anosou

I agree with this and it's one of the main points I'm upset about the stuff that has happened to The Pirate Bay during the years. Also, I'm still a bit iffy about the post-romantic notion about the composer/artist as a genius that creates the "highest form of art" and is worthy of our eternal admiration (and money). If art is about expressing oneself it should not go hand in hand with making a million dollars. If money makes better art, well I dunno, I don't like that in concept but it's probably somewhat true in theory (especially modern music with production values as oppossed to orchestral scores). I mean, as long as a composer (I'm taking music as an example because it's what I know best) can earn enough money to live I think that's fine. But big-ass hollywood houses, multi-million dollar fortunes? Record company bosses owning islands? That just seems strange to me.. but I guess it's about what people choose to consume. Which brings us to an interesting point, at least in a sociological and psychological sense. Many people has obviously choosed not to consume. However they still pirate. My take is that this is a result of our commercialized society and the constant feeding of the "ownership" of stuff. You "need" this sandwich grill, this new CD by Justin Timberlake is a "must have" and this TV-series will be SO MUCH MORE on DVD! I've been taking classes in Musicology and been a bit (tiny bit) active as a composer. It's interesting how every composer before the romantic era (almost) have been making a living on a piece-by-piece basis, no copyright. I find that concept very interesting (and it's something I've been trying to follow with my few soundtracks), to create something for a purpose, get paid and then be done with it. Though I've taken it a bit further, releasing all soundtracks (thus far) for free. I'm still amazed the developers agree to that But I digress. It's a hard subject this piracy. It's multi-leveled. While I buy most stuff I listen to/play/watch (with the exception of fansub'd anime and out-of-print CDs), I hope the discussion about piracy will go a bit deeper than "obviously artists deserve the money". I know they do. Instead, I think the discussion about the "value" of something immaterial is important, especially music and movies which are, let's face it, a VERY big (too big?) part of everyones life and something that gives a few select people immense ammounts of money and power. Also, the global corporations forming the society and laws with their money (read Pirate Bay raid). Also, the free alternatives (read Open Source, Creative Commons and OCRemix). Eh.. Yeah.. Wall of text but damnit this gets me going

AnotherSandich? Not Sandwich? Ok.

As some people might be painfully aware of I'm a big supporter of minimalist music. However, I think this arrangement (being a video game arrangement aimed for OCR) needs to be developed more. I, personally, really like the first-gear approach but feel that you need to actually evolve the actual theme and not only the harmony. Also I think the samples used are a bit too weak to be the only melodic element carrying the track. If you improve the samples a bit (or find new sonic possibilities) and manage to evolve this melodically and/or harmonically (I suggest listening to some Philip Glass or Steve Reich for inspiration) I think this could be very interesting. Right now though, it's not there. NO

Obviously this is one of the best remixes on the site. All AeroZ's stuff are. I've been secretly grabbing this from the To Be Posted-queue just to listen to it. Awesome stuff!

Mine was a friendly joke about getting on with the project if I'm not mistaken. I wtf'd at the deletion

ROFL what now?

Updated...

I'm with my fellow judges here. Borderlines on underdeveloped, especially melodically. It's also compressed to hell and back which makes it even more pumping than Clamato Fever (which it was quite obviously inspired by). There's some high frequencies missing and the sounds get drowned out in the compression but behind that I hear some promising stuff. Some of the arrangement is quite good actually and energetic. Overall though I think it's in need of some more personalization (especially since it's very similar to Clamato) and the production needs to be taken up a notch. Keep at it though! NO

Happy belated you sack of love you.

Suikden 3 was not released in Europe so I have not played it.. you'll have to ask someone else :/ Valkyrie Profile is pure awesome. Star Ocean is too but I figured you'd played that too, right?

Sup. In alphabetic order, with comments, all for PS2, enjoy: Ar Tonelico - Extremely quirky 2d RPG with loads of sexual innuendo but a overall good system and story. Check some youtube if you're on the edge. Atelier Iris - From the same develoepr (Gust) as above game. A bit more serious and traditional but a great throwback to older days. The alchemy system is fun and there are two (count them, two) sequels out there and loads of games in the same universe (earlier Atelier games, Mana Khemia and so on). Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - very un-traditional but rewarding. It's short and hard but offers TREMENDOUS replay value (you only get small parts of the story to begin with). The strategic battle system is unforgiving and brutal but oh so lovely. Dark Chronicle - The sequel to Dark Cloud is a bit more polished, much prettier and about as close you can get to sandbox JRPG-ing. Rogue Galaxy - Level 5 (same as Dark Chronicle) really outdid themselves here. Very deep game with tons of sidequests, engaging plot and charming characters. Very unique style, check it out before you buy. Shadow Hearts/SH: Covenant/SH: From the New World - As dark as some megaten games but with a lot more tongue-in-cheek humor and characters. Personal games that are as good as it gets (especially Covenant) on PS2. Suikoden V - Because it's a love/hate relationship. It might feel old-school in pacing and battles but the story and characters are awesome. Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria - if you haven't tried it. Get it. Also, an extra shoutout to the SRPG genre which has gems like Disgaea, Makai Kingdom and Growlanser: Generations

The World Ends The Me too!

I'm game. I've been looking forward to this (without hyping) since it was announced. Seriously though, I think it will just be another JRPG. Not that it's a bad thing but the hype is getting ridiculous and Squeenix really haven't done anything cool since TWETY and that was a one-hit wonder.

Nice birthday you wonderful piece of man. We should be friends more.

$20 for you lovely sons of bitches that run this site! Who are the these "judges" anyway? I hope this donation goes towards replacing them with some kind of bot..

Because we love you (except me, I will try not voting on this for as long as I possibly can).

Kick ASS. Great stuff, I've been longing for this project since I first saw it

I can't click shit

Yeah, I did some serious backtracking once :3 About the length, I find it awesome. The longer the better. I can just pause it and start again. SCREW THE HATERS

DAMNIT, why aren't more people excited about this? NGI has always been hot and now it has Larry Oji! It's just too good to be true! I love you both so much right now. Looking forward to iTunes release too so I can just queue it up FOREVAR EDIT: I like the podcast format. Also, mix Larry louder in the future, can't hear his beautiful voice as well as Kyle's equally pretty speech.

That's what I think every single day about every single game D:

I'm also part of this thread!

This is really very quiet. The balance is a bit off too with the drums and keyboard being the only really audible instruments. The mix also lacks an depth and most instruments sound a bit hollow. Expansion of arrangement wasn't bad but execution is lacking. Some of the passages sound sloppy (not strange since it's a jam), the arrangement in itself feels directionless, the cello is out of tune several times (example: 2:24, very audible) and overall it felt a bit disjointed. Sorry Brad, using some of these ideas in a new arrangement might be a better idea in my opinion. NO

Really enjoyed the interviews, Wise's most of all. Loving this!

Might I suggest Power Stone Collection for PSP?