Renowned composer Masayoshi Soken from Square Enix has candidly shared that juggling the compositional duties for both Final Fantasy 16 and the upcoming Dawntrail expansion of Final Fantasy 14 was akin to entering a personal nightmare.
Soken, who collaborated with other talented composers like Nobuo Uematsu, Ryo Yamazaki, Tsuyoshi Sekito, and Naoshi Mizuta on the soundtrack of the original Final Fantasy 14, took the lead on Final Fantasy 16’s score. Concurrently, he was heavily involved in crafting the music for Dawntrail. During a conversation with PCGamesN, he declared that he vowed never to work on two Square Enix titles at the same time again. The disparity between the tone and atmosphere of Final Fantasy 16—characterized by its darker setting—and the vibrant environment of the MMO Final Fantasy 14 posed a significant challenge for Soken.
“I can’t really come up with a specific example, mainly because of the sheer amount of work that was needed, but in terms of the spirit that went into the creation of 14 and 16, I would say that it was very different,” Soken remarked. “Actually, I expected it to not be that different, but I found that it was, indeed, very different. If I were to put it into very few words I would say that 14 has variety and 16 requires stories.”– Masayoshi Soken
Reflecting on his experience, Soken expressed that having a dual role in such major titles was more intense than he anticipated. He mentioned that working on two different projects simultaneously can be disruptive, but his experience allows him to understand the difficulties more profoundly.
“Every day was a really horrible hell – really something beyond your imagination of hell,” he explained, crediting his past experience with the original Final Fantasy 14 and its successor, A Realm Reborn, for helping him manage this dual workload.
Looking ahead, Soken is determined to avoid a repeat of this intense work dynamic, stating that he would refuse any request from Square Enix to compose for Final Fantasy 17 while still engaged with Final Fantasy 14. “I would just say ‘no, I don’t want to’… If I had two bodies, I would do both,” he added.
So, Square Enix, take note: make sure not to put him in this situation again.
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