The lyrics tell a very clear story of what Ul'dah should be, but has fallen from grace to where it is now Balance, justice, the worth of something to someone, the fire of life Nald'thal may be the patron deity of Ul'dah, but it's Ul'dah that needs a newfound faith in Nald'thal, if these lyrics are anything to go by Soken is a musical goddamn genius

What I also love about the instrumentation in "In the Balance" is the shaking of the bag of coins you can hear in the baseline. Given that the gods you are fighting are Ul'dah's patron gods, the merchant city-state, it means complete sense, even further, they are the gods of balance and fortune with the scales as their iconography. The scales are not only associated with merchants, as in the older times, scales are commonly used to determine the "worth" of coins since a lot of coins minted were precious metals and people would frequently shave them, but also judgment, as in the scales of justice. It certainly feels like Ul'dah lost its way and became more of an exploitative corrupt merchantile oligarchy than what their patron gods would have agreed to (but since they didn't intervene I guess they shrugged).

12:45 precisely. In the fight they also congratulate you after you do the balancing mechanic right. They aren't hostile, more testing you and having fun while doing that

Everyone is so blown away by "In the Balance" that I feel "Radiance" is getting overshadowed. Radiance is an absolutely amazing piece and is drawing on the opening cinematic music from A Realm Reborn and most people I talk to haven't even realized it!

This song has read to me like a extremely bombastic version of an Ul’dahn folk song. You know, something that is a keystone event at major festivals in the city with the best dancers on all of Thanalan absolutely cutting a rug to those drum beats. A song that invokes pangs of nostalgia in the old and inspires wonder in the young. Such a juicy song to sink your teeth into.

Yeah, I love how “In the Balance” sounds almost like a song you would hear at a festival. It’s everyone, even the gods, just having fun. The gods we see quickly blow their own cover story with how much they are enjoying our battles. A fun detail: the fight mechanics actually sync to the music to a degree. It’s especially noticeable if you have a group that is on point with mechanics. They have done music syncs for other boss fights, but players synchronizing with each other really turns this battle into a dance.

Just seeing your vibeing durring "in the balance" its just pure joy!

I just love Pilgrimage, ( the first song mentionned, the very calm one) it's so aery...i have this in my FFXIV home!

“May those who wander, left in the dark, find firelight.” That lyric moved me. My first WoL, made when 2.0 was launched, was a Ul’dahn GLD with Nald’thal as her patron. Hearing this theme being a huge celebration of that land and the god(s) that I chose to influence her hit me like freight train. Especially after the events of Endwalker and this being the start of that new adventure. God. I love it all so much.

One of the things I love about "In The Balance" is the time signature change that nobody even notices, and it adds so much "funk" to the song. The verse is in solid 3/4, and then when the chorus kicks in at "Stoke the ancient flame..." it slides smoothly into 4/4 at the same tempo. (Soken, the genius, hides it in exactly seven beats of not much happening except a harp glissando.) That 4/4 releases all the tension he built up by leaning on the third beat of each measure of the verse. It's the equivalent of a bass drop without having a bass drop.

10:26 - No apologies needed. That's pretty much everyone when we run the raid LOL. One thing I'll cross link from Alex's analysis (found here: ukposts.info/have/v-deo/qJKBqYtkhpmnqI0.html) was noting how each city had its own musical identity. Ala Mhigo and Ul'Dah, being more arid region/desert cities, had their particular sounds that just worked SO well here. We were already speculating what the other wings would sound like, with Gridania (Earth) and Ishgard (Ice) being up next, then we close out with Sharlayan (Water) and Limsa Lominsa (Wind) if we follow the elemental cycle. Only four months to wait!

I know music effects everyone differently, for me "In the Balance" hit really hard and is special to me. My mom died in 2015 and as I was listening to that song she came back to me so vividly. I ran this dungeon over and over all day just crying when I got to the final fight. I don't know why I associate this song to her but this song is very special to me and they did too good of a job.

