Recently I've started to watch some videos of games on youtube to see how the music for some of games I haven't played but like are used (and some of those I have but completely forget.) I'm trying to make some playlists and knowing how they used and the surroundings they reflect helps. I've already ran into a few surprises:

Pitch Black Intrusion
- I knew this was area theme, but what surprised me was the snowy suroundings

Into the Dark Night
- I was completely fooled into thinking this was an area theme, but it's a boss theme. Does anyone get the feeling this belongs in a Rockman Zero game?

Anyway, I see how this could ruin a game for you, but these are game's I'll probably never get around to. Does anyone else do this?

Nah, not personally. Scarlet Soul, on the other hand...

Anyway, if I do this it's usually either for fighting games I haven't played, or for when new music is made for extra content we'll never see translated (KH Final Mix's Disappeared gave me a very different scene than I'd guessed).

I like that one as well, but it's pretty obvious it's a battle theme from the get go. When it comes to RMZ I have to admit I was surprised "Nothing Beats" was a battle theme.

I do this pretty frequently, although it's frustrating to run into games nobody has done put up a video online (the worst is when I can't even work off a japanese trackname, such as an SPC set done for a Japanese game when there's no corresponding soundtrack)

I only listened to a bit of the Dawn of Sorrow soundtrack before playing the game, so I've experienced most of the tracks in context, and after a while they all really seem to fit the light-hearted, almost lazy feel of the game (kind of how the game itself is designed, heh). Despite some gruesome bosses, the game really does feel like a saturday morning cartoon extension of the Aria of Sorrow story (and the new character design doesn't help that at all). That isn't necessarily a complaint, but the game never pulls off the same consistency and depth of atmosphere you got in Castlevania games before that.

I'd be interested in knowing if Pitch Black Intrusion was intended as the first area theme from the start. The opening FMV theme (Cross of the Blue Moon) is an arrangement of the same theme, so it seems likely, but it does come on a little...odd for a Castlevania opening area theme.

Dew Prism's "Roadblock" is a battle theme? I always invisioned it more as are hurry theme. Still, hurry themes are usually only a step away from battle themes and sometimes double as both.

Now I need to figure out where "Rasdan" plays.

And Mint sure seems annoying.

Being that most of my soundtracks are acquired due to hearing the music in-game, I actually PLAY games to see the music used in context.  In cases where I hear the music first, it often inspires me to try the game out.  This is not always beneficial, however, as Soukaigi and its *cough* brilliant *cough* control scheme is about as fun to play as hitting your hands with a hammer.

"Rasdan" is the final dungeon theme.

She just so happens to be the most awesome character ever to appear in a game: play the game and know what you're talking about before making such judgments.

Agreed, Soukaigi has an awesome soundtrack, but the game is a steaming pile of alligator dung.

I made it all the way to the 3rd disc and final area, but couldn't end up beating one of the bosses towards the end... So never got to finish it.

Did you ever stop to think that my saying she's annoying was a complement? There are several scenes that are funny because of it. Second, I'll say whatever the ^%$* I want to about a character, even if I haven't played the game.

For example, when you tell your artist to make a "female Cloud Strife" and even go as far to name her lightning, you're beating a dead horse.

Oh my, I judged a character I've never played as, civilization as we know it will surely crumble.

"Annoying" is a compliment? Haha, OK.

LOL, chill out, dude. You're way too defensive, you shouldn't take everything being said as a personal attack.

I really enjoy speeding down the highways of New Jersey at 100 mph at around 5 o'clock in the morning (the night is coming to an end and the sky is turning lavender-blue) with the wonderful STAGE 2 song from the EINHANDER soundtrack blaring through the car speakers.

It feels just like it does when you're playing the actual game (except for the gunning down of enemy planes, of course).

The high-energy techno music by Mr. Fukai (sp?) combined with the exhilaration of speeding through almost-empty highways as the new morning sky is finally breaking, is a wonderful experience.

..The Jet-Set Radio ost works pretty well with this setup, as well.

In his defense, you were jumping down his throat for him saying Mint SEEMS an annoying character.

Are we now not allowed to make observations anymore, Daniel?

Mint is the best character ever.

I think Mint is cute.

And i love her song 'Meeting With the Princess of the Amazon'.

(track 20, if i remember correctly)

Gonna be hanging onto this album for as long as possible, it's almost as summery-feeling as the Legend of Mana ost..

Yes Amazingu, you are now not allowed to make observations anymore, ever again. That was the last drop: I'm pulling the plug.

Seriously though, there was no malice in my post, I just pointed out that its dumb to judge from just seeing a few gameplay vids. Being a member of an internet forum really gives you a perspective on how easily words are misinterpreted, doesn't it?

Dammit, first my mother, then my wife, and now you.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!?

I appreciate your defending me amazingu, but I'm probably the last person you - or anyone - should be defending. I'll completely admit my behavior on these forums (and others) has been quite poor lately. I treated some of the people around me poorly as well due to some bumps in the "road of life" so apologizing is something I've been doing a lot of lately.

However, and I say this in the nicest way possible, as unjustified as my snapping at that particular response was above, I'm not the least bit remorseful in this case. I probably would be if someone (anyone) else had said it, but in such a scenario I think it would have been phrased in a completely different manner.

And as Forest Gump said "That's all I have to say about that."

Quit being such a gushing emo vagina, Ashley. You need to learn to just laugh at life and shrug things off more.

