You have heard Who Brings Shadow before! It's the main theme of Shadowbringers which you reacted to over a year ago. And 14 does a lot of work with motifs, with that main one from Who Brings Shadow scattered through a lot of other songs in the expansion.
LMAO, I just checked and you're right. Oct 21 - > May 23. I'm officially at the point where I've heard so much stuff that old things sound brand new again. That is... quite something.
The harsh thing is you won't catch most motifs because they are sprinkled across less impactful songs. Lot of ambiance songs, and songs that are there to add weight to story scenes. This particular motif is one of the few that shows up and is built on a lot. There motifs are used expertly to connect story themes. You can even guess some story surprises by paying attention to how the motifs are used.
And the fact that there sounds like there's so many vocals in the choral parts is like those people are singing for his victory, supporting their champion as he faces the light.
"Invincible" sounds like the first boss that's *actually trying to kill you.* Not "whatever is in front of it," *actively trying* to kill *specifically you.*
Exactly. This is a fight to the death, between two forces that cannot retreat without giving up part of who they are. The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain.
"That's a lot of people singing.." When Stormblood came out I would talk about the massive Stormblood choir, but then we got this one and yeah, I swear it sounds like an army
The singer for the first part is Jason Charles Miller. He's also a voice actor and voiced a major character in the original FFXIV voice cast before they switched to a British studio. He was also the singer for some tracks in Metal Gear Rising like "Rules of Nature".
It's rather appropriate that you picked up on just how many people you hear doing the vocals in Invincible, considering Hades, in-universe, is motivated by the desire to resurrect his fallen people, so the vocals essentially represent the spirits of the afterlife for all the people who are driving his efforts to defeat you, a very thematically appropriate motivation for a character like Hades. It's some wonderful subtle storytelling and just adds to an already excellent character.
One Brings Shadow is heavily used in the Shadow ringers cinematic, so it's no surprise you remember it. The video seems to be suffering from compression or something because this song usually sounds cleaner. This game does have many callbacks, but they always incorporate gracefully in the service of 14s own story. As always, looking forward to more reactions!
So cool that you caught Tomorrow and Tomorrow's motif in this. It's a motif that belongs to Hades, which you then inherit, making music out of a storyline of succession. Tomorrow and Tomorrow is the music of the world that is formed around you after this moment, and the song plays after this as the people figure out what to do with their lives.
You are wrong about Hades. Hades ran Tartarus where sinners were punished, yes, but he ALSO ran the Elysian Fields, the afterlife for the good and brave. The only reason people see him as "evil" is because we draw parallels between running the underworld where sinners go and the devil. Hades is NOT evil and NOT the devil, he is, as far as the Greek gods go one of the nicer ones.
As with most Underworld Gods they are just doing their Job, people are just needlessly scared of them because they falsely attribute the Underworld with Evil.
Yeah Catholicism attributes the underworld with Hell and therefore labels Hades as evil like Satan/The Devil. Hades is not an evil being, he's just doing his job. Zeus is a WAY bigger asshole than he is funnily enough.
_"...as far as the Greek gods go one of the nicer ones."_ This has always tickled me. In a pantheon full of egomaniacal dicks, Hades was one of the few actually focused on his job and seemingly levelheaded. Of the three brothers (the others being Zeus and Poseidon), he is also _by far_ the best one to encounter. Plus his relationship with Persephone might be the closest thing to a functional marriage in the pantheon (even with the kidnapping to start it off), and he actually shares a lot of power with her.
I've sung Yoshitaka Suzuki's praises before and will continue to do so, he is the arranger for Invincible. Dude excels at taking an existing theme and transforming it into an epic orchestral piece.
Yes! Heavily underappreciated too (as are all arrangers/orchestrators). Possibly my favourite arranger if we're separating arrangers from composers and orchestrators.
One thing that I still can't get over is how well the fight is choreographed to the music. Look at the sequence from about 11:57. It's designed so that the music begins to fade (for the 3rd loop) right as Hades binds all the players in chains. The chorus comes back in as they attempt to break free, strings kick in as the camera pans to reveal Hades still waiting a ready to fight, and the percussions kicks in right as Hades lands his first attack in the new phase of the fight at 12:39. So darn good!!
Can't believe with how many times I've listened to this I've never noticed that Invincible also has motifs from Tommorrow and Tomorrow as well. How am I still noticing things about FFXIV music.
I would wager that a majority of people are more invested playing a game than they are analyzing the music as it's playing. You are forgiven for finding new things after the fact. :P
"The 14 crowd already found me by then". Sounds about right. We're (mostly) a nice bunch, but we will DEFINITELY foist our music upon you given the slightest opportunity =) In a completely related note, I'm very much looking forward to when Dedicated to Moonlight gets through your queue!
During Invincible what you're hearing is the triumphant theme of the world's champion, heroically bringing his near-endless reserves of power to bear in pursuit of a brighter tomorrow for all those who would otherwise be lost. And then there's you, standing in his way.
I was hoping to see you react to Invincible at some point! Sometimes I get into a mood of listening to it on loop for a while. It's one of my favorite boss themes from FFXIV, and part of it is definitely because of the story around that entire fight. Such an incredible game.
