Each song has to follow the transitions in the phases of combat, and so it is extremely difficult from both a composition perspective and a technical standpoint. Soken: Creating any song for Final Fantasy XIV requires a lot of hard work and concentration, so really all songs can be difficult to compose! Out of all these tracks, though, the Primal battle songs are particularly challenging.

USgamer: What song on the Final Fantasy XIV soundtrack was the most difficult for you to compose? Why? It really was a stark reminder of the great support coming from all of our players. I was standing backstage during the performances, but I could feel that interaction between the performers and the audience-it was so moving that I was quite literally shaking as I listened. This unique experience continued and was amplified with each piece, and it just kept building. This intensity was conveyed directly to the performers, and they responded to that applause through the music, which in turn caused the audience to be moved even more. Soken: The passion of the guests-Final Fantasy XIV players-who attended the orchestra concert in Japan was so intense that the applause after each song was completely different from typical orchestra concerts. How does it feel to be able to watch listeners react to your compositions live? USgamer: One difference in the composing work for the game is you can't see the reactions of listeners in real-time. Soken: Being a game creator, there's no doubt that I find it most fulfilling when I am able to create music that matches the gameplay experience perfectly! Final Fantasy XIV Director Naoki Yoshida, veteran Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, and Final Fantasy XIV Sound Director Masayoshi Soken at the Eorzean Symphony Tokyo in 2017. USgamer: Out of those three types of work, which one do you find the most interesting and fulfilling? USgamer: How does your overall process differ when working on the game compositions, with the orchestra, or a session for The Primals at one of the Fan Fests?įinal Fantasy XIV Sound Director Masayoshi Soken: All of the sound production that I work on begins by asking myself, 'What can I do with sound in order to enrich the gameplay experience?' When it comes to the orchestra concerts and The Primals live shows, my focus is on making sure that the music evokes the memories of past experiences within our players. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performs the Eorzean Symphony Tokyo in 2017. This year, Eorzean Symphony will take place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California on June 15-16, 2018 and the Konzerthaus Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany on August 24-25, 2018.Īhead of the upcoming concert, USgamer spoke to Masayoshi Soken his work on Final Fantasy XIV and bringing that work to a different audience with orchestral compositions. The Eorzean Symphony, an orchestra concert featuring the music of Final Fantasy XIV, has entered its second year. He performs songs from FFXIV with the Primals, a live rock band he established in 2014. Soken's music also extends outside of the game itself. And that was in 2017, ahead of the then-upcoming launch of Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood. When the record was awarded to the team at Square Enix, FFXIV had 384 original pieces of music. Soken has created so many songs for Final Fantasy XIV that the game set a Guinness World Record for the most original pieces of music in a video game. Final Fantasy XIV Sound Director and Lead Composer Masayoshi Soken. Since A Realm Reborn's release, Soken has composed many of the game's most memorable tracks. Soken's compositions paint an aural picture and set the stage for some of the biggest moments in FFXIV's narrative. The turnaround from the original Final Fantasy XIV to the redone Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was nothing short of magnificent, and part of the credit rests at the hands of lead composer Masayoshi Soken. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team. This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247.

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