When I reached the Endwalk I had to take some time for myself and just let it out. It was one of the most impactful experiences I had with any media (along with the flashback from the end of the previous area)
I've listened to this song so much and I just now noticed Rises on a land reborn from the ahes (A Realm Reborn) Neath the Heavens (Heavensward) To sunset, blood-red skies tranquil after the Storm (Stormblood) Blessed Shadow (Shadowbringers)
The fact that you hear the song building up with each sacrifice your friends make. The fact that you don't get Aether currents until Estinien becomes the wind. The fact that the vocals come in after G'raha sacrifices himself. The fact that your friends become the song of hope to counter Meteion's song of oblivion. Oh, this game....
It’s truly a breathtaking storyline. I can’t say the overall arc is original, as it was done by FFXI first. But the dialogue, characters, and development of XIVs storyline is an entire experience of its own.
i had a best friend called Peter. he was the one who broght me to ff14 ages ago. december 2022 he passad away from a heart condition and he loved ff14 with all his heart. this song for me is a tribute for the friend he was... everytime i head this i get really emotional. i have to admit, i was never a huge fan of FF franchise but i did learned the importance of friendship because of him. I really miss Peter and i hope wherever he is he is watching over us and helping me pushing forward. sorry for bring this up.
Ardberts "If you need a push, I'll be right behind you!" broke me the most, since i liked the interactions in ShB soooo much and on the end of so many amazing voices there is "Lets finish this!" As it was in ShB when he gave us his axe and encouraged us. So god damn good and a nice rollercoaster back to ShB story
Estinien's sacrifice hit me the hardest. For a reason I can't quite fornulate, his speech coupled with the theme of Ishgard - and then the dragonsong - just broke me.
This expansion has been an emotional roller coaster, but when this was playing during the voices of the past walk up in “You’re Not Alone”, I lost it completely.
"You always have to make such a production of it, eh, 'Raha? ...Aye. The next, and all others that'll follow. There's not a one across all the reflections I'd rather have by my side as I go beyond the horizon."
Makes me think of when the WoL watch there friends pulled upward to be killed by Endsinger once more. Sending that becon, I kind of imagine they said, "take care of them" such feelz
@@Shuuchi0676 I liked this version better. “Survive” does touch on the things Thancred is best at: surviving against extreme odds, but “protect” is such a symbol of what he’s become, someone who was reshaped by his triumphs and regrets with Minfilia and Ryne.
That hit so hard for me, yes. It makes me think of his speech if you talk to him at your room in the Annex, and I'm heavily paraphrasing, but he goes "the thing that's hardest for me in all of this is that if we don't succeed here, *everything* we did for the First, for Ryne, will have been for nothing. And I *will not* accept that." I always imagine that in that "survive" moment, he's throwing everything he has behind that particular desire in his heart.
The strength in this song is that is sings about so much loss, but everything in a major key, which makes you feel happy. This mix is what makes the song so impactful.
People can't ever say this is "just a game". When i played all this i was feeling completely defeated, hopeless, felt i lost everything... The walk part with the voices, the voices in the trial, gave me some strenght (i come back everyday to that to remind me i must fight). Fighting endsinger to me, was me fighting my inner demons and desperation i feel
@@archi4226 So you would have just commited suicide if japanese video game about magic and adventures didnt come out in time. I was just trying to bait with my snarky comment there, but what the fuck.
Don't listen to the negative people commenting at you. I have lost so many people over the last five years. This expansion really hit home with having hope in the face of overwhelming despair It almost felt like a catharsis by the time the credits ended.
@@tibik.8407 In the end its not that its just a japanese video game. Its about the lessons it teaches, the thoughts and emotions it provokes and in case of endwalker, in the end and after all, the hope it gives you. No matter how grim the world may be. If you never had those feelings before (and I mean really long-lasting depressive thoughts, not just a few bad days or weeks), you probably can't understand how much such a thing can mean to a person. The endsinger is quite literally the impersonation of desperation, hopelessness and depression in FFXIV, and by defeating it, it literally tells a story of how hope wins and that its worth to be hopeful.
Looking back at my playthrough of MSQ. I cannot describe the way this game made me feel. In the final scenes, after the trial, when Meteion feels the love the WoL had in their heart. When it broke her, to see how people lived despite nothing lasting forever. It touched me on a level no other game had ever. I've been around since 2.0, and I've met alot of people in the game. Some who've stuck with me since the beginning. Some who've passed away, some who've I'd only spoke to once, in that moment, to those words I felt all of those memories flash in front of me. Days gone, and friends long passed. I'll never forget the impact this game had on me, and how much it helped me cope with the struggles I've been tossed at. If there is anyone's hand I ever want to shake in my life, it's Yoshi's. (Then Soken's of course.)
My playthrough of the MSQ was so.. aggravating and full of anger and annoyment at every stupid decision that's left me, so frustrated. Really, REALLY only feel disdain for the Scions and their decisions, and how the story kept downplaying us and yet still want to proudly proclaim how amazing we are. But then come Endwalker, and I finally get the good story I've asked for, for so long, and just get to this part and it's like " _I promise - Not to cry..._ 😭" As you say, a lot of memories of people one met along the way. And still the only reason I add money to this game every now and then. Because of two friends I made in this game. Said friend I also dragged with me into the final dungeon and trial to complete the game with. Recorded it too ( _hopefully YT will process that video for this Friday since it can take a long time to process, ugh_ ), even went through over 4000 of my screenshots and found funny old chat logs, and people I had almost forgotten entirely about.
I lost my wife of ten years toward the end of 2019 after a long struggle with depression and substance abuse. Though she was struggling at the start of our relationship, we found happiness and stability for a while and most of our time together she worked as a peer support worker who helped others with those same issues, touching countless lives, shining a light through the darkness of despair and hopelessness. I ask myself why I'm still here, why I carry on, knowing everything she did to help others, yet in the end ultimately being unable to help her escape her own despair. I suppose the life and love we shared is just another verse in this beautiful song of hope that will keep playing on forever.
@@SkepticalChris I think I kinda know what it is, since the song mentioned about how even though we feel alone, all our friends and love ones will always be closer to us no matter what happens and where we are and that they will lead us through the path.
I suffer from chronic depression. I had been dragging myself through Endwalker, not happy with the MSQ's pacing... I was dreading the story's end not because I was expecting the emotional ride we were preparing to finish on... I was dreading it because I was worried that it would feel, hollow. False. Like all we'd done had been thrown aside to try and squeeze the end into a singular expansion. At the time of writing this, I had had a severe depressive episode not even a week earlier. I had literally tried to push people away because in my depressive funk, I swore that no one would understand me. No one could care for me. Could want to help me. I began to recover the next day, only to begin to suffer from COVID-19. I spent the next week in and out of consciousness as I fought this, which left me wondering if I had finally reached the point that my own mental health was going to lead to my suffering that most ignoble of fates, even as my roommates did what they could, while suffering COVID themselves, to ensure I kept being able to fight it... But as I began to recover from that, I said to myself "I might as well finish it. I might as well see where XIV is finally going." I reached Ultima Thule just yesterday. I finished it... Yesterday. I felt nothing while exploring the loss of will with the dragons. I felt nothing with the despair of knowledge from the Ea... But then I reached the Omicrons. I had thought I knew my future. I enlisted in the USAF at 21, in May of 2011. I expected to be there for 20 years, as a way to pay back what I had gotten growing up from living under it's support and care via my father having been enlisted himself. I was downsized in November of 2011. On Veteran's Day. I never even got to serve a full year. I was devastated. The surety of my future, my life, was gone. I've been left adrift since. Without purpose, without focus. Without goals. I even attempted suicide in August of 2014 because I felt I could find no path forward out of my despair. I *was* the Omicrons. And I began to weep. I climbed that path granted to us by our friends, by our companions. The NPC's who had stuck with us through everything. A Realm Reborn. The Crystal Braves. Heavensward and the end of the Dragonsong War. Our fight in Ala Mhigo and across Othard. Our dive headfirst into the First and the fight to give them back a sense of being able to walk forward. Our final, desperate graspings at our own future as we sought to stop those would who end... everything. And I was left watching them give themselves one by one... two by two... Each offering a path out of those pits of despair we found ourselves walking across. And I could barely see when the Twins offered their own path past Meteion... My roommates actually came into my room to offer me their shoulders as I was left remembering what I had tried to do. What I had done to so many other friends, when my depression had reached the levels that I could see the blackness of the abyss that suicide offered... and I wanted to avoid the pain I knew taking that step would do to them. And I couldn't stop. I stood there after the cutscene for nearly 10 minutes, before my roommate pressed the 'W' key on my keyboard... and I got the first voice of the past. And I realized... I may not have a solution. I may not have a path I can say I see clearly... But I have people who care. Who aren't afraid to pick my sorry ass up, and help me take that desperately needed step forward. And that I'm so fucking grateful to them. And to the dev's of FFXIV... Because Meteion's words... Her offering of a end of pain and bliss... and of finally not feeling *anything*... It spoke so clearly that I wanted to agree with her. But we can't... No, we shouldn't, forget those who stand with us through everything. Who will pick us up. Who will carry us that first step. And however many steps it takes before we can move our own feet once more to do it ourselves. And this song... *is* that feeling. That knowledge, that despite never meeting so many of us, the devs do know. Do understand. Do care. And I thank them. From the bottom of my heart. I apologize for this... wall of text, for everyone who might take the time to read this, and think... what have I got to say means nothing. That I'm just a hopeless romantic seeking to grasp at straws. But I'm not that. I'm not a romantic. I'm a cynical pragmatist. And I just look at so much of what is going on... and I'm left numb emotionally. And that finding these moments of true emotional outburst, of feeling myself *feel* alive... even if it's grief and wondering how I got to where I am now... how I lost that ability to feel anything beyond my worries about my bills, and getting through the next day... when I don't feel the depression trying to drag me further into the mire of hopelessness. But for those who have taken the time to read this... Thank you. Thank you for being a part of something that... I don't know... might help me begin to heal that cynicism. I don't know what the future holds. But I want to think I can look forward with my head unbowed in despair.
@@Keira_Blackstone It was, man. It was. He was the Omicron, I was the Ea: lost in a sea of nihilism, convinced nothing mattered, everything was worthless. "It's all gonna end anyway, so why care?" Thankfully, I'm not there now, but that time came within a hair's breadth of ending me. Coming across them was the real gut punch for me. This expac was made for us.
Beautiful words, don't worry about the wall of text it's an important thing to be able to talk. How are you doing now? Hopefully still staying strong, seeing life in the positive even in tough times. Look after yourself.
only a few weeks before endwalker came out, i received a panicked call from my childhood best friend of 14 years' mother that she had unexpectedly committed suicide that morning. this news absolutely broke me, knowing i had no time to say goodbye and i had no idea she was even struggling with these thoughts to begin with. i had to quit my job to grieve, and for a long time i confined myself to my room with no outside contact other than FFXIV. the worst part is that i couldn't bring myself to truly cry over the loss, much less feel **anything**, so i turned to FFXIV to help me feel something, anything. endwalker was something i was extremely excited to experience, so i surrounded myself only with the game in hopes it would distract me from reality and maybe make me feel better. when i heard this song for the first time and absorbed the lyrics, i instantly broke down sobbing at my desk. for the first time since that horrible day, i finally cried. it was literally the ugliest crying session i've ever had but it felt so liberating with this song in the background. playing endwalker during that dark period of my life was so immensely healing, and i have no idea where i'd be now without having experienced it. i owe my life to the writers of this expansion, and for that i'm forever grateful. to me, endwalker is closely tied with the memory of my best friend and because of it i don't think i can ever see FFXIV as "just a game". it's a game that healed me, and a game that helped me to accept loss with strength and hope.
I'm so sorry you had to endure that loss, nobody should be made to suffer such pain like that. Well done on mustering up the strength to get through it, and seeing the hope for a brighter future. Thank you for sharing your experience, it warms my heart to hear the many ways this game has helped people.
I'm so sorry to hear what you had to go through, but I am glad to hear you could make it through and found something to help you during your hard times. May the heart be your guiding light, warrior of light
That once scene in Elpis when Venat asked you a question "Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile?" destroyed me. I've been traveling and stayed in many different countries, pursuing education, job, life, etc. There is so much happening during my life and all of that flashback came to me in an instant. My journey as WoL, as myself the player, as human who live, filled with a cold LOSS, but also at the same time filled with burning joy like a FIRE, and at the end the most important thing is filled with warm FAITH from my surrounding, from the past and present that keeps me FORGE AHEAD TILL THE END. I can't believe this game made me reflect my whole life so much. Absolute masterpiece!
That destroyed me too, I couldn't even continue playing that night. I just sat in my bad thinking about all the hardships I've endured and how worth it, it was, to become who I am now.
Endwalker sure was one big message of hope to the world. And in dark times coming back to the soundtrack sure rekindless that hope. FFXIV was such an experience and I can keep saying that square enix doesn't fucking dissapoint! they keep giving me experiences that make me happy that I've kept living.
There isn't a day where I play FF14 without thinking about her, she wasn't a gamer but she was always interested and glued to anything with an amazing story so FF14 will always be an amazing memory and hers as well. Thanks for the love and support.
I remember I jokingly said that they would probably play "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" if G'Raha was going to sacrifice himself or die before the game even came out...thinking they wouldn't have the balls to do something as horrible as that...I was wrong, I was so wrong! Had to actually sit back and just come to terms with what just happened...both in-game and real life Best cat boi and wasn't ready to say goodbye after really getting to know him in Shadowbringer :'D
@@modigar1254 i started getting choked up at the estinien part but this is where the tears finally started flowing 😭 and by the time you meet emet i'm just sobbing lol
Now imagine one of ur fc members who hasn't played the expc yet n saying he gunna die in VC the same VC where he knows there is one graha fan..... I was crying to the point where I was debating to now continue cuse he ruined now just fir him self buf for me.
I think the cool thing is that, in one sidequest, it leads to one of the Omicron's trying to find new purpose. (They start up a cafe in the Necropolis due to the influence of the Loporrits).
This was a nice end to three great stories for me since release. I had just finished Stormblood 1 day before Endwalker release. During “queuemageddon” I played NieR Automata (all 5 endings), then took my time through all of Shadowbringers (great story btw) and just finished Endwalker last week. This song tied it all up nicely!
I lost my Mom about 5 months before Endwalker came out... It was very very hard for me to even process or accept it. But these words... "Tales of loss and fire and faith..." I can't even begin to describe what it's done for me. This song led to many tears, but also hope.
A friend shared this song with me, I'm still in Stormblood, but there's one line that sticks with me "through you, we live". My dad passed away January 23, 2021. Been thinking about him a lot lately then I hear this song. Through me, he does live. It's a reminder of the new years resolution I made that year and every year since. To live whole heartedly, to pursue the life I want with all I have and make the most of it. For myself as well as all those who no longer can.
Not gonna lie, Endwalker brought me back to the dark places I'd been in when I was suicidal, but it also reminded me how fortunate I was that I got dragged off the edge by police, who promptly sent me to the mental hospital and now, more than 10 years later I'm considered clinically cured. Of course, it never really goes away, the temptation of taking the easy way out is always there, waiting to attack me when I stumble, but if I had taken that easy way to run away from getting hurt again, I wouldn't have met my boyfriend, made some life-long friends and experienced so much joy between all the pain. I hope this game helps people to understand people like Meteion, how we feel, how to help us. To reach my sisters and brothers in fear and suffering, that we might find the courage to keep trying, to forge ahead because that joy in between is worth the pain.
remember my friend. we may not have met. but you and I are friends under the same starry sky. to quote Ardbert "if you need a push, I'll be right there behind you"
I just finished Endwalker MSQs yesterday from the moment you enter Ultima Thule is just a rollercoaster of emotions, I couldn't help but cry and smile back and forth for the next 4-5 hours, I'm glad to have played this amazing experience, the whole thing is an ode to the world, thank you Naoki and everyone involved in the dev team in SE .
I was in tears from when Thancred sacrificed himself to the walk up. The only thing that kept me from breaking down again was Hien's "Save your tears for the morrow" quote
I am newer to FFXIV, lil over a year. I thought Shadowbringers was great and couldn’t be topped. Then comes Endwalker. I was broken, cried so much through out the entire thing and this. Watching each scion give themself up, the climb up the crystal path, then the voices. Everything hit so deep
Heavensward was about hatred and understanding. It was a story about people who hated each other for dishonest reasons and history yet came together from different backgrounds to make something better because they tried to understand one another. Stormblood was about war and peace, how war changes people and how it has an impact on the people more than anyone else but also a hopeful story about using the worst circumstances to achieve peace and how the struggles of those who fight will never be removed from history. Shadowbringers was about sacrifice and overcoming odds. Its about a ruined land where its people are given the worst hand possible, where all heroes are failed or dead and the selfish and evil are allowed to take power due to the absence of those who was to struggle against them. It shows how overcoming these odds allow people to come together and forge something new out of the ashes of misery. Endwalker is about pain and loss but also about healing and climbing over grief to forge something good. While we can never forget the misery in our lives: the dead will never have a voice to reassure us that they are okay or that it isn't our fault, we will always have those fears of our futures and regrets from our pasts of what could've been and what should've been done. We know that all might be meaningless in the end because everything dies and changes - there's always an end to our journey, we still choose to believe in better and something that comes after. Using our connections to others to forge a way forward from grief and pain and sorrow. We say to ourselves that won't allow ourselves to be beaten down by these things, we can't give up as long as we have a reason to move forward
I did this again during a rather bad week, and still not sure how something like this got made. So glad to see the comments and not be the only one who ugly cried, sat down at the end, and just wanted to let go. It was so much, and just great writing.
