Like I said: this expansion is all about chill/ambient vibes. This is the song that plays in the final dungeon, very similar to Tu'Lia (it’s the same architecture). The harp and the dissonance sounds like you’re going through a maze (which fits cause this dungeon is absolutely a maze). The song is a lot of the same for a good while, until eventually the pan flute comes in, giving the song a windy, yet still empty vibe, then you bring in the aliens. And by that I mean a very strange synth noise that I absolutely love and it gives me more motivation to keep going through this very large dungeon.

This song might not seem like much, but neither does the area it plays in, and it fits perfectly. Promyvion is a void realm (in XI they call it Emptiness) that is basically the pinnacle of what is eating at the world. The creatures are strange, bug like soul things (if you’ve played XIV you’ll see the model on the moon), and the landscape is incomplete white plains. I love the looping backing track making you feel dizzy, the deep synth bass, and the main melody feeling familiar, but sorrowful.

My favorite zone! Al'Taieu is super cool. The zone has you walking on this flat, teal lake; strange pink architecture with a giant orange portal in the sky. The creatures are extremely alien, with a mix of some looking strangely concrete, others glowing rainbow neon. (and then another one being so hard that it takes several cheating methods to kill and keeps getting buffed to avoid this) The song drones on, with a very fun synthy melody. The entire thing is alien, and I absolutely love it. The zone and the song work together perfectly in tandem; the zone is made for the song, and the song is made for the zone.

We’re getting away from the strange and alien, and going towards something more grounded, yet still calm. I love the main wind instrument (I don’t think it’s a flute but it might be), as well as the sort of percussion (again not sure what instrument it is but it kinda fulfills that role) hitting in pairs of eighth notes, giving the song that beat that it needs without being too much. When the song rises more, bringing in the harp behind the main wind melody; it sounds beautiful. it sounds hopeful, it sounds free. This song really makes a strong impression, being the first new zone you enter in the expansion.

Finally! A battle theme! This is the battle theme that plays when you’re in a party, and with that big trill in the start, this feels like a war song. The horns feel triumphant, and then you get them into the main melody (which is so fun to listen to), hitting some high notes and taking sorts of steps down. I also love the flute repeating, spiraling downwards. The snare, tambourine (FFXI loves the fucking tambourine and I am here for it), and the timpani make perfect percussion to keep up that sort of battle vibe the song started with. Love this song.