"No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise. Henceforth, he shall walk." That line gets me every freaking time. Such eloquent yet powerful writing.
What blows my mind the most of Answers is that they couldn't possibly know what it would mean by EW. It was written for the end of 1.0, when they just had very tight time to not only fix a dumpster fire of a game but make it anew, not to say that the main scenario writer for ShB and EW wasn't the one also in charge of 1.x's and ARR's storyline. And yet, _and yet,_ they took this already incredible and powerful song and turned it into so much more. Answers is the cries of the people living through the 7th Umbral Calamity AND the cries of the Ancients as the Final Days come. Answers is Hydaelyn comforting Eorzea that the 7th Astral Era will soon come AND Hydaelyn telling us that we must stand before the sorrow and the pain and finally stop the Final Days. This song is 1.0 and 2.0 and Coils and EW, all at the same time, and every single time is as powerful and meaningful as the first time we saw Bahamut come down from Dalamud, if not even more.
@@MarcoMeatball Another thing that might be worth mentioning is that the song is to this day meant to be ambiguous as to who is about. Its not just the ancients, but also the people that suffered the 7th Umbral Calamity, and whoever suffers of despair and anguish. Its supposed to give lie to the biases of Emet-Selch. Its supposed to say 'no, we are not so different. Our suffering is the same, our tales are the same, our pain and despair and the things we want to protect are the same'. Its supposed to show that the hypocrisy of Emet-Selch is that of inflicting 7 Final Days upon the people that the Ancients at large, even the shades he recreated, consider as their children. Emet spent 12.000 years believing his own biased lie about the world and its state because it allowed him to excuse and rationalize his stagnancy of his own coping process. He was stuck in a denial and anger limbo for thousands of years until we force him to accept that his people are gone and that the world they want to bring is no longer a possibility.
Answers is so amazing you can feel and hear both the Dread and the hope within the singers voice bringing what this song means to life in ways that i didnt think possible
that walk that Venat took while suffering in unimaginable pain in her every step and what it actually means hit me so hard that I literally cried. Even now tears are still threatening to fall. One of the most impactful scenes I have watched for sure. You can finally rest, Venat. We will take it from here.
Means so much knowing she watched and felt every calamity, every rejoining, and the suffering of all those people she couldn't help and then weakening, straining herself to do all she could, painfully clinging on. Hits deeper knowing during the cinematic she was going through all that once again. Atleast now she can rest and let the world take care of itself in the future.
Same thing, I still get chocked up just thinking about this scene, one of the most powerful moment in gaming for me, helped by all the years of story that preceded it.
I am surprised you did not talk about how Hydaelyn literally completes the message she has been sending us for so long in her fight. "Hear...The song of Creation's end. Feel...The sorrow at Hope's demise. Think...and find your way in the darkness" I think that would have fit together with the whole message of answers and thus worth mentioning.
@@MarcoMeatball Of course! and it was amazingly well put togheter. Just wanted to mention this part as it hit heavy for me when we finaly got the answers for the meaning of her words.
As one of the unfortunate few that began to doubt the validity of Hydaelyn's words, to lose faith in her, it hit so hard seeing her story as Venat come to an end. Facing her finally, for the last time, in the Mothercrystal, I pictured myself and my character falling to our knees before the very being we'd come to no longer trust, after she had set us on our path and led us to do amazing things... She knew that people would curse her had they known she was the reason for all the pain and suffering, and She knew that we might even curse her as well, if she had told us all of this sooner. But, like us, she carried out, walked, stumbled and even crawled to where we met her face to face, and bested her: Proving to her that we could do what she did, what no one else could. I've enjoyed every second of your series going over the music from FFXIV, a game that I have been playing for nigh 4 years, starting my journey at the release date of 4.4, Stormblood. You've been able to put into words things I've felt while listening to these songs during my own journey, and that's beautiful... and I am immensely grateful. To you, to Soken, to Yoshida-san, to Hydaelyn, and to Zhira, my WoL. Thank you.
The lines that say "Our souls have been torn and our bodies forsaken" always struck me as some kind of complain like, "how could WE have been forgotten". After playing Shadowbringers that line immediately clicked, for me those words are theirs, those who started everything.
That moment really gets me. That's the moment she knew for certain that history could not be rewritten, and that all she could do was place her faith in the future, in us.
Yeah, I have to say, during the Hydaelyn trial I loudly yelled “OH NO WAY, ANSWERS” when Your Answer started, and as soon as that first voice sang “Witness” I nearly had to take a break, it hit me so hard.
Hydaelyn's monologue still makes me well up to this day. The closing of the "Answers" dialogue was a master stroke that could never have been possible without an incredible amount of coordination from such talented people. There are few fantasy experiences that can feel so real, even with the benefits of the medium.
OOOOOHHHH….. you actually analyzed it. This is legitimately, one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. It wasn’t a glorious victory, or a grand celebration…… ITS FFXIV SWAN SONG…… a final goodbye. Thank you for this. It made me remember why MUSIC is so important in gaming….
Answers is the epitome of why music, and in this case video games, is SO important and how it can serve as an intensely powerful tool at delivering a message. It can set the exact mood needed to exact all facets of emotion that wrack our lives; fear, despair, stillness, anger, uncertainty, longing, hope, etc. Answers gives us just that, the answers to which all people will struggle with at some point in their life. There is no escaping the grasp of negative emotion, but it is in spite of that emotion that we can still push forward toward a new tomorrow. The cutscene of "Thou must Live, Die, and Know" is so incredibly powerful it's hard to put into words, especially when one has processed the message it's delivering unto the player after such an arduously long adventure. The message of Answers was particularly impactful to myself, as I've been through numerous hardships that have significantly impacted my life to the point of almost ending it. To hear that to live is to suffer, and that in spite of that suffering there is beauty in the mortality we have truly brings comfort unthought of to many of us dealing with such a burden. Upon hearing the song for the first time I cried, and upon seeing the above mentioned cutscene, I bawled, but out of happiness of the message delivered. It makes such a big difference, and I'm so glad to have heard it. Amazing job with the analysis Marco. We need more stuff like this in the world.
"To look to those who walked before to lead those who walk after" It really is starting to feel like were seeing the pass of a baton between the old FF creators to the new guard
The part about Answers that really gets me... is that all of the "answers" we are given to the question are verbs. Things to do. Things to become. We are here to perform. Our purpose lies in action, not inaction. And that the experience of life is more important than even the mere act of living, for we are meant to live, die, but (most importantly), know. I liked this song when I listened to it the first time. But I love it even more as time goes on.
"Thou Must live, die and know"... This was something that was haunting me for a very, very long time. This song itself was an enigma at first for me. But the more I progressed in the story the more I understood it. This song is for me our companion, the one who's been here from start and when we finally understand it... He goes off. What a truly masterpiece of a video you made. I would love to see it on dragonsong who's full of lore.
Well I just sat here and ugly cried through about 80% of the video. Also I really love how Answers still remained not only relevant but CENTRAL to XIV's storyline despite the reboot, all the changes in leadership, and even the shift from Uematsu to Soken. I feel like the team really did a fantastic job working with what they had, and giving us a game that remained consistent, feels like a golden age FF (at least in my humble opinion) and at the end of the day is an encouragement/inspiration to us to push forward through the darkness in our real lives, and find joy and light, and even to better appreciate those moments. Anyways cheers for making this video!!
Answers is a 'climbing vine'. Like sure, you can give someone a blank slate magic fantasy and say 'go nuts' but it's rich to have a framework to work with, to work against, and work around. And clearly, Answers was that.
