Alrighty. Time to break out the frue rants!!?! Maybe.
MAIN TOURNAMENT
Nefertiti (Mana Khemia) vs. Battle on the Big Bridge (Final Fantasy V)- Hm. Gilgamesh represents what makes Uematsu stand out- he can create melodies that really penetrate and stick with you, yet have them still sound halfways decent with the equipment available to him at the time. At the same time, this really tends to mean that you remember songs as stronger than they really were; your head fills in better instrumentation than he actually had to work with. While Nefertiti lacks that sort of timeless aspect, the difference in actual quality is pretty stark, and it's a good song in its own right. Hum. Yeah, ultimately leaning Nefertiti.
STIGMATA (Mana Khemia) vs. Battle Hymn of the Soul/Battle for Everyone's Souls (Persona 3)- Battle for Everyone's Souls is neat. They make good use of the Velvet Room theme for BATTLE MUSIC, which is pretty impressive, and the song is undeniably catchy as all get-out in its faster sections. The one woman wail/piano bits work damn well. Unfotunately, the other sections leave me literally sitting and waiting for the next fast section to start. Mood rollercoaster in a very unintentional way.
STIGMATA... well. Mitose is a brilliant vocalist, and STIGMATA, unlike nearly everything else I've ever heard of hers, really lets her cut loose and break into power notes. The background music is fairly typical Gust, but with a sort of backdrop of dissonance that really works well with the context of the song. The bridge has just enough pure cheese to appeal at the "RAWK!!" level of course, just an incredible overall package. Definitely my favorite remaining battle track, whether it beats out the other mood tracks or Song of Mana we'll have to see.
The Fate ~ Cluster Amaryllis (Shadow Hearts Covenant) vs. Awe of She (Guilty Gear XX)- Awe of She has a great rhythm, but I can't help but feel it would actually benefit from being way faster. Maybe it's just a bias due to the instramentation involved? Hard to say. The ending adds quite a bit to it, though still leaves the song feeling good but not so good as it could have been. The Fate, of course, is 100% mood track, very much tailored to the scene is represents in-game (awesome scene, of course). So a lot of the piece is ambience. The climatic bit though... good use of the ol' electric violin, and the effect on the whole is brilliant at capturing the melancholic mood of the game at its most serious. So ultimately have to vote the fanboy route here.
The Meaning of Birth (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Marionette Messiah (Super Robot Wars OGs)- Meaning of Birth reminds me of Big Bridge in a way; it rides the strength of its core melody rather a lot more than it does its own native strength as a song. It works well enough in context, but the out-of-context listening value is somewhat dependant on memory over actual listening. Marionette Messiah meanwhile is by and large catchy. Like most things SRW, it runs on rhythm and cheese and pulls it off pretty well. I think I have to hand it to Judecca here.
Battle with the Four Fiends (Final Fantasy IV) vs. Prisoners of Fate (Chrono Cross)- Four Fiends is another one of those great early Uematsu efforts. Memorable, catchy, fits the character of the fights well, but with enough simplicity to be easily played with inferior sound.
Prisoners of Fate is pretty much the anthropomorphic personification of emotional torque. I'm convinced it's WHY people remember the Dead Sea far better than anything else in Chrono Cross.
Faith is for the Transient People (Mountain of Faith) vs. EXEC_SPHILIA/. (Ar Tonelico 2)
Main Theme (Orchestral) (Parasite Eve) vs. Into the Wilderness (Wild ARMs)- Okay, so, keep in mind that I'm actually an absolute sucker for good piano. So, y'know, Shimomura is a Goddess and all that. So anyway, we start out with the intensely lonely solo bit. Even when it switches to two hands, you can almost imagine it as someone monologuing about their own loneliness. You get more and more background as it becomes more intense until it's almost as though other voices are joining in. It drops back down again, only to be supplanted by the full orchestra drowning out the piano. Finally it sweeps around such that the piano actually plays when the orchestra is softest, then into a movement where the piano shifts keys, as though two different voices. It sort of goes back and forth between these two for the rest of the piece, and... well. The whole effect of voices seeking each other out among the noise makes for a really moving story in its way. You could really go on a while longer about this bit, because it echos incredibly strongly with the whole Aya and Maya thing.
It's a lot harder to find words for Into the Wilderness. It... is Wild ARMs. Not only is it inescapably iconic to the series, not only does it contain all of Naruke's favorite tricks, just the instraments involved and arrangement speak volumes of the overriding theme of overcoming loneliness the series has.
All told... I dunno, I guess I'm gonna go with the piece stronger on its own merits, but the similarity in theme is funny.
Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World (Chrono Cross) vs. Song of Mana (Legend of Mana)- Uh-oh, more Shimomura. This one is a lot simpler though, a marriage of the beautiful and sweeping overture with the recurring Theme of Mana, carried by vocal. Just a very pretty and upbeat song in general.
Dream of the Shore is... well, also straightforward. Plays well to a violin bias, has a great meloncholy mood to it without really being slow. I'd call it a brilliant mood setter, but it's actually a little bit out of place where it plays.
Hum. Ultimatley voting mood. Go, Mitsuda!
