FFXIV - Dedicated To Moonlight | Reacting To Video Game Music!

[@garmrimakoo5511]

Menphina is one of the Twelve, a pantheon of gods worshipped by the people of Eorzea in FFXIV. She's the goddess of love and her symbol is the moon hence why there is such an emphasis on those two in her fight. 9:29 The song is sung from the perspective of one of her worshippers; A girl on her journey to womenhood. It's basically a folklore song being passed down from generation to generation so your feelings about the song are on point!

[@JM-nothing-more]

the world also had two moons for the longest time, with a smaller (Dalamud) always following behind a larger one in the sky that's why she has a dog

[@craigfunk3453]

​@@JM-nothing-morewell It was the worship of the lesser moon Dalamud that led to Menphina's loyal Hound coming into existence. Faith quite literally causes changes in the existence of a god

[@JakeCWolf]

@@craigfunk3453 Of course the two had been worshiped as Goddess and loyal godwoof long before the Meteor Project found out what Dalamund really was, what's true purpose was and who was inside and not very happy about it. Despite what happened though, Dalamund endures as the ever faithful goodest goddog.

[@hypercube8735]

iirc it's a traditional folk song sung by a Keeper of the Moon (the lesser-known clan of Miqote, who mostly live in the Twelveswood/Black Shroud, who are nocturnal and also have a culture of hunting by moonlight, although obviously the song is mostly about love and womanhood, given Menphina's divine spheres).

[@Torryinabox]

As a mooncat player this song makes me tear up, every time.

[@MetroidFission]

For your info, the vocalist for this is Yui Mugino, meanwhile for the song you're thinking of (Scream), was AKINO.

[@captaintweet4221]

I love her design, too! A lot a people were disappointed when it was revealed bc they thought she would look more sexy. What they forgot is that Menphina is goddess of love, not sex, and is often called Maiden. So her design look more like first love: gentle, young and playful.

[@Chrisfragger1]

I 100% approve. There are plenty of DROP DEAD gorgeous female characters in the game, this is a nice change.

[@arielallen9478]

at first i didn't like it but it quickly grew on me! she's just too cute!!

[@seanheath4492]

We had sexy right off the bat with Nophica, Menphina can be cute instead. :P

[@ridleyroid9060]

I mean we got Nophica and Halone in this raid as well, as well as Nymeia, all which are very diffierent. Kinda hard to complain.

[@myoumyou90]

A perfect Guardian for someone like me, I made a right choice choosing her... And looking at her, definitely the Goddess I'll worship.

[@陳威麟-q7o]

It's soft, folk like, and with much joy. Glad u enjoy it.

[@iaxacs3801]

That wolf is the world's smaller moon responsible for causing an apocalypse in game, but don't hold it against him he's just such a good boy

[@michaelman90]

Well the moon Dalamud was actually an Allagan construct to contain Bahamut. The wolf Dalamud did not exist in the original incarnation of the Twelve, but as people started giving mythological meaning to Dalamud in relation to Menphina the wolf manifested as a companion for her. So really the wolf Dalamud has no relation whatsoever to the moon, it was basically created by humanity's faith similar to primals.

[@SerenEirian]

​@@michaelman90Funny enough, Menphina considered Dalamud a gift from the mortals.

[@bloodmournethefirst1935]

Technically Bahamut was the cause, Dalamund is just a good boy

[@LowSkillPlays]

If I heard this song on the radio one day I wouldn't question it. Its so catchy.

[@sorchasilverwillow]

I somewhat jokingly refer to this as "Soken found a Fiddle, the raid". It's such a fun fight

[@ALeafOnTheWind42]