This song easily can go into the Video Game Music Hall of Fame. I didn't play FF14 back then, but when I first heard this song and first saw this cinematic, I got chills. I could feel the emotion in this song. After going back and finding out the significance of this scene and the story and stories the players had leading up to this. Learning the what this meant, not just to the players, but to the staff that worked on this game. It's transcends into something beyond just a cinematic for a video game. It becomes an amazing piece of art. I love this song, even though I don't play the game. I still go back once in a while to listen to it. I find this song so beautiful. It still gives me chills.
Ah, I was there for the fall and all I got was this tattoo and chocobo. All jokes aside, it's a moment I won't forget. Watching everything end with my fellow adventurers until that message popped up. I honestly had no idea that a song in a game could have such a lasting impact on me and to this day I just can't let go of that moment. To an outside viewer, it'll sound silly to speak about a game like it changed your life. But the funny part is, it did. It helped me understand that something that comes from "just a video game" isn't actually just about said video game. It's about art.
The line that always jumps out at me is "Judgment binds all we hold to a memory of scorn." Meteion's judgment of the meaningless cruelty of Existence, Hermes's scorn for the callous indifference of the Ancients to the suffering of the life they create and destroy on a whim - and his decision to hold a Determination to judge mankind's fitness to exist.
Every time I hear Answers it brings tears. without fail. It's that powerful. It's a bardcore rock ballad with opera mixed in. When Answers played during Venat's post sundering walk I couldn't continue playing for quite a while, it just completely broke me.
Beautifully spoken. The reveal of what this song meant after so MANY years is a masterpiece of storytelling. You can't simply experience this level of foreshadowing and profound emotional revelation in written works or other media. It's the combination of written storytelling and emotive master crafted music that combines into a few fleeting moments, those moments of revelation and understanding spread across literal years of playing this games storyline. They all flow together and become one and reveal the secret in a beautiful experience that has changed the lives of millions. This is a work of artistry that deserves to be remembered as a classic, one of the masterpieces of our time.
It really is amazing just how much emotional weight they managed to wrap into one song. This is a great overview and analysis of just how they did it. Answers gets me emotional every single time I hear it. This video was no exception.
Venat's walk is one of, if not the, best moments of the whole franchise, not just 14. The presentation, the music, the monologue, all placed perfectly. What is ironic, is that many FF fans still don't consider this game a true FF game.
When I realized that when Bahamut first breaks out, the chous is asking, and Hydaelyn is answering. The last time they have this exchange, it's Hydaelyn asking, and the choir answering. A small detail that adds to the emotional intensity.
I think my favorite thing about Answers is that, on its surface, it's a song asking questions, but once the player has been through the story, you realize it told us the answer right from the start. Hermes asks, "What is the meaning of life?" Per the lyrics, "Answer, answer, answer together."
Oh so one small thing from the Mothercrystal fight that ties into the music, during the intermission phase she in dialog actually finishes the 'think...' 'feel...' statements that we've heard since the beginning, essentially answering the fact that Answers asks 'think what? feel what?'
Very few pieces of media manage to cause me to bawl my eyes out, when Answers came back during the 6.0 MSQ, man that was an emotional sucker punch I did not expect.
I find it remarkable how beautifully this song was re-contextualized again and again. Often, you have songs written to go along with a story, but this was more a case where the story was, in part, written to go along with the song, and it just works so beautifully. One could almost say that Answers is to the story of FFXIV itself, as Hydaelyn is to the WoL, and that makes it hit all the harder. When Answers was first written, there's no way even those who made it could have known what it would become.
One thing about the primals is the vocals always allude to them somehow: like sophia’s theme being about her version of equlibrium. So I love how Answers can be about multiple peoples: it starts with bahamut and the dragons, with the male chorus suggesting those chained by the allagans to suffer the same fate as bahamut - never able to die, only able to offer prayer to power dalamud. As we later learn, the dragons are guests on the star, and so represent a people separate from those of the sundered. Then we hear it again as hydalyn’s theme, and it becomes about us and the ancients. Despite the dragons not being from the star, they still are recognized as a people of the star and get the same answer from hydalyn as they suffer with the other peoples of ethyris.
Every time I hear Answers now tears start, because I know the weight of this song. These words. After Venat's walk I needed to take a break because the culmination of what I saw in the story up to that moment to the bridge being connected to the past...yeah that broke me.
I'm not gonna lie, I cry when I listen to this song. It's damn powerful even before EW gave it extra context, but just being generally older since ARR gave us this and having faced more hardships in life, yeah, this is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time because it helps me when I'm depressed a lot tbh. It just moves something in my heart, and I appreciate it.
It's crazy how EW recontextualized Answers. 1.0 ended with Answers, and then they brought it all the way back around for EW. I only started playing the game shortly before ShB launched, but I listened to Answers an unhealthy number of times. The way they used it in Venat's walk shook me to my core.
While 1.x ended with Answers, not many seem to realize that 1.0 also STARTED with Answers. They didn't write the song for that cinematic, it's been there from the very beginning. It's so incredible what the team has been able to transform it into. If 1.0 hadn't been such a trash fire, the puzzle of the song likely would have been resolved after only a couple expansions just like they did with FF11's Memoro De La Stono and it wouldn't have been anywhere near as powerful or beautiful as it ended up becoming.
This might genuinely be one of your best videos. Since I started playing in 2013, this has been one of my absolute favorite songs in the game and your analysis is so perfect.
I love how absolutely ethereal the 1.0 echo is and how it always, without fail, makes the hairs on my body stand up on end. Such a powerful introduction to this song, and a powerful end to 1.0 . It's the sole reason I'd have wanted to play then, to just experience the end of that era of FFXIV. To have that in full context.
Right now they are having a celebration for the 10th anniversary of ARR ... was in Limsa tonight and up on the top deck there's a faint, haunting version of Answers playing during the fireworks show. Chilling but in a beautiful way.
Venat's promise cutscene is the only time we hear Answers in its totality in the game. When it is used to fight Bahamut in T13, the ending choral section is not used, and there are shortened sections in the End of an Era cutscene. The song has meant many things to the community - those fighting in the Calamity, the dragons suffering at the hands of man, those facing colonial oppression - but the ability to showcase the entire piece, and From the Ashes when Venat confronts the Ancients, really reinforces the new use as an all-encompassing viewpoint of the song. How did they make Answers more powerful, more meaningful, and better after all these years?! A song that was composed for 1.0!
Yup and I have been in the game since 1.0 alpha, what a journey 😉As sad as it was that 1.0 ended, its beautiful to see how the game evolved into what it is now. Such is life eh?
I cry every time I see the opening cinematic, so you can imagine how hard Endwalker broke me. What a sublime use of music that ties the entire arc of the game together and brings up every bit of emotion from the struggles along the way.
I've played this game since the very beginning. Yet still, Answers will always give me goosebumps. But the transition in Coils, when Bahamut uses megaflare, still sticks with me to this day.