The Twelve are alot nicer than the Greek gods they're greatly inspired by

One fascinating thing about In the Balance is that... Each of its halves represents one aspect of Nald'Thal. The first half talks about the beginning of life and one's ambitions in life. Which, of course, represents Nald (keeper of the living). "Stoke now nascent flame, brighter burn, dance with souls afire May ember catch and red-gold spark rise to new heights May we want for naught coin can buy Never see wealth's river run dry May we find fortune after life" The second half talks about death, asks for a fair judgement in the afterlife and prays that those who lost their way find their way back. Which, of course, represents Thal (keeper of the dead). "Stoke now kindled flame, hotter burn, sing till breath expires May those who wander paths in the dark find firelight May we all as true equals die Never fear unjust favor's bite May we be judged by what is right"

By the time this expansion is over we are going to have so many SSS class bangers. The clinking of coins in In The Balance makes me think of the clock ticking in Neath Dark Waters, just wonder bits of thematic texture that some people don't even consciously pick up on but still feel. I'm hoping that for the other two wings of this raid series we get equally appropriate songs for Gridania and Limsa Lominsa (Nophica and Llymlaen respectively), I mean it's Soken, the man doesn't know how to disappoint.

Soken is a genius. I haven’t been this excited by a composer in a long time. Thank you for your gift.

I'm so glad you analysed Pilgrimage, it's relatively overlooked by most because it's pretty subdued but I agree that it sets an amazing mood for the raid.

When Marco uploads a FFXIV video it's a good day

god, your absolute love for music is so contagious, you radiate true passion when you speak about and jam to the music. so fun to watch, it fills me with warmth. im so glad youtube recommended this to me

I doubt I'm the only one who can vividly imagine an animated music video for this song that seamlessly cuts between scenes of the fight against Nald Thal and a grand Street performance of it in the streets of Ul'da.

In the balance surprised me, especially with that chorus. Beautiful. It's ok to get carried away with music, it's paying respect to it.

I like how the scales are also a callback to Egyptian mythology, which is extra fitting considering the desert domain and their wealth. egypt was very wealthy in it’s day. The scales were also used to weight one’s heart against a feather. If one’s heart weight too heavy… say goodbye to your very existence as your heart was fed to the beast. If you did weight lighter or even, you could pass on. It made aure people followed their good virtues. Virtues the song talks about. Nald-thal also kinda calls back to amun-ra who was originally two deities that were briefly combined into one for a time. One also helps Ra fight apip to get to the afterlife after the scales.

Love your little dance break during In The Balance!

I love that you devolved like all us simps and just jammed to the song and forgot all about doing your vid 💜😅

When I realized that "In the Balance" is a hymn to Nald'Thal from the people of Ul'Dah I got chills. I would love to hear hymns to Azeyma, and Byregot, and Rhalgar too (Soken is a god but I don't expect this of him) so I look forward to the other gods we hopefully get hymns for. Also side note, the base of the center of the hub area shows all 12 of the gods' symbols and it so happens that they are in order of how we face them in Aglaia and the pairs of heavens match the other gazebo areas so we can maybe theorize who we will be facing in the next two tiers and in what order.

This felt like a big collision of the Steppe, Ul'dah, and Ala Migho all cramed into one, it was excellently done. I can't wait to hear what Soken has in store for the Fury, Halone. Heavensward music ALWAYS hits me hard, and the possibility of combining choral magnificence and big organ sound with a tempo like this...I already know it's gonna be good. :D

I watched Alex Moukala's breakdown of this. He points out that the modulation suddenly gives the song a darker tone. I think that's a brilliant touch given the context. We get Nald with the lively upbeat song, then we get Thal with the modulation and sudden darkness in the song. It's like a reminder that they also oversee death. That's my interpretation of it at least. Also the references to fortune, life and death. Stoking a nascent flame, being new life, Day beckons night, being a life/death cycle. Living a life filled with riches and and finding riches after you departed.