Heh... So when a new song comes out for 14, hungrychad usually puts up a video for the song right away. When the song has lyrics, he provides lyrics which he and to a degree the community have decided they are, but there are always mistakes in the lyrics which aren't found until eventually we get official lyrics, at which point he makes a new video with the official lyrics. Anyway, this video was his initial release with incorrect lyrics, so seeing the incorrect lyrics now that I know the correct ones was weird (on a related side note: Forged in Crimson actually has lyrics, but the vocals were such that I'm not sure anyone, including hungrychad, realized they were actually lyrics until they just dropped official lyrics). Others have have explained the main points, but here's something interesting about the wolf. So some backstory. Long ago (in terms of where the game is now in universe) there was one moon and Menphina was the goddess of the moon. Eventually an advanced civilization known as the Allagan Empire rose to power. Among the very many things that the Allagans did was to trap Bahamut into a construct known as Dalamud and launched it into space. Eventually the Allagan Empire fell, and the true purpose of Dalamud was lost. People began to believe that Dalamud was a second moon, and called it "Menphina's loyal hound", which is the wolf you see in the fight here. What makes this really fascinating (and it's stated explicitly in game as such, so it's not a matter of interpretation) is that humanity's faith and worship actually impacted the gods themselves. Menphina did not have a dog. But people began to believe that Dalamud was Menphina's hound, and so a dog companion manifested for her

[@chipslight738]

Imagine being a god for centuries and then suddenly your worshippers give you a dog cause a fake second moon appeared. "Oh nice, free puppy"

[@darkuscarlet]

@@chipslight738 The singular thing Allagans did right, giving her a puppy.

[@TheIndigoEclipse]

The song has some serious late 90s, early 00's anime opening feels.

[@leristamerello8225]

Honestly this song was a really pleasant surprise. Soken never fails to please with his music. I died a number of times my first time in there, was so distracted. XD

[@seekittycat]

This theme is giving me magical girl anime theme song (fighting evil by moonlight, finding love by daylight). But then I guess this IS the theme of a girl in pigtails who lives in a crystal castle that uses the power of the moon and love 🌙💖. I did not see throwback to Sailormoon on my ff14 raid bingo card.

[@stereotreme]

dunno if you've ever seen Revolutionary Girl Utena, but this track seems heavily inspired by that soundtrack. Nothing's been confirmed, but you can't miss it if you've seen the show.

[@Razorr521]

Love your FFXIV reactions! Glad you are enjoying them!

[@menosay1912]

You should listen to the other boss battle in this raid, Rythm of the Realm, you will hear the violins even more and realize they were going for a Riverdance type of feel to this place.

[@SoulsMidknight]

My first thought when this raid came out was Riverdance!

[@___-___-___-___-]

Like "In the Balance", "Dedicated to Moonlight" is supposed to be an in universe significant religious hymn for one of the 12 main gods of humans in the setting. The Goddess of the moon and love is also patron goddess of the cat girls, and this song can be seen as somewhat tailored to their in universe culture as well.

[@Lady_Moonsong]

*matron goddess

[@TheNatix26]

To be right, to moonkeeper miqo’te in general

[@___-___-___-___-]

@@Lady_Moonsong I've never thought of patron as a gendered term tbh, so your comment made me look up if it was. google says it is gender-neutral in english and a feminine version would be patroness. matron is some british job title. today I learned.

[@wakkaseta8351]

@@Lady_Moonsong Patron. Matron is something else entirely.

[@Shiirow]

people say this song has that 80s/90s Magical Girl vibes and they are not wrong. Put this song to scenes of Sailor Moon and it wouldnt feel out of place.

[@Armydillo62o]

This raid is insane. You go right from a battle with the goddess of war into a dance with the goddess of love. This game is a power trip and I love it 😂

[@rajabuta]

One can even say, love is war 🤣

[@shadowcat1606]

Not sure i'd call it a "dance"... she _is_ still trying to test you, holds nothing back and expects you to do the same (even telling you as much during the fight).

[@SnthwaveSunset]

​@@shadowcat1606no they had it right, using the terminology of a dance for a fight is correct In example A dance to the death (a fight to the death) As well as the song is a song and dance of coming of age

[@danh8804]

First time I heard this time I thought "I want LIndsey Stirling to cover this". And every time I"ve heard it since :)

[@Tom-zc7xp]

I've been waiting for your reaction for so long! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂 A little background, Menphina, the Lover, is the goddess of the moon, and she resides in the heaven of ice along with Halone, the goddess of war. The other red moon, Dalamud, is known as "Menphinia's loyal hound."

