I don’t know about anyone else but my approach is pretty simple here. I hit play. If I like it, I smile and consider voting for it. Rinse and repeat with option two and if I am still smiling, see which one I like best. I don’t care what the background is.
I don’t think it’s just nostalgia/chauvinism. There’s tons of retro chiptunes I wouldn’t give the time of day. Hubbard is a monster talent. If Monty had gone up against Katamari I would have had a really tough decision to make, btw.
Oh I’m not claiming conspiracy here, just noting that the people here skew I to several groups which certainly has influenced outcomes. I mean we’ve had several people openly acknowledge their continued Monty votes are as much a vote for Hubbard.
I mean it’s not controversial to note that people’s experiences and backgrounds can influence tastes. People who grew up playing C64 games (a system I was unaware of the existence of until I stared watching Loading Ready Run sketch comedy in 2007 or so) are going to be naturally more inclined towards those songs. Me, I voted for Brigador despite noting I consider it a fairly weak entrant to make it this far because of the cyberpunk vibe it has. Anything that can evoke Blade Runner gets consideration from me.
So the general skew away from consoles, particularly the general apathy if not outright hostility towards Nintendo, from a large contingent of Qt3 has certainly had a role.
I mean I’m pretty much exclusively a PC gamer these days. My most current console is a Nintendo Wii. But I grew up playing those games, which is certainly a minority position here. I’d wager more people at Qt3 played the Gold Box games than the Final Fantasy games of that same era. That Baldurs Gate is a more common thread than Ocarina of Time.
Well I wasn’t hinting at conspiracy or even heavy bias. It’s more about taste. Clearly what @ArmandoPenblade seems to adore just sounds like loud noise to me. Heh. More than half I voted for, I never played. It’s simply do I want to turn this off or keep listening… guess which one gets my vote.
As an American who was already in his 20’s as of 1981, I’d never heard of the Monty games, but I heard this piece one time and was just blown away by the inventiveness of it.
I hope you aren’t including me in that. I can prefer other Hubbard pieces while still feeling that Monty is better than what it’s come up against in each round. Which is the case, in fact. Look, a chacun sa gout. I really don’t get the hype over Hell March, for instance.
Wait’ll you see my metal thread content!
I’ve got you figured out!
Although I don’t really fault people for musical taste; it’s a preference not a real contest, just fun stuff… or at least it started that way…
This isn’t me either (maybe it wasn’t pointed at me, but thought I’d clarify since I’m one of the more vocal supporters for Monty here). I never heard of Hubbard before the dome, and chiptunes weren’t on my radar before. I just really, really liked the song, and I have a lot of free computer time at work to play raucous thunderdome spectator.
In the closest day of voting yet, Brigador and Skyrim pull ahead by identical 16-15 scores after being tied through much of the day. Monty and Baba Yetu are the two tracks I would have given the highest odds of winning when first looking over the nominations, but they both fall at the final hurdle.
And so, after 3.5 months of nominations and voting, it all comes down to this. Both of these tracks have vanquished all challengers to date, but only one can be crowned the inaugural Qt3 Thunderdome Champion.
Final Match
- Brigador
- Skyrim
0 voters
While I generally think the Elder Scrolls music is highly overrated, this is the one track of the series that I think is pretty great.
This is also only the second(?) time I’ve voted for it since the round robin stage. So clearly
I… should have taken a clue… I am not fit for Thunderdome.
Some of how this played out came down to matchups IMO. I’m not sure if there is a fairer way of doing them than just throwing all the songs in a hat and matching them though?
My nomination went out first round as well. This has been a blast though. I can’t wait for Thunderdome 2: Electic Boogaloo
OT: It’s so funny how $RandomThing 2: Electric Boogaloo has become this cultural meme, based on a movie that my little brother and his best friend walked out of at the time because it was so bad. They were early teens then, I think, so walking out of a movie at that age is something.
Holy cats I couldn’t have dreamt up a less interesting finale.
Goddamn I’ve really come to love that Brigador track over the course of the competition. Still not my favorite thing in here, but those synthwave vibes get me good, y’all.
Skyrim is totally fine and fits the typical horn-rich orchestral/choral bombastic pomp I dig for the most part, but it’s actually just a little too plodding and inevitable in its pacing for me. I could deal with something that stomps about 5BPM harder all the way through.
Dunno what y’all are talking about. Solid finale, though not at all the one I’d have guessed at initially. I’ll be pleased either way, though my stuff didn’t make it super deep :)
Wow, I expected Baba Yetu in the final.
The finalists are two very competent tracks, but it’s hard to get excited about either. IMHO Brigador has an excellent build up but lack an interesting finale – it just kind of peters off. Dragonborn functions as intended - a bit vanilla fantasy, but grand and stirring (like the Shadows of Amn theme, but better.)
How people can still vote against! Don’t they learn?!