I think that's why a lot of people don't think of God or Christ until they are in "Deepest despair". He is Light Everlasting. The song is amazing, and bringing it full circle from 1.0 through ARR and tying it up with EW is just very beautifully done. 1.0 players had no Answers, only the questions. How haunting it must have been to hear the Answers echo overhead with doom on the horizon. 2.0, you can broadly apply it to the current calamity of Bahamut, but there are still things mysterious about it... "Now open your eyes, while our plight is repeated." - We know there have been calamities so at that point, it'd be that cyclical thing. "Still deaf to our cries, lost in hope we lie defeated" - Deaf to our cries? Who? Hydaelyn? Or now, perhaps Zodiark who has not restored paradise. And how can one be "Lost in hope"? The hope of returning to the lost paradise - that will never be again. Only in the lens of 6.0 do we see it for what it is. "Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken bearing sins of the past for our future is taken" - The 13 shards, Souls torn, the bodies of the Ancients Sundered. The sins of the past - theirs, and the future they hoped for taken with it. "To all of my children in whom life flows abundant. To all of my children in whom death hath passed his judgement." - I think that is Venat/Hydaelyn. She does love, so fully. She bore a terrible burden for the hope of the future. "Shining is the lands light of judgement, ever flows the lands' well of purpose... Walk free.... Walk free... Walk Free... believe... The land's alive so believe." - There is something to this life, the fact we have it - that the flowers grow and we are here - there is your proof of greater things. Walk free to the path before you, seize it.
It still blows me away that the entire premise of the game up to the end of 6.0 is contained in Answers. Having beaten Endwalker I see Answers in a whole different way now. Incredible.
Everytime I hear this song, teardrops will always fall down to my cheeks.. The final Venat cutscene was, surprised, but the meaning behind is... wow.. When I finally fought Hydaelyn and heard "Your Answer", I couldn't focus on the raid at all, and kept crying, especially when she called "Hear, Feel, Think.." during phase 2. It stuck me deep, and hard. The story of FFXIV 1.0 to Endwalker is truly a masterpiece.
I love your analysis. You seem very familiar with and passionate about the game which sets this far above most analysis videos, why have are usually blind speculation. Thank you for making this.
watching this, the memories i have with this game all came at once, so much joy, sadness, and anger all at once, but above all, love. Love for a game, a world, and a people. Love for a journey that can still continue. Love born amidst a pandemic of despair. I have lived this game. I have felt the death of beloved characters. I now know my purpose in Eorzea. It is as a beacon of light for those who walk after. A light everlasting.
Great video as always Marco! I am happy that you took a look at both Answers and Your Answer. They really are the bookends to Hydaelyn's story. I was watching a cutscene the other day and realized that the music playing during was a leitmotif of Answers. It is really interesting how some of the major musical themes developed for 2.0 are interwoven throughout the game in places that you would not necessarily look for them.
Ever since I finished Endwalker, I have absolutely adored the fact that the primary lesson of the entire ten year story arc winds up being the knowledge that it is fundamentally impossible to know joy without also knowing sorrow. It is such a deep truth that it is part of our lives here in reality too. If the Ancients had been able to continue as they were, they would have gone the way of all the other worlds that our dear little bird friend and her sisters saw. Venat saved not only her world and its remaining shards, but she also saved the future of the entire universe, even if it hurt unbearably to have to do it.
Im certainly going to die from dehydration with all the crying i do for the characters and the music. This was a beautiful video of the song and what it means to the entirety of ffxiv. Thank you for the great work and passion you put into this. 💖
This song transcends the game, I was going through probably one of the worst times in my life when Endwalker came out. I remember reaching the Venat scene and I had to take a break from the game after. For the first time, art made me feel so overwhelmed that I had to have a break to process it. Even now when I feel down I remember the words, our purpose is to find strength where all strength has left us, to find joy when darkness descends and to look for that everlasting light in the darkness. That helps me get back up. Soken/Uematsu and the whole team at Square are masters of their art and I can never give them enough praise for what they accomplished in the story. Thank you for the video, incredible as always and your insights always bring new meanings to the art.
Thank you for sharing. As you might know endwalker and my playthrough came at a time when I was mourning and continue to mourn the loss of my father. This game has helped me so much. Thank you for sharing your story.
I cried a lot when i heard this song, knew its meanings. For a long time i wondered who's will dragged up under. But the tears were never out of sadness but something that made me wanna go on.
Answers has been making me cry for the better part of a decade now. I only wish I hadn't been scared away from 1.0 before the end so I could have witnessed this in person.
Basically, entire later plot is written around this song, which is quite unique way to do it. "For those we lost, for those we can yet save." Looking for answers is repeately used for every main character substory.
So im on at 7:14 of this video but i feel like i should share that i can already tell you know and love this song as much as I do. I've been playing the game for 3 years (Late Stormblood) and the person that got me into the game forced me to watch the Answers opening cinematic. I didn't know what I was watching but the song, I later learned was Answers moved me a drummer of 20 years to absolute tears and it still does to this day through Endwalker. That opening fill into half time is not only simplistic but so so powerful. I'm gonna finish watching but I just wanted to get this thought out of my head.
@@MarcoMeatball So i just finished the entire video and i have to give you a standing ovation. This deserves a sub and I will be sharing this. I think so much of Answers can be derived into the real world at times that we needed Venat to give that monologue that no matter what, find the strength. This song will always hold a special place in my heart, it was my introduction not only to FFXIV as the opening cinematic, but the FF universe in general as my first game in the series. Wonderful analysis, didn't know I needed this today but here we are.
@@MarcoMeatball That really shows in your video, thank you for your work on this! I've seen a few reactions to the song by others who haven't played the game and it's just awesome how music can really make you feel these emotions.
Only seeing this now, but Answers, and by extension Flow and a lot of other Endwalker music takes on personal meanings. We're reminded of our own journeys and the story's arc coming to an end. For me completing Endwalker it had a different meaining, I did not know how much farther things would hit. I was a caretaker for my grandparents. My grandfather passed last year literally day after Christmas. I finished this final chapter in May. Little did I know the following month was the beginning of the end. I lost my grandmother whom I was also a caretaker for last month. I asked myself essentially the same question, I still do, even though I know the answers, my own. To continue, to continue living despite all the pain and heartache, and the tears. We all ask what is the purpose, and meaning in life, yet in a game we have the answers. Our purpose is to live life. Even at the core, to just live. Experience and know the joy and sorrow, to appreciate all we have, lost, and never had. The game has helped me through a very dark chapter and its finale of my life. And most amusingly, and maybe fittingly, the new expansion is a new beginning. A new story. Just as in life, it continues on. Our stories continue on, and perhaps forever will even if we ourselves are no longer around.
I actually took to heart the wisdom in those words, it relates to everyone's struggles on Earth as well. If we don't find these wisdom, we simply fall into despair. End is never the End.
ARR and Answers was important and sad. During the Bahamut Trial Answers felt almost joyous. Then after Endwalker I can never hear Answers without tears... Even now I am still sniffling... You might have mentioned that the wounds Venat suffers during her walk are the wounds from the later calamities. Greivious and bloody, yet still she walks forward.
Wow you blew me away with this video Marco.. Its incredible what message music can send, even if you don't have the whole picture or context of the peice!