Okay, it is VERY hard for me to look at this Song objectively, because there is SO much emotion connected to it. It is HARD to listen to them, without tears streaming down my face. The Shadowbringers Soundtrack just does this to me. And this fight and the songs are kinda in the most emotional Part of the Game, I will not spoil. I am pretty sure you won't play FFXIV, but maybe you someday get drunk, and check it out, and you would get hooked, and like, there is NO WAY you would forgive any spoilers to that storyline. So instead I tell you why FFXIV makes me so emotional. I played FFXIV as my cat was dying. Have in mind, it was not an odinary cat. Miepi shared a birthday with me, and he never was away from me. He always used to sleep on my shoulders, he went to the shower with me, even though he hated water. He went outside with me, and he was listening to commands like a dog. Vet bills were eating EVERYTHING (also extra special food, cat diapers and all that shit), and before we had an unexpected financial hardship. Like we were with almost no food money, I was shifting around bills so I had more time to pay them, and worked 14 hours a day as severly disabled person, just to not drown. But you need something to keep sane, and I was like 'yeah I could eat for those 13€ subscribtion for a few days, but I need something to not get mad' and like an RPG with a longass story was exactly the right thing. FFXIV plays like a very slow, but very engaging single player Final Fantasy. But it was perfect to take the edge of, when I wasn't working, or scrubbing off cat pee from everywhere. A few days before I got to the Hades fight my Cat died. I was devastated, and relieved. Because the suffering finally had found it's end. I could not step away again. I am very thankful for the game to keeping me sane. Good luck with all your videos, your speed at the moment is impressive and I do have some of my 'to watch' list. Thank you for all the good work!
yeah many songs unfortunately are just songs where you need to understand the context but the most important ones are flow and answers which kinda goes hand in hand although i think people already appreciate them as they are knowing the context and how they're used in-game makes them so much more powerful oh and i almost forgot the most perfect example which is "to the edge" not just for being a cool song and what it means but also the circumstances soken made it under it aswell as flow is his magnum opus imo and uematsu's answers are the 3 core essential ffxiv songs
What I love so much about Invincible is it combines the leitmotif of Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the ending theme of Shadowbringers, with the intro to Thunderer, a theme closely associated with the Ascians (of which Hades is one of)
The main theme for Shadowbringers (named the same) which you reacted to years ago, is actually a medly of both Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Who Brings Shadow, so it makes sense you were reminded of both :p Also, the motif is indeed common theought the expansion's ost (Regarding the transition between the two tracks, IMO in game it works because you have several moments of pure silence between the two, which created the tension before Invincible picks up)
If you thought Hades's second phase looked scary, the Extreme version of the fight gave him a THIRD phase! The Extreme version of the fight is named "The Minstrel's Ballad: Hades' Elegy" if you want to see it for yourself.
You don't need to apologize or feel bad for not liking a song Jesse! We're here for your honest opinion, and as you said, some people simply don't vibe with certain songs. I for one love Who Brings Shadow but I can see how it can be a bit overwhelming.
The lead singer for Who Brings Shadow is Jason Charles Miller, the former lead singer for Godhead. And yes, you've heard it before, it's the trailer theme for Shadowbringers.
It is definitely Tomorrow and Tomorrow you are hearing! It is sprinkled throughout some other songs, but the (insane) choir in Invincible actually follows the vocal melody from Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
The transition between songs works a lot better in the game with the mechanics and the Boss voice over. The boss calls something out and there is a fade out and some sound and visual effects that really sell the transition that you're not getting in the video. If you'd like to see it, I would look for a video of the fight itself (look for The Dying Gasp POV, either the Normal fight or the Extreme will provide you with the same experience, most likely most POVs would have been of the Extreme fight since that is the actual complex one that people record and upload).
You got it exactly right when you said the latter part felt like the ONLY light because it literally was after Hades tries to just drown all the players in darkness to finish things, such a crazy song and crazy fight in the game, essentially if the players lose then HADES goes down as the hero of history and the world is rewritten how he wants.
17:25 I feel EXACTLY the same about this. Shadowbringers as in the song and by extension who brings shadow, is a low point as far as XIV music mixing goes. The guitars sound thin (Soken plays single coils anyway so thats expected) and the sound is kinda rough ESPECIALLY during the eternal wind part of Shadowbringers (listen to the drum sound). We cannot be critical though, given the health issues Soken was going through that time.
I remember when Shadowbringers was just fresh out the fight was just so hype and came after an already extrem rollercoaster of emotions. A friend (tank) and me (at the time green dps ;) ) played it on repeat for a whole day to vibe to the songs and help others to que faster xD
The shadowbringers OST was decisive especially after Stormblood OST which was excellent. Then they put the rock music with the emotional moments in game and it all works out. I absolutely love invincible as well ❤sooo powerful
I haven't been able to stop listening to Invincible since I did this part of the game last month. Still so many emotions associated with it. And I absolutely love what the intro does with the Shadowbringers motif. Dunno the technical term for it, you could probably tell me, but I mean the way it jumps up to those final 2 notes before the rest, both at 7:30 and 8:00. Usually this particular melody trend downwards, so this seemed like a reversal and it was just so...dramatic? Operatic? The whole thing reminded me of the sound of Howard Shore's more climactic LotR tracks. Can't get over it.