In the Balance is so amazing from a thematic perspective, because it's this idealized view on Ul'Dah. It presents the city as this desert ruby, center of commerce, where every person is equal before the eyes of Nald'thal, where money is an intrinsic concept not exclusive to anyone, but actual Ul'Dah is anything but, it's a corrupt, dark place, run by the syndicate, who grind the poor under their heel, the antithesis of the song. It's a false anthem of sorts, it basically shows us what Ul'Dah *could* have been, if not for the greed and corruption of the Syndicate

Truly deeply love the tracks in this raid. the peaceful feeling of the opening song is incredible. It feels vast and curious and godly as you said and in the balance speaks for itself lol. The part where the "....nascent flame..." line comes in always gets me moving during the fight without fail

i still get goosebumps when zoning in and that music starts

I love how the raid's aesthetics are based on the astrologian cards, I can't wait to see the Bole, heaven of earth, mainly because of Nophica, goddess of abundance and matron deity of gridania, I expect some dream like forest scenery there, for the music I have no clue what to expect, maybe something like "Fierce and free" from Il'mheg

I feel like I could put a baby to sleep with the first half of this music, very soft feelings to it.

...Dammit, I was cured of having to listen to "In the balance" on repeat all day, now I'm sick again because of you 😂

I love how every segment of the song just gradually gets better and better as you listen despite being completely different than the other .. that's how you make a song.. I have a hard time rewinding the song because I can't find a reason to...

I love the insert of Prelude - Remembrance/Rebirth in Pilgrimage. Beyond the fact that it's a callback to ARR, it really makes you wonder what the connection between Hydaelyn and the Twelve are.

man i love aglaia, pilgrimage is beautiful and well so is in the balance, and i love how it basically sings about uldah and thanalan

11:20 at points in In The Balance, a nod to commerce and Uldah being a city-state of currency exchange, you can hear the clacking of coins as percussion. It's easiest to pick out during the "and when we reach our ends" part. Subtle and I love it.

I loved this video, your joy and excitement really warms the heart!

when this first came out, I ran it with a huge group of first timers as well. We got to that fight and we were all like 'YO THIS SLAPS! WHY DOES THIS SLAP SO HARD!" We were all blown away by it! Now ever time I get to this boss I always go "TURN THE VOLUME UP FOR THE MUSIC!" I have been caught mouthing the words to this song in my living room, and I always explain "the boss song is amazing!" I can't wait to hear the next final boss song in the next raid!

I can just imagine a massive parade through the streets of Ul'Dah. Dancers on top of floats, marching and dancing in front and behind them to the tune of a grand band, merchants on top tossing coins out to the crowds gathered around, everyone singing and enjoying the festivities, silk banners lining the streets and everyone out in their best clothes. The Thaumaturges firing off their best, most spectacular spells as fireworks... truly a grand spectacle of celebration not only of the city, but it's gods and the people who call that place home.

I love how into the music you got there. ❤ That was charming af.

Loved this raid, and that final song had no business being as amazing as it was. Same with the main raid series with "Scream" as well. This game has music that just goes in directions you will never expect but you will be so glad it did.

i had just the widest grin watching you have fun listening to the great music from this raid. 😁 Thank you for bringing that blast of joy into my day!

This raid gave me the feeling of faith rewarded. I was expecting a dark twist when we finally meet the twelve like they are primals or evil or something but this went the opposite way

Oh wow thats lovely. I actually kinda needed to listen to it lol. Just put my head into a nice and peaceful state. Then the second half was really awesome.

Love this music as well!! Thanks for your awesome reaction and explanation!!!

I love this raid series so, so much. The music, the glams, the mechanics, boss design. All of it is top tier FFXIV! Atleast for me. Also, as a healer main since HW, it makes my heart extra happy to see you run white mage! ❤ Keep up the stunning work Ser!

I love how “In the balance” wouldn’t have happened unless Michael Fox (English Translator for FF XIV) wanted to created the swear, “Thal’s Bloody Balls!” and created twin gods to allow it to work. Edit: Found a link to his statement about creating the gods: ukposts.info/have/v-deo/e4NeYZ-xiqSTr58.html

Oh boy now I'm wishing if there is a vod of your first experience in Aglaia, I'd like to see that

I’ve been loving this new style of video you’ve been doing lately, Marco! Also the beard is looking very good, my good sir 👌🏻

Soken always goes hard. We had Aglaia/In the Balance last patch. This patch, we have FFIV remixes and Scream, which is completely awesome. Scream all you want, 'cause we're all mad here.

