Yes, folks, it's that time once again...that magical time where I avoid having to say anything meaningful or worthwhile about RPGs, and instead just throw a bunch of Youtube links your way. Let's see what AMVs I've got for us to share today!
And as always, if you like any of these, please, vote them up or, better still, leave a comment saying what you thought of them. Quite a few of these seem to be almost completely ignored, and it really is a damn shame for someone to take the time and spend the effort to make a good product in a sea of lousy ones and then have it passed over.
FALLOUT
Fallout: New Vegas: Citizen Soldier, by Joylock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRX4AtqNMRQ
The music used is Citizen Soldier, by 3 Doors Down. Really, I don't know what to say about this. Joylock's Fallout 3 AMVs have made it into this rant blog twice before, once as part of one of these General RPG AMV rants and once as being so great as to deserve an individual rant. If you've seen them before, this is just more of the same--Joylock manipulates the Fallout game's engine to set certain scenes using certain characters, and basically creates a series of clips that not only connect strongly to the music that's playing in terms of lyrics and tone, but also shows the fundamental conflicts between good and evil contained within Fallout: New Vegas through the actions of the characters he manipulates, in a sense paraphrasing the game yet also exemplifying it. Great stuff, to be sure.
FINAL FANTASY
Final Fantasy 8: My Heart Will Go On, by T0mb0ner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvd8nfYedT4&feature=channel_video_title
The music used is...is...it's...it's My Heart Will Go On, by Celine Dion, okay? Yes. YES. I know. Look. Just...just watch the AMV, okay? As long as you can hold back the thick, hot bile that creeps up your throat at the thought of Squall and Rinoa, and as long as you can keep yourself from giggling at how unbelievably over-the-top this song's sappiness is...and I'm not saying that's easy...you can actually recognize that this AMV is honestly pretty good. The video works with the song and makes sense with the mood and lyrics, the effects are good, it all just works. God, I can't believe I actually like an AMV to this song. A Final Fantasy 8 AMV, no less! About Squall and Rinoa! Some dark magics must be at work here.
Final Fantasy 10: Burning in the Skies, by Junpei19870: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvJkJpRUipM
The music used is A Thousand Suns: The Full Experience, by Linkin Park. This video's good overall, and I particularly like the way it cuts to and from the Sending ceremony and the tragedy that led to it. Shows that Junpei19870 had ideas and some creativity in conveying them. The mood of the song works with the video very well overall, and there's some good moments of connection between the video and the lyrics, too. Overall, a nicely solemn and touching AMV that combines well the solemn and touching nature of both the song and a large portion of Final Fantasy 10's plot and themes.
Final Fantasy 12: The Last Conquest, by Resk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDUHO1TyGvo
The music used is Preliator, by Globus. Resk has had one of his AMVs featured here before, the Shadow Hearts: As the Warlock Said one, and gives another quality video with this offering. Resk's use of FF12 clips in conjunction with the epic, call-to-war music is so skillful, inspiring, and gripping that you can actually pretty easily forget how terminally boring and directionless the game actually was. Hell, this AMV is what FF12 SHOULD have been like; I feel like Resk has far better captured the essence of Yasumi Matsuno's vision for FF12 far better than the game itself did.
THE LEGEND OF DRAGOON
The Legend of Dragoon: Strength of Sacrifice, by Resk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRGqxqMIOn8
The music used is Hour of Destiny, by Junichi Nakatsuru--I think. The credits aren't clear. Hey, another AMV by Resk. I like that there are a few AMV-makers out there that don't just stop with one really good AMV, but manage to keep making them. The instrumental song is complimented very well by the LoD visuals, with Resk's editing present as scenes and events are matched to the tune's pitch and tone, and with a great many fades and overlays* and such effects to make it that much more visually appealing. A very nice work, indeed.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: The Real World, by SpeedDemon070: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwYeuUscBnE
The music used is Real World, by All-American Rejects. This AMV is just very well constructed, coordinating the scenes and effects to the music's lyrics and especially tone and shifts. There's really not much to say; it's just a very solid AMV.
MASS EFFECT
Mass Effect 1 + 2: Alive, by Vendo233: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aZfHgrPO9g
The music used is New Beginnings Remix, by Future World Music. Mass Effect gets more tribute videos like this than it does normal AMVs, but sometimes they're really very good. Most of these good ones are, of course, done by Geno|3oost, whose channel I directed you to last time. But Vendo233 does very nicely here, combining powerful, significant background music with appropriate visuals and the ever noteworthy dialogue of the games to create a tribute AMV that is pretty darn inspiring.
