Ken Hisuag

I am an avid reader, and have been since my early teens! Books I am currently reading: Epistle to the Ephesians* by Paul the Apostle Mother Teresa: An Authorized Biography by Kathryn Spink Faith has its Reasons by Kenneth D. Boa & Robert M. Bowman, Jr. Ben Hur by Lew Wallace The Fellowship of the Ring* by J.R.R. Tolkien The Second Confession* by Rex Stout North, Or be Eaten! by Andrew Peterson Seven Arrows by Matt Rogers & Donny Mathis Gently and Lowly by Dane Ortlund Books I love and would recommend: How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart The Hidden Hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas That Printer of Udel's by Harold Bell Wright Gods, Graves and Scholars by C.W. Ceram The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer The Gospel of John by John the Disciple The Acts of the Apostles by Luke the Physician The Epistle to the Romans by Paul the Apostle To the proposed theory, reading is one of the most effective ways of growing your vocabulary, which has been speculated to diversify cognitive processing. Additionally, fiction can help develop imagination, while non-fiction can help develop understanding, but both are somewhat dependent upon the level of engagement. Of the mediums of media, books (reading) are the most likely to be mentally engaged with, whereas with film and video games it tends to be less common (distinguished from emotional engagement). I speculate this to be a consequence of the cognitive demand placed upon the person; film does most of the work of comprehension for you (especially modern day film), while books leave much of the work of comprehension to the reader. Put another way, more effort is required of the reader than the viewer, and as with any skill, practice assists with development.

Alright then, we'll see how far I get with this before I run out of time for today. Touhou 1 ~ Highly Responsive to Prayers This is my favorite entry of the PC-98 era, musically speaking. It's notably different from proceeding material (particularly if you're listening to the original), but it's still composed of quality motifs and progression structures. Swordsman of a Distant Star (one of a few different titles for the track) is my particular favorite from the album; second place is more difficult to pick out, but I think I'll go with Eternal Shrine Maiden. Touhou 2 ~ Story of Eastern Wonderland This is where ZUN's definitive style was established, particularly with the distinction between stage themes and boss themes. Complete Darkness and Himorogi, Burn in Violet are my picks for this one, but with the corollary of ZUN's later SC-88Pro arrangement of the latter being the preferred version, both for instrumentation and slight arrangement distinction. Honorable mention to Hakurei ~ Oriental Wind. Touhou 3 ~ Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream As my second favorite PC-98 entry, this one is more difficult to decide on. Nearly every track has noteworthy merit, and picking one or two immediately brings to mind the ones left behind. Nonetheless, I believe I'll settle on Eastern Mystical Love Consultation and Maple Dream..., with the former favoured toward the Untouched Scores version. Honorable mention to Strawberry Crisis!!, theme of my favorite character. Touhou 4 ~ Lotus Land Story While there's plenty of good pieces here, I have far less trouble deciding my favorites for this one. Sleeping Terror and Faint Dream ~ Inanimate Dream are far and away the best tracks in this era as a whole, and the latter remains one of my favorites in the entire series. Touhou 5 ~ Mystic Square All of the Alice-associated themes deserve recommendation, with Romantic Children and Grimoire of Alice particularly standing out to me. Additionally, I want to give honorable mention to Wondrous Romance ~ Mystic Square as an underrated menu theme. Touhou 5 Music Room A total of twelve bonus tracks were released with the final entry of this era, and I see no reason why not to consider this its own release. Anyway, it gives me an excuse to highlight Magic Shop of Raspberry and Phantasmagoria ~ Hardworking Day After Dark, as well as just generally draw attention to these oft overlooked tracks. Alight, I'm out of time; be back later.

Yo! Big fan! I tend to avoid English vocal songs, but I love chiptune arrangements, so I appreciate this being shared.

