Games

The Music Of Final Fantasy 16: Part 3 – Finding a Main Theme

The Music Of Final Fantasy 16: Part 3 – Finding a Main Theme

For my money, one of the most interesting aspects of making a game is composing and orchestrating its music. With Final Fantasy, that’s doubly the case because for me, and I imagine for so many others, the music in this series is one of its best parts. Whether it’s lo-fi channels, new arrangements, compilations, piano versions, or something else, Final Fantasy music is making its way into many of my playlists.

That’s why I was so excited to chat with composer Masayoshi Soken about his score for Final Fantasy XVI. You might recognize his name as he is also the composer of Final Fantasy XIV. Still, if you don’t, there’s a chance it’ll be a name you’ll remember after the release of FFXVI because after more than three hours of hands-on work with the game in Square Enix’s office in Tokyo, Japan, I’m confident we’re about to get a banger of a score.

Masayoshi Soken, composer of Final Fantasy XVI

When talking to Soken, I wanted to tell him about some of the main themes and melodies in any Final Fantasy game – things like the prelude, the main theme, the Victory Fanfare, and more – and he had a lot to say. In this four-part series, I’ll break down different aspects of music that excite me and hopefully you will too.

Be sure to check out the first two parts:

The Music of Final Fantasy XVI Part 3 – Finding a Main Theme

Almost every game has a main theme – it’s standard procedure at this point. But not all musical patterns stand the test of time; they can’t all be Halo, in other words. Final Fantasy, however, has an excellent track record of creating memorable main themes. I’ve been listening to Final Fantasy XIII’s recurring melody “The Promise” for over a decade, and it still hasn’t aged. Between original arrangements, remixes and more, I can’t get enough of it. And if you talk to any Final Fantasy fan, I’d bet they have their own song that’s “The Promise” to them.

Having only heard a taste of FFXVI’s score in various trailers and gameplay videos leading up to this cover trip, I had yet to identify Final Fantasy XVI’s main theme. There is “Tsuki Wo Miteita – Moon Sighting” (listen below) which is a special song written and performed by Kenshi Yonezu, whose name you might recognize as the artist behind “Kick Back”, Chainsaw Man’s OP, and “Peace Sign”, the first OP of the season 2 from My Hero Academia (easily one of the best in the series, mind you). But Moongazing isn’t necessarily FFXVI’s main theme.

“The main theme of Final Fantasy XVI is actually something that’s hard to talk about because it’s hard to pin down,” he says. “There’s not really a song that you can call the main theme because Final Fantasy XVI is a game about all of these very important and very notable characters, and their Eikons, and the relationship between the Eikons and the characters and their dominants. We all consider them very, very important and we didn’t want to pick just one; we wanted to do them all […] equal in importance. »

Soken says every character has motivations, values, and backgrounds in FFXVI. He wanted to create something for each of them that matched their personality and would be recognizable to players when that character appeared.

“So you could say we have a lot of different main themes in the game.”


For more on the game, head over to Game Informer’s exclusive Final Fantasy XVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.

Related posts

Activision Has Started Issuing DMCAs For Fortnite Creative 2.0

admin

The Last Of Us Comes To Life In London – That’s The Weekend

admin

Helldivers II is coming later this year

admin