Music of Final Fantasy XVI

Masayoshi Soken (pictured 2016) was the main composer for Final Fantasy XVI

Having worked for a long time on Final Fantasy XIV, which used multiple styles and paid homage to the entire series, Soken had trouble adjusting to composing for a single-player with a central narrative and musical tone.[7] The guidelines for the score were "epic", "dark fantasy" and "preferably classic".[8] Soken described the music as having a singular direction inspired by the overall dark fantasy setting, contrasting it against the variety and lighter tunes for XIV.[5] So as to stop the music becoming disjointed, tracks reused a number of leitmotifs for consistency.[9] To fit in with the darker theme, Yoshida wanted the score created with a live orchestra.[4] Rather than using a single instrument or motif for the soundtrack, the music was written based on the locations it would be used.[10]

Soken talked extensively with Maehiro about the score and matching it to the narrative's progress and themes.[11] Initially asked to provide 140, the game's final total was over 200 songs, including variations on established character themes. He attributed the large number of songs to the wide variety of characters and situations, wanting to avoid repeating the same music too often.[5] There were also a number of individual tracks for cutscenes to match the mood, rather than relying too much on character theme arrangements.[4] Imamura and Ishikawa were fairly new arrivals, brought onto the project in early 2020 and working closely with Soken on their contributions.[12] Keiko arranged several songs and themes for piano at Soken's request.[4]

To ease music production, Soken created a dedicated sound engine for the PlayStation 5 environment.[4] Dubbed the "Mini-Soken", the sound engine could edit and arrange music in real-time, adjusting a music's speed and volume based on a player's in-game actions. Soken wanted a system like this in place as many battles started seamlessly from real-time cutscenes, and he wanted the music to match that smooth transition.[12] Soken and Imamura worked together on implementing the sound engine, with its implementation indirectly causing the number of in-game tracks to increase to account for variations and player progress. Soken, Imamura and Ishikawa stayed together late into music production, adjusting the sound design and musical volume until close to release.[8]

Creating a main theme was difficult as the game's story lacked a smaller narrative focus and instead covered large-scale events and characters. Instead multiple themes were given equivalent weight, emphasising different characters' importance.[13] Two themes remembered by Soken were "Find the Flame" and "Away", associated respectively with brothers Clive and Joshua Rosfield when they transformed into the Eikons Ifrit and Phoenix. "Find the Flame" was written as an energetic and consistent track, while "Away" was intended to be sad due to the scene where Joshua first transforms.[4] Soken later defined "Away" as a pillar piece for the soundtrack, while "Find the Flame" was originally created for a trailer and incorporated into the game at Imamura's request.[8] Heroine Jill Warrick's theme, a slower vocal piece called "My Star", was played in full during the ending and arranged as an orchestral version called "My Lady" for a specific cutscene.[6][9] When writing the battle themes, as with the rest of the score, Soken kept common musical elements for consistency with battle tracks sharing the same melody.[9] Due to the gameplay being action-based and not using separate battle arenas, field themes had different versions for when the player was exploring, approaching an enemy, and transitioning into battle to avoid jarring music changes.[4]

To create a sombre tone, male choir was used frequently, especially for tracks involving the Eikons, the game's version of recurring summoned monsters. With a notable exception, the Eikon themes were written in a classical style, with a focus on strings and brass instruments.[10] That exception was the battle theme for Titan, which used a rock music style.[4] Soken wrote that theme and put it into the game in secret, with the staff agreeing to keep it as they felt it fit the battle.[10] Another theme with a different style was a battle against the monster Typhon, which Imamura created using electronic dance music. Several of the Eikon themes were references to their respective character's narratives and themes, such as Dion Lesage and his Eikon Bahamut being themed around tragedy and nobility.[4]

Vocal lyrics were written for some themes at Soken's request.[14] These songs were recorded relatively early in the music production, and ran into trouble with recording due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the company did not have reliable remote recording set up. The English versions of songs were recorded first, and Soken had trouble matching them due to different pitches and keys. When recording the Japanese versions, Soken had the song recorded by members of the company's sound team.[4] The lyrics were written by Maehiro, and localization team members Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and John Taylor.[6][15] One of the notable vocal tracks was the Victory Theme, which was usually orchestral. To create a sense of otherness without using a made-up language, the lyrics were translated into Ancient Greek.[14] The translation was done by Tomislav Milković.[6] One recalled episode from the music writing was a bardic song performed both in spoken and sung form by a trained singer and actor that would change depending on Clive's position in the story. The songs proved difficult as they needed localizing in several languages and recording a cappella, which resulted in issues with the pitch and tempo.[16] Song vocals were performed by Soken, Fox, Amanda Achen, and Takashi Baba.[6]

