The recent release of FINAL FANTASY XVI on PC has brought fresh eyes to last year’s acclaimed RPG, as well as fresh ears to its soundtrack. Created by veteran of Square Enix for over two decades Masayoshi Soken, the Game Award-winning soundtrack brings a different sound to the composer’s catalog while also serving as a distinct departure from his most well-known work on FINAL FANTASY XIV, where he serves both as sound director and front man of his own rock band producing music for the game, THE PRIMALS.
With the game’s successful launch on both platforms accompanied by the launch of all 199 songs from the game’s expansive soundtrack (including its DLC) on streaming platforms for the first time, it provides audiences around the world with an opportunity to return to the world of Valisthea with a fresh perspective. It’s a moment to relish in its grandiosity but also wallow in its calmer moments, whether reacquainting to it like an old friend or listening for the first time. Not only one of the strongest soundtracks produced for a franchise already known for its iconic music, you can hear Soken’s unique perspective in the array of genres it blends to create a sound that’s truly befitting for the latest title in the series.
Much responsibility was placed on Soken when he was asked to take on the role of lead composer of a mainline FINAL FANTASY title for the first time. To see a world is to witness its scale and beauty - to hear it is to become enveloped and entwined in its existence. Even with experience and beloved work on the XIV soundtrack both as part of THE PRIMALS and beyond, to take on such a responsibility is to craft a game’s identity while, at least to some extent, adhering to series tradition. It’s no easy task.
Yet Land of Eikons is a song that instantly transports you to this world of regency, worship and war in an instant. This is the first song you hear when booting to the title screen, blending the iconic prelude arpeggio with booming drums and a haunting voice that simultaneously emanates a sense of wonder and dread. It makes you feel like larger forces are at play here. Which makes sense: Eikons are entities of worship, after all, god-like beings hosted in the bodies of Dominants such as our game’s protagonist, Clive Rosfield.
This power is a blessing and a curse, as Clive would be the first to admit considering the circumstances under which he became a Dominant. It is a power that should be viewed with awe and fear in equal stead. As such, this main theme and the many songs in the soundtrack used to represent the various Eikons are similarly-grandiose, a reminder of the strength they weild and unleash. Away is the theme for the Eikon Phoenix, the Warden of Fire weilded by Clive’s brother Joshua. One of the first such themes we hear over the course of our adventure, it sets the tone for the adventure to come: it’s a show of strength, but it’s also a strength that has spiraled out of controls and threatens to destroy all.
Indeed, this is the biggest strength of Soken’s work in FINAL FANTASY XVI. Whether we’re roaring into battle with or against an Eikon or facing war with the weight of the world on our shoulders, each track guides our emotions through this complex and uneasy world. As we listen to Winter’s Bound, the soprano vocals of the solo female vocalist is almost somber and mournful, a moment of reflection in the heat of battle.
This song is the theme for the Eikon of Shiva, wielded by Jill, one of the people closest to the Rosfields ever since Clive was a child. Jill is the leading female character in FINAL FANTASY XVI and plays a key role throughout your journey, yet as someone who has been in Clive’s life since before becoming a Dominant stands as a reminder of how his life has changed. The melancholic, slow, deliberate sound of the song in turn evolves its meaning as the game evolves.
The soundtrack coming to streaming is a chance to return to these songs in the context of a complete experience and find your emotional reaction transformed. That being said, there’s also lots on offer even to those unfamiliar with the game. For those returning from FINAL FANTASY XIV, Control for Garuda’s Eikon theme feels familiar, demanding your attention with raucous chanting that turns a casual background listening experience to something more alert and alive.
Fall From Grace doesn’t require a playthrough of the game to feel intimidating or unnerving, but becomes wrapped in the emotions of one of the most intense parts of the game’s story to remain a familiar track to players with a mixed layer of emotions when viewed from a retrospective lens.
Perhaps most of all, and as one would come to expect from the music of a composer like Masayoshi Soken, to go through the mammoth experience of this entire soundtrack feels like a journey in and of itself. Filled with highs and lows, dramatic vocals and even ditties as seen with the Rosarian Ducal Anthem, On the Wind Borne, the national anthem for the state of Rosaria, is sung with a tone of pride, unnerve and camaraderie that etches centuries of national history into 90 seconds.
If a story brings a world to life, music gives a world its soul. An idea for a nation gets its pride and identity from a single song. For Jill, her character’s inner world speaks where words cannot. For those of us on Earth unaware of the legend of the Eikon before picking up a controller, a swelling orchestral theme brings the gravity and holiness their title deserves, as though we had always lived our lives in fear of their power.
It’s an idea many games seek to achieve but where few succeed, so it should be no wonder the soundtrack won at the Game Awards for Best Score despite competition from titles like Baldur’s Gate 3. As we reflect and wind down and reflect on the sacrifices we faced, Amanda Achen’s soothing and emotional vocals for My Star give us time to look back, before moving forwards into a new tomorrow.
Because once the war is over, life continues. We have to live with the knowledge of what happened and somehow, somehow, keep going. We can think back. In fact, we should. Our memories and experiences are what brought us here, and whether they were good or bad remain a part of us. As the game ends and the credits roll we shouldn’t simply forget what it has to say and move on, but wrap the lessons and ideas it shares into the tapestry of life moving forwards. This is a soundtrack that reinforces that, taking code and polygons, words and voices, and transforming it into something far more than that.
The soundtrack is a reminder of what came before, just as this soundtrack wraps the memories of the past, the lessons of the soundtrack for FINAL FANTASY XIV, and strives to create something new. Whether revisiting it or discovering it for the first time, there’s a journey in these sounds. You just have to be willing to take it.
FINAL FANTASY XVI’s official soundtrack is now available on all major streaming platforms.
