This is such a fantastic piece. A True Musical final boss. It’s such an amazing culmination of everything we’ve fought for over the last 9 years.
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Composer: Masayoshi Soken
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this ended up turning into a jam fest. I mostly wanted to celebrate the culmination of everything that had come before. Also, analyzing this in any sort of way scared the crap out of me because it matters so much to me and definitely to you. So, sorry it wasn’t super in depth❤
I dunno. In that instance I dont like the endproduct as much as i should have.
In every case i like the past theme better than in here.
Soken did us a treat to bring all of it into one final stand if you wanna call it like that.
But for me it will always only being a Frankenstein off all the good stuff to bring a narrative to an end.
I would have prefered a more unique theme for the "finale".
But thats just me.
So happy you did this song. It's my favorite boss theme in the game. Even now, 11 months after Endwalker released, I still get goosebumps and tear up during phase two when the fight comes up in my roulette. It's just so fucking good.
Doesn't shinryu theme already have leitmotifs of Ultima already (and for some reason also the Allag theme?) you should do that one too
There's something you wouldn't notice about each section from each of the Final Battle Themes, Unless you've listened to the Symphonic Orchestral Versions of each of the songs. Each of the Final Boss second phase songs gain lyrics in the Symphonic Orchestral Releases (written by Koji Fox, the Localizing/Lore lead in English). Each section of the Final Boss themes used have very poignant lyrics: "Witness! Witness! Ultima!" "Guide Us, O' Mighty Fury!" "Lasciate, Ogne speranza/ These memories ache with the weight of fate." Are lyrics from each of leitmotif used, and they perfectly describe Meteion/Endsinger, She is the Witness to the End, whose song Guides the stars to final death, so abandon all hope, for the memories she carries are the weight of fate. I can't wait for this to get a Symphonic version like the other boss fights so they can use clear vocals unlike what we've got in game as of now.
Ah man.. been waiting for you to review this one.. so amazing!! been playing the game for many years, 2500+ hours, this one nearly drove me to tears. the way it culminates and consolidates all the most iconic, nostalgic songs that came before in one grand finale that also just happens to be an absolute BOP. I love how because this area of space is only dictated by Dynamis, through the cutscene playing and your allies praying and channeling all your good hope into you, you can even see the edges of the arena turning into this flood of dark and light, clashing against each other. Soken's made so many awesome pieces in the past and this is him really showing it all off together, just churning out wonder again and again. the man's survived cancer for god's sakes, he should be the first to know the fight between light and dark, good and evil. Soken, Yoshida, Ishikawa and so many other talented staff are truly treasures to humanity and gaming, when this is the result of accumulating a large playerbase of people that love your game, displaying gems like these time and time again instead of corporate greed and malpractise as so many others seem to do these days. <3
AHHH but you forgot to include the Ruby Weapon theme!! BIG FAT TACOS!!! xD I probably even missed a couple songs in here to be fair, there's so many. I'm always glad to see that someone's out there that can enjoy music in the same way I do 😀 love ya Marco! o7
Ay yo Marco i think Stultifera Navis Boss Theme from the new Arknights event would be a great video to react; I saw you loved Under Tides, This one is Under Tides but more pirate sea shanty and epic
great video btw!
Look, I'm a simple man. Every time I hear The Maker's Ruin in any form, I get weepy. I don't know why. There's something just so powerful about that song.
When I first hear the song when I faced the final boss on launch week, I was so hyped and excited. Then Phase 2 it and I got even more hyped. Then the piano roll into the “Our Song of Hope..” line gave me Goosebumps. It was one of the best fights musically wise I’ve enjoyed.
What I love on top of the excellent way this game musically gives us the entire Warrior of Light's journey, the cutscene that plays in the Phase 1/2 transition is itself a callback to the end of 1.0 and Answers.
The poses presented by Y'shtola and Thancred matches the ones they used in that cutscene all the way back at the end of 1.0, when they tried to summon the Twelve to contain Bahamut. Much as they had to put all their hope and prayers for deliverance into that summoning, now they do the same for us against the Endsinger, letting this song be a fulfillment of everything we struggled for. The belief that hope should always endure against despair.
And in this instance, those prayers actively provide you with a buff that stacks up for the rest of this fight, and into the last instanced duty of Endwalker, letting you take fatal wounds and still continue to get up and fight.
I don't think it need be said that for the players, this is such a powerful moment that made the entirety of that last zone, and "Close in the Distance" worth the pain.
I love your reactions. There’s two songs that I would love to have you analyze, they are the moebius battle theme and the moebius interlink battle theme from xenoblade 3. They are some of my favorite boss themes ever.
Heyo Marco you should do a breakdown for the entire Dragonsong Reprise Ultimate, all the music in it is fantastic the way they tie it together. Would be dope!
Gotta love those epic levels of big fat tacos and "We got small diva". <3
But that aside, the mélange of bits and pieces from the expansions' music was the best thing in that fight~ <3
"Witness Ultima"
A fitting line considering it means witness the end
This fight is one of my all time favorites, i love the theme and the fight in general, i just did it various times just for the music and the mood that it creates, so good!
Endwalker really hit the music department REALLY FKN WELL this time around…
All 3 major boss fights themes just… Ugh… Zodiark lobby theme and then the fight was great, then comes mothercrystal and elevates it and finally it climaxes with endsinger making everything explode… I cant believe how many tears i shed in this fkn expansion and most of them started as soon as i heard fkn any version of Flow…
You could probably do an operatic sing along of the first part but the song of hope part in the second half might be difficult^^
I can do neither, not that it has ever stopped me.
