Nobuo Uematsu

If there is any composer that made me appreciate the music from video games, it is him. His music, especially from the FF titles, are what opened my eyes to listening to video game music outside of playing the actual video game. I still listen to his music more than any other video game composer. Yes, his music may have been dwindling for a while now, but everyone has their hits and misses, for me he was a lot more hits than misses.

There has only been one shutout in the final round before, but Shadow of the Colossus accomplished this with only 4 votes, when attendance was at its lowest.

Could Nobuo Uematsu pull it off in style?

Nobuo Uematsu

This would be a very predictable victory if you ask me, but on the other hand, who else if not him?

Nobuo Uematsu

Historically Uematsu is obviously more Important.

But I will troll a little and give just one little vote to Sakimoto, cuz I enjoy his music that much.

Sakimoto

Thanks to jakob for the tie-breaker!


If there is any composer that made me appreciate the music from video games, it is him. His music, especially from the FF titles, are what opened my eyes to listening to video game music outside of playing the actual video game. I still listen to his music more than any other video game composer. Yes, his music may have been dwindling for a while now, but everyone has their hits and misses, for me he was a lot more hits than misses.

Agree 100%. First album of vgm I bought was for Final Fantasy VI. I was embarrassed to tell my friends, even though they loved FFVI just as much. And they did make fun of me. And yet we spent a lot of days sitting in my room playing other video games with the TV turned down and the FFVI album playing.


There has only been one shutout in the final round before, but Shadow of the Colossus accomplished this with only 4 votes, when attendance was at its lowest. Could Nobuo Uematsu pull it off in style?

Hahaha. I saw this and immediately thought "topopoz will vote for Sakimoto." Then I scrolled down and saw it was true. :D

Anyway, my vote is for Nobuo Uematsu. No question about it.

This would be a very predictable victory if you ask me, but on the other hand, who else if not him?

Nobody really, His Legacy on VGM and his Impact on the globe cannot be matched by anybody. You don't need to be a Snob to know that FF always had great music repertoire.

The Black Mages project is living proof of his excellence at writing music. One does not simply transform a song from a videogame into Progressive Heavy Metal. In essence the songs are almost untouched in the arrangements.



Hahaha. I saw this and immediately thought "topopoz will vote for Sakimoto." Then I scrolled down and saw it was true. :D



=D

Grinding a lot of Tactics Ogre music these days man.

Extremely difficult choice, that I wanted to postpone as much as possible, but...

Hitoshi Sakimoto

Vagrant Story and FFT are the games I've devoted thousands of hours as a gamer, but still I love and enjoy their music. I don't even need to listen to them, as this music is engraved into my counciousness now :) Can easily re-play them in my head.

btw I was always surprised how FFXII OST is always presented as Sakimoto's greatest work... Without doubts it is solid, but nowhere near as brilliant as VS and FFT, in my opinion. Maybe it's because Yasumi Matsuno had such a positive impact for Sakimoto... Without Matsuno even FFXII soundtrack was missing something :(

And the winner of the Composers battle is�



Nobuo Uematsu (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7RPY-oiDAQ&list=PL4562BAE6D669BE02&feature=plpp_play_all)!

Koji Kondo may have written the most universally recognizable music from a video game, but Uematsu is, in my mind, the better composer. My wife, who is a classical composer and has absolutely no interest in video games whatsoever, has gone the whole gamut from avoiding my room when I'm playing vgm, to showing mild interest as she started to recognize Uematsu's music, to asking to hear more of his stuff, to humming Terra's theme while working without realizing she's doing it, to buying tickets when she found out Video Games Live was coming to our town. He's not untouchable. His stature as a vgm god has invited criticism, some of it merited. Some of his work has become self-indulgent and bloated. Sometimes I don't know what he's thinking. But I can't think of another composer who has done so much quality work over such a long time; who has so often ennobled cartoonish, poorly-written characters and transformed throwaway scenes into haunting, unforgettable moments in the canon of video game history; who has played a crucial and dramatic role in the turnaround of a failing company; and who has lived the life of an artist without any public pretension, without any meaningful critical appreciation for a decade, and in so doing has quietly transformed our global culture. All the time now you can see flyers for a major American orchestra doing a night of video game tunes. This would not be possible without Video Games Live, which would not be possible without Nobuo Uematsu, because there would not be a sufficient audience for the video game music as an art form without him. The commercial viability of video games�not just video game music, but video games on the whole�in our time goes back, in large part, to the explosion of western interest in Final Fantasy 7, which would not have been the revolution it was without Aerith's Theme. No composer has done more for the entire industry.

