With the latest soundtrack released for Stormblood and Square Enix running a poll for the best 10 tracks out of the over 200 tracks for the whole Final Fantasy XIV world so far, I think it is also the time for me to select some of my favorites in the game.
I have always been a big fan of a lot of Final Fantasy music. I was converted from a sceptic for video game music to a follower of video game music because of the magnificent tracks I heard in Final Fantasy VIII (my first Final Fantasy game), especially the epic opening music. Since then I went back to played most of the other Final Fantasy titles (if not all) and learned to appreciate the time and effort spent in crafting the music from Nobuo Uematsu and others.
Final Fantasy XIV had a rough start, and thus I didn’t really pay much attention to the music when I was trying my friend’s game on his computer. But then weird things happened when I was playing the game it was given a phoenix down. Whenever a 1.0 track came up, I found myself immediately able to identify it. Such was the impact of Nobuo Uematsu’s initial composition for XIV. It crept into your system without you even noticing. A lot of tracks were later composed by Masayashi Soken but strangely works of both composers complimented each other perfectly. Even when they were being played one after the other in the game, you don’t actually feel like they are from the hands of two different composers.
So below are some of my favourite tracks in Final Fantasy XIV so far:
Footsteps in the Snow
Without a doubt Shiva is one of the most iconic summons in the Final Fantasy series. The fight against Shiva in A Realm Reborn (ARR) was as epic as ever for me. From the start of the fight when this tracked lit up the white and blue environment, my blood was pumping. For me it has one of the most hollowing chorus with a cold classical touch that still haunts me to date. I even have it as my ring tone on my mobile
Ultima
One of the major encounters in the ARR story, this boss and its track stands out on its own with the gothic sub-tone to a rich chorus and completely demonstrated Ultima Weapon as the weapon of choice for the Empire to pursue its dream of conquering the primal worshipping savages in Eorzea. The great thing for me with this track is it plays to the dance of the mechanics that you really feel like the fight are phases of eloquently choreographed dance routines.
Forever Lost
This is a generic track for a lot of emotional scenes in the main story and side quests of the game. It still breaks my heart every time it played on my iPod as the simple keyboard structure adds an unusually heavy weight to the tune. Every time a chord strikes, it strikes a chord in me. Not to mention that every time you heard this tune played in the game, you know there is a sad back story.
A Cold Wind
This is the short repetitive theme for Heavensward (HW) before you log into your character screen. Every time I saw that screen when I logged in and when the music is playing with the HW logo at the back and snow falling in the front, it gave me chills. This was later placed by the Stormblood (SB) theme when SB was launched.
The Primal Timbre
The music you encountered when you first ventured into the Binding Coil of Bahamut. The peaceful introduction was deceptive as when you proceed and got thrusted into one deadly encounter after another, you then wonder whether you could make it to the end of the tunnel. The music perfectly reflects what the Binding Coil of Bahamut is about.
The Great Gubal Library
When this dungeon came up in the main story quest in HW I was so excited. How cool is it to have a library full of books as a backdrop for a dungeon. But even cooler was the smooth jazz background music the dungeon deployed for this not so cruisy dungeon. It contrasts the tension with appropriately smooth music. For me both the original track and the re-mixed track (which feels even more like a smooth expresso coffee) are both highlights of HW.
Locus
The first tier of Alexander demonstrated what is to come with the high end raid in HW. The famous A3S broke a lot of statics after the same group of players demanded heightened difficulty raids to force players to prove their worth for the rewards in the high end raids (probably they forgot the craziness of the initial Turn 5 in Binding Coil after 2 years). However the music in the first tier Alexander raid is the most leisurely yet deadly.
Equilibrium
As you try to survive against the oscillating platform of Sophia, this music plays in the background. Moving around dealing with Sophia’s varied attacks, minions and scale balancing choices was not an easy feast at the beginning. The seemingly upbeat and sweet voice of chiming belted out some of the bloodiest lyrics disguised as a lullaby. Before you knew you might have literally fallen off the balance.
Revelation
Every time this piece of music played on my iPod I could vividly remember the memorable dance with Susano. Once of the funniest primals in the whole game so far. That kind of let’s play but for life attitude to the challenge was reflected in some of the over the top mechanics built into the fight. For me there aren’t a lot of memorable primal music in SB except for this, and at times I still do the fight again just for the sake of the music.
No Quarter
In my opinion one of the best tracks in the ill-fated 1.0 era. It is a close tie between this track and Under the Bloody Flag in 1.0 (which was brilliantly deployed again in Halatali (Hard)). But No Quarter represents sharp no bull fights that required your full attention. I was quite surprised that this favorite track of mine was never recycled. But the brilliant minds of the XIV development team finally dug it out from the vault when The Forbidden Land of Eureka was released for the new relic weapons quests.
To be honest, there are still a lot more tracks I would like to talk about but then these tracks will no longer feel special anymore. Let me know what tracks are your favorite in your comments and if you want to take part in the Best Tracks poll, you can go directly to their poll site.
