Kenogu Labz

I thought that was VIII. And surprisingly enough, Spirits Within is actually kinda close thematically to a lot of the big FFs, mostly pertaining to dual and/or merging worlds. Probably closest in similarity to FF IX, though the dual world theme carries over to many of the other games as well (V comes to mind). Anyway, definitely looking forward to this entry, especially since I tend to be fairly immune to many of the... standard stranger Japanese tropes and plot holes. The setting feels like a breath of fresh air, if it turns out as it appears. A great blend of modern casual/streamlined tech and fantasy austerity.

Becaaause Tetsuya Nomura.

I'm surprised there wasn't an option to mix the 'Wandering Knights' theme. Def. looking forward to these regardless!

Oh, definitely agreed. And it does still have use as a transcription catalogue of sorts. The arrangements can get in the way at that point, though. I've even made a contribution there at one point. No, I will never say which one it is. It's horrifying. You could probably make the comparison more consistent by a ratio of soundtrack count to arrangement count, or by average arrangements-per-song ratio. Both could give you slightly different conclusions.

Pardon the bluntness, but why would you use VGMusic as the context for the survey and then post the findings to OverClocked ReMix? Could OC ReMix be used as a second source? What about other such sites for derivative works? The main reason I ask is that VGMusic, while noteworthy, has a goal that feels naïve, at best. MIDI is a useful medium for transcription and notation, but I daresay the total number of MIDI-based arrangements and interpretations for a given soundtrack does not necessarily correlate with the full set of soundtrack aficionados. You're looking at a small and relatively niche subset of the game music listening and arrangement population and abstracting out to the entire population, a statistics no-no unless you can show that the subset is reasonably representative of the whole. Also consider the size of the original soundtracks. Soundtracks with a larger number of songs would, by correlation, likely have a larger number of arrangements. You'd need to account for that in your calculations before the soundtracks can be compared against one another.

Ovelia's motif is solid too in its , and I have a sweet spot for the more dramatic ' '.Albeit only used in the game's credits, remains one of my favourite long-form compositions, and it does reflect the rest Final Fantasy XII's source material fairly well. The trailer featuring it pretty much sold me the game.Hitoshi Sakimoto's soundtracks have a lot of breadth to them, and though it's difficult to find any one song that is individually emotive, the full soundtracks most certainly fit that category as a whole. The soundtrack to the recent is a shining example of this; it was co-written by his studio, but it still retains his style quite strongly. Highly recommended, as it cycles through the gamut of emotions. The second track in particular, ' ', is simply lush in composition. You just don't get composition like that often these days, folks.Moving away from JRPGs: Age of Empires III has some beautiful tracks that perfectly engender the spirit of 'new world exploration' they were aiming for. ' ' usually tops my list for this OST, followed by ' ' and ' '. A superb soundtrack all 'round, and highly emotive.Skyrim's soundtrack, like most of Soule's work, is pretty soft-spoken, so some tracks can blend together, but when they stick out, they can be very, very gripping. ' ' is a personal favourite, though many of the town themes, such as ' ', are also quite memorable, and personify the mood of a people entrenched against the elements and dangers of the wilds outside.Fez! Oh my goodness, Fez. This soundtrack is steeped in nostalgia; not because of, but rather through its low-fi textures and tape reel pitch-bending. The dual motif of ' ' and ' ' are always ones I come back to: so very simple, but so perfectly represented. 'Memory' feels like a memory, something barely echoing out of the past, whereas 'Majesty' is the realization of that memory in its entirety. There's plenty more in the soundtrack: The mysterious awe of ' ' mirroring the grounded grandeur of ' ', the calm meandering of ' ', the mysterious chill of ' '... there's just too much going on in this soundtrack, hah. Definitely one of my favourites for mood-setting.Jamestown's ' ' is gorgeously composed, and is a brilliant example of applying modifications to a motif to provide emotional impact.Oh man, I gotta return to JRPGs for a bit (as I move alphabetically down my albums list)... Yoko Shimomura! How could you not add the main theme to ' ' to this list? The game's complements it quite well with a vocal rendition. Then the ending theme to the game's Dragoon Arc, ' ', is built gorgeously off of the arc's primary motif, ' ' (song names may vary). The arrangement of that arc's music in the Shimomura compilation album 'memória!' really emphasizes how solid the motif is. The entire soundtrack is one of Shimomura's best, and the songs only amplify the game's excellent emotional content.Lastly, and rather oddly, the soundtrack to 'World of Goo' is surprisingly emotive, despite the often-silly backdrop it's associated with. It's got a whimsical, almost Elfman feel to it at times. ' ' is a very simple track, but still manages to be fairly potent by its well-constructed presentation. ' ' and ' ' are both perfectly chilling tracks, playing off each other to create a rise and impending fall of emotion from the first to the second.Alright, I'm done for now. I spend way too much time on these lists, sometimes...

