When it first launched in 2010, multiplayer on-line recreation Remaining Fantasy 14 was a industrial and demanding catastrophe. Riddled with bugs, unattainable to navigate and lacking numerous key content material, the sequence’ newest instalment, wherein gamers attempt to save the world from an historic evil, flopped laborious. That’s, till a completely rebuilt model hit cabinets in 2013 and turned it into essentially the most worthwhile FF recreation in historical past, with greater than 30million energetic customers as of January 2025 and 5 main expansions added within the years since.
With no inflexible set of quests to observe, gamers tackle titan-sized bosses in mystical dungeons earlier than returning to their lovely home-away-from-home to rearrange their furnishings. What helps all of it really feel a part of the identical world is the good music from Masayoshi Soken. The large soundtrack options hectic, guitar-driven hype tracks, majestic bursts of orchestration and even the power for gamers to make their very own music by way of one of many 24 devices that may be unlocked.
Talking to NME, Soken describes his masterpiece as a “Remaining Fantasy theme park” with reworked music from traditional entries within the sequence used all through his rating. “It’s vital for me to recollect the feelings I had after I first performed these video games. I need to take the inspiration I felt again then, and produce it into the now,” he says, hoping his music can encourage a brand new era. ”My biggest hope is to see new media born out of the sport.”
Soken additionally created the soundtrack to 2023’s single-player epic Remaining Fantasy 16 – and ceaselessly performs at Distant Worlds, a Remaining Fantasy live performance present that’s been touring since 2007. On prime of that, he sometimes performs exhibits with The Primals, a band of recreation builders who give beloved Remaining Fantasy songs a metal-flavoured facelift. As Remaining Fantasy 14 enters its sixteenth 12 months, Soken tells us why there’s nonetheless a lot for him to do within the land of Hydaelyn.
Soken’s inspiration comes from the unlikeliest of locations
Even essentially the most prolific of bands would wrestle to maintain up with Soken’s output over the previous 15 years. What retains him going? “It’s vital to get every day stimulation,” he says. “It doesn’t should be something particular both.” Yesterday, he drank some good sherry and a very nice Irish espresso. “I received numerous inspiration from that.”
He additionally takes inspiration from his personal listening habits, along with his Remaining Fantasy soundtracks that includes every little thing from orchestral music to rock and pop. “Rising up, I at all times listened to classical music and as a pupil, it was numerous rock. As I received older, I began listening to jazz and bossa nova”. These broad listening habits (which he calls “Soken-style”) make it simple for him to faucet into whichever path the subsequent enlargement is heading.
He’s a rock and roll insurgent at coronary heart
Proper now although, he’s listening to numerous Rage In opposition to The Machine, The Hives and Japanese steel band Suspended 4th. The identical snarling vitality might be heard in fan-favourite Remaining Fantasy tracks ‘Discover The Flame’, ‘Shadowbringers’ and ‘Endwalker – Footfalls’. “I don’t know why Remaining Fantasy matches so properly with that kind of music however, to me, it felt like the sport expertise was asking for rock.”
There are many classically educated musicians that work with Soken to create the music of Remaining Fantasy 14, however he’s not afraid of doing issues away from plush recording studios both. The sound of a tablet rattling round an empty noodle tub has made it into the sport’s rating, and he as soon as banged his wastepaper bin as a substitute of utilizing a correct drum. “I’m eliminating all the principles,” Soken says of his method.
Performing dwell is the proper celebration of Remaining Fantasy 14’s large group
“I see music as a software to offer individuals a greater gaming expertise. It’s one thing that can be utilized to maneuver a participant’s coronary heart,” Soken explains. Getting to depart the workplace and carry out at occasions similar to Distant Worlds retains him energised and enthusiastic about his job. “I’m actually capable of see individuals’s reactions and what music does properly in a selected second.
“Remaining Fantasy 14 clearly has lots of people coming collectively on-line however to have that group in the identical room, united by way of music, is the most effective. It’s a reminder that we’re all related.”
“With a standard live performance, everybody has a distinct expertise of the identical tune however with a online game live performance like Distant Worlds, everybody has had the very same expertise,” he continues. “It makes individuals extremely empathetic in the direction of one another. They know they’re all feeling the identical emotion, and that’s a particular house [to be in].”
He will get an identical thrill of connection when he performs with The Primals. “Usually the artist onstage is the protagonist however with these exhibits, the participant’s recreation experiences are the protagonists. We’re simply there to gentle a hearth in the direction of their recollections.” The band has simply introduced their first tour in seven years – a whistle-stop run by way of Japan. Soken says he’d like to hit the highway correctly with The Primals and a European tour is prime of his wishlist. As a full-time sound director for Remaining Fantasy, discovering the time is hard.
Soken is already engaged on his subsequent mission
Soken has been sharing photographs of him at work within the studio on social media, with cryptic messages like “it’s lastly coming to an finish…” and “I began one thing” however he isn’t spoiling something in the present day. “I’m sorry, I actually can’t say what I’m engaged on proper now. I’m recording one thing although,” he confirms, including that it “probably” feels new. He’s simply as tight-lipped in the case of introducing new collaborators to the world of Remaining Fantasy 14. Pop-punk vocalist and unofficial queen of online game soundtracks Chrissy Costanza recorded ‘Give It All’ for Dawntrail’s end-game Arcadion raid final 12 months, however Soken will solely say there are “numerous artists that I might love to herald” once we ask who’s subsequent. “I don’t need to create expectations.”
It is sensible to maintain schtum, as a result of Remaining Fantasy followers might be very valuable in regards to the music that weaves its approach all through the sport. The assorted soundtracks have racked up tens of millions of streams on Spotify and Distant Worlds has been touring for the previous 18 years. “It’s proof that the sport expertise was sturdy and the music actually moved them.”
Sq. Enix hasn’t introduced what’s subsequent for Remaining Fantasy 14 however final 12 months, recreation director Naoki Yoshida mentioned that he’s presently engaged on the story for the subsequent three expansions after Dawntrail kickstarted a brand new period. “I simply need to give individuals a better degree of recreation expertise, in order that’s the place I’m placing all my efforts in the intervening time,” says Soken when requested about his plans for the way forward for Remaining Fantasy 14. “Everybody concerned in making it’s going through as much as a problem. I assume the one rule for us is to undoubtedly problem [expectations].”
