Woof, a lot to listen to this time.
I choose Final Fantasy VI and FF13, Yeul’s Theme.
Though the organ passage in the FF6 piece at times borderline plagiarizes Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, it’s still a pretty impressive chunk of music overall. And I liked the mellow, almost bossa-nova vibe of Yeul’s theme.
Max Anarchy and slight nod to FF6
The FF13 tracks just didn’t click with me. FF6 was decent, but the off-Toccata portion was kind of weird. Kept thinking the whole time that real-Toccata was better.
FFVI
FFXIII Main Theme
Even though this will always be my preferred version of Dancing Mad:
Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2.
When FFVI inevitably gets through, I may view it more favorably on another day when I know in advance that it repeats so much. Right now, that fact irritates me.
Please, nobody opens the Pandora’s box of plagiarism in music works! Stop it!
Final Fantasy VI
The SNES’s only advantage over FM, for me, was its way to reproduce the church organ’s sound. Have to wait for the last 5 minutes, but then the sound programmer of this track shows you can do many other things too.
I have this weird sensitivity thing going on with voices, and I couldn’t get past the singing of the Japanese women in the other FF tunes to give them a chance :/
Yeah I wasn’t fond of the fact that mix chose to put a couple of loops either.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Yeul’s Theme and Max Anarchy
Final Fantasy VI and Max Anarchy
Final Fantasy VI
Max Anarchy
For the FF 13 stuff I felt like I was either in a piano bar or trying to fall asleep. That was from a Final Fantasy game?
Blimey, I played FFVI within the last 10 years and I don’t remember the virtuosity of that Dancing Mad track. I’m with Otagan in that I didn’t like the loops either which seemed to pad the runtime out unnecessarily. Still, the organs and blistering final section (which I could hear shades of the FFVII boss theme in) were worth the wait.
I liked the relaxed bossa nova lounge vibe of the FFXIII-2 song but I felt it outstayed its welcome at nearly 7 minutes. The vocals too started to grate towards the end.
The FFXIII piece was pretty, grand, sweeping and… well, Final Fantasy. I’m reminded of the Staff Rolls and finales from FFVII and VIII, which were great. I haven’t played a Final Fantasy since IX so I’m way out of the loop these days.
I’ve never heard of Max Anarchy before but Play My Ass Off was an amusing drum and bass thumper.
I listened to all these (apart from FFVI) at least three times and FFVI easily gets the first pick. As for the second, I honestly struggle to remember the FFXIII songs. Max Anarchy then, I think. It could have been the FFXIII main theme.
Group O Results:
Oedo 808: 14
Persona 5: 13
Star Control 2: 10
Dragon Age: 6
Just to get it in FF 6
Edit: Yeuls theme
You’ve got another hour.
Group P:
Final Fantasy VI and Max Anarchy
Wow, that No Man’s Sky track is incredible! If that won the whole thing, I think I would be satisfied. And Streets of Rage 2 just feels like it sums up the raucous, colorful 16-bit era.
Group Q:
No Mans Sky and Streets of Rage 2.
Max Anarchy/Anarchy Reigns obvs. That entire OST is brilliant BTW. Lots of different artists and amazing songs written specifically for the game. It’s old school hip hop and rap. I own it and listen to it often. The game is also phenomenal if you like beat 'em ups. The online multiplayer was fantastic, completely bonkers, with a singular design that no game has ever had before or since, but very short lived unfortunately.
I’ll have a second song but the FF tracks are very long so I’m about 15 minutes from knowing!
Final Fantasy VI it is… although Yeul’s Theme is close.
Group Q: Streets of Rage 2 and No Man’s Sky.
It pains me not to choose NiN’s iconic work on Quake, but the other two tracks did more for me on a fresh listen.
No Man’s Streets