Music, as they say, is the language of the soul. It can pierce through emotions and weave its own narrative regardless of language barriers. In the context of Final Fantasy, music becomes another character in this rich and vast franchise. Iconic themes resonate throughout franchises – like the Victory theme that has been played on almost every Final Fantasy Game, or the Crystal theme—but there are franchise-specific music that helped define a Final Fantasy game as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjZuxAWb8a8
Who could forget the first time you enter into an enemy battle with Terra in Final Fantasy VI or the dread when you first heard Sephiroth’s theme from Final Fantasy VII or even the giddy waltz prior to the Eyes on Me Sequence in Final Fantasy VIII? With a rich tapestry of themes and melodic narratives, music from Final Fantasy can be plucked from the source material and enjoyed on its own which is pretty much what this chance encounter of ours proved.
During a short vacation in Singapore, we chanced upon the Distant Worlds Concert – a concert celebrating great pieces from the Final Fantasy franchise. Originally started in 2007, Distant Worlds is a live recording of an orchestral concert performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and conducted by Arnie Roth. We tried our luck if we can get tickets and….
Scored me some last-minute tickets!
Obviously, we couldn’t take any recordings inside…
Bes, wag mong gawin! Maawa ka sa kamatis!
But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t take photos (well during intermission hehe).
The concert was held at the Star Performing Arts Center Theater
Fancy!
Already, the people at the venue are starting to pile up.
Look at that crowd
Luckily, there are a few activities just outside the concert hall where people can get more hyped on everything and anything Final Fantasy!
People can play test Final Fantasy XV outside the concert hall
Or have their Photo Taken with the cute peeps from World of Final Fantasy
They could also get FFXV Masks for free
So they can do this pose. 😀 Image taken from PlayStation Asia FB Page
As a huge Final Fantasy fan, Distant Worlds is super worth it! CD’s and MP3s pale in comparison to when a full orchestra storms you with audio ecstasy! I cried a few dozen times during the concert and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t alone. I mean, seriously, Suteki Da Ne was sang live, in full orchestration with clips from the Final Fantasy X series showing on screen!! How can you not be emotional!? Or get a surprise encore of One-Winged Angel complete with audience participation! ZOMG!
The Playlist for the night
The energy inside the hall was infectious! On cue, everyone was shouting in unison: SEPHI-ROTH!
There have been 4 iterations of Distance Worlds since its inception in 2007, with the repertoire adding and/or replacing a few songs with more contemporary (read: highlighted franchise for the season) and this is no exception.
With the recent release of Final Fantasy XV, Distant Worlds SG unveiled the world premiere live performance of Apocalypsis Noctis, the music that played during the epic Titan Battle in the E3 Demo:
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEmcuEw-KEg
This is where those FFXV masks came into play.
We were told by Arnie Roth to wear the masks during the Final Fantasy XV number
This, of course, just made us long to continue our adventures with Noctis and his super best friends!
Entourage: The Game.
To complete (and complement) our experience, we headed out to the merch table to see what we can take home.
Let’s see, there were Final Fantasy CD’s and Blu-rays !
Distant World Tour T-Shirts and FF Plushies…yes that’s a Moogle. Kupo!
Distant Worlds Playbills in super glossy paper for SG$10! Jackpot!
While we did get ourselves some things to bring home, what we really hoped for (well, more like wishful thinking) was for Square to bring in the super deluxe Limited Edition Blu-Ray Soundtrack of Final Fantasy XV. (Sadly, they didn’t…boo!)
With a pre-order retail price of US$109, this hi-definition soundtrack presents the tracks from Final Fantasy XV in a superb audio-visual presentation of sorts – in a way, slightly similar to Distant Worlds where they show clips from the Final Fantasy franchise.
Like this!
The Limited Edition Blu-ray Soundtrack also has the following Bonuses:
◆ Bonus 1: Bonus tracks only available in the limited edition!
Theme song “Stand by Me” (Florence + the Machine) / Behind-the-scenes of the Boston recording session, among others.
◆ Bonus 2: Bonus Disc / Car Stereo (Blu-ray disc)
A Blu-ray disc soundtrack containing all the music the main characters listen to on the stereo of their beloved car, the Regalia. Contains over 250 masterpieces from the FF series! Historically, this will be the biggest Blu-ray disc soundtrack the company has released in terms of total recorded minutes and number of tracks!
◆ Bonus 3: Bonus Disc / Piano Arrangement (CD)
Several tracks from the game have been selected to be included as piano arrangements in this special CD.
◆ Bonus 4: A Special, Large-sized Booklet
Contains a booklet worth the read that includes liner notes and a round table discussion with the main composer, Yoko Shimomura and members of the music production team! Yoshitaka Amano’s “BIG BANG” artwork is planned to be used for the cover illustration!
Just wanted to remind you guys that the Blu-ray Soundtrack is literally a Blu-ray disc and not a CD. You can, of course, listen to the FFXV tracks via mp3 – which the package will provide so you can listen to the tracks on the go.
If you’re a huge Final Fantasy geek (and an audiophile as well), we urge you to try and catch a Distant World concert in the future. And if you can get your hands on the Limited Edition Blu-ray soundtrack of Final Fantasy XV, then we just have one question for you. How much gil do we need to grind to be able to buy it off you? 🙁
For More Info on Distant Worlds Concert head HERE.
For more info on Final Fantasy XV Limited Edition Blu-ray Soundtrack, head HERE.