Music Tournament of Doom Preliminaries Pool 13

[Cmdr_King]

So we come to the last week of the preliminaries!  Just four pools left until you'll have seen all 256 songs in this doom-filled land of continual music hype!  overwhelming, isn't it.

All thanks go to Tonfa, master of impossibly large music collections.  Closes one week hence.


Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars

[OblivionKnight]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - Somewhat unique and decent PS4 music vs. repetition. 
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles - ...yeesh.  Apathy for both, going for the happier one. 
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - Yay Ys.  Should have nommed Naphistm music, but oh well. 
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - ...This half is so much apathy outside of Ys.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Ok, this vocal is pretty.  The Sun is good background music, but not great on its own.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - Mmm...so the music box version of Anastasia was what was nommed?  i.e., Imperial Princess Anxiety, and not the other version, Going Her Way?  I...mmm...Lady Tears has that excellent middle section, I'll grant it that, but the rest of it isn't spectacular (though fitting).  But I prefer Going Her Way in entirety, and the music box part is cute.  Probably alone here, but...she's so cute, I can't vote against her!
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - This pool is gooooooood...in the second half >_>
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA SLAUGHTER.

[Fudozukushi]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time: Hot damn.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars: Hilariously one-sided.

[Sierra]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf: Laughter really does make the most of the Genesis's limited audio capabilities. Nice and menacing. FEv piece is pretty unremarkable.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles: One of FM4's better battle tracks. Disgaea track is actually kinda fun, but it's not quite enough here.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time: Oath in Felghana stomps SNES synth with spiked boots (actual composition on the FFMQ track isn't bad, though).
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle): Huh. I forgot there was stuff about .hack that didn't suck. Anyway, the XG track is just a good scene-setting piece.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-: Some of DDS's best against a pretty straightforward vocal piece. This is not a tough call for me.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess: SH3's one genuine moment of awesomeness crushes.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash: Oh god, Iwadare. SSSC music is generally just bad, and the FFX track is great. Nice and moody, and reuses a main theme to good effect.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars: Oh god, it's Yuyuko, make it die, make it die. ...Ahem. She does have pretty awesome music, at least.

[Niu]

Laughter
Hostiles
Sealed Time
Light From The Netherworld
Gentle Hands -English-
Lady Tears II
Someday the Dream Will End
If We Act Like Scholars

[Magic Fanatic]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - Leaf Army just seems like something beginning band students would have to learn...
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles - A song that puts me to sleep and does not impress me from the get-go does not win.  Hostiles was like a lullaby and wanted me to go to bed.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - ...Battle 2 isn't that bad of a song...  Sealed Time just blows it out of the water and hits it with 20 tonnes of nukes.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - I...  Uh...  Bunnies!

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Yeah, I gotta agree with OK on this one.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - Oh good god wow this is close.  Methinks that Lady Tears JUST barely edge out over the young mistress.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - Magical Weapon Nash is good, but...  Someday the Dream Will End is just a fuller, richer experience all-around.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - Slaughtered to the nth degree.

[Lance]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - Awesome.  I had completely forgotten about this track.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - Balls.  Both are good.  When in doubt, nostalgia usually makes a fine tiebreaker.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Very pretty
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - Lady Tears takes a while to hit its groove, but once it does, it's pretty darn good.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - Voting against the more popular piece.  Why?  Because I'm a rebel, that's why.  ...Actually, I just like it better.

[Cmdr_King]

hantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles- Similar character to them.  I'll take non-synth though.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time- coinflipped.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)- *blink* huh.  So .hack music hype was deserved.  Feeling this track more at the moment, which is surprising given how sentimental I am about things XG.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- I suppose.  Sun's alright but kinda repetative.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess- I adore the bridge in Lady Tears.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash- I've always really liked Someday the Dream Will End.  Dunno what it is.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars- Eh, Yuyuko's alright, 'side from the synthhorns.  WA5 track makes me die of boredom though.

[superaielman]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf- Laughter=good, Leaf army.. um.. tries?
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles- Hostiles is pretty uber.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time- Just too much better quality wise.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)- Mirror match.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-- I donno. Not a fan of The Sun.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess- Lady Tears II is all over the place, but it works in spite of that. Anastasia's theme is good too, tough match.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash- Nash his cool, his boss theme is not.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars- The PCB song made my poor ears bleed. Way, way too high pitched.  And sue me, I like the WA track here. Has a... well hell, reminds me of Megaman music of all things.

