quickly in looking and never learned what it was like!
I hate the title of this piece, probably because it makes me envision fighting a ton of giant insects. Thankfully, it sounds nothing like that mental image. This is a lovely piece that makes me think of wide open plains with soft grass and a not-too-intense sun shining down. Yes really stop looking at me like that. It does nothing to stand out too much from other area themes I have heard, but do I like it, certainly.
Rating: 6.5/10
Final Fantasy X - Sprouting
I am totally up for more Final Fantasy X pieces.
Honestly, I had no idea where this played from the title alone. Starting to hear it caused instant recollection. I never would have thought of this piece without some sort of prompt to, yet I like it. 0:29-0:58 is my favorite part, no questions asked, I really like that instrument. The part after is pretty good too. The introduction sort of falls short for me compared to the rest, but more in a 'this adds nothing' rather than a 'this takes away from the good parts' way. Glad you posted this, seeing as I had not given it much thought until now. A lot of Final Fantasy X pieces are like that it seems, it really does have a great soundtrack.
Rating: 7/10
L.A. Noire - Guilty
What. Why. Why would you.
This is a fine example of how to use a horn in a way I do not like. A hard task, considering my bias, but it manages to do it. Then the vocals kick in. Not a bad voice, but the way the song is sung does not appeal to me. I can totally see this fitting in a game called L.A. Noire, to be fair. But as a piece of music I would like to hear? No no no no no.
Rating: 3.5/10
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Another Side -Battle Ver.-
Guess what I am not rating yet!
Touhou Project: Phantasmagoria of Flower View - Flowering Night
Sakuya theme? Best ever.
In case I did not make it clear earlier, Sakuya is my favorite Touhou character. Setting aside that bias, still really liking this. The introduction sort of does have some circus elements like Kenri mentioned, but I would not call it a 'circus piece' really. I like those pieces, but they do not need to be Sakuya themes thank you very much. Really really need to check out this Touhou soundtrack, it is one of the few I do not have. Anyhow, Sakuya theme or not, very high on my Touhou pieces list.
Rating: 8/10
"Hello, world." - Global-network had already broken down
Sort of intrigued by what this visual novel is about, never heard of it until now.
Interesting piece we have here. Fast-paced techno indeed. It almost sort of gave me a headache to listen to for a while, but to be honest, that is most likely due to being tired and not feeling well in general today, so I doubt it would have that effect on me most of the time and thus is not getting docked point wise. That said, none of it stands out from the rest for me. It remains constant throughout at an above average level. This does not really make me think of a desperate time though. I could see it playing in a television station during normal situations, for whatever reason.
Rating: 6/10
"Hello, world." - Global Network
So, why the dash above but not here?
This fits my preferences far more than the latter piece. The strings get a little too high pitched for my liking in a few sections, but the background piano and most of the strings are good. Just make some of those high pitched seconds quieter and this would probably get a really good ranking from me. As it is, it gets a little above its techno partner.
Rating: 6.5/10
NieR - Deep Crimson Foe
Insert something about loving NieR pieces here.
Hey, guess what, I find myself disagreeing with a lot of Kenri's points. Again. This is different from some NieR pieces, but the vocals still make it identifiable as one to me. I also fail to see the build up and payoff opinions the way he does. Good, dramatic piece for boss fights. The section xp pointed out is probably my favorite too, in a surprising turn of events, but I really like all of it, so I am not as clear cut in my decision as he is.
Rating: 8/10
Super Smash Bros. Melee - Mother 2
So yeah, thanks for making me relook at the MOTHER scores I gave out.
I always used this over the other Onett theme in Melee. No contest between those two. This does not beat the vocal version Kenri posted, but it dropkicks the chiptune to Mars in my book. A few sections sound sort of strange, but the overall piece is good. Hearing it without all of the crazy fighting happening in Melee makes me appreciate it more.
Rating: 6.5/10
Street Fighter II Turbo - Guile Stage
So where did that meme come from, and why did I not hear of it until a random chat we had?
Going to pull the slightly above average card for this. It never really strikes me as anything special even with a few nice parts. ...Can we change the meme to, "goes with nothing"? Because I sincerely have no clue where I would play this and count it as fitting. I guess it should be a fighting theme, but... as fighting music, it seems strange to me. Maybe the introduction is throwing me off more than anything else.
Rating: 5.5/10
Zone of the Enders - Kiss Me Sunlights
Not Beyond the Bounds tier, why is this here.
In all seriousness, I do like this a lot. The vocals at the beginning sound a little strange, but as it goes on, I found them improving and becoming quite good. The faster paced parts appeal more to me, but the slow parts still have their merits. Seems like Zone of the Enders likes having really good vocal openings all around.
Rating: 7.5/10
Ys Origin - Termination
Goody, more Ys, I am totally in for this.
The introduction vocals sort of left me indecisive, but by the end of it, I had decided that they hit like territory for me. The guitar is pretty awesome. My favorite parts are the string parts though. Those are done in a very nice way. I am surprised by how long it is, considering the length of the Ys pieces I have seen so far, but it does not deter from the piece at all in my opinion. The fact is does so many different things while remaining constantly good helps with that.
Rating: 7.5/10
YU-NO - Teito
So, that image, insert a "lol kenri" joke if you would.
No clue what sort of game this came from, but it is interesting in the numerous directions it takes. None of it really stands out to me despite that. All around, I would call it average. The only exception is the extra percussion and sort of upbeat feeling near the end, which propels it a little above what it would have otherwise gotten. Still, I am sorry to hear the musician died at a young age like that. It would have been nice to see what else he could have created.
Rating: 5.5/10
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears