Fun Fact: The vocals for this were done by one of FFXIV's English localization team members. Soken said she did the recording in one take and nailed it.
With the second vocalist they tried, yeah. They attempted to record it with Ayumi Murata first, the singer for Oblivion and Equilibrium, but decided after a while that it didn't work and found Paula instead. The original recording can still be found as "Beauty's Wicked Wiles - Oasis Mix" on the Stormblood soundtrack but it goes unused in the actual game.
Not the first time Soken has done that either. The singer for Ravana's theme was also just a member of the localization team credited only as "Dan". He was chosen for his very deep baritone voice.
Highly highly highly recommend this one as well. I literally have not been able to get it out of my head. Every time I hear it I'm stuck for the entire with it on repeat in my head, and I love it.
This song definitely gets into your head. Lakshmi is also known as "The Lady of Bliss." That's why she tries to tempt you into giving into her will with those lyrics. She was summoned by the desperate pleading of a mother whose daughter was captured and then murdered in front of her. As with most primals in this game, it's a double-edged sword. Lakshmi revived the daughter, but could not restore her soul, so she was just an empty husk. When the mother wasn't happy with this, Lakshmi enthralled her and the rest of her tribe, which is basically the equivalent to magically brainwashing someone to follow her will forever.
I'm really late to the party, but something I wanted to point out in this song that I don't think anyone's mentioned yet: The first chorus comes around and makes particular mention of something - Rise high, high above "our" rivals // spread "our" wings... // Open the door, close "our" eyes, "we" are the dreamers. But after the the chorus loops at least once, the second time it comes around, it changes slightly. The second time around - Rise high, high above *your* rivals // spread *your* wings // close *your* eyes, *you* are the dreamer. She's beguiling you with her beauty and it's even showing up in the song. In time, you shall follow, so sayeth she!
Lakshmi is still one of my most favorite boss story concepts. These bosses are called "Primals" (yes, they named the band after them) that are able to brainwash people and make them follow. I've always said that if any primal can temper me, it's Lakshmi - and they did that so well with this song. Whenever it gets in my head, it's going to be stuck for days, if not weeks :D
The lyrics of primal fights are often their ideals, stories about them or words of these entities. Just some examples for some of the reactions u had so far: Lakshmi - wants to give their people absolute bliss. If ripping them of their thoughts and make them dream helps this, she will do it. Ravana - he just loves conquest a lot XD but he also wants his people to be strong and in unity Sophia - its all about Equilibrium and she will find a way to bring it to you. With that in mind these songs often kinda get a new layer, at least thats ehat i usually feel
I do, in fact, like to imagine the boss themes as being sung by them (insofar as Primals are concerned, at least). It gives them more character - _especially_ Ravana, I feel.
I think that's the intention. The lyrics to _Under the Weight_ are pretty clearly written from Titan's perspective for instance. Main exception is Ramuh, I'd argue.
The first time I fought this boss, I was healing and so very distracted by my mental images of being a part of a huge Bollywood music/dance piece. Even the movements that your group does feel like a huge majestic dance routine. 💃🕺🎶
After finishing Stormblood, I thought that was quite surprising, the dev added some Indian element into the game. Then we have Radz at Han now in Endwalker, an even stronger Indian element to it 😂😂 Btw Jesse you should listen to the Endwalker soundtrack, Flow.
Can I recommend "Equilibrium"? Specifically the Scions & Sinners version (by the Primals) Orchestrion Roll. The original is great, but something about this version just resonates deeply. And the lyrics are top tier. Keep up the good work!
Interesting thing to note, many of the summons are based on various mythologies/gods from all sorts of places. They also usually have different designs depending on the game and it's theme. For instance Shiva in FFXIII is totally different than Shiva found in FFXIV and FF7R's Shiva is COMPLETELY different than the one you'd find in Dissidia NT (love NT Shiva's design). Albeit certain ones usually keep a similar design (Ifrit for example has a common one, FFX's, FFXIV's, Dissidia NT's, etc) nearly all of them tend to be very different. FFXIV's bosses tend to keep some of the classic designs while introducing brand new interpretations. It's actually really fascinating, I'd recommend checking the Final Fantasy Fandom site for more info, if you check the summons section you'll find pages on each version depending on the game (note that Summons are usually bosses while some of them aren't even summons, like a summon in one game might be a boss in another, etc. Usually the ones based on deities tend to either be summons or bosses depending on the game.).