Bonus: Biography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuo_Uematsu)
Bonus: Discography (http://vgmdb.net/artist/77)
Bonus: Interviews (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&gs_mss=nobuinterview&pq=jeremy%20soule%20interview&cp=6&gs_id=q7&xhr=t&q=nobuo+uematsu+interview&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=nobuo+interview&aq=0c&aqi=g-c1g-K1g-bK2&aql=&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=2e4edfb6fecd5b31&biw=1280&bih=878)
Bonus: Social Media page (https://twitter.com/#!/uematsunobuo)

Record: 7-1, 7-1, 4-2, 8-0, 8-2, 5-3

Well, that was another great battle. Thanks to all of you who voted! I hope you enjoyed it.

I will post an announcement soon about what comes next.

Hi friends,

Over the last three and a half years, I�ve run the rumble with full enthusiasm�something I hope has been apparent. I�ve run it while working on my Master�s thesis, I�ve run it through some natural disasters, I�ve run it while buried under a stack of papers I needed to grade. It�s been a great escape, and I can�t say enough how much I�ve enjoyed talking to you all about video game music. I am very proud of what it has become.

Unfortunately, my work responsibilities have steadily ramped up over time to the point we�re at now, where it�s difficult for me to do something as simple as count up the votes. Just in the last twenty-four hours, I�ve written over 100 emails. I lose about two hours every day of the week just to grading papers. It�s a bad, barely sustainable schedule and it�s not going to let up anytime soon.

Consequently, I�m going to turn over control of the rumble to someone else. I�d still like to participate, of course. I don�t want to give that up. But as far as organizing and posting each fight, I think new blood can only be a good thing.

Who is interested? We do have rumbles in various stages of readiness on the group page, so the next person need not start from scratch.

My best to you all.

AG

My wife thought I should post this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JghkG4WydNk). Haha.

Posting them should not be an issue for me. Actually taking the time to write brief descriptions of the songs/games/artists might.

I think posting them will be enough. Arthur did that of course (and it was greatly appreciated :) ), but it wasn't really necessary to keep the rumble going.

I would hate to see this go by the wayside. While we wait, let's pick out what rumble(s) we'll do next, shall we? Here are the currently available options:

(16)
Best of Motoi Sakuraba

(32)
Best of Metroid
Best of Tim Follin

(64)
Best of the N64

(128)
Best of Zelda
Best of Final Fantasy

Some of these require a little more work than others to finish compiling. If I am going to lead these in the future I would prefer to have one long (64-128) and one short (16-32) rumble running simultaneously, rather than doing two match-ups from the same rumble each week. Well, rank the ones you would like to do most in the order you'd like to do them, and we'll see which comes out on top.

Long rumble - Final Fantasy
Short rumble - Tim Follin

If you need any help with preparations, let me know.

Long - Final Fantasy
Short - Metroid

Correction: Final Fantasy is a 128 slot rumble. I forgot that it was expanded further into the discussion thread. Let me know if that changes your vote.

These last couple of weeks have been exceptionally busy for me, but starting Thursday I'm going to have plenty of time. I'm hoping to get the next rumbles started up then. The total lack of feedback has me worried that it's going to be a slow start, but we'll see what we can do. I'm chipping in my votes for Final Fantasy and Metroid.

What I'm going to do is start with just Final Fantasy, one match-up at a time. We'll leave the vote open for what the second rumble should be and see how many people are actually still around and interested in this. Metroid fans, go check out the group page if you want to have your say. The draft list currently needs to be condensed. If no one speaks up I'll just listen to the suggested tracks and go with the ones I like most, which isn't ideal because I've only played the first three games in the series.