There's actually 505 songs in the "game" that you can obtain at this moment (as a rewards/collection items/to listen in your in-game home), and another 80 songs from online store (piano and orchestral versions) + seasonal events. And those are not ALL that are actually in game. And the best thing - there are more to COME! :D:D
Hades is an absolutely fascinating and tragic character, I hope you get a chance to look into his story or play the game and see it firsthand sometime. I agree about the rough guitar in Who Brings Shadow as well--there are a couple tracks with electric guitars that are kind of unpleasant to listen to.
7:50 "When I think of 'Hades' I think of something like this." Quite a fitting comment, since even in the fight, this is the phase two theme, in which the boss reintroduces itself with "Behold, a sorcerer of eld. Tremble before my glory!" What a magnificent bastard XD
This is probably a song I wish you'd had the voice lines enabled for, since you were watching the fight anyway. Even without context the gravitas the voice actor captures here elevates the fight, the strength of the vocals, the music, everything.
The first one definitely benefits from the gameplay and especially the story aspects of the game going into the fight. I still really enjoy it but I completely understand everything you're saying about it too. I won't go into much detail but there's a whole ass moment, right ass all seems lost that takes place, and it just makes the first song click into place perfectly.
As a FFXIV fan myself, I agree that it can be hard for a lot of fans to hear the music objectively. A lot of the music is amazing and I think Soken is an awesome composer but some of the songs people recommend, like Answers and Flow, are near and dear to our hearts because of the way they connect to the FFXIV story and you wont be as in awe if you're an outsider. I personally think when it comes to recommending music to people who don't play the game there are better songs in FFXIV than what a lot of people normally recommend for that reason but thats just my opinion lol
Funny you should mention FF9... the entire Ascian plotline is very similar to that of the Genomes and Terra. Also the Faces/Masks are VERY reminiscent of the Mask/Face room in Oeilvert from FF9.
The thing about "Who Brings Shadow" is that it's just a shortened version of "Shadowbringers" main theme which plays in the expansion's intro cinematic, with some parts being cut off. That's probably part of the reason why it sounds a bit weird, since it's not really a full song.
I regards to your "this part sounds bad" comment for "Who Brings Shadow", I had a listen to a lossless version of it using Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones. To my ears, I think a lot of the noise comes into play when the drummer starts hammering on the cymbals and then it becomes even noisier when the intentional distortion on the singer's voice comes in as well. But, I'm not an audio engineer or anything so take it with a heaping of salt.
Now just imagine jamming out to this while trying to dodge all those darn mechanics! People don't take to kindly to "Sorry, I died because I was rocking out so hard :D" Never apologize for your reactions. we all experience music differently (as you know) and even as a hardcore FF fan, I wouldn't judge someone for not liking the music (or in this case, a section of the music). This fight broke my heart. I cursed Yoshi for this. I spent 10 years wanting to kill this bad guy, and then we get here and I'm in tears because there is no way for me to save him from himself. As someone who's played all of them and been immersed in the world for over 30 years, 14 is a love letter to old timers and an open door to anyone who wants to walk into the world
No worries uncle Jessie. I LOVE the ff14 songs immensely, who brings shadow being one of them (I think it has a great riff during the non crazy crescendo parts). But that said, during those hyped up parts I totally get what you mean. It's like there's too many things competing with each other. Instead of enhancing each other. So a lot of things are drowned out and some of it just sounds like a haze instead of clean and understandable notes/tones. Still love the song, but I agree that part is just "blurry" so to speak
Two songs from all the way back in A Realm Reborn that I'd like to see you react to -- "Good King Moogle Mog XII", the theme of the eponymous boss in the Thornmarch trial, and "The Corpse Hall", the theme of Odin in the Urth's Fount trial.
In this story Hades has an alter ego of sorts. And that guy is a crucial and tragic character with a very profound effect on the story. The weirder song fits that alter ego a little better. I think it was written for the trailer and they just needed to include it in the expansion.
Crazy thought! Those jaring sections of the song, I wonder if it was meant to cancel some of the battle effect sounds, because I definitely feel like it sounded better during the fight
Some Hades Lore for you Jesse as someone who played FF9. The Hades in FF14 uses the exact same story as Garland and Hades from FF9 (Hades in FF14 is both Garland AND Hades from FF9). There is a ton of FF9 callbacks in Shadowbringers as a whole. As a huge fan of 9, when i played Shadowbringers, my jaw was just agape during the reveals. Hades in FF14 is essentially the final boss of the expansion, or Final Obstacle is a better way to put it and it is literally Do or Die for the stakes of this fight on a cosmic scale. The line Hades says before this final fight is god tier. "The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain." Its a clash of ideals and ones on equal standing.
A lot of XIV songs share motifs with each other, especially if they're from the same expansion Your comment about the noise in Who Brings Shadow is an interesting point out - I think it's intentionally supposed to sound that way, where it's just on the brink of feeling overbearing and just when you think you can't take all the noise it gives you that break It's very fitting for the context of the story
That IS a lot of people singing. It's actually symbolizing the souls of all the Ascians that lost their lives to the sundering. Hades is one of the last Ascians, trying to bring back all of the lost ones, even if it means killing of all of the "lower" civilizations, so the people born after the sundering. He is bearing literally the pain and suffering of a whole world on his shoulders. All the masks are different people, that's also why he has so many masks/faces all over him. It's his people giving him strength. He is fighting for his world, long lost. You are fighting to defend yours.