Okay, I'm fully prepared this time. Laz (scarps) - Break the Sabbath Nice to see a familiar name that isn't one of the big circles, especially when a search is encountering unusual difficulties. The amount of "Did Jesus Break the Sabbath" videos that apparently exist is equal parts disturbing and hilarious to me, and the fact that they seemingly outnumber arrangements of this piece is just another layer on top of that. Eulogous - Scarlet Symphony ~ Scarlet Phoneme Soft jazz is another nice find amidst the sea of heavy electronic that otherwise seems to dominate the top selections (not a complaint, just an observation). I suspect arranging in genres favouring improvisation (jazz, baroque) can be more demanding in certain areas, but that's only speculation. CYTOKINE - creeping indication After quite a bit of searching, I finally started finding remixes of the original Bad Apple!!. Granted, I suspect the infamous arrangement's influence is still detectable, but the missing motifs are present, and that's as much as I can ask for. I chose this one for its genre contrast to the other two.

That's a potentially confusing header, but I'm rather fond of the grammatically unique style of Touhou titles, and once this one emerged I decided to keep it. The recent popularity poll rekindled an idea I had about ranking within Touhou. Given the extensive nature of the series, some of the categories suffer from impossibly high quantity of options, specifically regarding characters (as has been discussed) and music. As my investment in the series is focused more on the music, my considerations on this matter were formulated in that direction, but I suspect the idea could be applied in other directions. To encourage the recognition of underappreciated tracks, I propose the challenge of an alternative ranking system: rather than a list of one's favorite pieces from across the whole series, a compilation of favorites from each individual entry. Instead of a top ten[ish], such a list would be comprised of at least one, at most three, tracks per game or disc release. I call this a "challenge," because the endeavor would require a near complete familiarity with all the music in the series, which most fans do not have. There might also be a question concerning smaller entries like Forbidden Scrollery or Bohemian Archive (a similar question might arise with character rankings), but I believe the exercise would be nonetheless interesting to attempt.

While I greatly appreciate the entirety of Mental Omega's soundtrack, the Foehn part composed by World Beyond is what especially stood out to me. There's a specific track in the album, Welcome to Our World, that functions as an intro to another (otherwise standalone) track, Beyond; together, they form one of the best tracks in the album. For some reason, there is no officially released unification of these two tracks, despite the former one being incapable of functioning as a standalone. I considered this an injustice, and have seen to the rectification.

Finally, we come to the Foehn soundtrack, the main reason why I wanted to feature all this in the first place. Whereas Black Ice 9's style may somewhat resemble Klepacki's, World Beyond's music moves fully into a different genre. The fourth faction's soundtrack consists of orchestral score with rock backing, occasionally leaning toward symphonic metal. What truly sets this apart from the previous three parts is its tone; instead of technical, forceful or foreboding, it invokes a mood of determination. The Foehn Revolt is intended to be noble, chivalrous, and more authentically heroic in comparison to the other factions. Lacking aspirations of conquest or pretended unity prevalent elsewhere, they present themselves as the idealistic option, a beacon of hope for the future. Their fighting style emphasizes long-term planning and the circumvention of enemy tactics and expectation. Ultimately, they are still measured by the same standard as the other factions, but it is evident that there is some distinction between it and them. It's worth noting, here at the end, that I have confined myself to using music from the official OST tracklists. Within the game's campaign, there are additional music tracks utilized from a variety of sources. As always, if anything has sparked interest, it may be worth looking further.

There are two reasons I'm late this week. First, I was unusually busy over the weekend. Second, I had determined to use a remix of the original Bad Apple!!, not the other more popular Bad Apple!!. This has turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. I'm giving myself more time, and in exchange I'll share this percussion-focused performance/cover that can't make the cut. Excessively unorthodox, but I can't help but appreciate it, both for the high levels of skill on display, and because they look like they're having so much fun with it!

No. A fanbase is a group entity, and not capable of unique will. It cannot be "bad" or "good," only "successful" or "unsuccessful." The success of a fanbase is typically measured jointly by its productivity and public perception. In productivity, the Touhou fandom has been exceptionally successful, turning out an unusually impressive volume of content. As for public perception, I have never cared much for judging a fandom by this standard. In every fandom, the most disreputable parts are the most well known, and the larger the fanbase, the larger its worst parts are. As such, public perception is often misleading as to the nature of the greater whole. Nonetheless, I suspect this is what you are really after.