Yay for covering both phases 🥳
I was tearing up at the beginning of that fight, realizing the musical references, all the fights done before and where we as players and characters were… Then second phase starts, and I was legit crying and sobbing out of the message of it, the emotions and story.
To this point, almost a year since i first did that trial, whenever I hear Hearts Aligned, i cry a bit and hope fills my heart once more.
Thank you for covering this Marco ❤️
The Final Day is Yoshitaka Suuzki, not Soken. Please credit folks accurately, it's a disservice to their hard work 🙁
Good stuff as always, Marco! Looking forward to hearing your breakdown of “Scream” from Pandæmonium! ^_^v
I always appreciate a professional point of view on music and I like your videos on game music. I would like to suggest a game OST from Guild Wars 2 (most iconic soundtrack is "Fear not this night" and "The cycle ends"), from different type of media it would be every soundtrack from Kevin Penkin's OSTs for Made in abyss (anime series).
Ever since Ruby Weapon, I can't unhear the Ultima theme lyrics as 'Big fat tacos', which nearly killed me in this fight the first time because it came out of nowhere and made me giggle.
My absolute favorite thing about when Phase 2 starts, the Scions each have a cutaway that parallels with the praying scene during Bahamut's end with Answers (Alisaie and G'raha taking the place of Yda and Papalymo.) But then the Scions have a phrase. To push their prayers to you. You can hear them and it sends you forward. Empowered by them. Right as G'raha's phrase ends is exactly when Hearts Aligned starts and it is just so, so powerful in its delivery.
You need to listen to scaramouche's theme
i don't know why but i was watching the gameplay and just focused on the fact its not the extreme version
You should check out Book of Travels Main Theme, I think it's really great 😀
Dont know where to suggest music but~ Ultrakill's Versus or Altar of Apostasy. Both are absolutly insane.
Also this theme is amasing. hands down the most memorable in the entire game.
You should totally check out the Burnt Ivory King Ost from Darksouls 2. Its my favorite boss and in my opinion one of the best Osts in DS2 would be awesome to see it here!
You should react to another Bloodborne ost. Moon Presence ost is pretty cool.
I was honestly wondering how Endsinger could sound more final boss than the lvl83 trial did. Then we get an immidiate prelude reference and we do this tour of prior expansion themes and it's amazing.
THEN Soken brings back Maker's Riun, AKA the unofficial WoL boss theme, for the victory lap phase and … I just can't describe how incredibly musically satisfying this whole sequence is for me.
I return.
Day 2 of asking for ORDER by Hakita, creator and composer of ULTRAKILL
Soken really brings so much to the game with the music. Every boss fight is a wonder and so enjoyable just from a music perspective. I feel like he could write a masters class on video game music. I still get chills listening to this song and its variations. Listening to the horns on the second part of the fight always brings me back to my days as a trombone player. Seeing other people enjoy this music so much is always a joy for me cause its just so good!
Even during this masterpiece all i can still hear is "big fat tacos oh big fat tacos oh big fat tacos so biiiiiiiggg!" (twice) Followed by "big ben"… "small diva" (twice)
I dare you to try to listen to "With Hearts Aligned" without dancing. You can't do it!
This part of FF14 was a perfect fit for the whole FF franchise, look at the boss, its the high stakes all of existence fight fans of the franchise have come to expect
Where: "sea of stars" aka all of space
When: The Final Day
Boss: The Endsinger
Music: Intense opera singing
12:00 also, it's just me or this sounds a little like wayward daughter?
When I tell you that my goosebumps had goosebumps when I ran this trial for the first time… My mouth was grinning, my eyes were tearing up, my body was trembling with excitement.
And then when the second phase hit… let's just say there was a lot of headbanging. 🤣
Man I love this game.
I love how all the other themes come into play because all your previous fights lead up to this climax of a battle. You the character are remembering each time you were driven against the wall and pushed back, and you're using that strength to face even more impossible odds. This game truly is amazing.
The second phase is when we override the endsinger boss theme with our own. The endsinger at that point is scared and confused, flailing around because we survived her ultimate attack and yet we still stand. From this point on we are doing a goddamned victory lap
BIG FAT TACOS SO BIIIIIG
The cutscene that the scions are praying is a major callback to the prayers that failed to save Eorzea from the 7th umbral calamity.
The same prayers help save the whole universe a decade later. Man, what a journey.
FFXIV made me appreciate good story and music in MMORPG so much that i find it frustrating for other games to fail their own stories and how they cannot find their very own Masayoshi Soken.
That Maker's Ruin drop~
2nd phase when the song played the whole time I was just standing there afk cuz I was so immersed into the song its that good don't even remember how many time I got wipe
I love when hearts align drops! I try to prolong it as much as possible so the new players can hear the full verse.
Just listening to this making me tear up
I personally found one of the core themes of Endwalker being about finding meaning in your journey not your destination, so having every last boss theme come back during the final battle of the expansion felt special, it was this neat moment of remembering all the steps that got us where we are now only to follow up with a remix of our our own theme was amazing.
I also can't help but take the line "on wings of hope you rise up through the night" to be a reference to Meteons original purpose?
I loved this fight the first time I did it and really enjoyed the extreme version too, bit I'm sad that the extreme didn't have a tank LB3. There's like 3 in the game lmao
I remember getting this trial in roulette when Endwalker first came out, and like every single time somebody on their first clear would accidentally run off the edge when Of Hearts Align started playing cuz they were crying so hard.
All i hear is someone is trying to sell me big fat tacos