They even tell you exactly how to pronounce it! and yet i say it wrong in my head every single time...

This! They followed the lead of classic 'Nintendo-hard' games by making it hard, yet making sure you know the rules you're playing by so that you know why it's hard and what you can do about it, leading to a sense of actual accomplishment.

Beat it, thought it was a blast. A lot of people have been saying it's too easy, but I felt like the difficulty curve sat right at my skill level, so it felt great to me. To be honest, I like the refinements they've made to those older game designs, because having to retry an entire stage just to have two or three chances at figuring out a boss can get pretty annoying. Bosses and stages usually use different mechanics: knowing one doesn't necessarily translate into being good at the other. The strategy for bosses was to keep trying repeatedly until you learned them, and that learning process was hindered when there was a huge chunk of time between each set of two-three fights. Shovel Knight broke out of that, and instead just introduced that Dark Souls-ish mechanic, which I think gave a similar incentive to learn quickly, but also removed the demotivation factor of running out of lives. It's a smart decision, and then - on top of that - adding the breakable checkpoints let them still keep that hardcore mentality for those who want it. Pretty brilliant. I also give 'em huge props for how they added the Kickstarter backer recognition. Clever and clear, but still subtle. The Hyper Camelot guest director knights were a serious blast to fight, and you can see they took a lot of care in implementing their designs. Oh, and, of course, dat soundtrack.

which admittedly makes it a little easier to grok. Definitely a jaw-dropper in the context of the full soundtrack, though; downright terrifying.

Gilgamesh...

The pattern of players raging down any effort to balance any game feels like it's gotten more rampant recently, but it could just be awareness bias. You should see the responses to Guild Wars 2 patches (and the resulting 'fixes') sometime... This change really did need to happen. Then again, I'm a pipe 'n' targe demo, so it doesn't exactly impact me, and I can still get crazy burst damage with direct pipe hits. In-air stickies just require relatively less aiming skill.

A. You've already posted about this. B. Here's an example of your work for context.

Could it have anything to do with the 'Team Fortress Classic' lurking in the shadows of recent events? 'Classic' sniper rifle, mortars, and airstrikes?

Some schmo. Keeps making music with vocals in them, and it always sounds like the same chick. I think she's like his squeeze or something. Why can't he just do instrumental music like everyone else?? That Super Metroid 'remix' ruined the game for me forever!!! But seriously, awesome to see you featured! Excellent treatment and selection, Dan!

It's dynamic music composition, not a permanent part of the game at all. See the instruments system in LOTRO for an example: it's not like they stored the music in the game, the players just ran files to generate the music they wanted to play. Literally a modern music box.

Well, Kindred is an arrangement from Super Metroid, and the Forest Temple cues were pretty clear in Generations, so it very well could be. This album's gorgeous! Beautiful singing, Jillian. It's fun to hear you improve.

D'oh, that was my bad reading. 'Certified' is probably too close to 'Official', I'd guess. 'Showcased'? You could always use DJP'd. Then the judges really would djp.

I almost wonder if adding five-star ratings would cause less useful feedback to be provided. "I gave a rating, that's sufficient." In terms of 'Featured' terminology substitutions, perhaps something like 'Promising', 'On the Rise', etc. would be more appropriate? Terms that imply that there is interest in the item, but not that the item is in any way a part of the official OCR library.

Bellevue, WA here; just east of Seattle.

How much do you leverage Bravely Second?

I actually think that's a great idea on their part. Perhaps I wouldn't pick such a low number as three, but it adds replay value to the game: play it once more, but master a completely different set of classes.

Caveat to the discussion at hand: I totally understand grinding for job levels. I wouldn't expect the game to give you the means to max all jobs on all characters by the end. What is puzzling is pushing for an early grind, which screws up all sorts of things in terms of the intended challenge curve.

Grinding as a 'play style' turns an entertaining, challenging RPG into a visual novel with extended, repetitive combat cutscenes. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't yawn at ~40 hours of that. More on direct topic, 4527-8707-7870 if anyone wants to add my low-level party...

Keep in mind that the demo says the quest structure it gives you is literally only for the demo. If I recall correctly, the actual game does not have you doing any of that type of content. It's just there to give you a goal so the demo doesn't feel totally pointless or directionless.