ZealPath

Since I have no idea when I'll manage to fully review the album, it would be folly not to comment on this track. I almost feel bad saying so but this seems to be one of the tracks that is really standing out to everyone including myself so far, and with good reason. I really love the slow intro which is more along the lines of the source, which changes pretty drastically without completely alienating the original once the beat jumps in. The vocals really take the song to the next level, despite the fact that there isn't much variety to them, they work very well in the context of the original, with Kain and Golbez hiding "somewhere" in the Tower waiting for you to find them.

A few years ago after long days of EverQuest I would sometimes continue to have visions of it after going to sleep. Mostly after bad things, like failing a raid boss a few times, it would be like I was still playing, and it usually wasn't just the game aspect, sometimes my mind would go as far to imagine what was being said in chat and that kind of thing. Other times I would dream of getting long-wanted items, only to wake up and realize that I didn't actually get them (damn ).

Even though I haven't done it in a few years now, towards New Years I get the urge to play through Zelda ALttP, since I used to do a yearly psuedo-speedrun-one-sitting type deal with it. Maybe I should go do that right now... nah, well damn, I DO kind of want to though!

Though I planned to save most of my reviewing for this album's tracks for the official review thread, I just have to jump in here and say that is SUCH A GOOD OUTRO SONG! When listening to the album all the way through the first time, when this track came on I immediately got visions of some performers kinda shrugging their shoulders, bowing, as if to say "Well that's it guys, hope you enjoyed it!" The curtain comes up and the invisible band keeps playing this song until it ends... and what a great way to end it it was! What a story as far as how this mix ended up shaking down too, I'm glad it did though. As minor as it may seem, I don't think the album would have been quite the same without this closing it out.

I'll never forget how I had no idea the second quest in Zelda 1 even existed until I picked up this paperback hint book for various popular NES games called "How to Win at Nintendo Games" by Jeff Rovin. None of my friends who had the game knew it existed either, so it was pretty cool for a while, essentially finding a whole new half of the game to play through. I think I'm on board with anyone saying it's the internet that's made the difference. Today, we can figure out whatever we want, at any time, for any game, as long as we don't mind spoiling it. Back then, it was keep plugging away, and trying weird shit, until you figure it out. Not like we had anything better to do anyway, game purchases were few and far between (at least for me and most of my friends at the time), so you'd spend months with some game that could probably be finished in hours, except a) they were usually unforgiving and difficult, and I didn't get to spend as much time playing games back then thanks to things like school, and parents. I will also never forget how in another of Jeff Rovin's books, for the SNES, he falsely assumed that the bird boss towards the end of Lagoon was the final boss, and ended his guide after it, presumably since that boss was such a pain in the ass that he never actually killed it. Well you were wrong Jeff, you were wrrrrrrroooooooooooongggggg.

Definitely Doom sound effects, though I guess the question becomes, where did id get those sounds in the first place back in '94. Still funny to watch that vid with Doom in mind though .

After having this for a couple days (well, not quite yet I guess) I just have to say I'm so glad this project has come to fruition. Not that I had any doubts, but with this being the first FF game I had ever played, and having come to know what to expect from OCR, the bar was set high, and this album definitely lived up to the hype. I'd definitely like to do a more in depth breakdown of my opinion of the tracks once I've come to know them all a little better, but right now I'm just glad it's here, and having now experienced the entire album, it's safe to say the album is pretty friggen sweet. Thanks to everyone involved for a serious dose of awesomeness!!! PS: I think the Scuba Divers are my new heroes!! I knew as soon as I heard the Team Gato reference that I would love it, but having read that one dude's interview beforehand (the guy who hated it, if you read it you'll know what I'm talking about) I can't help but just laugh more.

It's like waking up on Christmas morning and finding nothing under the tree .

This sounds like it would be pretty friggen awesome, looking forward to WIPage.

I like this idea!

Another great Kefka mix that tries and succeeds very well at tapping into the craziness of one of our favorite FF villians. I really like the part in the middle around 2:26 when the bass rejoins the bells, overall I'd have to agree with the writeup, the bells are a little chaotic, but it couldn't be any more appropriate under the circumstances, this is Kefka we're talking about here. I do get a bit of a christmas vibe from it, just a little, very messed up one, but it's there, and that's kinda fun too!

Definitely one of my favorites from VARIAtions, nice to see it get posted in it's own right, even though it's been around (for anyone who checked out the album anyway) for a while now. This song (as well as quite a few others on that album) is a fine example of how just when you thought there wasn't room for another "Brinstar Red Soil Swampy Area" mix, there clearly is! This theme has been taken in so many different directions, even more than once with the piano now, but it never gets old, piano fans won't want to miss this one.

Gonna check this out, been playing a lot of older DOS games lately, gotta love DOSBox! Since I didn't play this one back in the day I'm not sure how it will hold up, but we'll see.

Just kinda randomly clicked on this one when I went to his channel page, pretty catchy actually, and this guy was definitely a great find, so I'm glad this got bumped!

