Ranking Every Final Fantasy Composer

Works: XIV

XIV continues to go from strength to strength as a revenue generator for Square-Enix, with major expansions dropping every two years to keep the player base hooked. Given that the game infamously bombed upon its initial release in 2010, its recovery has been somewhat miraculous and has given fans a soundtrack that now numbers more than 500 pieces of music in total.

When the game was re-launched as A Realm Reborn, the original soundtrack, which was a Nobuo Uematsu creation, was scrapped in favour of a new tracklist put together by Masayoshi Soken. Many of Uematsu’s creations have since been repurposed in various updates and the sheer volume of tracks has necessitated the employment of a few secondary composers, but Soken remains the game's driving force from a musical standpoint in his dual role as lead composer and sound director.

A Square-Enix employee since 1998, Soken predominantly worked on sports games before stepping up to the plate for XIV. Though most of his pieces have to be somewhat repetitive to suit the MMO’s ambience, he thrives at creating epic boss themes.

From Heavensward’s ‘Heroes Never Die’ to Stormblood’s ‘Fallen Angel’, Soken has continuously hit it out the park in creating enrapturing audial conclusions to epic quest lines.

XIV will likely remain his only focus for some time yet given its ongoing success, but nobody would be pushing for his replacement given the quality of his work anyway.