[Talaysen]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - Apathy
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles - Sato > Iwasaki
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - Both are awesome.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - If that's the XG track I'm thinking of.  Common Prarie is awesome so it probably beats most XG music.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Slaughteriffic.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - This one's close, will have to relisten to both to be sure.  EDIT: Yeah, let's go with Anastasia~
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - I don't like Nash, and I recall Someday the Dream Will End being good?  Will relisten later to be sure.  EDIT:  Yeah, definitely a winner.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - Sumizome is awesome.  Not sure if If We Act Like Scholars is the track I'm recalling, but it probably doesn't matter anyways.  EDIT: Hey, that WA5 track's not what I was thinking of and kinda neat.  Not enough though.

[Tonfa]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf: Fail-off.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles: Hostiles is sleep-inducing.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time: Sealed Time is Godlike.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle): Meh.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-: Eh, sure, let's go with the power of Engrish this time. Middling.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess: Easy enough.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash: Massacre.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars: Yuyuko's track is worse with the synths than I remembered, and just reinforces IN > PCB for music. WA5 track is neat enough.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf- Makes my ears bleed vs. mediocre.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles- The other song is really really really boring. This one is pretty bad too (the really goony/awkward singer makes it kind of bad) but at least it has life.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time- The other Ys song was a lot better.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)- This half is really failicious.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-- The worst DDS track I've heard so far vs. not bad vocals. I'd vote either over anything in the first half though.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess- Not even remotely close. This other song is pretty fucking terrible, it's a complete mismash of ear pain. I hate background moaning, I hate the epicness, I hate the random Castlevania sound bit, and then it comes in with a portion that kind of sounds like the shitty-ass berserk music. Give me a break. Also drastic mood switch. Blah, this song is just massive fail.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash- The best two songs in the pool? Possibly. Still, gotta go with the livelier one.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars- Neither of these are too bad, just this one is... better.

[Nitori]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - Far less boring.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - Better melody, ignoring synth for fairness reasons~
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - And here is the pool's match of fail, considering I'm voting for a XG mood piece what.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Isn't a stock vocal.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - Loses less out of game. Somehow.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - Underdog vote go~
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - I am not an...overly huge fan of Sumizome, but the other track is boring~

[VySaika]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - Meh?
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles - Meh?
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time -Oooh, good track.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - ...meh?

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Gentle Hands is pretty good.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess -...the hell is with all the meh in this pool?
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - Yay, another good song.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars -  - huuuuuh. I'm voting against a good Touhou track. Weeeeeeird. Scholars is just nice though.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf: Don't really see the appeal of Laughter; Genesis can't really pull off spooky battle themes and Ooze does it better anyway. Not like Leaf's anything special, but it beats Genesis synth.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles: My Comrade may well be my favourite RPG vocal. But this FM4 track is surprisingly good.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time: Battle 2's a steep step down from Battle 3. The Ys track is good aside from needing the volume turned down a bit.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle): Only part worth listening to in Rain Field is the middle. Light... actually is somewhat similar in that regard, but the whole thing does make a decent mood piece, more than I'm willing to credit its opponent.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-: Ooh, non-j-pop vocal. I think I may vote for it just for that. In fact, yeah, I will. I like The Sun but it wants in-agme badly.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess: I preferred the less treacly Anastasia song; slaughter as is. Lady Tears has that absolutely beautiful bit in the middle and some interesting contrasts otherwise.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash: Like 'em both, like this one a bit more. Just a pretty powerful piece, and Uematsu > Iwardare.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars: Where is the good Touhou music? Anyway, Scholars rules. Does some insanely neat things with percussion.