MY LITTLE PONY
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Ponysona 4, by MrSirPGW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Jvam3L34FEo
The music used is Pursuing My True Self, from the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 soundtrack. Alright, I know I often pretend to know what words are going through my readers' heads, and I'm probably often wrong, but I'd bet good money that right now you are thinking to yourself something along the lines of, "That idiot, My Little Pony is not an RPG." And hey, no argument here. BUT! This AMV DOES still count as an RPG AMV, because even if the visual aspect of the video primarily uses footage from the MLP: Friendship is Magic cartoon, which, yes, again, I DO watch and think is pretty awesome, and I encourage you to watch it if you don't already because it will genuinely just make you happier...the overall premise is more strongly tied to an RPG (Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4) than many other AMVs I've listed here are to their respective games. See, this is basically an AMV that takes the opening to SMTP4, from its visual style and backdrops to its music, and puts in the main (mane) characters from the My Little Pony cartoon. It's extremely faithful to the original opening video to the Persona 4 game, basically having the new characters do the same stuff in the same way as the original video made the Persona 4 characters. For example, the original opening takes off with the main character Souji spinning to face the watcher with various words and sentences of significance from the game in the background, while this one has the primary (pri-mare-y) character of MLP, Twilight Sparkle, do the same thing, using text from the show's opening (and a plea for Persona 4 fans not to kill the author) in the background. It's like this from start to finish, a well-planned and executed AMV that matches up really well to be a fun homage to the original opening video from Persona 4. Here, here's the original SMTP4 opening, if you don't have it handy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEwKj6W14Jo&feature=fvst . Watch them back to back--see what I mean? Since the majority of this semi-AMV's content is undeniably based on the RPG and not the non-RPG cartoon, I consider this one fair game for this rant. And while it's not incredible or anything, this AMV is harmlessly amusing, and its combining of Pony with Persona is basically seamless. You can tell it's not a half-assed effort or anything like that; someone wanted to make an AMV that was fun for its concept and for the fact that it's faithfully paying homage to the original SMTP4 through careful imitation.
PARASITE EVE
Parasite Eve 1: Killers Within, by Auron: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbisAM1nMbU
The music used is Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn), by Rob Zombie. What can I say on this one, really? If you want an AMV that uses a dark, heavy, creepy song and a dark, heavy, creepy game to make a dark, heavy, creepy AMV, you probably can't do any better than this one. Sure, it doesn't seem to have much of a point, and while most of the effects are really cool, the black strobe thing is overdone...but this is still pretty darned slick.
SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES: Minato Will Leave Out All the Rest, by TsubasaArisato: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk-gn9MGwso
The music used is Leave Out All the Rest, by Linkin Park. This AMV has its moments where it just seems to coast along without doing anything noteworthy, but overall it works with its tone and the song's ideas and theme quite well, making it a solid music video in the end.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES: South Texas Deathride, by Aneinokaijin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUDkwYHXGK8
The music used is South Texas Deathride, by The Union Underground. This AMV represents a combination of things that are...HIGHLY unlikely to elicit a positive response from me. First: Honestly, much as I love SMTP3, its FMVs are sparse and short, so it's tough to really make a worthwhile video out of them. Second: Grittier, harsher, and/or darker music styles don't often impress me all that much, and frankly, they usually don't make for good material for an AMV, because their louder/darker nature just kind of overwhelms everything and is often too constant; too much of one tone makes it hard to properly connect a video to a song in any concrete way. Third: The AMV uses a lot of visual effects, and while I think such things can be VERY beneficial, AMV creators, when they decide to really start mixing up the visuals, tend to go overboard with them to the point where it's distracting. Fourth: It's pretty short; only a little over a minute and a half long. AMVs that are this short tend to feel incomplete, often because they have to cut out of their song before it's done. But despite all these factors...this AMV really works. The scenes' actions nigh perfectly mesh with the music's tone and, at times, lyrics, the mood of the song works well with the mood of much of Persona 3's scenes, the many visual effects are employed with what I might almost call grace--they're numerous, but they're pretty much always effective at heightening the video's draw and the connection between scene and music, and never distracting. It's dark but not over-bearing, its brevity doesn't seem forced, and everything meshes into a single product exceptionally. Damned good work here; if they'd been able to keep up the quality for the length of the entire song, I probably would have kept this one for a rant all its own.
THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU
The World Ends with You: The World Ends Without You, by Sunrise Studios: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=169670
Youtube upload found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV-CuseDKRo
The music used is Pressure, by Paramore. Good effects, the scenes and effects have a good connection to the music's lyrics and changes...another basically solid, well-made video on this list.
XENOGEARS
Xenogears: AERIALS, by Lulu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To7z6C50Ics
The music used is Aerials, by System of a Down. This AMV has nigh-perfect synchronization between visual and audio, the effects are great...there are a few scenes that kind of just seem like filler more than anything (unsurprising, given how little FMV Xenogears really has to work with), but all in all, this AMV is great; it makes Xenogears look so cool that I almost forget when watching what a godawful mess the game actually was.
* I THINK they're fades and overlays...I believe I've mentioned before that my technical knowledge of cinematography is lacking, yes?
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