MindWanderer

It sounds like the video driver's kernel might be corrupted, and an update might not fix that if it doesn't make changes to the kernel itself. I'd try completely uninstalling the video driver, rebooting, then reinstalling it. Make sure you use the one from the vendor's website, not the automatic Windows one. Toolbars frequently go wonky after BSOD's. Specifically the sound icon disappearing is probably not related by my guess. It's possible, though, since modern computers pipe audio through the video connection (HDMI and whatnot).

If you're that close to being done, it seems like it would be silly to rethink it so much at this point. Another option, if you both agree, is for OA to collaborate with another one of the fallen, at least to get some ideas and get out of the writer's block. Chernabogue expressed interest in continuing to participate but hasn't spoken up recently. Gario and Wildfire are the runner-ups in the Dracula bracket, although they've expressed at best disinterest in continuing. War Machine might be intrigued, given the circumstances.

Dude, you still have over 5 1/2 days left. Most of these tournaments only give you a week to begin with. I'm sure you could still think of something good. Put the sources on a playlist and listen to it while doing other things, maybe something will click. Happens to me all the time, even with VGM I've heard a hundred times.

One week left! Everything on track? Anyone other than Jorito and OA planning on submitting anything for the Epilogue round?

There's practically no melody to that. Lots of ambience, with the occasional 5-note motif (which is just a 3-note scale, up and down). One could probably find dozens of movie and game scores with extremely similar segments. Funny thing is, Brandon's example is similar again. Sure, a small section of it is similar to a small section of the FF1 battle theme, but again, it's 3 notes up and back down, in a standard scale. And yes, the FF soundtracks really are that good. My wife has played hardly any of the games, but loves the soundtracks. I loved the soundtracks to FF 2, 3, and 5 as soon as I heard them, before they were localized even in fan translations; I loved playing the Sky Gardens and Fantasia tracks in Chocobo Racing because of the music, despite never having heard them in any other context. Many of my favorite games, when I listen to the soundtracks by themselves, I'm just not that impressed--I actually enjoyed FFX-2 quite a bit but wondered the whole way through why the soundtrack was such garbage, all of a sudden for the series. Although interesting fact, Uematsu has been quoted as saying that he didn't feel his own music was that interesting. He felt he was writing the same sort of things over and over again, and didn't understand why people loved it so much. Probably because he did use such simple, though evocative, techniques.

Yeah, I thought it would link through NNID, considering you can link your My Nintendo account to it, but apparently it doesn't. Or so I understand; I don't actually have any Wii U friends to try it out on. Nor any Twitter or IRL friends on it, so I haven't been able to do a whole lot with the app thus far. If anyone wants to friend me in Miitomo, just follow me on Twitter (@MindWandererB).

Since I can't reply to the Announcement thread, and there's no Album thread yet, I'll post this here: the torrent link on the Water page currently points to the Wind torrent file.

So Miitomo is out, and it's pretty pointless without friends. The friends mechanic is pretty strange--you only seem to be able to add someone on your linked Nintendo Network, Facebook, or Twitter accounts, or physically in person. At least, I assume this is how it works, since I don't have any friends on any of those that have Miitomo yet. My NNID is MindWanderer if anyone would care to add me for that. I haven't had time for any online games, although I hope to get back into Splatoon sometime soon-ish. I also have Smash 4 (which I suck at) and MK8 (which I suck slightly less at).

Yep, I believe it's every Dracula battle theme that doesn't serve a dual purpose (as the theme for walking around the final tower, as a generic boss theme, or as a repurposed stage theme). There were lots of good choices for the epilogue. Requiem for the Nameless Victims was also on my short list, as were The Legend of Dracula, March of the Holy Men, Repose of Souls, Portrait of Destiny, and Tractus. But this was originally going to be the Dracula Round 3 theme; the plan was to have one intro, one boss, and one epilogue theme, and include one from the NES trilogy, one modern, and one other. And there's no way I wasn't going to include Castlevania III, one of my all-time favorite soundtracks in all VGM.

That would be up to the voters. Don't go overboard, and keep it coherent. I'm reminded of Gario's Magnus Divinicus Chiptunicus from WCRG 1, which I love and is in my daily playlist, but some of the unnecessary stuff he threw in there, like Schala's theme, detracted from the sources he was required to include, which is why it didn't get my vote. On the other hand, that little nod to Schala's theme is one of the things that makes me love it, so YMMV.

