If you’re a fan of the Final Fantasy series, you know that one of the best parts of the game is its soundtrack, which is composed and orchestrated to perfection. The composer behind the score for Final Fantasy XVI, Masayoshi Soken, also contributed to the soundtrack for Final Fantasy XIV. After spending over three hours of hands-on time with the game in Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, office, it’s safe to say we’re going to have a killer score in FFXVI, and Soken has plenty to say about it.
In this four-part series, I’ll be discussing different aspects of the music in FFXVI. Be sure to check out Part 1 here before reading on.
Creating The Victory Fanfare
The Final Fantasy series is well-known for its recognizable tunes, including one in particular — the Victory Fanfare. The fanfare has appeared in nearly every Final Fantasy game and is composed by Nobuo Uematsu. I was curious how Soken created a new Victory Fanfare for FFXVI. Although he has already done this in FFXIV, the new composition more closely resembles its classic counterparts. It features brass instruments, bright trumpets, and a chorus lightly laid behind it all to give it that extra oomph of gravitas.
The fanfare has a medieval and gothic feel, which is fitting for the themes of revenge, war, and finding oneself among it all demonstrated in the game so far. According to Soken, he created this effect by using more male choral voices, which produce a darker sound of the music.
Soken reveals that creating the new Victory Fanfare that we’ll hear in June was difficult. He says the first draft was “absolutely terrible” after refining the composition roughly 30 times, he found the perfect one. This is a common process for most composers, including the pros like Soken.
What’s interesting about FFXVI’s Victory Fanfare is that the chorus features English lyrics, written by FFXVI localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. Soken reveals that he works with Fox on many of the songs he makes, and when he decides to add a chorus to a track, Fox writes the lyrics.
Final Fantasy XVI will undoubtedly have an excellent score. We can’t wait to hear the rest of the soundtrack when the game releases.
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