Let's talk music - Dawntrail really drops the ball reusing old themes

[Tehmon]

I actually never realized what that music's title was, I always just associated the tune with "ok here's the cutscene where we get down to business." But to be fair, that theme has been used a ton in every expansion since ARR, so I honestly wasn't as bothered by that one popping up.

Whenever I hear Machinations, I know it's a cutscene I can skip. What a horrible tune. It's not just overused, but it's such a gratingly loud and obnoxious song as well.

[Andevom]

Whenever I hear Machinations, I know it's a cutscene I can skip. What a horrible tune. It's not just overused, but it's such a gratingly loud and obnoxious song as well.

I always associate it with Northern Thanalan since it plays in the safe-havens there. It's one of my least favorite zones for that reason.

The song is a nervous tic at this point where you can just feel them sweating when they've gone through too many cutscenes without tossing it in.

[Arzalis]

Yeah. The new tracks are fantastic and FFXIV is the game with the higher number of original pieces of music in existence, but they insist on mostly using the same like 3-4 for quest cutscenes they've used since 2.0.

We do have a few newer ones mixed in there (like the one from ShB) but it'd be nice if they could vary it up a lot more. They don't even need to make new ones if they just don't want to, just reuse some different tracks.

[SwadTheFrog]

I want to state upfront I am not a Dawntrail hater. I really love it (it seems to be a minority opinion). However, one thing I've been annoyed about with Dawntrail more than Endwalker is the lack of unique music in cutscenes.

Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers (and to some extent Endwalker) all brought their own unique themes that were utilized in scenes etc. They brought a "flavor," so to speak.

Dawntrail seems to recycle all the old themes, borrowing A LOT from Shadowbringers, which I feel music fits the themes and style of that expansion and feels really, really out of place in Dawntrail.

I feel music is so important to set the tone and give each story its own sense of identity. Dawntrail is so distinct with its visual style and flair and cultures, yet most of that is lost when we're slammed over the head with the Shadowbringers music cues.

Sorry, small rant.

As someone that genuine dislikes Dawntrail but always appreciates music use, I absolutetly agree with you. The first half has practically none of the themes or instruments you'd hear in south american regions (seriously, why the hell iis the Capital's Theme not something like Bossa Nova instead of American Jazz?), and how the second half sometimes willl shove in themes from ARR that do not the "ooOoOoO ScI fI" zones at all. The vast majority of the DT original tracks are actually really good, but the reuse is so bad. They reused the Skydeep Cenote theme so goddamn much.

[Gortys]

Though I don't think Soken has ever truly fully missed, I do have a few thoughts...

Soken said in an interview that YoshiP asked him to write more upbeat music for this expansion and he was a bit insecure about it since it's not his typical type of music. Hopefully the music coming up isn't just these 2 songs over and over.
Part of me wonders if SE is pushing for them to market the game to more people and that means making songs like Smile. I thought they had a good mix of rock and poppy sounds already. I guess we'll find out in about a week when Arcadion is released if this is their new trail.

[Supersnow845]

The (final dungeon) boss themes are weak, everything else is good.

I thought you meant “the final dungeon theme is bad” and I was like how dare you insult a trail unending then I realised you meant the final boss of the dungeon theme which I agree is weak

Am I the only one tired of having the night theme just be a piano version of the day theme? Whenever I visit ARR zones I'm reminded how great the nighttime music is, because it's not just a piano track of the day music. It gives variety and changes the mood. I wish we'd go back to that.

I’m doing fate grinding and gathering right now and I genuinely get annoyed when it’s night time because the night themes are boring and repetitive. Why would I want to listen to urqopacha’s night theme or shaaloni’s when their day themes are so good

[Granyala]

- For the love of Hydaelyn and every living being in Etheirys: Give us new FATE music, PRETTY PLEASE!!

I only ever activate the music in this game for story and initial zone exploration.
While the music is good, it's also short and given the amount of hours we spend in each given area (especially when doing endgame stuff like crafting/gathering) it gets old quickly.

Even in the last zone of DT I had to deactivate the music half way through the story ugh ... that repetition.

Also, what the flying FORK was that "music" in Trial 2? ... Dear Lord.

[Touken_Ranbu]

They really need to diversify their team. I don't think it's healthy for the same people to work on every expansion when some things are clearly out of their area of expertise. You wouldn't ask a master baker to cook up a steak. This is the perfect time to give new composers the spotlight, especially ones who are more familiar with the style of music originating in the places this expac is based off of.