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It does feel weird to make topics on rather small subjects the same as I did 15-16 years ago as the community here isn't nearly as interested in those things as before, but I still feel compelled to contribute them here regardless of how adolescent it makes me look and feel. So one game I've become slowly addicted to as of late is one of the 112+ small-name SNES JRPG knockoffs that Kemco has been releasing as indie games for the last decade or so called JUSTICE CHRONICLES. It's the first of these RPGs that I've actually spent some dedicated time and effort into and by now it's paying out some dividends. JUSTICE CHRONICLES is not a hidden gem or anything, it's all stuff that's been done before and done better. The graphics and music feel like Chrono Trigger and other JRPG knockoffs that were made well enough to pass but not really provide any unique magic or identity to the game. It's a somewhat gussied-up appetizer trying to look kinda like a meal at TGIFridays or something, but on its own merits, I have found myself more and more wanting to play it at the end of each day. I've actually ratched up 30 hours on it when I'm pretty sure I could've cleared this game in 18 if I wanted. One major reason for that is an interesting little dynamic that doesn't get observed nearly as often is that despite taking a whole lot of stuff from other, better JRPGs, putting it in one game, giving a forgettable modern shonen coat of paint on it and calling it good is how ridiculously USER-FRIENDLY the game is - creating an experience that makes a rather bare experience look and feel more likeable and positive. Most every gameplay complaint I remember gamers bitching about over the last 30 years has actually been mitigated here: * Battles are quick and efficient. * Grinding does not come up that much. * Menus have stuff that remind you what's going on. * Very little padding of gameplay or plot that I've noticed. * Overworld maps are just points to go to, like in Super Mario RPG. * No fighting character is significantly weaker than another, everyone feels like they're pulling their weight. * Menu option to instantly leave any town or dungeon with no catch or penalty. * Automap that shows mining items and treasure chests (at least on the 3DS version I'm playing). * Can give magic and alignments to characters that don't naturally have them. * Can even double the speed of battles to blast through them quickly. * Side quests are a mission-based system that make it easy to keep track of. Additionally, the game starts out easy enough, but it gets more difficult as it goes on. My characters are on Level 75 and the basic battles in areas I need to go through to progress in the game and they come out battles needing healing more times than not. I don't know if I love this progression personally, but it's an intelligent approach nonetheless. What's actually been addicting me to the game is the weapon and armor CRAFTING system. I don't really love crafting systems as they add so many more steps to getting better equipment, but this one has addicted me. You have to gather items from mining points and occasionally enemies from dungeons to upgrade your equipment, but you have to find recipes in treasures as the game goes along that all go to a crafting "tree" of sorts. The mining spots are generally plentiful and the game keeps track of a lot of it for you while you can do missions that trade resource items for higher quality ones pretty easily - and then the original ones you traded in now become available for purchase at the item shop. I'd say 9 of the 30 hours I put into the game have been for mining and crafting purposes and I'm still not done. <:O Won't blow anyone away, but I do recommend checking out JUSTICE CHRONICLES for people like me that can't get enough simplified JRPG stuff and want one that takes a thoughtful approach to it. I think if this game had been released on the SNES, it would be one of the B-tier RPGs that nevertheless commands $200+ on Ebay.

Hammed up the 80's vibe with the POWER of Omnisphere 2. And Angry Brass

https://youtu.be/H_vOIkGfzEE

Some proper Halloween vibes for October, nice work!

Thanks, @Pavos and same! Looking forward to the next BadAss album. ?

Hm, I might have something to add to the album. Snowboard Kid "Sunset Rock", which is a request from a friend. Will see if it pans out.

I would love to do a Christmas tune for a second year in a row but that seems like an awfully big lift for me. ? We shall see.