Ultima Thule was a very bittersweet zone for me. It's very beautiful, emotional, inspiring, and it deserves all of the praise it gets. But it was also very depressing for me. For a long time now I've felt like my life has had no purpose and rather than actually living, I'm simply surviving and waiting for the end as life takes its course and I'm just along for the ride. I've long since given up on trying to make a meaningful life for myself, insisting that I'm too weak to do anything and even if I wasn't, what's even the point of it all? I resonated most with the dragons curled up sleeping inside their craters, waiting for the end to come and save them from despair. I don't see myself getting better any time soon, so I just stay here curled up in my bed day after day hoping that something happens -- whether it's something miraculous that saves me, or something catastrophic that ends me once and for all, I hope for either of those outcomes.
Hey, I'm just a random on the internet, so I get if this comes out hollow. But I'm also someone who had this same feeling some time ago. I still feel it, sometimes. The answer I found was simple, that no life achievement, no matter its scale and scope, is infinitesimally small in the context of the life of the Universe. You can say, from that, that perhaps nothing matters - we live and die as specks of specks, invisible to everything. In that sense, your simple life is no more or less impactful than that of Julius Caesar. And that's good! It means you're free of the shackles of worrying if your life is supposed to meet meaning through achievement. You're free, as Yshtola points out, to just enjoy the ride of learning new things. On the other hand, to your friends, your loved ones, and your pets, you are one of the most important human beings in the entire Universe. Your kind words, your friendly hellos, these are as powerful to them as the great acts of ancient kings, of heroes, of presidents. I found meaning by embracing these two things. To the universe, I am nothing. To my loved ones, I am everything.
You are meant to save yourself. I know it sounds stupid and counter intuitive. But you live just to be who you are and be the different flavor in this world. To bring the best of you each day..making life more of what it is, beautiful just like you. And then all of us little by little changing our world for the better...kinder...more free and more beautiful until you will no longer have to ask why..but see it infront of you...cheers
I love how the lyrics tie in both to the story in the game and out of it. Many lines sound like they come from the developers themselves, especially in the beginning about 1.0.
This music is such a grand finale to my Eorzea journey which began 9 years ago, I'm so glad to be alive to experience this epic journey. I'm eternally grateful to Yoshida and his development team
Everyone seems to have teared up through this.. I must be weird one for not having so as well. Though I felt more determined than ever knowing that no matter how many times I may crumble, I am not alone on this. We can be all uncertain about the future together.
Now I have realized what is more terrifying than the end of days and that is the end of the journey.. facing the question of "what now that I have gone this far?"
Youre not alone brother. I didnt teared up in that expansion (Shadowbringers hurted me waaay more than this). However the message about the meaning of life and the fate the other civilizations faced really let me think about myself and the things around me. And after thinking for a while its incredible how meaningful and relevant the message is in our day and age, especially because many people nowadays tend to face a loss of direction in life and angst.
Definitely not alone, don't worry. I thought the area was very cool and quite well done, with the only exceptions being some of the speeches given and the omicron just ignoring omega, but I think it was pretty obvious that everyone would come back. Fairly sure Yshtola even outright tells you that you could do so. I imagine a pretty huge majority didn't cry for whatever reasons, they just don't really have a reason to say so.
During that moment, having you walk all alone, all your allies are gone......I never had a game hit me so hard in my emotions. I bought this game back in July and gave it a try thanks to a friend of mine. I thought it was gonna be full of funny, insane, crazy, maybe horrible, adventures. But damn, I was not ready for this, and I wish I could experience this moment all over again
I remember thinking at least I still have my Chocobo and pet minion only to have them gone at the end. Oh I definitely cried hard. I forgot what the debuff but i think it mentioned being alone and feeling the weight on your shoulders
@@dawnwalkerwolf9655 it was a forced walk. There's even a pop up message in yellow text that appears saying "Cannot perform certain actions due to zone restrictions" which is the debuff that prevents you from running / mounting / summoning minions / etc. You basically HAVE to Endwalk during that segment The devs truly thought of everything for it... well, ALMOST everything, because Feo Ul didn't appear as one of the memories sadly... the irony is that it's the relatively EASIEST thing for them to add; just one more ghost with her voice saying *"Silly sapling, I shall remain at your side!"* I would have been a sobbing wreck afterward but it would have been worth it.
It feels like a great 80’s movie song, the moment when you walk with Alphinaud and Alisaie it’s just perfectly beautiful. It was 7 years when I began this adventure, not gonna lie FF XIV has very boring and tedious moments/quests but also the most epic and warming moments that you can live in a videogame and that I’m happy to lived it.
This place broke me. I blasted through the majority of Endwalker, but Ultima Thule felt like I slammed headfirst into an emotional brick wall. I sat blubbering like a baby for a good long while and wasn't even sure if I could bring myself to keep moving forward and finish the story. This is the single most impactful piece of storytelling I have ever experienced.
When Graha tia made the sacrifice and this song started to play in background.. i simply bursted into tears, felt wrecked, couldnt even turn in the quest... i just sat there... I ve never felt like this with any other game or even movie or book. Soul touching masterpiece ♥
When this song first started playing in full in the game...that event actually made me cry. _This kind of stuff is why Final Fantasy XIV is just a masterpiece._
I haven't played this game, but just love the music. However, reading these comments has me believing that I am seriously missing out on some incredible experience
I had a mental breakdown down months before Endwalker came out and became lost in suicidal thoughts. My boyfriend suggested I play FFXIV (I had to stop because my job sapped all my energy) and when Endwalker came out it was literally like playing through therapy. I was able to DO something to make things better in game and it helped me heal. So much so that my therapist suggested I write about the experience, about how a video game story pulled me from the darkness. This song was the moment I broke down and cried for a good while, my boyfriend holding me. Over 10 years of compounding trauma finally broke during Ultima Thule.
Something I haven’t really seen in the comments is any talk about the absolute existential crisis Endwalker gives you and how the real world is reflected in this (Fermi paradox). I remember in one interview that Yoshi-P was aiming to have Endwalker be applicable to today’s world and problems.I was curious how he would achieve it - and was absolutely floored upon finishing the expac just yesterday. Beyond my personal life, this expac really got me thinking of life for people in other countries, what happens beyond death, life beyond our star, and the heat-death of the universe. Endwalker encouraged its audience to really think about their own answer to Hermes’s question. From the plight of the Garleans, to the death of innocent civilians in the Final Days, to discovering that every civilization beyond Etheirys fell to despair, and finally to the (albeit temporary) loss of your comrades, and yet finding the strength to rise again - all this is reflected from our own lives, our own tales of loss and fire and faith. I think Endwalker (especially this song) really accomplished something extraordinary. The song reflects all the sadness and hope of humanity. It’s an inspiring and emotional masterpiece. It’s as if you could take this song and make it the symbol for the people of Earth. It made me want to truly live - in game and out of it. Whether you cried or not, or liked the ending or not, I hope the game got you to think beyond yourself and to the world around you and even farther beyond that.
The fact that everyone came back to life was the most disappointing thing about this expansion. Why is it so hard for games to have meaningful sacrifices, why most everyone always survive everything, literally removing all stakes from the game
Yeah i def shed tears hearing this the 1st time. Looking back at those 2014 days where I started this game clueless and just playing the story years on really hits different.
i just made a post about that, id been playing since my daughter was born, and all the crazy shit and some pretty harsh downs that came in the following years werent so bad, every time shit got bad it seemed like the next part of the journey was released and lifted me right back up.
I'm not a person who is easily moved by media unless I have some deeply personal connection to the subject matter or people involved. I don't have a tragic story of loss and recovery to share, but the climb up the rainbow bridge and over the rocks, hearing the voices from the past and culminating with Meteion and the Elpis flowers... it brought a tear to my eye. I can't think of the last time I was so affected by something as impersonal as a catgirl dress-up simulator.
