Holy shit, Silent Hill 2 got pushed back to 38!?

Methinks asking people at a SquareEnixMusic forum for their favorite music is not going to create a very diverse/objective/representative list, and this top 100 definitely confirms that.

Try posting the same question on Mega Man Network and Silent Hill Heaven and the list will look completely different.
Wouldn't it have been better to post this at more general VGM sites?

Like I said, I am unfamiliar with how the Mana/Seiken Densetsu series works.  Here were the different titles that were put on lists:

Legend of Mana
Legend of Mana (OSV)
Legend of Mana (Yoko Shimomura)
Legend of Mana Original Soundtrack
Legend of Mana ost
Seiken Densetsu (Legend of Mana) Original Soundtrack
Seiken Densetsu 2
Seiken Densetsu 2 (OST)
Seiken Densetsu 2 Original Sound Version
Seiken Densetsu 2 OST
Seiken Densetsu 2/Secret of Mana (SNES, Hiroki Kikuta)
Seiken Densetsu 3
Seiken Densetsu 3 (SNES, Hiroki Kikuta)
Seiken Densetsu 3 OST
Seiken Densetsu 3 OSV
Seiken Densetsu 3: Original Soundtrack
Seiken Densetsu 4
Seiken Densetsu II
Seiken Densetsu Sound Collections
Seiken Densetsu Sound Collections (Orchestral part)
Seiken Densetsu Sound Collections (OSV + arrange in one album)
Seiken Densetsu: Legend of Mana Original Soundtrack
Seikken Densetsu 2

Since a couple people put down Seiken Densetsu: Legend of Mana as a choice, I assumed that these represented the same game.  It looks like I mapped all of the Legend of Mana and Seiken Densestsu: Legend of Mana entries to Seiken Densestsu Original Soundtrack, which I presume to be this:

http://vgmdb.net/album/77

I suppose I should have used Seiken Densetsu / Legend of Mana Original Soundtrack as the name.

This list could have been diverse but even less reprehensive and objective if people had nominated whatever they thought was cool and smart to pretend to like for the sake of the reverse snobbery. I don't think this was the case, but I still remember one member revealed his love for Ys was supported by the superiority he felt toward Square Enix fanboys who he claimed loved anything generic from the company.

I actually think SE in their olden days gets what it deserves, although I don't care more than the half member and, for that matter, pretty much anybody from the current inhouse team (except for Tanioka, but she's also grown mundane lately). If predictable, it's still reasonable.

Yeah, really.

I like the diversity in the lower half of the list, but the upper half is just bad. And how about that top 20? 9 Final Fantasy albums, 14 Square albums. Holy Jeebus! We haven't progressed one bit. We're still in the jungle here, we're doomed. *cue stereotypical J-RPG villain speech about how this corrupt world must be cleansed with fires of destruction*

I wonder if it would be possible to this kind of think like a feature in here, like Soundtrack Central's community's Top 500 VGM releases of All-Time, taken from lists from people's profile.

So people could modify their list when time passes and new gems pops up, and old gems crack like fake ones.

I dunno, I'd look at it as more of a sign that most people enjoy one or two enough to rank them highly, but that opinions differ on what the best ones are. That said, I seem to remember somebody stocking his Top 5 with 4 different Silent Hill scores, so maybe this criticism was tongue-in-cheek?

How about meeting half-way at 250?

I guess my other comment was too nice and went kind of unnoticed so I'll put my point more explicitly: stop being an elitist prick. I mean, really.

Sure, there are elitists in any hobby, just because there are always people way more into it than others. I raise my hand there as far as being way more into VGM is concerned, and probably most of the people who frequent this board would as well. The problem is, this community is way too small, and the annoying stinkers seem far, far bigger.

Who gives a shit if people like the music they like? I'm going to venture a bit of a guess here -- a lot of us started collecting and actively listening to game music during the PlayStation era (you know, the one that was dominated by Square). I'll have to raise my hand again there. In fact, all of my first albums purchased were from Square games like FFVIII, FFIV, and Xenogears (and were all bootlegs too, but that's neither here nor there).

