Many years have passed since Final Fantasy XV.
The game itself? Not particularly awesome, it's not a game I remember that fondly.
But there is ONE music track from that game, that to this day, I can NEVER forget. It's still stuck to my mind and it's pretty much impossible to forget.
I am obviously talking about Crystalline Chill. The music you hear when opening the party menu.
Composed by Yoko Shimomura, featuring a leitmotiv taken from Final Fantasy I Prelude, which was originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu
THE CONTRAST
It's hard to put into words why I love this music piece so much, more than anything ever composed for this series, or videogames in general.
I think that what truly stands out to me it's the stark contrast it presents when compared to the rest of the game, or to traditional videogame music in general.
You get these majestic battle themes, which are wonderfully orchestrated, but are all very intense. In other videogames, you get these adrenaline-pumping kind of music, giving the feeling of dealing with an intense situation!
But then, in Final Fantasy XV, you open the party menu… And with this song, it's as if time stops.
You get this super sweet melody, which makes me feel an emotion which is hard to describe. It's not SADNESS, but it's an emotion that feels somewhat tangential to it. Melancholy, maybe?
Yet, the melody is so sweet and calm, that you don't feel any pressure. It's like you're transported to another state of mind, where you get to reflect to what you've done so far.
It's also a stark contrast to the modern world in general. As in, post-2010 real world. We had new wars, everything got faster, trends are even more short-lived, most modern social networks live off shorts. And yet, this music piece feels like an invitation to take a break, to stop, to take a moment to reflect on what happened so far.
THE PRELUDE
The notes from Final Fantasy 1 Prelude are a constant part of this track. Prelude in itself is another musical piece that would need a praise on its own, but I want to talk about it in the context of Crystalline Chill.
It doesn't matter when you started playing Final Fantasy, somewhere or sometime, you heard the Prelude leitmotiv. For example, many players heard it during Final Fantasy VII intro. I personally heard it for the first time while playing Final Fantasy Dissidia. (Yeah, one of my first games was a spin-off)
It's a very recognizable set of notes. This elevates the track outside of its scope in Final Fantasy XV. It feels like Crystalline Chill it's NOT only about the story of Noctis… It's about Final Fantasy in general.
The fact that such a memorable set of notes it's enveloped in such a calming and introspective piece of music feels like the composer is inviting you on reflecting on all the worlds you experience while playing this series, what it meant for their characters, and how their life was shaped by the world-altering events you went through with them.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what the track actually makes me feel: After all the amazing stuff you went through with the heroes of Final Fantasy, you take a moment to think back to the journeys you lived with them.
THE CONTEXT
What makes me truly fascinated about Crystalline Chill is its CONTEXT. It's a menu theme, you hear this when editing your party!
Usually, when a videogame has a truly memorable soundtrack in its menus, it's because the menu itself is pumping you up in anticipation for something. A good example of this are Fighting Games, these are probably the games with the most amount of Top Tier menu songs, because it's important that the player feels somewhat "hyped" while selecting their character.
What makes Crystalline Chill truly unique is that it does the exact opposite. It's an invitation to stop the action. I think I never heard something like this for a pause menu, and that's why it feels so unique. I struggle to find another game that has successfully replicated this feeling.