It is this song, both the haunting reprise and what we hear during the end of 1.0 cinematic that sold me on FFXIV as my new MMO home after abandoning WoW when BFA launched. Starting with the Reprise version, you hear Hydaelyn sporadically sing Answers all the while there is this intense feeling of dread, trepidation, and helplessness. You hear the storm in the distance, you see the moon descending upon the world as if this was Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Players of both games in the meta sense knew there would be no giants to hold the moon up from impacting the world, but I digress. The only thing the world knew at this time from the Eorzean city-states and Ishgardian alliance to the Garlean legions invading, they know there is nothing that can be done about the moon and the only thing that can be done is to carry on with their plans when they clash upon the fields of Carteneau. Answers proper, we have religious people crying out for a reason to endure hardship, in the face of utter doom, and salvation perceived to be far beyond their reach. Hydaelyn gives her answer as a mother would when attempting to comfort her children as they know doom and death draws near. She gives her answer the best she can like someone whom has bore witness to such tragedies and tremendous loss of life, because she has, before at least eight tines by now. The first being the Sundering when she shattered her foe into fourteen and the cost of life it took to do so, and the corresponding calamities that have followed since by her former unsundered friends and allies whom survived. But once again, I digress. Hydaelyn gives her answer the best she can, without disturbing her children any further than the looming calamity already was. Then we have the moon explode underneath Bahamut's wrath. I cannot explain with enough detail what this one song has done to me, how it made me into a FFXIV player, and singlehandedly made me explore the Binding Coils to find out more of the Seventh Umbral Calamity that ultimately lead to me finding FFXIV to become my MMO home. No game has done that and it is all thanks to the end of 1.0 cinematic and Answers.
"inevitability" is the answer, that all things are hoisted upon the cycle of life unto death and unto life anew, peace breaking into war and war breaking into peace. It interestingly shares the same feeling with another motiff. The Worm's Tail.
Great analysis, I just wanted to add that Hydaelyn sundering the ancients wasn't just for the sake of humanity. Yes, she was creating a way forward for her people, but without that light of hope that she protected on Etheirys, Midgardsormer and the clutch of eggs he carried would never have survived. It just adds more weight to "Amid deepest despair, light everlasting" line. He fled past countless worlds on his flight before he found a tiny sundered world with, presumably, the only flame of hope left in existence. It speaks to the truth of her belief in the ability of mankind to find a way forward where others cannot. Excited to see where the story goes from here.
“Lands that stretched on forever. Skies one could drown in. The heartbeat of nature, silent yet strong. And amidst it all all a people. Beacons of light and life. Laughter that warmed my heart like naught else before. They are my meaning and my purpose. My love. In spite of, or perhaps because of this. I choose to believe in mankind’s potential, in his ability to find a way forward.” “So let there be no way back! From that temptation I sunder us! No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise! Hence forth he shall walk.”
This whole cinematic is what happens when the creators fully embrace and respect the source material. It gives it weight and meaning. I remember when this cinematic first went on YT after FFXIV 1.23b went offline and people were like "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS IS!". I think FFXIV picked up a lot of new players at that moment... many months before 2.0 would even release. It was that impactful. I can't even begin to explain the impact it had on me as someone who was there through 1.0, seeing this the moment the servers went down. It was like 2AM my time, and I was fighting off sleep... Moment this started playing, I was wide awake. Then couldn't sleep afterward lol. Doesn't matter the medium, great storytelling is great storytelling.
It's probably the best audio+visuals ever put to screen. I had goosebumps when this released and I had only seen it without knowing FF14 and I have goosebumps now. 08:01 why? 08:20 cry Every cut and note perfect 09:08 witness 09:10 suffer 09:12 borrow 09:14 reason 09:17 follow 09:38 answer together 10:29 Thou Must Live, Die and Know and then arching over more than 10 years later 29:50 Thou Must Live, Die and Know
I only just recently caught up on the story, and I gotta say... This song has taken on several different meanings throughout this journey, but by the end of EW especially it hits really hard, and makes so much more sense. It's crzy how they managed all of this, over the course of 10 years. So much respect to the story team for this.
Just.... the fact that we thought this was *our* song for SO LONG...the reveal that it goes so far back beyond us... this was the Ascians' song all along.... We thought this was Hydaelyn's song comforting *us* but no. This was the Ancients crying out for their world, their people. We find out later it's Venat's hymn to THEM, not us-- but it makes sense that it plays during the Calamity. The Ascians found their answer in attempting to undo what she had done, even though it was doing nothing but perpetuating the tragedy of the Unsundered World... It speaks to the themes that run through each Unsundered Ascian in their own way--- grief, and the inability to cope and deal with it. Answers is the expression of that theme. In contrast, ours is Forge Ahead-- that grief and loss and tragedy happen, but we must keep moving forward for the bits of happiness we can find and savor. That is Our Answer.
I always thought the song as profound, not in game context but in a real life context as it has a lot of messages that transcend the game. It comes to those who come before to lead those who come after. Talking about how small and fleeting a life is and how enormous our task within it is. It touches on the eternal questions every human asks. Why is there suffering in the world? What is our purpose? I do think how they tied it all together was wonderful and it still has each and every one of those pertinent questions to you and me. Maybe our answer isn't that different from our Wol's.
![Final Fantasy XIV - Answers (Epic Metal Cover) | [feat @KristinStarkey and @Myuu ]](/img/1.gif)
Hydaelyn "Hear, Feel, Think"
Meteion "I wish only to hear your words, share your feelings, and know your thoughts."
This is 😱
AAAAAHHH HOLY SHIT
I'm high as fuck right now and that made my brain stop for a while oh my god
And she chose to walk the path alone to endure all pain- past, present and future to answer those questions, forever.
Oh shit, good catch.
You didn't hit it on the nail friend. You smashed it.
"No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise.
Henceforth, he shall walk."
That line gets me every freaking time. Such eloquent yet powerful writing.
That scene straight broke me.
What blows my mind the most of Answers is that they couldn't possibly know what it would mean by EW. It was written for the end of 1.0, when they just had very tight time to not only fix a dumpster fire of a game but make it anew, not to say that the main scenario writer for ShB and EW wasn't the one also in charge of 1.x's and ARR's storyline. And yet, _and yet,_ they took this already incredible and powerful song and turned it into so much more. Answers is the cries of the people living through the 7th Umbral Calamity AND the cries of the Ancients as the Final Days come. Answers is Hydaelyn comforting Eorzea that the 7th Astral Era will soon come AND Hydaelyn telling us that we must stand before the sorrow and the pain and finally stop the Final Days. This song is 1.0 and 2.0 and Coils and EW, all at the same time, and every single time is as powerful and meaningful as the first time we saw Bahamut come down from Dalamud, if not even more.
Yup exactly!
@@MarcoMeatball Another thing that might be worth mentioning is that the song is to this day meant to be ambiguous as to who is about. Its not just the ancients, but also the people that suffered the 7th Umbral Calamity, and whoever suffers of despair and anguish.
Its supposed to give lie to the biases of Emet-Selch. Its supposed to say 'no, we are not so different. Our suffering is the same, our tales are the same, our pain and despair and the things we want to protect are the same'. Its supposed to show that the hypocrisy of Emet-Selch is that of inflicting 7 Final Days upon the people that the Ancients at large, even the shades he recreated, consider as their children.
Emet spent 12.000 years believing his own biased lie about the world and its state because it allowed him to excuse and rationalize his stagnancy of his own coping process. He was stuck in a denial and anger limbo for thousands of years until we force him to accept that his people are gone and that the world they want to bring is no longer a possibility.
Well unless another MMO like Wow where they did try to explain everything last stray and in FF they did not explain so they have more options
No lie, I've heard Answer thousands of time and every time I get chills.
i think it gets better each time i hear it
Answers is so amazing you can feel and hear both the Dread and the hope within the singers voice bringing what this song means to life in ways that i didnt think possible
I cry every time, it just grabs your heart with all those feelings, it's amazing
that walk that Venat took while suffering in unimaginable pain in her every step and what it actually means hit me so hard that I literally cried. Even now tears are still threatening to fall. One of the most impactful scenes I have watched for sure.