Final Fantasy Rumble

Square put video game music on the map, and the Final Fantasy series has been setting the musical standard for the better part of my lifetime. Even with 128 selections, I expect more tough decisions than usual in this rumble. The first is no exception:

Round 1, Fight 1 // Final Fantasy Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

The Sight of Spira (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTptg9nedlM), from Final Fantasy X

vs.

Fight 2 (Boss Battle) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xMDoh4174Y), from Final Fantasy IV

-------------------------------------------------------

This is rough. I feel like I ought to vote Fight 2 as a matter of principle, but I would be terribly disappointed if Sight of Spira loses.

FFIV

Fight 2

Fight 2

Arthur:

Thanks for keeping this going all this time. I'm really glad somebody stepped up to continue this.

As always, my vote for the rumble to do next is always going to be Zelda. : )

Finally, my vote:

Final Fantasy IV.

I turned in grades this morning, just logged back into the Shrine, and couldn't be happier to see that you all have kept things going. Big thanks to Shad for spearheading the effort. :D I'm excited.

My vote is for Fight 2.

Looks like Final Fantasy IV: Fight 2 (5-2) passed the first round with relative ease. I should have the Metroid rumble up and running in time for the next fight. As for now:


Round 1, Fight 2 // Final Fantasy Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

To the Place of Gods (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ2rw-VDwfA), from Final Fantasy XII

vs.

Sometime, Somewhere (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuqJ9m35Ulo), from Final Fantasy XI

-------------------------------------------------------

It's always nice to see these later FF installments come up. Some of them I'm hearing for only the second time myself. I'm definitely going with To the Place of Gods on this one.

Final Fantasy XI.

To the Place of the Gods

FFXI Sometime, Somewhere

To The Place Of Gods

I have resumed work on the Zelda rumble (which is long overdue: Arthur asked me to take care of this in APRIL). I have nominated a few songs from Zelda: Skyward Sword to be included. I will be adding those in and subtracting to keep us at the magic 192 song mark, with the idea being to get to 64 songs after one round in the rumble, pitting 3 songs against each other in the first round (per Arthur's idea). If you'd like to speak up on Skyward Sword nominations, I'd invite those here:

Best of The Legend of Zelda (http://forums.ffshrine.org/groups/vgm-rumble-group-procrastination-station/best-legend-zelda-101/)

As this and the FF rumble have shown, it is hard to predict how long these things take to finalize, so better to just get it done, even if Zelda isn't next in the rotation. : )

Cheers, glad to see others working on the compilation side of this project. On that note:

I just condensed the Metroid rumble down to 32 tracks. (http://forums.ffshrine.org/groups/vgm-rumble-group-procrastination-station/best-metroid-155/)

If you're a fan and I left one of your favorites out, go speak up before it's too late. We'll get that one rolling aside Final Fantasy starting with the next fight.

To the Place of Gods. I've typically ignored FFXI's soundtrack, but the track here--even though it didn't get my vote-- at least makes me want to look at it again, as has the Four Heroes of Light soundtrack recently. It makes me think "Mizuta, where have you been all my life???"

To the Place of the Gods

Sometime, Somewhere is more memorable because of its minimal accompaniment and straightforward melody, but I think To the Place of Gods is the better composition.

Sorry about the long delay. Forum connectivity has been iffy all week and the last two times I went to post it was down. In the future I'm going to try and roll these over every 3-4 days so there's not as much of a wait.


Looks like Final Fantasy XII: To the Place of Gods (6-2) won pretty decisively. It's time to kick off the Metroid rumble!


Round 1, Fight 1 // Metroid Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

Metroid Hatchling Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgxl2Kh8I04), from Metroid II

vs.

Serris X (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jVPwHqXz8A), from Metroid Fusion

-------------------------------------------------------

I didn't expect one of my favorite songs in the series to pop up in the first fight, but here you have it. Metroid Hatchling Theme was post-rock before post-rock, and its brevity is its only downside. I want to go listen to Flood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvCLhq8okxc) by Boris now....



