Fun fact, the original soundtrack version of this song was performed by a different vocalist. Susan Calloway was brought in to perform the song for the Distant Worlds tour. After hearing her performance, Nobuo Uematsu wrote the song "Answers" for FF14 specifically with her in mind.
They also re-recorded this version of Distant Worlds to use for Chains of Promathia because of her performance in the Distant Worlds tour. Uematsu loved her voice that much...
i recently came to a similar realization after looking at all 350 games in my steam library and realizing that none of them offer the depth of experience FFXI did. and does, on HorizonXI
Instant nostalgia. I played FFXI religiously for 5 years until I finally just burned out. It was such a hardcore game, but I loved every minute of it. Very fond memories for XI.
Same, though i was around for 7 years or so. I often think about going back these days just to take everything in again and pick up where I left off. Greetings from Cerberus
I miss how close it felt to have to level with a group. We’d talk about all sorts of crap waiting for people to recover in between exp chains. With the faster leveling, it felt more isolated, but I enjoyed exploring areas by myself or with 1 other. Random NMs or even regular mobs felt like epic battles of attrition.
This is actually two songs from FFXI combined. This first part was from the opening cinematic to the base XI game, while the part Susan sings is Distant Worlds from the Chains of Promathia expansion. Always loved the guitar version of Distant Worlds. XI had a lot of good music. Uematsu did indeed compose Answers. He did all of the 1.0 music for XIV.
+ the main themes for Heavensward and Stormblood aka "Dragonsong" and "Revolutions". He seemingly also did a few themes in Heavensward like "The Mushroomery" aka Matoya's Cave and Contention, which is a instrumental, sad version of Dragonsong.
Memoro de la Stona is Esperanto for Memory of the Stone. Since Final Fantasy games almost all have crystals as a primary theme, it fits the series very well! Nobuo Uematsu is absolutely a genius. He carried the torch for classical/orchestral music into the modern era, making it relevant to several generations of gamers and fresh again even for others who never played, and that says nothing for his talent in other genres.
I remember coming home from 9th grade playing XI with friends on old Xbox 360 and when we beat the story the song played. We were in awe and at the end you could hear a pin drop from all our mics it was so quiet. It was so beautiful.
Thanks for covering this song, huge fan of FFXI and XIV both, so I'm always glad when FFXI music get's it's few moments in the spotlight. Sakaguchi believed the main thrust of FFXI was for people all over the world to cooperate and overcome the game together, for this reason Uematsu chose Esperanto as the language for the first section of the song, which is what plays in the FFXI opening movie. With Susan Calloway's portion coming later as the ending theme for Chains of Promathia but sung by a different singer for the in-game version.
It's a real shame that most fans didn't consider XI to be worthy of the numbered game of the franchise, even though Sakaguchi and Uematsu were the core devs and it was developed in 1998 before the company merged.
@@budakbaongsiah Having grown up with the game, I can safely say it was the best of the old school FF games. It's only caveat should be if you don't consider the mmo's in the series to count then fine, but that has to include both and not just 11 lol.
I'm so glad you got to hear and share this one. Thanks MDS for sponsoring this one, it's really a special piece. Here's hoping FFXI remains online and accessable for the next generations.
Played FFXI for 9 years before quitting, and hearing this song to this day still makes my heart tighten up in what I can only describe as a strange poignant nostalgia. The song is so beautifully bittersweet; there are so many tragic events in the history of FFXI's lore, and this song's tone just drips with that wistful vibe.
Your facial journey tells me so much as Susan works her magic. I'm so happy to have also been one of the people to request this song for you. Edit: Also, the ensemble choir section, which is the Memora de la Stono part plays during the opening cutscene. Distant Worlds plays during the ending of the second expansion, but the whole piece is floated throughout the game's journey as story beats or leitmotifs until they culminate into what you heard.
I believe this is the song that made Nobuo Uematsu bring Susan Calloway in for the FFXIV themes. Comments, correct me off I'm wrong, but I pretty sure that's the case, I remember watching an interview where he mentions that.
Yes, while the in game version of Distant Worlds that plays at the end of Chains of Promathia was done by a different singer, when bringing that song for the Distant Worlds concert series Uematsu and Calloway began to collab together that would continue on until Revolutions for Stormblood. Uematsu had to take a step back from XIV themes and music in general due to health and I imagine that's why Calloway hasn't come back for a XIV theme yet (not due to any drama or anything mind you, she just probably has come to enjoy working with Uematsu/SE probably wanted to have Soken have a few main themes under his belt) , as that's actually her voice you hear as Hydalyen in the opening to 2.0 ARR as it's re-used lines from either the song or lines from 1.0 that were never implemented (much like Answers was re-used from 1.0 but never implemented in 1.0 proper until the ARR calamity CGI).
