Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MF1AAwZEbk&hd=1
While Emiya is probably my favorite song from FSN, All Evils of the World is up there too, but I could see it being pretty hit or miss. I think one of my favorite parts of the piece is... that sound... in the background for most of the song. I know that's a terrible description, but I don't know how to characterize it. I don't even want to say vocal-ish, but... I dunno. No idea what it is, but it really works well for the piece, IMO. Plus, I really like the title, although I've seen some variants of the translations. Also, as a note, totally avoid the comments section on this link, because it's massive spoiler territory. Unless you don't care about FSN spoilers, in which case you don't need to worry about that!
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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=WN680HCgsq4&hd=1
The superior Karma (but not the most superior Karma). I think that's an unpopular opinion, which does nothing if not assure me that I am correct in holding it. Incidentally, this song took #14 in my rankings a while back, and unfortunately I'm going to have to retread old ground in terms of a writeup, because I generally type out everything I want to say in any given writeup, so all I can do is retread old ground. Anyway, this version of Karma is, for the first 50ish seconds, a very competent, beautiful piano piece, and I like that part a lot. What I like more, though, is that it doesn't just stop there, but really pushes to be something distinct after that. It all culminates at 1:52, and everything after that is what pushes the piece beyond merely "good" for me into "great".
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"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Liberal Arts Major
Lost Odyssey - Battle theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzM5GeeLjJ8
This is an excellent theme, but the problem with it? You never really hear much beyond the first 20-30 seconds >_>
6/10
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Lost Odyssey - Haunted Mansion (What I call it anyway)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAML2WYLrYc
fuck this track because that dungeon is absolutely terrible for getting lost in)
Overall though, 6/10 because it really fits in with the area the game is at.
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Lost Odyssey - "A formidable Enemy Appears!" (tl;dr: the boss battle theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROhR5Ah61x0
This is an awesome boss battle theme and really gets you into the battle, 7/10
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Lost Odyssday - "Battle Conditions" (Arena theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNPD8zckZTU
...This is the only really memorable theme in the game >_>
Even though Lost Odyssey (And Blue Dragon before it) was entirely composed by Nobuo Uematsu (Of Final Fantasy) most of the music in both games was amazing, but forgettable in my opinion.
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Blue Dragon - Boss Battle theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvHMBPHXUUo
...
>_>
The first time you hear it? AWESOME. It really gets you into the fight. But then... But then you continue playing the game... And that's when you realize...
...it plays for EVERY boss. and it loops. for the entire fight. this is the entire boss battle theme. that plays for EVERY SINGLE BOSS (save the final)
And since each boss can take up to 5 minutes to kill (20+ minutes per boss kill if you start from scratch on Hard mode)
You kinda just want to mute the game forever.
-100/10
>_>
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Blue Dragon - "Dragon Fight" (Regular battle theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7d6nj1kDc
Not bad, not great. 5/10
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Blue Dragon - Caves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMZBVkIoD8w
Meh. 5/10.
This actually reminds me something more out of Fable.
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Blue Dragon - GENERIC TOWN THEME ("Everyday Tranquility")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eTd-J6W1O8
Ugh. 4/10
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Blue Dragon - "An Ancient Fortress"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlCHopTl4yg
This is used in a couple dungeons and is pretty good for a dungeon theme. 5/10
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Blue Dragon - A Village of Murals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgqn8XMr84c
This is used in a town/zone you're in for like, 5 minutes or so tops. So it's good for what it is, but would be terrible if it lasted any longer. 4/10
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Blue Dragon - Exceed The Land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d63Q0OlMpnY
This is the "I'm on a world map!" theme, and a pretty meh one. 4/10
<->
"What the fuck is Alice doing in Wonderland anyway? Who the fuck told her she could leave the god damn kitchen in the first place?" -Random guy on Xbox Live
http://www.backloggery.com/kodan882
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNDZUZKhwRE&hd=1
I am not familiar with much Baldur's Gate music. This is a lovely track though. I particularly like the delicate strings that lead it off, and the vocals added in make it all the better. If I had to complain about something, it is that I think it could be a bit longer. Not a lot longer, but it does feel like it ends a bit prematurely. Otherwise, yeah, I like this one.
