Advanced
This actually is very impressive. I played RAgnarok, but this seems like an upgrade from that sand song, and i get that desert-related theme g oing on here, but with more Violons. I consider the fact that it keeps up with it's mood during the song with the sharpness of the violin is what really drives me to like this.
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"But friends, i ask you. What is a GameCobra? From where does it come? Who are it's people?" - A Random Day on World of Warcraft
Editor
I kind of like the intro and a few other sections. But then there are a lot of parts that are just nondescript at best. And these parts don't really gel with each other at any point; if you told me it was a medley I'd be like "yeah that's reasonable".
5/10
SOS - The Intro
Doesn't grab me, but I think it works as an intro. Do wish it went on a bit longer and did a bit more though.
5/10
SOS - Sinking Ship (The main game's theme)
I definitely prefer this to Intro, even though this one has some parts I don't care for at all. But overall it's just a much more satisfying piece of music.
5.5/10
SOS - Survivors
Don't care for this one as much though. Not sure why. It's just sort of like Intro in that it never really grabs me, but Intro has a better melody and samples... I guess that's the best way I can call it.
4/10
SOS - The Boiler Room
Don't really care for this one either. Again, it doesn't do anything really wrong, it's just that when it ends, I find myself wanting something more. The long periods of downtime, while atmospheric in-game, don't help matters either.
4.5/10
SOS - The Rescuers
Falls into a similar pitfall as the last two. I think I actually give those two the edge, too.
4/10
DW3 - Yellow Turbans
Not really my kind of music. It's... really one-note, which seems like an odd thing to say when there's so much stuff going on, and unfortunately I don't particularly like that one note.
4/10
DW3 - Hu Lao Gate
This is... interesting. I don't think it's entirely successful but I can admire what it's going for. I think it's better than the last one, at least.
4.5/10
DW3 - Guan Yu's Escape (Also known as Arena)
Way better. Feel like this one hits a balance the other two lack. Still not really my type of music but I definitely like this one.
5.5/10
DW3 - Sacred Ground
This one, however, is really good. While I do think the intro is probably the best part, I disagree with xp in that I don't think it could carry the entire song, so the electric guitar is a welcome addition IMO. Especially like that section that starts at around 1:00, really neat way to break up the piece.
6.5/10
Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica - Passageway
I'm so tempted to just be like, "what a "fun" song 3.5/10" and leave it at that, but naaah. Really though, the windchime/xylophone thing doesn't mix with the accordion, and neither of them mixes with the vocals, which need to be way less haunting/more upbeat to fit such an upbeat song. It's really just weird and not in a good way, sort of like if the individual components of this track were placed in a mystery basket and pulled out by an unwitting composer, who was then challenged to make a song out of them.
3.5/10
Umineko no Naku Koro ni 5 - Discolor
...This is actually really good and not what I was expecting, especially after the comparison to dangle (which is also good, but nothing like this, tbqh). It's really just "okay" until everything comes in, then it suddenly becomes fairly amazing, as if through witchcraft. Don't even mind the length because I think it works as great background music too.
7.5/10
Ragnarok Online II - Din Don Dan Dan Fo
This is quite good, yes. I think it beat Floater Land in one of the VGMCs, though, which was not deserved. I'm not sure whether to give this a 6.5 or 7, because the slower/quieter parts (e.g. 1:40) are just pointless, they don't add anything and really kill the song's pace. ...I think I'll go with 6.5, if only because I feel like 5 minutes really starts to push it near the end there.
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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=Z49Lxg65UOM&hd=1
So this has actually been in the works for a while, but I've been waiting and waiting until I could listen to the whole soundtrack... and by now I've realized that that's just not going to happen, in part because last time I tried I couldn't find it. Imagine my surprise when CG7 actually beat me to posting a Tsugunai track! I don't know how that happened. I'm not even fully convinced that Tsugunai is a game that really exists.
Tsugunai's soundtrack was done by Yasunori Mitsuda, who you might remember from such games as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, and Mario Party, and this track compares favorably with at least one of those... No but seriously, a couple people in the comments compared this to Chrono Cross music, which I think is fair. It's very technically sound; I don't really have any criticisms for it other than that it goes on a bit long. At the same time, I feel like it plays it very safe... but safe can be comforting, and I think that's part of what this track is going for if its title is any indication.
