Final Fantasy XI - The Pioneers | Reacting To Video Game Music!

[@siverwrites]

That was such a fun song. It's been nice to explore more FFXI. The only song I knew prior to you getting these requests was Ronfaure and I only knew it because of Theatrhythm.

[@GimmeTOKYO]

I seriously fucking love idle'ing in Western Adoulin for this song alone. It's so, so good. I blame it on my roots of growing up in Tennessee, sue me. Also that's like, one of my FAVE town themes in *ANY* Final Fantasy title.

[@Malacite]

It's a great theme, but I prefer the theme of the capital in the next zone over - when it really ramps up near the end of the song.

[@Areayea]

not just smacking the roots tho XD (IYKYK)

[@BlakeAustin2011]

This was from the last full expansion, Seekers of Adoulin. The xpack released a few months before FF14 A Realm Reborn, and there were similarities between the 2, with larger cities and zones and waypoints for fast travel between the pets of the city along with some other motifs. Pretty fun theme of exploring a new world.

[@Varizen87]

I was gonna say... I played the game with 2 years real time logged over 10 years before I quit and I DO NOT remember this XD I had moved off to grad school when this came out and I didn't have time for 11 any more, and when I started playing an MMO again, it was 14.

[@BlakeAustin2011]

@@Varizen87 I was a junior in college when 11 released state side. I played it until ARR released. Just picked it back up last year after all of the solo capabilities, and it’s been a blast of nostalgia going through the game. I never completed the storyline for any release, and I’m finding it’s actually well written.

[@Varizen87]

@@BlakeAustin2011 Mr. Happy has a whole event planned around 11 with his community in preparation for the new cross over raid in Dawn Trail. The fact it is more solo friendly now is a boon I wish was there years ago. Maybe some time I will check it out again. I doubt Ole' Leaping Lizzy is as fiercely camped as she once was.

[@Zaque-TV]

Lmao no matter how western the instruments are japanese composers always have that japanese style to it

[@Namadu7]

Ooh, Naoshi Mizuta. He composed for various Final Fantasy games since 11. I personally only know his music from both XIII sequels... those games have phenomenal soundtracks, and Mizuta wrote some of my favorites. Never heard The Pioneers before now, but it has quite a different energy. Very fond of it!

[@NajaSide]

Just recognized the name cause he also composed tons of music for Stranger of Paradise!

[@budakbaongsiah]

​@@NajaSide He's the main composer of that game.

[@NajaSide]

@@budakbaongsiahYep! I saw his name a ton of tons while checking through the ost before, but I particularly remember his name on "Garland" cause that opening theme is just so strong. SoP really helped emphasize to me what a wide range he has.

[@mirrkstar]

This and Sacred city of Adoulin are amazing. I love this expansion’s soundtrack so much.

[@lanonyme-vod8090]

I'm not sure if Mizuta made the battle on the big bridge arrangement in FFXIII-2 but he worked on 13's sequels so maybe there? Loved that reaction

[@Namadu7]

The arranger for that one looks to be Hiroyuki Togo, who... apparently has never done anything else for Final Fantasy. Doesn't take away from how well he did with that track, of course!

[@lanonyme-vod8090]

@@Namadu7 Thank you for the info!

[@Malacite]

I wouldn't call 11 a Black Sheep, and not just because of my bias towards it - but because for nearly 20 years of it's 22 year existence it stood as the singular most profitable and successful FF game in the franchise, with 14 only just recently overtaking it at Endwalker's release. It's more like a Diamond in the rough - a hidden gem that most players either ignored or gave up on before getting to the good parts (and it genuinely has some of it not THE best story and characters, not to mention the best Job system) As for Naoshi Mizuta, I've been saying for years the dude deserves more recognition, and the music is actually one of the biggest reasons I would love to see 11 get some kind of next gen upgrade/offline version. The only other big game that comes to mind that he worked on is The Last Remnant, which was more or less a Tactical SaGa game and had honestly a pretty weak story but intense battle system and a PHENOMENAL soundtrack - The Gates of Hell is still one of my all-time favorite battle themes, and I'm reasonably certain it's one of the songs he worked on (there were several composers for that game) The man definitely has his own style as well. Quite a lot of tracks in XI are very upbeat, high tempo and prominently fearure Brass instruments. It's hard to pick out just one favorite, but to this day Vana'diel March - the main theme of XI - still brings a tear to my eye. * OK weird I swear I thought he had worked on TLR I know I read that once but guess I was wrong

[@Varizen87]

I will always be sad I had to quit 11 when I went to grad school. I wasn't playing when this came out. I always wanted to experience the expansion this came in though. I wanted to play the Geomancer and Rune Fencer jobs but I can say I got to experience an FF song along with you for the first time for once, Jesse.

