To celebrate the 5th anniversary of Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix held the “Eorzean Symphony” concert in Dortmund. Our Final Fantasy expert Irie attended the event and shares her impressions with you here.
Music has a strong influence on people’s memories and emotions. I notice it myself every time I hear music from one of my favorite games and immediately want to play the game again.
As a big fan of gaming music, visiting the FFXIV concert “Eorzean Symphony” was a must for me.
The concert itself was divided into two sections, each covering the music from the base game “A Realm Reborn” and the first expansion “Heavensward”.
Goosebumps, Tears, and Excitement
Different feeling than ordinary classical concerts: Video game concerts differ from their conservative siblings in one important aspect: The audience does not just come to these concerts to listen to beautiful music.
The familiar music from the game evokes memories of the beautiful, sad, and exciting moments that one could experience alone or with friends. This makes the experience all the more precious.
This nostalgia moved the audience to tears during the Eorzean Symphony concert of FFXIV. At the same time, there were also comments like “The music is really great, but God, that boss was annoying. Do you remember?”.
For many, it was a rollercoaster of emotions.
For fans and just music lovers: I, too, had to say goodbye to my makeup at the latest after the third piece “Breaking Boundaries” because I cried like a baby.
The piece played a significant role during the shutdown of Final Fantasy XIV 1.0, which I attended. It conveyed to me the perfect mixture of despair over the hopeless situation and the determination to keep fighting.
In addition to the music, scenes and cutscenes from Final Fantasy XIV depicting specific relevant story segments were shown on the big screen above the orchestra, which further enhanced the nostalgia effect.
But even spectators who had no emotional connection to Final Fantasy XIV were obviously moved. An older couple sitting behind me said after the concert that they were very impressed by the quality of the music and the audience’s reaction to it.
Relaxed Atmosphere
With jokes and good mood: The atmosphere of the concert was pleasantly relaxed. The show was conducted by Naoki Yoshida, the director of Final Fantasy XIV himself. Together with composer Soken and localization lead Koji Fox, Yoshida made jokes and spread good mood among the fans.
You could tell that the musicians of the “Neue Philharmonie Westfalen” orchestra initially didn’t really know what to do with the show and the unusual audience. Even the staff at the Dortmund concert hall said that “Eorzean Symphony” was the first video game concert held there.
However, after the first half and a lot of applause, the musicians visibly warmed up to the audience.
The conductor was something special: My personal highlight of the show was the conductor Alexandra Cravero.
She was incredibly energetic and almost constantly danced. You could tell she loves and lives this music. I found myself watching her more than the videos on the screen several times.
More Video Game Concerts Needed
Video game concerts have an audience: Eorzean Symphony is just one of the good examples of why we need more video game concerts. In recent years, their number has slowly but steadily increased.
Shows like “Video Games Live” by Tommy Tallarico or “The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses” show that there is indeed an audience for this type of entertainment.
Square Enix has been taking advantage of this fact for years with their countless Final Symphony and Distant Worlds concerts.
The quality of the music is high: I would also incredibly love to experience pieces like “Journey” from Destiny 2, “Ezio’s Family” from Assassin’s Creed, or “Ending Staff Roll” from Tales of Symphonia on a big stage.
Many great composers are now involved in the development of video games, from Nobuo Uematsu to Clint Mansell. They are talented men and women whose music belongs on stage. I therefore really hope that other big publishers will follow this trend and hold their own concerts.
I want to cry even more.
If you want to learn more about the composer of Final Fantasy XIV, read our interview with him:
Interview: From Chemistry Studies to Final Fantasy XIV Music to Record
