Dungeon Mechanics are a little repetitive [[Spoilers]]

[ddwarbird]

Footfalls has orchestral sections in it tying it in with previous main themes, which is actually quite nice and fits with EW being an ending to the story we’ve had for almost a decade. A lot of these compositional differences could also be because Soken composed ShB’s and EW’s themes. Uematsu was responsible for Answers, Dragonsong, and Revolutions. They both have distinct styles—and that’s just their style as a composer. But I don’t really think that has much bearing on the musical quality, nor do I think Soken is trying to pander to “millennials”. I think the theme style suits the expansions. Much like Answers suited the end of 1.0/ARR, Dragonsong suited HW (especially with regards to the aesthetic of Ishgard as a region), and Revolutions suited SB. Both composers have incorporated more rock elements in their songs, and orchestral elements. I do think Uematsu leans more towards the former, but again. That’s just his style.

Dungeons and dungeon mechanics literally haven’t changed in 8 years. Occasionally you get a new one introduced, but they are rarely threatening. As for one-shots, there aren’t really any mechanics within a dungeon that will one-hit KO you if you’ve been doing everything properly up to the point you eat one. The only time you get one-shot is usually because you’re sporting vulnerability stacks—which is the result of failing mechanics beforehand—and in several dungeons it takes multiple stacks to even pose a threat to your survivability.

Healers are redundant in most content. This also isn’t anything new.

Don't you think that is an issue though? Dungeon Mechanics haven't changed in 8 years, so they can certainly feel very stale and Square's unwillingness to mix up the formula every now and again, although consistent in quality does come off as kinda "safe" rather then innovative. I'm not saying I have all the answers, I do not.

All I am saying is that I'm not personally a fan of the "Rock style", its fine every now and again but for me personally, it can detract from the enjoyment. Ultima Thul's theme would have sounded so much better with the lady who sung "Tomorrow is Tomorrow" (She is a magnificent singer and the Crysterium night theme is still one of my favourite city themes ever). I realise this is subjective entirely.

[HyoMinPark]

Don't you think that is an issue though? Dungeon Mechanics haven't changed in 8 years, so they can certainly feel very stale and Square's unwillingness to mix up the formula every now and again, although consistent in quality does come off as kinda "safe" rather then innovative. I'm not saying I have all the answers, I do not.

I do find it stale. But I’m mostly just correcting your assertion that the mechanics are punishing in the slightest. Most you can just ignore. That said, repetitive mechanics still have people that fail them repeatedly—and not even newcomers. A poster above mentioned stack markers. I wouldn’t be surprised if the developers don’t want to spice things up and add more variance if for no other reason than people still struggle with the very obviously telegraphed ones that have been around since I started playing at the least (at least, the current stack marker iteration has).

All I am saying is that I'm not personally a fan of the "Rock style", its fine every now and again but for me personally, it can detract from the enjoyment. Ultima Thul's theme would have sounded so much better with the lady who sung "Tomorrow is Tomorrow" (She is a magnificent singer and the Crysterium night theme is still one of my favourite city themes ever). I realise this is subjective entirely.

Which is fine—but I think your assessment that Soken is catering to millennials is wrong. Rock aspects have existed in FFXIV songs since 1.0, so they aren’t new. And it’s not really pushing any sort of musical time period. More so just fitting into an aesthetic.

Personally, regarding Ultima Thule, I prefer the original theme where it was more muted and had no vocals. Fit the atmosphere a lot better. The vocal version works for where they put it in the story; but it being a constant theme doesn’t suit the zone itself, in my opinion. Generally, they’re pretty good about using zone themes in ways that suit the zone, but I think the final version for Ultima Thule misses that mark.