#I will also just take vgm recommendations in general

[snailslunchpail]

HELLO I don't know how many people are going to see this but I really love video game music and I also really love when video game music has this funny little instrument called the monkey drum / cuica drum so I've created a playlist on yt where I am compiling all the video game songs I know that use monkey drum and if anyone knows any other songs id really appreciate recommendations !!!

[chemicalbrew]

1, 13, 19, 22?

1. Favorite game from the last 5 years?

Trails 3rd counts as a game released (in English lol) within the last five years and thus as a game I played within the last five years as well. I feel that I gushed about it enough to some people, and at this point I’m slightly burned out on doing that, but trust me, this game and series deserve immense praise

The only reason I’m not using CT as an answer is that it was released almost 25 years ago, so it may not qualify here lol

I could mention Brandish TDR (localised in 2015, fucking six years after release… God damn)… but it’s just… Not for everyone, for sure. I had a blast with it (for the most part, fuck ex9 and that stupid maze challenge in ex4), but most other people won’t — this game is the definition of niche and has plenty of… turnoffs, let’s call it that.

One old review I read said something along the lines of ‘this game is very old-school, despite the graphic/sound enhancements. It scratches a particular kind of itch pretty much perfectly, but too few people have it, so Brandish is never going to find mass appeal. All of this is clear to everyone, both players and designers, and yet, here this game stands, to please this particular niche’. It really stuck with me and struck me as the truth.

So, much as I want to recommend this game/series to people and much as I’d love to see it receive more attention, it’s just not gonna happen. And I can’t call it the best either, because it does have flaws, they’re just recognised as part of the charm and/or mechanics… I SURE WANT TO THOUGH! Because hot damn I loved the unique experience TDR offered me!.. enough to beat both fucking modes after hissing in frustration for weeks at a time! (And that’s with taking advantage of my emulator and a few maps because I am really not strong enough to get anywhere close to 100% in Dela on my own…) Ha… ha… ha… Man…

I’m telling you, this game is something magical, and even three months and 50h of playtime later, after beating it in its goddamn entirety, I have no way of explaining how it managed to get such a hold over me! I really think it’s the sum of the parts:

good level design (that gets so good it’s painful in Dela)

awesome music that not only holds up decades later, but is also beautifully rearranged

great sense of progression/gameplay loop (I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels awesome going methodically through a new floor, wary of every step, and then realising you conquered it and can comfortably retrace your steps later to figure out how to reveal the whole map, almost in a trance… Before going on to a new mysterious floor! And then there’s the short but sweet ass narration that you get to see over one of the best pieces of VGM I know every time you clear a set of floors…)

SYNCHRONICITY IS SO GOOD, GOOD, GOOD that it deserves its own bullet point, damnit

satisfying the dragon inside me with plenty of opportunities to hoard shit with enough patience

painfully basic story that, nonetheless, pleases me so much

the aesthetic / general style isn’t just dark and edgy for the sake of it ALL THE TIME, which is something that the music helps with a lot (Dark Zone does precisely this, sure. But it’s used to the level’s advantage!). Oh, and the artwork of TDR specifically??? Brilliant!

difficulty that’s punishing, but fair (in case of Dela … closer to just punishing sometimes, but still mostly fair and absolutely beautiful), WITH THE OPTION TO SAVE ANYWHERE SHOWING ONCE AGAIN THAT YOU CAN UNLOCK THE UNDERWORLD WITH JUST SOME PATIENCE UNDER YOUR BELT!!! AND IT’S ALL SO PLEASANTLY BALANCED THAT ‘SHOULD YOU DIE HERE (AND YOU WILL!)’, IT WILL BE YOUR GODDAMN FAULT 98% OF THE TIME *foams at the mouth in PMD’s general direction*

I don’t even know, it’s magic. Okay, rant over, God, Brandish is great (but 3rd takes the cake here, mind you! I just have a fuckton of feelings about Brandish!)

13. Favorite boss?

Uuuhhh ok, here’s the thing: this is the kind of stuff that I don’t really pay attention to. Like, I look back on a game and I’d rather remember the plot and the music than the fights, unless they’re really really really creative.

I can give Brandish its due here (again…), though: when I beat Ares mode, I enjoyed the hell out of the last boss fight as a natural conclusion and culmination of everything I’m used to (not Dela’s final boss though — that’s because I accidentally spoiled myself on it + it’s definitely simpler, unfortunately). Oh, and the rearranged battle theme in TDR is absolutely amazing still… Every time Tradition comes on, I want to scream because blatant leitmotif/melody re-usage is my weakness lmao

I have similar feelings about the final fight in The Minish Cap because it was challenging, utilised the split-in-four mechanic greatly, AND I really like Vaati’s designs as a boss, honestly.

In addition, Nayuta looks like it’ll have remarkable boss fights as well, because so far they’ve all been crafted pretty much perfectly to squeeze enjoyment out of the player, but I’m only a third or a quarter of the way through the game, and so I’m sure it’s gonna give me something noteworthy later, but I can’t say anything precise now.

19. Ridiculous crossover that would never happen but would be super fun?

The easy answer here is Chrono Trigger x ANYTHING (except for Trails, I thought hard about that one and it doesn’t work all that well)

But I’ll try to get more specific now:

Brandish + Radical Dreamers (YES! YES, THIS IS JUST COMBINING TWO OF MY MOST OBSCURE INTERESTS, BUT IT WORKS! ALMOST! DON’T @ ME, I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR MONTHS!)

CT + Pokemon, and yes, it’s a whole thing

Fire Emblem + any RPG, because assigning classes to characters is always fun. And you don’t have to play the actual games that may or may not have been mediocre this entire time — just peruse the wiki for info!

also Fire Emblem + not having immortal beings in kids’ bodies and all that fucked up shit

a Falcom rep in Smash Bros… hey, it says ‘ridiculous’ right here!

22. Games you want to play?

OK, this one will be much more easy and fun, I swear. Let’s get the obvious out of the way (along with the fact that I want to replay CT and 3rd, but it’ll never happen, it seems):

Brandish 2: The Planet Buster

‘But haven’t you made weird excited posts about getting it to work? What’s stopping you?‘

Dela Mode stopped me, y’all, I absolutely need a break after that one. Plus, thinking about how this will have to be the end of my journey for an indefinite amount of time (if not straight up the end) is just… sad. On the other hand, I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to beat this without losing my marbles, and yet I have to, have to try! This series, I SW EAR

Trails to Zero

One word: Geofront.

Zwei II: The Ilvard Insurrection

I want to take a good look at it, because this game is actually what got me interested in Zwei in the first place, and the only reason I played AA first is to, of course, preserve continuity. At the same time I’m not sure if this game is going to play any better than AA, which, believe me, isn’t exceptionally great in this aspect… I’m totally on the fence here.

Ys I & II Chronicles

Nothing to see here, just mild curiosity, moving on… (also I played it for like half an hour and didn’t quite figure out the whole bumping mechanic, but man, does it look gorgeous!)

Valkyrie Profile

Yes, it’s been months since this game was recommended to me, and I still haven’t gotten around to it, but I do keep it in mind! :D

Disgaea

Suikoden

Live A Live

Harvest Moon

Transistor

the Bravely games

Trials of Mana

Radiant Historia

Do I know what’s going on in all these games? NO.

Do they intrigue me? YES.