How FFXIV Tells Stories Through Its Music – A-Kon Panel by JoCat



I talk about FFXIV music and connect the dots like a crazy person
Alex Moukala – https://youtu.be/zW-Wjiw3Xy4
Sideways – https://youtu.be/qVlsIhbQ2qM

The Cosplay I’m wearing was done by the wonderful Emilie Gauvin! if you want to see the whole outfit, they made a video showing the entire thing piece by piece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68GqCaeDMD4

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Other music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: https://player.epidemicsound.com/

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47 thoughts on “How FFXIV Tells Stories Through Its Music – A-Kon Panel by JoCat”

  1. What's neat about the last motif is how it juxtaposed two sets of Ancients with different motivations. The Allaghans were essentially an Ascian plot to destroy the star (or save it, I guess, from their perspective) while The Twelve were Ancients (or semblances of them, can't quite remember) put on Ethyris to guide and protect the people of the world as they matured enough to eventually save the star themselves.

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  2. I never stopped to take a look at Return To Oblivion's lyrics and I'm so glad you did that breakdown, because wow. No wonder people thought Hydaelin was evil! "Turn the light on and let her in"!? 😬

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  3. Another time when we hear the WoL theme is in the final phase of the Endsinger battle – fighting the embodiment of despair itself at the literal end of the universe. Pretty badass.

    Also, the dragons' theme showed up in the most recent patch (6.4) when Azhdaja makes her first appearance and has several times through the patches when Vrtra talks about her.

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  4. I'm sooo happy we get to hear about Ysayle and her leitmotifs, I've been thinking about the connections and meanings a lot and yet there aren't many talking about them, much less in such a concise manner. Much love from a Ysayle megafan <3

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  5. That was a great panel, JoCat! Hopefully for those in there that were on the fence about trying FFXIV and like music, they're willing to give it a shot and see if they can also connect the dots in how Soken likes to play with leitmotifs around the OST. With that said, I wanna put in here too, though someone in the comments may have mentioned it already, that adds to the idea that "The Maker's Ruin" is basically the WoL's theme song: Out of the Job Questlines, none of them (to my knowledge) had the Maker's Ruin play for it like StB Dark Knight has.

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  6. Oh Thank you! I thought I was going crazy about that subtle theme they hide in the Endwalker alliance raid. I knew it was a FF song but couldn't pin point where I had heard it.

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  7. What an amazing presentation. I always get a little misty eyed with this game's music and you picked some the the biggest bangers to analyze. Thanks for the chonky hit of dopamine! Also your cosplay is amazing, it suits you so well!

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  8. Obvious omission for Endwalker content aside (With Hearts Aligned, aka Maker's Ruin Anti-Depressant Edition), another fitting example would probably be all the Garlemald related themes to a degree. With those of ARR, the main leitmotif is sizably intimidating and bass-boosted. Naturally by the time you reach that damn radio, and the fall of the Garlean empire… It shows just how far and broken the people have become as a result of the manipulations around them.
    Well, between that and Estinian mugging the Heavensword theme, but still.

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  9. something else you may or may not have noticed about that allagan leitmotif you mentioned is that it's also present in the "He Who Continues the Attack," the theme for the Regula Van Hydrus fight during the warring triad, as well as both versions of Unbreakable for the Aetherochemical Research Facility. It also gets replaced by the first brood theme when you get close to Tiamat's cell, which is neat.

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  10. A thing you didn't mention that I absolute love about the Warrior of Light theme (ENDWALKER SPOILERS)

    In the final fight with Endsinger, she plays all of the antagonist themes of expansions' past. But when you're saved by the power of friendship and the fight transitions to the final phase, it plays YOUR theme again — the Maker's Ruin, in all its glory, combined with the Endwalker theme, as each of the friends that got you here exclaim that civilization may fall, but it is not this day. That day, it is the Endsinger that is hearing boss music from YOU.

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  11. I cannot begin to describe how much I hate the fact that my brain struggles to understand abbreviations
    I sat here looking at this title, not opening it cause that would have just answered my question immediately, pondering what sort of game is all about visual effects and what the other parts of the name could mean

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  12. That very last one, the theme from the original ARR trailer, in my mind represents the quest for a new adventure. It always seems to play whenever one journey is wrapping up and a new one is on the horizon, like the final cutscene of 5.3. The world is safe, the threat is small, and the possibilities are endless. I love the fact that they mixed it into the boss fights of the 24-player raids because it DOES just feel like a fresh exploration, a "I have no idea what's gonna happen next but I'm looking forward to it!" mood.

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  13. Welp, there's still one more The Twelve raid left with the Lomisan deities. I've been listening to FF music for decades now and to me it's humbling how composers can consistently come up with music that's great to listen to.

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  14. With allagans vs the twelve, I think you might be reaching a little on the songs sounding similar. Thus far all we have for connections between them and menphina is dalamud, and the theme doesn't play during the fight vs menphina. Menphina has her own theme which is a variation of what you'd been hearing so far in the raid yes, but doesn't really have the azys la theme incorporated. Dalamud is also one of two presented examples of the current generation of people subconsciously twisting the gods to fit current views. Back when the alagans were around, they almost certainly didn't have any religious connotations with dalamud since they knew it for what it was: A prison for bahamut. In fact, they had their own gods: the warring triad. It's explicitly stated that Menphina was never supposed to have Dalamud. Granted, once 6.5 drops and we get the last alliance raid we could learn that it's some bullshit with the allagans, but current understanding is that the twelve predate them by untold centuries, having originated as people from the unsundered world

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  15. Excellent Panel Jocat we know speaking in front of a crowd is not something you enjoy but great work nonetheless.

    I love your humor I just wish you would've included some of your artwork which is amazing!

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  16. I got to the end of the video and was like "aw i wanted more". Really awesome video! I didn't notice so many of these during my first play-through

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  17. good GOD was Jo rocking that outfit. and, as always, absolutely wonderful video. i've been wanting to play ff14 for the longest time but i don't have the hardware to run it or the income flow that would allow me to be comfortable paying for ff14. anyways, really enjoyed this one!

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