Trust me, it's not a forever goodbye, I just feel like I need to strengthen the things that are lacking and are pretty consistently said across the board. Some of the sentiments are critique I've gotten in the NG competitions as well. Can't BS oneself if there's common problems. ♡ I'm just taking time to dedicate to more learning and skill development, (cause for God's sake do I need to be able to hear tone and key differences better.) I'll be back. Matter of fact, I'm still doing Granstream and got something for Tactics Advance in my head. I just know if I'm doing all this musical self e-learning (and learning Reaper,) I won't be able to make the deadlines for the compos. Plus, I want to come at these things with a stronger game, so people can enjoy them even more. That's all I want, is for whatever I put out there to be super enjoyable and not a mess-fest to the ears. XD Doesn't matter win or lose, I just want to get better.

This is pretty! Agreed with the others mentioning that this would fit really well in a movie or a trailer or something. The leads were definitely the part that felt the most robotic on the sequencing, but I think when put in the whole of the nice orchestration and overall personalization it's not a dealbreaker. Great use of tempo variation, though, I think that is what really sold the mix for me. YES

Sticks the landing. The progressive vibrato (i.e. baked into sample and not dialed in via controller, I believe) is doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the flute lead - from a certain perspective, I'm glad it's there, because otherwise the notes would just... sit. From another perspective, it comes in predictably, with the same envelope, each time... I think this could have been masked to some extent with some expression modulation (or if sample doesn't support, just modulating volume), but.... I'll live. I've certainly heard far worse, and the sequencing is lovely. Kudos for slowing the intimate, very cinematic (as @MindWanderer points out) piano bits down and giving them temporal breathing room. I don't really enjoy listening to the original, to be honest - I hear the promise, but it's on tempo rails and hits me wrong - but I dig this treatment, and found it engaging and well-conceived. Repetition/reuse wasn't flagrant, but in the future for extended passages you intend to repeat... just alter something, even if it's one interval, so we know you know, and to give the listener contrast... and, more importantly, to further explore the possibilities of the melodic line. Right on. YES

My personal limit for copy-pastes is 25%. 1:53-2:32 is the repeated section, so that's 39 seconds out of 194, which is 20%. It's also not strictly repeated; I hear some extra horns in the first half and jingle bells in the second half. So that's not a dealbreaker for me. Otherwise, it's a nicely full, transformative arrangement. The original is technically orchestrated, in a very simple, shallow way, but this goes well beyond a "sound upgrade." It's not even really a remaster, more like an orchestral score that would sound appropriate as part of of a movie soundtrack. Much more cinematic than "Pokemon" in my opinion. Sure, some of the instrumentation, notably the string ensembles, can't pass for the real thing, but it's in the ballpark. Overall, it sounds great and I have no substantial complaints. A fine track indeed. YES

There's some really lovely writing here! It feels distinctly out of the Pokémon D/P canon, full of nostalgic warmth and unconventional chord changes/melodies, but elevated by a more organic, high-quality sound palette. The sequencing is a mixed bag for me, with most of the leads feeling just a touch robotic but nothing standing out as a major dealbreaker, either. The samples themselves have pretty great tone across the board, so despite the flaws in the sequencing, it still sounds quite pleasant to listen to. Brad touched on the copy-paste section at 1:55, but the addition of the percussion keeps the arrangement progressing overall. Is it the most sophisticated, nuanced choice? Probably not, but certainly nothing that can sink the arrangement for me. I'm sold on this! Good luck with the rest of the vote. YES

starts off real peaceful with some pretty piano and strings. from there the flute and strings pick up the main melodic section over some rhythmic strings. this is fairly straightforward writing but it's competent and sounds nice. there's a break for the piano at about 1:04, and this is really well played/sequenced again. we get back into the full group at 1:47, and the arrangement is again in the flute and then strings. this is very similar to the earlier section from 0:25-1:04, nearly copy/paste territory. there's a fun brass chorale at 2:32, and some string ensemble work to follow that up. the solo violin isn't great quality but it's passable. a light flourish in the bells and we're done. this feels very pokemon, which is pretty nice. the copy/paste section though is pretty egregious. the intro, piano solo section, and ensemble section at the end is really nice, however, and throughout the ensemble writing is pretty solid. this could probably go either way for me, but some more creativity in that second copy/paste section and this is an easy pass in my book. NO