I can't stop listening to this. Endwalker was peak Final Fantasy 14 for me, with all it's shortcomings including. The perfect finish for a masterful crafted game. This song makes me cry everytime. The line "Turning, wending, always night follows day. The sun will shine again." has such a brutal impact on me. People often interpret it as people basicly wishing you a simple good luck, the simple way of saying "Don't worry, you'll do fine and tomorrow things are good anymore", but to me it feels like something completely else. When I was still smol, I at some point had to encounter the concept of death as well, like any child has to. When I asked my Momma about it and she explained it to me, I also asked her what will happen when she or Papa aren't there anymore someday. And she then said to me, that when that will eventually happen, I must promise her to stay strong. She said, even tho I won't be able to see her or Papa anymore when that happens, they will still be there and the sun will shine again as well. Words of encouragement, after all. And this line here, in this song feels like exactly the same, as our friends might be gone but they are still with us in heart and soul. What this song also does very well in my eyes; the whole expansion of Endwalker tbh; is humanizing Meteor/WoL. Speaking from my PoV, so I'll refer to WoL as her, she here and then definetely shows weakness/exhaustion during the course of the expansions. But always only physical exhaustion. In Endwalker, she showed actual mental exhaustion. Looking at the Elpis arc, seeing my little Au Ra tell Venat *"I don't want to go yet, I want to stay here for a bit longer.."* shattered my heart. Always trying to stay strong and be a good example for others to look up to, here she finally opened the curtain and was genuinely.. Weak. Not in a bad way at all, but in a human way. Same goes for the very end, when you do the "Final Walk" up to Metheion in Ultima Thule. You get a buff there, "Endwalker: Walking alone onto journey's end, the burden weighing heavy." People often say it's a debuff, that you can only walk and not run. I think it's definetely a buff. A buff that you need to even walk at least, to be able to move on to the last bit at all. This game is beyond perfection to me. The Soundtrack is one reason for that. The meaning behind all of is the main reason. The sorrow of a thousand thousand worlds weighs heavy. And yet you can walk on.
This music give me the strength for continue to fight every day! :) Thanks final fantasy give me more emotional that all other game i had player in my life
Loved the song since the beginning. Your comment made me indulge curiosity and check what was the deal with it being formerly known as Arrokoth. Turns out the name "Ultima Thule" has roots within Nazis. On the topic of weak-minded fools wanting to change the name to Arrokoth: "Vladimir Solonari, a professor of history who focuses on the Holocaust as well as Russian and Eastern European history at the University of Central Florida disagrees [with the change in name], however. He believes changing the name gives some of the power back to these fascist groups. "
I know this video has been up for some time now, but felt it worth mentioning. I recently was married on June 4, 2022, and I used this song during our signing of the Registry as well as walking out of the church after we were declared Husband and Wife.
From starting out poking ladybugs with a rusty spear to now, 89 levels and ~1200 hours later, fighting the living embodiment of despair to stop her from singing the universe to death. It's been a hell of a ride, with (hopefully) much more to look forward to in Dawntrail.
As someone who played this game for years... this song, bringing memories of good and bad times, across all those 6 years I played. Destroyed me. I legit couldn't play for 10-20 min, because of how much I was crying. And how many times I said ''Thank you FFXIV'' under my nose. This game... God, it was with me for so long, so many memories, so many peoples met. It's truly amazing. The feelings for me, will never go away from my mind. It's eternal.
I fondly remember Shadowbringer’s end zone theme and can’t imagine a zone topping it. This topped it surprisingly! I was saddened but hopeful my friends would return was my honest first reaction when I “lost” them. And then climbing this staircase of despair while arguing about existential crises with species & a genocidal “child” had me reflecting seriously on my life. What story or video game makes you reflect upon your own “story”? I had to savor every moment. Now I just love gathering materials in this zone purely for the OST. It was a hopeful ending and a story I’ll carry in my heart forever.
I always feel empowered when I listen to this song. I get somewhat cheerful thinking about it, reflecting on what happened during MSQ, but also in my life. Not that I had the hardest of times as of now because I'm still young and have yet to fully experience certains aspects of it(19), but this song makes looking back on memories I don't like much easier. It's kind of become a way for me to wind down and rest, in a way. A sort of "comfort music" I guess. I think I'll make people play that song during my funeral, this seems perfect. (hypothetically, I don't have any life-threatening condition thankfully)
i was so lucky to be able to run endwalker's msq when it first came out with my wonderful friend that i met in the game in September 2021. we no longer play together, but i have the most amazing memories months leading up and after we left the game together. i will keep them in my heart until the day i die. Update: the guy turned out to be a liar, so my opinions of him have changed
I just finished Endwalker today and I don’t think any game/media has ever made me cry as hard as Ultima did; I went through like 12 paper towels as tissues; the voices made me sob this game is soo good
03:22 I like this part of the scale to be scattered. It seems like the distant echo from the gravity-free universe finally reaches us and then floats and disperses, leaving only a few traces, like the missing stars and civilizations
![Bygone Serenity [Living Memory] - FFXIV Dawntrail OST (Extended)](/img/n.gif)
The theme of crying so hard you can't even see where you're going anymore
Agreed... I just sat my character down and cried
Gosh, yes. I had to stop for a bit so I could see.
When I reached the Endwalk I had to take some time for myself and just let it out. It was one of the most impactful experiences I had with any media (along with the flashback from the end of the previous area)
Maybe you can't see where you're going from crying to hard but you're STILL HERE...
Couldn't even fight the end boss for how swollen my eyes were following this.
I've listened to this song so much and I just now noticed
Rises on a land reborn from the ahes (A Realm Reborn)
Neath the Heavens (Heavensward)
To sunset, blood-red skies tranquil after the Storm (Stormblood)
Blessed Shadow (Shadowbringers)
I reached your comment just as this part played. It was a special moment.
I didn't realize it at first because I was tearing up from my play through but when I sat down to look at the lyrics. I teared up again. Gdi soken
Didn't notice it until you pointed it out
SquareEnix made an InfinityWar out of Final Fantasy. Masterpiece collection that is FF14
@@TheCarash😊
The fact that you hear the song building up with each sacrifice your friends make.
The fact that you don't get Aether currents until Estinien becomes the wind.
The fact that the vocals come in after G'raha sacrifices himself.
The fact that your friends become the song of hope to counter Meteion's song of oblivion.
Oh, this game....
Shadowbringers seemed already dark enough, then endwalker brings you this..😭
How can anyone hate this game
It’s truly a breathtaking storyline. I can’t say the overall arc is original, as it was done by FFXI first. But the dialogue, characters, and development of XIVs storyline is an entire experience of its own.
@@GbrBy I can name one person
its been months since i heard this last.... and 8 seconds in im already tearing up . "a smile better suits a hero...."
i had a best friend called Peter. he was the one who broght me to ff14 ages ago. december 2022 he passad away from a heart condition and he loved ff14 with all his heart. this song for me is a tribute for the friend he was... everytime i head this i get really emotional.
i have to admit, i was never a huge fan of FF franchise but i did learned the importance of friendship because of him. I really miss Peter and i hope wherever he is he is watching over us and helping me pushing forward.
sorry for bring this up.
all good man, we share what we have to share. hope everything is going well for you in life
"Do not despair! You are not without allies!" put a crack in my defenses. "Strong art thou, mortal." broke me.
"From tragedy and sacrifice, we rise to greet a new dawn." Is the one that broke me, I miss Papalymo the most.
Midgardsormers line got me the most too for some reason! Maybe because he was such a mighty being that had respect for us!
Ardberts "If you need a push, I'll be right behind you!" broke me the most, since i liked the interactions in ShB soooo much and on the end of so many amazing voices there is "Lets finish this!" As it was in ShB when he gave us his axe and encouraged us. So god damn good and a nice rollercoaster back to ShB story
Estinien's sacrifice hit me the hardest. For a reason I can't quite fornulate, his speech coupled with the theme of Ishgard - and then the dragonsong - just broke me.
@@TheMugbearer Then you get poor Alphi with all that too.
This expansion has been an emotional roller coaster, but when this was playing during the voices of the past walk up in “You’re Not Alone”, I lost it completely.
Was that a ff9 reference I missed?
@@ziziflor9019 "Do not despair. You are not without allies."
The first voice I heard, I lost it and had to stop for a bit. Then it got worse.. bloody hell, they knew how to play with our emotions.
Not gonna lie, the whole walk part had me breaking down in tears 😭
I love how there’s a really cool game attached to this soundtrack.
It IS a musical after all
😆😂
A Final Fantasy wouldn't be a Final Fantasy without their soundtracks. And, let's be honest, the music saved their company.
“Promise me you’ll take me on your next adventure. A journey. Together. That’s all I ask.”
"I Love you too" xD cause you know thats how we say it in ffxiv
"You always have to make such a production of it, eh, 'Raha?
...Aye. The next, and all others that'll follow. There's not a one across all the reflections I'd rather have by my side as I go beyond the horizon."
My guy really being be best scion since haurchefant
@@ItsaNessie Lmfao xD
@@ItsaNessie OMG ! You said it before I come to write it 🤣 Well said my friend !! *high five*
Was your journey worthwhile? Do you feel fulfilled?
"In his final moment he cried out from it... A single word... Survive."
In the original Japanese, he says “protect” instead.