Rating: 6.5/10
...That game was terrible and so was most of the music. (That track I'd give a 3/10 at most)
They tried to do some D&D Diablo hybrid thing and it turned out terribly.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Bramble Blast
OH GOD
I FLASHED BACKED TO DKC2
BRB GONNA GO CRAWL UP IN THE FETAL POSITION FOR A FEW HOURS ._.
<->
"What the fuck is Alice doing in Wonderland anyway? Who the fuck told her she could leave the god damn kitchen in the first place?" -Random guy on Xbox Live
http://www.backloggery.com/kodan882
New Moderator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tqHWATJ1k8&hd=1
I have my doubts on this being as well accepted as Proud Soldier ~ Gage was. It is my... either second or third favorite theme from the game, though (Isabella's is the one making me hesitate, but I think I prefer Lin's). I have a hard time describing why I like it, but it appeals to me, and I liked hearing it in game. So that justifies me posting it in my mind! (But probably nobody else's.)
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
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euezX9D3aDE&hd=1
Another one of my favorites from Umineko. I know (or think at least) that Kenri doesn't particularly like this, so I had been avoiding it. However, with some apologies, I'm just going ahead with it. It shouldn't be a problem because the executioner is legitimately great! It's kind of hard to explain why I like this piece so much, it's just extremely solid in pretty much every aspect.
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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=COgGsetFrCM&hd=1
One of the better songs from Kid Icarus: Uprising, and very similar to the chapter 6 theme. I could have really gone with either one, but I feel like Dark Pit's Theme is more consistent.
It shouldn't be too hard to figure out why I like this (HINT: IT'S THE ACOUSTIC GUITAR, BECAUSE THAT'S LIKE THE ENTIRE SONG), but I also kind of dig the southwestern flair it has going. That's... not entirely appropriate for Dark Pit's character, but it's infinitely preferable to some theme that tries to be broody or... dark or something, which would fit the character even less but I wouldn't put it past them to use anyway. What it does fit is the whole idea of a showdown between rivals, much more so than the game's actual boss themes (which are just... yet more okay battle themes).
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"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Liberal Arts Major
Celtic Guardian 7 Posted: 4/27/2012 10:54:59 PM EDT
xp1337 Posted: 4/27/2012 10:55:53 PM EDT
Kenri of the Yuri Posted: 4/27/2012 11:00:39 PM EDT
<->
"What the fuck is Alice doing in Wonderland anyway? Who the fuck told her she could leave the god damn kitchen in the first place?" -Random guy on Xbox Live
http://www.backloggery.com/kodan882
Editor
It is possible the same thing applies to xp and CG7.
---
"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Editor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1_ZikjqLsY&hd=1
Get ready for a blast from the past. This probably should have been on my initial list of songs for this topic, in that it's one of the SELECT FEW pieces of VG music I actually paid any attention to before starting this entire topic series. I have no idea why I didn't post it on page 1 or 2 of the first topic, much less not at all until page 34.
Sensei is the best character in Advance Wars 2. He's just this random old guy who is for whatever reason a commanding officer, and he grants ****ing superpowers to any helicopter under his command. Helicopters are already a very versatile unit, so that's nice already, but then his CO Power and Superpower involve creating an infantry unit on every single city under your command, which is so incredibly useful. Definitely my favorite character to play as. And he gets a badass theme, too. Sensei's Theme is a jazzy track that calls to mind the music of yesteryear. It doesn't have any of the Asian influences you might expect for the theme of a guy named Sensei, and in my mind it works a whole lot better because of that. The only unfortunate thing is that each loop is only about a minute, so it can get kind of repetitive on a long map.
