The Dead Ends Theme "Of Countless Stars" - FFXIV OST 

"I did it! I killed them all! I.. killed them all..."

Even coming back, this dungeon is so layered. All 3 worlds are so reminiscient of our world. The first is like a "what if" the various Beast Tribes and their Primals did win out, they'd deplete the world's resources to feed their primals and then fight each other in the end. The 2nd world is clearly the battle between the Eorzian Alliance and the Empire, which DID happen in an alternate future. And the 3rd world is heavily implied to be the kind of world the Ancients (ascians) were going to become, basically all of Hermes' worst fears because none of the rest of the society really cared about what they did like himself, working up into meaningless perfection.

I love Estinien's comment on the second world "This could have been us had we been unable to stop the dragonsong war..."

I love how Meteion narrates this dungeon like a fairy tale. Almost like one of Aesop's fables with the grim ending and lesson to be learned.

In german the Dungeon is called "Das Sternengrab" , ( The tomb of Stars)

To me.. this piece of music encapsulates the essence of EW's story: the acknowledgment of sorrow and despair, and the resolve to keep charging forward.

“Once upon a time….there was a beautiful blue star….”

A detail I absolutely adore in FFXIV is the weather system. There are so many unique and special conditions, and when you check what the weather is in this dungeon, it's labeled as "Inevitability", as if everything that happened to the worlds in this dungeon are unavoidable and bound to happen to us. Small details like that really add up to make such a unique and enthralling experience.

"And when one asked 'What was the point?' there were none left to answer."

Finding out it refers to 'societal dead ends': SORROW AND DESPAIR Finding out in JP it means something akin to 'The Final Fantasies': EQUAL AMOUNTS OF SORROW AND DESPAIR

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful blue star... that fell to pestilence, and rotted inside and out. The more its people clung to life, the more they suffered. Until they cursed not the illness, but their fellow corrupted. Those who lived and festered, those who died and decayed... and the very last of them wished they had never been born at all. In a faraway place, a brilliant star eradicated disease... before destroying the selfsame lives it had saved. Its people sought ever greater freedoms no matter the cost... they tried to buy peace with fire and steel... and when one asked, "What is the point?" there were none left to answer. Farther still existed a star without strife... where none remembered life's trials- or its joys. What its people had gained from ease, they lost to apathy. So they created the kindest, most gentle of beasts. Its steps were light, and its gift was as painless as it was beautiful. Bathed in its golden glow, they all slept happily ever after...

This dungeon and Amaurot are pure masterpieces, visually, storywise and music wise.

Two possibilities exist, either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying - Arthur C. Clarke

*Hugs Global Citizen*

"A curious traveler visited our star---a bird which proffered these questions: "What meaning does life hold? For what do you strive?" I could find no satisfactory answers, only bittersweet memories of an age long past There was a time when we were lesser, and in our nescience sought purpose---struggled to justify life's worth. That was, of course, before we achieved perfection. Now, condemned to our paradise, we understand the fatuity of existence. Like the fledglings we once were, the poor bird could not accept the truth. It asked us again and again---hoping, perhaps, our answer might change." She let memories like this burn for thousands of years in her heart

It's really cool how Prelude rings ever so subtly in the background in some parts, slightly off key but still giving the impression that there is yet a new beginning to be had You can hear it most clearly between 2:13 and 2:18

The perfect song for fighting against despair at the edge of the universe.

what makes this dungeon is the report in the 3rd instance as meteion asked whats the meaning of life and they didnt know. she was so desperate to get an answer just to most likely see the guy vanish into light

I sure didn't expected the Fermi Paradox being approached by a great game as such. It always ask you the question: "Why we have not been withness of other forms of intelligent life?" And FFXIV answer to this is the one we are most affraid of.

These guys getting happily vaporized by butterflies still send shivers down my spine.

My absolute favorite track in the entire game bar none. The strings and chanting sound like they're filled with sorrow, the piano and brass are uplifting and hopeful, the war drums beating in the background. It's like the song is trying to be happy and sad at the same time, both clashing against one another, but together they're a beautiful harmony representing life.

When just hearing the first note of a song brings tears to your eyes.. This expansion man..

"I killed them all! I... killed them all..." *Chills*

Second end, when "they tried buy peace with fire and steel" it's just wow, not in good way, this moment when one guy destroy them all and Meteion is saying "and when one asked" what's the point" there was no one left to answer" or something like this, my mouth was open all time during this, amazing story but soo tragic

1:17 can't help but start singing "Tales of loss, and fire, faith (...)" during this part.

This could honestly have been the ending theme of the entire franchise and I wouldn't have questioned it.

The global citizen who blasted everyone dead always hits me the hardest because it's such a huge reality for us and our world.

