Final Zone Theme 2 - FFXIV OST

No, your speakers aren't broken.
Full Dawntrail playlist here: • FFXIV Dawntrail OST
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FINAL FANTASY XIV © 2010-2024 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

[@turkturkleton4995]

The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.

[@ChouhouinNeko]

take my crying upvote

[@soylentconsumer420]

we aren't, but the ones that loved us are :') and even though we won't see that day, they will, and im satisfied with that

[@jorntumrongwit9056]

Honestly I have to respect the absolute balls the devs have to construct an insanely detailed area before shutting it down permanently (barring time travel via NG+), with you being the one who pulls the trigger. Still hurts every single terminal

[@lavenderrose3755]

oh same I've gone back to finish getting the aether currents and I cannot for the life of me force myself to stick around longer than an hour or else I will absolutely break

[@ye9945]

"Still" It's been 3 days...

[@jorntumrongwit9056]

@@ye9945 actually it's been less than 24 hours for me because I finished it last night lul

[@ProfessorHeavy1]

When I saw that notification for the first time, I was genuinely stunned that not only would the people go, but the area as well. The deactivated electrope lining the deactivated areas was painful to look at because of the context.

[@TheIvoryDingo]

@@ProfessorHeavy1 And until you either finish the MSQ or shut down the fourth zone (not entirely sure which), there is also no music that plays.

[@kosmosshift2577]

Sphene: “ITS TOO LATE WUK LAMAT, IVE ALREADY UPLOADED MY PEOPLE TO THE BLOCKCHAIN”

[@DawnAfternoon]

My FC has the joke that Sphene is Mark Zuckerberg himself and we're the IRS shutting down his Metaverse and it forever ruined the final zone for me

[@thesunthrone]

Shpene really out there going to war to power the servers that host her NFT collection

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@thesunthrone It even becomes unsustainable with the more NFT user the more power it needs to keep up

[@Gravitysonic0]

Godsdamnit I laughed so hard. Take my like

[@ThatsJustTammy]

There’s something absolutely poetic about reinforcing the themes of memory by making you delete one of the prettiest zones ever so that it can now only ever live in your memory. But as long as the city can be remembered, it will always live on.

[@bradleydevron]

I think the only way to see the old version in-game without a whole new character outright being New Game Plus somehow still fits that as well. It's implied, perhaps even all but stated, that NG+ amounts to your WoL recalling the past, and so the restoration via that is no different: It's just them remembering how each zone used to look like, and of course, it doesn't change what happened. No matter what NG+ does, Living Memory is no less dead in the modern day.

[@QueenKissune]

​@@bradleydevronI also like how even the NG+ version isnt even a perfect recreation of how it was when it was alive, as if the game itself is telling you 'you can get close, but you cannot go back'

[@bradleydevron]

@@QueenKissune It’s still memories even in NG+ and not even perfectly. In short, you can remember the beauty, but can never return to it as it originally was in truth.

[@TheZman289]

It feels like a world Meteion would have found in her travels.

[@kakisugar8252]

It will be funny because at least on this world the people are genuinely happy and i guess only Cahciua that wanted to stop the simulation

[@omensoffate]

Meteion the ass pull for the writers

[@rainbowsnail4171]

@@omensoffate Not really. We knew the Ascians wanted to restore the world in some fashion ever since ARR. That means the world is no longer what it was. Which means there was a cause for that. While obviously not planned ahead all the way back then, there was always a hole in the story, that Meteion filled. Specially after Shadowbringers, where we knew the Final Days were a thing. You can't have that and then not explain any cause for them.

[@laerwen]

@@omensoffate Please justify your position with logic instead of outrage.

[@Zakjuh]

@@omensoffate zodiark trancer mad that after an entire story of ascians/ancients being the root cause for like 90% of issues and cataclysmic events facing the world of final fantasy, endwalker added another

[@DELUXExSUPREME]

straight up music playing in a dead mall vibes. i love it

[@Mysterious_XIV]

backrooms music

[@Sacrengard]

sounds like the Arboretum hard mode in a way

[@supertired6412]

This truly was the oldest view

[@AFKei]

This is no longer a Living Memory. It's now a Distant Memory.

[@ultratem8661]

Just a burning memory…

[@knowwhoiamyet]

​@@ultratem8661Potent, given the reality that all living people (with regulators, at least, so most folks) forget the dead to ease their pain knowing they're going to live on in the cloud. No more. And yet they still consign their memories to nothingness. None to remember their faces, their names, their life. None will remember that they once lived.

[@yanastase]

RAM turned into ROM

[@jacobkern2060]

Close In the Distant Memory?

[@NorahLazarus]

this is so heartbreaking. Unlike Ultima Thule where the theme gets fuller and fuller as you explore, here once you return after the Msq, there is almost nothing left...only the faintest echo of something that was once beautiful.

[@pravda788]

it is hurting even more when you do the last quests for aether currents and you know that nobody is left now

[@OShinn]

with dat echo is us remembering each and everyone of them who we encounter in the area before we shutting it down

[@omensoffate]

Wow how original. Do it on reverse. 😂

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@omensoffate Better reverse where the writer actually commits to the sacrifice than the original that walks back on every "sacrifice".

