I’ve been a dedicated Final Fantasy XIV player for ages and really love Masayoshi Soken’s music—hardly any tracks from XIV’s soundtrack don’t hit the mark for me. Because of that bias, I figured most Final Fantasy fans appreciated his work. But I recently saw some mixed opinions about him composing for Final Fantasy 17. I wanted to check in and see what the general feelings are about Soken’s compositions, especially from players who might only know his work through newer games like XVI and aren’t as influenced by XIV. What do people think about his style and should he keep composing for future mainline Final Fantasy titles?
5 Answers
Honestly, I think Soken is fantastic and a super talented composer. I adore his work on XIV, and even though he did great on XVI’s soundtrack, I’d be okay if he focused just on XIV moving forward. It might be cool to have someone else like Ishimoto take a shot at the mainline games to mix things up a bit.
I really enjoy Soken’s style, especially his thematic depth and variety in XIV’s music. That said, I kinda wish he’d just stick to XIV because the variety and creativity really shine there. XVI’s soundtrack was good, but it felt more restrained, like he had to fit a certain classical vibe, which wasn’t his full range. I’d love to see Yoko Shimomura or even Mitsuto Suzuki get a chance to compose for future mainline FF games—both are phenomenal composers.
Soken’s done amazing work, no doubt. He’s taken XIV’s soundtrack to legendary levels and did well on XVI given the specific direction he had to take. I think some criticisms come from the sheer volume of songs in his soundtracks—XVI had like 181 tracks, which means there’s bound to be some filler. I’d urge him to focus on quality over quantity. Also, him juggling XIV and XVI projects almost back to back sounds brutal, no wonder some tracks didn’t land perfectly. If he can get the space to craft without overload, we’ll get more gems.
From what I’ve seen, Soken is right up there with legends like Nobuo Uematsu and Keiichi Okabe. His music has evolved a lot, and expansions like Dawntrail really showcase his talent. But sometimes his OSTs feel formulaic with lots of variations on motifs across zones or characters. Honestly, I’d love if he got to lead a single-player mainline FF soundtrack with his full creative freedom — no holding back like in XVI.
I’m a bit more critical. I love some of Soken’s tracks, especially from XIV, but I found a lot of his XVI music to be forgettable or a bit too backgroundy. Some songs felt overused and didn’t stand out. Plus, I’m not a fan of mixing in the classic main theme and prelude too much throughout the soundtrack like XVI did—I prefer those being reserved mostly for credits or special moments. I really think Hamauzu or another composer would be a great choice to shake things up for future main entries.
Totally get that! Shimomura’s work is amazing, and different flavors can only help the series grow. It’d be awesome if Soken could pour all his energy into XIV, where he seems to thrive best.