You can finally rest, Venat. We will take it from here.
We will 😩
Means so much knowing she watched and felt every calamity, every rejoining, and the suffering of all those people she couldn't help and then weakening, straining herself to do all she could, painfully clinging on.
Hits deeper knowing during the cinematic she was going through all that once again. Atleast now she can rest and let the world take care of itself in the future.
She did her best until she couldn’t go on anymore 😢😭
Venat is such a strong mother for all of Eorzea, she did her all for mankind🥺😢
Same thing, I still get chocked up just thinking about this scene, one of the most powerful moment in gaming for me, helped by all the years of story that preceded it.
I am surprised you did not talk about how Hydaelyn literally completes the message she has been sending us for so long in her fight. "Hear...The song of Creation's end. Feel...The sorrow at Hope's demise. Think...and find your way in the darkness" I think that would have fit together with the whole message of answers and thus worth mentioning.
Thanks for mentioning it here I did my best to research everything as well as I could from a lore and musical perspective!
@@MarcoMeatball Of course! and it was amazingly well put togheter. Just wanted to mention this part as it hit heavy for me when we finaly got the answers for the meaning of her words.
As one of the unfortunate few that began to doubt the validity of Hydaelyn's words, to lose faith in her, it hit so hard seeing her story as Venat come to an end. Facing her finally, for the last time, in the Mothercrystal, I pictured myself and my character falling to our knees before the very being we'd come to no longer trust, after she had set us on our path and led us to do amazing things... She knew that people would curse her had they known she was the reason for all the pain and suffering, and She knew that we might even curse her as well, if she had told us all of this sooner. But, like us, she carried out, walked, stumbled and even crawled to where we met her face to face, and bested her: Proving to her that we could do what she did, what no one else could.
I've enjoyed every second of your series going over the music from FFXIV, a game that I have been playing for nigh 4 years, starting my journey at the release date of 4.4, Stormblood. You've been able to put into words things I've felt while listening to these songs during my own journey, and that's beautiful... and I am immensely grateful. To you, to Soken, to Yoshida-san, to Hydaelyn, and to Zhira, my WoL. Thank you.
The lines that say "Our souls have been torn and our bodies forsaken" always struck me as some kind of complain like, "how could WE have been forgotten".
After playing Shadowbringers that line immediately clicked, for me those words are theirs, those who started everything.
Mhm. Amazing.
Bearing sins of the past, for our future is taken.
Yes even more in endwalker now. I love how everything ties together and hits so hard.
The look of heartache in Venat's eyes as they kept praying to Zodiark, I know this act was the hardest thing she needed to do.
That moment really gets me.
That's the moment she knew for certain that history could not be rewritten, and that all she could do was place her faith in the future, in us.
Yeah, I have to say, during the Hydaelyn trial I loudly yelled “OH NO WAY, ANSWERS” when Your Answer started, and as soon as that first voice sang “Witness” I nearly had to take a break, it hit me so hard.
Right?!?! I was like damn!!!
When that trial theme started. I was hyped. When the lyrics kicked in I was even moreso
I went through my first time with the scions and wiped twice because I kept getting over emotional
I felt every painful step Venat took in that particular cutscene of EW and suddenly the song took on such a deeper meaning for me
Hydaelyn's monologue still makes me well up to this day. The closing of the "Answers" dialogue was a master stroke that could never have been possible without an incredible amount of coordination from such talented people. There are few fantasy experiences that can feel so real, even with the benefits of the medium.
OOOOOHHHH….. you actually analyzed it.
This is legitimately, one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard.
It wasn’t a glorious victory, or a grand celebration……
ITS FFXIV SWAN SONG…… a final goodbye.
Thank you for this. It made me remember why MUSIC is so important in gaming….
Absolutely. It’s extremely moving.
We love you, Mom. Rest well.
@@GearheadPrime fittingly, a final goodbye to Venat too... Excuse me while I wipe tears from my eyes.
Answers is the epitome of why music, and in this case video games, is SO important and how it can serve as an intensely powerful tool at delivering a message. It can set the exact mood needed to exact all facets of emotion that wrack our lives; fear, despair, stillness, anger, uncertainty, longing, hope, etc.
Answers gives us just that, the answers to which all people will struggle with at some point in their life. There is no escaping the grasp of negative emotion, but it is in spite of that emotion that we can still push forward toward a new tomorrow.
The cutscene of "Thou must Live, Die, and Know" is so incredibly powerful it's hard to put into words, especially when one has processed the message it's delivering unto the player after such an arduously long adventure.
The message of Answers was particularly impactful to myself, as I've been through numerous hardships that have significantly impacted my life to the point of almost ending it. To hear that to live is to suffer, and that in spite of that suffering there is beauty in the mortality we have truly brings comfort unthought of to many of us dealing with such a burden. Upon hearing the song for the first time I cried, and upon seeing the above mentioned cutscene, I bawled, but out of happiness of the message delivered. It makes such a big difference, and I'm so glad to have heard it.
Amazing job with the analysis Marco. We need more stuff like this in the world.
Thank you so much. And thank you for sharing this with me.
I love that Soken took what Uematsu left behind and wove it into the Story like a tribute…Uematsu and Soken are both such legends!
They sure are
"To look to those who walked before to lead those who walk after" It really is starting to feel like were seeing the pass of a baton between the old FF creators to the new guard
The part about Answers that really gets me... is that all of the "answers" we are given to the question are verbs. Things to do. Things to become. We are here to perform. Our purpose lies in action, not inaction. And that the experience of life is more important than even the mere act of living, for we are meant to live, die, but (most importantly), know.
I liked this song when I listened to it the first time. But I love it even more as time goes on.
"Thou Must live, die and know"... This was something that was haunting me for a very, very long time. This song itself was an enigma at first for me. But the more I progressed in the story the more I understood it. This song is for me our companion, the one who's been here from start and when we finally understand it... He goes off. What a truly masterpiece of a video you made. I would love to see it on dragonsong who's full of lore.
Well I just sat here and ugly cried through about 80% of the video.
Also I really love how Answers still remained not only relevant but CENTRAL to XIV's storyline despite the reboot, all the changes in leadership, and even the shift from Uematsu to Soken. I feel like the team really did a fantastic job working with what they had, and giving us a game that remained consistent, feels like a golden age FF (at least in my humble opinion) and at the end of the day is an encouragement/inspiration to us to push forward through the darkness in our real lives, and find joy and light, and even to better appreciate those moments.
Anyways cheers for making this video!!
Answers is a 'climbing vine'. Like sure, you can give someone a blank slate magic fantasy and say 'go nuts' but it's rich to have a framework to work with, to work against, and work around. And clearly, Answers was that.
Just in general Answers makes me cry almost every time I listen to it, and know knowing what it's about just makes it more of am impact
This song easily can go into the Video Game Music Hall of Fame. I didn't play FF14 back then, but when I first heard this song and first saw this cinematic, I got chills. I could feel the emotion in this song. After going back and finding out the significance of this scene and the story and stories the players had leading up to this. Learning the what this meant, not just to the players, but to the staff that worked on this game. It's transcends into something beyond just a cinematic for a video game. It becomes an amazing piece of art. I love this song, even though I don't play the game. I still go back once in a while to listen to it. I find this song so beautiful. It still gives me chills.
Same!
Ah, I was there for the fall and all I got was this tattoo and chocobo.
All jokes aside, it's a moment I won't forget. Watching everything end with my fellow adventurers until that message popped up.