This should be VGM 101, but the rise of the Internet and more active availability of merchandise along with the contemporary popularity of Square's stuff probably lead a lot of people to order CD like I did instead of the soundtrack to some obscure Konami shooter. Sure, NOW I wish I would have ordered Gradius Gaiden instead, but I hadn't played that game then and wouldn't have had the memories of the it and the emotions attached to the music, which is probably another reason so many of these old Square albums still stick. No one who loves Final Fantasy is going to listen to say, Silent Hill 2, and just immediately forget Final Fantasy exists. To repeat, we are partying like it's 1999 because guess what -- that's around when we joined the party! In fact, that's me exactly-- I ordered FFVIII in the fall of '99.

And really, we must have "progressed" a little bit because I don't really see much in the way of more recent Square stuff on the list, besides obvious ones like Kingdom Hearts. For me at least, that's because most of their new games past the main series FFs sucked and I really haven't played them. In fact, I'd say our top VGM lists are just as equally indicative of our habits as gamers and game music listeners. If I had done a list, it would have been filled to the brim with Konami shooters, Castlevania, Mega Man, and of course some Final Fantasy thrown in there, while being topped off with Vagrant Story -- those of course being my favorite games of all time. I don't think I could have even placed my more recent favorites from the Shin Megami Tensei series like Nocturne and P4 in a top 10 just because they don't yet resonate with me like the old classics from the past do. They just need time.

I guess if the game music community doesn't recognize enough obscure stuff for you to be happy with, go listen to commercial jingles or something instead. Oh wait, you'd probably be pissed when some forum list chose the Alka Seltzer jingle over whatever "better" song you had in mind.

But sorry dude, I hate ratting on anyone in the VGM community because my VGM hobby is something I'm really proud of and have enjoyed ever since I first recorded Secret of Mana off the TV. But I think it should be a hobby anyone should be allowed to enjoy without being judged, because music taste is quite subjective; yet, the more ubiquitous stuff will always find more of a common ground than the obscure.

Wow, you've totally misunderstood me, Eirikr. This part

and this

was meant to oh-so-subtly suggest that my criticism is very much tongue-in-cheek, like SonicPanda put it. You really think that I participated in the voting and anticipated the result, and also expected it to be fashioned after my own taste? Like I've said many times, I found the list to be very good and mildly amusing. Sorry dude, but if you think I'm angry or even irritated by the list, you're way off. Since the basis of it is completely, 100% subjective, what's the point in getting worked up about it?

As for "elitist prick", sorry, but no. I'll accept "ironic prick" or "sarcastic prick" any day of the week, but I've consistently been anti-elitist in my posts here, whether its been defending obscure genres of music as being legitimate VGM (as in the great ambient debates of the early 2000s, if anyone still remembers), or pointing out that people who record game music from TVs or download it can be just as big fans of the hobby as someone who blows a lot of money on officially released soundtracks (in contrast to some people who claim only people that buy VGM CDs can be called VGM fans). I may be forceful in expressing my views now and then, but I do not think I'm better or more "elite" than anyone else. The two are very different things.

Who is judging? Have you felt a verdict come down on you, do you fear consequences? Chill out, man. I was just expressing my opinions, which are as subjective as anyone else's. Not to imply anything, but do you really feel so insecure as to take my tomfoolery and sarcastic-bombastic melodrama as an attack on your taste or your VGM-roots? People are so thin-skinned about this. Seriously, if this list had turned out to be more to my liking and someone said nasty things about it, I'd just shrug it off, since its just a silly list done for fun and nothing to get worked up over. Right?

Out here on the internetz, you'll hear a lot of things that will annoy and anger you, and you'll meet many people you feel pass judgment on you or scorn your views/tastes. My advice: shrug it off, take it with a smile, since its just opinions. And opinions (together with information) are what public forums are all about.

Crash:

Yeah, the Mana series is pretty much:

Seiken Densetsu (released as Final Fantasy Adventure in the US) for Gameboy
Seiken Densetsu 2 (released as Secret of Mana in the US) for SNES
Seiken Densetsu 3 (not released in the US) for SNES (err... Super Fami)
Seiken Densetsu: Legend of Mana (released in the US as just Legend of Mana) for PS1
Seiken Densetsu: Sword of Mana (released in the US as Sword of Mana) for GBA

And... okay that's pretty much where my familiarity with the series ends.  There was a horrible PS2 game and a couple DS titles that also got "~of Mana" subtitles.  In any case, the confusion probably comes from the weird choice of a slash instead of a colon on the OST's case, when the "Legend of Mana" part is a subtitle for the fourth game released.