@@Shuuchi0676 I think survive hits way harder personally.
Makes me think of when the WoL watch there friends pulled upward to be killed by Endsinger once more. Sending that becon, I kind of imagine they said, "take care of them" such feelz
@@Shuuchi0676 I liked this version better. “Survive” does touch on the things Thancred is best at: surviving against extreme odds, but “protect” is such a symbol of what he’s become, someone who was reshaped by his triumphs and regrets with Minfilia and Ryne.
That hit so hard for me, yes. It makes me think of his speech if you talk to him at your room in the Annex, and I'm heavily paraphrasing, but he goes "the thing that's hardest for me in all of this is that if we don't succeed here, *everything* we did for the First, for Ryne, will have been for nothing. And I *will not* accept that." I always imagine that in that "survive" moment, he's throwing everything he has behind that particular desire in his heart.
I was absolutely sobbing during the alphinaud and alisae walk. This game is beautiful.
Aaa I remember being a mixture of sad and mad I was saying through my tears I’m supposed to take you on my next adventure
Oh god me too i was a mess
@@mereru9681 I think most players were a mess during those events of your friends sacrificing them selfs god I was just a mess during it all
I seriously expected them to die. Someone said it wasn't game of thrones. I never watched it so I don't know what they mean
Same. "But I made a promise to being you home"
Ardbert's 'If you need a push, I'll be right there behind you' - Had me in tears and uncontrollably sobbing for the whole walk
I just got to this part and I immediately started sobbing too
"let's finish this"
When the lyrics started mid way through that cutscene, it got me. Absolutely beautiful track
I'll try not to spoil anything, but the first voice you hear after the WoL starts to walk... my heart broke.
"You idiot. Just once, just once stay with us until the end."
@@4adun95 Alisae's had enough of G'raha sacrificing/trying to sacrifice himself
Literally can't come to this place without tearing up.
Honestly has become my stomping grounds.
I've only gone back once, during Jammingway's quest. The place hurt me in a way I didn't think was possible for any media.
One of the best songs Final Fantasy has ever made
The strength in this song is that is sings about so much loss, but everything in a major key, which makes you feel happy.
This mix is what makes the song so impactful.
"To you I say...forge ahead. May all our tomorrows be blessed with joy."
People can't ever say this is "just a game". When i played all this i was feeling completely defeated, hopeless, felt i lost everything... The walk part with the voices, the voices in the trial, gave me some strenght (i come back everyday to that to remind me i must fight).
Fighting endsinger to me, was me fighting my inner demons and desperation i feel
Its just a game.
@@tibik.8407 depends on how you see it, for sure if endwalker wasnt released when it was, i am sure i wouldnt be alive
@@archi4226 So you would have just commited suicide if japanese video game about magic and adventures didnt come out in time.
I was just trying to bait with my snarky comment there, but what the fuck.
Don't listen to the negative people commenting at you. I have lost so many people over the last five years. This expansion really hit home with having hope in the face of overwhelming despair It almost felt like a catharsis by the time the credits ended.
@@tibik.8407 In the end its not that its just a japanese video game. Its about the lessons it teaches, the thoughts and emotions it provokes and in case of endwalker, in the end and after all, the hope it gives you. No matter how grim the world may be.
If you never had those feelings before (and I mean really long-lasting depressive thoughts, not just a few bad days or weeks), you probably can't understand how much such a thing can mean to a person.
The endsinger is quite literally the impersonation of desperation, hopelessness and depression in FFXIV, and by defeating it, it literally tells a story of how hope wins and that its worth to be hopeful.
Looking back at my playthrough of MSQ. I cannot describe the way this game made me feel. In the final scenes, after the trial, when Meteion feels the love the WoL had in their heart. When it broke her, to see how people lived despite nothing lasting forever. It touched me on a level no other game had ever. I've been around since 2.0, and I've met alot of people in the game. Some who've stuck with me since the beginning. Some who've passed away, some who've I'd only spoke to once, in that moment, to those words I felt all of those memories flash in front of me. Days gone, and friends long passed. I'll never forget the impact this game had on me, and how much it helped me cope with the struggles I've been tossed at. If there is anyone's hand I ever want to shake in my life, it's Yoshi's. (Then Soken's of course.)
Made me wanna redo everything over
My playthrough of the MSQ was so.. aggravating and full of anger and annoyment at every stupid decision that's left me, so frustrated.
Really, REALLY only feel disdain for the Scions and their decisions, and how the story kept downplaying us and yet still want to proudly proclaim how amazing we are.
But then come Endwalker, and I finally get the good story I've asked for, for so long, and just get to this part and it's like " _I promise - Not to cry..._ 😭"
As you say, a lot of memories of people one met along the way. And still the only reason I add money to this game every now and then. Because of two friends I made in this game. Said friend I also dragged with me into the final dungeon and trial to complete the game with. Recorded it too ( _hopefully YT will process that video for this Friday since it can take a long time to process, ugh_ ), even went through over 4000 of my screenshots and found funny old chat logs, and people I had almost forgotten entirely about.
And let’s not forget Ishikawa!
I used to play World of Warcraft, and that game never impacted me as much as this one has.
I lost my wife of ten years toward the end of 2019 after a long struggle with depression and substance abuse. Though she was struggling at the start of our relationship, we found happiness and stability for a while and most of our time together she worked as a peer support worker who helped others with those same issues, touching countless lives, shining a light through the darkness of despair and hopelessness. I ask myself why I'm still here, why I carry on, knowing everything she did to help others, yet in the end ultimately being unable to help her escape her own despair. I suppose the life and love we shared is just another verse in this beautiful song of hope that will keep playing on forever.
I hope you have many better days and find beauty in the world. I hope you find happiness and peace. Stay well my friend
Song of cringe more like
@@IPITYTHEFOOLZpov no friends
I’m very sorry for your loss. I hope the days get better and easier for you ❤️
@@IPITYTHEFOOLZ you‘ll be lonely forever. Without real friends who appreciate you.
One of the best songs in ffxiv! This one is sad but also very motivating at the same time.
I totally agree this song has a bit of a sad feeling to it, but can't really figure out why.
@@SkepticalChris I think I kinda know what it is, since the song mentioned about how even though we feel alone, all our friends and love ones will always be closer to us no matter what happens and where we are and that they will lead us through the path.
I suffer from chronic depression. I had been dragging myself through Endwalker, not happy with the MSQ's pacing... I was dreading the story's end not because I was expecting the emotional ride we were preparing to finish on... I was dreading it because I was worried that it would feel, hollow. False. Like all we'd done had been thrown aside to try and squeeze the end into a singular expansion.
At the time of writing this, I had had a severe depressive episode not even a week earlier. I had literally tried to push people away because in my depressive funk, I swore that no one would understand me. No one could care for me. Could want to help me. I began to recover the next day, only to begin to suffer from COVID-19. I spent the next week in and out of consciousness as I fought this, which left me wondering if I had finally reached the point that my own mental health was going to lead to my suffering that most ignoble of fates, even as my roommates did what they could, while suffering COVID themselves, to ensure I kept being able to fight it... But as I began to recover from that, I said to myself "I might as well finish it. I might as well see where XIV is finally going."
I reached Ultima Thule just yesterday. I finished it... Yesterday. I felt nothing while exploring the loss of will with the dragons. I felt nothing with the despair of knowledge from the Ea... But then I reached the Omicrons. I had thought I knew my future. I enlisted in the USAF at 21, in May of 2011. I expected to be there for 20 years, as a way to pay back what I had gotten growing up from living under it's support and care via my father having been enlisted himself. I was downsized in November of 2011. On Veteran's Day. I never even got to serve a full year. I was devastated. The surety of my future, my life, was gone. I've been left adrift since. Without purpose, without focus. Without goals. I even attempted suicide in August of 2014 because I felt I could find no path forward out of my despair. I *was* the Omicrons. And I began to weep.
I climbed that path granted to us by our friends, by our companions. The NPC's who had stuck with us through everything. A Realm Reborn. The Crystal Braves. Heavensward and the end of the Dragonsong War. Our fight in Ala Mhigo and across Othard. Our dive headfirst into the First and the fight to give them back a sense of being able to walk forward. Our final, desperate graspings at our own future as we sought to stop those would who end... everything. And I was left watching them give themselves one by one... two by two... Each offering a path out of those pits of despair we found ourselves walking across. And I could barely see when the Twins offered their own path past Meteion...
