Round 2, Pairing 25: "Maybe I'm a Lion (FFVIII)" vs. "The Birth of God (FFVII)"

[Dave]

We're slowly getting to the end of this round, and it seems like we're set to have a nice load of good themes. But, which of these will make it?

Vote here (http://www.squareenixmusic.com/uematsu.php). It won't bite. :)

[Jared]

Totally 'Maybe I'm a Lion'. Awesome battle theme.

[TheShroud13]

"The Birth of God" hands down. I don't get the "Maybe I'm a Lion" hype. Never been my thing. It is the best track on BM II though.

I love "The Birth of God" because it's crazy and not OWA.

[Brittany]

Wow, great pairing today :) As much as I like Birth of a God, I have to go with Maybe I'm a Lion. It's one of my all time favorite battle themes, and favorite themes in general. I don't even know how to describe it right now, just have to vote for it :p

[Dark Cloud]

Let me tell you a story about "The Birth of God." At the end...

...when you fight Bizzaro Sephiroth...

...and this song plays, I heard it so much because I couldn't beat him. In the end, I was humming it at school the next day.

So, Birth gets my vote by a long shot.

[Black Mamba]

FFVIII's battle themes = win

The ending of FFVII's OST = boring

[Neo Locke]

It's funny reading these comments, it's certainly split down the middle. And not only that, most people are either saying "Maybe I'm A Lion all the way!!" or, "Birth of a God, no contest" and whatnot... very interested to see how this turns out.

It's interesting because both are really awesome battle tracks that are overshadowed by their respective final battle themes (OWA and The Extreme).

I'm going to have to go with Birth of a God, since I really don't understand whether Uematsu was attempting rock or metal with Maybe I'm A Lion... it's too heavy to be considered a good rock track, and too muddled to be considered a good metal track in my opinion.

[Aryires]

Wow, two great boss battle themes paired together... This is going to be tough!

The Birth of God (wasn't this named The Birth of a God? I don't know where I got that imppression from) is far more catchy and upbeat than Lion. It has a nice action-packed rythm, great beat, and a strange technological craziness in it... I love the organ of the middle and pre-middle section, and tottaly dig the wonderful ominous rendition of OWA in the end (or is Those Chosen by the Planet the correct reference?) and how it is changed to close the song and create the grounds for the repetition of the track.

Now, Maybe I'm a Lion is not as catchy, but is WAY more dark and sinister!:cool: The beat may be slower than that of Birth, but is more dynamic and has a gorgeous primitive feel (the drums remind me of the dinosaurs era, for some reason:p ) and I *love* the "Huya!" cry at the start! <3 The bass line is great, the organ is absolutely wonderful, greatly accompanied by the electric guitars, and its solo tottaly kicks butt! Plus, this track is rock, and where there's rock I'M THERE! *evil laugh* MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!:lol: :lol: :lol:
It is the best track on BM II though.
HELL YEAH!!!

My vote goes to Maybe I'm a Lion without saying!:love:
Woot! Maybe I'm a Lion! Go forth and ROCK THIS PAIRING!:thumbs:

(Oh, I forgot to mention I'm a Leo, so since maybe I'm a lion, I'm taking this quite personally:p )

I don't want to be pushing or anything, but if Lion loses, I'm going to perform an Omnislash/Lionheart/Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki on all those who voted for its rival!:p (am I unbiased or what?:D )

[Chris]

I've never been immensely fond of either theme as each is overshadowed by the battle theme before, at least in my eyes. "The Legendary Beast" > "Maybe I'm a Lion" and "Jenova Absolute" > "The Birth of God".

But...

"The Legendary Beast" > "Maybe I'm a Lion" > "Jenova Absolute" > "The Birth of God"

I'm not sure if I can offer anything that explains why I prefer "Maybe..." but I guess subjectivity determines this one.

[Don]

Yeah, I always thought it was Birth of a God as well, but I vote for Birth of a God because I love the techno sound to it and the addition of "Those Chosen By the Planet" intermixed with this song just sounds great. Sorry, Maybe I'm a Lion, but there's always the Black Mages album!