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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
I guess this "plays it safe" but it's not really the kind of song I normally enjoy, though it's not bad or anything. 5.0
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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=3DCQsjvBLh4&hd=1
It seems I'm saying things like, "No, really guys, this might be my favorite chiptune" more and more often lately. Well, that's kind of the case here, but not quite. First, because I'm awful at this, I'm not entirely sure is truly a chiptune. But secondly, even if we overlook that, I don't think it's my favorite, but it's another one that's not too far off that mark. This has a whole ton of effects I really like. Actually, I like a lot of effects you can do with chiptunes (and probably a lot that aren't strictly chiptunes, but are close) they just don't seem to happen often! I think my favorite section of this is 0:32 - 1:00. I think it loops after the one minute mark, but yeah.
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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=uGKVzUXsL-E&hd=1
HEY GUYS IS TODAY CHIPTUNE DAY? BECAUSE I HAS A CHIPTUNE FOR THIS DAY
...I'm not sure what the exact name of this track is, so I'm going with what I've seen it called the most. It also loops very obviously about halfway through that video, to say nothing of the fact that each loop seems to be composed, itself, of two loops... My point being, you can honestly stop listening after like 50 seconds if you want.
But as for the actual track itself, I really like this one. It manages to completely avoid the harshness/lousy quality I've come to expect from chiptunes and especially Master System/GameGear chiptunes. It's easy to criticize this for being a rather simple, short, upbeat chiptune clearly meant for the early game, but I think that within that subset, it's really quite exceptional - in that most pieces like that are pretty awful. I especially like the first 8 seconds, which seem to follow an almost call-and-response type of structure, and I can't think of very many VG songs that do that.
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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
Yeah, this is pretty good. Not exceptional or anything, but definitely solid. 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=mxV7v26eKHA&hd=1
So now probably one of the more "popular/universal" choices I've made, if only because of how popular OoT itself is. Gerudo Valley is probably one of my favorite songs from it, it just has a great pace, and pretty much all of the instruments work very well. Actually, this write-up probably makes me sound like I like it more than I actually do, because for all that, I'm not sure it has any really great section. I think my favorite section is towards the end at 1:18 - 1:26, but it's really hard to say. It's very consistent the whole way regarding how much I like individual sections.
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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=ZjdWXaD0_Xs&hd=1
It's been like... three whole days since I posted anything from a random VN I've never played. Too long, tbqh. Well, enjoy it, or don't, as is your prerogative.
I said a while back that I've been trying to post more faster-paced songs, and then I proceeded to... not really do that, though I guess Arcanum counts. And this sort of counts as well, though it's not as intense as the kind of songs I feel like I'm underrepresenting. Oh well, it's fairly neat in any case. This track actually changes itself up a lot over the course of its two and a half minutes, but it does so with such a deft hand that it really works. It strikes that perfect balance of changing enough to stay interesting without ever having a section that seems out of place. I don't know how this track could possibly fit its name, though - "Emotionally Unstable" certainly doesn't make me think of something this... controlled.
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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 was all right I guess, but... that's about it. 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=2LM86QuQVJs&hd=1
So, yeah, Last Ranker again. This may or may not be a good thing depending on how you liked the other ones! ...Anyway, the reason I find this neat should be pretty apparent rather quickly. That chanting is very neat, as is the very soft whispering that's present sometimes when the chanting isn't there. Not to mention the instruments are great as well. Another very solid song IMO. I think originally this may have been my least favorite of the now three Last Ranker songs, but now I think it may be my favorite, at least right now, but I don't know, so don't hold me to that!