My roommates actually came into my room to offer me their shoulders as I was left remembering what I had tried to do. What I had done to so many other friends, when my depression had reached the levels that I could see the blackness of the abyss that suicide offered... and I wanted to avoid the pain I knew taking that step would do to them. And I couldn't stop. I stood there after the cutscene for nearly 10 minutes, before my roommate pressed the 'W' key on my keyboard... and I got the first voice of the past. And I realized... I may not have a solution. I may not have a path I can say I see clearly... But I have people who care. Who aren't afraid to pick my sorry ass up, and help me take that desperately needed step forward. And that I'm so fucking grateful to them. And to the dev's of FFXIV... Because Meteion's words... Her offering of a end of pain and bliss... and of finally not feeling *anything*... It spoke so clearly that I wanted to agree with her. But we can't... No, we shouldn't, forget those who stand with us through everything. Who will pick us up. Who will carry us that first step. And however many steps it takes before we can move our own feet once more to do it ourselves.
And this song... *is* that feeling. That knowledge, that despite never meeting so many of us, the devs do know. Do understand. Do care. And I thank them. From the bottom of my heart.
I apologize for this... wall of text, for everyone who might take the time to read this, and think... what have I got to say means nothing. That I'm just a hopeless romantic seeking to grasp at straws. But I'm not that. I'm not a romantic. I'm a cynical pragmatist. And I just look at so much of what is going on... and I'm left numb emotionally. And that finding these moments of true emotional outburst, of feeling myself *feel* alive... even if it's grief and wondering how I got to where I am now... how I lost that ability to feel anything beyond my worries about my bills, and getting through the next day... when I don't feel the depression trying to drag me further into the mire of hopelessness. But for those who have taken the time to read this... Thank you. Thank you for being a part of something that... I don't know... might help me begin to heal that cynicism. I don't know what the future holds. But I want to think I can look forward with my head unbowed in despair.
as another person who deals with depression every day, I know exactly what you mean. I feel like this story was made for us.
I've been through your text.
I haven't got much to add, just... you're not alone. Never.
Stand tall, my friend. Our journey will never end.
@@Keira_Blackstone It was, man. It was.
He was the Omicron, I was the Ea: lost in a sea of nihilism, convinced nothing mattered, everything was worthless. "It's all gonna end anyway, so why care?"
Thankfully, I'm not there now, but that time came within a hair's breadth of ending me. Coming across them was the real gut punch for me.
This expac was made for us.
Beautiful words, don't worry about the wall of text it's an important thing to be able to talk. How are you doing now? Hopefully still staying strong, seeing life in the positive even in tough times. Look after yourself.
only a few weeks before endwalker came out, i received a panicked call from my childhood best friend of 14 years' mother that she had unexpectedly committed suicide that morning. this news absolutely broke me, knowing i had no time to say goodbye and i had no idea she was even struggling with these thoughts to begin with. i had to quit my job to grieve, and for a long time i confined myself to my room with no outside contact other than FFXIV. the worst part is that i couldn't bring myself to truly cry over the loss, much less feel **anything**, so i turned to FFXIV to help me feel something, anything. endwalker was something i was extremely excited to experience, so i surrounded myself only with the game in hopes it would distract me from reality and maybe make me feel better.
when i heard this song for the first time and absorbed the lyrics, i instantly broke down sobbing at my desk. for the first time since that horrible day, i finally cried. it was literally the ugliest crying session i've ever had but it felt so liberating with this song in the background. playing endwalker during that dark period of my life was so immensely healing, and i have no idea where i'd be now without having experienced it. i owe my life to the writers of this expansion, and for that i'm forever grateful. to me, endwalker is closely tied with the memory of my best friend and because of it i don't think i can ever see FFXIV as "just a game". it's a game that healed me, and a game that helped me to accept loss with strength and hope.
I'm so sorry you had to endure that loss, nobody should be made to suffer such pain like that. Well done on mustering up the strength to get through it, and seeing the hope for a brighter future.
Thank you for sharing your experience, it warms my heart to hear the many ways this game has helped people.
I'm sorry for your loss that sucks. it's great that my(our?) favorite game can be such a help though. one reason why I love it.
A pain that one might weather may drive another to tears.
"It's not too late to forge ahead" 💪❤️
I'm so sorry to hear what you had to go through, but I am glad to hear you could make it through and found something to help you during your hard times.
May the heart be your guiding light, warrior of light
That once scene in Elpis when Venat asked you a question "Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile?" destroyed me. I've been traveling and stayed in many different countries, pursuing education, job, life, etc. There is so much happening during my life and all of that flashback came to me in an instant.
My journey as WoL, as myself the player, as human who live, filled with a cold LOSS, but also at the same time filled with burning joy like a FIRE, and at the end the most important thing is filled with warm FAITH from my surrounding, from the past and present that keeps me FORGE AHEAD TILL THE END.
I can't believe this game made me reflect my whole life so much. Absolute masterpiece!
Succinctly put. I felt the same way!
I think most of us were crying and sniffling at the screen saying "Yes, Yoshi & Co"
That destroyed me too, I couldn't even continue playing that night. I just sat in my bad thinking about all the hardships I've endured and how worth it, it was, to become who I am now.
Endwalker sure was one big message of hope to the world. And in dark times coming back to the soundtrack sure rekindless that hope.
FFXIV was such an experience and I can keep saying that square enix doesn't fucking dissapoint!
they keep giving me experiences that make me happy that I've kept living.
My wife passed away last month and I haven't stopped listening to this song, it hits so powerfully.
I’m so sorry :( may your soul recover slowly & find peace, may her soul rest~
Be strong my friend, come back here to replensihs memroris about your beautiful wife. you will get through
There isn't a day where I play FF14 without thinking about her, she wasn't a gamer but she was always interested and glued to anything with an amazing story so FF14 will always be an amazing memory and hers as well. Thanks for the love and support.
Amen man. This song is honestly a masterpiece and needs to be more widely known.
Sorry for you loss, I pray shes at rest and at peace.
Sorry for your loss. I can only hope this song breathes hope into your broken heart.
i remember during and after the scene with g'raha i just started bawling like a widow and saying "no man, i can't do it again please"
The G'raha scene was where I started crying too, and then I never really stopped.
I remember I jokingly said that they would probably play "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" if G'Raha was going to sacrifice himself or die before the game even came out...thinking they wouldn't have the balls to do something as horrible as that...I was wrong, I was so wrong! Had to actually sit back and just come to terms with what just happened...both in-game and real life
Best cat boi and wasn't ready to say goodbye after really getting to know him in Shadowbringer :'D
@@modigar1254 i started getting choked up at the estinien part but this is where the tears finally started flowing 😭 and by the time you meet emet i'm just sobbing lol
Now imagine one of ur fc members who hasn't played the expc yet n saying he gunna die in VC the same VC where he knows there is one graha fan..... I was crying to the point where I was debating to now continue cuse he ruined now just fir him self buf for me.
words can’t describe how much i cried in this zone. i love this song so much
Mourning/Morning is such a cheeky use of lyrics... I LOVE IT!
"was this life a gift? or a burden?"
endwalker's story was an absolute amazing experience, and i cannot wait for 7.0
I think the cool thing is that, in one sidequest, it leads to one of the Omicron's trying to find new purpose. (They start up a cafe in the Necropolis due to the influence of the Loporrits).
This was a nice end to three great stories for me since release. I had just finished Stormblood 1 day before Endwalker release. During “queuemageddon” I played NieR Automata (all 5 endings), then took my time through all of Shadowbringers (great story btw) and just finished Endwalker last week. This song tied it all up nicely!
I lost my Mom about 5 months before Endwalker came out... It was very very hard for me to even process or accept it. But these words... "Tales of loss and fire and faith..." I can't even begin to describe what it's done for me. This song led to many tears, but also hope.
A friend shared this song with me, I'm still in Stormblood, but there's one line that sticks with me "through you, we live". My dad passed away January 23, 2021. Been thinking about him a lot lately then I hear this song. Through me, he does live. It's a reminder of the new years resolution I made that year and every year since. To live whole heartedly, to pursue the life I want with all I have and make the most of it. For myself as well as all those who no longer can.
Not gonna lie, Endwalker brought me back to the dark places I'd been in when I was suicidal, but it also reminded me how fortunate I was that I got dragged off the edge by police, who promptly sent me to the mental hospital and now, more than 10 years later I'm considered clinically cured.
Of course, it never really goes away, the temptation of taking the easy way out is always there, waiting to attack me when I stumble, but if I had taken that easy way to run away from getting hurt again, I wouldn't have met my boyfriend, made some life-long friends and experienced so much joy between all the pain.
I hope this game helps people to understand people like Meteion, how we feel, how to help us. To reach my sisters and brothers in fear and suffering, that we might find the courage to keep trying, to forge ahead because that joy in between is worth the pain.
You’re very brave for sharing this, I’m glad that you’re in a better place now.
remember my friend. we may not have met. but you and I are friends under the same starry sky. to quote Ardbert "if you need a push, I'll be right there behind you"
I just finished Endwalker MSQs yesterday from the moment you enter Ultima Thule is just a rollercoaster of emotions, I couldn't help but cry and smile back and forth for the next 4-5 hours, I'm glad to have played this amazing experience, the whole thing is an ode to the world, thank you Naoki and everyone involved in the dev team in SE .
