Music Tournament of Doom Preliminaries Pool 8

[Cmdr_King]

Here we are again!  2 pools down, many more to go, the Music Tournament of Doom rolls on towards the eventual showing of 256 competitiors!  The rules are still simple.
1. Vote for the one you like best.
2. Have heard both songs!
That's right, you don't need to have played the game involved!  Listen and vote!

Thanks to the most esteemed Tonfa, Vice President of these great United States, we now how handy dandy Putfile links for every song here in the first post!  All love and sex and cookies are due to him!

Closes one week hence, happy hunting.



Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer

[superaielman]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)- I won't complain no matter who moves on here.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.- Kneejerk.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe- Is Pain the Universe. Meanwhile, it's XG music.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth- Meaning of birth is okay. Really like to far away times by comparsion.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within- An Etna song I like! Go whip some ass.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”- Youtube the Suikogaiden opening when you listen to staff roll, it fits.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer- Voting for the (so totally fucked) underdog.

[Tonfa]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra): Simple.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.: Oh, the delightful madness. Probably works better knowing how perfect this is in game, but so it goes.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe: For once I fully approve CK hype. The LoM track on the other hand underwhelms massively. Rar, rock.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth: I forgot the TotA track was playing.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within: No contest whatsoever. Augh invasion.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”: Easy enough, one of the few good tracks of Nocturne.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme: This pool is full of easy choices. Of all PW music, that was nommed? Also of note: This is the only time ever the swedish language has managed to sound good.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer: Good one, though the winner is clear, for all that I'm not a huge Lord Blazer fanatic.

[VySaika]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)- I'm cool either way here, yeah.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/. - Hmm...closish.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - Not sleep inducing.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - To Far Away Times is a nice piece.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - Geh, more bad vocals from a Dis song.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll” - Meh? Sure.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - Wow what a slaughter.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - Black Dream is good, but this is not the song you want to draw in round 1.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra): Whee arpeggios. The second half of the song is actually worth listening to, but by now it should be pretty clear that Elfboy likes his songs to be worth listening to all the way through.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.: Does AT have a never-ending supply of mediocre vocals? I'm learning to dread these EXEC_ titles. Crying is... odd, but I like it. SN continues to do well in this contest for me. ... actually, EXEC_LINCA gets notably better as time goes on, so it winning wouldn't piss me off like many other AT tracks. But... yeah, vote stands.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe: Poor CK. Shimomura crossed with rockin' boss music doesn't give Emmy much chance.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth: Far Away Times is just... so bland and boring and repetitive and generally coasts on the emotion of being an ending theme to a popular game, near as I can imagine. Meaning of Birth... well. I hated the plot surrounding it, so the fact that I like it anyway says something!

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within: Need to relisten to the latter to be sure, but probably. Isn't crappy j-pop.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”: Best Brig music vs. takes too long to get going.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme: There are a few PW tracks that aren't crap. This is one! Yay! ... SPLAT anyway.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer: Yay, Blazer~

[OblivionKnight]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra) - Prelude has good and bad points, despite it being well-recognized.  Granted, Suteki Da Ne...I don't like the vocals to.  The song itself is good enough, but...bleh.  Oh well.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/. - Soul Nomad reminds me a lot of Disgaea music.  Granted, it's good, and this is yet another AT1 song I don't like much.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - I prefer Darkness Nova, I think, but hell, it's still good.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - I really do love To Faraway Times.  It's relaxing, peaceful, and drudges up good memories of a good game.  It's a song I do like a lot.  However, Meaning of Birth fits way too well, and is much better solo. 

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - Argh.  Do not like Invasion from Within.  ILUATNSBYAT is actually pretty awesome and fitting.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll” - Leonia sucks.  The music isn't bad, but...doesn't stand out at all.  Queen sucky also sucks.  Staff Roll is very well-done.  I prefer the Tokyo Conception, but, hey. 
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - Kickass ending theme.  Questioning is way too...blocky.  Yes, blocky.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - Love Black Dream a lot - one of the better dungeon themes.  Lord Blazer I don't hype much - good, but I find much better.  Well, really good, but Black Dream makes a bigger impression on me.  CT will get slaughtered anyway, so this vote doesn't count much.

