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*Commenting before watching* Oh man Jesse's reacting to the most emotional song in the entire game, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry ;___;
After watching edit – Just wanted to add that each of FFXIV's expansions update the game's title screen to show the name of the expansion and also plays the expansion's main theme. Endwalker uses the start of the chorus "Tales of loss, and fire, and faith" which is such perfect lyrical writing that I always listen to it in full every time I start up the game. I'm seriously going to miss the Endwalker title screen when it's replaced eventually
Endwalker has a sweet piano version of Answers. It’s a bit more melancholic sounding than the original. Since you like the song you might want to check that out (tho it’s a bit difficult to find on youtube).
The live version of this is pretty dope as well, a little more to the rock side 🙂
Literally cried when this song caught me. It’s such a powerful moment in the story and it’s so bittersweet. I won’t say what happens in case anyone hasn’t gotten there but I just say down in the area and listened to the song while taking pictures of the zone from the top of the area.
Endwalker is not the end of the story. It is more like the end of an Arc. But imagine being invested into a 10 year old story, with MANY ups and tearful moments throughout the game. And this song ends this 10 year old journey and opens its gates for new adventures
You have to react to Alex Moukala's version with 1000+ singers.
11:10 OMG, you are perfect to say so. That the spirit. Find the joy in the despire and pain, for that is life.
謝謝！
Ok, didn't expect to cry hearing this song 8 months later
So, I did find this video because of random youtube recommendation because I tend to enjoy reaction videos to content I enjoy, and I've watched those and covers for this song quite a few times. But if you're interested in what a random FFXIV player who stumbled across this has to say, since you mentioned checking out covers for this, might I recommend looking up 'Alex Makoula Close In the Distance'? The first result should be the cover done by a big group of the XIV community content creators that might give you a good idea of just how right you were about the impact this song has had on a lot of us.
Endwalker was the end of the storyline that started when FFXIV first launched, and though they have more stories to tell and the game isn't over, it was an incredibly emotional ride for basically everyone I know that's gotten through to the end. And that song really did hit at a very pivotal moment. I can see why it wouldn't hit as hard for someone who doesn't have any context but it definitely hit very hard for me when I got there.
If you want a piano tear jerker id suggest "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X.
The lyrics are an explanation of the entire 10 year story so far… But also it is a love letter to the players.
"Our journey, now a memory fading from sight… But I see you"
"Tales of loss, and fire, and faith… Forge ahead, to the end we pray"
"Unbroken.. promises we made so long ago… You're still here"
i hope you'll get around to play the game someday! and you should totally check out the community sings version of this song it's great
You should check out the community version. Over 1000 FFXIV content creators signing this❤️
Play XIV
There is a community version of this with 1000 players and streamers singing it together you could check out that one too
This Song plays in the last region of endwalker, Ultima Thule. The region is seperatet in 3 layers. You start in the deepest layer and as you progress you climb to the highest layer. With every layer the music rises up with more instruments and at the end the song plays with full vocals. And "final" is also on point. Ultima Thule is literaly the edge of the universe
I can't hear this song anymore.
They should give us the choice to play this or the instrumental Version on the Map.
The genius with this to me is how they unveil the song. it's a zone music that unlocks as you go through the zone.
(spoiler warning)
it starts silent, then the background music start playing as you experience loss and sacrifice. and with each sacrifice, then with the next one, the piano start, and at the peak of that, the singing starts, punching you in the gut as you're at lowest.
The song marks the end of a story that, in game, started thousands of years ago. A story with so much suffering and grief, yet there were those who kept the faith and clung to hope. After countless centuries, the hopes and prays of hundreds of generations rest on your shoulders as you take the final steps alone.
I'd say this more or less the capstone song for the story it's not last song to play but it is the theme for the last zone in the main story and emotionally it's essentially the theme of "our journey" and thus it hit like an truck on steroids to people who have played the story without skipping. It's kind of hard to say just how big impact is without spoiling way too much as this song is more or less perfect for the event and why that is I cannot say without spoiling.
This song is so fucking goated. The culmination of the end
Oh god… this song is heavy af when it fully hits in the story
Ultima Thule comes from old navigation maps of the oceans and it is meant as, "edge of the known world" which is fitting for where the area is located 🙂
Also this song sounds really similar to Blurry by Puddle of Mudd. Doubly so if you listen to The Primals version from Beyond The Shadow.
alex moukala made a close in the distance cover with the community. i think there were over 1000 people involved
This song happens at a point in the story where you feel the most alone and hopeless. I still tear up every time I hear it. The timing was ridiculous.
This song has so much meaning for me especially. A month after beating the MSQ for endwalker, I lost 2 very close family friends each within a week and then got covid 4 days after my second friend passed from a stroke. Listening to this on repeat at work kept me collected and helps me remember them as well as my journey through endwalker
Thank you for covering this song, Jesse. I've been waiting for this. Back in December I was right in the middle of a severely toxic relationship and this helped me through a lot of my negative feelings at the time. This will always remind me of my darkest points, but also how I slowly crawled my way out of them.
Thank you Jesse for reacting to it, thank you to Soken and the FF14 team for making this song, and all of the songs that make me ball my eyes out and all that shit.
