The direction of FFXIV's music.

[Endemerrin]

It isn't brought up very often, but I think it's one of those things that can honestly make a game. Powerful music can invoke a wide number of emotions, and having those tied in with the game you're playing can make for both an amazing experience, and long lasting memories. This is evident with a lot of XI's music, as I'm sure a majority the people who played XI can hum more than half of the OST by heart. It was memorable, it had real emotion behind it. All the music was fitting for it's specific region, or the specific battle at hand. Even music from Abyssea (which I never played) is very catchy, so the whole "You just like it because it's nostalgic and you have good memories tied to it" is kind of void.

I guess I personally would just like to know what direction XIV's music is going in. We've heard it slowly change since Yoshida has taken over, but will it continue to change? Will existing tracks be revamped in 2.0 to give us an entirely new OST? Or will music for the current zones / cities remain as is?

I personally think everything could use a revamp. Nobuo might be an amazing composer, but you can really hear he was rushed with pushing out XIV's OST. A lot of it doesn't feel very fitting, which is by no means his fault at all.


...And this is just my personal opinion, but we need less progressive rock / orchestrated pieces, and more classic FF synth. They're trying to bring the "Final Fantasy" into XIV, and that's a great way to do it. Those catchy synths we all know and love. Save the orchestrations for important battles and final cutscenes!

[Nakiamiie]

It isn't brought up very often, but I think it's one of those things that can honestly make a game. Powerful music can invoke a wide number of emotions, and having those tied in with the game you're playing can make for both an amazing experience, and long lasting memories. This is evident with a lot of XI's music, as I'm sure a majority the people who played XI can hum more than half of the OST by heart. It was memorable, it had real emotion behind it. All the music was fitting for it's specific region, or the specific battle at hand. Even music from Abyssea (which I never played) is very catchy, so the whole "You just like it because it's nostalgic and you have good memories tied to it" is kind of void.

I guess I personally would just like to know what direction XIV's music is going in. We've heard it slowly change since Yoshida has taken over, but will it continue to change? Will existing tracks be revamped in 2.0 to give us an entirely new OST? Or will music for the current zones / cities remain as is?

I personally think everything could use a revamp. Nobuo might be an amazing composer, but you can really hear he was rushed with pushing out XIV's OST. A lot of it doesn't feel very fitting.


...And this is just my personal opinion, but we need less j-rock / orchestrated pieces, and more classic FF synth. They're trying to bring the "Final Fantasy" into XIV, and that's a great way to do it. The synths we all know and love.

I personally enjoy the current musics, but more musics is always good.
More musics means it gets adapted to the situation as well. Like, if the weather changes, the music could change too to adapt to the atmosphere and enhance it.

[Munba]

I personally enjoy the current musics, but more musics is always good.
More musics means it gets adapted to the situation as well. Like, if the weather changes, the music could change too to adapt to the atmosphere and enhance it.

Agree, i'd add also a change of the same track between day (normal) and night (more calm and gentle).

[Endemerrin]

Agree, i'd add also a change of the same track between day (normal) and night (more calm and gentle).

This is something that always bothered me with Thanalan.

Twilight over Thanalan is fitting.. ....at night. Not during the day.

[UmJammerSully]

I personally enjoy the current musics, but more musics is always good.
More musics means it gets adapted to the situation as well. Like, if the weather changes, the music could change too to adapt to the atmosphere and enhance it.

You just blew my mind, it sounds like you have a good grasp of what makes great music in modern games.

Day and night-specific music would be amazing, as someone said Thanalan's music isn't too fitting during the day, you could have it so certain drum and instrument tracks are present during the daytime and disappear for a more mellow feeling at night.

With regards to weather, the purple haze in Mor Dhona could shift the music to sound even more sinister somehow.

[alexhatesmil]

...And this is just my personal opinion, but we need less j-rock / orchestrated pieces, and more classic FF synth. They're trying to bring the "Final Fantasy" into XIV, and that's a great way to do it. The synths we all know and love.

Although I agree with your sentiments on the whole, I don't really get this part. "Classic Final Fantasy" to me was always a balance of rock, orchestral music, and something in between the two. I think Uematsu's tracks for this game are great. I don't think the designers always chose the best music for certain areas and cutscenes, but that's not a fault of the music itself.

What's disappointing to me, though, is that Uematsu seems to have been taken off the project (or he decided to leave, at least). I'm pretty sure all of the new music is coming from a team of S-E composers. I think that's a real shame.

[auritribe]

Although I agree with your sentiments on the whole, I don't really get this part. "Classic Final Fantasy" to me was always a balance of rock, orchestral music, and something in between the two. I think Uematsu's tracks for this game are great. I don't think the designers always chose the best music for certain areas and cutscenes, but that's not a fault of the music itself.

What's disappointing to me, though, is that Uematsu seems to have been taken off the project (or he decided to leave, at least). I'm pretty sure all of the new music is coming from a team of S-E composers. I think that's a real shame.

I think Uematsu was a one time thing when the game was first released.

Square went to him and was like 'hey we're makin a game, give us some musics here have some money' 'what kind of music?' 'oh we dont care, whatever.' 'well here's a bunch of tracks I made awhile ago that didn't get used, enjoy.'

Since Nobuo doesn't work in house, it probably costs them a lot of money to get his work. They're not going to spend that kind of cash again on a game that is 'failing'.

Matt: Your other big score this year was Final Fantasy XIV. What was it like to revisit the series here? How did your freelance experiences since Final Fantasy XI influence your direction?

Nobuo Uematsu: 11 years have passed since I did Final Fantasy IX, which was the last Final Fantasy project I composed all of the themes for. I didn't feel like I was revisiting Final Fantasy, though, since all of the games have a different taste or feeling about them.

The big difference is that I working as a freelance composer on Final Fantasy XIV. When I was in Square Enix, I used to talk with designers, writers and programmers, just smoking and discussing a lot. I didn't have the chance to talk with them as much this time. I'm not sure if this was a good or bad thing.

[Onidemon]

I think Uematsu was a one time thing when the game was first released.

Square went to him and was like 'hey we're makin a game, give us some musics here have some money' 'what kind of music?' 'oh we dont care, whatever.' 'well here's a bunch of tracks I made awhile ago that didn't get used, enjoy.'

Since Nobuo doesn't work in house, it probably costs them a lot of money to get his work. They're not going to spend that kind of cash again on a game that is 'failing'.

The game is not failing, it already failed. That's why they are doing a reboot. And new, better music from Uematsu can only help them achieve their goal.

[Denmo]

The game is not failing, it already failed. That's why they are doing a reboot. And new, better music from Uematsu can only help them achieve their goal.

You missed the point. Uematsu isn't with Square-Enix anymore. He's not in there talking with the devs and getting a direct feel for the game. I find this soundtrack to be one of his worst, actually, apart from one or two songs.

Just because Uematsu scores it != good music. When will fanboys understand this?

IMO, they need to get the staff that scored FFXI, FFXII, and the FFT series. They need to go into Nobuo's songs, which seem pretty bare bones to me, and embellish on them a bit. Get some real melody in there with more than just 1-2 verses. You know, songs that last longer than 4 minutes, because any less is frikkin' annoying when set on repeat for hours at a time.

[Platinumstorm]

I've made posts about this before, particularly with regards to the length of the tracks.

I also did not like the FFXI music from what I experienced of it.

I love the Gobbue music to death, it reminds me of a great airship music and is very FF3 [VI] nostalgic for me, which frankly is the direction I want the music to take [FF2, 3].