You're right! The grunge guitar of Who Brings Shadow is the darkest, most unpleasant of tracks and probably the most like that in this game. It's the primary theme of Shadowbringers and constantly contrasted with Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I think it's intentional and it really sets the dark mood; I like the nasty harsh sound that reminds me of so many of the unpleasant elements in the expansion (weird to say, I know). We hear this track at the start of the fight mostly because it's the Shadowbringers theme that kicks in during the final confrontation cutscene and persists into this battle. I will say the transition of music is very underwhelming and a lot if is because you're missing the sound effects and voiced dialogue during it (your video had JUST the music). During the transition Hades stabs himself and says, "I am stifled by this vessel of flesh..." as he transforms before us into his final form and flings us into the final epic desperate battle of light vs dark. I can respect that you like the orchestral version of Invincible! Between the two I prefer the greater epic pieces much more, but Who Brings Shadow is a unique sound that puts me right back into the cutscene of that moment where we approached Hades and he revealed his name and form to us.
(shadowbringers spoilers) All the voices you hear in "Invincible" are from a civilization ending by our hands as they & their final living member cry out in desperation. That's my take anyway. It's a powerful & emotional moment in gaming history. ❤️
its funny, because if you actually think about it, the idea that hades is evil because he is the custodian of the underworld is more or less an idea that is rooted in our christian idea that the devil represents bad. rather than an actual understanding that hades is more or less just a neutral arbitere to keep the souls of the dead safe,
Who Brings Shadow: This has a very wild west feel to it with the acoustic guitars, I don't really like the whispers. The melody of Shadow Bringers sounds kind of weird with this song, the guitar riffs are pretty good and they have a nice twang to them. The bass is cool, 3:26 almost feels too much to listen to. There's a bit too much going on for me. I'm not into this one. Invincible sounds grand and imposing, I like the strings here. The percussion does a good job with the dynamics, it's a triumphant theme with complex feelings. Honestly I don't have a lot of thoughts coming up with this song, maybe it's due to tiredness. It's a cool song but I don't feel strongly about it.
The transition of songs is eh because of the gameplay loop. Takes x amount of time to kill the boss, can take longer for some people, etc. So it *is* two songs playing. The context makes sense story wise though. The harder version of the fight is much better visually and fits the song. lol
First Phase: Fan favourite. Love Shadowbringers. Phase 2: Not my favourite at all. Never liked the song, nor the fight (the buildup in the story before this is the best part of the whole game yet, tho!)
Shadowbringers is still my favorite part of FFXIV. It was when the villains stopped feeling like they were just something we needed to stop that wasn't really personally related to our hero's story, and started feeling like people with stories deeply entwined in our own.
Yeah, there's a harshness to the recording of who brings shadow, even the voice seems to suffer from it at those points, it is a bit of a shame, hype song regardless just wish the mastering would've been more of a hifi type of quality to the instruments and voice. And I'm using what's considered a warm'ish headphone (Senn HD650).
You have heard Who Brings Shadow before! It's the main theme of Shadowbringers which you reacted to over a year ago. And 14 does a lot of work with motifs, with that main one from Who Brings Shadow scattered through a lot of other songs in the expansion.
LMAO, I just checked and you're right. Oct 21 - > May 23.
I'm officially at the point where I've heard so much stuff that old things sound brand new again.
That is... quite something.
The harsh thing is you won't catch most motifs because they are sprinkled across less impactful songs. Lot of ambiance songs, and songs that are there to add weight to story scenes. This particular motif is one of the few that shows up and is built on a lot. There motifs are used expertly to connect story themes. You can even guess some story surprises by paying attention to how the motifs are used.
@@JessesAuditorium because it is the final boss so thats why they use main leitmotif from main theme of the shadowbringers
to a fault. I am getting so tired of hearing the same theme in all of the areas and fights of an expansion.
Obviously we didn’t request ff14 for him to not to recognize it haha
"That Light split the world, AND EVERY LIFE UPON IT!!"
I like that Invincible theme is for Hades, not for the heroes. He's desperately fighting so his people can live again.
And the fact that there sounds like there's so many vocals in the choral parts is like those people are singing for his victory, supporting their champion as he faces the light.
Literally Hades & the Warrior of Light are two faces of a coin.
“For those who have lost, for those we can yet save.”
a common thread with the Ascian fights imo, i think the same thought applies to Seat of Sacrifice at the very least
Well, after all, our theme is "Maker's Ruin".
Invincible and To The Edge cement on thing in ShB that people keep forgetting. You're not the hero of this story.
You're the villain.
"Invincible" sounds like the first boss that's *actually trying to kill you.* Not "whatever is in front of it," *actively trying* to kill *specifically you.*
Brilliantly said
You are not an obstacle standing before the goal; you ARE the goal. The goal is your death.
Exactly. This is a fight to the death, between two forces that cannot retreat without giving up part of who they are.
The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain.
@@ericbright1742 remember us remember that we once lived
"That's a lot of people singing.."
When Stormblood came out I would talk about the massive Stormblood choir, but then we got this one and yeah, I swear it sounds like an army
FF16 even has more people!
" I shall be raised up by the prayers of my fallen brethren"
The singer for the first part is Jason Charles Miller. He's also a voice actor and voiced a major character in the original FFXIV voice cast before they switched to a British studio.
He was also the singer for some tracks in Metal Gear Rising like "Rules of Nature".
Also the lead singer for the goth band Godhead, which might be more recognizable to Jesse.