Endwalker is basically the end of ""Chapter One"" (The first decade or so) and they're starting to set up the next major storyline for FF14.
Simply a beautiful theme…what more can I say?
~~you have no idea how salty i was when i saw this was premiering at 11 PM my time~~
Ultima Thule, in game, is literally the edge of the universe. It's a space that no one has ever gone to before, aside from Big Bad. and as part of EndWalker being the finale of every major story of FF14 until this point, the Big Bad is directly/indirectly responsible for everything that has happened so far in the game.
The lyrics really hit hard for a lot of people, me included.
"No time for mourning
Rises from a land reborn from the ashes" references A Realm Reborn
"With heavens' true sunset" references Heavensward
"Blood-red skies tranquil after the storm" references Stormblood
"Blessed shadow" references Shadowbringers
"Tales of loss and fire and faith" has been one of the main themes of the game, and is actually the sound byte that greets you when you launch the game now.
"Forge ahead, till the end, we pray" always reminds me of a common Earthbound/Mother fandom saying" No crying till the end. Please, please finish the game. You're so close. You can do this. You can taste victory. And once it's all over, let those tears flow.
Thank you for watching and listening to this gem of a song. In a way, I feel like you end walked with us.
It's not so much that we enjoy pain, but when we see, hear, feel someone else in pain, we feel seen and feel allowed to feel our own pain. This feels good, as we learned to suppress most emotions, especially those which make other people feel uncomfortable. This goes way back to our childhood.
Me choking up with tears in my eyes "oh shit here we go again"
Rises on a land reborn from the ashes – A Realm Reborn
'Neath the heavens' – Heavensward
To sunset blood-red skies, tranquil after the storm – Stormblood
Blessed shadow – Shadowbringers
Jason Charles Miller gives this song his all. It's not his usual metal singing but still he sings so powerfully that of many covers of this song that I have listened to, none could even closely match the same power and emotion as Miller gives to this song with his voice alone. That's why even though it has many great covers, the original version is by far my favorite version of this song.
Massive Spoilers BTW
This is my favorite song in FFXIV and that’s saying something.
Endwalker is the end of the current story that began with ff14 1.0.
6.1 and onward is going to be setting up a new story that some threads have been given to us as like a C plot, while focused on the stories that we traveled with in AAR, HW, SB, ShB and now EW.
But as many others have said when it comes to this song, it hit hard when care about the overall story as builds up as you travel the zone, with it coming to what you heard here, when we are at our most alone. The songs of ff14 give so much to the story that I don't think the game would be the same without Soken.
This song was a crowning jewel in what will be (and honestly continues to be) one of the most unforgettable experiences i've ever had in gaming, or honestly in any form of storytelling. Plus I was bawling my eyes out most of the zone this plays in lol. It was not bearable at times xD.
this is still one of the few video game tracks my dad actually likes…not a gamer but loved Close in the Distance
When End Walker first dropped it took hours to get past the que. And if you were inactive for 30 minutes you got logged off. Binged the expansion on a 3 day weekend. Ultima Thule was the final map of the expansion and this music hits hard when you've been awake wayyy to long. The song plays without lyrics until after some pretty sad parts. You're left stunned by something and then the music starts with lyrics and you aren't expecting it. It hits hard. Endwalker was the pay off of a story that's been developing for 10 years and that moment was one of the hardest hitting moments in the history of the franchise. Finding the beauty in hurt and pain wasn't just the theme of the song, but it is ultimately the main theme of the story they crafted.
You are so correct. It hits SO HARD. I was bawling. It absolutely caught me off guard once the vocals kicked in. If you can, watch someone like Zepla's playthrough of the end of Endwalker.
I know I'm going to cry again. Plays video … Music plays 😭😭😢
Jason Charles Miller is an absolutely insane musical talent. He's completely out of this world.
The sorrow of a thousand thousand worlds weighs heavy. And yet you can walk on.
This song still destroys me every time I hear it
“The sorrow of a thousand thousand worlds weighs heavy. And yet, you can walk on.” 😢
This track is one of the few that was revealed prior to Endwalker's release, but since it was in a trailer we didn't necessarily know when it would feature ingame. Jason Charles Miller probably threw everyone off with this track when they heard it. It's a totally new feel from what most of us knew him for so the track really stood out. Once it was abundantly clear when it would play, it acted as a sort of anchor for me to keep on forging ahead through the main story. It was so long that it took over a week to finish so that drive to hear the full track and see the end. It was a bit sad I couldn't avoid the spoiler of where the song played, but that's the unfortunate nature of working a job during an mmo launch so it wasn't a huge deal
This song is so 80's and I love it. I have loved it since I first heard it in the game (and who wouldn't?)
A lot of people here are giving context to the song in game, so instead I'm going to point out that Close in the Distance is what the Endwalker launch trailer opened with, this song that sounds like the end. That choice sold me harder than anything on how good this expansion was going to be.
After playing through all of Endwalker, I will never not associate this song with THAT one particular “walk” that we, as the players, have to experience.
It just perfectly sums up everything that we’ve done since stepping into our chosen city-state as a level one adventurer. ❤️