ZealPath

Got a kick out of that reference last night! Overall, I'd have to say this season has been much better than last season, not completely mind blowing but a show like Heroes needs to have "cool" things happening, and I think it's delivering so far.

Nice arrangement, think you have a fighting chance with this one, good luck!

Wow, I hadn't really even thought too much about my old Geocities site. I basically gathered midis from around the Internet from popular snes rpgs and one day in say... 1997 decided to make a site for them. I organized them by game, wrote a little writeup from where you hear it in the game, and it was actually kinda cool, and fun at the time. I think I had a small following of like 10 people from the randomest places, which was cool I guess, I really just did it cause I wanted to, and back then I actually thought I wanted to get into web design (now... not so much).

Elitism in MMO communities is definitely very common, you'll see a ton of it on most FFXI forums. I actually have to agree that it was somewhat less common on most EQ and EQ2 forums, something about those games just seems to have attracted more mature people for whatever reason. The hardcore versus casual argument is a classic every time a new MMO comes out. My favorite example of this was probably during the Vanguard Beta, where a game that was originally being designed to be old school like EQ1 was slowly but surely morphed into a modern, quest heavy, EQ2/WoW style game. The drama from the people who wanted it to continue to be grind heavy and unfriendly, with stiff death penalties (more people out there that want this stuff than one might think) versus the "If it isn't a clone of WoW I don't want to play it" type people was incredibly intense. I don't play Aion but my brother has been giving it a shot and from what I've seen, it looks like it at least has a good chance to last longer than some other recent MMO releases, and maybe fall somewhere around where FFXI is as far as having a decent fan base. Being a Korean game, I would accept the grind sooner rather than later though, and the community that comes with it, who cares about them once you find the right guild and friends anyway.

I've been enjoying this album, it's making me a fan of one of the Mega Man soundtracks I was previously not as interested in (let's face it, Mega Man 1 just isn't as fun as most of the other games, at least for me). Consistent style throughout, love the guitar work, especially in "Journey Through the Skull Fortress." Looking forward to hopefully seeing some of this on the front page soon, whether it be in edited form or what.

[quote=AetherSolace;604913 U.M.N Mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPu66DUjWH8 This song helps calm me down on stressful days XD

Boy is this ever a spectacular album. It's EXACTLY what I was expecting, style is exactly the same as the SMW album, but for for SMB3. Why are there only 10 replies to this thread, go get this, now!!

Done and done! I absolutely loved XOC's SMW Album, didn't even need the preview to know I could handle paying $5 for this.

I am sorry I did not see your thread Biznut, I did a search for Distant Worlds before I made this thread a couple days ago but I realize now that I used the wrong search function, someday I'll remember to use the one integrated into the forums . Seems your thread got buried pretty fast (not unlike this one) so I didn't see it in my daily travels either. Well it's too late to shake hands but we can certainly talk about how AWESOME the concert was! I'm really glad at least one other OCR member was there, I thought there might have been more, and I suppose there's still time for people to come out of the woodwork, but it seems Western Canada isn't quite the hangout for OCR that say, the southeastern states seem to be. That was a great picture of the Rydia cosplayer... I actually did not see them at all, I feel like I missed out! What I did see, was an asian dude dressed in a spectacularly well-done Summoner Artifact Armor outfit from FFXI (primarily green, some yellow, and a red horn for the head, if you saw it, you probably wouldn't have forgotten it). My brother and I were way back, main floor, right-side orchestra, just a few rows from as far back as you can go, which thankfully is still very close (price we paid for learning about this late, or I certainly would have tried to get a little more central). Thankfully, these were still pretty good seats, definitely no complaints here. Glad people liked the writeup, I still feel like there are maybe a few more things I could have elaborated on but it's surprisingly difficult to describe these things sometimes. One thing that surprised me is that in the end there was no "Prelude/Crystal Theme" performance, but I think I'll live, we got some pretty awesome tracks all things considered.

This is actually what I was hoping for too!