I can promise he does know lol. Jason and Jessie have talked in past video comment sections.
It's rather appropriate that you picked up on just how many people you hear doing the vocals in Invincible, considering Hades, in-universe, is motivated by the desire to resurrect his fallen people, so the vocals essentially represent the spirits of the afterlife for all the people who are driving his efforts to defeat you, a very thematically appropriate motivation for a character like Hades. It's some wonderful subtle storytelling and just adds to an already excellent character.
One Brings Shadow is heavily used in the Shadow ringers cinematic, so it's no surprise you remember it.
The video seems to be suffering from compression or something because this song usually sounds cleaner.
This game does have many callbacks, but they always incorporate gracefully in the service of 14s own story.
As always, looking forward to more reactions!
So cool that you caught Tomorrow and Tomorrow's motif in this. It's a motif that belongs to Hades, which you then inherit, making music out of a storyline of succession. Tomorrow and Tomorrow is the music of the world that is formed around you after this moment, and the song plays after this as the people figure out what to do with their lives.
You are wrong about Hades. Hades ran Tartarus where sinners were punished, yes, but he ALSO ran the Elysian Fields, the afterlife for the good and brave. The only reason people see him as "evil" is because we draw parallels between running the underworld where sinners go and the devil. Hades is NOT evil and NOT the devil, he is, as far as the Greek gods go one of the nicer ones.
As with most Underworld Gods they are just doing their Job, people are just needlessly scared of them because they falsely attribute the Underworld with Evil.
Yeah Catholicism attributes the underworld with Hell and therefore labels Hades as evil like Satan/The Devil. Hades is not an evil being, he's just doing his job. Zeus is a WAY bigger asshole than he is funnily enough.
@@Boethion They ARE afraid of death, after all.
_"...as far as the Greek gods go one of the nicer ones."_
This has always tickled me. In a pantheon full of egomaniacal dicks, Hades was one of the few actually focused on his job and seemingly levelheaded. Of the three brothers (the others being Zeus and Poseidon), he is also _by far_ the best one to encounter.
Plus his relationship with Persephone might be the closest thing to a functional marriage in the pantheon (even with the kidnapping to start it off), and he actually shares a lot of power with her.
@@aeonise Common Hades W
I've sung Yoshitaka Suzuki's praises before and will continue to do so, he is the arranger for Invincible. Dude excels at taking an existing theme and transforming it into an epic orchestral piece.
Yes! Heavily underappreciated too (as are all arrangers/orchestrators). Possibly my favourite arranger if we're separating arrangers from composers and orchestrators.
For real. I still think Hellfire is one of the best themes from XV. He does so many arrangements throughout FF games, but gets little credit.
One thing that I still can't get over is how well the fight is choreographed to the music.
Look at the sequence from about 11:57. It's designed so that the music begins to fade (for the 3rd loop) right as Hades binds all the players in chains. The chorus comes back in as they attempt to break free, strings kick in as the camera pans to reveal Hades still waiting a ready to fight, and the percussions kicks in right as Hades lands his first attack in the new phase of the fight at 12:39.
So darn good!!
a shame you don't really get that anymore unless you're doing it at min IL
Can't believe with how many times I've listened to this I've never noticed that Invincible also has motifs from Tommorrow and Tomorrow as well. How am I still noticing things about FFXIV music.
I would wager that a majority of people are more invested playing a game than they are analyzing the music as it's playing. You are forgiven for finding new things after the fact. :P
Singer is Jason Charles Miller from the early 2000s group Godhead. They did an Elanore Rigby cover.
"The 14 crowd already found me by then". Sounds about right. We're (mostly) a nice bunch, but we will DEFINITELY foist our music upon you given the slightest opportunity =)
In a completely related note, I'm very much looking forward to when Dedicated to Moonlight gets through your queue!
During Invincible what you're hearing is the triumphant theme of the world's champion, heroically bringing his near-endless reserves of power to bear in pursuit of a brighter tomorrow for all those who would otherwise be lost.
And then there's you, standing in his way.
The victor becomes the hero of the tale, and the vanquished, the Villain. Until that happens, both and neither side are right.
...well, everyone is the hero in their own tale. Same for Emet-Selch.
I was hoping to see you react to Invincible at some point! Sometimes I get into a mood of listening to it on loop for a while. It's one of my favorite boss themes from FFXIV, and part of it is definitely because of the story around that entire fight. Such an incredible game.
Okay, it is VERY hard for me to look at this Song objectively, because there is SO much emotion connected to it.
It is HARD to listen to them, without tears streaming down my face.
The Shadowbringers Soundtrack just does this to me.
And this fight and the songs are kinda in the most emotional Part of the Game, I will not spoil. I am pretty sure you won't play FFXIV, but maybe you someday get drunk, and check it out, and you would get hooked, and like, there is NO WAY you would forgive any spoilers to that storyline.
So instead I tell you why FFXIV makes me so emotional.
I played FFXIV as my cat was dying.
Have in mind, it was not an odinary cat. Miepi shared a birthday with me, and he never was away from me. He always used to sleep on my shoulders, he went to the shower with me, even though he hated water. He went outside with me, and he was listening to commands like a dog.
Vet bills were eating EVERYTHING (also extra special food, cat diapers and all that shit), and before we had an unexpected financial hardship. Like we were with almost no food money, I was shifting around bills so I had more time to pay them, and worked 14 hours a day as severly disabled person, just to not drown.
