Final Fantasy XIV Score Discussion

[Purrrfect]

I just can't get enough of 3E and 36, they're gorgeous; 36 gives me an epic Lawrence of Arabia vibe.

Those 2 sound very related. /speculating that 36 is what plays in a cutscene as you first enter U'ldah and 3E is the in town music.

[BRP]

I hear parts(like 3-8 seconds long) that sound right out of some songs from Lost Odyssey. I am too lazy to pick out which songs sound like which, but there are like 2 or 3 examples. One of them is the song you hear outside of a Limsa Lominsa.

[Insanecyclone]

I hear parts(like 3-8 seconds long) that sound right out of some songs from Lost Odyssey. I am too lazy to pick out which songs sound like which, but there are like 2 or 3 examples. One of them is the song you hear outside of a Limsa Lominsa.

One song sounds like the area select part from LO.

[Azurewrath]

Seph, you hated FF13's music? Awe. What about this song? it's insane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV1ilRlYmgE

[SephYuyX]

It had good songs, yeah, but it just felt like literally every other song was a rendition based off of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK_5LKwy6K8 While I like this song, hearing it as a base of a lot of songs kind of got annoying, and after that I could just never really get in to the OST.

Btw, did you get my PM about the source on the papazelda pic?

[Kachi]

Didn't care for XII's soundtrack personally. Too many ambient tracks, which suited the game and all, but then I didn't really care for the game much either. It was all very non-Final Fantasy... biggest departure in style the series has ever seen imo.

Thus far I really like XIII's, though. I'm not that far into it.

[Vacht]

On pooky's stream, i really hope we arent going to have to listen to progressive rock every damn time we go into battle mode. i want opshunz.

[Charismatic]

Didn't care for XII's soundtrack personally. Too many ambient tracks, which suited the game and all, but then I didn't really care for the game much either. It was all very non-Final Fantasy... biggest departure in style the series has ever seen imo.

Thus far I really like XIII's, though. I'm not that far into it.

Are you going to act for one moment as if all Final Fantasy games don't have a ton of ambient tracks? What is this bullshit?

[BRP]

Are you going to act for one moment as if all Final Fantasy games don't have a ton of ambient tracks? What is this bullshit?

LOOK MAN, don't bother. He thinks FFXII was less "non-FF" (lol, more fanboy terminology) THAN THE MMO WHERE YOU PLAY AS ONE CHARACTER, AND THE FIRST ONE THAT LET YOU FREELY MOVE AROUND IN COMBAT. This isn't going to go anywhere until he stops saying things like non-FF.

[Tulun]

LOOK MAN, don't bother. He thinks FFXII was less "non-FF" (lol, more fanboy terminology) THAN THE MMO WHERE YOU PLAY AS ONE CHARACTER, AND THE FIRST ONE THAT LET YOU FREELY MOVE AROUND IN COMBAT. This isn't going to go anywhere until he stops saying things like non-FF.

I'm.. confused at the 12 hate, as well. Different combat systems, even if they fail (fuck you 8 ) doesn't make it un FF.

At least the company is trying shit out. Innovate or die.

[Kachi]

LOOK MAN, don't bother. He thinks FFXII was less "non-FF" (lol, more fanboy terminology) THAN THE MMO WHERE YOU PLAY AS ONE CHARACTER, AND THE FIRST ONE THAT LET YOU FREELY MOVE AROUND IN COMBAT. This isn't going to go anywhere until he stops saying things like non-FF.

Scuse me for saying "non-FF" one time about a game that to me and many others was distinctly out of character for a FF game. Lots of perfectly reasonable and valid points have been made about XII's failings and why it's one of the worst-received FF titles (though not here, and let's keep it that way because that's not what this thread is about).

As for other FF's, that's an unequivocal "no." They don't have as many ambient tracks within the game as XII did. Uematsu's tracks were rarely as much as background music. And you spend a lot more time on the ambient tracks in XII and a lot less in the ones that really move. I wouldn't knock Sakimoto because I loved his work in Tactics, and I'm not commenting on the quality of the music on its own, only within the context of the franchise. But I also wouldn't draw too many parallels between FFT (probably my favorite game) and the numeral series, or FFXII for that matter.

This is a pretty stupid conversation to get indignant about though. I mean, is it really hard to grasp that Uematsu, who has done the music for nearly every FF, has begun to define what makes a soundtrack "FF?" By extension, is it hard to see why a different composer would produce work with a different characteristic ("non-FF")?

[Kachi]

I'm.. confused at the 12 hate, as well. Different combat systems, even if they fail (fuck you 8 ) doesn't make it un FF.

At least the company is trying shit out. Innovate or die.

I didn't say that the gameplay/combat system was un-FF. I don't think it was especially -good-, but it's easily one of the most "FF" things about the game.

[Spira]

Are you going to act for one moment as if all Final Fantasy games don't have a ton of ambient tracks? What is this bullshit?