All right, the epic conclusion, as promised! The Final Battle This battle will be between OA, representing Simon Belmont, and Jorito, representing Dracula. As for the sources: You must use your own stage source (Dracula's Castle or Wicked Child). You may use your opponent's source. You must use at least two of the following: Castlevania: Black Night (https://youtu.be/E-OC2iDwMT4) Castlevania II: Simon's Quest: Last Boss (https://youtu.be/Qdb0B2XbM_Q) Castlevania: The Adventure: Evil Devil (https://youtu.be/M0Mjf5-2qXU) Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge: Sons of Satan (https://youtu.be/NHDIIme-Vdw) Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse: Big Battle (https://youtu.be/-Zmb2KGJcow) Castlevania Chronicles: You Goddamn Bathead (https://youtu.be/WZ9OsWNLUOg) Castlevania: Rondo of Blood: Illusionary Dance (https://youtu.be/Jpizm9ZYYZc) Castlevania Bloodlines: The Vampire's Stomach (https://youtu.be/HFbUgpwxRaw) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: Black Banquet (https://youtu.be/GXcJ80jueM8) Castlevania Legends: Count Dracula Battle (https://youtu.be/fZxzOOk_EXU) Castlevania Legends: Vampire Killer (https://youtu.be/PgmkCme5wLg) Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness: Concert of Another Dimension (https://youtu.be/54p86oi2xgg) Castlevania: Circle of the Moon: Proof of Blood (https://youtu.be/1UezwYEC6uI) Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance: Old Enemy (https://youtu.be/PZ2Go8EkLNY) Castlevania: Curse of Darkness: Metamorphosis to the Black Abyss of Death (https://youtu.be/HJ5-jOtBbJ4) Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin: Banquet of Madness (https://youtu.be/9qcOtuw7qBI) Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: Order of the Demon (https://youtu.be/y5HD1Onj0qw) The file name of your mix should end in (Dracula in the Entrance, 1797) or (Dracula in the Crumbling Tower, 1691). The deadline is 3 weeks from now: April 20 at 12:00 PDT. Epilogue Anyone is welcome to participate in this round. Current participants should use the same source they've been using all along. Anyone who wants to join in for just this round may do so; just post the source you'd like to use, using the same rules as the beginning of the tournament, so I can make sure it follows those rules. The other source you'll be remixing your chosen source with is Evergreen. Your title should use "Evergreen, 1476" as the source name. Again, the deadline is 3 weeks from now: April 20 at 12:00 PDT. Good luck!

Yeah, it's interesting how this has changed over time. The first GRMRB had 4 rounds plus a losers' bracket, and while several people petered out early, lots of people kept going. The second one had an extra thread for people who lost early to challenge each other, even though there wasn't an official losers' bracket. But more recent compos seem to show people getting fatigued after even a couple of rounds. 3 rounds seems to be the most reasonable expectation these days. 4 rounds is pushing it. I think going forward, I'll plan on no more than a 3-round main event and one special conclusion/exhibition round. Right now, Jorito is solidly winning the Dracula Bracket, and it looks like OA is probably going to win the Hero finals. If nothing else changes, here's what I'll do. Tomorrow, when voting closes for both of the current matchups, I'll announce the rules for two final brackets. One will be the Final Battle, with OA representing Simon Belmont going up against Dracula as embodied in Jorito. I'm thinking a generous 3-week deadline for this, so they can take their time and not feel rushed or burnt-out. The second will be open to everyone else, an exhibition round to provide closure. You can collaborate, and I'll even open it up to folks who haven't been participating up to this point, if they want; if people express interest I'll provide rules for that. I thought it was an especially strong round as well. I cast my vote for wildfire because I thought her remix flowed better, while OA's seemed a little more awkwardly pasted together, despite having better sound quality. I'm glad wildfire has been sending her remixes over to the Workshop; I think the concepts and arrangements behind all three were amazing, and I'd love to see them polished up for submission. Jorito has been doing a fabulous job as well, and I'd love to see some of his ideas fleshed out more fully, too.

That's the voting period for round 2, so yeah, you missed the submission deadline. So, so far we have really only one person (PlanarianHugger) express enthusiastic interest in continuing. Jorito will participate if we do continue, but it sounds like he'd be happier if we didn't. Gario's only been able to put in a serious effort in one round out of 3. OA is feeling fatigue. Looking at the points, only Jorito and the three hero bracket finalists (Gario and whoever loses between OA and wildfire) have a shot at winning the Dracula bracket. Of those people, none has expressed better than an ambivalent opinion about continuing. So here are the options I'm thinking of. We continue as planned. This would only be if several people changed their minds and expressed interest in this. We call it and declare either OA or wildfire the winner, based on this round's results. We abort the last Dracula round and go straight to the final battle. This would be if, of the participants still in the running, only two people are interested in continuing, and one of those is the winner of the Hero finals. We wrap this up with a special round that doesn't count towards winning the tournament, but would provide closure. I'm thinking a collab of some sort; we can work out the details if people want this. If we go ahead with this, we might or might not do Dracula Round 3; this would be up to the people in that bracket. We could do these sequentially or concurrently, again based on interest. Participants, let me know your thoughts!