But you need something to keep sane, and I was like 'yeah I could eat for those 13€ subscribtion for a few days, but I need something to not get mad' and like an RPG with a longass story was exactly the right thing.
FFXIV plays like a very slow, but very engaging single player Final Fantasy.
But it was perfect to take the edge of, when I wasn't working, or scrubbing off cat pee from everywhere.
A few days before I got to the Hades fight my Cat died. I was devastated, and relieved. Because the suffering finally had found it's end.
I could not step away again. I am very thankful for the game to keeping me sane.
Good luck with all your videos, your speed at the moment is impressive and I do have some of my 'to watch' list. Thank you for all the good work!
yeah many songs unfortunately are just songs where you need to understand the context but the most important ones are flow and answers which kinda goes hand in hand although i think people already appreciate them as they are knowing the context and how they're used in-game makes them so much more powerful oh and i almost forgot the most perfect example which is "to the edge" not just for being a cool song and what it means but also the circumstances soken made it under it aswell as flow is his magnum opus imo and uematsu's answers are the 3 core essential ffxiv songs
dunno if its been said already; but the singer is Jason Charles Miller (ARR Raubhan, Rules of Nature, Shoot the Messenger, et al)
What I love so much about Invincible is it combines the leitmotif of Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the ending theme of Shadowbringers, with the intro to Thunderer, a theme closely associated with the Ascians (of which Hades is one of)
The main theme for Shadowbringers (named the same) which you reacted to years ago, is actually a medly of both Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Who Brings Shadow, so it makes sense you were reminded of both :p
Also, the motif is indeed common theought the expansion's ost
(Regarding the transition between the two tracks, IMO in game it works because you have several moments of pure silence between the two, which created the tension before Invincible picks up)
I appreciate your honesty! ♡
my first and last extreme raid in the game and emotions carried me! such epicness was not my intention
So excited! These songs are excellent! Happy to see more music on the channel!
BEHOLD A SORCERER OF ELD! Tremble before my glory!
You gotta do "endcaller" (Zodiark fight) it's SICK
If you thought Hades's second phase looked scary, the Extreme version of the fight gave him a THIRD phase! The Extreme version of the fight is named "The Minstrel's Ballad: Hades' Elegy" if you want to see it for yourself.
Yeah, but the third phase is just free with the safespot cheese. Crazy to watch all the stuff that pixel safespot saves you from though.
You don't need to apologize or feel bad for not liking a song Jesse! We're here for your honest opinion, and as you said, some people simply don't vibe with certain songs. I for one love Who Brings Shadow but I can see how it can be a bit overwhelming.
Oh my God, still giving me shiver and complex emotion till now
There is no transition between the songs because theres supposed to be a cutscene and complete silence but that was cut out in the video sadly
The lead singer for Who Brings Shadow is Jason Charles Miller, the former lead singer for Godhead.
And yes, you've heard it before, it's the trailer theme for Shadowbringers.
I thoroughly enjoy almost all of the music in FFXIV, but Shadowbringers is hands down the best batch thus far in my opinion.
I absolutely love this song so glad you get to listen to it ❤❤
It is definitely Tomorrow and Tomorrow you are hearing! It is sprinkled throughout some other songs, but the (insane) choir in Invincible actually follows the vocal melody from Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
The transition between songs works a lot better in the game with the mechanics and the Boss voice over. The boss calls something out and there is a fade out and some sound and visual effects that really sell the transition that you're not getting in the video. If you'd like to see it, I would look for a video of the fight itself (look for The Dying Gasp POV, either the Normal fight or the Extreme will provide you with the same experience, most likely most POVs would have been of the Extreme fight since that is the actual complex one that people record and upload).
You got it exactly right when you said the latter part felt like the ONLY light because it literally was after Hades tries to just drown all the players in darkness to finish things, such a crazy song and crazy fight in the game, essentially if the players lose then HADES goes down as the hero of history and the world is rewritten how he wants.
17:25 I feel EXACTLY the same about this. Shadowbringers as in the song and by extension who brings shadow, is a low point as far as XIV music mixing goes. The guitars sound thin (Soken plays single coils anyway so thats expected) and the sound is kinda rough ESPECIALLY during the eternal wind part of Shadowbringers (listen to the drum sound). We cannot be critical though, given the health issues Soken was going through that time.
I remember when Shadowbringers was just fresh out the fight was just so hype and came after an already extrem rollercoaster of emotions. A friend (tank) and me (at the time green dps ;) ) played it on repeat for a whole day to vibe to the songs and help others to que faster xD
The shadowbringers OST was decisive especially after Stormblood OST which was excellent. Then they put the rock music with the emotional moments in game and it all works out. I absolutely love invincible as well ❤sooo powerful
I haven't been able to stop listening to Invincible since I did this part of the game last month. Still so many emotions associated with it. And I absolutely love what the intro does with the Shadowbringers motif. Dunno the technical term for it, you could probably tell me, but I mean the way it jumps up to those final 2 notes before the rest, both at 7:30 and 8:00. Usually this particular melody trend downwards, so this seemed like a reversal and it was just so...dramatic? Operatic? The whole thing reminded me of the sound of Howard Shore's more climactic LotR tracks. Can't get over it.