[@soylentconsumer420]

​@@DawnAfternoon that was the point though! the point of the sacrifices in ultima thule was to ask you "can you go on, despite the pain, with only the hope that things will be better driving you forwards?", and by getting to the end you were rewarded for your perseverance! it was beautiful, even though i knew they would come back i still found it quite hard to smile and keep going to the end of the zone :')

[@friedshrimp7091]

Depressing beats to gather unspoiled nodes to

[@Aschentei]

Shit I might be able to restore Cahciua’s garden with all these tears

[@MahalGC]

Depressing beats to catch Copper Sharks to...

[@Disastra]

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this zone at the end of msq. Then I flew around it, at night and in the rain. Just this soft music playing, all the silent and dead buildings in the background. Vibe really unlike anything else in the game. (Yes, Ultima Thule is thematically similar, but operates as an inverse of what's being done here).

[@Neveryn]

Amaurot is the closest

[@Disastra]

​@@Neverynnot surpsing. Emet was familiar with the city of gold-- its likely where he got the idea in the first place.

[@Cloudeusz]

@@DisastraAmaurot existed before the sundering tho it was a city of the original world

[@dumbsterdives]

i like how even when its completely dead theres those clouds of gold floating around, a lot like the particles the Endless dispersed into. Its like their memory is still lingering even after they've gone in a tangible sense to match the metaphorical sense that is the whole driving theme of this section.

[@bradleydevron]

I feel this difference between Ultima Thule and Living Memory is simple...Ultima Thule has us bring hope to people who have given up in despair, while Living Memory is bringing an end to a land where the dead are, no matter how benevolent the reason, denied rest in a gilded cage.

[@shadowpants8727]

“Looks like my summer vacation is…over.”

[@RonocLrd]

YES. HUGE TWILIGHT TOWN VIBES. THANK YOU

[@Moshrocaffxiv]

This is how I'd imagine Data-Twilight Town would be if we could see it after Roxas rejoined with Sora and DiZ abandoned it.

[@supremeoverlord0]

RIGHT, IT'S SO TWILIGHT TOWN, RIP Edit: And thinking of Kingdom Hearts made this zone all the more more difficult for me, because in that universe, they would absolutely look at the Endless with the idea of them having hearts and personhood in their own ways, rather than simply being a "facsimile" of a more "whole" existence. I couldn't *not* see these data people as people in their own rite, no matter how much the narrative tried to talk me out of it. Feels too much like the flawed thinking Emet-Selch used to have, not appreciating the fact that these people were just as real as us, just in a different way. This zone got me fucked up with its data genocide for the greater good.

[@JosephConrad-z9j]

@@supremeoverlord0Remember…. Remember us. Remember that we once lived.

[@supremeoverlord0]

@@JosephConrad-z9j Nice Disco Elysium profile picture!

[@jadednessly]

This is the only zone where I decided to complete all of the side quests, it only felt right making sure every last person is accounted for. Except it feels even more empty now…

[@Tsukiyo165]

Wow the feels when I read this…

[@bewitchedriddle]

Good. They deserve their rest too.

[@dumbsterdives]

this was the only zone i have ever done where i felt morally obligated to do every side quest the second each set became available.

[@natebroadus8474]

Same. I even delayed the MSQ to make sure everyone could rest.😢

[@rodrigocampos1302]

​@@dumbsterdives same

[@gerritkoelsch4861]

a friend of mine called this Theme Everywhere at the End of Time FFXIV Edition, and it fits way too well

[@tatsu_misu]

this is exactly what I thought when first hearing it. a distant memory of something you never truly knew.

[@zadayaz]

adore of the vibes of this place after msq ends…. the facade of gold has faded but you can see the sky, and the plants go on even in the empty city. Seeing the hints of gold light still left in the city at night is gorgeous too

[@abigaildownie3002]

The golden 'clouds' had me in awe when I first saw them. I had to stop and watch them until night-time ended. Easily my favourite area, before and after we shut it down.

[@willthelalafell]

I don’t know why but this deactivated version gives me a feeling of serenity and peace while the active version fills me with sorrow.

[@bradleydevron]

I feel that’s the point. The active one is about a system of bliss…unchanging, static bliss that turns to empty joy. Everyone is technically happy, but…it sort of rings hollow as they do nothing but “joyous” things. This one, meanwhile, is the aftermath if the shutdowns. Everything else has grown quiet, as the people have been laid to their rest. The music has returned by now, heralding the sun properly rising and bringing dawn with it instead of the golden city’s ultimately artificial glow, symbolic of a possible new beginning coming.

[@dumbsterdives]

the first version is an artificial facade of happiness thats outlived its purpose. its a theme park, and as much as it did genuinely do good things for some people its time for it to end and everyone there knew and was ready. the deactivated version is a memorial. "remember that we once lived."