After randomly seeing "Quick Fix" get bumped, I decided it might be time to check out all 3 of DJ Redlight's Final Doom mixes, and it ended up being a great idea! Final Doom may have been a little obscure next to the first two games, but it was still very good for the doom fans out there, particularly Evilution which featured all new music (featured in these mixes). I always really liked this intermission track, and distinctly remember how it was used in the secret level as well, which I found pretty cool at the time. The mix adheres to the source quite a bit, while bringing in some new elements that sound completely at home with the original. A logical "upgrade" to the original, I dig!

I really like the atmosphere this song sets up, I basically get a constant vision of the first dungeon of FFIV, Mist Dragon and all, which is definitely not a bad thing. It also conveys a sense of sneaking around and being careful, which sort of gets knocked out of its socks occasionally by the louder parts. The intro has got to be my favorite part, it sets the rest of it up wonderfully. This mix is very quiet to start, and I have a hard time listening to the whole thing at one consistent volume level, but as I'm a pretty huge fan of the source I can certainly cope with this.

haha I can't help but agree with the Iron Sword comment, I have no idea how I played and enjoyed that game back in the day, watched a speedrun on Youtube the other day and just can't believe it ever seemed that fun, that said, still love it's intro song! As for the oldschool Dragon Warrior games, I still dig those, but I'm pretty ok with slow paced games. One old slow paced game that is too slow for even me now is The Bard's Tale, seemed ok at the time, now it's just something to launch to listen to the bad pc speaker music for a minute then quit.

Coulda sworn there was a hardest boss thread just recently, oh wait, beaten to it!

I'd have to agree with this on some level, for example I absolutely worshiped FF4 and FF6 back in the day on SNES, but when trying to play through their GBA counterparts with new features and stuff a while ago, I couldn't quite get hooked. That doesn't mean I won't do it eventually, but they certainly didn't grab me like they did back in the day, which shouldn't come entirely as a surprise. Interestingly enough, I still love A Link to the Past, so I can't say I feel the same about that one. I used to do a yearly marathon playthough and try to make it through the entire game with all items and hearts in one sitting with no deaths, which after a while got fairly easy, but still very fun. Haven't done this in a while which makes me think I should see if I can still remember where everything is, I'd be willing to bet I do though! As for games that HAVE aged well, I'm going to have to say the original NES Mega Man games... those are still just as fun for the exact same reasons as they were back in the day, for me anyway.

If it is possible to be scared by a piece of music, this mix has gotten me as close to that as I'm ever likely to be. As the song began I guessed at which source song it was using, and ended up being correct, that it was a mix of E1M8, the final stage of Episode 1 where you end up being transported to hell. Like many of Doom's songs, the song conveys a desolate atmosphere, and is featured in a later stage in I think Episode 3 called House of Pain as well. That stage like many featured a lot of impaled corpses, hanging severed body parts, and generally very nasty things happening to those less fortunate than our beloved Doomguy. Why bother mentioning this, well, this song nailed that atmosphere, perhaps almost too well, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty put off by the lyrical content, which, I believe is a compliment since the intention was presumably to disturb. That it did, so well done! I liked the outro which brought the source tune more to the forefront as well, that, and it was downright peaceful compared to the middle part of the song . This mix also makes The Dark Side of Phobos, and Delta-Q-Delta seem like good harmless fun, and please don't take that the wrong way because I absolutely dig both of those albums, just saying, different atmospheres for the most part! Truly a scary mix which conveys a lot of atmosphere, I don't think it will mean anywhere near as much to those who have not played Doom, but it certainly resonated with me.

Well this was definitely one of those "listen to it once then come comment on it cause it was so cool!" type of mixes. Cyanide is one of my favorite mixes, so I don't think it's any surprise that another guitar-wielding Cyan mix did the trick for me again. This time it has a lot of other elements too which I definitely enjoyed as well, but there's no getting around the driving force of the guitar. Personally I can't say I struggled with finding the source, maybe it's just because I'm a hardcore FF guy who played FF6 over and over back in the day, but this felt like any other mix to me as far as the source mostly being there, and occasionally dropping off for some solo work (which is usually a big part of the fun with these mixes), but still, not getting too lost, imo.

I would actually have to agree that Grand Finale would make a great source tune for a mix, something jazz or big band oriented perhaps.

I dig the hazy atmosphere, always room for another Zeal mix if you ask me!

Just kinda randomly noticed this get bumped but have to say I'm glad I did, Obession is one of my favorites from SD3, and this really rocks out! Kinda makes me wonder why I didn't do a search for SD3 mixes before this, but hey, better late than never!

Wow, I must have played this song 10 times already and I've had it less than a day. This was a very nice surprise, as soon as I saw that this was a mix of the flute theme I knew great things were to come. I am absolutely loving the intro, I could probably listen to an entire song like that. Once the song "really starts" it reminds me a lot of an airship travel song, which, if you think about it, is appropriate since the bird the flute summons is about as close as you get to an airship in ALttP. This song conveys a real sense of flying to me, and definitely reminds me of when you first encounter the flute boy with all the birds and animals surrounding him. This mix has also made me remember how much I enjoy the flute in general, very beautiful when done right. Great idea, great execution, great mix!