The Music Of Final Fantasy 16: Part 4 – The Sound

For my cash, one of the vital attention-grabbing facets of a recreation’s creation is the composition and orchestration of its music. With Final Fantasy, that’s doubly the case as a result of for me, and I think about for therefore many others, its soundtrack is certainly one of its greatest elements. Be it lo-fi channels, new preparations, compilations, piano variations, or one thing else, Final Fantasy music makes its means into lots of my playlists. 

That’s why I used to be so excited to talk with composer Masayoshi Soken about his rating for Final Fantasy XVI. You would possibly acknowledge his identify as he’s additionally the composer of Final Fantasy XIV. Still, in case you don’t, there’s an opportunity it’s a reputation you come to recollect following the discharge of FFXVI as a result of after spending greater than three hours of hands-on time with the sport in Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, workplace, I’m assured we’re about to get a banger of a rating. 

Final Fantasy XVI Composer Masayoshi Soken

In speaking with Soken, I wished to talk to him about a number of the main themes and melodies of any Final Fantasy recreation – issues just like the Prelude, the principle theme, the Victory Fanfare, and extra – and he had lots to say. In this four-part collection, I’ll be breaking down totally different facets of the music that excite me and hopefully you too. 

Be certain to make amends for the primary three elements right here: 

The Music of Final Fantasy XVI Part 4 – The Sound

Plenty of thought goes into creating key elements of a Final Fantasy rating, just like the Prelude and Victory Fanfare (you possibly can examine that right here), however simply as a lot thought goes into the instrumentation of every of the 200-plus tracks within the soundtrack. I used to be inquisitive about what musicians had been taking part in to create the sound of FFXVI, how Soken went about this curation, and the way the sport’s themes play into these selections. 

“I think for a lot of the themes for the Eikons, you’re going to get a lot of male chorus […] because we talked about how it brings that dark feel to it,” Soken tells me. “But I think there’s also a lot of brass instruments […] and strings […] as well, because you’re trying to get that dark, classical feel.”

From the soar, FFXVI producer Naoki Yoshida tasked Soken with making a rating that felt very classical and he remained true to that steering all through the composition…aside from one tune. 

“He didn’t want us to go off into too many tangents and go too crazy with it,” Soken says. “There was one battle with a certain Eikon and after playing it, I thought, ‘There’s no way I can do this in classical. I want to do something different. I want to step away from classical and do something entirely different.’ So I composed a piece that was totally not classical. And without telling anyone, I put it in the game and let the development team play it, and the feedback that I got was that they really, really liked it even though it wasn’t classical. They felt that it really, really fit the battle.”

Soken remained tightlipped on which Eikon combat he was referencing, however he did tease one thing I feel shall be of curiosity to these tuned into the FFXIV group: Not solely did localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox write the lyrics featured on this monitor, however he additionally sang for it. 

“That’s kind of embarrassing,” Koji says with a smile as Soken laughs alongside. “No one’s supposed to know that but yeah, there’s a couple that may have my vocal stylings.” 

While I couldn’t pry a lot deeper, Koji says Soken offered his voice to that tune as a backing monitor to Koji and within the ultimate recreation, they’re combined collectively. 

You’ll additionally hear different acquainted melodies inside FFXVI, as a result of Soken says, “There are a lot of tracks in the game that we drew inspiration from music from past Final Fantasies, including Final Fantasy XIV.” He wouldn’t share extra with me, although, as a result of if he did, he says it’d be a spoiler. 

That speaks to the bigger tone of music in FFXVI. Soken and his crew didn’t exit of their means to decide on a single instrument or fashion of music to outline the rating. Instead, it appeared on the geography of Valisthea and the nations that decision it residence. 

“We don’t want to say that this place equals this place in the real world,” he says. “For certain situations, we may have instances of Arabic origin or maybe instruments of Asian origin because they happen to fit that area or they happen to fit the situation and what’s going on in the cutscenes.” 

He continues, stating that as a result of FFXIV has such a big world, you possibly can soar from many several types of themes and music relying on the place you’re going. Whereas in FFXVI, he says the sport includes a centered story and that the crew wished to maintain the core themes of the music to suit the story all through.

“We didn’t want to have these big jumps, so we have this main pillar […] of music, that classical pillar, and then from there, we’re going to be adjusting a little bit, we’re going to be having a little bit of fun with it in certain areas. But that main sound is going to fit and [it’s] going to go through the whole game; you’re not going to get these big jumps in styles of music.” 

For extra in regards to the recreation, head to Game Informer’s unique Final Fantasy XVI protection hub by clicking the banner under.