I honestly had no idea that a song in a game could have such a lasting impact on me and to this day I just can't let go of that moment. To an outside viewer, it'll sound silly to speak about a game like it changed your life. But the funny part is, it did. It helped me understand that something that comes from "just a video game" isn't actually just about said video game. It's about art.
The line that always jumps out at me is "Judgment binds all we hold to a memory of scorn."
Meteion's judgment of the meaningless cruelty of Existence, Hermes's scorn for the callous indifference of the Ancients to the suffering of the life they create and destroy on a whim - and his decision to hold a Determination to judge mankind's fitness to exist.
whether they intended this or not, great insight! So true
Every time I hear Answers it brings tears. without fail. It's that powerful. It's a bardcore rock ballad with opera mixed in. When Answers played during Venat's post sundering walk I couldn't continue playing for quite a while, it just completely broke me.
Beautifully spoken. The reveal of what this song meant after so MANY years is a masterpiece of storytelling. You can't simply experience this level of foreshadowing and profound emotional revelation in written works or other media. It's the combination of written storytelling and emotive master crafted music that combines into a few fleeting moments, those moments of revelation and understanding spread across literal years of playing this games storyline. They all flow together and become one and reveal the secret in a beautiful experience that has changed the lives of millions. This is a work of artistry that deserves to be remembered as a classic, one of the masterpieces of our time.
Absolutely. And thank you!
It really is amazing just how much emotional weight they managed to wrap into one song. This is a great overview and analysis of just how they did it.
Answers gets me emotional every single time I hear it. This video was no exception.
Thank you so much for sharing it.
Venat's walk is one of, if not the, best moments of the whole franchise, not just 14. The presentation, the music, the monologue, all placed perfectly.
What is ironic, is that many FF fans still don't consider this game a true FF game.
which is ridiculous. the story is by far one of the best.
When I realized that when Bahamut first breaks out, the chous is asking, and Hydaelyn is answering.
The last time they have this exchange, it's Hydaelyn asking, and the choir answering. A small detail that adds to the emotional intensity.
I think my favorite thing about Answers is that, on its surface, it's a song asking questions, but once the player has been through the story, you realize it told us the answer right from the start. Hermes asks, "What is the meaning of life?" Per the lyrics, "Answer, answer, answer together."
Oh so one small thing from the Mothercrystal fight that ties into the music, during the intermission phase she in dialog actually finishes the 'think...' 'feel...' statements that we've heard since the beginning, essentially answering the fact that Answers asks 'think what? feel what?'
Very few pieces of media manage to cause me to bawl my eyes out, when Answers came back during the 6.0 MSQ, man that was an emotional sucker punch I did not expect.
Oof I know
I find it remarkable how beautifully this song was re-contextualized again and again. Often, you have songs written to go along with a story, but this was more a case where the story was, in part, written to go along with the song, and it just works so beautifully. One could almost say that Answers is to the story of FFXIV itself, as Hydaelyn is to the WoL, and that makes it hit all the harder. When Answers was first written, there's no way even those who made it could have known what it would become.
I agree wholeheartedly
One thing about the primals is the vocals always allude to them somehow: like sophia’s theme being about her version of equlibrium.
So I love how Answers can be about multiple peoples: it starts with bahamut and the dragons, with the male chorus suggesting those chained by the allagans to suffer the same fate as bahamut - never able to die, only able to offer prayer to power dalamud. As we later learn, the dragons are guests on the star, and so represent a people separate from those of the sundered.
Then we hear it again as hydalyn’s theme, and it becomes about us and the ancients.
Despite the dragons not being from the star, they still are recognized as a people of the star and get the same answer from hydalyn as they suffer with the other peoples of ethyris.
Every time I hear Answers now tears start, because I know the weight of this song. These words. After Venat's walk I needed to take a break because the culmination of what I saw in the story up to that moment to the bridge being connected to the past...yeah that broke me.
I'm not gonna lie, I cry when I listen to this song. It's damn powerful even before EW gave it extra context, but just being generally older since ARR gave us this and having faced more hardships in life, yeah, this is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time because it helps me when I'm depressed a lot tbh. It just moves something in my heart, and I appreciate it.
It's crazy how EW recontextualized Answers. 1.0 ended with Answers, and then they brought it all the way back around for EW. I only started playing the game shortly before ShB launched, but I listened to Answers an unhealthy number of times. The way they used it in Venat's walk shook me to my core.
While 1.x ended with Answers, not many seem to realize that 1.0 also STARTED with Answers. They didn't write the song for that cinematic, it's been there from the very beginning. It's so incredible what the team has been able to transform it into. If 1.0 hadn't been such a trash fire, the puzzle of the song likely would have been resolved after only a couple expansions just like they did with FF11's Memoro De La Stono and it wouldn't have been anywhere near as powerful or beautiful as it ended up becoming.
This might genuinely be one of your best videos. Since I started playing in 2013, this has been one of my absolute favorite songs in the game and your analysis is so perfect.
I’m glad you like it. I tried to give it a lot of care since it matters a lot!
I always keep coming back to this song, cause it still gives me hope for my future, at least enough to keep myself pushing forward.
The most beautiful song in FFXIV. Venat's walk absolutely ruined me. What an amazing breakdown this is. *slow clap*
I love how absolutely ethereal the 1.0 echo is and how it always, without fail, makes the hairs on my body stand up on end. Such a powerful introduction to this song, and a powerful end to 1.0 . It's the sole reason I'd have wanted to play then, to just experience the end of that era of FFXIV. To have that in full context.
Right now they are having a celebration for the 10th anniversary of ARR ... was in Limsa tonight and up on the top deck there's a faint, haunting version of Answers playing during the fireworks show. Chilling but in a beautiful way.
Venat's promise cutscene is the only time we hear Answers in its totality in the game. When it is used to fight Bahamut in T13, the ending choral section is not used, and there are shortened sections in the End of an Era cutscene.
The song has meant many things to the community - those fighting in the Calamity, the dragons suffering at the hands of man, those facing colonial oppression - but the ability to showcase the entire piece, and From the Ashes when Venat confronts the Ancients, really reinforces the new use as an all-encompassing viewpoint of the song.
How did they make Answers more powerful, more meaningful, and better after all these years?! A song that was composed for 1.0!
Marco, you really are a gift to RUclips. Thank you so much for your content 🥹❤️
That means so so much. Thank you a ton.
Answers in the background of the anniversary event areas makes me cry so much, and reminds me of the videos of the final moments of 1.0.
My prediction before starting this video...
I'm going to cry again aren't I? 🥲
Pretty likely
It's been explained by by the composers that the song at the beginning represents Erozia (the male choir) and Hydaelyn (Soprano).
Yup and I have been in the game since 1.0 alpha, what a journey 😉As sad as it was that 1.0 ended, its beautiful to see how the game evolved into what it is now. Such is life eh?
I cry every time I see the opening cinematic, so you can imagine how hard Endwalker broke me. What a sublime use of music that ties the entire arc of the game together and brings up every bit of emotion from the struggles along the way.
I've played this game since the very beginning. Yet still, Answers will always give me goosebumps.
But the transition in Coils, when Bahamut uses megaflare, still sticks with me to this day.
I think that's why a lot of people don't think of God or Christ until they are in "Deepest despair". He is Light Everlasting.
The song is amazing, and bringing it full circle from 1.0 through ARR and tying it up with EW is just very beautifully done.
