Which game has the best music?

[Gpop]

The thing I disliked about SA is that the stage music in general are pretty bad compared to the other games.

Last Remote is an exception though.

[Stuffman]

The thing I disliked about SA is that the stage music in general are pretty bad compared to the other games.

Whaaaaat

SA is my pick, everything straight from Stage 2 to Orin is awesome. Too bad SA is so hard ;_;

[Emarrel]

SA had my absolute full attention the moment the stage 1 theme kicked in, but a part of me does feel that the soundtrack is much more enjoyable to listen to while you're in the game itself - though this could be said for every game soundtrack out there, some soundtracks or songs will benefit much better within the context of the game than others.

The only song that didn't stand out to all that much was Hellfire Mantle, but it does feel fitting.

The only song in PoFV that bores me is Ancient Temple. The song itself is fine in PCB and fits really well, but in PoFV it just makes a match feel rather droll. Till When would have probably been a bit too hard and fast for PoFV's atmosphere, though ZUN really should have made a different theme for Youmu's stage much like how he did Flowering Night for Sakuya.

EoSD sounds old and crusty now. While some of the arrangements themselves are very good - especially Chinese Tea - and are perfectly listen-able, it just doesn't hold much charm to me because the instruments also sound old and a bit crusty. What I really mean is that EoSD feels very rough around the edges. Old is good when it's refined; it's how it lives through the ages and holds an air of nostalgia and charm. Something that's old and feels rough just ages and looks, feels and sounds outdated.

PCB is pretty enjoyable, but I must be one of the few people who don't regard PCB's soundtrack as highly as most others. I find Legend of Tohno and Withered Leaf really boring to listen to, I prefer The Doll Maker of Bucuresti way over Doll Judgement and I like Phantom Ensemble more than Capital City because it's noisy and loud. Ancient Temple proves to be nice and fits the stage perfectly, and Till When made me think 'fuck yeah' the instant it started. I also prefer the second version of Border of Life over the first. The first time I heard it was like the first time I finally beat the Elite Four in Pokemon Red only to find that Blue was now the champion: a resounding 'oh shit' in the back of my head. Both Phantasm themes grate on me after a while.

MoF is nice, but most of it I don't bother listening to outside of the game, or find thoughtlessly humming to myself. Dark Road and Native Faith are probably my favourites here. Grave of Being is awesome too.

IN is a pretty similar case to MoF. Reach for the Moon will forever be ingrained into the deepest recesses of my mind, periodically playing at times when I have no other thought in my head. I also found Night Bird and Cinderella Cage really enjoyable.

I prefer SWR's soundtrack over IaMP's, though there are a few cases where IaMP is better than SWR; namely Evening Star. I just prefer how SWR's soundtrack gives a much more lively atmosphere. The Ground's Colour is Yellow was an instant favourite for me.

Anyway, I'm droning on. I'm not going to say anything for the PC-98 games beyond: fuck yeah Inanimate Dream and Alice in Wonderland.

TL;DR: Opinions thread.

[MSN-02 Zeong]

IaMP has my favorite iterations of Voile, the Magic Library and Septette for the Dead Princess. That's reason enough for me to make it my favorite.

Though, if you forced me to pick a game that had entirely original music, then I'd have to pick Perfect Cherry Blossom. I whistle parts of Border of Life all the time.

[Omnifish]

Its close between MoF, IN, and SA, but I am going to say MoF. Especially the stage 6 theme and Faith is For the Transient People

[MSN-02 Zeong]

I prefer The Doll Maker of Bucuresti way over Doll Judgement

Wish I'd noticed this before I posted. I think you're the only person I've seen, other than me, who has this preference. Given how popularized Doll Judgment is, it's kind of surreal, honestly.

[theshirn]

Urrrrrrgh!  Why does everyone like Capital City of Flowers Dancing in the Sky so much?!  That track is boring, boring, BORING!  Even Fall of Fall is better, and I don't like that either.  Stage 4 themes never seem to do it for me; Catfelt Fancy is about the closest I can get to really liking one.

Stage 4 bosses, on the other hand, are all really good.

[Tengukami]

I agree, Imperishable Night has great music. But I love the music in Mountain of Faith as well, from Stage 3 onwards. And really, anything from the PC-98 games, such as "Romantic Children". They all just have the greatest sound - gives me a feeling of nostalgia for some reason.

