Square Enix updated the dev blog today with more FFXIV: Heavensward news. Read on for the info, taken from the dev blog.
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Greetings, everyone!
Camate here with more tales from the adventures of Sound Director Masayoshi Soken! Continuing on his journey across Japan, Soken stopped into a couple more cities to spread the love for “Heavensward: FINAL FANTASY XIV Original Soundtrack,” bringing the total to seven different cities.
If you would like to catch up on the story thus far, read the blog entry about the first segment of his quest.
Saturday, March 5: Tower Records Sendai Parko in Miyagi
Before heading out to the Tower Records Sendai Parko store, Soken and crew made a pit stop in the morning at Tower Records Urawa.
Heading into the store they were all welcomed by this fat chocobo wearing a Tower Records apron that the employees kindly set up.
Soken couldn’t stand seeing it caged up, but he had a bit of trouble carrying it when setting it free.
Around the afternoon, they headed to their main destination in Sendai. While there was no fat chocobo to greet them, there was a big stand promoting the soundtrack that had hand-written messages.
One of them pushed the boundaries a bit noting that “even if the servers are down, you can always listen to the soundtrack.” I suppose that’s true.
The mini-concert and talk session was a hit, and everyone at the store had a great time. The signing session afterwards had many fans giving their passionate support, and there were also a lot of requests.
Right after the event concluded, Soken and crew headed straight to the Sendai airport to hop on a plane to their next destination. An hour and thirty minutes later they arrived in the cold northern lands of Hokkaido. With the fresh snow piled up from a snowstorm a day or so prior, it was looking a lot like Coerthas–a perfect setting for the Heavensward soundtrack event.
Sunday, March 6: HMV Sapporo Steller Place, Hokkaido
Arriving to the location to hold their final event, Soken and crew were once again greeted with another surprise–a giant poster board promoting the new soundtrack right next to the store’s entrance. But this wasn’t the only spectacle!
As soon as they headed inside there was an immaculate display–a veritable soundtrack altar being held up by a troop of paissas!
It’s… it’s marvelous! The crew was left speechless.
Further inside the store there was also a game section that had yet another altar decked out with a collection of FFXIV-related images and goodies.
Soken was shocked beyond belief. This store was just too good to be true.
When the event began, the fans crowded in to begin the ritual to summon the great primal Soken.
Hearing the chants of the fans, Soken suddenly materialized from the aether donning the evoker’s horn that he has been bringing along with him on his journey. (The horn has seen better days and all the travel took quite a toll on it. It might just be time to say farewell and retire it at this point.)
The excitement at the venue was so high that the talk and Q&A sessions lasted longer than planned. Even the staff were so wrapped up in the fun that they nearly forgot they had to work.
Heading into the main attraction of the event, the mini-concert, the fans were treated to a surprise when a special someone took to the mic.
Megumi Ita, the person who sang the theme song for the Nintendo DS version of FINAL FANTASY IV, accompanied Soken and gave an exhilarating performance singing Oblivion.
Soken also performed a special Sapporo version of Heavensward.
Finishing off the final concert of his journey across Japan, Soken wrapped things up with one last signing session that had fans lining up around the store.
After taking numerous commemorative photos, Soken and crew finally departed the venue and got some much needed rest, but it was back to work the next day. Thus is the life of a rock star!
It was a long journey that spanned nearly a full week in total, but seeing the fans’ excitement and happiness at each stop gave him all the energy he needed to keep going!
You can grab a copy of the new soundtrack from the Square Enix Online Store as well as from iTunes.
-Camate
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