[@bradleydevron]

@@dumbsterdives I did get big Disney Park vibes from it while it was online, and while nice, I would not like to permanently live in a theme park even if I didn't have to pay for it myself. As for the inactive version being a memorial...it is already made of stone via the Electrope that was covered for the façade, as if it was already just a lit up monument to those who lived. Now we've just revealed the truth in letting them rest, and brought forth a new purpose...to stand as a reminder of what once was.

[@koko-hh2bq]

This zone is quite literally a liminal space after the MSQ. An area where there used to be filled with happy and pleasant memories, but is now an empty and silent husk of its former self. A ghost town, an empty amusement park, an abandoned swimming resort, a garden that no one tends to anymore.

[@KarinExMachina]

To me it felt like it's sole purpose was to house a memory that seemed content to bring down the living in order to keep functioning. I never felt comfortable in this place even before the place was shut down. I was glad that it let it's grip go, to pave the way for the living instead of preserving the dead. That's how I interpret it anyway

[@escapereality4145]

This music composition is kinda genius, with the distant-sounding instruments and the eerie crescendo/diminuendo, just like how a once-poignant memory ebbs and flows until it slowly erodes away with time into oblivion, aaaah so sad

[@daisyaran2084]

After every terminal, I walked on foot back to the zip line with the HUD off. It just felt right for what we were doing; the silence only being broken by my footsteps, enemies being the only others around that weren't players, or the atmospheric hum of the outside world's ambience. Going from that quiet, thoughtful experience and reflecting on what once was so vibrant and picturesque and now just... wasn't, then to this song with the last terminal, gave me an emotion that I don't think I can ever replicate if I tried.

[@Kazcilos]

This has some "Everywhere At The End Of Time" feelings and how both are about memories dissapear even tho one is about a mental disease and this one about erasing the memories of the endless

[@MyChemicalFruitCake]

This version sounds like if you were trying to remember..... But in this case, music. It's distant... Some things and lyrics forgotten... Trying to make up melodies as you remember it. Only the prominent melodies are remembered and not the ones in between. Just a distant memory now.

[@SkydreamPony]

I remember the first terminal. I just sat there, staring at my screen, unable to click "yes". Hearing it again breaks my heart.

[@callins7247]

For people who lost parents Krile's and Erenville's would hurt the most 😢

[@dumbsterdives]

i choked up watching that first zone fade away, even after i had rounded the corners and seen how artificial the whole thing was. And then the side quest with the tour guide made me choke up again!

[@dumbsterdives]

​@@callins7247There's gotta be someone on the writing team with some very complicated feelings around family and parenthood because all the parental relationships and loss in this expansion feel so real and hurt a lot.

[@ZiriO]

For someone who very recently lost a parent, this expansion hurt so much, and this last zone was very hard to do from crying

[@dforbay]

This is why I love Final Fantasy. The impact on my heart going from full-of-"life" to an empty, distant memory just connects so hard. It's like when we think of memories of those who've passed but then come to the realization that they are no longer with us.

[@xTyith97]

Easily one of the best zones they've ever created. Incredibly morbid and depressing and yet was once a joyous utopia for the already deceased. All living things must die eventually.

[@Dragon359]

I didn't think there was a zone that could hit me harder than Ultima Thule. I was certainly proven wrong.

[@solisimperium1203]

to be honest ultima Thule didn't really hit me hard when I saw everyone come back especially with all that plot armor. Now this in dawntrail, this zone, this is how you do emotional Rollercoaster. 10/10

[@runarhrothgar]

Who remembers the coin fountain tour guide guy. Yeah. You know what I mean. :')..

[@Eddy_Whimage]

OMG I love your pfp! :D

[@SMaster777]

Hydro Terminal: I pulled the trigger without even a second thought, not even realizing that not only was I erasing the NPCs, I was erasing all the color and sound of the region. Geo Terminal: I pulled the trigger with only minor hesitation, not because of Otis or the children, but because the park was so pretty and I knew the husk would be hard to look at. Pyro Terminal: There was some hesitation... but Krile Maya Baldesion was okay with it, so I pulled it with no regrets. Aero Terminal: ....After that final goodbye, I RP walked as slow as I possibly could to the trigger. Even then I had to stare at it for a solid two minutes before pulling it. Go figure that it would be in the home stretch that DT remembered it had Sorrow of Werlyt in its veins.

[@luciferr09]

This place fills me with such profound sadness...

[@ittlenanzo7744]

Im glad i took plenty of pictures before it got like this because man how is this more depressing than ultima thule 😭

[@ye9945]

Because Ultima Thul is literally themed around "Hope"

[@ittlenanzo7744]

@ye9945 fair point though I'm mainly referring to how each thing was representing since living memory was a paradise of sorts while ultima thule is a collection of dead worlds

[@coldReactive]

Remember that you can use NG+ to bring the old one back. NG+ doesn't lock you out of already-attuned aetherytes.

[@Zakjuh]

Ultima Thule is a place you arrive at where the civilizations are long gone, with phantoms and facsimiles only existing as haunting reminders of what they had been. They don't exist, and you cannot hurt them. Living Memory is a place you arrive at bustling with life. Life unlike our own, but life nonetheless. Aware of itself, of its surroundings, of its circumstances. This time, you are shutting it down. You are the one creating the Ultima Thule here. Except where Ultima Thule harbors phantoms of past civilizations, Living Memory is effectively deserted. A lifeless monument to what once was. Something you directly helped bring to an end.