[UncertainJakutten]

It's either going to SA or MoF. IN is close though, and PCB is what fights IN for second (third). EoSD brought us U.N. Owen Was Her, but that's about it for good songs, and even then I prefer remixes of that song. PoFV would probably be in third (fifth), despite having really good, catchy music, the tracks were (understandbly) too short.

And, from SA, my favorite song is somewhere between Yuugi's theme and Hell's Lulluby.

[Lite?彼女]

IaMP, too many good remixes to pass up
PoFV would be next simply because of siki's\yuka's\marisa's\medicine's themes

[Naut]

Mountain of Faith takes God tier for, in order:
-Native Faith
-Suwa Foughten Field
-Gensokyo the Gods Loved
Gody all around soundtrack.

Though Imperishable Night gets an honourable mention for:
-Eastern Youkai Beauty
-Immortal Smoke
-Love Coloured Master Spark
Quite the soundtrack, but nothing incredibly awesome. Mostly catchy tunes that I can't get out of my head, like Voyage 1970.

Perfect Cherry Blossom gets a last minute pick for:
-Necrofantasia
-Border of Life
Decent soundtrack, I may remember everything but I can't say I listen to it regularly.

And I would kill myself if I didn't mention Subterranean Animism for Last Remote. I didn't enjoy most of SA's music, but Last Remote is in my top three songs -- easily. Sadly, it doesn't bring SA up in the list.

[ghost333]

PCB for me i just love the songs and IN as my 2nd choice

[Tenbatsu! Myon Rabbie]

Hard question, maybe MoF and MS

[FinnKaenbyou]

I'd probably have to go for SA on this one, actually.

- Lost Place was the first Stage 1 theme I really cared about, though it probably isn't as good as Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander.

- Green Eyed Jealousy was also great, though for a very different reason. It was calm and hinted slightly at the disturbing, which was a nice touch.

- 3rd Eye is almost undoubtedly my favourite song of the whole damn series. Take the eerie from GEJ and crank it up to 13, then add the mental connection with one of the best fights in Touhou and you have a winner on your hands.

- Hell's Lullaby was surprising the first time I heard it. 'Come on, I'm walking through the flames of hell, the last thing I should be getting is calm, serene music- wait, actually, this song's kinda nice. Really nice, in fa- OH SHIT IT'S THE FUCKING CAT AGAIN'

- Nuclear. Fucking. Fusion. Enough said.

- Last Remote is the only Extra theme I give a crap about besides Centennial.

- Hartmann's Youkai Girl first seemed like it had been crushed and opened out again, wrinkles and all, but eventually I realised that it was taking the disturbing tones from 3rd Eye and cranking them up to 20.

Top songs from other games:
- Didn't really pay much attention to HRtP
- Darkness of the Cherry Blossoms (?) (SoEW)
- Strawberry Crisis (PoDD)
- Nothing really stands out from LLS, actually. :/
- The Grimoire of Alice (MS)
- Locked Girl (EoSD)
- Till When (PCB)
- Missing Power (IaMP)
- Immortal Smoke (IN)
- Wind God Girl (PoFV/StB)
- Sleepless Banquet (StB)
- Native Faith (MoF)
- Wonderful Heaven (SWR)
- Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander (UFO)

[Gappy]

Right now, the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are IaMP's theme for Suika and SWR's arrange for Patchouli's theme.

Patchouli's SWR theme is simply inspiring. It really gets you moving, and it strangely contrasts with Patchouli's usual quiet and calm hikikomori tendencies. Odd.

Hmm, I suppose I'll come back to write more. I wish I had survived stage 5 of EoSD on normal just once to hear Remilia and Flandre's theme in-game....

[Mima]

From best to worst.

PCB
SA
LLS
SoEW
MS
EoSD
IN
HRtP
PoDD (Mostly misses, but the hits it has are on LLS level)
PoFV
MoF
UFO

[Gpop]

EoSD

You're not missing much =/.

[theshirn]

You're not missing much =/.

Luna freakin' Dial wants a word with you.

It's not the best song in Touhou, but it's by far my favorite.

[Azinth]

PCB > MoF > EoSD = SA > IN > PoFV

PCB and MoF are the most consistently good soundtracks in my opinion, though I think PCB is just a tiny bit better.  Very few forgettable tracks, with a lot of great highlights.  Capital City of Flowers happens to be my favorite ZUN piece of all time.

EoSD has wonderful boss music(Septette is the best final boss music in the series imo), but the stage music is pretty lacking.  SA, on the other hand, has great stage music, but mediocre boss music (Third Eye is oh so overrated), though I really like Hartmann's Youkai Girl for some reason.