Yep, it sure is! I've put you down. I really wasn't expecting this landslide of popularity for the "face" themes. There's some really great music among the "heel" themes. I suppose the hero themes are a little more iconic. I'd still rather people not claim more than one song at a time, but if anyone has completed a substantial WIP for a hero theme and would like to claim a villain theme as well, I'm all for it.

Yeah, I saw the flood of posts (though many are, oddly, flagged as unread for me). It's a good start!

Yay! Not only more judges, but they're not replacing anyone who quit! Congrats all! Let's aim to get the queue down to less than a year again!

The calendar events seem to have dropped off the front page. At least, the CCoI voting events did--not sure if that's because they've already started and are ongoing now, or because they're in the competitions calendar, or what. But previously they showed during the event.

Castlevania: Cacophony of Incarnation 2016 Voting for the Hero Finals is open until Wednesday, March 30 at 12:00 PM PDT. See the competitions calendar for your timezone. Vote for your single favorite ReMix of the two. Participants, you may vote as you like; if in doubt, vote for yourself. Download the remixes! Sources: Warakiya Village, 1476 (Beginning) Abandoned Castle, 1479 (The Curse of Darkness) Entrance, 1797 (Dracula's Castle)

Castlevania: Cacophony of Incarnation 2016 Voting for the Dracula Bracket, Round 2 is open until Wednesday, March 30 at 12:00 PM PDT. See the competitions calendar for your timezone. Vote for your single favorite ReMix of the two. Participants, you may vote as you like; if in doubt, vote for yourself. Download the remixes! Sources: Plant Castle, 1591 (Ripe Seeds) Crumbling Tower, 1691 (Wicked Child) Sorrow's Distortion

Music is up! Hero Finals Dracula Bracket, Round 2 Only two entries in each, which makes me sad, but also raises a question. Jorito and Planarian Hugger have sure been putting in the effort to succeed in the Dracula Bracket, but it's really just been them. Is anyone else planning on doing Dracula Round 3? Including wildfire and OA, whoever loses this round? If not, I'll just skip that round and go straight to the Final Battle next week.

For rock and metal, cover/remix bands are my recommended way to go. The Megas, Powerglove, The Black Mages, MegaDriver, and Metroid Metal are my personal favorites. There are a lot of great YouTubers as well, like FamilyJules and CarboHydroM. There are even some official albums by the publishers, such as Perfect Selection Dracula Battle for Castlevania and We Are ROCK-MEN for Mega Man. Edit: Totally forgot about Mega Ran, formerly known as Random. He's the dude to impress your aunt.

I'm extra apologetic after reading all that... but I'm sick today and won't be able to get the music posted. If the participants would like an extra 24 hours for tweaks, they have them. Watch this space tomorrow at noon PDT.

Well, I do actual work every day, but most days I have some time at my own discretion. Yeah, my job is kind of weird.

The claim list is really shaping up! I'm getting hyped! Still need a few more villains to be covered to even things out, but seeing as how this project is less than a month old, I'm not worried at all. It occurs to me that we really ought to have at least one explicit tribute to Xavier Woods, the gamer wrestler. Here's a playlist of his theme songs, and there's quite a range: some rap, some funk, and even one dubstep. While I think it would be hilarious to base this off of Sypha's theme for the pun ("Mad Forest"), anything would be fine. His first theme song, "It's Complicated," the dubstep one, reminds me a lot of both "Riddle"* and "Wicked Child." But we're badly lacking in rap at the moment, too--we really need some rap to be representative of the genre. Also, there's a great new Workshop tool here on OCR that makes it much easier to find collaborators. Most WWE theme songs do include vocals of some sort, so I encourage everyone who's not doing their own vocals to take a look here to see if they can find someone to help with that. Similarly, if anyone has an idea for an arrangement wants to use an instrument you don't play yourself, you can try using that tool to find someone to fill the gap. * I'm really hoping someone will take Doppelganger one way or another, because I'd like the script and art to play on the concept of a doppelganger wrestler--someone who always wears a mask shaped like his opponent's face and imitates their signature moves.