私たちが見た3つの世界。その絶望を知らない私たちは「諦めなければ！方法はあったのに…。」そう思ってしまう。けれどもそれを言えるのは第二の世界の絶望に近いものを知る、グラハだけであると思う。僕たちに絶望へ希望を歌う歌は歌えないと、駆け抜けながら思いました。

Fun Fact: If you take G'raha and Thancred into a Trust, at the end of area 2 this exchange happens: G'raha: "They could have accomplished so much good with their knowledge..." Thancred: "I can see why you chose to lock the Crystal Tower." It just made me laugh so hard, in the middle of this crapsack apocalypse scenario. The Trust banter is amazing.

I like how the areas reflect what the world would've looked like if it wasn't for the WoL. Ishgardians fighting their own, because they think they are heretics. A war torn Eorzea because of countless cycles of war which eventually lead to the black rose ("I killed them all") And the First getting swallowed up by the light through the fear and inaction of Eulmore's nobles.

It was the Grebuloff's ending sentiment that got me. The creature we fight is heavily implied to be the very last of his kind, mutated beyond recognition, blind and turned into a spreader of its contagion. And the worst part? It is my belief he was born into this. Too late to enjoy the peaceful periods that predated this horror, knowing only his awful terrible existence of being born and almost immediately infected and changed. Surrounded by the polluted remnants of the formerly blue star, his last days listening to his fellow comrades fight and kill one another until they were all just bodies baking in the sun, in his final moments he wishes he was never born at all. What does one even glean from the testimony of such an entity? That life is pain, that it knew no joy. No wonder the Meteia was traumatized.

This song and dungeon are what finally broke me. What a journey.

I’m grateful that all of us that did this duty reacted the same way to what we saw in the Dead Ends. Let’s do our best as a species to not end like them

This song just makes me pure sad , each time I hear this. It's just so , perfect and just hard to describe that feeling , until that first boss , I made the whole team wipe. But it's all good.

You know, it occurred to me recently, but barring Famine, these 3 sections represents the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse.

While Upon The Rocks (Pharos Sirius) is still my favorite track of all time, the lethal combo of story impact, dungeon aesthetics, Meteion just being excellent- and this track right here- nearly broke me; like nothing else in the game ever has.

Damn my jaw was just dropped during this whole expac. Specifically right around here was when my soul left my body

While “The Final Fantasies” would’ve been memed to hell and back as the dungeon’s name like the jp version, one part of me finds it so fitting for the final dungeon of the saga, where we relive the final moments of dead planets

When you first spawn in, I feel sad for the guy telling his friend to hold on on the left. This dungeon is so sad :'(

Got to this dungeon last night and with a great party. Second boss we lost our healer but through faith (and a heck of a lot of Clemency) my Paladin and a very spry Black Mage came through. It’s one of the best dungeon experiences I’ve ever had as a first timer and I couldn’t thank the party I was with for being a part of that experience

"I did it! I killed them all!" "...I... killed them all...." The sad thing is if you backtrack to that point? That person's not there anymore.

I love how the leitmotif of "Close in the Distance" can be heard in this song. I'm not usually good at picking out leitmotifs until they are pointed out to me, but this one is unmistakable.

In the dark you will not stray.

I have grown to haaaaaaaaate this song. Not because it's bad but because it's the only dungeon I get when I queue for Expert. AND THAT I STILL DON'T HAVE THAT FUCKING BIRD.

This song makes me cry like a freaking baby for some reason

Handsdown the best dungeon track as well as best dungeon in ff14! I kept redoing this dungeon just for the song!

I absolutely loved every waking moment of this dungeon when I ran it for the first time. I couldn't help but look around and explore. Amazing attention to detail, especially with the first area. You get a debuff and take damage for stepping into the water. And I was super curious about the aquatic race. It's a shame that there's really no insight on who or what they could be. The second area I enjoyed the most. I got a serious Lost Planet vibe from it. I noticed with this dungeon as well as the one before it that there was no gear drop? Only accessories. Which I know for the past expansions they've done something different every time. Was hoping I could get some sort of glam going.

I appreciate this start much more than when I first ran through it. The BGM is fire, Meteion's chilling voice & the narration in general, the birds pushing forward, and the fade to THE DEAD ENDS into the darkest depths of despair

This is not a game, it's an experience. Never in my entire 33 years of my life had I had an existential crisis and cried ugly tears when the characters i grew to love, gave their lives to carve my path forward. And this dungeon made me realize how much I find life precious to me, more than ever before. I'm no longer that guy who sees the world in a negative light...

Further still existed a star without strife... where none remembered life trials... or it's joys...