1.0 players had no Answers, only the questions. How haunting it must have been to hear the Answers echo overhead with doom on the horizon.
2.0, you can broadly apply it to the current calamity of Bahamut, but there are still things mysterious about it...
"Now open your eyes, while our plight is repeated." - We know there have been calamities so at that point, it'd be that cyclical thing.
"Still deaf to our cries, lost in hope we lie defeated" - Deaf to our cries? Who? Hydaelyn? Or now, perhaps Zodiark who has not restored paradise. And how can one be "Lost in hope"? The hope of returning to the lost paradise - that will never be again.
Only in the lens of 6.0 do we see it for what it is.
"Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken bearing sins of the past for our future is taken" - The 13 shards, Souls torn, the bodies of the Ancients Sundered. The sins of the past - theirs, and the future they hoped for taken with it.
"To all of my children in whom life flows abundant. To all of my children in whom death hath passed his judgement." - I think that is Venat/Hydaelyn. She does love, so fully. She bore a terrible burden for the hope of the future. "Shining is the lands light of judgement, ever flows the lands' well of purpose... Walk free.... Walk free... Walk Free... believe... The land's alive so believe." - There is something to this life, the fact we have it - that the flowers grow and we are here - there is your proof of greater things. Walk free to the path before you, seize it.
The thumbnails as of late have been improving greatly
Be warned ye Meatball nonbelievers, our God grows in power
I have let them know how amazing they are :)
It still blows me away that the entire premise of the game up to the end of 6.0 is contained in Answers. Having beaten Endwalker I see Answers in a whole different way now. Incredible.
Everytime I hear this song, teardrops will always fall down to my cheeks..
The final Venat cutscene was, surprised, but the meaning behind is... wow..
When I finally fought Hydaelyn and heard "Your Answer", I couldn't focus on the raid at all, and kept crying, especially when she called "Hear, Feel, Think.." during phase 2.
It stuck me deep, and hard.
The story of FFXIV 1.0 to Endwalker is truly a masterpiece.
Truly it is. It was a gift to experience
"Henceforth he shall walk" will NEVER stop making me tear up.
I know
I love your analysis. You seem very familiar with and passionate about the game which sets this far above most analysis videos, why have are usually blind speculation. Thank you for making this.
dude I love your breakdowns of the text, the music is so important in this game. As a singer myself I really appreciate your content.
Thanks Debra! It’s my pleasure. I’m so glad you like it :)
"No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise. Henceforth he shall walk."
'And amidst deepest despair, light everlasting.'
That's where I broke. So powerful.
Well done! Great video.
:)
watching this, the memories i have with this game all came at once, so much joy, sadness, and anger all at once, but above all, love. Love for a game, a world, and a people. Love for a journey that can still continue. Love born amidst a pandemic of despair. I have lived this game. I have felt the death of beloved characters. I now know my purpose in Eorzea. It is as a beacon of light for those who walk after. A light everlasting.
❤️
Great video as always Marco! I am happy that you took a look at both Answers and Your Answer. They really are the bookends to Hydaelyn's story. I was watching a cutscene the other day and realized that the music playing during was a leitmotif of Answers. It is really interesting how some of the major musical themes developed for 2.0 are interwoven throughout the game in places that you would not necessarily look for them.
Ever since I finished Endwalker, I have absolutely adored the fact that the primary lesson of the entire ten year story arc winds up being the knowledge that it is fundamentally impossible to know joy without also knowing sorrow. It is such a deep truth that it is part of our lives here in reality too. If the Ancients had been able to continue as they were, they would have gone the way of all the other worlds that our dear little bird friend and her sisters saw. Venat saved not only her world and its remaining shards, but she also saved the future of the entire universe, even if it hurt unbearably to have to do it.
"No more shall mankind have wings to bear him to paradise! Henceforth....he shall walk."
No matter how many times I hear it, I still get shivers.
When I first saw your channel I never would have expected a FFXIV lore breakdown.
Me neither 🤣
everytime i watch and hear this song it always brings me to tears
Majestic. Brilliant. A video breakthrough as worthy as the music itself. Thank you, sir!
This is how you honor a legacy - and furthermore teach the most powerful lesson of life itself. 🥰
Im certainly going to die from dehydration with all the crying i do for the characters and the music. This was a beautiful video of the song and what it means to the entirety of ffxiv. Thank you for the great work and passion you put into this. 💖
My pleasure im really glad you enjoyed it
This song transcends the game, I was going through probably one of the worst times in my life when Endwalker came out. I remember reaching the Venat scene and I had to take a break from the game after. For the first time, art made me feel so overwhelmed that I had to have a break to process it. Even now when I feel down I remember the words, our purpose is to find strength where all strength has left us, to find joy when darkness descends and to look for that everlasting light in the darkness. That helps me get back up.
Soken/Uematsu and the whole team at Square are masters of their art and I can never give them enough praise for what they accomplished in the story.
Thank you for the video, incredible as always and your insights always bring new meanings to the art.
Thank you for sharing. As you might know endwalker and my playthrough came at a time when I was mourning and continue to mourn the loss of my father. This game has helped me so much. Thank you for sharing your story.
I feel that... I was still processing the loss of a parent when EW released. The post Elpis Venat scene hit me so hard. I'll never forget it.
@@jeremyvanpelt5097 yea….oof. And all my respects 🙏
This has been my favorite theme in 14 for a long time Great analysis video on it 👍
Thanks so much!!!
I cried a lot when i heard this song, knew its meanings. For a long time i wondered who's will dragged up under. But the tears were never out of sadness but something that made me wanna go on.
every version of the song gives me goosebumps
Answers has been making me cry for the better part of a decade now. I only wish I hadn't been scared away from 1.0 before the end so I could have witnessed this in person.
Basically, entire later plot is written around this song, which is quite unique way to do it. "For those we lost, for those we can yet save." Looking for answers is repeately used for every main character substory.
Wow, so much quality in this video. What a great analysis. Congratulations
Thank you!
So im on at 7:14 of this video but i feel like i should share that i can already tell you know and love this song as much as I do. I've been playing the game for 3 years (Late Stormblood) and the person that got me into the game forced me to watch the Answers opening cinematic. I didn't know what I was watching but the song, I later learned was Answers moved me a drummer of 20 years to absolute tears and it still does to this day through Endwalker. That opening fill into half time is not only simplistic but so so powerful. I'm gonna finish watching but I just wanted to get this thought out of my head.
Thank you for sharing this with me. 🥰
@@MarcoMeatball So i just finished the entire video and i have to give you a standing ovation. This deserves a sub and I will be sharing this. I think so much of Answers can be derived into the real world at times that we needed Venat to give that monologue that no matter what, find the strength. This song will always hold a special place in my heart, it was my introduction not only to FFXIV as the opening cinematic, but the FF universe in general as my first game in the series. Wonderful analysis, didn't know I needed this today but here we are.
@@TheRealChappie thank you so much Chappie!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
This song never fails to break me down into a sobbing mess
It really strikes me deeply as well.
@@MarcoMeatball That really shows in your video, thank you for your work on this! I've seen a few reactions to the song by others who haven't played the game and it's just awesome how music can really make you feel these emotions.