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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=93EKZ7glYeU&hd=1
This is a song that's been on my radar for quite some time. It's from Phantom Brave, but I first heard it in Disgaea 2's PSP DLC, and it quickly became one of my favorite songs from that. I believe that's still the case, but it's hard for me to tell if I still like it as much as I did, or, perhaps more likely, I may not like the rest of the Disgaea 2 soundtrack as much as I did back then. Anyway, it's another pretty neat song, and normally I'd think the odds would be low for me liking some of the choices in instruments here, but it all works out rather well 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=mL0W7GYkZcE&hd=1
I briefly considered forgoing an actual write-up for a Zero Wing parody. For better or worse, I have chosen not to do that. So, Legrous is a pretty neat song, I don't think it's great or anything, but it's still pretty solid with some fairly strong sections. ...And you know, it's really hard for me to think of much else to say! ...Maybe I should have gone with that parody after all...
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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=QBHlgwAx7GA&hd=1
hey, it's this series. we haven't had anything from this series in a while! Lamentation has actually been on my radar for a while, ever since I heard it in the VGMC5. I think its R1 match was against Top Gear Rally's Main Menu theme, and I think I considered that match really good and very hard to decide, but eventually went with Lamentation. Then I posted the Menu theme in this topic and didn't post Lamentation. Why? who knows.
But yeah, Lamentation is a very neat piece. It definitely captures a feeling of hopeless despair, which, given its name and the scenes in which it plays, was almost certainly what they were going for here. (Incidentally, even though it's from Xenosaga 2, I feel like it's more prominent in Xenosaga 3, but that could just be me being me.) Not so crazy about the wind instrument that plays throughout most of the piece; I can't really say it would be stronger without it, but it just seems like a... rather questionable choice. What I do like is that section at 3:50 where everything dies out except the drums; maybe it goes on a little long, but it's still a really cool effect and definitely works to build tension.
(Unrelated to the piece itself: wow, gotta dig those Xenosaga 2 character designs. Check 'em out. There's Albedo, who looks ****ing creepy. Then Jr., who also looks ****ing creepy. Jin just looks like Jin, but it's made up for by KOS-MOS, who looks ****ing creepy. And then there's some random chick in the middle, I think she's like a scrapped character or something because no one in the actual series looks like that. I'd call this uncanny valley but that would imply a higher level of quality.)
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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
Lamentation? I sure am lamenting because this isn't the best choice from Xenosaga II that could have been made (even with Communication Breakdown out)!
...Anyway, that aside, Lamentation isn't bad at all. It goes on longer than it needs to though. And this thought particularly strikes me at that 3:50 section you mention. Because it's the worst and most questionable thing that Lamentation does. Although that flute tries fairly hard on occasion to take that title away. 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=Stla1cgacm8&hd=1
So, my impression of Wild ARMs music is weird. At least I think it is. I think this is the first song I ever heard from it. That or something from Wild ARMs XF, and they have all pretty much been songs I like. Then I hear things like Into the Wilderness that seem to be really beloved, but they have whistling and all kinds of other things that I just really dislike and it ruins the whole song for me. So, when it comes to Wild ARMs I feel I'm extremely polarized on it, and I never know quite which side something is going to fall on beforehand. This, obviously, falls on the good side, as you could no doubt tell if you read the last few sentences, in fact, you probably don't even need to read this write-up to figure that out. Anyway, presumably this is a battle theme, unless the title is just misleading. I just like most of what this does. The strings are good, but it's pretty much the other effects that make this song for me. I don't think I'd think much of this song if those effects weren't there. Well, it arguably wouldn't be much of a song then either, but... ignore that part.
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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=M2_vjg6BnP4&hd=1
Special day demands a special song! Might as well go for hardcore nostalgia, that's like special.
Pokemon Puzzle League is one of my favorite games, but one thing I either forgot about it, or never realized, is that a lot of its character themes are remixes of songs from the anime. A topic on Board 8 the other day brought this particular one to my attention, and my reaction was something like: "Why does this sound famili-OH MY GOD WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT THIS BEFORE?" If you can't figure it out... and didn't read the YouTube description... this is a remix of Viridian City, which is an awesome song that I really like. It's also quite a good remix, very peaceful and drops a lot of the technoish influences that were always kind of out of place in the original song. I doubt anyone else will like it as much as I do, but oh well, nothing I can do about that.