Well it still feels like yesterday, but last Thursday I was lucky enough to get to go to the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy concert here in Vancouver. The funny thing is, despite considering myself one of the biggest FF fans there ever could be, I only became aware of it about a week before it was happening. Thankfully I was able to grab a couple tickets and the rest is history. This was the Canadian premiere of the event, and while it no doubt was not as epic as some of the others have been in the past (ie, Nobuo Uematsu could not make it), it was an amazing experience and something I would strongly recommend for any FF fan who can make it in the future. The conductor, Arnie Roth, knows Nobuo personally, and said that he would have come if not for the fact that the end of October was his deadline for the FFXIV soundtrack, which was interesting to note. All of the performances were accompanied by a projector above the orchestra which featured cutscenes (or in some cases, actual game footage) of the game in question, which made for some great memories. The song list played out as follows, generally following a 2 songs > small break format. I've tried to say something meaningful about each track, but when you've listened to as many renditions of these as I have, it gets hard after a while. Liberi Fatali (FFVIII) - Instantly recognizable intro, choir performing the chants really took this to the next level. Needless to say, intro footage from FFVIII played on the monitor during this one. Victory Theme - The conductor jokingly said, "Well, we'd better just get this over with" and cranked out the opening bars of the victory theme, to applause and laughter. To Zanarkand (FFX) - Unsurprisingly, a piano started this one, but as things went on, the strings took over a little more. The beautiful "first sending" CS was featured for much of this one. Don't be Afraid (FFVIII) - FFVIII's Main Battle theme, just in case you forgot. What really made this was actual game footage shown on the monitor, when they ran into a battle, the performance began, which was a nice touch that got some laughter from the crowd. Fisherman's Horizon (FFVIII) - Choir really made this one, excellent rendition, best FFVIII track of the night (and as you can see, there were a lot). The Man with the Machine Gun (FFVIII) - Lots of Laguna footage, ending with him performing a Desperado. Maybe I've listened to the FFVIII Arranged album too much, but this performance sounded a lot like the one on that album, which, was nevertheless still awesome. Love Grows (FFVIII) - At this point I was starting to wonder when they'd be done with FFVIII. Still, a strong performance, with lots of ending footage shown. It's too bad they chose to do this and not "Eyes on Me", vocals could have taken this to the next level. Chocobo Theme - Now this was fun. They basically took FFX's chocobo theme and added their own touch to it, calling it "Swing de Chocobo". Lots of laughter from the crowd on this one, as chocobo scenes from nearly every FF game were shown. Dear Friends (FFV) - This was definitely one of my favorite tracks of the night. Dear Friends just has that very homely, familial feel to it, and that was definitely preserved here. The guitar carried the lead for the most part, but it was occasionally switched over to a flute and other strings, as a fan of this song I found this very beautiful. Vamo' alla Flamenco (FFIX) - Sounded a lot like the original, the guitarist brought in for Dear Friends continued with this one, leading off quietly. The farther the song went the more involved the orchestra became until the later parts, which conveyed the familiar chaotic atmosphere of the original. Intermission - After the intermission, we were shown a brief video of Nobuo Uematsu asking us what we thought of the first half, and apologizing that he could not be present. This was funny since the video was focused on a statue, and only at the end did the camera pan over to show Uematsu himself as he admitted he was in fact, not the statue (if this sounds weird, then just trust me, it was funny). Opening ~ Bombing Mission (FF7) - With no introduction, this set the stage for the upcoming set of FF7 songs. FF7 Main Theme (FF7) - Supposedly the North American debut of this song, definitely a song that lends itself well to orchestration. Aerith's Theme (FF7) - An instant classic at this point, the saga of Aerith(s) unfolded on the projector as they went through this one, eventually ending with the white materia falling into the water. Memoro de la Stono ~ Distant Worlds (FFXI) - Not a song I would expect to get much love, but as an FFXI player, I am happy to say this was the best rendition of this song I have ever heard. The original, for those who know it, is sung in a way that's sort of difficult to understand, but the vocalist they had for this version was just spectacular. Definitely a highlight, although being from XI, I think you almost have to accept that a good majority of the people there had never heard it before. Ronfaure (FFXI) - More FFXI love, and in this case, another song that lends itself very well to orchestration. Great to hear live, and as an FFXI player from the region in which this song was used, definitely brought back some memories. Theme of Love (FFIV) - Finally some FFIV. This unfortunately was the only song we got from IV, but it was excellent. It was also accompanied by the CSs from FFIV DS which I had never seen before, and was very impressed by. Opera (FFVI) - Just as I was starting to lose hope that this song would not be featured, they announced that although it was time to be finishing up, they would be doing so with a classic, the FFVI Opera. This was everything I wanted it to be, in all seriousness, it does not get much cooler than seeing the Opera performed in front of you in a real live performance theatre. They brought in 3 vocalists to take the roles of Maria, Drako, and Ralse, and boy could these guys sing, it was just unreal how loud they got at times. Seeing footage from the Opera event in the game on the monitor while this played out was also pretty funny, particularly the part which shows the conductor and orchestra, almost a little surreal. Encore - Terra (FFVI) - It was a safe bet we'd get an encore track, and they kept the FFVI theme going with a little Terra action, nothing wrong with that, but the way it turns out, the best was still yet to come. Encore - One Winged Angel (FF7) - At this point, I noticed the choir had returned to the stage, and kinda thought to myself... oh... shit. This time, instead of turning to face the crowd, the conductor came back out, and just instantly started up with One Winged Angel. I don't think I have to explain the reaction this got, this was just plain epic. As in all the tracks they were involved, the choir executed perfectly here, if not for my love for the FFVI opera, this would have been the best moment of the night. Encore - Victory Theme - Conductor came out one last time, and once again quickly cranked out the Victory theme. After what felt like the 5th round of bowing and cheering, it was time to go, but what a night! It looks like the next one is in Chicago on Dec 12, I would strongly recommend anyone in the area check it out, as it sounds like not only will Nobuo be there, he'll be bringing a rock band (The Black Mages?!) with him, which quite frankly makes me very jealous . Check out http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/ for details, you won't want to miss this one if its even remotely an option!

