[OCR00680 - Castlevania II "DownTown"]

I enjoyed this remix for exactly what it was. I loved the original song, and it was great to hear a rendition with real sound, rather than the clunky 8 bit Nintendo samples. If a remixer chooses to translate rather than remix that's fine by me, as long as he does justice to the original. I feel that Vic Viper did a great job glorifying an excellent song.

[OCR00689 - Final Fantasy IV "SNES Battle Medley"]

I have serious issues with this mix. I am a great fan of the original music compiled here, and I enjoy many of the other remixers' interpretations found on this site.

This particular piece comes across as too dischordant. It seems like the composer actively tries to distort the sound in places to create dischord, and I'm not sure what effect he's trying to reach in doing so. Several very important chords in the harmony structure are purposely twisted, or have one or more tones augmented. I don't understand this... it really does come across sounding like a novice playing the wrong notes.

For example, the main melody iteration at 1:14: This guitar is simply out of tune, badly. The effect the tuning creates is very negative, very grating on the ears. The first sustained note in the phrase, coming at 1:17, is dischordant and out of tune. The second phrase ending at 1:20 sits flat, heavily buzzed, and dynamically neutral. This, apparently, is the style held throughout the piece.

I suppose the composer is aiming for a certain motif with this song. Perhaps this style has a certain niche. To me, it sounds like the guitarist is playing all the wrong notes just to be funny. I'm glad this song found a following on the boards. I just intend to delete it once I submit the review.

[OCR00693 - Final Fantasy X "Far from Home"]

All in all, I felt this piece lacked a strong presence. I enjoyed the various components of the song... all of the instruments were well utilized, there was good consistancy with the original while providing variation, etc. However, I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed by the total effect the remix impressed upon me. This is not entirely the remixer's problem, I believe that the original was very lackluster as well. However, this mix did very little to draw me in and keep me interested. The end result, I felt that this was a very beautiful, well arranged piece that simply didn't hold my attention.

I certainly look forward to future remixes.