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"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Liberal Arts Major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKLBQ-CtoTU&hd=1
Another piece I really enjoyed from Mana Khemia. It's possibly my favorite outside of the vocals pieces (and that elusive non-vocals TOGGLE), but I'm not sure about that. It has a lot of the effects that I like all in one place and just does a wonderful job in a lot of ways, IMO. Whether it's the beginning and... that effect that I really want to know the name of and it's been in so many other pieces, but I am so bad at this, or the slower/less involved section towards the middle/end. Just a pretty great (final) dungeon theme, in my mind.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
New Moderator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzOTvTh2f2A&hd=1
I distinctly remember one of the fights this plays in. It probably shows up in other locations, but darned if I can recall. I have not played La Pucelle in so long. Anyhow, this is one of my favorite battle themes from it. I think I prefer it to A Martyr's March... sometimes. Maybe. Hard call. Get back to me on that. Anyhow, hurray for pianos.
Rating: 6/10
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Editor
Well... it's an organ, all right. I guess it's sort of interesting, but it doesn't have enough going on to make me want to listen to it again.
4/10
Lost Odyssey - Battle theme
This starts off pretty bad but begins to recover at like... 40 seconds (I dunno, I wasn't watching the time). It becomes MUCH, MUCH better at that point. Then it starts falling apart again, and while it recovers again later, the damage is done. ...Actually that might have just been a loop or something. I don't care enough to find out.
4/10
Lost Odyssey - Haunted Mansion (What I call it anyway)
I guess this is unique and potentially appropriate, but it's not... very... good. I think I'd actually like it if it evolved more, but the whole music box thing can't really carry itself for two minutes. Or one minute. Or more than like 15 seconds.
4.5/10
Lost Odyssey - "A formidable Enemy Appears!" (tl;dr: the boss battle theme)
Both okay and a battle theme. It does have some cool moments, but of it is really vanilla.
5/10
Lost Odyssday - "Battle Conditions" (Arena theme)
Yeah... I don't even know what to say about this. Not my cup of tea.
4/10
Blue Dragon - Boss Battle theme
I know EXACTLY what to say about this, though. Listening to Eternity doesn't just ruin my life, it ruins the entire idea of life. Someday, when humanity is judged, the great cosmic adjudicator will look upon all that we have accomplished and see Eternity. And upon seeing it, he will open his one-hundred and eight mouths and speak. And what he will say is:
"No.
This will not do."
And we will be destroyed.
AND YET IT'S STILL BETTER THAN DREAMS OF AN ABSOLUTION, M4 PART 2, LOVE IS THE GIFT, AND EXEC_HIBERNATION.
2/10
Blue Dragon - "Dragon Fight" (Regular battle theme)
This song is precisely why "YAOBT" exists. It's not terrible! I'm okay with listening to it. I can't distinguish it from any other battle theme like it, though.
5.5/10
Blue Dragon - Caves
More my speed. This is fairly acceptable.
5.5/10
Blue Dragon - GENERIC TOWN THEME ("Everyday Tranquility")
This could actually be pretty decent, but then it just does the same stuff over and over and starts to grate after about 20 seconds. Ehhh.
4/10
Blue Dragon - "An Ancient Fortress"
...Really everything I said above applies here too. I thought this had a lot of potential, but then it didn't. Whoops.
4/10
Blue Dragon - A Village of Murals
This actually has some really cool sections, specifically that one at like 1:07; it blends a piano with a really sinister tone in a way I'm not sure I've ever heard before. Rest of the song is pretty bad, that one section is like 7/10 material, potentially, but can't redeem the whole thing.
4.5/10
Blue Dragon - Exceed The Land
Yet Another Okay World Map Theme (YAOWMT). Actually, this is sort of below okay.
3.5/10
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - Supreme Logician ~ Lin
This song is weird in that it sounds very... faded out at points. Not sure if that's intentional, the DS being the DS, or what, but it's kind of a problem. The song is vaguely interesting otherwise, mostly during the sections with heavy contrast, but that's about all I can say for it.
5/10
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru 7 - the executioner
...I really don't have a problem with this except that's long and not great. It's okay, but other Umineko songs do just about everything this song does, and better. "Okay" cannot carry 7 minutes, so that is ALSO an issue. That said, there are a few sections I like, but most of it is just ehhhhhh or worse.