I believe someone tried an Erana's Peace remix at some point, I think I stumbled upon it in the decisions forum and it stood out to me since I was surprised to see that someone had tried a QG mix. I'm a huge fan of the QG games so I'll certainly throw in my support, I'd love to see one of them make it to the front page. The soundtracks (as previously mentioned) were for the most part not very in-your-face, but there were still some memorable songs. The "final battle" scene in QG3 had a song that I can still recall just by thinking about it, that might be an interesting one to try.

I half agree, half disagree. The agree side of me likes being able to upload a unique avatar. The disagree side is very glad it doesn't have to put up with the inevitably stupid avatars many people will upload.

Oh epic, I definitely can't wait for that review thread!

Tree Hopper on the front page, finally finally finally finally finally!! Good lord, this must have been submitted nearly a year ago! Up until today, this was my favorite "WIP that hasn't been posted yet," thankfully now I am happy to see that it has gotten to the front page where it deserves to be. To be honest, I'd forgotten about it a little, although I still have 5 WIPs of it sitting in my WIPs folder, posted back when Detuned Logic was Frozenspace (yes I remember these kinds of things). To DT, I just wanted to say I'm super happy to see this made the cut, I remember commenting several times in the WIP thread saying how awesome I thought this was and well, here we are, I feel like I was here from the beginning on this one! I've been exposed to this mix for so long now thanks to the WIPs that I'm not sure how much of a review I can give it. I liked the early WIPs, I liked the late WIPs, I like the completed work. It has a very dreamy, ethereal quality to it that still makes me think of the forest, just in a very blurred, floating, bright-colors-on-black kind of way. Congratulations on getting this posted, what's next? Not to derail a thread of awesomeness, but for the people who can't get enough Secret of the Forest, there are at least 2 other superb mixes of it that I know of that are not on OCR, one being po!'s from SquareDance, and another being Mustin's new one from CHRONOTORIOUS, check em out if you can.

Become a pretty big fan of this one since it was posted. I definitely had a harder time than normal picking out the source, and may still be looking for parts of it, but this is really just a beautiful song any way you slice it. Almost feels wrong to call it a "mix" when you know it was recorded live, which, incidentally, is very cool as well! This almost has that kind of "piano collections" feel to it at times, very peaceful, though the guitars ensure that it becomes more than that. Overall a very interesting and creative take on a theme that usually sees more mixes that portray it more like a march.

I think this track does a great job of taking the source then enhancing it a little, throwing in a little hymm of the faith for fun, and some strong drums that sort of take the original track to a new level. I wouldn't say it's majorly creative, but it's very true to what the original was trying to do and that is rarely a bad thing. I'm a pretty big fan of the FFX soundtrack, it's all about atmosphere and only rarely about melody, and I think this mix really nails that aspect of how the original was, while making it a little more interesting at the same time.

This is a very interesting take, not so much on the themes, but on the combo of themes used. It really does just kind of flow together, and it has a very lightweight feel to it. It's got a touch of that FF7 "lifestream music" mixed with that epic feel of FF4's main theme, and it just... flows. Combining themes can be a risky proposition, but not this time, probably helps that they're both popular FF themes, but who knew they could integrate with each other so well.