10:15 Final Fantasy has often used the names of various mythological figures as inspiration for quite a few of their bosses or enemies in the game. A lot of the time, they usually just borrow the name such as with Bahamut, which is the name for a creature (often depicted as a fish) that holds up the world in certain versions of Arabic cosmology. In Final Fantasy, Bahamut is usually depicted as a stylized European dragon. However, with Lakshmi, she actually retains a lot of the stylistic designs from the culture (Hinduism) she is taken from. It makes for an interesting hodgepodge and probably helped them with naming things without having to come up with their own names for everything. (Dungeons and Dragons has done this as well, borrowing names for their deities and such from ancient cultures) This has been going on for such a long time in the series and many of these characters make reappearances throughout Final Fantasy, that they sortof have their own identity within the series that is wholly separate from their real-world counterparts. 13:50 She isn't super hard. She has a couple of mechanics that might catch players doing it for the first time, but usually they'll have experienced players to help out. Defeating her is necessary to advance the plot of the game, so they didn't make it very difficult. However, these kinds of fights are called 'Trials' and they always have an optional 'Extreme' version which is a much more difficult version you can attempt once you reach the level cap for the expansion. I think the video you watched is from the Extreme version, which would take longer. Yeah, the song is pretty repetitive, but gamers are kindof used to that since most of the music in games has to loop. Always enjoy seeing an outsider's perspective on these songs. Keep it up! I can't wait until you get to more recent songs. The quality has definitely gone up over time. They just released a patch with a song called In the Balance that I can't stop listening to. It's a banger!
In regards to Bahamut and Tiamat, FF takes a lot of notes from D&D regarding them. Bahamut is the platinum dragon god of the good aligned metallic dragons, while Tiamat is the five-headed dragon goddess of the evil aligned chromatic dragons. They have both formed in their own unique ways as the series has continued. But the first FF held very true to the D&D depictions of the dragons, with slight changes to them.
As I always say: I love that in FF XIV we can fight thode fights with a catchy and danceable music. First time you try to get a hold on what's going on. But when you do it for X-th time and you know all the mechanics/phases, you just humm/sing a song while doing the fight, and it's so pleasant :D but yes, we are spoiled with the FF XIV music.
As far as it being short: There's some achievements that award titles/mounts for tank classes, and this fight was/is one of the better ones to make full tank groups to bust them out. 2-3 min clears, half the song heard.
So fun-fact, if you beat this boss on the highest difficulty there is, you have the chance to get a mount. This mount will play the song while you ride it ! (same as the "music scroll" that can drop for your house)
Recently discovered this channel and love the reactions/analysis. Some games with great OST to check out the Honkai Impact series have some of my favorites songs in video games, Befall, Nightglow, Starfall.
You should absolutely react to some of the songs in Team Fortress 2s soundtrack, its some of the best VGM I've listened to. I would recommend it all, but the best of the 30 song are: More gun - Song used in "meet the engineer". Absolutely awesome guitar, need i say more A little heart to heart - Beginning of "meet the medic". listen to before "Medic!" Medic! - Best song valve has made, no questions asked Intruder alert - Intro of "meet the spy". Captures the essence of TF2s music The calm - Listen to before "Robots!" Robots! - starts off robotic, and slowly turns more and more organic Red bread - listen to in order from this to "rise of the living bread" (if possible that is) Dapper cadaver Seduce Me! Three days to live Rise of the living bread -- and yes i will keep commenting this until it gets noticed (2)
I heard this song for the first time when I got mount during one of the events (you should get this mount as a reward for fighting "Extreme" version of the boss but devs often put some of the mounts from older expansions to special shop for events and allow players to buy them with that event currency) and was desperately trying to understand where did this mount come from as I just bought the game and was somewhere in Heavensward at the time. This song is one of the reasons why I don't turn off mount music :'D
Lakshmi has those big Bollywood vibes. And I love the music and the fight so much. But the music is always a bit too catchy. As someone who did oriental dancing for years I am always forgetting to heal because I want to dance and to vibe with this music...X,D
I've been watching your OG FF7 playthrough, I hope you can look into 14 soon. Also, if you haven't seen the trailer for FF16, I'd love to see you react to that. I'm gonna go through your vids to see if it's there first. XD
Instrument wise I do have to agree that this is a fairly repetitive song but lyrically there are a few changes throughout the song that just put it in a rather not quite hypnotic but soothing tone, at least to me. The whole conversion tone shift of the song from "our" to "your" as from her perspective she succeeded to make you belong to her and believe in what she wants.
lakshmi is definitely indian in origin, so is ravana. i wouldn't be suprized if they went out of their way to make their god like figures to be based or at least take inspiration from various mythos from around the world, but giving them their own FF twist, and then from then on they go with iteration so bringing back existing " gods" in different ways .