[@Eppon6]

When this song came out, a lot of people instantly loved it because it is sung from the viewpoint of a young female Miqo'te (a playable race of people with cat-ears and tails in the game) of the MOON tribe. While Miqo'te is the most played race in the game, the vast majority of people play SUN tribe Miqo'te, (the cosmetic options differ. Sun tribe has slit pupils and mostly normal skintones, Moon has fangs but normal round pupils and unnatural skintone options) and there are a large amount of important main story lore characters from the SUN tribe, as well as story bits exploring their culture in A Realm Reborn and Stormblood. The MOON tribe has practically none of that, only scraps in side-content and very few important story npc's. This song is effectively one of the most high-profile bits of exploration into the MOON tribe's culture within the game currently. The only thing with more information into the tribe is a physical book that is difficult to come by and expensive. (Encyclopedia Eorzea) Lore context: The Moon tribe Miqo'te worship Menphina and are immensely matriarchal. Last names are passed from the mother. Sons are also given the mother's first name with only a small extra bit at the end to signify order of birth, effectively numbering them. Females are encouraged to seek out their true love on their own. The song is a hymn to the goddess with the main vocalist being the young girl who reached adulthood and the backup vocalists representing her ancestral mothers, grandmothers etc. Some notable lyrics from the official lyrics of this song: (sadly this is the unofficial which altered things) "Like my mother before me I follow this path knowing love will find me" "Like my Grandmother before me I know each note every beat, melody mine to keep" "Girls are born to step into the light" (sung by the backup vocalists) Extra context: The SUN tribe is also female-oriented, but not fully matriarchal. Both genders have unique first names. (although they are prefaced by the letter signifying their tribe) Girls' last names are the first name of the male who fathered them. Boys compete for the right to procreate (generally there is only one who can per tribe, but some big tribes have more) and their 'last name' is effectively their status. Tia for males who do not have any tribe's right to breed and are therefore free to live their lives as they wish, and Nuhn for males with the tribe's right, who have major responsibilities and rarely leave the tribe, sometimes even functioning as tribe leader. Ofcourse, the title can be passed at any point if the current Nuhn is overthrown, making the former Nuhn a Tia again and removing his responsibilities and rights. The official lore representation in genders for Miqo'te is that only roughly 1 in 10 births is a male. Yes, this game is huge and has deeprooted lore on even the naming conventions for every subset of each playable race.

[@guiltygamerxrd]

I completely missed that this song is Keeper of the Moon lore somehow but it makes sense now. Thanks for typing all that out!

[@diamondrust4719]

Been waiting for this one since it came out. Was excited to hear your take on it when it appeared in-game.

[@MonosEx]

The violin part is so amazing

[@BaithNa]

I love listening to these songs on your channel because you give all kinds of musical insights and I don't get to appreciate the songs while playing because I'm just trying to survive the mechanics.

[@freeflare6338]

Hurray! Been waiting for this one! Also, VERY odd to see the early (and quite wrong) lyrics here - as others have stated the song is a worship song, of sorts, largely from the Keepers of the Moon Mi'qote (cat peoples). Menphina is, in story, one of the most widely loved gods in general, but in particular by the Keepers of the Moon. They are matriarchal, and a lot of the lyrics are about passing on their their traditions and from grandmother to mother and so on. Examples: "Like my mother before me I follow this path knowing love will find me", and what was particularly poorly heard on these lyrics, "Go, sing now unto the sky, Girls are born to step into the light". Shame this was an early edition of the song so you didn't see the actual lyrics. But so awesome to see it, thanks again!

[@Kumiko026]

Shout out to all my fellow moon kitties out there! ❤

[@MazeeKasurame]

fellow moon kitty here~

[@TheWickedWizardOfOz1]

Someday, us plainsfolk lalafells are going to be remembered as people that exist in game

[@fungdark69]

When you imagine this as their prayer, their Hymn to their Goddess... its even more beautiful. Holy hell.

[@Dreded100]

A song with an epic guitar solo is a classic hit. But a song with an epic VIOLIN solo.... I dare someone to listen to this and not feel the need to dance.

[@SongOfTheCrane]

One of my favorite new songs. Unfortunately this was with the unofficial lyrics! When a song comes out we often have to guess at them, at first, before they come out with the correct ones. They were largely correct, but one big thing that was missed in this version was that there are references so "Like my mother before me" and "Like my grandmother before me" and "Girls are born to step into the light," which references the matriarchal society of the Keepers of the Moon (cat people from whose perspective this is written from). If you want to view the full lyrics, the FFXIV team released a blog post on 2/15/2023 with them!