Round 1, Fight 3 // Final Fantasy Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

Sealed Away (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVkZzjZGggI), from Final Fantasy V

vs.

The Invincible (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siAba6SN3Z4), from Final Fantasy III

-------------------------------------------------------

Sealed Away is definitely tempting, but The Invincible is just beautiful--one of Uematsu's best NES tracks.

Metroid Hatchling Theme

and

The Invincible

Serris X

Sealed Away

Shad:

Not sure if you checked, but I did make some recommendations on the Metroid page early this morning.

Luckily, I didn't suggest the removal of either of the songs in this round of the rumble.

Ooo, thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't noticed and probably wouldn't have for a while.

Tough choice there for Final Fantasy. Too bad they had to go against each other so soon.

Metroid II, Final Fantasy V

Serris X

Sealed Away

Looks like we're sitting on a tie right now. Any last takers before I flip a coin and post up the next fights?

Serris X

and

The Invincible

Looks like Metroid Fusion: Serris X (4-3) and Final Fantasy V: Sealed Away (4-3) both pulled off close wins. Next up:


Round 1, Fight 2 // Metroid Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

Item Room Ambiance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT-nuJ-0bBw), from Super Metroid

vs.

Torus Bog (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZX2N9_7NO8), from Metroid Prime 2

-------------------------------------------------------

Torus Bog gets my vote on this one.



Round 1, Fight 4 // Final Fantasy Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

Melodies of Life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnRCaDLFAWI), from Final Fantasy IX

vs.

Song of Memories (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCYn1Bx6pnk), from Final Fantasy IX

-------------------------------------------------------

Random is random indeed. As it turns out, the next four Final Fantasy tracks--both selections from Fight 4 and Fight 5--are all from Final Fantasy IX. This one has the added oddity of pairing up the sung track Melodies of Life with its reoccurring character theme counterpart--Song of Memories. Personally, I think Melodies of Life is the only sung FF track worth listening to (don't worry, Eyes on Me and Suteki da ne are still in the mix), so the decision for me is easy.

Super Metroid's Item Room theme is instantly recognizable for fans of that game (the entire sound design of that game is wonderful), but Torvus Bog has become just as much a classic of the Metroid series--even for someone who hasn't played the Prime trilogy.

In Final Fantasy, no vocals is almost always a good thing. Song of Memories for me.

Is Torus Bog supposed to sound like Lower Brinstar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DWB5a2n8) from Super Metroid? They're very similar.

Torus Bog

Song Of Memories

Torus Bog

Song of Memories This was the first track of this game I fell in love with. I remember just letting the game sit in one area just for this song to loop and play for hours.

Melodies Of Life

Looks like Metroid Prime 2: Torus Bog (4-0) and Final Fantasy IX: Song of Memories (3-2) will be moving on.


Round 1, Fight 3 // Metroid Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

Gorea Final Boss Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzLCJqzDHdo), from Metroid Prime Hunters

vs.

Title Screen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPT8GBdRCWE), from Super Metroid

-------------------------------------------------------

Definitely Title Screen



Round 1, Fight 5 // Final Fantasy Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

Awakened Forest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc3xoQqFFns), from Final Fantasy IX

vs.

Freija's Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMygElvVDWw), from Final Fantasy IX

-------------------------------------------------------

These are two of the best tracks on one of Uematsu's finest soundtracks. It's no easy decision. Awakened Forest is the more complete package, but maybe because there's a blizzard outside Freya's Theme just seems more appealing to me at the moment.

Title Screen from Super Metroid

Unfortunately, I cannot choose from the FF rumble. Both are beautiful pieces and I love both equally.

Feiya's Theme

Title Screen

and

Freija's Theme

Is Torus Bog supposed to sound like Lower Brinstar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DWB5a2n8) from Super Metroid? They're very similar.

Torus Bog

Song Of Memories

Yes they do Smarty. A lot of the Metroid Prime series used some of the hallmark themes from earlier Metroid games, in some cases improving on them (as I think was the case here). The fire theme from Metroid Prime is also taken from Super Metroid as is the first Tallon IV theme to a certain extent. Tough to see Item Room go out so early, but it is hard to get upset at Torus Bog moving on. It is a great track.

