Discussion on ARR music and ambient noises.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

I'd like to keep this thread going until after the release of ARR. I saw that a lot of us users have been commenting on the music and how the tranquility of it flows and intertwines with the ambient noises that are selected for the forest in The Black Shroud.

The discussion I want to have here on this thread is about the music. The community reps can chime in on this as well, as I would like a lot of this feedback to be forwarded to the composers like Soken. I believe that the other strong point with the Final Fantasy games has ALWAYS been its music, with entrancing and beautiful graphics being the first thing (though we can say that the story and characters are the staple for and main things).

My first suggestion and feedback is that with all of the new environments created for ARR, could there be different types of musical instruments for some of the tracks/areas? I know that the music maybe already finalized and chosen for the game now, but I'd like my suggestions be heard for the expansions and patches for extra content

An example for here--say that we are at a beach in ARR, and the surrounding landscape has palm trees of sorts. What instruments would you like to use? I'd say flutes, steel drums, drums, and the like. The desert could have drums and wood/pan flutes

The best examples so far for music that had fit the areas were like in FFXI, such as San d'Oria and Bastok. San d'Oria had a Celtic-like background, especially Ronfaure. Bastok sounded like a bustling city just being ready to be explored.

What I like about The Black Shroud is that the music sounded very much like some of these CDs I own. It reminds me of this CD(s) I own that have instruments along with ambient nature sounds (birds, crickets, frogs, etc. along with wind, water, thunder), and they are called "Dan Gibson's Solitudes." The CD I own, that had music similar to the music in the video of The Black Shroud II, is called "Garden In Provence." https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ga...ce/id271506566 (it's only viewable on iTunes or Amazon). To see what I mean with the music having an ethnic and worldly feel like it could with ARR, I'd look up that music like in the link I posted.

Not to advertise this music, though, but I felt like the music/ambient noises on these new videos pay tribute to this kind of music; it is very relaxing and tranquil. To me, the choice of the area and music/noises REALLY hits home with me. It feels very immersive and I can see myself staying in the same areas for longer periods of time. Not to downplay Version 1.0, but the music got annoying in the field areas at times. It just didn't click for me like ARR's has. Especial 1.0's Black Shroud. It sounded like some MIDI programming and something from the 90's.

But really, what does everyone think for the music and the ambient noises in the videos? Do you think the composers and Soken could use different instruments for different areas for an ethnic and worldly feel?

[Boxworm]

No posts yet? D: Well, I'M happy to see a thread about ARR's soundtrack! Music is one of the most important things to me in a game. When I played XI, I'd often sit in an area for hours just to listen to the music. I quit XI awhile ago, but I still listen to its soundtrack pretty often, and it always has the power to instantly transport me right back to that area. That, to me, is what makes great VGM. I think the ambient noise will really help to make the areas more memorable and realistic, not to mention it will add a lot of depth.

I have really enjoyed Soken's music so far, but I really hope Uematsu and Mizuta's previous work will stay in the game too. I absolutely LOVED all of it, and it would be a huge shame for it to be tossed away!! They all have such different sounds, and I think it's fun to have music from a few different composers. After all, every area is different, so it's fitting for the music to have distinctly different sounds.

I really think it will be a huge blow to ARR if Uematsu's work is not reused. I listen to the tracks a lot on YouTube, and the number of 'welcome back Uematsu!' comments is amazing. He brought in a fantastic retro FF feel in a lot of his songs, and I think a lot of fans really enjoyed that. For many who grew up playing FF and hearing Uematsu's music, Mizuta and Soken are a cheap second. I hate to say that, but I know it's true for many people. And the retro FF feel fits right in with Yoshi-P's vision for the game. So, I really hope the old music is recycled.

[Shougun]

Not exactly music but I would like for all npcs and basic interactions to have Zelda speak (when talking to npcs or when npcs talk to each other - would add crowd sound as well for cities that should have it like Uldah).

We will have full on voice for important quests and Yoshida will save a lot of time and money not doing it for everyone.

But I'd still like the lean to of at least some sort of dialog. Is that just me?


I agree with you on the instruments, I think Sokien has an excellent grasp of the modern instruments (his boss fight music(s) scream this) but I would like to see him try out some more archaic ones and attribute each zone to a small handful of those archaic instruments.

And I've heard almost every archaic / new world instrument from SE but the asian ones.. where the heck are the taiko(s) and guzheng(s)..

[Shurrikhan]

I have really enjoyed Soken's music so far, but I really hope Uematsu and Mizuta's previous work will stay in the game too. I absolutely LOVED all of it, and it would be a huge shame for it to be tossed away!! They all have such different sounds, and I think it's fun to have music from a few different composers. After all, every area is different, so it's fitting for the music to have distinctly different sounds.

I really think it will be a huge blow to ARR if Uematsu's work is not reused. I listen to the tracks a lot on YouTube, and the number of 'welcome back Uematsu!' comments is amazing. He brought in a fantastic retro FF feel in a lot of his songs, and I think a lot of fans really enjoyed that. For many who grew up playing FF and hearing Uematsu's music, Mizuta and Soken are a cheap second. I hate to say that, but I know it's true for many people. And the retro FF feel fits right in with Yoshi-P's vision for the game. So, I really hope the old music is recycled.

This. Though I haven't heard enough of Soken's non-Boss theme works to say I like them. Fallen Angel and Rise of the White Raven were outstanding, but in more common BGM I've only the Shroud video releases to go off of, and I've yet to hear anything distinct in those. It all seems fitting enough, but bland. I really doubt within an hour of logging out of the game I'd be able to remember which theme belonged to which part of the Shroud. In all honesty, I'd take a single Whisper of the Land over various melding but indistinct tracks. (Honestly though, that may be my personal favorite zone BGM of all time, just from how much it fit with the scenery, so that may be a biased example...)

