I love this game's lore...but one simple fix would make cutscenes much more engaging

We need to talk about the music. Not the music in general but those few specific songs which are used far too often in MSQ cutscenes.

These are great songs, as is the entire OST, but we've heard some of these songs done to death over the last several years. The game has such a wide catalog of music and such a talented team of composers that it's almost frustrating to dive into new content only to hear the same song that you've heard in similar scenes over the last 7 years.

Nothing makes me roll my eyes and want to tune out of a cutscene faster than hearing any of these songs (among others I'm probably forgetting) as soon as the cutscene starts:

- Forever Lost

- Imperial Will

- Daring Dalliances

- Tranquility

- Canticle

And the worst offenders:

- Fracture

- Damnation

- Return of the Hero

- Machinations

Again, I'm not critiquing the quality of these songs but just critiquing their overwhelming use. They make the game occasionally feel very stale when the story itself is continually fresh.

I don't think it's too much to ask for each expansion to have a change in "generic/stock cutscene music" since each expansion is so aesthetically different, or even too much to ask to have these songs just change once. Even remixes or rearrangements could do wonders, but as it stands hearing these same songs over and over again just makes it feel like the game hasn't evolved much since launch though so many other elements of the game show us that it has.

I disagree. There is actually a large variety in the styles and frequency of different music tracks Soken uses for cutscene incidental music, and I never feel "oh no not this track again" when playing through the story. Imperial Will especially is the Garlean Empire's leitmotif so of course it's going to be played in many cutscenes involving the Empire, and given the importance the Empire has to FFXIV's storyline, it's only natural it plays a lot throughout the game (it's like Imperial March being associated with Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, it's automatically associated with him and variations show up throughout the original trilogy and even in the prequels and elsewhere).

But then I love FFXIV's OST as I love FF music in general, and feel Soken has actually got the right balance between his new tracks he's specifically composed for ARR and it's expansions, and Uematsu's original 1.0 OST which he has also included (the aforementioned Imperial Will is a Uematsu track originally composed for FFXIV 1.0, and Uematsu after all is the FF series composer, so it's only a good thing it's used as much as it has). ;)

They have been adding new music for cutscenes with each expansion.

I never really took issue with it because the variety is just as big as a lot of other games.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

I disagree. There is actually a large variety in the styles and frequency of different music tracks Soken uses for cutscene incidental music, and I never feel "oh no not this track again" when playing through the story. Imperial Will especially is the Garlean Empire's leitmotif so of course it's going to be played in many cutscenes involving the Empire, and given the importance the Empire has to FFXIV's storyline, it's only natural it plays a lot throughout the game (it's like Imperial March being associated with Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, it's automatically associated with him and variations show up throughout the original trilogy and even in the prequels and elsewhere).

But then I love FFXIV's OST as I love FF music in general, and feel Soken has actually got the right balance between his new tracks he's specifically composed for ARR and it's expansions, and Uematsu's original 1.0 OST which he has also included (the aforementioned Imperial Will is a Uematsu track originally composed for FFXIV 1.0, and Uematsu after all is the FF series composer, so it's only a good thing it's used as much as it has). ;)

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I also love FF music and the OST--as I said several times, this is by no means a critique of the OST. It's just a critique of how overplayed certain songs have become to the point that you can almost predict how an entire cutscene will go based solely on the song chosen

I'm inclined to agree. A few tracks have worn thin for me at this point and I say that as someone who has bought pretty much every FFXIV related soundtrack released over the years and been to a Distant Worlds concert.

I was also a little disheartened that the latest EX trial lacked a unique theme.

At this point I usually have spotify on and play on mute, and its because of this. After you get about half way through a new expac, you have heard all the music ad nauseum already. So its only on for big fights for the first time or two.

I never even bother listening to holiday events, job quests, special event quests, etc. Some of the music I have been hearing even since v1 and yeah, over it. Especially that Garlean theme. Of course I am also completely over the Garleans themselves, so that may add to it. Its been 10 years of the same antagonists and the same theme music to accompany them... I don't even care anymore, I just want them and their music gone lol.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm inclined to agree. A few tracks have worn thin for me at this point and I say that as someone who has bought pretty much every FFXIV related soundtrack released over the years and been to a Distant Worlds concert.

I was also a little disheartened that the latest EX trial lacked a unique theme.

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Yeah, this aspect of it was really disappointing. I personally mute it and play literally anything else. The boss theme for Shadowbringers is getting a bit stale, especially considering how its played numerous times in Dungeons.

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In response to the OP, yeah, after listening to these all on YT just for a refresher, they kind of are overused. Some new tracks and more variety certainly wouldn't hurt.

I feel my brain shutting down just listening to those themes. On the other hand every scene with them is the same thing so you can skip through dialogue and still know what happened.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm inclined to agree. A few tracks have worn thin for me at this point and I say that as someone who has bought pretty much every FFXIV related soundtrack released over the years and been to a Distant Worlds concert.

I was also a little disheartened that the latest EX trial lacked a unique theme.

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When Penitus played in the cutscene, I thought for a moment that that was gonna be the boss theme and I was all for it. Then it was just Insatiable and... c'mon. Meteor, Bite of the Black Wolf, Steel Reason, Penitus, anything that has played when a Garlean has been on the field would have worked as a boss theme.

I agree, it is a bit annoying to hear the same music over and over in cutscenes.
They seemed to use a lot of new music in ShB, though, and I adooooored it. It made cutscenes so much better.

What gives me the greatest annoyance, is that in lowbie dungeons, they start with their own unique music that actually sounds pretty interesting, and then transition to... The blandest battle music in the game. For all of the lowbie dungeons. T^T

I'm just glad they at least changed the ShB dungeon boss themes... I know some think it just means that final boss theme is gonna be overplayed, but holy heck I was absolutely sick of hearing the other theme in every. Single. Dungeon.
At least potd has some pretty good variety in it lmao

Does Machinations still not have an orc roll?

I'd play that all day long tbh.