---------- Post added at 12:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 AM ----------

Super Metroid, Final Fantasy IX (Freya's Theme)

Awakened Forest

also, for the record, i'm not a metroid fan. so don't expect me to vote in that rumble. thx.

Just want to say I'm not a Final Fantasy fan, but I'm still voting in that rumble.

Not saying it to be contrarian, but I don't want people who happen to stumble into this rumble to feel like that they HAVE to be a fan and/or expert on the games that we happen to be covering at the time in order to participate. I hope others will understand what I'm doing by pointing this out - encouraging participation.

Not a Metroid fan??? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DCyjRy6IOg)

Very good link!

I'm sure everybody already knows this, but just in case... all rock and Metroid fans MUST check out Metroid Metal - Metal covers of Metroid Goodness - by Stemage (http://www.metroidmetal.com/).

Just want to say I'm not a Final Fantasy fan, but I'm still voting in that rumble.

I actually voted to do the Metroid rumble instead of the Tim Follin rumble specifically because I'm not a Metroid fan. It's nice to hear tracks I'm not immediately familiar with for a change.

I actually voted to do the Metroid rumble instead of the Tim Follin rumble specifically because I'm not a Metroid fan. It's nice to hear tracks I'm not immediately familiar with for a change.

Exactly. It's the same reason why I was very excited to do the Genesis rumble way back when. Introduced me to many games and music I had never encountered before.

Title Screen

Freya's Theme

Super Metroid: Title Screen (6-0) and Final Fantasy IX: Freya's Theme (6-1) advance.


Round 1, Fight 4 // Metroid Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

Kraid's Chamber (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wHwJoxw4i4), from Metroid

vs.

Impact Crater Core (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t9kENTPaoA), from Metroid Prime

-------------------------------------------------------

My vote surprisingly goes to Impact Crater Core.



Round 1, Fight 6 // Final Fantasy Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

All the World Against Us (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zAMlO-nbhk), from Final Fantasy XIII

vs.

Within the Giant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq3Xo84PxsA), from Final Fantasy IV

-------------------------------------------------------

Definitely Within the Giant

Within the Giant

Kraid's Chamber

Within the Giant

Kraid's Chamber!

Within the Giant!

Tough matchups, but I'll take Metroid and Final Fantasy IV.

Kraid's Chamber

Within The Giant

Within The Giant

Kraid's Chamber

Within the Giant

No question of who won these match-ups. Metroid: Kraid's Lair (5-1) and Final Fantasy IV: Within the Giant (8-0) move on with ease.

Round 1, Fight 5 // Metroid Rumble

------------------------ -------------------------------

Emperor Ing (first and second form) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrq3KynqpPA), from Metroid Prime 2

vs.

GFS Valhalla (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RWXMhtGjq4), from Metroid Prime 3

-------------------------------------------------------

Here are two very different and equally admirable tracks from the Metroid Prime series. I must admit Emperor Ing is one of the most convincing Metroid boss tunes I've heard, but Metroid Prime 3 has some of the best ambient tracks out there. I've got to go with GFS Valhalla.



Round 1, Fight 7 // Final Fantasy Rumble

-------------------------------------------------------

J-E-N-O-V-A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGDBjOnJ9MQ), from Final Fantasy VII

vs.

Maybe I'm a Lion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYDT_Y6Jj5c), from Final Fantasy VIII

-------------------------------------------------------

I found Final Fantasy VIII so unappealing as a game that it's really hard for me to fully appreciate its music. I don't know, Maybe I'm a Lion just sounds like generic prog meandering to me with no compelling melody to tie it together. Not that I wouldn't have voted for J-E-N-O-V-A over most other options.

Emperor Ing

Maybe I'm a Lion

Emperor Ing - Love the Prime series boss themes

J-E-N-O-V-A - On the whole, I actually like FFVIII's soundtrack quite a bit, but this is one of the best tracks off VII

Emperor ing

J-E-N-O-V-A

Maybe I'm A Lion

hard choice between the two...

Metroid Prime 2, Final Fantasy VIII.