[Stryfe]

I've loved "Maybe I'm a Lion" for a long time, and it especially appears to me since it's mostly a percussion ensemble. (with synthesizers/organs, yes.)

Birth of a God (I always knew the "a" in there) is a cool song, and it's pretty catchy, but...I dunno. It doesn't strike me as that good of a song compared to Maybe, I guess.'


I like Maybe better than The Legendary Beast, but Beast is better than Birth for me.

And Jenova Absolute wins over them all.

(Not that I think any of them are bad songs -- they're all great songs.)

[Kaibigan]

I also would have to go with "maybe..." though I agree with Chris that it's overshadowed by "the legendary..." But a good listen nonetheless.

[Resk]

I have to go with Maybe I'm a Lion, no question.

[insertnamehere]

Hell no birth of a god wins hands down do you people want to get god mad :)

Maybe im a lion does have amazing percussion though but where's the awesome melody. yes im a sucker for melody.

[migglie]

I've never enjoyed Maybe I'm A Lion particularly and found it pretty generic. After the slow build, there's some directionless organ malarkey, some uninspired bass...I dunno, it doesn't feel remotely 'Final Boss'. Birth Of A God however, plays up to some fun villiany-type melodies and has alot more 'go' about it.

Thus, Birth.

[weabblewill]

I'd have to go with Birth of God, it has a natural beat to it. Maybe I'm a Lion is too repetitve at some parts, even though the quality is excellent. But I think Legendary Beast (FFVIII) and Jenova Absolute (FFVII) are much superior to both of these two themes.

[The Double Life Of Daniel]

Although Maybe I'm a lion is the weakest of the 3 final battle themes, I think is much more menacing and efective in the game than Birth of God, so my vote goes to "maybe I'm a lion"

[eriol33]

I vote for Birth of God, it's very great battle theme. Personally I like FF VIII OST better, but I guess this one is exceptional. :)

[McFate]

Birth of a God. I could never enjoy Maybe as much + Birth has a bit of Sephiroth in it, which is a big boost for the story. FF VIII's story is much weaker, hence Maybe always seemed like a "Oh, I need another theme for another form in this battle with a final opponent that was introduced 2/3 ways through the game, let's make it very hard rockish". :)

[Brittany]

FF VIII's story is much weaker, hence Maybe always seemed like a "Oh, I need another theme for another form in this battle with a final opponent that was introduced 2/3 ways through the game, let's make it very hard rockish". :)

... It still rocks ;)

[Don]

Man, its a tie score at this moment. This one's gonna be close.

[Dave]

I'm not too sure which one I'm going to vote for, so I guess I'll be having the decisive vote right in the last minute! :D Sell each track to me, why would I vote for them? :D

[Resk]

Vote for Lion Dave. It's such an awsome track, and it beats out Birth of the God without any contest. The fantastic percussion in that track alone deserves the win this round.

[migglie]

Puh-lease, it's pretty cheesey. Hardly rocking. It blurs together. And doesn't pull it off one bit. Birth of a God has got some actual menace - much more relevant and a much stronger structure.

[TheShroud13]

Hardly rocking.

:thumbs: True that!

[Stryfe]

Hardly rocking, or rocking hardly?

The latter, I believe.

[Neo Locke]

Yeah... Uematsu definitely slowly transitioned into metal one game at a time... I mean... Think about it...

Fierce Battle --> Birth of a God ---> Maybe I'm a Lion ---> Dark Messenger ---> Otherworld

And being smack dab in the middle, Maybe I'm a Lion really doesn't qualify as either, and it just ounds awkward in the end. The reason that the Black Mages version sounds so good is that it concentrated more on the rock side of the tune, allowing it to sound much more developed and far less muddled.

[Stryfe]

If Uematsu was trying to make metal, he would have used guitars and death grunts and double bass pedals.

He used lots of high percussion, synthesizers, organs, bass guitars.


Work the logic. :\ Same things go for Fierce Battle / Birth / Dark Messenger, though. Otherworld was a leap above any other song before it in being "rock" and/or "metal."