It definitely has that vibe of the guy who only paid half attention in mythology studies and is filling in the blanks. By the time they got to ratatoskr I was like “are you just saying words now? Cause that’s the biggest squirrel I’ve ever seen.” Or Odin wearing full plate atop sleipnir who only has four legs.
I'm with you on this one getting repetitive. It's not in my personal favorites, but I know a lot of people love it. Primals in general in this game enthrall their followers, but Lakshmi in particular takes the approach of surface-level benevolence and sorta grants wishes in a way that technically fulfills her promise but not in the desired fashion. The Final Fantasy franchise in general borrows from all sorts of mythology, although in the earlier days not always with cultural sensitivity in mind. Some of them have become so ingrained into the FF mythos that they've become their own entities. Shiva in particular comes to mind, the Hindu god of war (among other things), being represented as a Final Fantasy staple as an lady of frost.
You're correct, FF (and most JRPGs in general) take inspiration from various mythologies for boss designs, summons etc. FF14 kinda takes it a step further though since each of these battles has their own theme, allowing them to lean into it musically as well. Unlike familiar faces like Ifrit or Shiva, this one was also completely new to the series and they didn't have to worry about keeping it in line with past expectations.
The fact you intuited she's an easy boss from the music alone is kind of incredible... She was the easiest trial of the expansion, just used to gear up once you hit max level to go do the real stuff.
The majority of Primals are borrowed from gods, deities, legends, stories from irl. And the song’s catchy-ness is by design story wise. They are false gods brought to life by desperate people and are designed to enthral and control anyone around em. This one in particular is steeped in “good faith” and expects an easy brainwashing for the PC. Ofc we are immune story wise so she has to lay it on thick hoping to draw you in. Quite literally in the fight as well ;) Enjoy my dude. Still waiting for you to hear FFXIV’s Rise from Alexander.
I hate to be the "akshually" guy but this isn't "middle eastern", the entire composition is very very Indian in nature, the entire tribe of people that this boss is centered around (the Ananta, snake women) are Indian and Sri Lakshmi is an indian goddess.
imo a lot of those ff14 songs can feel repeatitive because the uploaders make them loop several times. They're not especially long themes, much like the classic old FF titles. Some of them are exceptions though, like the one you reacted to "Seat of Sacrifice"
I honestly confuse all those terms alot and it makes me feel ignorant. I really should just learn what they all mean cause I sound dumb when mentioning them.
There's some overlap in the sounds from India and Arabia, if not because of the visuals (lots of mandalas) and the name Lakshmi I would probably have confused them too, but this fight is 100% Indian inspired.
I always confuse Lakshimi with Pavarti. Lakshimi was the goddess of prosperity in hindu theology and the consort of Vishnu. She was very cool nice goddess. Many hindu woman are named for her. Very popular. It is why in the actual fight she can heal you up if you do the mechanics right.
Like you mentioned, this song really gets into your head after a while, which is probably helped by how simple the song is and I can't help but think it's deliberate. I feel like a lot of the other primals react in rage at being denied another follower, thanks to the protection the player has, but Lakshmi sees it as a challenge that they'll have to work a bit harder at. After all, in time, you shall follow.
I saw a comment about how from 1st go around she uses "our" and moves to "your". Like she already tempered us by the end of the fight. I love how beautifully terrifying her perspective is
@@GrandApostate I always took the 1st 'our' and 'your' as temptation and then the second set were her 'claiming' you. The lyrics are clever at invoking meaning.
A lot of players at the time this fight was first introduced, most of the players I know called it 'Bollywood, the Fight'. Which, frankly... still kinda fits.
I have a theory. The lyrics for trial fights is actually the WoL's echo. He is supposed to be able to read people with it. And the Primals that have a wilder nature tend to have less to their lyrics. but the ones with more sentience have more to their lyrics. Both Shiva themes tell the personal story of each host. and in the seat of sacrifice the chanting could represent the joined voices of the warriors who follow elidibus. just a theory though, every other game play mechanic has a story element to it so why not the music
@@blakec8549 that is my headcanon for a lot of the music, really. Like the "La-Hee" song for Rak'tika Greatwood being an echo of the Ronkan civilisation that once lived there.
@@Nirual86 if you do the Qitari quests (gatherers 70-80 beast tribe) they explain that Lager means "wake up" in ancient Ronkan. So when you fly through the forest during the day, the voices of the ancient Ronkans are crying out for you to "wake up." Which kind of has a double meaning when you consider that they were caught in a 100 years of perpetual daylight
The music is definitely repetitive when you look at it by itself. But when you’re actually playing the game, your focus is usually elsewhere and the music tends to blend into the background as a complimentary part of the aesthetic. The music for many encounters will often end and then lead back into the beginning because the fight lasts longer than the song (as is the case with Lakshmi as well).
