Final Fantasy 14's newest raid theme is changing what it means to be a videogame song
Welcome to Soundtrack Sunday, where a member of the PC Gamer team takes a look at a soundtrack from one of their favourite games—or a broader look at videogame music as a whole—offering their thoughts or asking for yours!
I honestly don't know how much further Final Fantasy 14 can go from here, musically.
I thought it had peaked when Jason Charles Miller sang To The Edge in Shadowbringers—the man was on an episode of The Osbournes, y'all. Then Masayoshi Soken took it once step further when he enlisted Sam Carter—lead singer of Architects, one of my favourite metalcore bands—to sing the main theme of the Endwalker expansion.
He wasn't done, though, deciding to then bring along Chrissy Costanza of Against the Current fame (also, you know, they did a butt-ton of League of Legends stuff) for Give It All, an all-out banger for the final fight of Arcadion's AAC Light-heavyweight Tier.
Okay, so we finally went as high as we could go, right? WRONG. Because now we have Tom motherfuckin' Morello—Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave guitarist, all around rock royalty—and Beartooth's Caleb Shomo (an equally very cool dude) lending their talent to the final tier of the Arcadion raid with Everything Burns.
We only have a little preview to go off right now—the full thing'll be out when Patch 7.4 drops on December 16—and right now it's sounding a little more in Shomo's musical wheelhouse than Morello's. Not that I'm complaining, mind. I've been a fan of Shomo since he was part of Attack!Attack! and an enjoyer of all things Morello for even longer than that. The track sounds freakin' fire.
It's always been a damn good time being both a Final Fantasy 14 enjoyer and raging emo, though. Even without big-name non-videogame talent on board, Soken's music has always had a rebellious streak. Heavensward's Fiend, Endwalker's Scream, even all the way back in A Realm Reborn with Under the Weight. Hell, Soken's own Final Fantasy 14-themed band The Primals rearranges tracks with a heavier rock flair to them.
For me, I've always felt like Soken's music has broken the boundaries of what a videogame song is. His contributions to the MMO are stuffed with tracks I could whack on at a party without being questioned. I mean, I've literally done that. I once busted out Hic Svnt Leones at a friend's house, and he asked me for the band name. No assumptions of its origins to be seen.
That feels especially true for Everything Burns. It sounds like the kind of song that radio stations would blast with the same full sincerity they give to any other track that exists outside of videogames. That certainly can't be said for every rock song manufactured with the intention of having it play while virtual people fight each other.
According to the most recent Live Letter, Soken didn't even go seeking out Morello. It happened the other way around. Morello got word through Jason Charles Miller about the game and its community, and cold-sent a song straight into Soken's inbox from there.
If that doesn't speak to Soken's talent and Final Fantasy 14's reach, I don't know what does. Sure, Morello has made appearances in videogames before—I've kicked his ass in Guitar Hero 3 and his songs have made an appearance in a handful of sports games—but making a song specifically for one is a whole other deal.
Without sounding too much like a "Videogame music ain't just yer beeps and bloops anymore!" writer, it's stuff like Final Fantasy 14 that redefine what videogame music is by enlisting such huge talent—diversifying its discography with tracks that beg to be listened to outside the confines of their creative intent. It breaks down the barriers between 'real' music and stuff penned for digital worlds, because if you had played Everything Burns to me without all of my Final Fantasy 14 knowledge, I never would have guessed the song was from a goddamn catboy-filled MMO. The gap is closing, and I freaking love it.