Game Awards

[Saito_S]

Eh, I'm not too fussed about Fortnite winning. Would it have been cool to see FFXIV get that kind of recognition? Absolutely. Do I get the appeal of Fortnite or think it deserved to be named anyone's "best ongoing game"? Not even a little bit. But, it is an awards show. It doesn't really mean anything, and there are enough biases and factors beyond simply "how good is this game" that influence how well a game does at any awards show. Heck, those other factors are often far MORE important than how good it is for determining who gets the award, and of course there's also the simple fact that the question of overall quality of a game has subjective elements in the first place. At least FFXIV was even nominated - considering how under the radar it was until ShB, that's kind of neat.

Music's good by and large, but a lot of it is remixed versions of other game music,

This is not a true statement. Considerably less than 50% of the complete FFXIV soundtrack (that is, counting ARR and all expansions as one big OST) is remixed from music previously used in other games, FF or otherwise.

or music already used at this point (E3S/E4S/Nier alliance raid,

A sufficiently fresh remix doesn't count as "music already used at this point". E.g. Eden 3 - yeah sure it's a remix, but it's kind of disingenuous to compare that to the original track it's based on and be like "these are basically the same". You seem to be putting forth a viewpoint that remixes and leitmotif are bad things, which is a bit bizarre. Sure if each expansion had SO little original music, compared to being just wall-to-wall remixes, then maybe you'd have a point. But this isn't remotely true of any of XIV's OSTs.

dungeons share the same tracks aside from a handful,

Wh-what? Dungeons share the same tracks?? What game are you playing? The last time a dungeon DIDN'T have its own theme was 2.x. Dungeon themes do remix the area they're in, and sometimes remix other music from earlier in the game if there's something in the dungeon that's referential to the earlier thing in question, but very few dungeon themes sound remotely like the themes of other dungeons, excepting when it's an intentional remix because the dungeon is a hard mode of a previous one, etc.

I mean sure, this incorporates one of the main melodies from this. But if you'd hear the former and be like "yawn. We already had this track." because of the latter, then uh... wow.

which, while cool for throwbacks, don't really impart something new that's impactful. Only song like that I've hit was really the Hades theme/SHB theme.

Not saying the remixes aren't fun to listen to, or aren't good, just that it's a lot less interesting to hear a remix song than it is to load up into The Final Steps of Faith and hear Nidhogg's theme for the first time.

You, uh... are aware that both the Hades fight music (I'm assuming you mean phase 2, since phase 1 is literally just Shadowbringers again) and the pieces from Final Steps of Faith (excluding Dragonsong, but again I'm assuming that by "Nidhogg's theme" you mean phase 2 or 3) are remixes, right? You have some weird positions on music quality and remixes, and dismissing any track that incorporates remixing or leitmotif from previous tracks (many of which are among the most memorable, and often the most beloved, tracks in the entire OST) as "not impactful" because it's just a "throwback" is the strangest take I think I've ever seen when it comes to FFXIV's music.

I mean you can just not LIKE the music of FFXIV, sure. Obviously I wouldn't agree with that, but that's just an opinion. No problem there. But there are a lot of assumptions and takes in your post that really don't work, and a lot of things that are straight-up factually incorrect. Kinda feels like you want to be an Informed Contrarian going against the grain of the (very popular around here) opinion that XIV has amazing music, but you didn't actually pay that much attention to the music.

[Alaray]

[post]

I didn't intend to imply it's a bad thing, and I was specifically thinking of SHB/STB not ARR/HW w/r/t to the current year award ceremony.

My point was more: Songs like "Dancing Mad" while I enjoyed it during the Kefka fight, is not a song tailored specifically to XIV that represents what is going on within the game. It's Dancing Mad. Dragonsong, the SHB Theme, are songs specifically made for XIV as a whole and have particular meaning towards the story, themes etc... of the game. (And there was a lot more of this in ARR/HW -- I really enjoyed the Alexander themes, specifically Metal since it reads lyrically like it's coming from the Illuminati's point of view). Final Omega's theme, from the majority of those raid fight themes, was more impactful to me as an XIV player as it was an XIV-made-for song, rather than part of a throwback for nostalgia I don't have. (Again: I don't think those throwback songs are bad, they're just not particularly special when you take it into the context of the game as FFXIV as a whole).

Maybe I'm technically mistaken on a remix etc... but my point in using the term was: We've had Leviathan's theme, yes we're fighting Leviathan again and this re-done version of the theme fits the fight (and yes I do like it), but it's not something that really bespeaks to the situations/themes occurring in the game in a meaningful manner aside from: "It's Leviathan again." I'm not saying it's a bad song, but it's just that: a boss theme. It doesn't hold much more narrative-ly than the first one, other than the thought process that the new version of it might be how the WoL would remember the song.

For dungeons, every boss shares the same theme/trash is the SHB battle music. Which is the majority of the dungeon, and the ambient dungeon tracks are rarely anything more than ambient music. Ambient music is nice to listen to, it's relaxing in a lot of cases, and I'm not saying it's poorly made (and I'm not saying it takes no effort/skill): but that's what it is, ambient music.