He's right you know. XII DOES have a ton more ambient tracks than I-XI. As far as Uematsu is concerned, ambient tracks are few and far between. He's a melody/theme-focused composer. Town songs have themes with core melodies., even battle themes have to have some song.

Not saying this as a bad thing or anything, but Uematsu is predominantly melody-based, so he really doesn't have many ambient tracks at all. Like, there are no ambient tracks in FF1-6 at all (technologically impossible when 1-3 were composed too.. but not the point), and if you think there are, you don't understand the meaning of the term ambient.

The number of ambient tracks in XII alone could easily topple the number that are found in FF1-10 combined.. so what he says is true and your statement is wrong. Not all FFs have a ton of ambient tracks.

My impression when someone says something feels 'non-FF' is that they're referring to the traditional FF style, which would make sense, though I'm not a fan of that term either.

[Kachi]

For the record, I think XII was a good game. Not a great game, but a good game. I just don't think it should have been called XII. The Tactics games and the Crystal Chronicles games also shouldn't have been given a numeral, and if they were, I'm sure many people would have been vocally critical. So note that when I DO say "non-FF" I'm referring purely to the main series, which as a franchise comes with many expectations for a FF that were not met with XII.

In fact if they had called XII something altogether different, such as Final Fantasy: Ivalice Adventure, it probably would be considered by its critics a gem, rather than a disappointment.

[Elcura]

So basically you're saying that people are only disappointed because it was named wrongly? What bullshit is this?

Face it, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, meets the impossible expectations Final Fantasy is expected to meet. Nothing will ever be good enough, because it is held to such ridiculous standards by retards. Seriously, take each game as its own, if you like it - good, if you don't, try again next time.

Each FF game has been like this, each was different enough to be its own game. When I went through the series, I had games that I didn't like and ones I did. Nothing has changed since then, there is no FF feeling or non-FFs, it's all bullshit.

[Kachi]

So basically you're saying that people are only disappointed because it was named wrongly? What bullshit is this?

Face it, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, meets the impossible expectations Final Fantasy is expected to meet. Nothing will ever be good enough, because it is held to such ridiculous standards by retards. Seriously, take each game as its own, if you like it - good, if you don't, try again next time.

Each FF game has been like this, each was different enough to be its own game. When I went through the series, I had games that I didn't like and ones I did. Nothing has changed since then, there is no FF feeling or non-FFs, it's all bullshit.

Yep, basically. If I go to Burger King because I want a Whopper and they give me a Big Mac, I'm going to be disappointed. Now sure, it's still a burger, and a perfectly good burger, but it's not what I was expecting-- not the reason I went to Burger King. FFXII was not what a lot of people were looking for in a FF#.

And that's not to say there aren't plenty of other valid criticisms of the game.

You don't think so, well fine for you. Most people aren't like that. That doesn't make them retards-- it means they have a very normal psychology.

[Elcura]

Yep, basically. If I go to Burger King because I want a Whopper and they give me a Big Mac, I'm going to be disappointed. Now sure, it's still a burger, and a perfectly good burger, but it's not what I was expecting-- not the reason I went to Burger King. FFXII was not what a lot of people were looking for in a FF#.

...What?

There are criticisms to be had for XII, but it being named Final Fantasy XII is not one of them.

[Kirb]

I think it's time to start accepting that the final fantasy numerical series is wont to stray from the regular accepted formula. The name doesn't make it a better game or a worse game, really. I still would have loved FFT if it were FFVIII, and I wouldn't have liked XI better if it were Final Fantasy Online.

[Spira]

FFXII, often lauded as RPG/game of the year in 2006 was a disappointment?
what?

Whether or not you think XII deserves to be called XII is your opinion, but seeing as it actually is XII and not Tactics or Ivalice Adventure, its simply SE saying 'your opinion is wrong'.
Whatever qualifies it as a numeric FF to them clearly isn't what you considered since it still is. And what that truly is may be a mystery. There is no formula or definition that says 'this is true FF, and that is not'. All we can pick at are trends and traditions... but many of them have steadily been broken.

Same goes with people who believe that XI and XIV aren't part of the main FF lineage simply because their online. Sure they can be called by different names. But look closely. Every single FF could have gone by a different name too.

And if most people agree with you, it doesn't mean they're right. They've just expected too much from a different FF.

[Kachi]

It's a very basic fact of psychology that your expectations of something will influence your reception of it. Higher and more rigid expectations create the potential for greater disappointment.

For example, the simple absence of classic summons was an unmet expectation. Or the depth of characters and storyline. These are fairly specific expectations to a Final Fantasy # that fans have learned not to expect from games like TA or CC.

Marketing matters beyond the simple merits of a game. No one is saying that XII would have been a better game if it had been named something else, just that it would have been received better. Not by every single person, just on the whole.