Only seeing this now, but Answers, and by extension Flow and a lot of other Endwalker music takes on personal meanings. We're reminded of our own journeys and the story's arc coming to an end. For me completing Endwalker it had a different meaining, I did not know how much farther things would hit. I was a caretaker for my grandparents. My grandfather passed last year literally day after Christmas. I finished this final chapter in May. Little did I know the following month was the beginning of the end. I lost my grandmother whom I was also a caretaker for last month. I asked myself essentially the same question, I still do, even though I know the answers, my own. To continue, to continue living despite all the pain and heartache, and the tears. We all ask what is the purpose, and meaning in life, yet in a game we have the answers. Our purpose is to live life. Even at the core, to just live. Experience and know the joy and sorrow, to appreciate all we have, lost, and never had. The game has helped me through a very dark chapter and its finale of my life. And most amusingly, and maybe fittingly, the new expansion is a new beginning. A new story. Just as in life, it continues on. Our stories continue on, and perhaps forever will even if we ourselves are no longer around.
I actually took to heart the wisdom in those words, it relates to everyone's struggles on Earth as well. If we don't find these wisdom, we simply fall into despair.
End is never the End.
ARR and Answers was important and sad. During the Bahamut Trial Answers felt almost joyous. Then after Endwalker I can never hear Answers without tears... Even now I am still sniffling...
You might have mentioned that the wounds Venat suffers during her walk are the wounds from the later calamities. Greivious and bloody, yet still she walks forward.
Mhm good point.
Wow you blew me away with this video Marco.. Its incredible what message music can send, even if you don't have the whole picture or context of the peice!
The way they integrate music with storytelling in this game is nothing short of masterful.
Minor correction about 26 minutes in, the world unsundered was split into 14 pieces. The Source and 13 shards.
Oh? Okay! Thank you!!!
*We* are the answer, the Warrior of Light, a fierce beacon of life illuminating the endless inevitable darkness in profound defiance.
It is this song, both the haunting reprise and what we hear during the end of 1.0 cinematic that sold me on FFXIV as my new MMO home after abandoning WoW when BFA launched. Starting with the Reprise version, you hear Hydaelyn sporadically sing Answers all the while there is this intense feeling of dread, trepidation, and helplessness. You hear the storm in the distance, you see the moon descending upon the world as if this was Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Players of both games in the meta sense knew there would be no giants to hold the moon up from impacting the world, but I digress. The only thing the world knew at this time from the Eorzean city-states and Ishgardian alliance to the Garlean legions invading, they know there is nothing that can be done about the moon and the only thing that can be done is to carry on with their plans when they clash upon the fields of Carteneau.
Answers proper, we have religious people crying out for a reason to endure hardship, in the face of utter doom, and salvation perceived to be far beyond their reach. Hydaelyn gives her answer as a mother would when attempting to comfort her children as they know doom and death draws near. She gives her answer the best she can like someone whom has bore witness to such tragedies and tremendous loss of life, because she has, before at least eight tines by now. The first being the Sundering when she shattered her foe into fourteen and the cost of life it took to do so, and the corresponding calamities that have followed since by her former unsundered friends and allies whom survived.
But once again, I digress. Hydaelyn gives her answer the best she can, without disturbing her children any further than the looming calamity already was. Then we have the moon explode underneath Bahamut's wrath.
I cannot explain with enough detail what this one song has done to me, how it made me into a FFXIV player, and singlehandedly made me explore the Binding Coils to find out more of the Seventh Umbral Calamity that ultimately lead to me finding FFXIV to become my MMO home. No game has done that and it is all thanks to the end of 1.0 cinematic and Answers.
A song of those who tried and failed to create a better world. A song of the end.
"inevitability" is the answer, that all things are hoisted upon the cycle of life unto death and unto life anew, peace breaking into war and war breaking into peace. It interestingly shares the same feeling with another motiff. The Worm's Tail.
The annual Rising event just started today and the Echo version of Answers is playing in Ul'dah. Always gives me chills.
Right?!?
Since finishing Endwalker, I can't help but tear up whenever I hear Answers.
Great analysis, I just wanted to add that Hydaelyn sundering the ancients wasn't just for the sake of humanity. Yes, she was creating a way forward for her people, but without that light of hope that she protected on Etheirys, Midgardsormer and the clutch of eggs he carried would never have survived. It just adds more weight to "Amid deepest despair, light everlasting" line. He fled past countless worlds on his flight before he found a tiny sundered world with, presumably, the only flame of hope left in existence. It speaks to the truth of her belief in the ability of mankind to find a way forward where others cannot.
Excited to see where the story goes from here.
same. me too!
“Lands that stretched on forever. Skies one could drown in. The heartbeat of nature, silent yet strong. And amidst it all all a people. Beacons of light and life. Laughter that warmed my heart like naught else before. They are my meaning and my purpose. My love. In spite of, or perhaps because of this. I choose to believe in mankind’s potential, in his ability to find a way forward.”
“So let there be no way back! From that temptation I sunder us! No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise! Hence forth he shall walk.”
This whole cinematic is what happens when the creators fully embrace and respect the source material. It gives it weight and meaning. I remember when this cinematic first went on YT after FFXIV 1.23b went offline and people were like "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS IS!". I think FFXIV picked up a lot of new players at that moment... many months before 2.0 would even release. It was that impactful.
I can't even begin to explain the impact it had on me as someone who was there through 1.0, seeing this the moment the servers went down. It was like 2AM my time, and I was fighting off sleep... Moment this started playing, I was wide awake. Then couldn't sleep afterward lol.
Doesn't matter the medium, great storytelling is great storytelling.
It's probably the best audio+visuals ever put to screen. I had goosebumps when this released and I had only seen it without knowing FF14 and I have goosebumps now.
08:01 why?
08:20 cry
Every cut and note perfect
09:08 witness
09:10 suffer
09:12 borrow
09:14 reason
09:17 follow
09:38 answer together
10:29 Thou Must Live, Die and Know
and then arching over more than 10 years later
29:50 Thou Must Live, Die and Know
I only just recently caught up on the story, and I gotta say... This song has taken on several different meanings throughout this journey, but by the end of EW especially it hits really hard, and makes so much more sense. It's crzy how they managed all of this, over the course of 10 years. So much respect to the story team for this.
Just.... the fact that we thought this was *our* song for SO LONG...the reveal that it goes so far back beyond us... this was the Ascians' song all along.... We thought this was Hydaelyn's song comforting *us* but no. This was the Ancients crying out for their world, their people. We find out later it's Venat's hymn to THEM, not us-- but it makes sense that it plays during the Calamity. The Ascians found their answer in attempting to undo what she had done, even though it was doing nothing but perpetuating the tragedy of the Unsundered World... It speaks to the themes that run through each Unsundered Ascian in their own way--- grief, and the inability to cope and deal with it. Answers is the expression of that theme. In contrast, ours is Forge Ahead-- that grief and loss and tragedy happen, but we must keep moving forward for the bits of happiness we can find and savor. That is Our Answer.
I take that chorus as calling out to Venat given the line "for your will drags us under"
Love this format of videos, great job!
Thank you!
Appreciated your analysis, Marco. Glad you were finally able to finish Endwalker, 14 as a whole feels like such a unique experience.
Beautiful analysis for a beautiful song
ffxiv songs will make me shiver always
I always thought the song as profound, not in game context but in a real life context as it has a lot of messages that transcend the game. It comes to those who come before to lead those who come after. Talking about how small and fleeting a life is and how enormous our task within it is. It touches on the eternal questions every human asks. Why is there suffering in the world? What is our purpose? I do think how they tied it all together was wonderful and it still has each and every one of those pertinent questions to you and me. Maybe our answer isn't that different from our Wol's.
I totally agree
i allways cry when I hear Answers... one of the few songs that manage that T.T