Pilgrimage I think is under rated because of in the balance. Its such a peaceful song, I can listen to it for hours. In the balance also reminded me of music from Aladdin.

In the balance brings me almost to tears it geniunly makes the fight feel like one where everything is on the line

I love how "In the Balance" feels. To me it invokes the feelings of a grand festival in the name of the gods

The raid was a treat and the music was just the cherry on top of it all. It’s hard to not be jamming out while during “in the balance”

I’m so flattered that you listened to it! I never actually expected it to happen when I suggested it, and when I got your reply I was blown away that someone whose videos I’ve so quickly come to adore listening to actually responded.

This song really got to me when i first heard it. Especially since i started in Uldah and it felt like a home away from home for me. With how its arranged it really feels like you can see traders or merchants singing this song to celebrate their gods and its just really cool to see/hear that kind of immersion.

Super solid combination of musical analysis and JUST PLAIN VIBIN' to a banger!

I like how the meter changes from 3 to 4 when the reprisal of the In the Balance theme comes back around with the reduced instrumentation with the harp. Soken not only writes lovely melodies, but is a fantastic orchestrator and really knows how to use simple compositional tools to their maximum effect.

Always a joy to watch you enjoying yourself cause this song really slaps lol

One thing I can't wrap my head around is why the part where they chant "we pray" in in the balance mirrors exactly when they chant "we fall" in Shadowbringer

Music is the soul's voice. And it's always great seeing you FEEL the music. Thank you for doing what you do, Marco. :)

"In the balance" is even better if you imagine that it's F'lhaminn singing it.

I WAS WAITING FOR THISSS VIDEOOOO ❤️❤️❤️❤️

"In The Balance" hits me like a joyful hymn, a song of celebration. An oasis in a desert, full of people who can find gold among the sand. Brightly colored clothes of silk worn by merchants and people dancing with their souls bright as fire. Singing until breath expires. Of course there's a dark side to this gilded city. Those with enough money to throw away can tip the scales too far in their favor, and some people will obsessively hoard money by depriving it from others. "May we want for naught... May we find fortune after life." because some people can only dream of a life of comfort without being worked to death. "May we be judged by what is right." because a society obsessed with money will inevitably favor those who have it all.

Marco, I got a suggestion which I have not yet seen from anyone reacting to yet. It's "From the Heavens" the second phase music for Final Omega

The Menphina theme is amazing. It's literally if Sailor Moon was a Greek love goddess. Honestly the Endwalker alliance raids so far are amazing, as both a musical and gameplay experience. I've recently been taking dance, and getting my teacher to dance one of these tunes is something I really want to have happen. The audience will be blown away by the music, and my teacher really is into choreography. Aww hell I nerded out too!

God In the Balance has to be my stand out song for 6.0 so far. It's just so good and I could have it on repeat all day. I think a cool video idea would be to react to every FF's Crystal Prelude and see if you can pick out an over all theme of each game by just its Prelude.

I did the alliance raid SUPER late (I took a break in 6.0 and came back for 6.2), but I remember everyone on twitter losing their MIND over this song when the raid released and I was so particular about avoiding any spoilers I just never looked at anything..... When I finally did the raid and got to hear In the Balance I was like "Okay, I get it now." I love how the music feels like Nald'Thal is just having a grand old time testing us, like they're just so thrilled to have this moment with us. I know there's the whole ruse they do in the quest going like "we're the rightful rulers of this star now, you must fight us to prove mankind is worthy" sort of threat, and the boss music for the first 3 feels fittingly like we're battling and it's something to take serious, but when this music hit I felt like the veil of that ruse was being lifted because the music is so upbeat and animated and Nald'Thal never really came across as wanting to seriously harm us (to me at least), just kind of curiously watching what we do and being delighted in how we overcome what is thrown at us

You hear Lucy Pyers cover of the balance 😆? It’s pretty good haha. Anyway another great video, keep them coming 👍💪

Square enix music has always been amazing. I remember playing FF11 in the early days and having the holiday music playing through my surround sound and my mom be like woah what is that it sounds great!