Several recurring themes created by Nobuo Uematsu were arranged for the score.[6][11] A recurring problem with the music was that the sombre tone clashed with several of these reused tracks.[11][9] The Prelude, a recurring theme, was a challenge for Soken to include due to being originally written in a major key. To match the tone Yoshida wanted, Soken reworked the Prelude into a minor key.[11] The "Victory Theme" was also included and rewritten to have a dark tone using a male choir. The Victory Theme was reworked nearly thirty times during production, with Soken calling his initial draft for it "absolutely terrible".[17] A problematic track to include was the recurring "Chocobo" theme, which had an established light and playful tone. Rather than a full track, it was included as a short jingle.[5] Several original themes also referenced pieces from earlier Final Fantasy games.[4]

The theme song, "Tsuki Wo Miteita – Moongazing", was written and performed by Kenshi Yonezu.[18] It was co-arranged by Yonezu and Yuta Bandoh.[19] Both Yonezu and Yoshida expressed pleasure and enthusiasm at the collaboration, as each was a fan of the other's work.[18] Yonezu, a long-time fan of the series, was excited about Final Fantasy XVI when it was announced and voiced a wish to write the theme song for it. His staff contacted Square Enix about a collaboration, and Yoshida reached out to Yonezu and asked him to participate in creating the theme song while the game was still in development rather than rushing closer to release.[20] Yonezu and Yoshida talked frequently during the song's creation, with Yoshida giving updates on the game's progress and content.[21] Yonezu both read the script, and saw cutscenes at various stages of development.[22] Contrasted with his earlier songs which pleased a heavy focus on pop and lacked an emphasis on the associated narrative, Yonezu created the theme to heavily reference the narrative and have a less pop-style instrumentation.[20]

Yonezu wanted to create a song that would offer hope for the game's main protagonist Clive, as he wanted him to have a happy ending after going through a harsh life.[21] Describing the writing process, Yonezu created the initial demo based on what he had been told about the story, revising the text and tone as he played through a pre-release version. The song's tone was adjusted to match Clive's potential feelings at the game's ending; while he destroys Valisthea's Mothercrystals to provide a better future and gains a kind of freedom, he also bears the guilt of ending a way of life and bringing hardship to the world.[20] He summarised this feeling as "a sense of salvation and a kind of grudge that would never be healed".[21] As the game's story focuses on Clive and his brother Joshua, the song was originally about that perspective. Talking with Yoshida, Yonezu felt Jill was unrepresented, so the song ended up focusing on their relationship, with the lyrics referencing the full moon both see in the sky during the ending. The title was originally provisional, but as development ended, he decided to make it the official name.[20]

The official soundtrack album, Final Fantasy XVI Original Soundtrack, was released physically and digitally on July 19, 2023, through Square Enix's music label. The physical edition came in a standard seven-disc release, and an eight-disc "Ultimate Edition".[23] A small promotional album featuring six tracks from the album, Final Fantasy XVI Original Soundtrack Prelude, was released on July 6 the same year.[24] The track "Find the Flame" was released in June ahead of the game's release.[23] The album includes 199 tracks covering most of the game's music, with some tracks being composites of multiple smaller pieces.[8] Reviewers of the game praised the soundtrack.[25][26][27][28][29]

The theme song "Tsuki Wo Miteita – Moongazing" (月を見ていた) was released as a digital single on online stores and streaming platforms on June 19, 2023. The single featured a cover created by Yonezu featuring a wolf based on the character Torgal.[19] A music video for the song was released on July 6. Directed by Osrin of the music group Perimetron, the video features three overlapping narratives matched to the song's tone.[34]

The single was a commercial success upon release, with Oricon recording over 31,000 downloads over two weeks and ranking first in its singles chart. It was the thirteenth number one single for Yonezu, and tying with Yoasobi for highest-selling solo single.[35] Over its first two days of release, the single ranked first on all major distribution sites across daily and real-time rankings.[36] In an article on the single's release, Billboard described the song as "a moving number with deeply layered sound and emotional vocals".[37] Adam Klayl of Push Square described the song as "a pretty grim offering" which fitted in with the game's dark tone.[38]