[dude789]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)

Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars

[Soulgain]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars

[Ranmilia]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - interesting vs generic.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles - Just better.  Both on the middlin side.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - For some reason these sound very similar to me, so going with the one with better instrumentation.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - I don't get this one.  The .hack track is like the worse half of FFT music and doesn't really feel coherent.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Genre bias here, I guess.  Don't care for the Gentle Hands style.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - Same as the last match.  Lady Tears 2 is a great boss theme (it is a boss theme, right?), the other is... nice in its way but not something I'd vote for over anything else that wasn't actively bad.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - Ah, man.  This IS a good half-pool.  No real comment here, both good.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - Sumizome (Border of Life is a better name for it if the second half isn't in) is probably the best Touhou song in composition and context, but the synth on it out of context hurts.  It still wins very easily here, the other track is astonishingly boring.  The Touhou music that would be good in this format didn't get nommed, since most of the fans either didn't submit noms or stuck to RPGs.

[Hunter Sopko]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - There are MUCH better .hack tracks than this...

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - Actually from GU 1. My favorite vocal track in an RPG. Happy with the support it's gotten. People need to watch the E3 GU Trailer for this in action.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash- Meloncholy~
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars

[Dhyerwolf]

Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars- If we Act Like Scholars is mostly horribly boring, except for one part about a minute in. It's opponent is just horrid though.

[Twilkitri]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - Oh wow. For all Leaf doesn't have a patch on the tune I had in mind, at least it doesn't abjectly fail like Laughter here does. Also we need a music tournament of arranges & remixes after this >_>.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles - Tomo Yo started off all right. Then they started singing. Hostiles was starting to get old by the time it finished but smites easily nonetheless.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - Survey says Mystic Quest is, has always been, and will always be, awesome in every way including music. There is no such survey for Felghana but this track is pretty good too, and it just barely manages to string its way out in front. Curseeeeees.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - No sir, I don't care much for either of these.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- - The Sun has style, although the jury's not completely out on whether it's good style or not. The gentlest of hands are annoying however so this is not yet relevant.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - Lady Tears is annoying. In the interest of a fair fight Anastasia is also annoying! but somewhat less so.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - A clash of mediocrity. Not entirely sure why I prefer the former but that appears to be the case.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - A bit hoppier.

[QuietRain]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars

[Dunefar]

Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash

[SnowFire]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf - I guess.
Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles - There's exactly one good song on the FM4 soundtrack (a major disappointment compared to 3)...  but that song is Hostiles, and it's pretty awesome.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time - I like the FFMQ boss theme a lot, though Sealed Time is competent.
Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle) - Light from the Netherworld is neat.  Praire is kinda boring.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English- Nice vocal vs. weird piece but not really weird in the right way.
Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess - Lady Tears is awesome.  So is Anastasia's theme, but final battle music > character theme when in doubt.  Plus, Lady Tears has a nicely long period without looping and generally loops well, which is important for a loooong fight.
Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash - Why is this not the horrible horrible Japanese singer version of Magical Weapon Nash linked?!  It's positively sanity reducing.  Anyway, I actually like (the real version of) Magical Weapon Nash, but tough draw.
Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars - The PCB piece exists (though not much more).  Sad that this is enough to win.

[Excal]

Phantasy Star IV: Laughter v Fire Emblem V - Leaf Army - In Search of Victory: Leaf
A distinctive and excellent piece of music vs. a nice piece that doesn't really stand out.

Disgaea: Tomo Yo (Battle Comrade) v Front Mission 4- Hostiles
Not bad, fun to listen to.  Hostiles, while it gets the job done and is servicable, doesn't aspire to anything more than that.  Then again, Front Mission only has the one really good piece of music, and even that I generally find impossible to objectivly defend as good.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Battle 2 v Ys The Oath In Felghana - Sealed Time
Ys Music is generally nice.

Xenogears - Light From The Netherworld v .hack - stage01 (Common Prarie Rain Field - Battle)
Neither of them are that strong, but Light From the Netherworld does an excellent job of setting up its scene, and ends very strongly.

Digital Devil Saga 2 - The Sun v .hack//G.U. 2 - Gentle Hands -English-
One is nice and melodic, the other...  isn't all that good.

Shadow Hearts: From The New World - Lady Tears II v Shadow Hearts 2- Anastasia ~ The Imperial Princess
There's something alright with this one, but mostly a meh-fest.

Final Fantasy X: Someday the Dream Will End v Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Magical Weapon Nash
Dangit Nash, even your music sucks!

Perfect Cherry Blossom - Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of the Sumizome v Wild Arms 5 - If We Act Like Scholars
Dungeon music is never that good, while shooters tend to have snazzier stuff in the background.