Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter "Still More Sailing" 6:01

Game Set Mash!! ain't the only scene compo where copious game combinations can be applied to VGM arrangements -- Dwelling of Duels had a smoosh-up month too! For that format, Ivan Hakštok took it upon himself to actualize a long-held arrangement concept of Ys II with Final Fantasy VII and snagged DoD gold in the process:

"This was my entry (song won first place) in the June 2024 Franchise Fusion Month on Dwelling of Duels. I've had the idea of combining "Termination" and "Those Who Fight Further" for years now, and once the DoD theme was announced, I immediately thought it might be the time to finally tackle that idea. :) There are parts of my arrangement which are based on the Remake version ("The Airbuster") instead of the original. The end result is this epic/pirate metal vibe thingy which I find quite enjoyable, and I hope you will find it enjoyable too. :D"

We love it when a good idea comes together, because as soon as you hear Yuzo Koshiro's "Termination" from Ys II, it makes utter, total sense how the fusion idea with FF7 grabbed a hold of Hakštok. At 1:35, we move over into HEY, pirate metal, yes! This one was LOWD enough to nearly send judge Chimpazilla sailing into orbit at the start:

"Those first two hits made me JUMP out of my chair, like for real. Wow! Got my attention there. The soundscape quickly builds into one of the most epic soundscapes I have ever heard. I love the triplets that everything is playing. The mix is a wall of sound but the mixing is clear enough to hear everything. The guitar work is phenomenal in this arrangement. Oh when the tin whistle comes in, that's a great contrast, love it.

The mixing sounds very good considering such a dense soundscape, things are well placed in the soundstage [...] Truly excellent track, let's go."

Going along for the journey was fellow judge Joe "XPRTNovice" Zieja, who also had his own pronounced reaction at the beginning:

"I [...] audibly yelled "fuckin A" at the first choir hit. Excellent entrance. Guitar playing is on point. The lead up to the first drop at 1:07 is awesome and this is giving me such incredibly good Blind Guardian vibes that if you told me it was their track, I wouldn't even bat an eye. [...] This thing is an absolute fucking banger."

You heard the man! You like power metal? Go! You like Yuzo Koshiro? Go! You like Nobuo Uematsu? Go! You wanna hear the musical equivalent of those two fused together, Yuzbuo Koshiruematsu? It's finally here! Not to mention, Hakštok's guitar-focused soloing section from 3:38-4:06 is something else, wow! Great brass, drums, and orchestration as well to flesh out these themes in a fusion so great, it'll make you wanna see the games cross over FOR REAL just to drop this track in it! :-D Final FantasYs VII Remake II, someone shoot for it!