[@NCISCherno]

If you want more in Adoulin, Sacred City of Adoulin which is the other "half" to that song. Mog Resort and Hades are two more good ones from that expansion.

[@c.a.honeycutt5046]

I’m not sure if you’ve listened to him outside of FFXI. Did a quick skim and didn’t see anything. But he is one of the big three composers for the FFXIII sequels. Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki being the other two, who you’ve definitely heard from some XIII and Lightning Returns songs, and of course, FFVIIR. He’s also the main composer for FF Origins: Stranger of Paradise, which has some fantastic music. I hope you get to hear more of him. He’s a great composer.

[@Malacite]

He did fantastic work for The Last Remnant, which has one of the best soundtracks ever.

[@c.a.honeycutt5046]

@@Malacite I think you're confusing him for Tsuyoshi Sekito, who does work on a lot of Square Enix stuff.

[@Malacite]

@@c.a.honeycutt5046 No, Naoshi Mizuta is credited for The Last Remnant, he's just one of like 3 or 4 composers I being who worked on the game.

[@c.a.honeycutt5046]

@@Malacite I wish that were true, because I would like that soundtrack a lot more if Naoshi Mizuta worked on it.

[@Malacite]

@@c.a.honeycutt5046 the hell, I swear I remember reading he worked on it... Weird

[@Blackwing02]

This came from the Seekers of Adoulin expansion. It centered around reclaiming the wilds around the city of Adoulin. This theme is for "lower section" of the city, containing the markets and airship hub....which you never use as a player.

[@girodleo31]

That music plays in the city of Western Adoulin, which is a city you come to in the last expansion ffxi has, and its supposed to be a city bursting with energy and activities, adventurer eagers to explore and reclaim the land around, while discovering some weird shit. I remember every time i was going to the city, it made me excited to go out and explore even more. If i was feeling bored, that would give me the motivation i needed. I still sometimes listen to it, works like a pavlovian song to me, instant kick in the nuts to not procrastinate. Hehe

[@Mrinsecure]

Final Fantasy XII is a bit of an oddball as far as the Final Fantasy games go, in that it's clearly taking certain aspects from Final Fantasy XI (which was weird because FFXI was an MMO and FFXII was a single player game) and it's clearly taking steps towards a more action-oriented type of combat, but it's still firmly rooted in more turn-based type gameplay. It has a lot going for it, but it's also quite awkward in a lot of places and has certain elements that rubbed the fandom the wrong way. It's a bit of a shame, because the story was pretty good, but a lot of people couldn't get past certain parts of the game, particularly its "license" system and certain characters that people absolutely despised. It doesn't help that the game does become something of a slog later on, with combat tending to drag on longer and certain parts of the game feeling nearly impossible to deal with unless you had a guide or an immense amount of patience.

[@Dhalin]

Oh please tell me Mushimerry requested "Breaking Ground" .... probably one of my favorites of the entirety of FFXI.

[@thend4427]

I always thought the music from this game was meh

[@Dhalin]

When you actually played the game, you went through many zones that had no music at all. Entering a zone that DID have music, you tended to greatly appreciate an area actually having music, and that music stuck with you for a long time. And some of its music is really awesome, and then other tracks are just as you said, "meh" they exist. They're not bad but they're not anything huge either.

[@thend4427]

@Dhalin it's not nobuo so its 🍑 lol

[@Dhalin]

@@thend4427 Nobuo does some nice stuff, but he's not the _only_ composer in the world capable of writing good music. Just because it ain't Nobuo's work doesn't mean it isn't worth listening to. For example, Soken in XIV has put out some really awesome stuff.

[@thend4427]

@@Dhalin I couldn't vibe with sokens music unless it was a remix of nobuos music lol

[@Dhalin]

@@thend4427 I'd hate to live life so picky that only one single composer made music that was good enough to enjoy. Must be a real boring life.