[@thesunthrone]

Ultima Thule was where the souls were gathered that wished to be reborn and were freed from their prison. This... is a graveyard, with nobody even buried here, and the ghosts roaming it kindly asking you to turn off the lights.

[@Skinnylandia]

It’s just a burning memory now…

[@blackh9604]

I stopped in my tracks the second I teleported back to the main aetheryte and this started playing (especially when the music faded out for a second), that shit gave me CHILLS

[@Vile-Flesh]

Me too. My friend was with me on our mount and I knew the already sad theme sounded different and I froze on our mount long enough for her to ask me what was wrong. I had a hard time with this zone and this theme after shutting everything down just twists my guts up so much.

[@mr.incredibilis8722]

I think this music is sad and beautiful enough when you can hear it all before the Terminals are shut down, but when it's like this, distant, faded and echoing, it reminds you that this place was once beautiful, and stil is, but it belongs in the past. The blank streets and buildings merely shaped of pure electrope, yet the tree's, the flowers, the water, they remain, and the golden glow of nostalgia is replaced by the light of a true sun and a blue sky, the world outside is quiet and still, but still alive. A living memory becomes a silent cemetary to a people lost long ago, only now put to rest by us, it goes from an amusement park for the ghosts of good memories, to a memorial for the people who's memories they were. for Namikka, the last place she told her daughter she loved her, for Otis, the last chance to be the good man and valiant knight he was in life, for Robor and Alayla to find out their daughter not only survived in the Source, but grew into an intelligent and brave young woman, and for Cahciua to pass her love, hopes and dreams onto her beloved son. All of them live on forever into the minds of those who remember them, not as projections from a system that see's grief, loss and death as something to be denied.

[@ladyopheliagames]

Take my crying upvote man.

[@unisyy]

I cannot fathom how strong this song is for me. Everytime I ended up deactivating a terminal I would take a good look at the area and all the people I interacted with. It feels even worse when I get flashes of it when going through the lifeless husk that is this zone, and it's even worse when I see their souls at night... You will all live on through me, I will never forget you.

[@ciarynw7824]

I'm rushing to get multiple characters through DT right now (I took the most time on my first one reading and watching everything, interacting with all NPCs and reading all incidental dialogue, etc.) but it wasn't until I finished on the second character, two days ago, that I stopped in this zone in the aftermath of finishing the final trial and just... sat there, in the remains of everything, and looked around and took it all in. From where I parked my character, I couldn't see any mobs below on the ground or any of the few quest NPCs still hanging around, so it really was like I was the only one left, the final visitor to a world whose people and purpose were already long gone, and man, what a feeling. We saved so many people we haven't gotten to meet yet, and now the Endless are at rest and should, eventually, be reborn like they should've been from the start, no more having to cannibalize anyone else to live in a gilded cage... we even have a new link to Azem that we'll surely be investigating in the future because of the relic. But I still sit with that feeling. If only we'd gotten there sooner. If only we had the time to somehow figure out another way. Narratively, there's no way DT would ever be able to match the latter expansions because it's ARR 2.0, it IS the start of the buildup as opposed to the payoff of all that writing and effort. But that final zone was way stronger for me, I think, than about any other zone in the game before this.

[@thesunthrone]

And that is the true "living memory" - you knowing those that passed and remembering them who they were, despite the fact it hurts. What this whole facility instead did was tear out such memories of those that were gone and shoved them into a server room on some other world shard entirely. What is the point of retaining memories when they're not meant to be seen by anyone at all? The people of Alexandria were robbed. Of their queen, of their past and of their future, with nothing but an endless present, until it suddenly goes away, with none of your friends or family remembering that you ever existed.

[@discountdisco2273]

Fun new adventure they said. Beach holiday they said. (cries in emptyness)

[@sympathiea]

Is this an Everywhere at the End of Time reference... what I appreciate most is that having become so familiar with the original piece, it's up to your memory of the song to fill in the blanks when it sweeps in and out.

[@MapleLunii]

I'm really glad the devs stuck to their guns and didn't like... somehow bring everything back after you beat the final trial

[@thecatboy7494]

It shocked me that they did but I'm so happy for it. It's the complete thematic opposite of Ultima Thule and while that ended full of hope and color, this place is just barren, gone. Really hope post-patches don't screw that up somehow.

[@nineballmk2]

you damn well know we going to turn that place in to amusement park!

[@Zakjuh]

@@thecatboy7494 Same. I could see it being repurposed, but I don't want things to be reversed. It would make no sense either, given the reason Living Memory was shut down in the first place.

[@loganreed23]

I wish they would do this back in Endwalker and started Dawntrail with a fresh cast of characters, would have been much more "artistic" per se.

[@voidoflight2420]

"Remember us. Remember that we once lived." - Emet Selch

[@cooljoe500]

why quote the guy that is responsible for the tragedy that befell the people of alexandria?