Oh this one...Memoro de la Stono, This one hits really hard, Uematsu at its prime, I draw a lot of similarities with Answers, such a blissful, yet sorrowful song... Hope, i think it's the theme of those two songs.
This song plays as you finish the second expansion. You hear bits of it without lyrics throughout the expac, but you get lyrics right at the very end. The scenery during the song makes it even more impactful. Its also implied to be one of your adventuring companions throughout the expansion who is a bard. If you're looking for more FFXI music to react to, The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah is something that people always love.
I remember driving 6 hours to see the distant worlds concert in Atlanta. It was a experience that I will never forget. Hearing all theses songs in person ❤ I was broke going to both days and getting a room but it was worth it.
The vocal track gets played by a single acoustic guitar to often times in cut-scenes to denote moments of reunion, hearth, hope, and heartfelt goodbyes. There have been some high quality arrangements for a # of classic XI tracks that are criminally under rated. My favorite has been the Tweex arrangements.
I'm one of those weirdos that never played FFXI but love the soundtrack, it being strong enough to just listen to by itself without the context of the game. Of all the Distant Worlds tracks, Love Grows from FFVIII on Distant Worlds Vol.1 is one of my favorites they have done.
@@Vulkans saaaame. Except I tried the trial version but the learning curve was a bit much for me. Especially for a game as old as me. Adore the soundtrack though and I’m so glad to see ffxiv is making a new raid series with it!
I have no idea what other final fantasy 11 music sounds like, nor what the plot of 11 is. Despite that, this song makes me nostalgic, since I played the HELL out of my two distant world albums. What I can tell you is that final fantasy 11 is also an MMO, but in the old school style, where you lose exp and stuff on death. Also distant worlds has been a live concert series for years and years. Its been a world tour pretty much every year. The albums just collect all the songs into a prerecorded collection, but you can hear any of the songs from any album at any concert, even today. I think the only exception is when other concert series are running (like FF7 Remake) they may stop distant worlds temporarily. Can't confirm or deny that though.
The plot of FFXI is a series of loosely connected stories, some more connected than others. First you have to take down a demonic entity called the Shadow Lord who commands the beast tribes against mankind. Then you unravel the mystery of the Zilart, a progenitor race of people who died out mysteriously and left behind ancient magical technology, then you kill the god of evil and save the world from his nightmares, then you go to a new land to work as a mercenary and save the princess, then you go to an alternate history where the Shadow Lord won the war, then you go to a new land to work as an explorer and save the princess.
There’s a lot of alternate retellings of the same events. Shadow lord wins, shadow lord loses. You go to the past. Evil god loses, evil god wins, etc. So different a lot of different storylines intersect.
FFXI was the first MMO from Square. I played it for years until 14 came out and then I switched. This song was from the 2nd expansion Chains of Promothia. It made me cry the first time I heard it, and it made me cry this time too. Love this song.
This song... oh man, this song. This is actually two for the price of one - Memoro De La S^tono (always written with that weird caret in-game) is the song that plays over the open cutscene shown before you start playing FFXI (and is also a key plot element in the Chains of Promathia storyline.) At about 3:01, the Distant Worlds version transitions into the Chains of Promathia ending cutscene song, titled... Distant Worlds - quite possibly where the touring orchestra drew its name from. Taken as a whole, this song bookends the plot of Chains of Promathia, often accepted as THE canonical storyline of Final Fantasy XI (other storylines are treated more as sort of side stories.)
So many memories and almost 2 decades of experiences come rushing back with this song. I made a lot of friends thanks to FFXI, and lost some down through the years. The whole song always felt about coming together to make something great with people you may never even personally see, uniting distant worlds. Honestly can't listen to it without tearing up even now. Thanks a lot for listening to this and appreciating it, it gets overlooked a lot somehow (probably because it was considered the black sheep of the mainline FF series for a long time due to it being an MMO).
Finally had the time to listen to this reaction. This is one of my most favorite tracks and it means so much to me. This track is also single-handedly the reason I hold FF11 so high in regard despite never having played it ♥
Just bought my Distant Worlds tickets for this year - Will be my second tour. I don't know how often they actually have Susan performing with them, but it does happen. I definitely recommend attending the tour if you ever get a chance.
This song has so much nostalgia for so many of us that played xi. Flowers quenching our hearts is such a poetic way to describe the flowers on graves. I'd also suggest taking a peak at the Star Onion Brigade (S.O.B.'s) for some other renditions of 11 music.
This song always makes me tear up even if i try hard not too...seeing the girl gets killed while the boy runs away...ugh then they show him grown up and then its time to grt revenge on them damn orcs! Lol Damn i miss playing FF11, 10 good 10 years dedicated to the game. I miss the game and all the memories i made and friends. Also the 2nd song its one of my favorites from FF11 it has singing and a very nice cutscene it was just beautiful. "Distant world" I believe.