Incidentally, at 2:17 it becomes the Panic version of Brock's Theme, which I'm... probably not counting, or will count as something separate, so your call on whether to listen to it/rate it or not.
Pokemon Puzzle League - Misty's Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Iz0MYnlv3s&hd=1
Another one. This one is a remix of Catch Me If You Can, which I feel like some Pokemon fans might be less familiar with because it wasn't part of that whole 2.B.A. Master soundtrack? But then it played rather prominently during The First Movie, so maybe that makes up for it, I dunno. Whatever. It's also a pretty cool song, if you like bubblegum pop, which I apparently do. I'm not sure why this was used for Misty's Theme in PPL when it was never associated with her beforehand, and she had an actual theme (named Misty's Song), but I appreciate it, because Misty's Song is awful. (And if you like Misty's Song... fuck you.)
Actually, a somewhat embarrassing fact: I can sing along to at least parts of the PPL versions of both these songs, despite not having heard either of the original songs in years. So yeah, make of that what you will.
This one becomes the Panic version at 2:07, so same deal as above.
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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
Pokemon living up to its reputation in this topic still. Although this is probably one of the better ones, but that is not saying much at all. 4.5.
Pokemon Puzzle League - Misty's Theme
This is probably better, but it really drops its chance to make that particularly clear. 4.5. Panic version might be a bit better, I don't know. Maybe not.
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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=a6C9sJdvh7w&hd=1
So, hey, this is a song that I feel is a bit of an outlier in terms of "songs you might expect me to like" which I guess could make it a bit notable. This is a pretty neat song, although, again, nothing amazing IMO. That said, there are some sections in it I really enjoy, plus some cool effects (I'm pretty sure that one effect that's prominent in Someday The Dream Will End is here). I think my favorite section is at 2:03 - 2:17, but pretty much the entire song around that area is great, IMO. I will note however, that I don't like the intro. Well, really just that opening effect. Past there things improve greatly, and pretty much continue to improve throughout. That very beginning though... really wish that wasn't there.
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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=EBK3h-fjDZo&hd=1
From the pit of rejected vocals week songs comes Black in Truth. I came real close to posting it then, and if I had kept going for an extra day or two I almost certainly would have.
Black in Truth is sort of interesting. A lot of what it does seems jazz influenced, which I like. A lot of the effects are just weird, but for whatever reason they work pretty well here, really giving the song a unique feel. The actual vocals are... I dunno, they shift back and forth between "quite good" and just "decent". The faster-sung parts are definitely better, I'd say. Wish the whole song was in that style.
If you can tell me what anime OP this song reminds me of, you will win... no points, but possibly a fabulous prize. (Fabulousness of prize may very.)
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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
Advanced
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiLWZzeA3cY
Lots of good themes in the old Final Fantasy days, but i really enjoyed the classical theme of Cyan. Sounds like the stuff of Samurais.
I just wish i could remember what instrument makes that 'chiming' noise every 10 seconds XD
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"But friends, i ask you. What is a GameCobra? From where does it come? Who are it's people?" - A Random Day on World of Warcraft
Liberal Arts Major
...That intro is not very good, IMO. Fortunately, that seems to be the outlier, as the rest of the song is mostly better. Well, mostly the chorus, or what I think is the chorus. Everything else ranges from... "better than that intro" to "average at best" which is not the best range to occupy. Thankfully, I do like that chorus so that bails the score out a bit (actually a lot.) 5.0.
Final Fantasy VI - Cyan's Theme
Cyan's Theme was never really one of my favorite character themes from FFVI. My favorite is definitely Edgar and Sabin's Theme (which is way, way back in this topic series), it's harder for me to say what came next after so long... but I want to say it was probably Locke's. In fact, to go on an unrelated tangent, I just never really liked Cyan at all. Him, and practically everyone in his arc (well, I guess it's more properly Sabin's arc) in the World of Balance was someone I didn't care about. I mean, he had Gau. Anyway, I'm not so sure I think character themes in general was FFVI's strong point in terms of music. I mean, even Edgar and Sabin's Theme isn't something I think is too great. 4.5.