I agree with Shougun that the use of some less standard (especially, as he said, Asian) instruments influenced by zones or sub-zones would probably help a lot. When I first mentioned the new Shroud BGMs to a friend, I went back and checked various OSTs from Tera, GW2, and WoW. WoW's definitely seemed much more listenable alone, and both more fitting and memorable to their zones. Not to say that WoW's music is bad, nor these new tracks my comparison, but I've gotten used to a pretty high standard from my favorite FFXIV zones. I hope ARR's BGMs will come to surpass those standards.

[Soukyuu]

I've only the Shroud video releases to go off of, and I've yet to hear anything distinct in those. It all seems fitting enough, but bland.

You have to keep in mind you only heard parts of it. Some music tracks have a slow beginning, but get better after a while.

For example, take "unspoken" (Coerthas theme). It has an intro of 20 seconds that sounds pretty bland, but once you reach the violin part (it's a violin, right? <.<) it becomes great.

The beginning music in the Shroud gives off a "bright early morning/beginning" feel to me, and that's perfect for areas around Bentbranch. The SFX fit the atmosphere of a bright forest too. Then we have the Sylph... settlement or something, where the SFX and the music become more ominous (crows caw), fitting the "deep forest" atmosphere. And then there is the dungeon theme, which reminds me of FFVIII dungeons...

It's also not "1 track looping forever in an area" this time, but more of an "introductory tune to each location in an area". I remember hearing something about the music not always playing, but stopping for a while to resume playing after a certain period of time. So you're right about it being less listenable on it's own, but they said that if you run through all the areas, you will get the complete track of an area. Which means, when they release the OST, we will probably get a mixed version of the track that should be perfectly listenable on it's own.

[Shurrikhan]

So you're right about it being less listenable on it's own, but they said that if you run through all the areas, you will get the complete track of an area. Which means, when they release the OST, we will probably get a mixed version of the track that should be perfectly listenable on it's own.

True enough. I was actually keeping slow beginnings in mind when considering them. And, in all honesty, my larger issue might actually just be that I haven't seen enough of the non-standard areas of the new Shroud yet. Both the marshlands and the deep forest look really promising; it's just that aside from the quality of the structures I've seen the contents of the first couple Shroud videos (surrounding Gridania) in too many other MMOs, in both music, setting, and even closely in art style for it to arouse interest just yet. But I can see that as being a fitting starting area for that very same reason -- (over) familiarity.

Again though, I don't think it's an issue (if one at all) of the songs being too particulate to be distinct. Almost every FFXIV track sounds distinctly FFXIV in the first 30 seconds. But right now, minutes in, if someone mixed the tracks into a shuffled GW2 playlist on auto-play, I'd wouldn't be the wiser, and I think that's mostly the instrumentation. Or, just taking the the more recent video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rduwq-Of9Y&feature=g-u ), as much as people complain about Twilight Over Thanalan being unfitting, I have that issue with the standard choir-string builds in the deep forest section here. It doesn't remind me at all of the area it's playing in. But, as the comparison suggests, this is quite likely subjective again. (The meadows BGM around 2:30 actually sound fine to me.)

[Soukyuu]

Well, to be honest, when I first heard the new shroud music, I thought of GW1/2 myself :x
Especially the part in that video@1:20-1:30

Whisper of the Land/Twilight over Thanalan/On Windy Meadows has more of that classical feel, but all of them were written by Uematsu, so that's not really surprising.

I'll need to hear more tracks from the new music to be able to decide whether I like the soundtrack or not ^^

edit: btw, listen to how the music feel changes with the instruments chosen: click.
This sounds 100% FF to me, even though it includes that GW-like passage, it doesn't sound like it anymore oO

[Naraku_Diabolos]

Yeah Soukyuu, I agree with you that Whisper of the Land/Twilight Over Thanalan/ On Windy Meadows does have a classical feeling to it. It has a sense of wanting to explore the area, and it fits Limsa Lominsa very well. I think the music for the 3 city-states blend well with the areas. I have the soundtrack (Eorzean Frontiers), and while listening to Gridania's theme, you can hear each and every little instrument that is composed with the louder ones. There is a little sound that sounds like crickets scratching (like, rub your hands together, up and down to get that effect). I don't know what instrument is used for that, but it gave me the feeling that Gridania is a small, bustling town in the woods because of the sound scratching thingie lol

Now the last over world track with the haunting "Answers" really set the tone for the final event. Now that was a stroke of genius on Soken's part!

[Boxworm]

This. Though I haven't heard enough of Soken's non-Boss theme works to say I like them. Fallen Angel and Rise of the White Raven were outstanding

Ah, I thought those both were Mizuta. I thought they were a bit different compared to his usual sound! I loved both, especially Fallen Angel. What a badass song, and such a fantastic surprise compared to the majority of XIV's music. Surprises are always great!

[Shurrikhan]

Ah, I thought those both were Mizuta. I thought they were a bit different compared to his usual sound! I loved both, especially Fallen Angel. What a badass song, and such a fantastic surprise compared to the majority of XIV's music. Surprises are always great!

If you're interested in seeing the 'who wrote what' of the recent patches, you should look up the album Eorzean Frontiers on Youtube. At least one of the posters has taken the time to write down the composers. The album has the all the original field themes, most of the original fight themes, and all of the later added (non-Uematsu) tracks.