This makes me hope with get a Halonian Prayer from Ishgard and Gridanian Prayer as final fight hymns

....you know I never noticed until this video that Pilgrimage shares a leitmotif with In the Balance. And it's funny; In The Balance was on my mind today since I was looking up the lyrics to finish memorizing it.

Aglaia music is my most favorite music, it's indeed so freaking good! Usually alliance raid are boring for mr because of the length, but aglaia just hits different, and now that the weekly restrictions armour drops is already lifted, i can play more aglaia as much as i want

Aglaia's "In the Balance" was so good that on release when people heard it we didn't start the boss fight for like a solid 5 minutes. We just wanted to hear the music. Such a banger song

Seeing how much you've enjoyed the variation on the various leitmotifs in the game (and also just watching you rock out the music as you react to it), I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the music from the final 6.0 trial ("The Final Day" and "With Hearts Aligned"). TFD does interesting work remixing several themes together and I'd love to hear hear some discourse on that because I didn't fully listen to the FFXIV OST until Endwalker, so I only picked up pieces here and there. ALSO I've seen several streamers grooving to With Hearts Aligned when it kicks in and die because they stopped paying attention to everything else (with one explicitly blaming Soken for his death, lol), so it'd be interesting to hear your experience. For me, personally, the intro to WHA hit me especially hard because it was the only part of Footfalls that I hadn't heard yet in Endwalker, and I felt like Soken had been saving this one up his sleeve for the most dramatic climax of the game. The overall tonal shift from TFD to WHA gave me relief, and a sense that "Oh yeah we got this!"

You got some sweet moves Marco! Honestly who can help but dance with this track?!

Please make an analysis about Port Ormos from the Genshin Impact new region, Sumeru. It's outstanding and gorgeous to hear

Am i the only one who was vibing with him near the end? 10/10 vibes

I feel like i understand Ul'dah better because of In the balance. It feels like the people's genuine religious song for the twin gods, as would be performed in public ceremonies. It also fits the nations so beautifully.

Thals balls!

I feel like In the Balance also really helps understand how Ul'dah works culturally, because while they value treasure and wealth as the blessings of Nald it's tempered by the fact that you will inevitably visit Thal who doesn't care how rich you were and judges only whether you did what was right.

To me 'In the Balance' sounds very much like a prayer song sung at a festival dedicated to Nald'Thal in Ul'Dah. Like we're hearing this Festival prayer unto Nald'Thal. And I cannot stop jamming to it.

Some music make can make my eyes get full of tears, and "In the Balance" is an example of that! I dunno why... I just get emotional...

After the mindless grindy nightmare of pf savage, Aglaia was just what I needed. It was fun, creative, beautiful, had amazing music, and truly was a spectacle. It's so nice to see you do a video on it.

It figures the patron god of Ul'dah is two lalafels in a trench coat XD

My favorite part is when Thal's Balls was an actual mechanic

11:40 The words I use to describe the tune of In the Balance is 'a celebration'!

I looked up the singer for in the balance. She has a youtube channel :D

NGL the first time the raid smacked Pilgrimage into my eardrums, my face contorted into similar angles just like your face fr fr Then it had my head bopping with In the Balance XD

Something that I may be totally misunderstanding/hearing, is the "We Fall" motif from Shadowbringers, in the lines "We Pray, Twinfold". I couldn't shake it once I heard it, but maybe I'm wrong XD

You should consider streaming your first time through some of this XIV content, I would love to see your live reactions.

I need to catch up on the raids! This music is too good

Yeah, this song gave me chills the first time I heard it. It is sooooo good!!!

"Pilgramage" is SO underrated. I could sit and listen to it forever.

Soken can't keep getting away with this! He just keeps creating masterpieces!

Wait until he hears Scream

Can you please review Soken's live performance of "LaHEE"

In the Balance is so good. I was listening to this video in the background while playing a game, and I forgot I was listening to it, and when you cut off the music to talk I got scared because I was so consumed by the music.

Now I can only sing Lucy Pyre's version... D:D