4.5/10
Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis - The Voice of the Dark, from the Abyss
This is actually legit. The percussion is really cool and contrasts with the rest of the piece in a way I enjoy. Not sure how I feel about the ending, but it doesn't hurt my opinion of the piece - just not sure if it helps it.
6.5/10
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"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
New Moderator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLx-TQsxPAU&hd=1
If for some reason any of you actually bother to read Youtube comments, do not do so here. There are Persona 4 spoilers and such. Anyway, this is my third favorite dungeon theme, after Secret Base and Heaven. While good, it really falls short of those two for me. Still, that piano. It is a nice piano indeed. It also does a nice job of giving a sense of needing to be fast without being panic-oh-my-gosh music.
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
New Moderator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL0wcSfsPoE&hd=1
As amazing as the hymns are, and as much as they crush most of the soundtrack, the Ar tonelico series first caught my attention because of its area music. Here is one, which plays when in cosmospheres. There is also a faster and more frantic version that plays in fitting situations, but for how it sounds on its own, this is miles better. While this is not my favorite track from the game, more likely than not, it is still one I listen to and tend to think of immediately when thinking about pieces from Ar tonelico.
Rating: 7/10
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Liberal Arts Major
"No.
This will not do."
And we will be destroyed.
AND YET IT'S STILL BETTER THAN DREAMS OF AN ABSOLUTION, M4 PART 2, LOVE IS THE GIFT, AND EXEC_HIBERNATION.
2/10
Eh. That's a bit unfair if you ask me. It's not a BAD piece of music. The real issue with the song is that there's only like 2 fucking boss tracks in the game.
THAT and the final boss.
The reason I gave it such a horrid score is solely because of that. If it just played once or twice or something along those lines? I'd give a 6/10 for what it is.
<->
"What the fuck is Alice doing in Wonderland anyway? Who the fuck told her she could leave the god damn kitchen in the first place?" -Random guy on Xbox Live
http://www.backloggery.com/kodan882
Liberal Arts Major
Eh, it's okay I guess. Still the inferior Karma (all Karmas are inferior to Superior Karma) 5.5.
Lost Odyssey - Battle theme
Uh-oh. Lost Odyssey zone. And Lost Odyssey's best piece by a mile is Dark Saint and that showed up a long time ago. Yeah, I never really cared for a lot of Lost Odyssey's OST. This battle theme is no exception, though it does have a pretty good section in there. Basically Kenri has the right idea here. 4.0
Lost Odyssey - Haunted Mansion
Eh, I don't particularly like this either. 3.5.
Lost Odyssey - "A formidable Enemy Appears!"
Eh. 4.0.
Lost Odyssday - "Battle Conditions"
Battle Conditions is okay. Overrated compared to the rest of the OST, IMO, but it is probably one of the better ones. It's just that doesn't say all that much! 5.0.
Blue Dragon - Boss Battle theme
Well now... This certainly is... something. I think I'd find this a lot better if not for those vocals. Oh man. 2.5.
Blue Dragon - "Dragon Fight"
Much better. But then, it'd be pretty remarkable if I couldn't have said that! 4.5.
Blue Dragon - Caves
This is okay, I guess. A bit long though, IMO. 5.0.
Blue Dragon - GENERIC TOWN THEME ("Everyday Tranquility")
Eh. 3.0.
Blue Dragon - "An Ancient Fortress"
Yeah, I felt this started out okay, but then it kind of... stagnated, I dunno. 4.0.
Blue Dragon - A Village of Murals
This is better though, I think. Again, Kenri seems to have this right, that one section is quite good, but the rest of it... 4.5.
Blue Dragon - Exceed The Land
Eh. 3.5.
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - Supreme Logician ~ Lin
Concurring with Kenri's "weird" but in a different manner, I think. There are some pretty good elements to this. And then it's like the rest of it just can't have this and is trying to ruin it. Mostly that wind instrument thing, but it is not alone. 5.0.
Kid Icarus: Uprising - Dark Pit's Theme
Eh. 4.0.
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising - Sensei's Theme
...More eh. 3.0.
La Pucelle: Tactics - Crazy Pianist
Eh. 4.0.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 - Long Way
Definitely worse than Heaven. ...Probably worse than a fair deal of the other dungeon themes in P4. ...Better than Secret Base, I think. 4.5.
Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia - What My World Is Wishing For
Not AT's best. At all. Granted, AT's OSTs are good enough that even the weaker songs are okay. 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=7t5SMfYCxes&hd=1
My favorite song from Shadow of the Colossus. Most certainly the best battle theme, IMO. Which makes me more discouraged that it's one of the few battle themes that seems to be totally forgotten when I see most people discuss SotC's OST. Demise of the Ritual plays during the final colossus fight, and really elevates that battle as a whole, IMO. I imagine it'd be a much lesser fight if you put any of the other Colossus Battle Themes in its place. There are a few parts of it I don't like as much, but overall it's a pretty fantastic song, IMO.
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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=KUeTo9XGTmY&hd=1
Another song I nominated for VGMC6. Pretty sure it didn't get in, sadly (people literally and figuratively nominated Nurburgring Suite over this). It's also another of those electronic pieces that I've found myself posting more and more of as the topic went on, though I think this one is more heavily on the trance side of things than most of the ones I've posted.
SPEAKING OF TRANCE there are only a few songs out there that can actually induce anything resembling a trance in me, and this... is not one of them. It's still really good though, and unlike a lot of songs of this type, has very little buildup; it's quite strong right out of the gate, and it only gets better as it goes, though I feel like it also goes on longer than is necessary. BUT, music of this kind, when good, can usually get away with that kind of thing, as I start to view it as background music, for which length is irrelevant. And this is killer BGM, so there you have it.
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"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Liberal Arts Major
This is okay. Not great, but definitely okay. 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=0LsIYx8Qrag&hd=1
Because it just wouldn't feel like this topic series if we went too long without another AT hymn! At this point there's not really that many left, especially in AT1, but EXEC_SUSPEND is one of them. SUSPEND starts off a bit shaky, IMO, but quickly rights itself around 25 seconds in and begins to improve itself as it goes on. While it's not my favorite hymn or anything (as all of those have appeared earlier) it's still a very solid song, in my opinion.
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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=KZ_lhixlqEQ&hd=1
Another song from Crisis Core. I doubt it's my favorite overall, but I think it can definitely stand up to and in some ways even surpass The Price of Freedom and Under the Apple Tree. It's hard for me to describe what I like so much about it, though, except that all of its elements work really well together. The strong background beat, the lighter piano work, etc (pretty much all stuff I've mentioned liking before) -- and it's all wrapped up an... almost melancholic mood that works so incredibly well here. I honestly can't think of a single flaw other than that it could probably do more, but as far as flaws go, that's a good one to have.
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"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Liberal Arts Major
Nowhere near The Price of Freedom, IMO. This is okay, I guess, but that's about it. 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=0NC5aBWTrKI&hd=1
Oh man this piece. On one hand it's just a great piece IMO. On the other hand, every time I hear it I flashback to the ME3 ending and... well, I could talk about that for a long time, and I don't think any of it would be positive. A really long time. However, the piece itself is very nice in my opinion. Probably near the top of songs for me that are this slow and soft. There is, however, one really annoying part of it, I even kind of hesitate to call it part of the piece, but I guess it is, it's pretty apparent at the end there when it just goes off on its own. Thankfully that's a relatively small section overall. And as usual, you'll want to avoid the comments if you care about ME3 spoilers.
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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=guoOn-z008c&hd=1
I mentioned this way back when I brought up Shadowlord's Castle / Memory, that there was a non-vocals version, and I really liked it, possibly even more than the vocals ones. Well, it finally seems to exist, so here we are. Now, I'm guessing I might be the only one to like this based on previous reactions, but whatever! I just feel that the no vocals version is just more... I don't even know what word I'm looking for here. It just leaves a different impression with me than it does with the vocals, and I quite enjoy it. There are a few parts that feel a little choppy, and I think that's just an issue with this link, but I guess I'm not positive, though I'm fairly sure in-game that doesn't happen.