I just wish i could remember what instrument makes that 'chiming' noise every 10 seconds XD
Do you mean the... bells, I think they are? I'm pretty sure that's bells of some kind. I mean, I know it's not the stereotypical bell sound by any measure, but for some reason my instinct is telling me it's some kind of bell. Like... a sleigh bell or something. Of course, this could just be me being hilariously wrong. Either on what this is, or what noise you mean. Or both! >_>
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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=msFbOHoouPs&hd=1
So, you may have noticed that I really like the music from Neotokyo. I'd say that based on all I know, it's probably in my Top 5, but given my inconsistency, it's hard to say how accurate that is! Departure is another one I really like. Probably more than Tin Soldiers, but definitely not as much as Annul and Scrap IO. Departure is a fairly short piece (to me) but it does a lot of different things I like. Of course I like the vocal-ish effects, but they're not the highlight of this for me. Much like Scrap IO, it's more about the different effects (including ones I can identify like the piano, and ones I just have no idea on.) The fast sections, and the things they add in are very neat to me, however my favorite section is 1:12 - 1:45 (honorable mention to the fast section that precedes it). Mostly just for the change that occurs as it enters that section, it's such a great entrance to the section IMO.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Advanced
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"But friends, i ask you. What is a GameCobra? From where does it come? Who are it's people?" - A Random Day on World of Warcraft
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0EwQFpcmmI&hd=1
Back over to G-Darius, where I never know what to expect in terms of reactions! Personally, this is my least favorite out of Kimera II, Adam, and itself; however, it's very close to Adam. It's actually very similar to Adam in terms of how I view it. It starts off not as good (but probably better than Adam does) before it reaches a pretty great section IMO. However, I'm not sure I consider its section to be better than Adam's corresponding section. So, I guess you could say I view Feature Perfect From 7 as a less "extreme" Adam, that just never goes as low or high as Adam does. I still like it though. It's probably pretty easy to pick out after this write-up, but my favorite section here is 0:52 - 1:31.
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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=1Dw6j0x9Bq4&hd=1
...I don't know why I've been posting so much techno-ish stuff lately, but I make no apologies. The alternative is relatively simple piano pieces, so I think you're getting the better end of the bargain here (incidentally, I have a ****ing LOT of relatively simple piano pieces, so if you ever want me to post one, just ask and I'll probably do it).
Soul Link itself is another VN that I haven't played but which I have heard the soundtrack of. It's actually got a pretty cool soundtrack, though a lot of it isn't quite my speed. Faraway Universe is certainly up there for me, probably because it pulls off the whole "progressively become more complex by layering different effects gradually" angle that I tend to like. It doesn't have the best name of any track in the game's OST, though - that would go to Wet Dream, which I almost posted just for the sake of having posted a song named Wet Dream (again, I think you got the better end of the bargain 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
Liberal Arts Major
I guess this is okay-ish. I have nothing against techno-y stuff, so that probably helps, but this never really... does... anything. So, I'm just going to say 4.5 and that's about it, because... yeah...
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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=EN3Kn_BJWhQ&hd=1
So, yeah, Chrono Cross. It has a really good soundtrack. As far as I know, Fields of Time is one of the world map themes (like Dreams of the Shore), I like Dreams of the Shore more, but Plains of Time is very good as well. I especially like the heavy references to Chrono Trigger's music in it, but that's just more of a fun fact than anything. Plains of Time is just very, very solid, and probably one of the better world map themes I know of. I like pretty much all of it. There are times where I think it strays a little off course, but mostly it's right on target. I've also seen the title as Fields of Time, or at least I'm pretty sure I have, but whatever.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
Editor
I really need an explanation of what "anything" entails and furthermore how a song can actuate such an anything.
Like, this clearly does something. In terms of things-done, I think it compares favorably to multiple songs on this very page.
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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
No, you don't.
But let's try to figure out what definition I was using yesterday. Probably something like, "this never does anything that gets my attention/that I enjoy on any significant level"
Like, this clearly does something. In terms of things-done, I think it compares favorably to multiple songs on this very page.
Maybe, but if so, that speaks more to the page than it does about Faraway Universe.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?