Since you're now reacting to Distant Worlds tracks, you should give Opera: Maria and Draco a go, it would definetly be an interesting reaction. You're Not Alone and Heavensward are my favorite Distant Worlds tracks though.
Before this album was recorded, Distant Worlds was a concert series, but it really says something that the concert series and these albums are named *for* this song ("distant worlds" is in the lyrics). I dreamed for years to hear Final Fantasy music orchestrated, wishing and hoping they'd come to my city. One day they came, and one of the concert days was on my birthday no less. A mind blowing dream come true. That's not all. I went to school to learn to make games myself. Rhe day before my birthday, we got to see Uematsu-san in person. I admire him greatly, his love and passion and honestly humility shines in his music. But it also shines in his demeanor. He made his career by not looking down on game music, hearing beeps, square waves, samples a far cry from what hardware is capable of today, and he respected it, and he respected the stories being told. He believed that it was capable of standing up on its own merit. Through strength of melody, game music proved itself when when chip tunes were all it had. And I really believe Memoro De La Stono is one of his, and game music as a whole's, masterpieces. Personally, I think I prefer the original mix of track from FFXI's opening, I really recommend seeing it with the visuals if you haven't yet. And I honestly love the original vocalist too, Izumi Masuda also has this goddess-like vocal presence (a bit more operatic) that swept me away when I heard the "Voices Music from Final Fantasy" live recording, which is overall closer to the original tracks. She isn't a native English speaker so she doesn't have the incredible diction and precision that Susan has, but I still think it's worth it. If you search "Voices concert Memoro De La Stono" you should be able to find it. I adore this song, and when I heard it live, I felt the wind ring from the instruments and the song played through my body, it was unreal, a memory I'll never forget. The Distant Worlds concert series is starting up again, maybe it'll come to your town, I highly recommend it.
Songs mentioned in this video Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dollars ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fDiouHeqwtg.html The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly - The Story Of A Soldier ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pBGtgzIS6YE.html
This is nostalgic to me even though I didn't play FFXI. Feels that way because I used to listen to its other version countless times in my time at junior high school (2006ish). My older brother found an album called Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight and the sixth track is the arrangement of this Distant Worlds - Memoro De La Stono. Fond memories!
XI has some choice tracks, and I gotta shout out Naoshi Mizuta for his work alongside the great Uematsu. I recommend "A New Horizon" (Tavnazian Archipelago's theme), "Breaking Ground" (Seekers of Adoulin battle theme), "The Sacred City of Adoulin", "Keepers of the Wild" (Delve/Skirmish/Rieve theme), "Ululations from Beyond" (Arrapago Reef theme), just to name a few.
It saddens me that in general ffxi gets completely shoved to one side. Outstanding soundtrack, incredible story lines. In my opinion it's was only since shadowbringers that ff14 surpassed it. Played for 15 years.. So many memories.
Honestly. Got into FFXI after a good 15 or 16 years of wanting to play it and while it's not the same super hardcore MMO and Trusts do a lot of carrying in the story, it's still a wonderful experience. Especially musically.
@@johnnyshins511hey so long as you have a wonderful journey then that is all that matters, I plan to play it one day when I get my laptop fixed or just build a pc
FFXI was a hardcore online jrpg people from all regions fighting each other for NM items to summons world boss's this game would take lives or ruined it, if you got too deep. I was always out there soloing as rdm/nin for those summon items I would get so much hate taking down or stealing mobs haha.
This is actually two different songs. The first half is used in the into cutscene for the base game. The second is the final cutscene of the second expansion.
This is the first song from a game that made me cry growing up. Because going through all of FFXI from Zilart through CoP and coming to that end... with the cut scene that played. It ruined my expectation for story telling in online games.
FFXI was an MMO and my first one at the impressionable age of 15. I played for a number of years and made tons of friends online. It was kind of a new thing at that time in the world. This song always takes me back to those childhood days and the friends I made trudging though the trials and tribulations of that tough, grindy MMO
The Distant Worlds motif is used so well. It recurs again and again, right from the opening cinematic of the vanilla version of the game, with variations throughout various big and small moments, and then closes out the game's then-planned final expansion, Chains of Promathia. XI really is an incredible game, not least because of how well it combines music, gameplay, and story. I can only hope it, Vana'diel, and all her stories will continue to live forever. To all the fellow adventurers, whoever finds me here, remember: we press ever forward... and the sun never sets.
Everytime I listen to this I just picture Jesus' crucifixion, his life knowing what he was going to endure, and his coming back from the heavens for the witnesses to see. I can paint a real vivid picture. I wish I could make a movie about it with this song. Even though idk what they're saying lmao
Hey Jesse, if you do more songs from the MGS series I recommend "Calling to the night". It fits that lullaby-esque sound you like. Plus Natasha Farrow kills the vocals.