[@voidoflight2420]

@@cooljoe500 Because that’s what the entire theme of this expansion is. We also don’t know if he caused what occurred with Alexandria or not, given the Lalafell migrated to the place after the Ice Calamity, which came after the Lightning Calamity.

[@Veishan]

I am willing to bet that one of the Allied Societies in later patches will be Alexandrians, and their storyline is going to involve reclaiming and repurposing Living Memory to be habitable for living people. Either that or another restoration-style piece of content for crafters.

[@trevorwalsh7196]

Or better yet not Alexandrians but just a new people looking for a home unrelated to it. I think the theme is going towards moving from the past, accepting endings and death, and moving towards the future with hope. It would fit perfectly in this theme to have us help resettle a previously destroyed people/civilization with new people with their own dreams and aspirations for a new, happy life to continue using the help of those in the past to create a better future even for strangers

[@Verpal]

@@trevorwalsh7196 If that's the case there better be a good story explanation, after all the place is most certainly built and populated by Alexandrian for generations, but I suppose Wuk Lamat can make anything happen at this point regardless of reasons.

[@gulusgammamon]

​@@Verpalbecause of yuri

[@nilzero5686]

@@trevorwalsh7196 let's give it to the garleans "sure it's bleak and depressing and mecanical but at least it's not fucking freezing, we'll take it"

[@trevorwalsh7196]

@@nilzero5686 that’s actually perfect I think. Leading Garlean refugees to a new home to help break the cycle of war and suffering. I think that would fit the theme of ff14 perfectly, it’s all about new beginnings, learning to coexist, and moving on from the past. Didn’t even think of the Garleans but now that’s an awesome idea. Could use it as an excuse to bring in Cid again too to help maintain the system and maybe Nero too working together to give their people a new home.

[@Vikumax]

Many have said it and.probably better than I could but I love the composition of this track. the way it echoes and fades almost diegetic in nature. As if the music did play within the area and someone simply left the speakers on after shut down. A haunting yet melancholic memory that recalls to a time where it was alive. I also love how the plantlife was NOT digital constructs. They are now the liveliest bits of scenery and makes me appreciate their beauty more than when all the dazzling lights were on. In a way it shows that life can still exist in a place like this, not confined to just being a product of nostalgia.

[@kakisugar8252]

Soken and the Music Dapartement serving another Bangers after bangers after bangers its crazy

[@BrightCaster]

Remember them, remember that they once lived.

[@soliduswasright678]

This is way more depressing and melancholy than Ultima Thule, at least for me. When your loved ones pass, slowly you'll forget things like what they used to sound like; that's the message the constant fading in and out music gives me. You're trying to remember, some memories are easier to pull back and listen to, others are just a faint note.

[@mymicart]

POV: You are Meteion, erasing yet another civilization.

[@omensoffate]

I try to pretend meteion never happened

[@Zakjuh]

@@omensoffate ok zodiark trancer

[@symphwave4323]

Even as it all fades, we hold the memories in our hearts. Memories of what was once here. We remember. We remember that they once lived.

[@jhinkadaj58]

You made your choice. Live with it.

[@michaeru1]

You could have walked away from this, of course. Nobody forced you to select "Yes", certainly not five times over. You might say it is unreasonable to demand from the player that they stop playing - forever! - to enjoy a real choice in this matter, but you did nevertheless have this choice. If you believe that these memories were indeed alive in some way, then their (second) deaths are on your conscience: The needs of your people over the needs of Sphene's. Tural over this. The Source over the Twelveth. No third option, not this time. This is Emet-Selch's final, bitter parting gift: Real stewardship over our star, warts and all. May you have the joy of it. The burden ... and the solitude. Hey, wasn't Dawntrail supposed to be a more light-hearted adventure?

[@dumbsterdives]

yoshi-p 🤝 hidetaka miyazaki underselling their new content and catching everyone off guard

[@JonathanFantasy]

No, it really isn't a choice. Stop coping. Quitting MSQ is not an option for those that want to.. you know.. play the game? Mind you I love the way they did this zone, it really plays into the theme of dealing with loss, but the game absolutely forces your hand into shutting down the terminals. That's just how the game progresses, and 'blaming' the player for wanting to progress is a very odd, dare I say incorrect angle.

[@loganreed23]

​@@JonathanFantasyhe just explained to you why this is a choice even if unreasonable one and how it portrays the legacy Emet-Selch left to your character but you ignored everything and decided to just type this message.

