Ohhhhh my god. This was probably the first song that really caught my attention when I first started playing the game, which a first area should do! I love La Noscea and this song is half of the reason why. Something about that first melody and the sound of the strings; it’s amazing. This song goes through multiple different phases. The intro feels grand, starting off your adventure, then it feels like you’re running around the hills of Middle La Noscea; then it feels like a party in a tavern, people loudly cheering and having fun and toasting their barrel mugs of mead, finally calming down in a windy, spiraling, chaotic way to move to something befitting the night, with this amazing mystical finale turning into the sun rising and starting the song over. This song DEFINES La Noscea and the people’s lives in it. Musically, I love the percussion, I love the strings, I love the bagpipes, I love the choir towards the end; this song was the first hook that this game put in my head.

The only reason that this song is not higher, is that it’s Too Goddamn Short. One minute long. But this one minute? Pure emotion. Pure joy. This is the song that plays at the end of the ARR cinematic trailer, but also at the end of the campaign. This song is both a finale, but also as it says, a dawn, a new beginning. The short, plucky start building you up, letting the dialogue occur or to put you back into place after some massive, world ending event. Then the horns come in blasting cheer at you, and one of the most fun bass tracks I’ve ever heard. The choir shouts at you with the main theme of the entire series, the orchestra plays the prelude, and the entire song plays off with the fucking victory theme. Every single sound in this entire song is amazing, and the way it’s composed, the emotion behind the melodies in game, but also for the series as a whole, this is triumph and victory incarnate. When I heard them use this melody later on in Myths of the Realm? Dude I swear I teared up at every song. I still tear up at this song when I hear it. WHY CAN’T IT BE LONGER GODDAMMIT I PUT IT ON LOOP LIKE 7 TIMES BEFORE I’M SATISFIED

LEVIATHAN, LEVIATHAN! LEVIATHAN, LEVIATHAN! My favorite summon. My favorite primal. This song is absolutely perfect for what it is, while keeping that rock that XIV is now known for. I can’t really explain it, but the guitar riffs SOUND like a storm at sea. They sound like violent, crashing waves. The lyrics are coming straight from the Sahagin chanting and praying for their lord; “Endless! Send us! Breathless! Deathless! Restless! Test us! Tend us! Mend us!”, this song sounds like everything is going against you, both the weather and the people all around you. As a song? IT FUCKING ROCKS. The rhythm of the whole thing is a headbanger, and my absolute favorite part is right after the second loop of the chorus, the SWELL, YE SEAS OF OLD section (this is so much easier to place specific parts with the lyrics), it sounds like a modernized surf rock jam, the lyrics are really fun to sing along to (once you understand them), and it’s just an absolute joy. I wish this song played the entire time so it made farming all the Leviathan weapons less painful. (WHITE FUUUUURYYYYYYY, BLINDING INDIGOOOOOOOOO)

Can you tell I’m a Limsa Lominsa bitch? All of my favorite songs come from this area lmao. I feel like this spot really goes to every song in Titan’s fight; On Westerly Winds was where the soundtrack hooked me, but Under the Weight is where I realized this soundtrack was Built Different. Heavy rock in my fantasy RPG? What the fuck??? The heavy drums throughout the entire song, the guitar rocking out, and the vocals screaming and chanting at you, this song is a headbanger through and through, but shows you the intensity of this fight. Kobolds all around you jumping and beating their fists, chanting for their god while Titan slams and knocks you around. This song sounds like an earthquake, and I mean, come on, rock for the rock monster? Absolutely yes. I feel like I’m bouncing for the whole song, with the way the drums beat, but also when the lyrics go solo, saying more than just the “BOWDOWNOVERDWELLER TITAN!”, and those are definitely my favorite parts. I also love midway through, with the echoey fading out yelling to the really cool like, pipey sounding guitar. I feel like I’m just gonna keep repeating myself, but it’s not hard to see why this song is so amazing. (INTO THE DARK OF AN ENDLESS NIGHT WHERE THE PULSE OF THE LAND OFFERS NO RESPITE)

I feel like everyone knows Under the Weight, it’s mandatory content. We all know how good that song is. But you know what not as many people have done? The Binding Coils of Bahamut. This is the song of the final boss in the Second Coils, aka the fight against the main villain of the game leading up to Bahamut exploding everything. This song is also one of the few XIV songs that Uematsu did, and it feels like he took the soul of IX and brought it into the modern era. It has the rock, it has the synth, it even has the souls of the damned again! The intro is incredible, with the heavy hits and the guitar riffs alongside the SHHHHHEEEEEWWWWWWWW synth sounds. The piano/organ playing off right before the song hard stops, bringing in these haunting wails and the classic “Hear. Feel. Think” Hydaelyn chant; then it goes hard again. The drums slam. The guitars shred. The terror truly begins. The song builds up further and further with one of my favorite synth sounds EVER. This sounds like you’re facing off against an absolutely demonic evil (which you are!), and the wailing coming back playing along side everything???? DUDE. HOLY FUCK. The build up in this whole song goes absolutely insane, but when it actually starts going is incredible too. I’ve pretty much already said my praises for every instrument used in this song, and the rest is just going to be me repeating it. I love all the melodies, I love the heavy off beats, and I just love the jamming from both the rock and techno ends. This is The Black Mages all over again.