Ishikawa commissioned Smile T__T

[Elissar]

Sound placing was made by an evil AI. Nothing else explain what we received.

[ZXN]

This information changes nothing for me. Smile to me personally just isn't a good song and they chose the most baffling times to use it.

If it was JUST used in the credits then it would be fine. Cheesy yes, but overall fine since it's just the ending credits song. But the fact they just randomly threw the chorus of the song in during the cutscene after Wuk Lamat's Tural Tour when she becomes Dawnservant and talks about how much she loves peace again for the 100th time just felt incredibly out of place and out of nowhere. Then of course they they somehow went "Yo we should use this song again when everyone is working together!" and decided building a train bomb was a genius time to put it in there, making it even more out of place. Combine that with the song's tempo being all over the place and Akino sounding like she really had to force the pitches required for the song and you get a song that is just out of place.

Like fine I guess this technically ultimately ends the "Black Gospel" issue but it won't suddenly change how the song will "feel" to other people.

[IvoryHawk]

Damn Soken must be racist for not likeing "Black Gospel"

[Doopliss]

I don't understand the surprise here, personally. I mean, one: no writer is ever infallible, and I kind of wish people stopped crediting her for every single good thing in FFXIV and pretending she didn't have some flops herself (this isn't to say her work isn't great; it is. it's just simply unrealistic to pretend any writer single-handedly does all the work for a team project like this, and is some sort of paragon). And two: Ishikawa just, kind of...has a notoriously cheesy taste in music/lyrics, lol. I don't think this is a bad thing, but if you look at her version of the lyrics for the Endwalker theme and so on...the localization team did a lot of work to make it less painfully on the nose.

[VeyaAkemi]

Quite honestly, I really like Smile myself, but mostly not how it's used in the game, not even just its placement, but more how it is cut, it skips directly to the chorus without any of the build up, but the full song? the full song is spectacular, the opening isn't fully to my liking, the singer sounds a bit too breathy, but after the opening segment when the choir hits, it hits real good, and only picks up from there, when it finally reaches the chorus naturally, the song is at proper full swing, and I am so there for that, so I am glad Ishikawa commissioned this song, and I admit that I quite enjoy some cheese myself, so perhaps my tastes happen to align with hers, but still.

[Doopliss]

Quite honestly, I really like Smile myself, but mostly not how it's used in the game, not even just its placement, but more how it is cut, it skips directly to the chorus without any of the build up, but the full song? the full song is spectacular, the opening isn't fully to my liking, the singer sounds a bit too breathy, but after the opening segment when the choir hits, it hits real good, and only picks up from there, when it finally reaches the chorus naturally, the song is at proper full swing, and I am so there for that, so I am glad Ishikawa commissioned this song, and I admit that I quite enjoy some cheese myself, so perhaps my tastes happen to align with hers, but still.

Oh, again, I want to reiterate I don't think liking cheese is a bad thing. There's way too many cheesy JRPG and Sonic themes I unironically love to this day to pretend I'm above Smile (I'm mostly neutral on the song, but I love the "JUST IMAGINE WHAT'S AROUND THE BEEEND" part).

Honestly I think the "Dawntrail" theme is just as awkward if not worse. To me the theme sounds like way too many songs with horrible, disjointed transitions attempting to be one. Like "Footfalls" but way worse. I don't know why it doesn't get as much shit.

[programcanaan]

Ishikawa's passion and emotion are her Achilles heel. She's gets very emotionally attached to certain characters, cultures, and concepts. This can be a good thing, but left unchecked it can lead to depriving other characters and other facets of the world much thought leading to a very bland and one note story. Which has very much led to the decline of the series.

[Lunaxia]

I don't understand the surprise here, personally. I mean, one: no writer is ever infallible, and I kind of wish people stopped crediting her for every single good thing in FFXIV and pretending she didn't have some flops herself (this isn't to say her work isn't great; it is. it's just simply unrealistic to pretend any writer single-handedly does all the work for a team project like this, and is some sort of paragon). And two: Ishikawa just, kind of...has a notoriously cheesy taste in music/lyrics, lol. I don't think this is a bad thing, but if you look at her version of the lyrics for the Endwalker theme and so on...the localization team did a lot of work to make it less painfully on the nose.

Unpopular opinion time (?), but as much crap as they get for... I don't know, making what would be a rather bland translation more colourful (but something something stilted anime accuracy), the localisation team have silently contributed significantly to parts of the game Ishikawa more often than not gets full credit for, Emet-Selch's depiction in Shadowbringers and the DRK quests to name some just off the top of my head. She's a very emotive writer, she knows how to make characters that players love and her storylines tend to have more heart and poignancy than her cohorts (who kind of stick to the more repetitive JPRG fare you'd expect that runs a little dry in the West) but she's not actually all that raw or gritty as the writing can get (the JP version rarely is, regardless of who's behind it) and she can definitely get it wrong - including but not limited to, like you say, being no stranger to a healthy amount of cheese, lol. I think purely from a writing perspective she's made several mistakes, but for most players it just flies under the radar compared to her achievements and let's be honest, most FF fans have withstood enough cheese that Ishikawa's writing is positively R R Martin-esque in comparison.

[Araxes]

I thought this song was supposed to be "literally black gospel"?
Does this mean I'm not racist for disliking the song?

Nah, it was just a CERTAIN VOICE ACTOR from a Certain Hrothgar Female (SPEEEENEEE LISSEN TO MIIIIII) that tried to pin an agenda to it.

[ForteNightshade]

It should have only played during the credits, nowhere else

I'd argue that was the worst time it played. We just finished essentially "killing" the Endless, rendering Living Memory... well, a literal memory but hey yo, let's have a happy, upbeat Disney styled song to close out!

The only spot it worked, imo, was Wuk's coronation.