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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=KyCNVNtc-7s&hd=1
A song I discovered a while back, probably right around when I posted Loneliness from the same game. I haven't posted it since because I've sort of got into this mindset that I can do better than random JPop, especially in terms of "being able to talk about any-goddamn-thing that is actually relevant to the music itself". But hey, if it's good, it's good, and Philosophy is pretty good, and I'll be the first to admit that my music-listening device is by no means free of random JPop.
I think what I really like about this song is the use of backup singers/reverb effects (not quite sure which), which make certain parts of the song a lot more impactive than they would be otherwise. It's a neat effect and by no means unique to this song, but it's used here quite well. It's made especially effective by combining it with the mixing up of slower, more methodical parts of the song and faster, more intense parts; if this song ever settled into just one, I think it'd suffer a lot and very quickly, but thankfully it cleverly averts that.
---
"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Liberal Arts Major
This is okay I guess. Well, better than okay. 6.0.
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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=rkh5yqdTCOw&hd=1
This is a kind of weird song for me to talk about. There are parts of it I really like, and then others that I like... a lot less. Overall it stays pretty far on the positive side, but some sections I think feel just a bit out of place or something, I can't really explain it well. I do really like the chorus though, it's pretty excellent IMO, as is most of the song really!
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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=seaPEjQkn74&hd=1
A song with a lot of neat stuff going on. The first minute or so doesn't have much in the way of vocals, just standard ooohs to go with the rather dark instrumentation (not sure why, but I feel like it sounds like something out of Silent Hill or Armored Core or something). That part of the song is quite good, but when the vocals actually come in, it gets much more interesting. ...Admittedly, it also becomes basically an entirely different song, and I feel like the first part could be expanded and then stand on its own, but whatever. The majority of the song makes use of heavily distorted vocals of a way I would normally HATE, but in this case they're distorted heavily enough that I actually think it's sort of cool. Maybe because it sounds non-human as opposed to human-with-a-dumb-filter, so it can tap into the Amethyst Caverns appeal? In any case, I like it, and I really wish I could fully understand the lyrics, because the parts I can pick out (or think I can, at least) are interesting.
---
"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Editor
There's a piano in this? I legitimately barely even noticed amidst all the clutter.
3/10
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 - Long Way
Has a really nice beat. That's probably the best part here, even overriding my general feeling that pianos are the best thing in this and every world. Doesn't make me want to hurry, but I could see it being a nice and fairly unique dungeon theme.
6/10
Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia - What My World Is Wishing For
...I don't really even see what the difference is between this and the actual hymns? I was sort of assuming that any song from this series with lyrics was in effect a hymn even if wasn't technically one. In any case, this is pretty nice. It sounds much... smoother than most actual hymns, which could be good or bad, but I think it works here. The use of drums during the vocal sections give it an almost tribal feel, too, which I like.
6/10
Shadow of the Colossus - Demise of the Ritual
...Yeah, this is not doing it for me. This is ambient to a point of nothing happening, and the 20 seconds or so near the end that tries to fix that would need to be expanded to like... a minute or two to work. Even then it would probably not be very successful.
4/10
Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia - EXEC_SUSPEND/.
I love how even your writeup is just like "Ar tonelico has some hymns in it, and this sure is one of them." That pretty much sums up my feelings too! It's solid, I guess. And it also exists -- that much is undeniable.
5/10
Mass Effect 3 - An End Once And For All
Well, this is okay, though the ending is pretty bad (you may read that however you like). I don't think it ever does anything extraordinary, though it's pleasant to listen to. In fact I almost wish it was shorter, like a minute long and without the beginning and the very end; I feel like, at almost three minutes, it's too simple to stay interesting.
5.5/10
NieR - Shadowlord's Castle / Memory (No Vocals)
...Uh-huh. This is... better than the vocal version, at least? Maybe? All it really proves to me is that the vocals weren't the issue with the regular version so much as they were just an issue.
3.5/10
Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier EXCEED - UNCHAIN WORLD
This is pretty decent, at least during the faster sections. ...That instrumental near the end is kind of a mess though and just should not have happened, but thankfully the best part of the song is probably the vocal section right after the instrumental section ends.
6/10
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"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."