There's actually 505 songs in the "game" that you can obtain at this moment (as a rewards/collection items/to listen in your in-game home), and another 80 songs from online store (piano and orchestral versions) + seasonal events. And those are not ALL that are actually in game.
And the best thing - there are more to COME! :D:D
Didn't FFXIV already make a Guiness World Record for most minutes of original music in a game or something like that?
@@shadowcat1606 Yup, it's true ;p
I guess around Stormblood they already had 300 songs but didn't check it
Single handely one of the best musical ques and moments in 14 to date, hope you get to experience yourself one day!
Hades is an absolutely fascinating and tragic character, I hope you get a chance to look into his story or play the game and see it firsthand sometime. I agree about the rough guitar in Who Brings Shadow as well--there are a couple tracks with electric guitars that are kind of unpleasant to listen to.
"Remember us, remember that we once lived" thats my whole comment about this song
Makes me think of that "walking into the flames" scene. The writing was on the walls!
I have always thought of the first part being about the Warrior of light, and the second part being about Hades' Dying Gasp
7:50 "When I think of 'Hades' I think of something like this."
Quite a fitting comment, since even in the fight, this is the phase two theme, in which the boss reintroduces itself with "Behold, a sorcerer of eld. Tremble before my glory!" What a magnificent bastard XD
This is probably a song I wish you'd had the voice lines enabled for, since you were watching the fight anyway. Even without context the gravitas the voice actor captures here elevates the fight, the strength of the vocals, the music, everything.
The first one definitely benefits from the gameplay and especially the story aspects of the game going into the fight. I still really enjoy it but I completely understand everything you're saying about it too. I won't go into much detail but there's a whole ass moment, right ass all seems lost that takes place, and it just makes the first song click into place perfectly.
As a FFXIV fan myself, I agree that it can be hard for a lot of fans to hear the music objectively. A lot of the music is amazing and I think Soken is an awesome composer but some of the songs people recommend, like Answers and Flow, are near and dear to our hearts because of the way they connect to the FFXIV story and you wont be as in awe if you're an outsider. I personally think when it comes to recommending music to people who don't play the game there are better songs in FFXIV than what a lot of people normally recommend for that reason but thats just my opinion lol
“Come! Let us cast aside titles and pretence, and reveal our true faces to one another”
The one boss without a subtitle :)
Funny you should mention FF9... the entire Ascian plotline is very similar to that of the Genomes and Terra. Also the Faces/Masks are VERY reminiscent of the Mask/Face room in Oeilvert from FF9.
and the names are straight up pulled from 12
Tomorrow and tomorrow plays shortly after this fight too. Along with some pretty intense cutscenes.
The thing about "Who Brings Shadow" is that it's just a shortened version of "Shadowbringers" main theme which plays in the expansion's intro cinematic, with some parts being cut off. That's probably part of the reason why it sounds a bit weird, since it's not really a full song.
This just gets me even more hyped for FFXVI's soundtrack.
I regards to your "this part sounds bad" comment for "Who Brings Shadow", I had a listen to a lossless version of it using Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones. To my ears, I think a lot of the noise comes into play when the drummer starts hammering on the cymbals and then it becomes even noisier when the intentional distortion on the singer's voice comes in as well. But, I'm not an audio engineer or anything so take it with a heaping of salt.
Now just imagine jamming out to this while trying to dodge all those darn mechanics! People don't take to kindly to "Sorry, I died because I was rocking out so hard :D"
Never apologize for your reactions. we all experience music differently (as you know) and even as a hardcore FF fan, I wouldn't judge someone for not liking the music (or in this case, a section of the music).
This fight broke my heart. I cursed Yoshi for this. I spent 10 years wanting to kill this bad guy, and then we get here and I'm in tears because there is no way for me to save him from himself.
As someone who's played all of them and been immersed in the world for over 30 years, 14 is a love letter to old timers and an open door to anyone who wants to walk into the world
Definitely need to do the Eorzean Symphony performance of Endcaller
No worries uncle Jessie. I LOVE the ff14 songs immensely, who brings shadow being one of them (I think it has a great riff during the non crazy crescendo parts).
But that said, during those hyped up parts I totally get what you mean. It's like there's too many things competing with each other. Instead of enhancing each other. So a lot of things are drowned out and some of it just sounds like a haze instead of clean and understandable notes/tones.
Still love the song, but I agree that part is just "blurry" so to speak
Two songs from all the way back in A Realm Reborn that I'd like to see you react to -- "Good King Moogle Mog XII", the theme of the eponymous boss in the Thornmarch trial, and "The Corpse Hall", the theme of Odin in the Urth's Fount trial.
In this story Hades has an alter ego of sorts. And that guy is a crucial and tragic character with a very profound effect on the story. The weirder song fits that alter ego a little better. I think it was written for the trailer and they just needed to include it in the expansion.
Crazy thought! Those jaring sections of the song, I wonder if it was meant to cancel some of the battle effect sounds, because I definitely feel like it sounded better during the fight
The IX parallels are very strong in XIV; even if it not direct.
BEHOLD, A SORCERER OF ELD! TREMBLE BEFORE MY GLORY!
Some Hades Lore for you Jesse as someone who played FF9.
The Hades in FF14 uses the exact same story as Garland and Hades from FF9 (Hades in FF14 is both Garland AND Hades from FF9).
