ReMix:Final Fantasy X "They Say Lightning Never Strikes 200 Times" 3:50

Since minusworld first arrived in OCR, he's made a major impact submitting (and sometimes refining) his Dwelling of Duels compo entries, covering a wide range of games in an impressive breadth of styles, and functioning as arranger, collaborator, and performer. Not many folks rack up 10+ OC ReMix credits in a year, but Grayson's been killing it and we're honored to have him! minusworld's final 2024 mixpost -- oooh, I'm super-familiar with this Hamauzu source from looping it a ton in college -- brings the thunder AND the lightning from Final Fantasy X:

"Yet another Dwelling of Duels (DoD) entry, from PS2 Month in May 2023. At that time, I'd been itching to do a proggy entry and ended up with this. A funny tidbit, I mistakenly thought that "Calm Before the Storm" was the song that played during Thunder Plains and was planning to progify that. Then, I looked up the actual "Thunder Plains" tune and this arrangement immediately started taking shape in my head instead! Memory is a funny thing. :)

The two main influences for this progressive metal track are Plini and The Contortionist, particularly the album Clairvoyant, though the latter's influences may be more subtle.

The "Thunder Plains" source has three sections, ABAC, and I felt like I needed one more section to make for a nice flow. My arrangement first pulls out the quarter-note ascending/descending line and string swells from the A section for the intro, second goes into an original section (with a melody definitely, absolutely not aped from Plini's "Electric Sunrise"), third has versions of the source sections ABABC with proggy chords and riffing underneath, fourth revisits the original section, and finally outros with a short variation of the ascending/descending line used in the intro.

The title is a reference to a minigame in FFX in which the player is given rewards for dodging consecutive lightning strikes on Thunder Plains. The final reward is given at 200 dodges, hence the title. :)

Enjoy! (I hope!)"

Judges panel powerhouse prophetik music pegged the particular prominence of Plini-possessed playing:

"completely forgot about the C part of the original. i don't know if i ever spent enough time in a row in the game without getting into a fight to hear it, i guess.

starts with clock sfx and some guitar elements alongside some schmears of synthy string color. 0:34 is where the band comes in and it's immediately reminiscent of american math rock like Plini. first break comes at 1:02 and there's a ton of space, which is fun given that it's the theme for a plain in the game. 1:33 is the first time getting to the B section from the original, and it's more of a broad feel than then more angular starting section.

there's some ensemble stuff at 1:50 and then some of the wider rhythmic elements that are again Plini-adjacent right after at like 2:10. [...] 3:03 is the last big blow. this kind of soaring sustained strumming line is so iconic and sounds awesome in here. 3:32 is the outro, back to the clock rhythm pattern, and it's done.

short and sweet. [...] overall the arrangement is solid and the lead parts shine through as expected. nice job."

Loved the ticking of the source, which was utilized so well in keeping time yet sounding impactful and combining well with minusworld's amped up version of things. As proph noted, there were solid textural and occasional rhythmic changes throughout to keep things engaging and interesting, which caught fellow judge Hemophiliac unawares (in a good way):

"One could equate the time changes in this to the unpredictability of lightning strikes. I think they fit really well despite catching me flat-footed every time they come about. That's the real strength of this arrangement, the masterful handling of time in a proggy manner.

Good job of letting the piano cut through despite it being a rather full mix. That could easily get buried and overpowered. [...] The excellence here is the arrangement [...]. Nice work!"

I'm also a big fan of Grayson's prog rock approach, which was full of life. Great original section at 3:02 to nearly close things prior to the final changeup at 3:32; the original writing fit very comfortably with the energy of the arranged sections before it. Very strong source tune choice, and minusworld's interpretation stood apart very distinctly from Hamauzu's version with a thrill ride of a creative direction! :-)