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Another matchup of newcomers, one track of which was released after the last competition.

Within the Giant is exactly what you would expect if you've played Final Fantasy IV. It's a menacing and dramatic theme with very mechanical undertones, well-suited for what is literally a trip through a city-sized robot beast.

Very different indeed is the other challenger; the Final Fantasy XIII series has a number of ethereal, more ambient tracks, one of the significant changes brought to the series by Masashi Hamauzu. Staccato drums and light, abstract vocals connect this track to the environment in-game.

Listen Here!
Within the Giant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKKadyDrBsw
The Gapra Whitewood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjrWjptj9Xc

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Bah. There are so many great tracks in FF13, and the music is not one of the faults people can have with it in general, but Gapra Whitewood is not one of them....

Quote (TheEvilEye @ 9th November 2017 06:50)

Bah. There are so many great tracks in FF13, and the music is not one of the faults people can have with it in general, but Gapra Whitewood is not one of them....

What? No! Booooooo @ your take.

I'm willing to say that I consider this the weakest of the tracks that made it in from the Final Fantasy XIII series (off the top of my head, the others are Dust to Dust and Blinded By Light from 13 and New Bodhum from 13-2, I think?) but that's a relative ranking only. I love how Gapra is both upbeat and serene at the same time. It's a good match for the environment, too, even though that's not one of the better parts of the game.

In short, you have failed me here.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 10th November 2017 08:56)

Quote (TheEvilEye @ 9th November 2017 06:50)

Bah.  There are so many great tracks in FF13, and the music is not one of the faults people can have with it in general, but Gapra Whitewood is not one of them....

What? No! Booooooo @ your take.

I'm willing to say that I consider this the weakest of the tracks that made it in from the Final Fantasy XIII series (off the top of my head, the others are Dust to Dust and Blinded By Light from 13 and New Bodhum from 13-2, I think?) but that's a relative ranking only. I love how Gapra is both upbeat and serene at the same time. It's a good match for the environment, too, even though that's not one of the better parts of the game.

In short, you have failed me here.

Found the shameless voter of Gapra Whitewood!

This is the crap they play while you're getting a massage at a downtown spa, where it really isn't *that* cozy but you pretend it is while getting subpar service and overpaying.

It's the kind of music they play between terrible concert bands before the main event that you've been finally waiting for. I feel like I have aged 20 years just listening to this again on purpose.

I could record this with a synthesizer and some J-Pop playing in the background while just making random noises into a microphone.

No.

Actually, I'd not yet voted on this matchup! Completely forgot! So now all you've done is help me LEVEL THE SCORE.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

This was an interesting match-up for me. Both tracks do well to evoke the same kind of imagery in my mind. The Gapra Whitewood just does this better by virtue of its technological advantage, and the vocals, in particular. I really do like it when vocals blend in with music like that.

Edit

Lololol, that above exchange. Please tell us how you REALLY feel, Evileye .

This post has been edited by Galsic on 10th November 2017 15:15

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Console RPG Cliches

Quote (TheEvilEye @ 9th November 2017 12:50)

Bah.  There are so many great tracks in FF13, and the music is not one of the faults people can have with it in general, but Gapra Whitewood is not one of them....

Agreed. I'm actually baffled by the fact that this made it in but tracks like "Fabula Nova Chrystallis" didn't. Yes, "The Gapra Whitewood" is a pleasant sounding song, but it really lacks any emotional impact. To me, about a quarter of the FF13 soundtrack is better than this.

Needless to say, I much prefer this to the FFIV song, so I still voted for "The Gapra Whitewood"

This post has been edited by Harlequin on 11th November 2017 01:07

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I say what I wanna say, I play how I wanna play.

I have never played FF13 but this track sounds pretty intriguing. And I like how it's bright and airy. Though the latter half of the track could use a bit more than the two chords it has (Dmin11 and Gmin13).

Within the Giant isn't one of my more favored tracks from FF4 either, though it does have a decent melody and harmonies to it. My main beef with it is that it has a sullen intro, but then sort of bursts into something that sounds more "normal" and "open" and loses that atmosphere, and then it becomes just sorta there. I really liked the sullen intro for the darker recesses of the final dungeon, but sticking around too long outside of battle just made it lose its character. This is another difficult matchup.

Edit: Having listened to "The Gapra Whitewood" a few more times, I'm hearing a sort of Secret of Mana type folksy vibe to its nonfunctional harmonic language ("nonfunctional" is a technical term in music theory, before you get mad at me), but minus the awkward instrumentation that plagued SoM's soundtrack.

While I really like the melody that comes in late in "Within the Giant", it doesn't quite make up for the weak beginning of the melody. So my vote goes to "The Gapra Whitewood".

Also this thread is missing a seed rank for the second track in the title.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 11th November 2017 06:23

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

I genuinely don't like either all that much...so for the only time I've voted by game...not that it appears to matter!

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