This is a very easy mix to love. When I see Castlevania on the front page, I anticipate reeling guitars, rock, and or metal. I don't always get it, but that's the first thing that comes to mind. Well needless to say, this mix delivered on that anticipation, in one of the most recognizable Castlevania source tunes no less. It may have been done and done some more, but like Super Metroid's Brinstar Red Soil Swamp area, it's not such a bad thing. Though I obviously love the guitar work, I think what really brings this one home for me is the organs, another key Castlevania instrument. It sounds like it belongs in the trailer for a future CV game, and really, what could be a better compliment than that.

I guess a new job will do this to you, but I had meant to put my 2 cents in about this a while back. This is probably the first Magus remix that I can say has really done something for me. It's true to the original, with enough of a change in style to keep it interesting, and very smooth, one of those oneups trademarks that I love. Since I have the CHRONOTORIOUS album, i downloaded this "Radio Edit" version out of curiosity to see what the differences were. If for some reason you haven't checked out the album yet and consider yourself a CT music fan, you're definitely missing out (and I don't just mean on the original version of this track, it's an awesome album). As for the comparisons, I really like the piano intro in the album version that at first, sounds very little like the Magus theme. It really sets the stage quite nicely for the "secondary intro" that brings the Magus theme to the forefront which is where this particular version begins.

I have quite a few friends clamoring to try to get me to play this. It may very well be time to put FFXI down, but this game looks very... simple. Doesn't mean it won't be fun though, I'd say there's a fighting chance I'll give it a shot, but at the same time, I want to know if it's just going to be another one of those MMOs that everyone raves about for a month or two then gets forgotten so quickly you almost don't remember it ever came out (VG, AoC, etc). Skillchain system does sound good, flying sounds very cool, it's a maybe at this point, though it certainly would be nice to play with some friends that I haven't played with for months and in some cases years.

Definitely excited for this, when it all but got canceled last season I was disappointed but somewhat understood, seeing how it was in the "death slot" of Friday at 9 pm, and sci-fi generally does not get much love these days. Was pleasantly surprised to hear about the renewal, and didn't realize until last week that it's starting again so soon. We may only get another 12 episodes out of this, but I'll take what I can get! Still need to check out that bonus episode on the DVD that they didn't actually air, heard it's awesome if you liked the show. Guess I'm a big enough fan to grab the season 1 DVD, not sure why I haven't yet really. The thing with Dollhouse is that they could have made it a bunch of one-off episodes with very little underlying story arc, the first few episodes are somewhat guilty of this which didn't help its cause. After about... episode 6 I think, they kinda got it together and had more continued story arcs between the episodes while keeping the premise the same. I think Joss and crew have learned their lesson and will hopefully stick to this approach this season, and if they don't, Eliza will still be there to keep my eyes happy .

Kind of a tough one, but I believe I first became aware of the site around 2002, didn't really come here all that much though, for some reason I'd tend to forget about it. Sadly I do not remember what the first mix I ever downloaded was, which surprises me. Around 2004, a friend pointed me to "Another Fair" which sort of reminded me of all the goodness I was probably missing out on, and started me on the path of checking OCR about once a month, still nowhere near as often as I do now. Since then, between the always interesting new mixes, and the truly amazing album projects this community has put out over the years, my visits evolved from monthly to weekly to daily to just having OCR open in a tab at all times and checking multiple times a day, hitting the forums, etc. I don't have a ton of posts, and didn't actually join the forums till 2007. I guess I mostly stick to reviews and wip feedback, but as long as OCR is here, I won't be too far away.

"She's a materia girl in a materia world" pushed me over the edge . Whole thing was pretty funny overall too! Unsurprisingly it did make we want to play though FF7 again, that may also be a symptom of the fact that I've only ever actually gone through it once.

Never played the game, or heard the original, but this has definitely been my favorite mix of the last week or so. I feel bad not getting around to commenting on it yet, this is just so catchy, and reminds me a lot of certain tracks from Mylo's Destroy Rock and Roll album. The breakdown at the end really takes it to the next level, it's almost like the whole song was just buildup for that part. Awesomeness. Edit: Forgot to say, this is definitely making the cut on a car-cd I'm making. If that isn't a compliment I don't know what is .