[Black Mamba]

Vote MiaL Dave! Just listen to the awsome percussion and the distorted guitar sythns! I find the odd combination of sythns and rock very enjoyable.

The percusion = win, win, win alone!

[TheShroud13]

double bass pedals.

Probably my favourite thing in the world about metal. Uematsu should use that bad boy more often (read more often as: at all).

[Brittany]

Ok, I'm joining in now :) Maybe I'm a Lion has a great opening and you have to admit it has great percussion throughout the whole song. Also I don't think the organ part is malarkey, it's just more awesomeness :p Vote for it, Dave :thumbs:

[migglie]

Really Dave, follow the voices of reason. Maybe I'm A Lion...listen to it. Really. Meh. Don't be a sinner be a winner.

[Dave]

I really ought to hit those of you who have double voted! :p The scores are standing at 26 to 29 in Birth of God's favour, but the real scores are actually:

Maybe I'm a Lion (FFVIII) (23)
The Birth of God (FFVII) (22)

Hence, I'm editing the poll to reflect this. ;) This is a tight pairing that deserves to be fair. :p

13 minutes left!

[Stryfe]

How, exactly, is 23 - 22 47% - 53%? :P Might wanna edit that. ;)

[Dave]

Oh, blame that on my lack of mathematical skills. (Percentages ommited ;))

[Black Mamba]

I really ought to hit those of you who have double voted!

You mean we're not allowed? Sorry but I voted yet again before reading that, so fyi.

Sorry.

[Dave]

Maybe I'm a Lion (FFVIII) 53.19 % (25)
The Birth of God (FFVII) 46.81 % (22)

Hmm, two more votes for MIAL in the dying seconds. :) I'm not complaining, it's what I voted for. :)

[Stryfe]

You mean we're not allowed?
Huh. Where does it say that?



Oh, you mean that bold-text Please do not vote more than once; we are able to IP track you doing this and will ban people from voting if the system is being abused. at the bottom of the page?

;D

[TheShroud13]

Booooooo hisssssss!

[migglie]

Ah, you tasteless bunch of scrubbers! :grr:

[Dark Cloud]

Bah, FFVIII sucks. Poor FFVII, and Birth was having a good run too.

[Dave]

Huh. Where does it say that?



Oh, you mean that bold-text Please do not vote more than once; we are able to IP track you doing this and will ban people from voting if the system is being abused. at the bottom of the page?

;D

Yep, that! :p

I keep a watchful eye. :)

Don't worry though, banning won't happen, it's just a pain deleting scores now and then.

[Stryfe]

Don't worry though, banning won't happen, it's just a pain deleting scores now and then.
I figured not. :X (not that I doublevoted.)

Bah, FFVIII sucks. Poor FFVII, and Birth was having a good run too.

I hope you mean "FFVIII's soundtrack" and I hope you aren't letting the game itself affect your voting. :p

I don't like FFVIII either, not as much as VII, but I still like Maybe more.


And to the rest of you sore losers:

...:lol:

[Neo Locke]

Booooooo hisssssss!

I totally agree.

[TheShroud13]

I generally hate FFVII, but "The Birth of God" is an exception. I do believe this is the first time I've been pissed about an FFVII track being bounced :ashamed:

[Black Mamba]

I was braking the rules all along.... Sorry Dave making you delete all my extra votes, I won't double vote again.

I never read the fine print. ;_;

[Dark Cloud]

Yeah, I did mean the OST. The game is not bad (not as good as FFVII or IX), but I'm not a fan of the OST. Liberi Fatali and Balamb Garden are the only tracks I like.

[insertnamehere]

dammit this one im really ticked at because it look like birth of a god was going to win i demand a recound

[Solartide]

WhooHoo! The lion comes out under the newborn roaring in triumph!

[Dave]

dammit this one im really ticked at because it look like birth of a god was going to win i demand a recound

I recounted, and there was nothing to see.

[McFate]

Well, not happy, but it's not as big of a shock as 'To Zanarkand' being dropped...