FFXIV’s Storytelling Through Music

Final Fantasy XIV is an Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) developed by Square Enix. This game has been getting consistent updates throughout its time over ten years by now, with a still on-going story since August 27, 2013. Due to the age of this game, it is capable of running on most machines by now, as it was designed to run on the PC’s of twelve years ago. Set in a detailed fantasy world, the player character, also called the Warrior of Light (WoL), has to go around becoming a hero and eventually get wrapped into saving the world. Through its music, Masayoshi Soken revolutionizes video game storytelling through its innovative musical narrative system, where the thematic composition actively shapes the player’s experience and reinforces the game’s lore through strategic placement, mechanical integration, and emotional resonance. This analysis will explore how the game’s musical design creates a sophisticated narrative framework through three interconnected components: musical thematic design, gameplay integration, and narrative reinforcement.

Musical Thematic Design

The game employs distinct musical themes that serve both aesthetic and narrative purposes. For example, Shiva’s theme “Oblivion”. tvtropes.org demonstrates how musical composition reflects character development and emotional states. This thematic approach creates what musicologist terms “aural architecture,” where sound design actively shapes player experience and reinforces narrative elements.

The primal themes in particular showcase the game’s sophisticated approach to musical storytelling. Each primal battle features unique musical compositions that serve dual purposes: they enhance the combat experience while revealing crucial narrative elements. Notable examples include:

Shiva’s Theme

Shiva’s Theme (“Oblivion”) which captures Ysayle’s tragic transformation into Shiva after she is fully backed into a corner by her country for falling in love with a dragon. The difference in the two bridges of the song also mirrors Ysayle’s descent into primal possession. The first bridge goes, “Fragile creatures, we are taught to fear the Reaper (The primal, Shiva). Ever running, we are dead before we meet Her.” However, it turns into, “Fearless creatures, we are taught to fight the Reaper, ever running, we are dead before we meet Her” (Ysayle has become Shiva). Through this, the game represents the loss of identity and desperate self-defense through musical progression.

Titan’s Theme (“Under the Weight”)

Throughout Titan’s fight, the Kobolds cheer for Titan as if it was a boxing match. However, there are several lyrics that pop up that are sung by Titan himself, explaining a lot of the lore. One specific line highlights the historical conflict between the Lominsans and the Kobolds, “In spite of the blood that was spelt before / You whet your blade, you thirst for more.” The first line likely refers to the war that the Lominsans and Kobolds were having before, but due to the lack of progress on either side and the immense amount of death, the two sides decided to sign a peace treaty. However, when Leviathan was summoned and salted a portion of the Lominsan’s farmland, they decided that it was too hard to fight the fish people that summoned Leviathan, and instead attacked the Kobolds for more land, breaking the peace treaty, thus leading us into our second line, “You whet your blade you thirst for more.”

Gameplay Integration

The game also integrates music into gameplay mechanics, which is exemplified by both the battle against Good King Moggle Mog XII and against Dancing Green in Arcadion Floor 5. This helps players listen to the music and learn about the mechanics even if they’ve never seen it before.

Good King Moggle Mog XII

In the Good King Moggle fight, the king summons down his loyal subjects, Whiskerwall Kupdi Koop, Pukla Puki the Pomburner, Pukna Pako the Tailturner, Furryfoot Kuply Kipp, Puksi Piko the Shaggysong, Woolywart Kupqu Kogi, and Ruffletuft Kupta Kapa. Throughout the fight, the players have to knock out the Moogles in order to make Good King Moggle vulnerable to damage again, but have to do so in a specific order, or they will start spamming powerful attacks. Although this order is never directly told to the player in the game through dialogue, it is shown to the player through Good King Moggle Mog XII’s theme music, Good King Moggle Mog XII (Yes, he is quite proud of his own name). In addition to telling the player the kill order of the enemies, the song also exposes each of their abilities, as the player is unlikely to be familiar with every single job in this game at this point. Lastly, when the song ends, the moogles sing, “What do you decree x3 / Off with their heads!” which leads into the king casting Memento Moogle, wiping out the players instantly.

Dancing Green (h2)

In the fight against the dancing green, he utilizes the feral soul of a toad to become a dancing toad. As an enjoyer of hip hop, all of his attack names are either dance moves like “2 snap twist” or popular songs like “Burn baby burn”. Although this song doesn’t have lyrics, his mechanics is heavily hinted at by him being a dancer, and the NPC’s telling the player to “dance to the beat” when fighting him. This is because his every attack is synced up to the beat of the music. This can be seen here when he executes 4-snap twist, which is 4 beats of half stage hits to one side, 1 beat of pause, then 1 beat where he twists around to hit the other half of the stage.