[Cmdr_King]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)- Crazy theories aside... *shrug*
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe- Not the best LoM track.  But more importantly June Mermaid is etched into my soul.  So.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth- Favorite song from each, CT > TotA.  Simple.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within- Only time Naruke's ever disappointed me.  Asoh's still a favorite, but the silly Jrock is used waaaayyyy better in game, cinching it.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme- Smash, man, smash.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer- Not a contest and poor rest of the pool.

[Sierra]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra): Eh. Nostalgia tips it.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.: I'll have to listen to the AT track again when I get home, but not being one of the songs I really remember is enough for me to call the match in SN's favor for now. Thuris for godlike.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe: Emmy fanboy checking in. Clearly this pool is where all the awesomeness wound up.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth: Both are good, but I'm more attached to CT's end theme, thanks.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within: I guess.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer: Probably should've been excluded from this contest.

[Lance]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra) - I used to like Suteki Da Ne, but then I listened to it about 8,000 times and got tired of it
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/ - Crying for the Dark Sky was...odd.  I couldn't get into it.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - I honestly don't see the "holy crap best track ever the rest of these songs are screwed" hype.  Battle with Lord Blazer is good, but it's not that good.

[Talaysen]

Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.: I'll have to listen to the AT track again when I get home, but not being one of the songs I really remember is enough for me to call the match in SN's favor for now. Thuris for godlike.

Linca is split-path, so you may not have heard it.

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra) - Ha.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/. - 5/4 meter ftw.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - Not even close.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - About the only CT track I consider really good.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - Hm, yeah.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll” - Meh.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - Examination ~ Allegro is awesome, but it's freaking Song of Mana.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - hax

[SnowFire]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra) - Nostalgia.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/. Wow, I dislike both.  Uh...  Linca is kinda nice as opposed to whiny, I guess.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - Wildly different songs clash once again.  Eh, gut.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - Meaning of birth is my favorite song in the TotA soundtrack, but tough draw.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - Invasion totally doesn't do it for me; maybe it works better in context.  Okay J-Pop beats bad rock, and there's certainly been worse WA songs (cough cough WA3 cough).
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll” The Leonia battle theme is catchy.  The Staff Roll is okay, but meh.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - No vote.  Like both pieces a lot but in wildly different ways; Song of Mana is clearly the better stand-alone piece, but PW3's questioning theme is just about perfect for in-game while trying to figure out the way past a witness.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - WA2's final battle probably deserved a few byes, so that it when it finally got in it'd only be against worthy opposition.

[Nitori]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/. - Zzzz~
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - This matchup isn't really all that...much...defaulting to upbeat over melancholy.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - Having more energy is an almost certain way to insure my vote~

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - The vocals sound like they're on drugs. By principle I am voting this through the whole pool.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll” - Hey, this is pretty good. Go underdog~
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - Allegro doesn't deserve this~
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - Black Dream is surprisingly awesome, this is close~

[InfinityDragon]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra) - Not a fan of Suteki Da Ne's melody.
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/. - Fairly close. Dark Sky isn't as generic sounding, so it wins.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - June Mermaid doesn't go anywhere.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - Holy fucking slaughter. Meaning of Birth is one of the worst pieces of shit I've heard in a long time. The compositional quality is fucking utter garbage. The song has absolutely no concept of harmony, rhythm, or timing. Slapping a frantic American folk song together with a classical symphony would be more pleasing to listen to than this shit.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - Ugh, bad vocals everywhere. The WA4 track has far better instrumentation outside the vocals though.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll” - Nocturne's ending theme is awesome.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - Another awesome ending theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - Uh...yeah. Not close.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within- argh so awful
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer

[Talaysen]

Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - Holy fucking slaughter. Meaning of Birth is one of the worst pieces of shit I've heard in a long time. The compositional quality is fucking utter garbage. The song has absolutely no concept of harmony, rhythm, or timing. Slapping a frantic American folk song together with a classical symphony would be more pleasing to listen to than this shit.

I laughed.

