Reacting To Video Game Music! | FFXIV – Dancing Mad (Kefka's Theme)



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48 thoughts on “Reacting To Video Game Music! | FFXIV – Dancing Mad (Kefka's Theme)”

  1. I do recommend FF9's – Dark Messenger next, as FF9's entire soundtrack was Nobuo's last FF as a sole composer for the series. After 9, multiple composers made up the soundtracks for future titles. FF9 is also Hironobu Sakaguchi's (Creator of FF) favorite main series title.

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  2. "Dissonant" is the perfect word for Dancing Mad. At points it is genuinely unpleasant to listen to, but in a way that is very intentional and calculated. The notes get warped and distorted, the rhythm gets out of sync with itself, and it feels like you're listening to the thoughts of someone who is genuinely mentally unwell. A masterpiece blend of classic music and modern electronica.

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  3. You are correct, kefka was a court jester or sorts…

    His background is an interesting and good story.
    He was once a respected knight for the empire of the world and was experimented on and become a very powerful knight after being infused with the power of magical beings (called espers in the original) but it drove him insane… to basically joker level of mentality

    When many players thought they were reaching the end of the game on a floating continent and fighting against the empires best, including kefka and the emperor… through a twist of fate kefka becomes infused with three god-like beings powers and ascends to becoming a god (who you have already covered one of his songs, being sephirot)

    His 16 bit laugh has been a literal part of the song and had basically in every rendition of the song.

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  4. The music says it all. That last phase can only be seen on the "savage" difficulty. And it's very, very intimidating. I haven't even played the game he's from and this god clown spooks me.

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  5. I will recommend FFXIV OST Wanderer's Palace HM Theme (Tricksome), if you want to listen to the original, it's called (A Tonberry's Tears).

    If you will listen to them both, I'm sure you can see why people recommed listening to the originals first. 🙂

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  6. I actually love the Black Mages version of this song. Mostly cause of the killer outro solo that just fits so well with that final denouement. In most other ways its very similar to Soken's version here.

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  7. Now that you have a face (or sort of face anyway) to put to the name, I feel like I should talk a bit about who Kefka is and hopefully give some insight into just why the song and character go together like peanut butter and jelly.

    Originally, Kefka was a scientist tasked with fusing magic and technology to use as a power source for his nation. A task he ultimately succeeded in, but did so through a nebulous process that left him fundamentally broken. Something happened during the process that allowed him to see or know things that mortals shouldn't know or see. In his broken state, all of reality became meaningless and epehemeral. After all, why bother caring about the fragile creatures and nations around him when everything is destined to crumble and die? However, rather than falling into nihilistic depression, he sank into sadism. He created weeapons of war that turned his nation into an empire, and goaded everyone around him into war that culminated in Kefka betraying his emperor and claiming the power of three gods as his own and ripping the world apart and reshaping it in his image; creating a tower of twisted steel at the center of the world, built on the bones of the broken empire he once served. There he reigned over the world, demanding more and more ludicrous sacrifices from the survivors for his own amusement, and when someone got the power and resources to challenge him, that sadism dipped into frustration. Unable to comprehend anyone clinging to life, to hope, to dreams in the face of oblivion, he attempts to simply end everything, himself included.

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  8. Honestly,I´d love to see you react to "Zero" from Granblue Fantasy ,composed by Tsutomu Narita (gbf is a mobile game that at its heart feels like final fantasy due to people that formerly worked on ff having some hand in it,Narita also is the arranger for some of the tracks Nobuo composed early in xiv -namely Answers and Dragonsong aswell as being one of Nobuos bandmates in their Earthbound Papas band)

    Edit addition:The Stella magna version probably in particular,as its the one that was properly cleaned up and all for live performances.

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  9. If you know of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, then the movements in the piece represent this.

    The first phase representing Inferno or Hell, second phase representing Purgatorio or Purgatory, the third being Paradiso or Heaven, the last being the main characters meeting and encountering God. In this case, being Kefka.

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  10. I would definitely recommend listening to the Distant Worlds version of this piece, even if it's just in your own time. Distant Worlds is a Orchestral production of Final Fantasy songs some of which inclusive of Choir. Dancing Mad is one of my favourite songs to hear them play in concert, even though it's about a 11 minute piece start to finish.

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  11. So the reason this track is so ominous is because you are fighting a mentally unstable Man that stole the powers of the Goddesses. He became a God himself.
    You know how in most games you are trying to stop the bad guy from ruining the world… Well you Fail. Kefka Wins and ruins the planet. The final Fight against him is just to stop him from wiping out all life on the world. It's not just a fight… it's a pure contest of Chaos versus Life.

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  12. The extra bass in this version makes it feel so much darker, it fits perfectly. That's really the only thing the FF6 version was missing.

    9:18 God that's so Dream Theater lol.

    Edit: Had a listed to Toccata and Fugue and yeah that had to be heavy inspiration for this piece.

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  13. Yeah there's a Distant Worlds version and a Black Mages version. You're down quite a rabbit hole!
    Loved this reaction. I also second the Dark Messenger from FF9 requests. Though I think Immoral Melody is a good pick to listen first. You hear them at different times but its like a natural progression.

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  14. Hey man, you need to know that the composer Nobuo Uematsu formed a metal band in the 2000s called The Black Mages. You MUST listen to their version of Dancing Mad, even if its just in your spare time. The solo at the end is so soulful and melancholic, it's also 2 full minutes in length. You'll love it, buddy.

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  15. After this I really would love to recommend some none VGM music to you but I know that’s not the point of this channel. But you sound like a guy who would enjoy a lot of post rock or bands like Swans if you are not into them already

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  16. You should react to "The Copied Factory Final Boss Theme" it is a track from the FFXIV/Nier Automata crossover raid combining weight of the world from Nier with an FF flare, it's fire!

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  17. Oh there's one more you haven't heard yet… And it's the Distant Worlds version and believe me… BELIEVE ME. IT is up your alley. I won't lie about that lol.

    This isn't even the wild part of these things. To call it art is correct. FF6 has a lot of wild things about that made it revolutionary. The game had a whole fucking OPERA in the game. I'm not even lying about this either. Anyone here who knows about it could tell you how wild the game is.

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  18. There is this complete underdog RPG I feel like got forgotten called The Last Remnant and that lovely Track "The Gates of Hell". Really hope you can give that a listen one day. Or anything from Shin Megami Tensei 3 (i do prefer the covers from Gill Studio over the originals lol) through 5. Battle – b2 anyone?

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  19. If you wish to know more about Kefka himself, look up the Fiery Joker. I don't know what his Twitch name is, but yeah, he went all in on this character. And he can even do a VERY convincing voice-over of him as well.

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  20. I like that you ramble on about your personal music theory on the pieces after listening to them. What makes your reactions unique is "you". A lot of us enjoy the music, but also enjoy the suggestions you make and the insights you bring that we might not have.

    Rock on Jesse! 🤘

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