From what I've gathered from reading your posts, son, your problem seems to be not that you're "not the least bit remorseful in this case", but that you're remorseful in every other case and in general. Stop letting people walk all over you, and - more importantly - stop walking all over yourself.

Reading stuff like this, what part of me is suppost to even begin to try and like, let alone respect you or anything you say?

If I'm a gushing emo vagina then you must be a defensive, self righteous dick.

Seriously dude, you take everything being said all the time as being an attack? You don't joke around like that with your pals in real life sometimes? Ease yourself out of that tense defensive stance: I'm not attacking you. Like, damn, son.

Don't fcuking talk to Ash like that, dude.

It's completely uncalled for, he didn't curse at you to begin with.

I joke around with friends, but considering our past indiscretions I though it was perfectly clear we weren't friends. Where in the social contract does it say a non-friend can rip on a person in the same way as a friend?

Our "past indiscretions"? You mean when we've disagreed or clashed in the past? Why would this mean that we can't be friends? Does it mean that we're necessarily enemies? I bear no ill will or malice towards you and I've never had, even if we've disagreed a lot. I get the feeling that you're taking this too seriously. I've never meant any ill to you or anyone else here, although I know I can be direct and blunt in my statements sometimes. But, isn't that how friends are supposed to be with each other in the first place?

Let's be friends, Ashley Winchester! (And as for the "social contract", I've never paid much attention to what it has to say anyway).

Well, I'd say the two of you were made for each other then.

Now start makin' some kids!

I'd hate to see those little hellspawns.

when I was first reading Japanese impressions of Crisis Core (when I still hung around NeoGAF), I was impressed by the described final battle - similar to FF7 and FFX, it wasn't really the final boss (who was Gackt, or a clone of Gackt, or a clone of a clone of Gackt - ugh, what a story). Rather, the final fight was Zack against the Shinra soldiers who were sent to take him down after he escaped Neflibhbdrliwhatsit with Cloud in tow. This was somewhat vaguely portrayed in the original FF7, and Last Order (the anime short meant to link Before Crisis and Crisis Core) basically made a hash of the sequence of events (and what happened in the big Zack/Cloud/Sephiroth showdown in Neifelbadgersheim).

Crisis Core, which of course is entirely about Zack and his interactions with Cloud and Sephiroth, further revised things - for example, Last Order implied that Zack died from a sniper shot during a truck ride briefly shown in the original FF7. Crisis Core altered the scene to have him survive, only to end up facing an insurmountable legion of Shinra soldiers soon after. Leaving Cloud in a safe location, he then fights a desperate battle to the death against odds that can't be defeated. This is portrayed via the game's battle system, and when I was reading the descriptions given by someone who had just finished the Japanese version, I apparently got a very incorrect image of what happened.

My mental picture was of a combat scene in which Zack is surrounded by Shinra soldiers who he is powerful enough to cut through like butter, but no matter how many he defeats, more step up - it's practically a small army. No matter how powerful or resourceful the player, they will eventually die, because Shinra is powerful and amoral enough to just throw men's lives away until Zack is dead. To me, this was a powerful expression of plot through gameplay and the nice take on the annoying concept of unwinnable RPG battles.

I had thought Those Who Accept The Protection of the Stars the last "true" boss theme., given it's sheer nosiness and the disparity between it and the next track, Soldier Battle. I mean, I imagine some of you really don't hear much difference between Ishimotos rather inelegant rock battle themes, but that drum-roll style opening and the oppressive/repetitive nature of the tune made it seem like the perfect fit for a battle the player either knows or gradually realizes they are going to lose no matter how hard they try. I got into my head somehow that this battle took place in the middle of the night with a full moon shining down on the bloodshed as this tune droned on.

And it's called Soldier Battle, after all.

....except of course, today I decided to actually look up the scene (since I'm pretty sure I'll never play the game), and eventually I realized something: despite how I remember seeing it on tracklists back then and how it's listed on Youtube now, it's not Soldier Battle. It's SOLDIER Battle, an important distinction those who've played FF7 will recognize. The song actually pays when you defeat the villain's giant ridiculous final boss from, and then have a one-on-one final battle with him while he is back to being Gackt. That is the game's "true" final battle.

Suffice it to say, seeing the actual hopeless battle against the Shinra soldiers disappointed me, not just because it was nothing like I had erroneously imagined it to be, but because it just plain looks moronic. (the music,by the way, is The Price of Freedom, which I had assumed was some ending FMV track)

tl;dr: Never expect a Final Fantasy game to be as good as you hoped

Oh, man. Word. That's an authentic statement

What's the point of making kids if they're just going to grow up to despise, deny, and reject their own culture..?

Face it, people. We're going to be in the Minority sooner than you realize.

And all the Resident Evil genocide simulators in the whole world aren't going to change that fact, either.

It's just the way it is, my friends.

OK, even I have to admit, that is freakin' halarious.

I feel an STC-inspired fanfiction coming on . . .

"Ashley's warm breath cascaded down Daniel K's back as he traced patterns sensuously on his back, a sensation Daniel K had been waiting for all night . . . "

hahahahahahahahahaha.... omg, my sides hurt, I can't stop crying, lol!

Dammit, Amazingu, you're always so rough. Me and Ashley are just now becoming friends, there's no need to rush things. There'll be plenty of time for that later on.

You dutch are all about gettin' it on right away, aren't you?