Final Fantasy XIV composer Masayashi Soken on making music that stops the world

Australia Broadcast Center

28-04-2025

Japanese video game composer Masayoshi Soken doesn't see his work as separate from the games he scores, it's all part of the full experience.
The Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI composer was recently in London for live performances of his music.
Music from video game series Final Fantasy, a long running role-playing franchise with more than 30 titles, is being toured globally as part of Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy an orchestral concert series.
"When we are creating music for games, I do have to acknowledge that there isn't a lot of freedom to do whatever you want, it is not easy to make game music like this," says Soken
"When I'm putting music into Final Fantasy XIV, I'm trying very hard to think about the game experience overall, I think that each sound that goes into it is incredibly important, but I'm not trying to think of each of the songs as separate to the game."
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Unlike film and television composers who score music after the scenes are shot, composers for video games often work hand in hand with the game development team as the game is being made to make sure music and sound effects respond to gameplay.
Music in video games is often dynamic responding to player actions and milestones within the story, with each player experiencing their own audio mix and sequence.
Soken says it's a challenge but the response from players makes the process worth it.
Drinking buddies with Nobuo Uematsu
Soken's career spans nearly thirty years, originally starting at Konami, working as an editor and sound designer as well as composer and eventually becoming sound director.
He has also worked closely with another composer whose name is still synonymous with the Final Fantasy series, Nobuo Uematsu.
Uematsu composed soundtracks for the first 12 mainline Final Fantasy games, starting in 1987 with the original game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
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The two musicians worked together on the original 2010 version of the multiplayer role-playing game Final Fantasy XIV and would drink together every day after work.
"If I focus on my relationship with Uematsu, I think that when we moved the company [office] to a location that was quite far from Uematsu's house, he slowly started coming less into the company and eventually he left. For me that was a major part of my history when I look back."
"We would go out drinking every day before we moved and that's not to say we didn't drink at all, but I did find that quite sad that we couldn't do that anymore, we didn't have that flow of literally going to drink every single day."
Uematsu established the signature Final Fantasy sound which draws influences from classical music, along with rock and jazz, with composers like Soken building on that canon 'sound' of the games with their own compositions.
The famous piece One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII for example draws equally from the music of Stravinsky and Jimmy Hendrix according to interviews with Uematsu.
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Each piece of music in Final Fantasy features a strong memorable melody, which works as well with the original basic 1980s and 1990s chiptune synthesisers of early video game consoles or arranged for a full orchestra.
The main theme of the series, Prelude, originally composed by Uematsu and featured in nearly every game in the series has been recontextualised in Soken's Final Fantasy XVI piece, Land of Eikons, which moves the classic harp melody into a darker minor key.
Composing with acting performance as a guide
Soken, who only speaks Japanese,
says his music was inspired heavily by acting performances of lead characters in the game, even though in some cases he couldn't understand what the performers were saying.
"For [Final Fantasy] XVI quite early on in the process I knew that all of the voice actors would be key and I was able to receive inspiration from the acting performances of the voice actors while writing," says Soken.
"I'm not very good at speaking English, so when I listen to the English voice acting, I can't really tell the details of the words but I can understand what is actually being portrayed through the performance.
"That is proof for how extraordinary their performance was and so I wanted to make the best music that I can to contribute to that game experience that was already there."
The concert series Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy was co-founded by game series composer Nobuo Uematsu and music director and conductor Arnie Roth.
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Supplied: AWR Music/ Square Enix
)
Music that stops the world
Soken plays rock versions of his Final Fantasy music live with band The Primals, and said that he was still touched by the energy that players around the world share after playing the games and listening to his performances.
"We have Primals performances in big halls and when we play [Final Fantasy XIV musical piece] Rise, there's obviously that time-stop moment and you see tens of thousands of people stopping all together, that is brilliant to see."
"I really am just touched by the energy that all of the [players] have and I'm very much moved by their extraordinary energy."
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"So I would say that what hasn't changed in all these years is that all of this is about the game experience, everyone is trying to feel the game."
"
I think that there are aspects of music and sound that are more important than others but what I like about it is that I'm just a gamer, that's how I feel.
"
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