Unlike its predecessors, the Epsilon soundtrack is composed by Black Ice 9, who uses a hybrid style similar to Klepacki but with a strong Middle Eastern folk influence. Pieces from this part of the soundtrack are also utilized for the mod's main theme and other important placements. Overall, these pieces are more foreboding, having limited movement as they slide through their melodies. The Middle Eastern instrumentation and progression is parred with strong electronic elements, complimenting and contrasted as the need allows. I perceive the Epsilon faction as an underhanded group, eschewing straightforward strategies in favor of subversive ones, seeking victory by means of deceit and espionage. Their fighting style emphasizes stealth and sabotage. By incorporating music so distinct from Klepacki, the faction is clearly distinguished from the previous two. However, the genre is just close enough to avoid being out of place.

erisu - Lotus Land Story I didn't look very long for this one; once I realized that the track title would be indistinguishable from the game title, I was hoping to find a satisfactory option sooner rather than later. Thankfully I came across this nifty synth remix. It's not quite synthwave, but it still has a nice spacey sound to it, and it manages to hold up well over its duration. Karasu - Phantasmal Labyrinth From previous experience, I trust Karasu to excel at unusual atmosphere, and this track is no exception. The buildup is beautiful, and somehow not so sharply distinct from its climax to make the transition jarring, despite its suddenness. This trend continues continues throughout the song; I keep expecting the more intense sections to feel disconnected from the rest of the piece, but it remains inexplicably unified. Factory Noise & AG - Selene's Light Honestly, the picture and unfamiliar artist were the deciding factors for this one (there were a lot of good options), but it's a noteworthy piece nonetheless. It has a similar style to the first remix, but differs in scope of arrangement, being slightly more imaginative and expansive.

In a similar vain, but with focus on individual parts (and in a far more condensed presentation): I appreciate having a breakdown; I often try to differentiate the layers from each other by ear, but it can be difficult to discern the finer parts.

In my first OGM Red Alert 2 feature, I noted that I considered my appreciation for the music to be unusual for me, as I didn't consider myself to be otherwise a fan of the genre. But as I've been listening to more of Klepacki's work, I've realized it's somewhat similar to some of the rock'n'roll songs my dad would listen to when I was a kid (around the same time he was playing the game, actually); it may be I'm more a fan of the genre than I thought. I've alluded before to the idea that different musical styles and genres sometimes need to be put into perspective for certain individuals to appreciate them; I suppose this is just another part of that for me.

As I reflect on the thoughts that the reading of these comments brought forward, I am worried it might diverge too far from the intention of thread. Nonetheless, for the sake of engagement: By my understanding, copyright as a concept was instituted with the intent to encourage creativity. By protecting the ability of the creator to profit off his work, there was a greater motivation for someone to create. However, this protection was not intended to be infinite; after a period of time, copyright would expire, and others would be free to use the IP as they liked. The justification for this goes back to the nature of human creativity, in that it is always derivative; no idea is ever ex nihilo. Since human creativity is always inspired by something experienced or learned, no one can claim exhaustive ownership over their creation. Consequently, as the creator takes inspiration from the creations around him, he should not expect to restrict the inspiration others take from his creation. This is far from a complete analysis, however; it does not consider the larger topic of motivation in creation (i.e., why does a person create), only its attempted stimulation.

The Soviet faction soundtrack is also constructed of Klepacki pieces, many of which are from the same albums that contributed to the Allied soundtrack. The major difference is the tone of the selected tracks, which is much harsher in comparison. Because both parts are made up of pieces from the same composer (who is composing in his customary style throughout), there is a similar sound between them. Yet there is still an intentional differentiation, and each choice was made to highlight it. The Allies consider themselves more noble, citing the fight for freedom as their cause; they are "good guys" in whatever conflict they participate in. Their fighting style emphasizes strategy in assault. Meanwhile, the Soviets prefer a visage of strength and might, focusing on their will to dominate the world. They don't acknowledge or seem to care about their ethical position, maintaining a manner of superiority over everyone else. Their fighting style emphasizes brute force. Yet behind their internal considerations, the two sides aren't that different from each other; for both, the primary focus is always beating out the other, and everything else (including ethical considerations) comes secondary. At least, that's the impression I'm getting. On an unrelated note, the soundtrack also includes a few fan remixes, most notable a medley that serves as Mental Omega's own version of Hell March.