[@CasualCoreK]

"like my mother before me," at least, was so clear to me on first listen I can't believe not everyone heard it, especially considering it's a dang worship song

[@Aleksander9813]

This song reminds me so much of Revolutionary Girl Utena's opening, so dramatic and adventurous

[@heavybombVT]

It reminds me of Utena, Sailor Moon, and Card Captor Sakura!

[@Arksimon2k]

Beautiful track this one. Puts a smile on my face.

[@Someone-dv7hw]

A little lore sidenote here. Menphina (the girl) is the goddess of the moon and love. The world in FFXIV had 2 moons for a while due to reasons. The big one and a smaller moon Dalamud that was also referred to as "Menphina's Hound" because it appeared to chase/orbit the bigger moon. Hence the goddess got a hound added in mythology as well xD

[@Vulgarth1]

A little extra context: the song is sung by one of the cat-looking race from XIV, a subtype called the Keepers of the Moon. They're (usually) charcoal-black in skintone and with light shades for the hair and fur, evoking that moon-people aesthetic. It being sung by them is pretty much the first bit of in-game lore or information about them since the game came out (over ten years!!), which for certain people interested in the worldbuilding and such is very nice. And the song's amazing.

[@hideharu-xiii8852]

Dedicated to Moonlight has got to be one of the most beautiful tracks to ever come out of Soken’s lab. First time I felt such a surge of emotions from an alliance raid.

[@shadowcat1606]

Yes, Menphina, the Lover... one of the Twelve, the benevolent pantheon of Eorzea's twelve deities. As her name implies, she is the Goddess of Love, Keeper of Eorzea's moon (well, formerly moonS). She herself represents the greater white moon of Eorzea (which is also her divine symbol). Eorzea used to have a second moon, a smaller, red one (that turned out to not be a moon at all, but indeed very much a space station... sort of), Dalamud. Dalamud was called "Menphina's loyal hound", which is why Menphina summons the great wolf to fight alongside her in this battle (and i LOVE how he lets her sit on his huge paw like a throne during the fight). And yeah, her design is pretty neat. Although highly attypical, in a way, for the way goddesses of love are usually portrayed. In our real world mythologies, they are often depicted as gorgeous women with hourglass figures and generally seductive demeanor, whereas Menphina looks like a young, petite woman, a teenager almost. Her color scheme, i guess, is supposed to be reminiscent of the light of the moon and the stars at night, but most likely also chosen because she, alongside Halone, the Fury, abides in the Heaven of Ice, one of the seven domains of Eorzea's Heaven and she herself also commands the element of Ice (and it shows in a lot of her abilities in this fight). And i love this song. The entire soundtrack for this raid is typical Soken-greatness, but especially the two songs for the final encounter of each part of this raid so far, "In the Balance" and "Dedicated to Moonlight", are catchy AF. First time i heard this it reminded me of the end credits song i'd expect during a magical girl anime... like Sailor Moon, ironically :D

[@naif9464]

I LOVE how Menphina is depicted. As you said, love goddesses in popular mythologies are depicted as seductive temptresses that just want to have their way with mortals. Menphina, however, embodies the type of love dubbed as Storge, which is the natural empathy we feel. (think a mother to her children, or vice versa.) Her design reflects that beautifully. A young woman, pure of heart, and loving to her mortal children. With a countenance that befits the purity of her intentions

[@GarylIl]

Regarding song structures being similar in 14 songs. It's also partly because fights are similar in structure too, usually has phases that are like 30/60 seconds in length, and the songs tend to reflect that too. A lot of times certain sections might line up with a specific mechanic or part of a fight in general. And then there is just, Soken is Soken xD

[@Likian5]

I've been waiting for this specific video ever since the raid first dropped lmao

[@Aoenias]

The "cool wolf" is Dalamud, named for the second, smaller moon which we found out was artificial near the end of the original FF14 when it was destroyed during the calamity. But the deity still exists because in the people's faith Dalamud is the loyal hound of the moon goddess as it was seen to be following the larger moon this goddess represents.

