Alpha First Look: Video 3 - The Black Shroud

[Spira]

did you guys see cait sith in the video
Ambient music just doesn't create that link between "theme and area/experiencie" for me. I have no doubt I'll still like the new XIV music, but there's no way it's going to have the same lasting impact as XI's (or other FF's for that matter) did.

I think composers ultimately have to make a compromise between choosing to go fully ambient or thematic.

on the one hand, ambient is highly immersive but also forgettable..
and on the other, themes are distinct and have identity, but since they're "created and not natural" pull away from immersion.

it thus lies to the composer to create something that is memorable but also immersive at the same time. if we look at area music in particular..

- Uematsu in XIV was almost entirely thematic, and the apparent disregard for proper instrumentation pulls you out of the immersive experience really quickly no matter how good the melody of the track is. Take On Windy Meadows for example. It sounds great, but the image it conjures in your mind is probably nothing like where the track appears in game.
edit: also, wrt instrumentation, contrast Conflagration which sounds like some groovy disco tune, with the ethnic feel of Pitfire, and you'll see how thats an issue with the old OST.

- Hamauzu in XIII is very ambient. The immersion is great tho because the use of instrumentation is consistent and the area themes sound pretty ethereal, just like the settings. However, when he does use themes it takes over the entire track. I love The Gapra Whitewood for the ambient feel.

- Sakimoto in XII leaned more to the ambient side with arpeggios, harps and trumpet build ups but did create very short thematic ditties for key elements like the theme of the game in general and the empire.. which were repeatedly used in many tracks to create that kind of familiarity and association. Like in Mosphoran Highwaste. That said, his ambient is still very emotionally charged (which can be a bit overenthusiastic at times.. not suited for MMOs for sure)
edit: that said, theres no battle music in open areas in XII so the bgm kinda needs to give you that kind of atmosphere of a struggle or some kind of building tension..

- Mizuta in XI has always been more thematic than ambient., but does use instrumentation to play up the latter to great effect. His stuff is pretty good for MMOs because they're typically emotion neutral save for the mood that the area is meant to convey. Illusions in the Mist is probably his best example of this.
His strengths are in very measured use of melody, the ability to create themes that appear neutral-sounding and his incredibly varied use of instruments.

Soken right now, based on what we've heard thus far seems to be more ambient. I'd think similar to Sakimoto, especially with incorporating recurring ditties to create familiarity (the tune at the start of the Black Shrouds alpha video is also found, slightly muted, in the Gridania video when they enter Old Gridania). The instrumentation style is probably closer to Hamauzu in terms of being a lot more subtle..

[Spider-Dan]

Uematsu's work in XIV (except for Natalan, which I thought was pitch-perfect) really highlights how great of a job Mizuta did with the first online FF. XIV was really bad in a lot of places; I literally laughed when I zoned into Castrum Novum the first time. That BGM was more suited to a bad-ass outlaw chocobo farm than it was to the military base of the continent-destroying Empire.

Although to be fair, given that Uematsu finished all his work during the Tanaka era, I'm forced to wonder how much of the thematic fail should be on him, and how much should be on Yoshida (or whoever the sound director is). Surely Yoshida's team could have given the silly theme to Natalan and the badass theme to Castrum? Even though that track does fit Natalan better, there's something more significant about the "final dungeon" being a joke.

edit: Given Uematsu's general theming, I wonder if Natalan's music was originally supposed to be used for Ishgard?

[Charismatic]

Maybe it wasn't FFXIV but I think it was... but he talked about doing the music for some Square game and said he didn't even actually see the areas was composing the music for.
Pretty sure it was XIV.

[Spira]

to be fair, not all the fail goes to Uematsu, but then again that only goes to show what little involvement he really has with the game.
Castrum Novum's theme most certainly wasn't composed or arranged for that area. That area was devised specifically for the 7th Umbral Era story correct?

however, the instrumentation paints a very telling tale. because some tracks are so thematically inconsistent or use really bizarre instrumentation and arrangements compared to the majority (or lack thereof in this case), you'd be hardpressed to think it comes from the very same game as the rest.

anyway, I really do think they were trying to make use of all the tracks they had available then. there probably was a measured decision behind this - and they were probably more focused at churning out more fitting music for ARR and so made only so many tracks that were 1.0 specific, like the legatus battle probably was.

edit:
charismatic> yes it was XIV. he said that in the special dev interview on the DVD that comes with collectors edition. you can almost see on hindsight how this was going to go down badly.
having this little involvement in the game when you're creating such a key element of it is just terrible.

[miokomioko]

Maybe it wasn't FFXIV but I think it was... but he talked about doing the music for some Square game and said he didn't even actually see the areas was composing the music for.
Pretty sure it was XIV.

I think I remember that. If I recall correctly, all he had was a short description of what the area/situation was going to be like.

[Thiefami]

I'm really bummed to hear that a lot of zones/dungeons are going ambient. I think a lot of xiv's tracks were just not good, in general they felt misplaced and even if they were correctly placed they would've been just 'okay'. I generally love Uematsu, and I really don't pin the blame on him as the game itself seemed to lack direction. Also, if that dungeon music was the best they could come up with I don't mind for one second it going ambient. It sucked ass.