In what sense do you mean "bad"? Bad people, as in a moral sense? Bad at being fans, as in a comparative sense? Without proper qualification, the question is too broad. Do you mean to imply there is something about Touhou that directly correlates to fans of it being "bad"? In your topics, you are usually sure to include a contextualizing explanation that helps define the boundaries of the inquiry. This may be as simple as a restatement (which clarifies meaning), or as complex as an origin of the question (which clarifies intent). Such qualification helps those seeking to contribute to understand how best to answer the question in a helpful and informative way while avoiding confusion.

I wasn't sure where to put the PoDD demo tracks initially; I wanted them distinguished from the full release tracks, but they don't technically fall into the same category as "bonus tracks." As they are more akin to Shrine of Wind, I choose to feature them with a similar placement. REEYA - Reality There's an odd discordance throughout this arrangement, not quite powerful enough to be obnoxious but not always subtle enough to blend into the piece. I wonder what the intent behind this decision was. O-ame - Lucid Dream There's some quality sound to this one that made it quite satisfying for me to listen to. It is brief, and its progression is a bit too reliant on buildup for its length, but otherwise the composition carries itself well with a fair amount of creativity. [???] - Victory Road A full length remix of a five-second jingle! Although the sound quality is a bit less than average, it manages to avoid sounding too repetitive.

As I was refreshing my memories of Red Alert 2, I discovered a mod project comparable to Beyond Skyrim in ambition; a complete overhaul of the original game's faction system, gameplay, campaign, and even (to a certain degree) aesthetic. Most relevantly for this thread, however, was the inclusion of a freshly complied soundtrack. After a bit of consideration, I have decided to dedicate a month-long feature to it. The soundtrack for Mental Omega is divided into four parts, each specific to a faction. For the Allied faction, the developers compiled a variety of Frank Klepacki's music from various albums of his. There is a focus on specific tone and mood in the selection, leaning away from Klepacki's heavier tracks in favour of his relatively more balanced styles. Granted that it's still Klepacki, but the difference will become apparent when compared directly with his heavier works (more on that later). I suspect each faction's soundtrack is intended to somewhat characterize (or, more accurately, match the characterization of) the faction it accompanies. As the Allies are one of the two original factions, Klepacki's familiar sound relates well, while the distinct trend in selection helps mold the perception of the listener according to the developers' designs. I might be reading too heavily into it, but future features should act as reinforcement to my postulations.

chair - Maple Dream... (chiptune arrange...) Maple Dream arrangements are in no short supply, but I found this one quickly and wasn't willing to put it aside. As a companion piece to my tournament submission, this is a far less sharp yet no less intricate take on the piece. Madorenu - Ghostly Person's Holiday Arrangements for this track seem much more scarce, which is unfortunate, as it's certainly worthy of more attention. This is a simple remix with a nice atmosphere, if rather little imagination beyond its instrumentation. Yuuhei Satellite - Girls are Preparing I was extremely lucky to remember this. To no one's surprise I'm sure, hardly anyone has bothered remixing this jingle; possibly I'd find references to it in larger projects, but I didn't find much in the way of dedicated attention. This may be the sole exception.

Since the Red Alert 2 feature, my perspective on the soundtrack has gradually evolved from fond nostalgia to genuine appreciation, and I am now considering it as potentially one of my favorites. Despite the heavy tones, there is a greater presence of melody than many of today's soundtracks, and even a limited range of mood amongst the different tracks. In the initial feature, I stuck to tracks from the base game. Now, I will add a few from the Yuri's Revenge expansion, in essence a DLC that improved on its foundations in every way. The composer for both (and for other entries in the Command & Conquer series) was Frank Klepacki, who has a reputation for this genre of music. This coming month . . .