Ngl, having to kill members of those semi-imaginary(in the sense that they are only illusions because they are already dead) despaired civilization since they are simply trash mobs you pull wall to wall in comparison to the bosses, who are basically their strongest but only a footnote as they are simply dungeon bosses makes it hit very hard to me. You tear through people who've never felt like they actually had a chance and despaired over it despite their achievements or even their power. And it feels kinda poetic to me. It means your hope is just that strong, but also that you suffered enough to see things for what they are, reflect upon them, move forward with them and even die alongside them peacefully. Be it pain, regret, sadness, loss... And it also means that regardless of what happens, you want to be happy at "journey's end"(or rather, death), so you do everything in order to make it worthwhile despite it(think back on Venat's question "Has your journey been good? Was it all worthwhile in the end?") . It's pretty cool theming, especially with how the areas are themed around what makes despair what it is in the context of Meteion's report(other comments would describe that better).

What an ending huh

This has to be my most favorite dungeon theme ever so far

Probably my favorite area of this dungeon is the war torn area, as I genuinely enjoy war torn battlefields (Ghimlyt Dark was a very welcoming surprise to me as other games I've played in the past never had battlefields as detailed as that dungeon)

It’s kind of like people, each star, seeing their lives and the choices they made along the way before they passed or burned out, some could not find peace or gave up along the way or it was too late.

It almost looks like the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse 1.- Grebuloffs died of Pestilence and Famine, no water. 2.- Peacekeeper side got overwhelmed by War and Conquest 3.- The 3rd one people were so bored they all craved for Death.

Just here to say the song title finishes the sentence of the dungeon name. “The dead ends of countless stars.”

Just back here to remind myself of how much I had CRIED upon reaching here like omg

It's insane how something this beautiful can exist. Exist in a game no less. Exist in a god damn mmo of all places. The most unlikely place to find something like this. Especially when almost always in every other mmo the story is just some cobbled together nonsense to give you a reason to go to a new map or something. And that's if the story is even present at all. I almost can't believe that I get to live in a time where I can experience such a good, touching story with positive, beautiful messages together with so many people.

Freaking Nova. Now all I can hear when listening to this song is "MY TURN..."

Is it just me or this whole dungeon paired with OST feels like watching an episode of the national geographic apocalyptic edition

best song in the whole game imo, and there are a lot of good songs in ffxiv!

this dungeon is everything, and the song is incredible

I still can't believe we got to travel to other stars, that was the last thing I expected and then they were like HERES 5 RIGHT HERE SEE THEIR END

Tales of loss, and fire, and faith...

So the first dungeon lv 90 is a apocalyptic one in past, also the first dungeon of lv 80 was a apocalyptic one in past(amaurot), will the future first dungeon lv 100 be another apocalyptic one in past? I hope yes, i dont know why i like this type of dungeon, but i find them amazing

Kinda sucks we didn't get the Japanese name "The Final Fantasies" suits the climatic nature of FF14 first main story really well the sugar on top would be the final trial being called "The Final Fantasy."

I need this ost with Meteion voice

Love your playlist, missing second trial song btw

This song is the perfect accompaniment for the story being revealed during the dungeon. It just feels incredible. It also makes me recall Songs of Salt and Suffering from Stormblood. Both are good marching songs. However, in Stormblood, you know you’re marching to victory when Songs plays. In Dead Ends, things aren’t as clear, and this song makes you feel that, in your bones.