[@NakuruKouChannel]

the version of the lyrics that you watched is actually not the official lyrics, but the misheard version before the official lyrics came out

[@arielallen9478]

this song gives me such 90s magical girl vibes...like this song could seamlessly fit in an episode of revolutionary girl utena

[@TNTspaz]

Soken just made a cover of this song with the Primals (I don't even know if cover is the proper term since he wrote the original as well lol). Would be awesome for you to react to that as well

[@KittyScythe]

I love how this is basically an 80s, Magical Girl theme song.

[@kumomeme7852]

this song is from latest expansion Endwalker where moon is one of main important object and location. so no suprise this raid also has moon references

[@Senelfist87]

This song is CRAZY good!

[@cyrinius1979]

It's very "Tales of" imo. it has that style especially when the string solo hits.

[@danielj6897]

Nice, the moment I heard this one in-game I was looking forward to the reaction.

[@gachagrind703]

I didn't see it mentioned, but string instruments and a sort of folk feeling fits the music for the rest of the raid! So it's neat to see it tied into this song has as well especially in the final boss fight of the raid.

[@IceRuler]

This song is surprisingly catchy. It also makes me think of Sailor Moon anime series a lot. How fitting.

[@cnkclark]

You are fighting the Goddess of Love and the Moon, so...

[@TechMage299]

If you remember SCREAM from FFXIV, that song is the exact opposite. It's about madness, despair, and even loss of sense of self. Dedicated to Moonlight is about love, hope, and even togetherness. Total Opposites, they convey different emotions. And yet I love both.

[@finalphalax]

Imagine if they release an album of the 12. Each one has their own hyms with lyrics.

[@naif9464]

I’d love to hear one for Nophica

[@Toksyuryel]

@@naif9464 with her huge tracts of land

[@kumikey]

As zone themes go, Sands of Amber / Amh Araeng Theme is worth a listen!

[@straypeanut]

I still love this song so much...

[@daistellae]

with this one, i think you've covered all my favorite songs from XIV. i don't even play it that much but when i heard this for the first time i felt... things, lmao

[@jorntumrongwit9056]

Hell yeah, this one is a vibe

[@TheKittyDrew]

I just love this song A LOT. Even though the first time? I absolutely loathed it, because I was not expecting the type of music, and at the same time, I was kinda disappointed by the game play, and if you are not into it, you won't get into the rest aswell, but then, I just had it now and then in my youtube autoplay, and I more often did not click away, and now it is one of my favorite FF songs? I think I was just a little overwhelmed in the beginning by the different elements I did not know how to put properly. But yeah I am so hyped to see your reaction to this. The song is VERY catchy, and I love to sing along, and I love the Lyric connection to the Lore.

[@Mrinsecure]

That wasn't just violin, that was some good old fashioned fiddling. Not something you hear enough outside of very specific types of music, but it works great here.

[@woyogoyo3639]

Oh hey, was wondering when we’d get this one.

[@Rc3651]

I agree the game has a ton of musical variety. And that's just with basically only the boss and trailer music, I don't think you've listened to much of the zone or city music yet. Not sure if that'd be as "Wow" or anything since it's meant to be on repeat for like 20 minutes at a time (with different day / night tracks). But there are a lot of great tracks!

[@naif9464]

Absolutely. Whenever I want to take a walk or study, I just listen to White Snow, Black steel. Zone themes are very well-crafted

[@laerwen]

This boss is goddess but she is a Magical Girl in the most anime sense. As a longtime lover of Sailor Moon I was instantly in love with the music!

[@MJG206]

Probably my favorite theme in the new raid.

[@Teslo_In_FinalFantasy]

lmao, when you said "Saloon" I thought you meant "Selune", who is the moon goddess of Forgotten Realms (D&D). XD

[@josiedavis3792]

This song always reminds me of a 90s anime opening, I kinda love it for that.

[@Kairamek]

Violinist began casting Limit Bread 3. 😅

[@jeremiahbullfrog226]

The violin parts reminded me of Devil Went Down to Georgia.

[@taldir5228]

Fleeting moment and The Tireless One from new raid are also awesome :D

[@dailyrip]

This game is amazing.