By incorporating music into the mechanics of the fights, Final Fantasy helps make the fight more entertaining and also forces the player into analyzing the music to learn the boss’s abilities. Of course, this is only done to the patch’s endgame content, so only the players that are looking to truly 100% the game or get fancy gear will have to deal with such mechanics as to not overwhelm the casual ones.

Narrative Reinforcement

Even though we hear the enemy’s theme so much throughout the course of the game, we rarely get to hear the Warrior of Light’s theme, also known as the Maker’s Ruin. This music is only ever pulled out during the most dramatic scenes to reinforce narrative moments of the game. Appearing primarily during divine interventions and moments of overwhelming power, when the WoL reaches their aristeia, this strategic placement creates what terms “emotional anchoring,” where music enhances the narrative impact through careful timing and context.

There are several scenarios in which the music for the WoL is played, these are when we receive divine intervention or are in a battle of narrative significance.

The first time we hear the music is in our fight against the Ultima Weapon, using the Heart of Sabik to empower itself and use Ultima against the WoL, only surviving as they were shielded by their god, Hydaelyn. Supported by this power, they are able to defeat the Ultima Weapon who had consumed the souls of three primals, Garuda, Titan, and Ifrit.

Furthermore, we can prove that the music we hear is diegetic, as when we walk into Ultima Thule without our allies, as they are no longer protected against Meteion’s song. During this, we find out that Ardbert, the previous Warrior of Light, who had died to the flood of light, had melded his soul to ours, as all of his previous partners had died. As such, he starts humming the music, “Close in the Distance” to us.

We hear a rendition of the Maker’s Ruin again soon after when we ultimately fight against the Endsinger in the Endsinger’s Aria, Meteion’s full form after having seen the horrors of what civilizations do to each other. During this, she slams entire planets into us, but we are soon shielded by the prayers of our partners back on the home world, praying for our safety and victory against this force of nature. The song that plays in the second phase is called “With Hearts Aligned”, which is a mix of both “The Maker’s Ruin” and “Endwalker”, that expansion’s theme music.

Throughout the game, we also hear a certain rendition of our own theme when it’s not for us. This happens when we fight against Omega in Omegascape V4, a species of machines that host artificial intelligence and seek to become as powerful as possible. During this, they run into the Warrior of Light and see them as the strongest creature, and decide to fight them. This happens through Omegascape V1 through V3 where they run tests on us using all sorts of enemies until they realize they still can’t take us down, so they challenge the Warrior of Light to a duel. During this, they play the song, “Heartless”, which is a remixed version of “The Maker’s Ruin”, as they are choosing to copy every single aspect of the Warrior of Light to figure out what makes them so powerful.

Conclusion

The integration of music in FFXIV represents a sophisticated approach to game storytelling, demonstrating how audio design can serve both mechanical and narrative purposes simultaneously. Through careful thematic composition, strategic placement, and gameplay integration, the game creates an immersive experience where music becomes an active participant in storytelling rather than mere background accompaniment. This approach transforms the soundtrack into an integral part of the narrative delivery system, enhancing both player engagement and emotional resonance throughout the game.

References

“Awesome Music in Final Fantasy XIV.” TV Tropes, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AwesomeMusic/FinalFantasyXIV. Accessed 4 April 2025.

“The Maker’s Ruin | Final Fantasy Wiki | Fandom.” Final Fantasy Wiki, https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/The_Maker%27s_Ruin. Accessed 4 April 2025.

Phillips, Dorian. “Mythic themes in game music: A retrospective on Soken’s “Alexander” soundtrack.” Mythic themes in game music: A retrospective on Soken’s “Alexander” soundtrack | Arts & Entertainment | crimson.fit.edu, The Florida Tech Crimson, 5 December 2022, https://www.crimson.fit.edu/arts_and_entertainment/mythic-themes-in-game-music-a-retrospective-on-sokens-alexander-soundtrack/article_663566a2-74ca-11ed-8608-a3d583e53b23.html. Accessed 4 April 2025.

Randall, Harvey. “Final Fantasy 14’s developer band confirms one of Endwalker’s most emotional songs, Close in the Distance, is from one specific character to your Warrior of Light.” PC Gamer, 27 September 2024, https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-14-s-developer-band-confirms-one-of-endwalker-s-most-emotional-songs-close-in-the-distance-is-from-one-specific-character-to-your-warrior-of-light/. Accessed 4 April 2025.

“Shiva (Final Fantasy XIV) | Final Fantasy Wiki | Fandom.” Final Fantasy Wiki, https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Shiva_(Final_Fantasy_XIV). Accessed 4 April 2025.