IN is pretty inconsistent.  I like the music for the last two stages (Except for Lunatic Princes), and 1970 is some of the best 1 1/2 minutes ZUN has ever written.  However, the music of the first half and extra never really jumped out at me.

PoFV... um... Flowering Night and Higan Retour are okay I guess...

[Gpop]

Luna freakin' Dial wants a word with you.

It's not the best song in Touhou, but it's by far my favorite.

...yeah you're not missing much.

[?q]

Luna freakin' Dial wants a word with you.

It's not the best song in Touhou, but it's by far my favorite.

Which is why the IaMP version exists.

[theshirn]

Bah, you all suck.   And I think the original is the best version.

C'mon, though: EoSD has Cirno, Patchy, Stage 5, Sakuya, Stage 6, Remilia, Centennial Festival and Flandre.  I think that's fairly respectable.

While I'm at it: PCB has Withered Leaf, Doll Maker, Doll Judgment, Phantom Ensemble, Ancient Temple, Ultimate Truth, Border of Life and Necrofantasia.

IN: Illusionary Night, Song of the Night Sparrow, Deaf to All But the Song, Old World, Plain Asia, Maiden's Capriccio ~ Dream Battle, LCMS(included grudgingly; it's overrated as hell), Invisible Full Moon, Voyage 1969/70, History of the Moon (which I used to deplore as pathetic but has really grown on me), Lunatic Princess, and IMMORTAL SMOKE.

PoFV: Spring Lane (one of the most underrated songs in Touhou), Marisa's theme (which I cannot remember the name of), Flowering Night, Higan Retour, Fate of Sixty Years.

MoF: Dark Road, Dark Side of Fate, the Gensokyo the Gods Loved, Candid Friend, Mysterious Mountain, The Primal Scene of Japan (another underrated one), Faith is for the Transient People, Grave of Being, Suwa Foughten Field, Tomorrow Will Be Special, Native Faith.  Oh, and the main menu theme is also nice (Sealed Gods, I think).

SA: The Dark Blowhole (mostly for the part when Kisume shows up), The Bridge People No Longer Cross (highly underrated), Green-Eyed Jealousy, Third Eye, Lullaby, Hartmann's Youkai Girl.  And the ending theme is nice (the Earth Spirits' Homecoming, or something like that).

Everything from UFO is good except maybe the first two stage themes.

[Suikama]

It's SA for me. MoF's tracks took a long time to grow on me while I fould SA's extremely catchy and memorable. I remember thinking "holy shit" when I heard Satori's and Utsuho's themes for the first time, and I was addicted to the stage 3 theme when the demo was out.

[Wordspoken]

SA. Definitely SA. It hitted me like a ton of der brick thingies from the start. MOF has best three first stagemusics+bossthemes IMO, but overall it's SA for me.

[Adun]

UFO might have my vote instead of SA when it comes out. 

[Rabbit]

I have a soft spot in my heart for EoSD's soundtrack.  And SA's.  And UFO's.

I'd have to say SA, EoSD and then UFO if you put a gun to my head.

[pekikuubik]

I'm torn between LLS and MS.
LLS: the best title screen theme of the series, Selene's light, Break the Sabbath, Perdition crisis, Sleeping Terror and Inanimate Dream. Maiden's Capriccio is also better than its IN incarnation.
MS: Dream Express, Dimension of Reverie, Romantic Children, Plastic Mind, Alice in Wonderland and the Grimoire of Alice.

The newer soundtracks (MoF, SA and especially the UFO demo) don't do anything for me. Nothing stands out. Although lately I've been warming up to SA, even to Hartmann's Youkai Girl. Well, excluding Hellfire Mantle and Nuclear Fusion. Those two don't qualify as music to me. They're more like background noise.

[Flay_wind]

Tie between IN and SA. EOSD has 3-rd place.

[KomeijiKoishi]

Clear choice: SA.
Komeiji sisters FTW!

[R-9A2 Delta]

SA - Lullaby of Deserted Hell and Last Remote are some of the most amazing stage themes in the series, and all the boss themes fit the character you're fighting.

UFO - From what we've heard so far, TTCC is the best Stage 1 boss theme ever. All the other songs are pretty good, too.

MS - Dream Express, Plastic Mind, Judas Kiss, Infinite Being, Alice in Wonderland... Wow.

runner ups are PoDD, MoF, and SWR