[Niu]

Prelude
EXEC_LINCA/.
Pain the Universe
To Far Away Times- Meaning of Birth becomes grating very quickly

The Invasion from Within
“Staff Roll”
Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme- What a horrible horrible slaughter
Black Dream- never a big fan of the in game version of the Lord Blazer theme

[Sierra]

Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.: I'll have to listen to the AT track again when I get home, but not being one of the songs I really remember is enough for me to call the match in SN's favor for now. Thuris for godlike.

Linca is split-path, so you may not have heard it.

Just listened to the track. I definitely remember hearing this in-game. Climbing up the last streth of the tower to meet posessed Shurelia, I believe. Good enough to make me rethink the vote here, yeah.

[Twilkitri]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra) - Eh... Prelude just really isn't that special..
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/. - Both of these are annoying. I'm thinking this one is the lesser so.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - Mmm, I like both of these. Going with the faster.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - Far Away Times is... servicable. Really feels like it's missing something, and the final minute is bizarre, but fine enough. Meaning of Birth is weird; on numerous occassions it seemed like the tune cut from doing what it was currently doing and went off in a different direction... this may have just been due to the speed it was going at? I ended up liking it despite this. Nice and happy.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - Simple enough.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll” - One of the wind instruments in Leonia really bugs me for some reason. But this Roll is the same damned thing over and over and it wasn't a particularly good thing to begin with.
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - I can't say that's the best Phoenix Wright tune I've ever heard. It sounds like Megaman 2 era music & style ._. Song of Mana is no prize itself, but it doesn't HAVE to be. All these Legend of Mana tunes are making me think that I should have nominated one of the Troubadour's tracks from Legend/4C to torment people.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - Hmm. Blazer is good, albiet not awesomely so as some people are appearing to make it out to be. Black Dream on the other hand sounds like store BGM.

[Yakumo]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth - I like them both, but I can't shake the feeling I've heard the TotA track somewhere else and I've never played the game, which is kinda creeping me out.  As good a tiebreak as any? <_< >_>

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - PW music works well at setting mood in-game, but I really don't like it standing alone.  Also, the other song is awesome. <_<
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - I... don't really get the hype for this song, but the Black Omen is a mood piece and doesn't stand alone well. 

[QuietRain]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer

[Fudozukushi]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer

[dude789]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer

[Orson]

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme (Poor Allegro...poor Allegro)
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer (Twi said it best. Black Dream sounds like a storm BGM...Blazer, on the other hand, is IMO not the best WA2 song, but is still good on its own merit. Not close.)

[Dhyerwolf]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra)Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within- Yeah, this WA 4 song might be good without vocals, but with them, it's kind of earsplitting.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer

[NotMiki]

Final Fantasy (All)- Prelude (aka Crystal Theme) v Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne (orchestra) - can't stand when a vocalist changes the basic tune by holding over the previous note for a syllable, which is exactly what happens on the 7th note of the vocals.  Almost as bad as warblingsinging the national anthem in 4/4.  I mean, if you're an artist drawing the flag, you've still got to have 13 stripes.  why, then, is it acceptable to add 1 beat for every three that exist in the NATIONAL FUCKING ANTHEM?!  *ahem*
Soul Nomad - Crying for the Dark Sky v Ar tonelico - EXEC_LINCA/.
Xenogears: June Mermaid v Legend of Mana - Pain the Universe - no contest.  great atmospheric composition here.
Chrono Trigger ~ To Far Away Times v Tales of the Abyss: meaning of birth the CT one has some great little tweaks in the chord progression, which is enough for me.  TotA's track is just too damn obvious.  Just not great enough of a retool.

Wild ARMs4 - I Look Up At The Night Sky Because You Are There v Disgaea: The Invasion from Within - erg. this is tough.  Both are really excellent at what they do.
Brigandine- Leonia's battle music v Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – “Staff Roll”
Phoenix Wright 3: Questioning - Allegro  v Legend of Mana - Song of Mana ~ Ending Theme - not a big fan of the vocals, but the competition ain't much.
Chrono Trigger ~ Black Dream v Wild Arms 2 - Battle with Lord Blazer - No contset.  Lord Blazer continues to impress.