HoboKa's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[the disasterpeace]

This reminds me of the Shop theme in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness...I regret never beating KH2...I liked 1 better because it had more focus on Disney villians and the Heartless. The Nobodies and hooded dudes were...weird. But, I still gotta beat it damnit. 9000 edits later...

1:18-1:19, there is an articulation hiccup on the oboe/english horn(?). But the other elements are teh perfect. Super minor gripe...

Troisnyx responds:

Personally, I much prefer Kingdom Hearts 1 and I do think it still is the best game in the entire series, so I feel perhaps a bit the way you do regarding Kingdom Hearts 2.

I think I know what you mean about the hiccup, some wondered if it was an artifact but I'm not honestly sure. Otherwise, I'm glad you enjoyed it. ^_^

[Second end]

Bruh, you need to engage in more voting with other people and the reviews will flow in, I guarantee it. I know, this advise is kind of unsolicited, but I love your work and it's sad to see it go unnoticed. I'll try and keep abreast of it, you submit so much lmaoooo. Don't stop mang. The sax sample here is a bit flimsy, but the other elements are just too damn good to not give this a 5. Nice work!

ClitBait responds:

I will take that advice very seriously

[Halo 2 Mix]

bit of a slow preface before 1 minute mark, but I'm guessing that's being true to the source? Either way, I love the low hummy choirs and how they adapt and flow with the beat and bass. It's a nice dream-like feel. You've captured the Halo vibe nicely.

Desmae responds:

Thank you so much, I was trying to catch the vibe of the original Halo trilogy. Sounding very aged but still worth the listen.

[Resurrectio de Dracula (CV!Legends x Fahad Lami Epic Remix)]

This is the perfect Castlevania vibe right here. Nice work.

FahadLami-NG responds:

Thank you

[Cross Your Bleeding Heart (Castlevania x Fahad Lami Remix)]

LOL...a Marriage Dirge. Brilliant. Oooooooo reverse piano sounds. WOW...the flimsier instruments are better masked here by the soundscape,until about 3 minute mark, then the guitar sample there is a bit thin...EDIT...can't grant you a 5 for the 4:18 region, due to the grating high notes of the guitar sample. There's gotta be some better cheap or free guitar VSTs out there. Ask KVR Audio or maybe hop on John Montoya's Discord Group. The people there can help you out...probably.

FahadLami-NG responds:

Thank you very much

[Soapstone Palace #SNESMusicContest]

I'm a huge fan of dark dismal shit. And 'Soapstone Palace' is not an exception here. This is like a mix mash of Enix games and Blood (PC). Reminds me of Soulblazer, particularly. Beautiful and haunting! OH shit...Phrenemophiba is right, this is totally a Breath of Fire vibe. Lmao. BTW, are those string samples from Castlevania 4? :3

Bertn1991 responds:

Thank you so much. I believe the samples are the same ones the Castlevania IV developers used. The original file of this song could run on an actual Super Nintendo cartridge if I had the know-how.

Also, liked Soulblazer! It's been a long time, but I remember it being pretty good. I'm a big Enix fan :D

[Power Man 2 - Final Battle Redux | 2011-2020]

Awesome tune man. Maybe you should archive those games on Newgrounds?

Bertn1991 responds:

Thank you! That's probably a good idea. I'd be very sad if the game was lost.

[Expanse]

Nice positive vibe...very sci fi-like.

Desmae responds:

Thank you very much :)

[Lullaby of the Vapoured Serpent (Music Box Mix)]

Getting some Axiom Verge, Donkey Kong, Silent Hill...jesus so many vibes here. I'm gonna enjoy listening through this one especially. I love experimental, dark dismal shit lmao. Yeah, I'm weird. RIP me*

1:58, we even got vocals going on too. Wow...You deserve a lot more exposure. The good kind UwU.

2:52 is a nice atmosphere and style shift. Love the blend of atmosphere and synthwave. Just Mmm Mmm Tasteh.

4:48 Though, the off-pitch vocals kinda work actually. Bit rough at parts, but it adds to the dystopian mental-fuck vibe. Are these your work, or some .wav breaks that you found? Not 2 shabby.

5:30...YUS gimme those big waaaooooo shifting bladerunner pads. Inject them into my veins. So sexy lmao. Then you bait my ear-clits at 5:45 with awesome vox/vocals. This is epic work Queen =p ... The keys that follow are a great texture/timber that adds to it all so nicely.

Ok, I admit to browsing thru the rest of it, but I doubt there's any faux passes here...nice harp-arp key-work. Goes great with the sub bass. Oh btw, the Jazzy HH-patterns are killer.

Great Cyberpunk tune Queen! I probably uWu'd too hard. But I really appreciate this style of music, soooo~

TheVodouQueen responds:

Yeah this one I made for a close friend because he's a fanatic about the Metal Gear series, especially the music and story, and I tried to make a song that fits the whole asethetic of the series and the mood it gives off overall. I've read up a bit about it and played through the first and second Solid games, but all I had to work on was the reading and what he told me, and dunno, just came up with this (mostly cause I really, really wanted to do something vapourwave / synthwave, cause it is one of my favourite modern music genres to date.)

The off-pitch vocals were a fuckin nightmare to even remotely sync with everything else, truly. BUT, that being said, yeah you make a point...somehow they work. The lyrics are actually the acapella of "Snake Eater" from MGS3, all I did was slice them to fit the harp melody and beat, and I did distort them a bit with reverbs and slight compression to soften them. I think I lost my mind with this one, because Halcyon Hare Stage was the very first song I'd ever tried in my whole life, and then I immediately jumped to something that not only required trying to understand lyric splicing, but working with sound effects too. I am starting to think I'm mentally insane trying these extreme experimental things as a complete newbie to music crafting.

Not really to music theory, I did used to play in band long time ago, and I mean real long time (high school, and just turned 32 this year, so do the math xD), and I am a rabid connoisseur of anything musical, but yeah... I'm so, so glad you enjoyed it. :D And it worked out despite me actually nearly chucking this in the garbo (I thought it was terrible at first, too much distortion and the lyrics being a pain to work with xD).

So again, bottom of my heart, thank you for the sincere and glowing comments. I don't feel I deserve them, but they mean so much to hear. ♥

[Groove of the Ancients (Jazz-Funk Dance Mix)]

Beautiful remix here. NieR is a game that I fear to try, cuz I worry it's too depressing lmao. Also I hear it has a lot of annoying where-the-fuck-do-I-go moments...

This remix reminds me of Persona 4 Golden too. Which ironically, is probably even more of a depressing game than Nier (well it can be on Bad Endings >.<)

TheVodouQueen responds:

Yeah IDK what in the world possessed me to try and tackle such an intricate piece and set of lyrics, as like, the 2nd ever song to try and make, but the results even surprised the hell out of me. I sadly never got to play any of the NieRs yet, despite owning both Automata and Gestalt (which is wack considering how much of a SquareEnix nerd / fangirl I am), but I am going to take some time soon to enjoy both. Got really hooked to this song after playing through the NieR-related raids on FFXIV, so just had to do something with such beautiful lyrics.

Persona is a great game series too I need to play some time. ^^; Such cool funky beats, especially in Persona 5.