Can’t survive this song without tears! What a twist in fate a mmo would give me worldwide friends that would last decades :) the live version I’ve always watched has the vocalist Izumi Masuda!
This is actually my favorite track from all of final fantasy, I found this song through final fantasy dissidia duodecim ending theme, where it's basically a 10 minute medley of final fantasy main themes, do check it out!
Such a shame that even now XI's soundtracks are passed by even some of the most hardcore fans of the series. Glad that XIV didn't fall to the same pit, shame that 1.0 did, though. Also, Memoro de la Stono is probably the only song sung in Esperanto for a game. Is also probably the most popular original song sung in Esperanto due to the popularity of XI.
Ffxi has alot of my favorite music from the series, the sense of adventure and atmosphere this ost gives you is unparalleled. God im still upset we dont have most of this games ost in ffxiv...
Final Fantasy music has a fair variety within its catalogues lol. Vocal tracks from FF8, 9 and 10 also have a similar vibe to this though, I think... Eyes On Me, Melodies of Life and Suteki Da Ne are the titles... I think they all have versions from Distant Worlds, but you might also want to check out the originals... FF8 and 9 still used midi style synth stuff for their main soundtracks, but the main vocal tracks were like studio recorded, so the quality is comparable, whichever version you pick... Distant worlds has more of a live orchestral sound though, while the originals might sound more like a pop song (albeit you still have orchestration in them... Not like they are super pop in their style, but hopefully you get what I mean...). But yeah, there's a bunch of styles of music that you haven't heard yet... Most people request the big stuff, but there are lots of fun little tunes too, like the Chocobo theme lol So many versions of it... That could be an interesting video lol All the versions of the Chocobo theme... There's like almost everything from samba to metal, I think... But yeah, work your way through Distant Worlds and you'll hear a decent selection of music... I'm pretty sure they have the FF6 opera in it lol.
The music in FFXI was good... but I struggle to recommend a lot of it because it's going to have a more generic MMO Background music vibe. Gustaberg is a personal favorite... and if I WAS going to recommend something it would be Sanctuary of Zi'Tah or maybe The Gardens of Ru'Amet (it's a strange piece) [Not to be confused with Ru'Lude and Ru'Ann Gardens]. Ronfaure is the only piece I KNOW was composed by Uematsu as this was where he wasn't the lead composer anymore. Oh!! Pso'Xja is also a personal favorite. It's a strange dungeon but... Like so many other pieces... it's Background. The only real battle theme I can recommend is Awakening, The Shadowlord's Theme. most of the other battle themes are... generic MMO battle themes. They're good and pleasant... but just not something I'd recommend as stand out. Additional Information: This is the piece I believe Uematsu discovered Susan Calloway. Some recommendations were made to him based on the need for a vocalist for this performance in Distant Worlds and this was her first time doing ANYTHING with Final Fantasy. Uematsu fell in love with her voice and has frequently reached out to collaborate with her ever since leading to the 2 pieces she sings in FFXIV as well as I'm pretty sure some other stuff. Also... We haven't Recommended 9 to Jesse yet? We need to fix that. Jesse, you NEED to hear Melodies of Life, my brother. There's 2 versions, same Vocalist. Japanese and English. There should be a version with BOTH languages incorporated. Speaking of Morricone... Wild ARMS is another game series... The Wild ARMS opening and World Map themes are something you'd love as they pay tribute to him. I may have to pay for that...
I always watch distant worlds whenever it is near my country. I usually take 3 days leave to fly to singapore just to watch distant world orchestra. There should be one in 2020 should be my third distant worlds concert. But damn covid cancelled the whole tour :( i was so pissed, since distant worlds concert are qute rare. One of my dreams since uni is to visit one in japan, listening to the philharmonic orchestra itself..
You know you might really enjoy the Crazy Chocobo theme from FF XII-2, most chocobo themes are upbeat tunes but this was one came out of nowhere with metal while riding the most metal version of a chocobo in game
Gods... around 3 and 5 minutes in Im hit Hard in the stomach.. I can actually see the Vana'diel sun rise and fall. my time on the docks of Nashmau fishing.
This just brings my childhood back to me. The first song, "Memoro De La Stono," is the opening theme of the game and it's played over a scene of Tavnazia being sacked. The second half, after the flutey interlude is "Distant Worlds" which played over a prerendered cutscene after completing the game's 2nd (and usually considered best) expansion. Basically it was your reward for "completing the game" so to speak. This edition of "Distant Worlds" is actually a rendition from concerts sung by Susan Calloway, the original that played in game was by a Japanese woman who was clearly trying her hardest to sing in English with a thick Japanese accent, still good but no where near as heavy hitting as this version.