[@cattosw5399]

@@loganreed23 And yet he's not entirely wrong. Dawntrail conceptually has some very good ideas and the overall arc is 'decent', and is a strong starting point for the second 'saga' of FF14. There are some glaring and troubling issues with execution though - the optimist in me saying this is likely because Creative Studio 3 was too busy working on making FF16 ship on time and workable. The less so optimist is because I think they're running out of ideas, they've milked almost other 'popular' title from FF to fill 14 and they're rapidly looking like they're floundering. The sheer VOLUME of criticism should be a sign that something is off, you can't dismiss numbers as everyone being 'bored' or are 'cutscene skippers' or are 'bigots' or whatever other nigh on cultist level deflection some people get with in their apologia for Yoshi P and his team. The story and setting for the game were at one point almost unbroachable in how good they were, especially Shadowbringers and largely with Endwalker too. But if even those things are now starting to get jank because of bizarre creative decisions in story development then I'm sorry but FF14 has had what us ancient relics who played World of Warcraft refer to as a 'Cataclysm moment'. In short for those who are unaware, basically Blizzard Entertainment thought it would be a great and innovative idea to basically start their 'second arc' of storytelling (Cataclysm was the name of the expansion) by basically deleting the world in a fiery disaster of earthquakes and other dragon induced catastrophes ( A Realm Reborn before ARR was even considered). While the game has had its good moments since then the overall trend has been 14 (hah) years of inexorable decline for the game. Personally? I enjoyed Dawntrail, but if this is the quality going forward in the next 4 expansions? FF14 is in for a long and painful end.

[@Rondart]

“Well done, Warrior of Light, you’ve done what the Storm Surge could not: annihilate the inhabitants of this Reflection. Do you feel like a *hero* yet?”

[@monsunoguy19]

It hurts even more the more it fades in and out. Like a memory you're struggling to recall..

[@RuneArcN8]

It's like waking from Kololint Island all over again... just, look at that sunrise once you can fly. Maybe just maybe we'll remember a bird flying by, reminding us to not lose heart. Though grateful these echoes linger... for the heart knows the missing pieces of a song playing by memory.

[@taipenn2358]

It’s interesting seeing a totally normal sky. That means the cataclysm that faced the shard had passed, but instead of being able to look towards a brighter future, Sphene, due to her programming, was stuck focusing on a slowly dying past.

[@elinfini]

And apparently the _only_ (living) survivors from that shard are now stuck in the Source.

[@Stephline13]

I didn't hestitate at the first terminal. I felt regret immediately after. I know a lot of us are talking about Ultima Thule, but it reminded me more of Amarout: A beautiful dream of what used to be, full of greenery and the echoes of the dead, but ultimately....It's already gone. It's a dream, a memory - beautiful as it is, it's nothing more than that. The survival of this paradise would mean the death of everything we know. And yet, the flowers still bloom even after we shut everything down. Perhaps with time, some new form of life will arise.

[@bradleydevron]

Given the enemies also linger, as if they're preserved life...even if they don't have souls themselves, who says they can't repopulate the world in time as well ala how the Ancients did it, taking new roles as the plants spread and thus make more land viable to settle in? We know just about anything in FFXIV can fly with enough magic, so they can get out of Living Memory in time, I bet.

[@elinfini]

And now we have an official title (thanks to the upcoming OST): *Echoes of Memory*

[@shadowthehedgehog181]

Feels like a reference to "Echos in the Distance."

[@jaysanj152]

I sincerely hope in the distant future, We'll get a cure for Dementia.. It's one thing to lose someone you love, paying our respects and remembering them. It's another to see that very loved one slowly LOSES their memories and deteriorates as the get old and the same could happen to you too :(

[@papulatusfan5]

Everywhere At The End of Eorzea

[@Max58183]

I was really heartwarmed when I learned that Living Memory will not be completely desolated and bereft of life: 1) After completing MSQ, Alexandrians from the Everkeep started sending groups to explore the zone. Knowing their advancement in technology, they will probably figure something out to do with this place. 2) Automated sentries are still functioning fine and they are working tirelessly to preserve "the facility" from decay and keep unruly creatures in check. At the very least, it is something to smile about, however little.

[@DonnyDunne]

"Sleep tight, everyone"

[@manizard2472]

I felt like I had to walk through each area after shutting the terminal off instead of teleporting back to the start😢

[@EhanuRehu]

As a Destiny 2 refugee, hearing the news today of what's happening at Bungie has me feeling this so much more profoundly. Might go visit and cry for a while later tonight.

[@smayuwushka]

this world literally was an one time journey 😭

[@hiddenmaster6062]

Ever had to move out? Or when the place is closing down for good? That moment when you turn off the lights for the last time. Feels a lot like that. o3o

[@novacaliber5733]

I don't know if anyone ever drew this comparison. But the music here reminds me a lot of The Caretaker's - Everywhere At The End Of Time. It's supposed to represent the decline from dementia through music, and this one track really made me get the same vibes for some reason. Only just a memory. Gaps here and there because we sometimes can't recall things correctly and it seems distant. Some moments are so clear they could bring you back to that very same moment but... never quite the same... and not quite there yet... and it slips away again. It's beautiful, haunting and bittersweet. It stays like that now forever because you can't just rewind time or the decisions you made. All you can do is enjoy the here and now when you still got it and treasure every last moment of it.

[@xenorayy]

So empty... it reminds me of the Land of Morytha for those familiar with Xenoblade. I wish we got to see more of Alexandria and its people.

[@alex5623]

Heritage Found with Everkeep in the middle really brought Morytha and the World Tree to mind to a large decree, and Sphene's design has a lot of similarities to Pyra/Mythra.