Honestly typically even the hardest boss fights in FF14 won't last longer then 15 mins and there's so much other stuff to watch out that music doesn't really have time to get repeated enough times to get boring or distracting. Most boss encounters like this one have 30 min time limit starting from the first pull and if you kill the boss by then you get booted out of the fight, so FF14 doesn't have the multi hour fights of FF11
Yes, all bosses in FFXIV with lyrics have songs sung *by* the boss. They build upon the plot. Gameplay wise, she's relatively easy, even on the hardest mode. A lot of the bosses in that game are drawn from religions, from Hinduism to Kabbalah to Shintoism to Zoroastrianism. It's a social construct, not a continental boarder, but India is not generally considered part of the Middle East - it usually ends at Iran. Arabic is even more specific, it's a language and ethnic group.
In a real world context, Lakshmi is a Hindu goddess associated with wealth, beauty, prosperity, and fertility, among other things. She is one of the Tridevi, along Parvati and Sarasvati, the three principle goddesses of Hinduism. She is wife to Vishnu, and is also his shakti, his "divine energy." When Vishnu descends to earth as an avatar, Lakshmi usually follows suit to act as his consort. She is also associated with Maya, the practice of a kind of illusion magic. In the context of FFXIV, Lakshmi is a Primal, an entity of raw elemental power. Like her real world self, she is associated with beauty and light, but unlike her real world self, she is not strictly benevolent, and will use her power for her own ends. This fight occurs because she's basically brainwashed a village to make them stop being angry at her for raising someone from the dead as a soulless husk (she could revive the body but not the soul), and the heroes take exception to this.
Pretty sure Lakshmi is supposed to be Indian rather than middle eastern though but it's definitely a banger. Lakshmi is a principle Goddess of Hinduism (a lot of the recurring primals like Shiva etc. Have Indian elements) and there are Mandalas everywhere. Her costume is also Indian inspired.
I can agree to an extent that it may sound repetitive if you were "forced" to hear this over and over. The verses doesn't have much variation. However it does make it up because it is so catchy and unique within the game. Rather than being a full song with varying verses, the melody and the lyrics are kind of a mantra where the boss is trying to invite and seduce the followers to enjoy bliss by brainwashing them.
Just an fyi since you said this is repetitive, it's actually just a very short song and repeats for as long as it takes to defeat the boss. The bridge doesn't bridge different verses, it just masks the song restarting. The video you watched actually played it twice!
I don't really do the trials that often so I never really listen to the music until I run into videos like this.Im always too focused on mechanics! Listening to these now encourage me to go back and enjoy the fight for all that it is, music and rhythm included.
I would suggest you give a listen to "Daredevil" from Ace Combat 7. The composer, Keiki Kobayashi, also granted his skills to compose "The Valkyrie" track in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Lakshimi is a fun trial. And great for making a joke about any Steven’s you find in the game’s universe. Jokes aside, music has grown on me over time but I still prefer Sophia’s theme to it. 14 always has some bangers around every corner regardless though and this is certainly one.
Equilibrium does have that... "Darkness" to it that this one just lacks - but I suppose that's the point. Sophia isn't really trying to hide her nature - and her song says what she's about. Balance, by any means. Lakshmi wants you to give in, so her song sounds catchy and alluring, rather than sinister - which, ironically, _is_ what makes it sinister.
@@ReksNuadiah Sophia is also more laid back with her theme. She isn’t trying as hard to be catchy, because she’s a Goddess. She knows her word is law. Hence the “darkness” you mentioned really sticking out.
I am once again here to recommend both In The Balance from FFXIV, which I am sure you're being being recommended quite a lot right about now. For a recommendation unrelated to FFXIV, you should give either "Crawl" or "Necessary Discrepency", both from Guilty Gear Strive, a listen
I think many have already recommended it, but when you get into Endwalker stuff, "In The Balance" is an absolute banger even without context. And of course in context it's even more incredible.
I agree it's repetitive but I think you're pretty distracted while playing. And eventually you loop back around to jamming out. And when you get really deep into it you start recognizing which attacks line up with which parts of the song, so there's like a kind of rhythmic dance feeling to the entire thing
Really looking forward to seeing your take on Hydalyns theme, or zodiarks, or the with hearts aligned from the endsinger. Or even "at blades edge " those cover with rock and metal pretty well too. Skar and a few people have some up
You can't see it because of her large elaborate gown, but from the waist down Sri Lakshmi has the body of a snake like a Lamia or Naga. It's not super obvious but along her waist she has blue scales.
