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All I have to say is: Amazing. That, and I'm glad that the final version of To Far Away Times didn't have the excess instrumentation behind it. Great job, everyone.

I typed a whole thing comparing the two versions of TFAT, but in the time it took, the computer spazzed out, and my work was gone. I'm not about to retype it, but it was far more persuasive than this. Take my word for it. I have a lot of them. I would point you to 1:03 as the low point, with the almost piercingly low crescendos drowning out the softer, more emotion-filled original piece. I would also, however point you to 1:32 as a high point, with the orchestration blending in perfectly and (other than the 1:48 low string part) not detracting from the original. 2:39 is the redeeming factor of the orchestration. It just sounds great. It changes up the slightly changed chorus just enough that it's even more distinctive, and helps add something more... final, to the finale. My humble, non-music-making, graphics-inclined opinion is still that the original is vastly superior. It just delivers SO much more emotional impact than the new, orchestrated version. The orchestration is nice, but decidedly less nice than the piece that it covers up at times. The original still gives me the chills even after upwards of 70 listens. The new version doesn't. I've given it a chance, but despite the few great parts, it just doesn't fit as well. Still, it's still all on the artists to decide. All I ask is that you take my opinion into account.

I have pictures kind of hammered out for discs 1 and 2. Disc 1: http://www.worldisround.com/photos/14/573/208.jpg Disc 2: http://www.worldisround.com/photos/14/573/209.jpg I still think disc 1 looks better, but that's because I just had better results with the source material. Lemme know what you think of it.

The same fade is going to be hard with the background. It varies so greatly from light to dark that any of the things I did on the original will not come out right...I'm working on something else though. I'll drop it off when it's done. Would there be any way for me to get a larger version of the same picture? It'd be great, as the template I've been working from is the size of a CD, and therefore won't be stretched for application to one. If you want to do some work too, I have the locations for the font and picture of Crono I used. Font: http://www.1001freefonts.com/fonts/ffonts5.htm The font is called Fortunaschwein, and it's located about halfway down the page. Pic:

It's kind of hard to start doing edits, as I don't have access to the .psd that Flame Stealer was working off of. Once "Disc the First" is accomplished, I can try to work in a fade of Crono's head. The original relied on the orange background, but I can do something with the Leene Square motif. I was actually thinking something along the lines of what you were with the color change from disc to disc. My original "Disc the Second" design was close to the first, but blue-green with a fade of Marle on the left side of the disc. I'll try and get that finished too, as well as find time to work on the design you were talking about. Once school is over, (5-days-ish) I'll probably get a bit more done. Glad I could help out in some way, and I'm looking forward to the final project in the long run, (as well as seeing what Global-Trance has in mind in the short run). It'll be exciting, I'm sure.

Sorry to come jumping in at such a late hour, but if you haven't decided on CD art, I'd like to submit one. I'm in the middle of working on the art for Disc 2. Just let me know if I should try and finish them up. Any and all criticism would be welcome. http://www.worldisround.com/articles/176345/photo1.html It's sort of big, so I decided to post the URL instead of the picture itself. If this is already covered, feel free to let me know.

I got this song a little while back while looking through the WIPs, and I'm glad that it made it through the OCR submission ordeal. The beginning of the song doesn't really telegraph how great it will get, but a straight piano arrangement is also pretty good. It doesn't get phenominal until 1:32, when the drums and chanting come in. It kind of accentuates the tribal-y feel of the original song, and ties the piece together. The flute is a bit harsh at times, but in general it just makes the piece better. Something that definitly adds to the excelence of this song is the fact that the source material is a really nice piece as well. All in all, it's an awesome song, but the most impact comes from the second listen through. The first doesn't really give you enough time to fully appreciate the transition from piano to fully developed song-ness. The second go 'round lets you sit back and enjoy the full song experience as a whole, because it's not as abrupt a transition when you know it's coming. 89/100

Good song, though I'll agree with it being sufficiantly louder than most of the other tracks I have (the two main exceptions being Rize's Rude Awakening and AmIEvil's Samus Strut (but that's mainly because I have a giant woofer.)) Great lyrics as well. My favorite part of the whole song, though, is the end, with the piano-y part of the theme. It's a ton less loud, and really nice, actually. Calming, if you will. The rest of the song is surprisingly well orchestrated behind the lyrics. A bunch of the songs I've listened to with lyrics not in the original song aren't orchestrated this well, ([sucks up]Pillar of Salt being an especially noteworthy exception[/sucks up]) So, yeah. Nice song. 87/100

This is probably my favorite remix that I've downloaded off of OCR. However, after a few listens, I've become less intrested in it. Not, as you might currently be thinking, because I don't like it any more, but because the theme is too well orchestrated. I'm more of a casual listener, so it's good to be able to follow the song while you're not really paying any attention. When listened to through a good pair of headphones with relatively few distractions, this mix is the best song I've come across, as far as creativity and listenability are concerned. On the offchance that I am trying to type an essay, as will be the case tomorrow, I would probably refrain from listening to this song. "Why?" you may ask. My response is simply, "This song just needs to be listened to." Although this could be seen as a good thing, it's not that great to be completely distracted from what you're doing for a full six minutes. That's why I generally prefer to listen to orchestral/piano-y remixes while multitasking. They're both easy to listen to in the background, while also being intricate and well crafted for those times when you just want to listen to music. Despite the rant-ish nature of my review thusfar, I will remind you that I beleive that this is probably one of the better songs on the site. Were you to pose another question to me, one such as "How good is this Remix?", my response would be clear.It's good. Great. God-like. Listen to it now, but not if you plan on doing anything important. It will take over your life entirely for the next six minutes. Probably more. You won't get the full impact until the second time through. So, that's my opinion, and you can take it or leave it. It's a free country. 96/100