[@xenorayy]

​@@alex5623the 5th dungeon is so similar to the World Tree I got chills haha, and yes Sphene would perfectly fit a blade's design.

[@alchemi8085]

The way this track fades in and out...man...

[@darkphoenixdragon138]

One thing that I wonder now... Apparently the whole reflection was practically destroyed by lightning and that's why there was need for the dome. The excess lightning was most likely a Rejoining attempt that never went through since the Ascians already had lightning aspected to the Source, Light was the last component they needed hence Shadowbringers. However, now that we've turned the lights off, the days just look... normal. Is the entire reflection fine now, or is the whole planet dead? Wonder if we'll get to explore outside of Living Memory.

[@Veishan]

My read/interpretation: Sphene, the program tasked with sustaining Alexandria, is no more, so there is nothing feeding aether into the barrier after her defeat, same with the Meso Terminal. The skies look normal because the calamity and Rejoining already happened (the Second Umbral was the calamity of lightning on the Source and I'd be stunned if that was not the one in question) and what's left outside is ruins like the Thirteenth.

[@dadkwashere]

This is what i thought as well. A world flooded by light. The void being the 13th flooded by darkness. This reflection buried by levin

[@darkphoenixdragon138]

@@Veishan Understandable, but if the rejoining already happened, then the world itself shouldn't exist then, since it'd have been absorbed into the Source. Unless the entirety of the Living Memory is just its self contained part of the original world that survived the Rejoining. Edit: To add onto this, considering time moves way quicker in Sphene's world, the second Calamity of Lightning happened several thousands of years ago, while time in the dome passed by 30 years after several days in the Source.

[@Verpal]

@@darkphoenixdragon138 Personally, I really don't think we should be overly serious and think about the premise/setting of Dawntrail too much, there are surprisingly high amount of low hanging fruit type plot hole this time around, that I suspect even some casual MSQ only player will notice.

[@AmnesiacDoe]

"Already had lightning and didn't need it" They aren't compiling all of the elements back in the Source, though... They needed all reflections to rejoin for a whole world. Elements are just a means to an end, we have discrete ones so far because it would be a little weird from a writing point of view to do doubles of one and none of another, but eventually they would in fact have to reuse them.

[@idkidc12333]

I thought something sounded different once everything was fully shut down. It sounded like it was playing off in the distance. Almost very creepy liminal space vibes. Shame we have to shut down such a vibrant and beautiful place, but it was an unnatural world that needed to go.

[@Ridley369]

Most of you never played IX, and it shows.

[@kosmosshift2577]

It didn’t really sink in for me until I did the tour guide blue quest in this area. We are just hear to turn off the lights….down make it harder than it has to be…. I say as tears gently flow from my face

[@piconio]

This area teaches us to cherish your memories

[@mediocreindigo]

I wonder if there are any living people left on the shard that Living Memory is a part of, or if there were only the Endless and there's no one left now thanks to us.

[@xSarunosukex]

What gets me is the fading in and out with the music, as if the presence of where we were still lingers after everything being shutdown 😢 like a resting heart still beating but you don’t know if it’ll wake again

[@Krysta1Rose]

The mall is closing...

[@yanastase]

The ram is something destined to fade away and let the rom as only souvenir

[@thesunthrone]

This zone really hits different when you're using the "Living Memory" title without knowing what's to come...

[@pokevii]

i know this area being dead is going to be hit-or-miss for a lot of people. but it worked phenomenally for me. it works with the themes of dawntrail that the memory of how this area once looked is now only in your head, and it gives me a faint pang of nostalgia whenever i roam the area and remember what it once was. it could never last. shame the story wasn't written or paced better because this could have hit a lot harder than it did.

[@nineballmk2]

the mall is now closing please leave via the nearest exit

[@orrthehunter]

The way I describe this place is what happens if Zidane never existed in FF9.

[@gulusgammamon]

The thing isn't that because Wuk Lamat is our Zidane

[@orrthehunter]

@@gulusgammamon yes she behaviors like Zidane but as the certain Unknown Girl who is meant to be the Garnet of the story said, the outcome of her home ended up as it is because her "Zidane" never appeared to prevent what happened. For meeting "Zidane" was too late to change what has been done and the path this "Garnet" has chosen.

[@gulusgammamon]

@@orrthehunter YEAH. EXACTLY. She meets Wuk Lamat too late, and now we have to save her, from herself.

[@dumbsterdives]

​@@gulusgammamonthis is basically what if Kuja (Zoraal Ja) got to Garnet first.

[@kfchero2]

The mall will now be closing…

[@honkedoffjohn]

It sucks you have to kill the most visually stunning zone to progress the story. Goodbye Rainbow Hottub.