(I can't believe I actually know all this, considering how much I generally dislike the series as a whole)

Anyway, as for the list as a whole, I'm not sure if I'm happy there's as much Falcom stuff as there is or sad that there isn't more.  VERY Square Enix heavy, though more skewed towards older Square stuff.  That says something in itself, I think.

Regarding SEMO, it's not just dedicated to Square Enix, but a hell of a lot of other things as well and will pretty much be a general game music resource by the end of the year. Most members there listen to a lot of game music and many of them more than most of the regular members here. There's also been plenty of contests to expose more obscure game music to newer fans. Given it's also a big site for reviews (1200 and counting!), most tend to be fairly analytical in their considerations and don't just nominate based on "OMG, it's Final Fantasy. It must make it!" Obviously it would bias things a bit more towards Square Enix, but not that much, given other forums have their own biases too as PQTN said. I think what we've got is a very fascinating insight into the tastes of the main VGM community, which would have been skewed towards Final Fantasy, Mega Man, and Castlevania wherever you go.  Interesting list anyway and thanks so much for compiling it, Crash, and for organising the project, GFX!

'Sarcastic-Bombastic', i like that.

That IS something else, isn't it?

And dammit! I totally fergot to vote for Legend of the Mystical Ninja on SNES!!

Anyone else think the Streets of Rage 2 ost is a little excessive in the Treble department?
I always hafta turn the treble way down when i listen to it.

I still have the full list and spreadsheet that I used if anyone is interested.  Is there someplace I could upload them so that interested parties could check them out?  The final list is a 35KB text file, while the spreadsheet is about 700KB.

Yeah, both of you guys get Heroes of The Month awards!

I know I don't post so much these days, but just wanted to note that it's really, REALLY surprising to see the AIR OST actually make the list.    I think that's progress right there.  Though I'd have liked to see a few more western soundtracks on there....possibly Ecco or Sonic CD.  Oh well.

I'm glad that the results got compiled!  Even though the top of the list is what I expected, there are a lot of interesting results the farther down you go.  Overall I think this is a pretty good representation of the top 100 video game soundtracks. 

Some results that I found interesting:

T-92. Xenosaga Episode I
(I would have thought this one would be higher.)

T-83. AIR Original Soundtrack
(I didn't think it would make the list! I'm so glad it did. )

T-63. Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- Original Soundtrack
(I've grown to like this soundtrack quite a bit, but I never expected it to make the top 100.)

T-61. The Black Mages 1
(Although the first one was good, I liked 2 and 3 quite a bit more. Funny that only this one made it.)

T-34. Rockman X
(Only at 34... at least it's in the top 50.)

22. Earthbound
(I figured it would make the top 50, but 22? I guess I'm missing out...)

1. Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version
2. Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack
(I knew it would happen, but I was really hoping these two would be reversed. Oh well.)

If I were to remake my list, I suspect it would be quite a bit different now.  I've found some new soundtracks and had more time to think about which are truly my favorites.  It would be awesome if there was a more dynamic way of doing this.  I need to think about that.

Hmm, I just checked out the results of this thing recently.  It's really not a bad outcome.  It doesn't match my personal list at all, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.  As for the placement of many Final Fantasy scores near the top, the thing with Final Fantasy is that there are a lot of them and that each one has its fans.  That means a lot of people are going to have at least one Final Fantasy score in their top five, so even if those people have varied lists otherwise, putting them all together is going to result in a Final Fantasy and Square-dominated top twenty.

Boco:

I, for one, am glad that FFVI beat out Chrono Cross for the top spot.  Four Mitsuda works in the top six is ridiculous.

9. Final Fantasy VIII OST (290 points)
10. Final Fantasy VII OST (289 points)

Wow, this is very intriguing. VIII - which I hold in high regard as that experimental and awesome middle OST between the (d)evolution from VI to the darker and interesting sounding VII and Uematsu's slight regression in style (not a bad thing!) on IX - beats out casual fan-favorite VII by one point. I'd ask for a photo finish, but that would just be CDs sitting on a desk and that would be boring.