Originally Posted by
HuaTuo
I really don't spend my time on a videogame forums and don't even remotely care about post count (lol??). I suppose there's people who do. As far as Shadowbringers go with music, I literally muted music in Crystarium, just bloody awful. Though it's early to say about the rest since only just started the 70-80 questline. There's FF concert in Albert Hall on 19th Sep. If you happen to sit in grand tier 16, next to seat 9, I'll be happy to shake your hand.
Okay I thought I had stated everything I wanted to say on this subject, but further thought made me realize more needed to be clarified, particularly why synthesizer is prefered over 'traditional' instruments, and also a bit of the thought that goes into the actual compositions for each piece in the game (based on personal feelings and information from the composer/s him/themselves).
Firstly, the whole synthesizer/traditional instrument debate. This comes down to personal preference but for me, it's horses for courses, synthesizer is simply another instrument in a composer's arsenal, able to stand in for at the least piano/organ, if not a whole orchestra. And before you pass judgement on electronic instruments in general, your studies of classical music should have surely shown you that in from the beginnings of the 20th century on electronic instruments started to be developed and experimented with among 'traditional' instruments in orchestras - beginning with the famous theremin (beloved in countless haunted house films for a century 
). And that is essentially, a very primitive and early synthesizer. And now, with modern technology, a synthesizer can pretty much replicate an entire orchestra very well - of course there is still a slight bit of audio uncanny valley going on, which I presume is the reason for your dislike of synthesizer music in general, which is fine, but I still like it as a genre on it's own.
And that brings me to why it's used and prefered in game music, including FFXIV. And a lot of it is simply pragmatism. You might not realize it (or maybe you do but consider it irrelevant) but having to use a full orchestra with fully pre-recorded orchestral music for a game like FFXIV would be extremely expensive, as each musician needs to be paid for, which for an average symphony orchestra has around 20-30 musicians, would be very expensive to do, over a long period of time, to record upwards of 500 tracks that FFXIV currently has in it's soundtrack. On top of that you need a large enough dedicated studio for recording which would be occupied for an extended length of time for the required amount of tracks, so again that increases the cost to SE.
Compare that to a single composer using a top of the line synthesizer and related sound platform like Masasyoshi Soken and Nobuo Uematsu use and the cost comes way way down. The fruits of their work as able to be seen immediately and any adjustments or changes can be easily and quickly implemented, instead of having to recall the entire orchestra again to play a new or changed track that has to be recorded again from scratch. And as Soken is also the game's Sound Director as well as main composer, he is responsible for the use of sound effects in the game as well as the music, and thus a synthesizer is well placed for ensuring music and sound effects function in the game effectively.
Another reason why synthesized music is prefeable in general use in games compared to fully orchestrated recordings is from a technical perspective. Game developers are mindful of the overall size of games and the need for game components to function immediately, and sound/music is especially important, especially when it comes to file sizes. Of course in these days of 2+TB hard drives it's not quite as much of a problem for keeping games as small as possible, but they still need to be mindful of overall game program size, and a game would be quickly bogged down by recorded music files. Sure, you could use audio compression like MP3 or FLAC, but that then adds an extra layer of complexity to the whole thing, as the computer now has to decompress the music file before it can be used, which especially in a very large game with already hundreds or thousands of processes happening at the same time, it would makle the game load far far slower and/or lag badly, especially in real-time games. MIDI is therefore still very very popular in gaming because of it's simplicity, all the game has to do is hand over the process of making the sound/music file to the computer's sound chip to do, rather than have to decompress and play a recorded file. MIDI 'files' are therefore just an instruction to the sound processor and thus are very very tiny (a couple of KBs if that). This is how games like the FF series traditionally handled music.
Having said that (and to perhaps confuse the situation a bit), FFXIV does use prerecorded tracks that are synthesized, for the reason I previously mentioned. It's easy and quick to produce them or alter them if required, and furthermore, given game music has to often repeat for as long as it's needed (rather than fading out and then restarting), it's far easier to edit for cueing purposes. Hence prerecorded orchestral tracks are more commonly used for certain situations, especially cutscenes, as they provide a better emotional feeling and response, and, are not required to repeat or be cued. And this leads me to my final point.
I mentioned this in my first post but it is worth repeating here, that a lot of thought goes into each track as to how it is used. Music in FFXIV is not just music to be listened to for music's sake (although you can certainly do just that, I do it myself!), but it is also a leitmotif, a theme connected to a certain area, place, person or situation in the game's story, and it's meant to enhance the emotional aspect of that situation, and through certain instruments, sounds or melodies is meant to be symbolic or metaphorical of what is happening on screen. An example of what I am trying to get across is a track from the Shadowbringers OST in particular which a few people pointed already (although it's a place in the expansion you haven't yet reached it appears, so this will be spoilered going in, but I'll try to be as generic as possible): Mortal Instants, by Masayoshi Soken, the theme for
Amaurot, the final dungeon for ShB.
This theme is a remix of the themes for the Tempest Full Fathom Five and the theme for the Amaurot reconstruction Neath Dark Waters, but far more hectic and urgent. The harsh strings and percussion and the wailing voices drive home what is being seen on screen - you're literally experiencing every aspect of the apocalypse that destroyed the Ascians' civilization, seeing tall skyscrapers collapsing while fire and brimstone rain down from the sky and people run around pannicking and dying in the streets, as their very fears and nightmares are given flesh, all the while Emet is describing the destruction and bloodshed in graphic detail as you fight your way through the chaos, culminating in being taken into outer space as the original planet literally burns in agony below, the music really enhances the emotion on screen.
Playing it without that track or any music in general would not have the same effect, it would be much blander.
This is simply one example of the thought that goes into making game music, and using a synthesizer to accomplish that is simply using the best tool for the job.
Reply With Quote