[@nickwilliams904]

Yeah we have to destroy the zone to get to the end Yoshi P needed to fill his tears buckets and he succeeded

[@hellgorama]

He needs the life force from the tears to keep ff14 alive

[@SprDrumio64]

if anything, its a triumph in a mechanical story telling

[@zadayaz]

i would love it if sometime in the future there were some form of restoration quests for this area. I left the last section wondering what would happen to all those animals and plants after their caretakers were gone, and it would just be cool thematically for the players to come together to bring this place to life properly. Maybe not to restore it to the way it looked, but to make something new out of it

[@dumbsterdives]

​​@@zadayazwhat i want is kind of an inverse of Heritage Found. Turali building and setup over the husk of the deactivated Alexandrian tech, combining old and new to make something unique. Considering bringing alexandria and tuliyollal properly together will likely be a plot thread for the patches, it would be a fitting idea. Though they also could leave it as-is, as a memorial for the Endless. either one, i'll be happy with

[@ghola82]

The day ff14 servers close for good. I want to be here when it happens.

[@luciferr09]

Remember that one album about dementia that freaked everyone out? Yeah...

[@XaldinLonkhe]

I like how this piece has no official title, as if it was forgotten......................OH NOW I GET IT!!!

[@elinfini]

If the upcoming OST is anything to go by, it _may_ be called "Echoes of Memory".

[@Jyxa]

This zone made me remember the drowned lamp from the Elder Scrolls. It's a memory that refuses to die out/get lost beneath the waves. "It's a lamp because it still burns with the light it once had, even if we can no longer feel the heat." Walking through Living Memory felt a lot like trying to warm yourself by a drowned lamp. There's no heat, just memories of people who are long dead.

[@B3laGo]

I'm going straight to Gold Saucer to be cheered up again after that!

[@B3laGo]

Once a Wondrous World. We switched it off. Hence a Distant World. That echo is killing me.

[@raviole]

It’s really a reverse Ultima Thule

[@umomo1947]

My mom walked in on me playing in this zone and came back later and got mad that i shut it off.

[@Kurorok611]

Clearing Dawntrail first before collecting Aether Currents and sidequests was the worst mistake.. Clearing during sidequests while driving around on the bleak streets trying not break down is not a good feeling..

[@dumbsterdives]

even doing them as they become available, it still hurts. this music at least makes it feel bittersweet and nostalgic. the dead silence when you first shut off the terminals, on the other hand...

[@knowwhoiamyet]

Summer Vacation is over.

[@grimbobagman4133]

It's such a specific comparison but... this song feels like waking around an abandoned/neglected mall or theme park, like you'd barely hear it still playing over the speakers.

[@GbrBy]

We probably aren’t done with Living Memory yet. Strayborough probably isn’t the only anomaly. I feel Oblivion will find more and quite possibly I reckon the DT trial series will either be tied to MSQ again like in EW or revolve around Living Memory

[@bradleydevron]

Given EW was a special case, unless that becomes a new standard, I think it'll be a Trial Series unveiled when 7.1 is announced and released alongside Part 1 of the FFXI Alliance Raid

[@jacobteague635]

Depression: The Zone 2

[@chumiminn]

Part of me wants to use ng+ to revert this place but it would go against the theme of the story. Maybe it's better to let go.

[@sbricksful]

I only used it just to take pretty pictures.

[@Zakjuh]

Whatever you do, it's still gone. NG+ might bring it back visually, but as far as the world is concerned, it has ended.

[@wanderingfIame]

reminds me of "From Mud" from Saint Mocianne's Arboretum (Hard), love it

[@kurokan13]

色褪せた建物の色合いからして完全な廃墟だよなぁ・・・

[@Ultrapyre]

Seeing the zone turn into this after all is said and done is just awful. All that's left is roaming wildlife, plants, weathered electrope, and robots that don't seem to realize their charges are long gone. All the while the faint echo of music blows through the area. By all intents and purposes, it's a gigantic weathered grave...

[@zavos5659]

Still need to drag the gleaners to gather up what they can. It's not every day that you have the opportunity to harvest living flora samples from a dead world.

[@noserus]

I’d hope that the idea for this came from someone on the team listening to a lot of “empty mall” videos, because it means that some dev in Japan took interest in aesthetics from the western end of the internet. Unless there are some Japanese videos of empty mall music that have gone unnoticed?

[@crowolf3862]

They may have gone with the chinese construction bubble bust too. There are entire empty cities over there.

[@thesunthrone]

@@crowolf3862 Yeah this whole place gave me serious Chinese ghost city vibes. Built for hundreds of thousands with all these lofty buildings and Europe-themed parks and houses, inhabited by no next to no one as they slowly crumble to dust due to misuse.

[@UndyingWladeslaus]

I'd like to think Soken was inspired by Everywhere at the End of Time for this cover.

[@LuGiAdriel14]

I'm wondering if Soken took some bits of inspiration from The Caretaker, because I think it would fit, considering that this is about distant/lost memories and death. The fading in and out of the music kinda has the similar vibe.

[@Tsukiyo165]

A place that should’ve never existed and yet I cried especially on the last 2 terminals I shut down.

[@cooljoe500]

my favourite final zone so far.

[@ladyopheliagames]

Not the slow and fading reverb Soken-San and team. Don't hit us harder ya'll with the remixed version. (Seriously though - GOD this is sooooo good.)

[@zaelheimricht4978]

She is pissed. She is really, *really, **_pissed._*