I was in tears from when Thancred sacrificed himself to the walk up. The only thing that kept me from breaking down again was Hien's "Save your tears for the morrow" quote
Just when I thought nothing could break me more than shadowbringers did...
I am newer to FFXIV, lil over a year. I thought Shadowbringers was great and couldn’t be topped. Then comes Endwalker. I was broken, cried so much through out the entire thing and this. Watching each scion give themself up, the climb up the crystal path, then the voices. Everything hit so deep
Heavensward was about hatred and understanding. It was a story about people who hated each other for dishonest reasons and history yet came together from different backgrounds to make something better because they tried to understand one another.
Stormblood was about war and peace, how war changes people and how it has an impact on the people more than anyone else but also a hopeful story about using the worst circumstances to achieve peace and how the struggles of those who fight will never be removed from history.
Shadowbringers was about sacrifice and overcoming odds. Its about a ruined land where its people are given the worst hand possible, where all heroes are failed or dead and the selfish and evil are allowed to take power due to the absence of those who was to struggle against them. It shows how overcoming these odds allow people to come together and forge something new out of the ashes of misery.
Endwalker is about pain and loss but also about healing and climbing over grief to forge something good. While we can never forget the misery in our lives: the dead will never have a voice to reassure us that they are okay or that it isn't our fault, we will always have those fears of our futures and regrets from our pasts of what could've been and what should've been done. We know that all might be meaningless in the end because everything dies and changes - there's always an end to our journey, we still choose to believe in better and something that comes after. Using our connections to others to forge a way forward from grief and pain and sorrow. We say to ourselves that won't allow ourselves to be beaten down by these things, we can't give up as long as we have a reason to move forward
“We rise we fall, and we rise again.”,
Damn twins, did y’all have to make me cry?
We eat, we shit, we eat again
"Strong art thou, mortal."
I did this again during a rather bad week, and still not sure how something like this got made.
So glad to see the comments and not be the only one who ugly cried, sat down at the end, and just wanted to let go. It was so much, and just great writing.
Ultima Thule was a very bittersweet zone for me. It's very beautiful, emotional, inspiring, and it deserves all of the praise it gets.
But it was also very depressing for me. For a long time now I've felt like my life has had no purpose and rather than actually living, I'm simply surviving and waiting for the end as life takes its course and I'm just along for the ride. I've long since given up on trying to make a meaningful life for myself, insisting that I'm too weak to do anything and even if I wasn't, what's even the point of it all? I resonated most with the dragons curled up sleeping inside their craters, waiting for the end to come and save them from despair. I don't see myself getting better any time soon, so I just stay here curled up in my bed day after day hoping that something happens -- whether it's something miraculous that saves me, or something catastrophic that ends me once and for all, I hope for either of those outcomes.
Hey, I'm just a random on the internet, so I get if this comes out hollow.
But I'm also someone who had this same feeling some time ago. I still feel it, sometimes.
The answer I found was simple, that no life achievement, no matter its scale and scope, is infinitesimally small in the context of the life of the Universe. You can say, from that, that perhaps nothing matters - we live and die as specks of specks, invisible to everything.
In that sense, your simple life is no more or less impactful than that of Julius Caesar. And that's good! It means you're free of the shackles of worrying if your life is supposed to meet meaning through achievement. You're free, as Yshtola points out, to just enjoy the ride of learning new things.
On the other hand, to your friends, your loved ones, and your pets, you are one of the most important human beings in the entire Universe. Your kind words, your friendly hellos, these are as powerful to them as the great acts of ancient kings, of heroes, of presidents.
I found meaning by embracing these two things. To the universe, I am nothing. To my loved ones, I am everything.
You are meant to save yourself. I know it sounds stupid and counter intuitive. But you live just to be who you are and be the different flavor in this world. To bring the best of you each day..making life more of what it is, beautiful just like you. And then all of us little by little changing our world for the better...kinder...more free and more beautiful until you will no longer have to ask why..but see it infront of you...cheers
Someone made a video showing the original context of all of the Voice from the Past quotes. It's pretty great.
I need.
where please?
@@lilacdratini th-cam.com/video/1GtiDjMrJ08/w-d-xo.html here
You can’t just drop that on us without sharing.
@@Felinius I found it and linked it on here for the person.
I love how the lyrics tie in both to the story in the game and out of it. Many lines sound like they come from the developers themselves, especially in the beginning about 1.0.
“Let’s finish this.”
This music is such a grand finale to my Eorzea journey which began 9 years ago, I'm so glad to be alive to experience this epic journey. I'm eternally grateful to Yoshida and his development team
Group cry come on let’s go
*sniff* let's... gooo.... *sobs*
And here I am again ...to torture myself.
Everyone seems to have teared up through this.. I must be weird one for not having so as well. Though I felt more determined than ever knowing that no matter how many times I may crumble, I am not alone on this.
We can be all uncertain about the future together.
Now I have realized what is more terrifying than the end of days and that is the end of the journey.. facing the question of "what now that I have gone this far?"
Youre not alone brother. I didnt teared up in that expansion (Shadowbringers hurted me waaay more than this). However the message about the meaning of life and the fate the other civilizations faced really let me think about myself and the things around me. And after thinking for a while its incredible how meaningful and relevant the message is in our day and age, especially because many people nowadays tend to face a loss of direction in life and angst.
Definitely not alone, don't worry. I thought the area was very cool and quite well done, with the only exceptions being some of the speeches given and the omicron just ignoring omega, but I think it was pretty obvious that everyone would come back. Fairly sure Yshtola even outright tells you that you could do so.
I imagine a pretty huge majority didn't cry for whatever reasons, they just don't really have a reason to say so.
During that moment, having you walk all alone, all your allies are gone......I never had a game hit me so hard in my emotions. I bought this game back in July and gave it a try thanks to a friend of mine. I thought it was gonna be full of funny, insane, crazy, maybe horrible, adventures. But damn, I was not ready for this, and I wish I could experience this moment all over again
I remember thinking at least I still have my Chocobo and pet minion only to have them gone at the end. Oh I definitely cried hard. I forgot what the debuff but i think it mentioned being alone and feeling the weight on your shoulders
@@ziziflor9019 wait, for real?!
@@dawnwalkerwolf9655 it was a forced walk. There's even a pop up message in yellow text that appears saying "Cannot perform certain actions due to zone restrictions" which is the debuff that prevents you from running / mounting / summoning minions / etc. You basically HAVE to Endwalk during that segment
The devs truly thought of everything for it... well, ALMOST everything, because Feo Ul didn't appear as one of the memories sadly... the irony is that it's the relatively EASIEST thing for them to add; just one more ghost with her voice saying *"Silly sapling, I shall remain at your side!"* I would have been a sobbing wreck afterward but it would have been worth it.
Get your lighters out, my friends
Yup still can't listen to this without crying
It feels like a great 80’s movie song, the moment when you walk with Alphinaud and Alisaie it’s just perfectly beautiful. It was 7 years when I began this adventure, not gonna lie FF XIV has very boring and tedious moments/quests but also the most epic and warming moments that you can live in a videogame and that I’m happy to lived it.
This place broke me. I blasted through the majority of Endwalker, but Ultima Thule felt like I slammed headfirst into an emotional brick wall. I sat blubbering like a baby for a good long while and wasn't even sure if I could bring myself to keep moving forward and finish the story. This is the single most impactful piece of storytelling I have ever experienced.
When Graha tia made the sacrifice and this song started to play in background.. i simply bursted into tears, felt wrecked, couldnt even turn in the quest... i just sat there... I ve never felt like this with any other game or even movie or book. Soul touching masterpiece ♥
"Henceforth, I count myself a Scion of the Seventh Dawn......"
When I first did this story I was fucking bawling.
If you didn't skip the story, this is where you cry.
When this song first started playing in full in the game...that event actually made me cry. _This kind of stuff is why Final Fantasy XIV is just a masterpiece._
Recently finished 6.0 MSQ... love this song but god damn does it make me cry
-sobs- tearbringer aaaah, soo gooooood no not good thats absolutly one of best themes ive heard
I haven't played this game, but just love the music. However, reading these comments has me believing that I am seriously missing out on some incredible experience
It's well worth the journey in this game.
I had a mental breakdown down months before Endwalker came out and became lost in suicidal thoughts. My boyfriend suggested I play FFXIV (I had to stop because my job sapped all my energy) and when Endwalker came out it was literally like playing through therapy. I was able to DO something to make things better in game and it helped me heal. So much so that my therapist suggested I write about the experience, about how a video game story pulled me from the darkness. This song was the moment I broke down and cried for a good while, my boyfriend holding me. Over 10 years of compounding trauma finally broke during Ultima Thule.