I had an interesting time with this batch of pieces. But I'm going to make the most of it. FD - Dream of Eternity & Alstroemeria Records - ETERNAL VERITIES There were barely any Dream of Eternity arrangements to be found, which I consider very surprising, as it seems an ideal piece to remix. I've found each of FD's remixes for Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream as I've gone through it, but avoided featuring them against the possibility of future tracks having less representation. This seemed to be just such the time, and I appreciated that the remix in question successfully captured the tone I was looking for, if not to quite the extent I believed possible. Alstroemeria's arrangement, on the other hand, goes in a slightly different direction with the motifs. The result is very . . . standard for the circle; high quality, very modern. Simply for my preconceived desires, I personally prefer the simpler remix. FD - Eastern Blue Sky & Alstroemeria Records - Blue Aster To my slightly lesser surprise, Eastern Blue Sky seemly had a similar degree of representation in musical arrangement as its preceding sister track. There was more, but not nearly as much as usual, even for a less popular track. What was available were remix and arrangement from the same two circles that I had found for the previous track, and with similar considerations for them. After some deliberation, I decided to lean into the situation. FD - Eternal Full Moon & Alstroemeria Records - Return to the Moon In contrast, there were plenty of options for Eternal Full Moon arrangements, but amongst them were the same two circles again, and by then I'd committed (I'll be sure to post some of the other things I found another time). I didn't appreciate this piece as much as the first two (though I can still detect it growing on me on repeat listens), and though these two takes are quite unalike each other, I can't say I enjoyed either more than its companion. Nonetheless, they both do a good job at capturing the primary motif and building around it; the one enhances the instrumentation, while the other embellishes the presentation. Finally, as an added bonus in compensation for this feature's gimmick: SOUND HOLIC - Journey to Planet Earth This is an arrangement of all three pieces, done in a style that I wouldn't normally expect from SOUND HOLIC. Granted, it's more a medley than a proper mixing of the motifs, but it's still presented with an attractive flair through dramatic instrumentation. Perhaps not much on its own, but a fitting epilogue to the post.

Twas my intention to feature Stray today. While the game did not initially catch my interest, I chanced upon the knowledge that the soundtrack was composed by Yann Van Der Cruyssen, arranger for the Cave Story+ soundtrack. I was curious what his original music would sound like, especially in such a different project, and so sought it out. In general, the entirety of this soundtrack is mellow ambience, but not to such an extreme degree that it is devoid of progression. Each individual track has a range of moods transitioning in and out of each other (occasionally, the difference is so contrasting that I wonder why it isn't its own track). While this captures the atmosphere of the settings, it also manages to emerge from the background a bit with occasional melodies. Even that aside, the instrumentation is noteworthy for its uniqueness and cohesiveness.

ClumsyRecord - Fight it out! A bit tamer than I set out to find, and surprisingly reminiscent of flip-cup-flop from the Unreal Mahjong soundtrack (something to do with the accompaniment harmony, I think). There was another arrangement by a circle called Watermill, but the audio quality was poor, so I decided to go with this instead. Rami - Moment:_ Fun-though-confusing animation aside, I appreciate the tone of this arrangement. I'm not sure if it's the genre or musician's style, but it reminds me of Sonic Colour's Aquarium Park; chill, but with an active energy, mostly communicated through the contrast of the melody on piano and the accompaniment on lighter synth elements. However, I will admit to struggling at finding the familiar Sailor of Time motifs in this remix. Hopefully it's just me. RichaadEB - Strawberry Crisis!! Mostly as contrast to the previous features, but also because almost every arrangement of this piece is over-the-top symphonic metal, I went with a more straightforward but still high-energy metal remix. Perhaps this won't be a new listen for anyone, but I hope it will at least be an entertainingly fresh one.

@CountVonNumenor Presumably, you have more experience with/understanding of standard artistic depiction of human features, both in general and in specific relation to age. As such, you are able to analyze Zun's artstyle against said standard and judge it accordingly. I am not so familiar with such standards, and as such I am only capable of viewing this art according to personal perception. I note a wide variety of appearances in the people I see, and as such my association between appearance and age is less defined (additionally, people here are occasionally insecure about their age, discouraging analysis). When I look at Zun's art, the most I perceive is the proportionate depiction of the human figure, and associated aesthetic considerations. I like his art style, and that's about as far as it goes.

One of the first things I featured here was The Messenger, noteworthy for its double-soundtrack of exemplary chiptune in two different styles. It has remained one of my favorite soundtracks since, yet for some reason I've never brought it up since (except to reference it in relation to other things). I had something else lined up, but I've decided to adjust it, and thought it would be an ideal time to remember The Messenger here again. However, instead of doing a refeature, I'm going to present some of the scarce-but-impressive arrangements that I've come across. For some reason, there are very few remixed from this soundtrack compared to other games with its reputation, but the upside is those that do exist are often more memorable. These are some of my favorites.