MUSIC DIRECTOR REACTS | Answers - Final Fantasy XIV

Thank you Robin for the Patreon Request!

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-MY GEAR-

#finalfantasyxiv #Reaction #DrumRollTonyReacts

[DrumRollTonyReacts]

Thank you Robin for the patreon request!

[brandoor]

the ffxiv community will come, it is only a matter of time

[Forien]

I'm a simple man.
I hear Answers, I cry and I like.

[XelaShade]

Answer has 2 meanings,
You get the first meaning by starting the game
You get the second meaning by finishing the game

[ShikiRyougi]

Not only does this play in the final 1.0 cutscene but somehow they managed to incorporate it 10 years later into the story again but with a completely different meaning and context. To me this isn't just the best song from FFXIV but one of the best in all of video games due to it's importance to the story.

[ltmuffler]

This piece is context immortalized. It came with a cutscene that played when the servers for the game's original launch shut down. Narratively, it was the Bad End and an Armageddon the player characters had failed to prevent. But the context of the lyrics changed with the most recent expansion as a result of new insights about the setting and its origin. It was a prayer to Hydaelin asking why life was suffering, and interestingly enough, a decade later, you actually get the answer in the game's storyline.

[veradrost]

The game's context aside, this song speaks to me on a painful level. When I started playing this game about 4 years ago, I was in a dark place and questioning my reasons for living.
Why was I given live, only to suffer? What is it all for? What are my reasons for living? Why endure this pain?

Then this song comes around and just slaps you firmly in the face with all these reasons to live.

To make promises. To witness beauty. To feel emotions. To hear music. To listen to the tales of my elders. To follow in the footsteps of those before me.
To wander the earth in search of something new. To stumble, make mistakes, and learn. To teach what I have learned to others. To whisper sweet nothings to a loved one.
To value a gift I was given. To hope that tomorrow will be better. To ponder a fascinating topic. To welcome new people to my family.

I could go on and on and on.

I can't hold all these reasons for living, Hydaelyn, pls calm down.

[EmpyreanRagnarok]

The FFXIV OST is a can of worms that no one on music reaction Youtube is prepared to open. Uematsu's torch for this game was passed to Masayoshi Soken, a man who takes every genre of music as a challenge to surmount. His genre is "Yes." Uematsu you've got orchestral pieces and rock pieces. Off the top of my head, Soken's work on FFXIV includes those, punk, ska, electronic, metal, industrial, surfer rock, what I can only describe as 'whimsical Disney music', hip hop and probably a ton of other genres I'm forgetting. Every content drop for this game is a treat not just for the story that comes with it, but because we're always unwrapping a mystery box of "What has Soken decided this thing's theme should be?" He writes one of the game's most beautiful and powerful pieces while in the hospital with cancer, ad then at Fanfest after he recovers, he runs up on stage with an otamatone and then sings one of the game's songs so horrendously off key that another of the game's composers who was playing piano for this has her chin attempt to withdraw into her neck out of horror. The man is a chaotic mad genius.

[YunaLeow]

"No more shall men have wings to bear him to paradise. Henceforth, he shall walk."

The one single sentence that immortalised this song, along with FF14, into the gaming Hall of Fame

[nicespy]

The song by itself is great but the foley and other sound effects from the original video really enhances the song, in my opinion. The dragon roar, the shields hitting each other, the giant fire ball getting closer, everything. The song is also altered a bit to fit with the drops in the original cinematic, so I can understand why, as a musical analysis channel, you would prefer to breakdown the pure song version, but you do miss a bit of the impact the original cinematic has.

[tickledpickle]

6:18 Susan Calloway (The female singer, and 'voice of Hydaelyn' in this song) is Answering the choir.
15:00 It's actually the reverse here. It's the choir answering to Susan. to Hydaelyn, the very world they call home.
That second part, is the people's answer to Hydaelyn. That even through this chaos, this unparalleled destruction. They WILL find a way to go on.

[Xagzan]

I wasn't ready for Answers either the first time I heard it. Still utterly stirred in spirit every time I hear it, even more so thinking of the memories of the game itself.

[Stickarms]

"In the same fleeting moment, thou must live, die, and know". I absolutely love that line so much, it's such a perfectly ominous yet thought-provoking line to end such an intense piece of music with.

One thing I really love about Answers (along with a lot of other music from FFXIV, for that matter), is that you don't really need any lore or story context to be able to appreciate their lyrics. They're open-ended enough to where a person who knows nothing about Final Fantasy can listen to it and interpret meaning behind them. The lyrics play more into the themes and morals behind the game's story, rather than the specifics of the story itself.

You can figure out without any prior knowledge that this song is a lament of life itself. The suffering that it necessarily includes, the death that it inevitably ends with, and questioning the reason or point behind all of it. Why do we even live if our lives are destined from the start for suffering and death? The name "Answers" is not referring to the song actually answering these questions; it's the people of a world demanding answers from whatever higher power may or may not even be listening, and finding none of the answers they beg for.

FFXIV seems pretty lighthearted and whimsical from the outside, but it tackles a lot more dark and heavy themes than you'd probably expect.

[banggugyangu]

Spoiler free context: Answers is a dialogue between Hydaelyn, the Goddess of Eorzea, and the people that live there. With their lives being rife with suffering, the cry out for answers to the question, "Why, given life, are we meant to suffer, to die?". Hydaelyn's answers are her faith in mankind to seek light in darkness, joy in sadness, and in the deepest despair, fund hope, everlasting.

[kay]

The fact this song was 10 years old and the way it was utilised in the most recent expansion is actually peak. Ff14 has an amazing story

[trifontrifonov]

Whats even more impressive that they took this complete masterpiece and started writing the plot based on the themes of the song. So this song both began and ended a story told over 10 real time years.

You can break a ff14 player by just singing to them: "thou must live, die and know"

Oh and now you have opened a box of a decade of incredible music you can make videos on. Personal favourites "Scream" and "Dragonsong".

[ShakeyMac]

"Dragon Warrior."

And with that, Tony proved he was indeed from the old school.

[SuperTacocat]

Oh man, Tony, you just opened a can of worms. Prepare for the FFXIV requests to Flow.

Important context about the vocals is that they represent a prayer. The people petition their goddess, asking why life is only hardship. She responds, telling them they must decide. The first call and response features the male vocals lamenting over their woes while she responds with things they don't understand. But, progressively, their prayer becomes more positive, and they begin to live with more conviction, upon which they reach a unanimous conclusion with their goddess.

In the second verse, the goddess speaks from her perspective, regarding her own hardships. Only once the people understand the value in their lives can they be receptive to what she needs from them. The second call and response flips the vocals, such that the people have achieved the conviction to answer their own question. Thus, they harmonize to deliver a conclusion: That only in life and death--rapture and sorrow, but also the dreams and conviction that come with them--may you find the answer to existence.

[timelessninja]

It's one of those songs where you listen to it and you're like, this is amazing, then you beat the game and now you cry every time you hear it.

[justinleach]

Oh no, we’re doing Answers? Getting the popcorn ready