Something I haven’t really seen in the comments is any talk about the absolute existential crisis Endwalker gives you and how the real world is reflected in this (Fermi paradox). I remember in one interview that Yoshi-P was aiming to have Endwalker be applicable to today’s world and problems.I was curious how he would achieve it - and was absolutely floored upon finishing the expac just yesterday.
Beyond my personal life, this expac really got me thinking of life for people in other countries, what happens beyond death, life beyond our star, and the heat-death of the universe. Endwalker encouraged its audience to really think about their own answer to Hermes’s question. From the plight of the Garleans, to the death of innocent civilians in the Final Days, to discovering that every civilization beyond Etheirys fell to despair, and finally to the (albeit temporary) loss of your comrades, and yet finding the strength to rise again - all this is reflected from our own lives, our own tales of loss and fire and faith.
I think Endwalker (especially this song) really accomplished something extraordinary. The song reflects all the sadness and hope of humanity. It’s an inspiring and emotional masterpiece. It’s as if you could take this song and make it the symbol for the people of Earth. It made me want to truly live - in game and out of it.
Whether you cried or not, or liked the ending or not, I hope the game got you to think beyond yourself and to the world around you and even farther beyond that.
This song always brings me to tears, the warm words of not losing hope and waiting for a better day break me, no one ever says them to me.
The fact that everyone came back to life was the most disappointing thing about this expansion. Why is it so hard for games to have meaningful sacrifices, why most everyone always survive everything, literally removing all stakes from the game
They were never dead though. They were in the ether/dynamis flow like in shadowbringer when emet brought back yshtola
Yeah i def shed tears hearing this the 1st time. Looking back at those 2014 days where I started this game clueless and just playing the story years on really hits different.
i just made a post about that, id been playing since my daughter was born, and all the crazy shit and some pretty harsh downs that came in the following years werent so bad, every time shit got bad it seemed like the next part of the journey was released and lifted me right back up.
at least 1000 of these views are mine T-T Got it on loop and man, it has me in my feels DEEP
This saddened me so.....knowing the adventure was about to end.
Tales of LOOOOOSSSS AND FIIIIRE AND FAAAAIIITH,
EVERY WOOOOORRRD ON OUR HEAAAARTS ENGRAAAAAAVED~
I'm not a person who is easily moved by media unless I have some deeply personal connection to the subject matter or people involved. I don't have a tragic story of loss and recovery to share, but the climb up the rainbow bridge and over the rocks, hearing the voices from the past and culminating with Meteion and the Elpis flowers... it brought a tear to my eye. I can't think of the last time I was so affected by something as impersonal as a catgirl dress-up simulator.
Who would have thought that a game from 2010 that had a terrible launch would a decade later, be one of the best games ever made.
And there in the depths where souls and stars rest, I hope you found your answer.
This part of the scenario was one of the best video game moments I’ve had
I can't stop listening to this. Endwalker was peak Final Fantasy 14 for me, with all it's shortcomings including. The perfect finish for a masterful crafted game. This song makes me cry everytime.
The line "Turning, wending, always night follows day. The sun will shine again." has such a brutal impact on me. People often interpret it as people basicly wishing you a simple good luck, the simple way of saying "Don't worry, you'll do fine and tomorrow things are good anymore", but to me it feels like something completely else.
When I was still smol, I at some point had to encounter the concept of death as well, like any child has to. When I asked my Momma about it and she explained it to me, I also asked her what will happen when she or Papa aren't there anymore someday. And she then said to me, that when that will eventually happen, I must promise her to stay strong. She said, even tho I won't be able to see her or Papa anymore when that happens, they will still be there and the sun will shine again as well. Words of encouragement, after all. And this line here, in this song feels like exactly the same, as our friends might be gone but they are still with us in heart and soul.
What this song also does very well in my eyes; the whole expansion of Endwalker tbh; is humanizing Meteor/WoL. Speaking from my PoV, so I'll refer to WoL as her, she here and then definetely shows weakness/exhaustion during the course of the expansions. But always only physical exhaustion. In Endwalker, she showed actual mental exhaustion. Looking at the Elpis arc, seeing my little Au Ra tell Venat *"I don't want to go yet, I want to stay here for a bit longer.."* shattered my heart. Always trying to stay strong and be a good example for others to look up to, here she finally opened the curtain and was genuinely.. Weak. Not in a bad way at all, but in a human way.
Same goes for the very end, when you do the "Final Walk" up to Metheion in Ultima Thule. You get a buff there, "Endwalker: Walking alone onto journey's end, the burden weighing heavy." People often say it's a debuff, that you can only walk and not run. I think it's definetely a buff. A buff that you need to even walk at least, to be able to move on to the last bit at all.
This game is beyond perfection to me. The Soundtrack is one reason for that. The meaning behind all of is the main reason.
The sorrow of a thousand thousand worlds weighs heavy. And yet you can walk on.
This music give me the strength for continue to fight every day! :)
Thanks final fantasy give me more emotional that all other game i had player in my life
Loved the song since the beginning. Your comment made me indulge curiosity and check what was the deal with it being formerly known as Arrokoth. Turns out the name "Ultima Thule" has roots within Nazis. On the topic of weak-minded fools wanting to change the name to Arrokoth:
"Vladimir Solonari, a professor of history who focuses on the Holocaust as well as Russian and Eastern European history at the University of Central Florida disagrees [with the change in name], however.
He believes changing the name gives some of the power back to these fascist groups. "
When this song began, I started sobbing and I cried the entire walk up. Then the god damn spirits appeared and I just broke ;;__;;
I know this video has been up for some time now, but felt it worth mentioning. I recently was married on June 4, 2022, and I used this song during our signing of the Registry as well as walking out of the church after we were declared Husband and Wife.
Chi waiting song
God damn it, Soken. Why do you have to keep topping yourself?
From starting out poking ladybugs with a rusty spear to now, 89 levels and ~1200 hours later, fighting the living embodiment of despair to stop her from singing the universe to death. It's been a hell of a ride, with (hopefully) much more to look forward to in Dawntrail.
As someone who played this game for years... this song, bringing memories of good and bad times, across all those 6 years I played. Destroyed me. I legit couldn't play for 10-20 min, because of how much I was crying. And how many times I said ''Thank you FFXIV'' under my nose. This game... God, it was with me for so long, so many memories, so many peoples met. It's truly amazing. The feelings for me, will never go away from my mind. It's eternal.
Probably the hardest I’ve cried from a Final Fantasy game
First time since playing that I didn't cry during this theme !! *proud af *
Edit: nvm.. it just took longer this time
XD the only mmo to ever make me cry, what is it about square and thier ability to rip the emotions out of you lol.
I fondly remember Shadowbringer’s end zone theme and can’t imagine a zone topping it. This topped it surprisingly! I was saddened but hopeful my friends would return was my honest first reaction when I “lost” them. And then climbing this staircase of despair while arguing about existential crises with species & a genocidal “child” had me reflecting seriously on my life. What story or video game makes you reflect upon your own “story”? I had to savor every moment. Now I just love gathering materials in this zone purely for the OST. It was a hopeful ending and a story I’ll carry in my heart forever.
I always feel empowered when I listen to this song. I get somewhat cheerful thinking about it, reflecting on what happened during MSQ, but also in my life. Not that I had the hardest of times as of now because I'm still young and have yet to fully experience certains aspects of it(19), but this song makes looking back on memories I don't like much easier.
It's kind of become a way for me to wind down and rest, in a way. A sort of "comfort music" I guess.
I think I'll make people play that song during my funeral, this seems perfect.
(hypothetically, I don't have any life-threatening condition thankfully)
I‘m so happy that this game exists.
i was so lucky to be able to run endwalker's msq when it first came out with my wonderful friend that i met in the game in September 2021. we no longer play together, but i have the most amazing memories months leading up and after we left the game together. i will keep them in my heart until the day i die.
Update: the guy turned out to be a liar, so my opinions of him have changed
. . . I cant . . . * *fights back tears* *
Back after learning that this was Ardbert the whole time singing to us
I just finished Endwalker today and I don’t think any game/media has ever made me cry as hard as Ultima did; I went through like 12 paper towels as tissues; the voices made me sob this game is soo good
03:22 I like this part of the scale to be scattered. It seems like the distant echo from the gravity-free universe finally reaches us and then floats and disperses, leaving only a few traces, like the missing stars and civilizations
Without a doubt the longest walk of my life.
Absolutely fantastic final area. The music. The sidequests. The dialogue. The atmosphere. The colors in the sky. The message. Endwalker is ART
Chi spawns in 15 minutes, trust me
Ah, I see that Chi has still not spawned.