[@rtbear674]

As a raid, the tone it's very light and cheerful. The god roughly know, and satisfied with your progress. So let me see first hand what you are capable of. so it's pretty much playing for them. Kind of good that the raid wasn't just another mysterious being trying to destroy the world. and we can have songs like this.

[@AxeloftheKey]

The song you were trying to remember is "Scream." Those songs do not have the same vocalists. "Scream" was by a famous Japanese vocalist named AKINO. This was sung by a singer named Yui Mugino. I think each of them has only done those songs for XIV, so there's actually a decent number of vocalists being added to the game over time.

[@Sephalia]

Interesting note about how the "formula" seems similar among songs. I'm thinking it's probably to do with the nature of the game, because most of what you listen to from XIV are the big boss fight songs - something that needs to repeat over and over with a seamless transition with enough variety to not get sick of it but not too much to be distracting.

[@Smallville619]

Soken learnt fiddle it was super effective.

[@Kadraxan]

I hope at some point you get to listen to more ambient/chill FFXIV music, in particular "Sands of Amber" from Shadowbringers!

[@-thrawn-]

Yui Mugino is the vocalist, and it seems to be her only FFXIV credit!

[@iHaveOneArm]

I'm not even kidding, this song gives me oldschool Gundam/mecha anime vibes

[@tiohunt6788]

I guess Soken has to repeat the structure of a song because of the length of a fight in game. and when the boss fight song loops, the chorus has a slight change, but I get what you mean about the repetition of the structure of 14’s songs

[@DrakeSilvos]

*violin intensifies*

[@25xxfrostxx]

One of these days we'll get you to play 14. :) I believe they said Soken has done over 250 tracks thus far.

[@icefox94]

Menphina the Lover is the maiden goddess of the moon. you can kind of think of her as ffxiv's version of Artemis without the hate for men. XD i kinda love the backstory of the wolf companion. like another comment said, in the world of ffxiv, there's only one moon which was Menphina, but for thousands of years the world believed there was 2, the other being the lesser moon Dalamud. turned out Dalamud was actually a prison containing the elder primal Bahamut, so in reality there was only 1 moon and Menphina didn't have a wolf companion, but the belief of her followers caused the wolf Dalamud to be created.

[@Tarrot]

To provide minor-lore context. Menphina is worshiped as a Goddess of Love and The Moon in FF14. The FF14 gods are collectively known as The Twelve, which are worshiped for various aspects of the world (you listened to Into the Balance previously, dealing with Nald'Thal, the twin gods of Life/Death + Commerce), but they rarely if ever interact with the world. For reasons, The Twelve want to interact with us and challenge us after we saved the world after Endwalker, hence why we are fighting Menphina here. The doggo is because FF14 has 2 moons, one of which is artificial, named Dalamud (and not known to the common people to be a false moon). Because of how Aether works in 14, people's prayers can manifest into creations if given enough aether (which is where Primals come into play), so Dalamud the Doggo was formed out of thousands of years of prayer/worship and became Menphina's pet because they are both worshiped as the moon. So basically, you caught that Menphina was the Moon/Love Goddess + Dalamud the Doggo's moon connection as well.

[@Chrissy8423]

It is required to break into dance when you enter this boss arena.

[@TheWickedWizardOfOz1]

That's 80% of the boss arenas

[@morteaux3662]

YASS !

[@woodchuck94og]

But wheres the melody of this song from? I know it from some where

[@gateauxq4604]

Heh, get ready for more Soken because FFXVI’s soundtrack is also wall to wall bangers

[@cparle87]

Menphina, my love! Let me sing to you again!

[@EternaltheGrey]

It's like a b-tier supervillain- THE ARPEGGIATOR strikes again!

[@Frionelz]

This game ost are infinite or what 😂

[@daranae]

Sounds like something right out of Utena

[@cnkclark]

🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌙 🔥🔥🔥🎻🔥🔥🔥

[@naif9464]

Funny how her element is ice yet them strings are straight fire

[@TankyCrobat]

I don't enjoy this song because it's another banger from the amazing music development team from Enix. I enjoy this song because it could fit into a snow zone in Megaman X

[@fungdark69]

Soken-san don't play with his music bro!

[@MadHatter_920]

I'm very distracted by how wrong the lyrics in the video are. lol