那些飛往宇宙的青鳥們，目睹各個星球文明的末日！！

Some of the story of this expansion, reminded me so much of the back story to a comic I used to draw as a kid, which I am redoing. Because of this, I would say this expansion to me is the absolute best of them all.. I also only do this dungeon for tomes, I actually forgot to unlock the others lol. If I ever have another game made of the comic, (made a little one way back in high school with friends- Chrono Trigger style gameplay, mixed with Phantasy Star II & IV).. I would have it play quite like Dragon's Dogma, mixed with Zelda, looking like Guilty Gear Strive. You travel different planets, even space stations (in the Andromeda Galaxy).. It always started off on Earth being that the main character, Einar is accidently sent and stuck there (lost), as a baby (he is called KD7302-Kydan, on his home world). He is adopted by the leader of a space explorer faction, of Earth called, "Storm Wolf". The faction was founded in 2078, and is comprised of military veterans, mercenaries, and bounty hunters. They adopt Norse/Viking culture, which is the theme of this faction, and give birth to what is called the "Neo Viking Movement." The main character was actually created as an imaginary friend when I was a child. But when I drew him again at 15 (when my drawing had gotten better lol), he was modeled after a young Roy Batty from Blade Runner, mixed with a young Thouzer from Fist of the North Star, and a bit of Spider One, from Powerman 5000 was thrown in, because the character happens to also be a musician, the lead vocalist/guitarist of a Rekkr Metal band (new style of metal) called, Ragnarok (it used to be called Drengr). Like the Skald, who would sing of heroic deeds, and battles, the same is done within this faction among some of it's more musically talented members, though of course through this new style of metal called, Rekkr. I remember in the game we made, we had given Einar a gun-blade, because we wanted both sword and gunplay as his primary weapon. It had elemental properties, allowing him to select an elemental cartridge. This was actually inspired by my Red Mage on FFXI lol, he calls the weapon "Violent Grace". The secondary weapon is called an Infinite Frequency Manipulator, or IFM. A sonic weapon used to hone harmonic energy, for harmonic attacks. His is obviously fashioned as a guitar he names, "Violent Resonance". In the game you played riffs to perform powerful attacks, or enhancement. If you played the riff normally the attack or enhancement would work as normal. If you played it extremely well, and fast his battle companion a shape shifting wolf-like creature, would take humanoid form (as he is the bassist in the band), and play along with him, enhancing the riff with a chance to lower Violent Resonance's cooldown. But if you totally messed it up, the riff's attack would damage everything, even you. One of his riffs called, "Fear Crusade" would invoke his wolf-like companion to become an "Unfeigned Zayin Beast", (Zayin are a primordial genetically engineered alien race, which Einar is part of) turning him into a massive werewolf-like beast that starts wrecking stuff, as Einar sits on his shoulder.. If the riff is messed up however, his companion (his name is Varg), can be turned into a pup, or his humanoid form both of which make him vulnerable, and being that the two of them share a symbiotic relationship, any damage Varg takes Einar will as well. His third weapon is actually himself, merged with his companion Varg. Einar awakens the mutation within him, which allows Varg to become like an armor for him (which suppresses some of the destructive force in him as well as protects him).. I remember the armor kind of almost looking like Grey Fox's suit from Metal Gear. He also has to wear what is called the "Ulfhednar Grima", which is a mask that allows him to retain his sanity while in his mutated state called, "Weapon of Sovereign Ruination, True Arsenal Form, Righteous Violence".. I had named the comic "Sentient Armament", and later used Final Fantasy 15 to make Einar based on his drawings, just to see what he'd maybe look like.. We laughed saying he looked like Thouzer had a kid with Cosmos from Dissidia, or Cloud's older delinquent brother, with an undercut fade lol.. Recently I decided to make him more like my Gunbreaker on XIV, mixed with Red Mage, and Bard (the music) lol.

終極の何かのフェーズで使ってくる技がここのものなのよね。AoEとドーナツがグレビュオフメルター、フレアがピースキーパー、頭割りがラーラーっていう

Can't get more high cosmic than this

Our world is about to end like this too! But not just 1 shown scenario: Its all friggin three!

そして最後の一人は言った 生まれてくるんじゃなかった

I love this dungeon and the music so much despite the fact that the 1st boss has necrosis and sometimes makes it hard for my rez mage arse

Ugh 'Mortal Instants' or this. Very stressful to pick on which is the best 😭

The dungeon reminds me heavily of The Book of Revelation. First zone is the putrefaction of the ocean, darkness, and a combination of the poured bowls. Second is the War of Armageddon. Third zone feels like a corruption of the millennium with the unrepentant sinners.

The Leimotif from Ult Thule... Goddamnit

We have Amaurot at home. Amaurot at home:

I swear, this dungeon's second area rings differently since February.

What's the name of the staff you have please?

My favorite dungeons and theme of the entire game...aside from maybe twinning

We just gonna ignore the fact that the person recording this footage has party spell effects set to full?

it does use the theme of Amauroth right?

Anyone else get Terminator vibes in the 2nd area?

I tried to help the lil fish people lol

The first part of the dungeon hits hard as we're in a pandemic

I love this dungeon, but.. running it over and over again for the blue bird gets so tiring ;w;

Ngl..It sounds like it could be in Soul Calibur

Anyone else get Alexander 1 vibes from the second boss here?

0:25 sing the lyrics slowly, in time with the piano "Whis-pers... Falling silently, drift on the wind" (but I hear you) "Our jour-ney.... Now a memory fading from sight..." (but I see you)

am I crazy or is there not a version of this with lyrics? I'm sure I remember a version of the dead ends theme mixed with close in the distance lyrics or something similar 🤔

This is an amazing piece of music, which will sadly be overshadowed by Close in the Distance

Glad i stopped playing the game after EW , just the best experience ❤

'Judgement Day.' Subtle. Can't blame 'em for pulling inspiration from an amazing source, though.

The message of hope and carrying on in the face of despair kinda rings hollow when our planet is literally going through the ends the first and second areas of this dungeon depict.

Not gonna lie, this eerily sounds awfully familiar to Breathe by Breaking Benjamin lol

I think Amaurot still hits harder than this dungeon. The Dead Ends is still great, but I think Meteion's report done earlier cheapened the surprise and left me pondering how many more dead ends out there.