[Liontamer]

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17593

Remix: Yggdrasil Speaks To Me
Remixer: Meteo X (or Meteo Xavier)

I am resubmitting my remix of Valkyrie Profile's EPIC POEM TO SACRED DEATH and REQUIEM FOR A PREDICAMENT which also contains a leitmotif from THEME OF RENA. I have literally pushed my computer to its limits (in terms of memory and processing) to fix this as per the judge's suggestions and I think I got most of it down. The only part I'm not absolutely confident in is the string section using THEME OF RENA. I used every string instrument I had and that's the best I could come up with.

Again, the central idea for this remix was to envision a mission of Valkyrie Profile where Lenneth and her Einherjar needing to find Yggdrasil in a forest surrounded by evil. She and her warriors get chased by the many evil spirits as she makes her way through the forest, getting hopelessly lost and starting to panic when, lo and behold, she stumbles onto Yggdrasil (marked by the change to REQUIEM FOR A PREDICAMENT). Therefore, again, this song is supposed to be a dark forest theme and I listened to a lot of Yasunori Mitsuda and tried to keep a lot of Motoi Sakuraba's signature song stuff (loud strings, loud crashes, overemphasis on dark sound and reverb and such) intact. I left the song trailing off from there to signify the end of a chapter.

Thank you again for re-judging my re-submitted re-mix.

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I was OK on the arrangement before, so I'm not planning to say much on that level here. Nice work on this resub. Some parts felt a bit abrasive with the high end, but, overall, things were refined very nicely. The relatively rigid sequencing of the plucked string was positioned so that it didn't draw much negative attention from me.

The writing and mixing from 2:23-2:49 could stand to be refined, as the timing seemed slightly off and the soundscape was too murky IMO. It's OK for the sounds to bleed together somewhat, but I thought it was a bit much there.

Nonetheless, everything after that for the final section closed things out fine. The ending was anticlimatic, IMO, not for the fade, but just the overall energy and direction, but I'm more than cool with the overall package.

Not quite seeing why this shouldn't make it, but if it doesn't, I think you've got things in place for an easy resub. Good luck with the rest of the vote.

YES

[Palpable]

Had no problem with the arrangement last time and nothing has changed in that respect this time.

My biggest problem with the last sub was fixed here, so that's a good start. The piano is now the centerpoint of the piece and gives the listener an anchor. Maybe could stand to be a little more prominent at points, but I'm pretty happy with it now. Mixing is stronger, and string timings sound better too. My only concern is the 2:23-2:49 section that Larry mentioned. Some of the timing seems a little off there, and along with some unusual note choices, it's a weak link in the song. Since it's such a small section I'm willing to still say YES to this one; there's enough good in this song that it passes our bar, as far as I'm concerned. Nice work, Meteo.

YES

[DarkeSword]

Starts off sounding like Mitsuda. Weird. xD

Nice interpretation of the main Valkyrie Profile theme. Descending piano is very pretty, and the vocals and rumbling wind pad really create a great atmosphere.

Nice depth, good direction. Very cool. YES

[Another Soundscape]

Originally Posted by DarkeSword

Starts off sounding like Mitsuda.

Couldn't agree more. Sounds like Twilight Street from Shadow Hearts: Covenant!

This has some minor issues in the production department. For example I thought the string attack was a bit awkward, the sounds blend together too much at times and the really high strings sounds strange when played that high.

Arrangement-wise this is good. Larry and Vinnie mentioned the writing at 2:23 and I agree but I don't think it takes away too much from the piece. Ending was a bit anti-climatic like Larry said too..

Still, this is a solid ReMix. Arrangement is interpretive enough and the sound in general is good. Great atmosphere, like Shariq said.. Loads of judge-quotes here.. ah well.

YES