There is a ton of FF9 callbacks in Shadowbringers as a whole. As a huge fan of 9, when i played Shadowbringers, my jaw was just agape during the reveals.
Hades in FF14 is essentially the final boss of the expansion, or Final Obstacle is a better way to put it and it is literally Do or Die for the stakes of this fight on a cosmic scale.
The line Hades says before this final fight is god tier. "The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain." Its a clash of ideals and ones on equal standing.
Behold, a sorcerer of eld! Tremble before my glory!
I think 14 might've been the first Hades "callback" since his appearance in 9.
EDIT: nvm i forgot he was a *major* boss in 11 lol
A lot of XIV songs share motifs with each other, especially if they're from the same expansion
Your comment about the noise in Who Brings Shadow is an interesting point out - I think it's intentionally supposed to sound that way, where it's just on the brink of feeling overbearing and just when you think you can't take all the noise it gives you that break
It's very fitting for the context of the story
I hope to watch someday, Jesse's reaction to Suzaku team, I'm patient.
Best trial, second only to Endsinger
And one of the few I gladly replay just for the hell of it
SCURRY AND SCATTER
That IS a lot of people singing. It's actually symbolizing the souls of all the Ascians that lost their lives to the sundering. Hades is one of the last Ascians, trying to bring back all of the lost ones, even if it means killing of all of the "lower" civilizations, so the people born after the sundering. He is bearing literally the pain and suffering of a whole world on his shoulders. All the masks are different people, that's also why he has so many masks/faces all over him. It's his people giving him strength.
He is fighting for his world, long lost. You are fighting to defend yours.
You're right! The grunge guitar of Who Brings Shadow is the darkest, most unpleasant of tracks and probably the most like that in this game. It's the primary theme of Shadowbringers and constantly contrasted with Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I think it's intentional and it really sets the dark mood; I like the nasty harsh sound that reminds me of so many of the unpleasant elements in the expansion (weird to say, I know). We hear this track at the start of the fight mostly because it's the Shadowbringers theme that kicks in during the final confrontation cutscene and persists into this battle.
I will say the transition of music is very underwhelming and a lot if is because you're missing the sound effects and voiced dialogue during it (your video had JUST the music). During the transition Hades stabs himself and says, "I am stifled by this vessel of flesh..." as he transforms before us into his final form and flings us into the final epic desperate battle of light vs dark. I can respect that you like the orchestral version of Invincible! Between the two I prefer the greater epic pieces much more, but Who Brings Shadow is a unique sound that puts me right back into the cutscene of that moment where we approached Hades and he revealed his name and form to us.
If you think invincible has a big chorus sound,just wait until you get to a certain endwalker song
I was just thinking this how has he not heard endcaller yet
(shadowbringers spoilers)
All the voices you hear in "Invincible" are from a civilization ending by our hands as they & their final living member cry out in desperation.
That's my take anyway. It's a powerful & emotional moment in gaming history. ❤️
its funny, because if you actually think about it, the idea that hades is evil because he is the custodian of the underworld is more or less an idea that is rooted in our christian idea that the devil represents bad. rather than an actual understanding that hades is more or less just a neutral arbitere to keep the souls of the dead safe,
Did we finally get him to react to all the requisite listening to now react to The Final Day? 😆
did he already react to rubicante's theme?
I hope you do Athena, The Tireless One soon.
Who Brings Shadow: This has a very wild west feel to it with the acoustic guitars, I don't really like the whispers. The melody of Shadow Bringers sounds kind of weird with this song, the guitar riffs are pretty good and they have a nice twang to them. The bass is cool, 3:26 almost feels too much to listen to. There's a bit too much going on for me. I'm not into this one.
Invincible sounds grand and imposing, I like the strings here. The percussion does a good job with the dynamics, it's a triumphant theme with complex feelings. Honestly I don't have a lot of thoughts coming up with this song, maybe it's due to tiredness. It's a cool song but I don't feel strongly about it.
Is it just me or does this version sound different than the one that plays on this fight? Like it's less operatic.
The transition of songs is eh because of the gameplay loop. Takes x amount of time to kill the boss, can take longer for some people, etc. So it *is* two songs playing. The context makes sense story wise though. The harder version of the fight is much better visually and fits the song. lol
I believe there are at least 5 ... maybe 6 albums For FFXIV, not counting the 1,0 music and before metor
First Phase: Fan favourite. Love Shadowbringers.
Phase 2: Not my favourite at all. Never liked the song, nor the fight (the buildup in the story before this is the best part of the whole game yet, tho!)
Chills
God I miss XIV, hopefully I can return and stream it when the channel grows enough
*F I N A L L Y*
Shadowbringers is still my favorite part of FFXIV. It was when the villains stopped feeling like they were just something we needed to stop that wasn't really personally related to our hero's story, and started feeling like people with stories deeply entwined in our own.
Dude you gotta check out some ffxiii tracks!
Yeah, there's a harshness to the recording of who brings shadow, even the voice seems to suffer from it at those points, it is a bit of a shame, hype song regardless just wish the mastering would've been more of a hifi type of quality to the instruments and voice. And I'm using what's considered a warm'ish headphone (Senn HD650).
Oops clicked dislike by accident. I meant to click like. It's fixed now.
i think at this time, jesse is getting bored of ffxiv content
Behold, a sorcerer of eld! Tremble before my glory!