Ultimate Xiv Soundtrack Guide

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By now there are so many soundtracks of XIV out there, that probably nobody knows anymore what to buy and not to. So I decided to make a detailed list what is where to be found in general. For digital (D) soundtracks your best bet is Amazon, Apple, sometimes Spotify. mora has a lot to offer, but is japanese only. Not sure whether it is possible to buy in EU/USA without too much hassle. The prices of digital music are way cheaper than Square's on disc releases. Unfortunately it seems Square Enix could not decide where to distribute their digital music.

OST

Title​

Included Patch​

#Tracks​

Length​

Price​

Availability​

Release​

Obsolete​

Comment
Battle Tracks & Field Tracks​

1.x​

D: Apple​

29.09.2010​

x​

Included in Eorzean Frontiers
Eorzean Frontiers​

1.x​

38​

194:24 min​

$11,99​

D: Apple​

01.09.2012​

x​

Superseded by BEFORE METEOR
BEFORE METEOR: FINAL FANTASY XIV ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK​

1.x​

104​

367:53 min​

45,99 €​

BD, D: Amazon, Apple, Spotify​

14.08.2013​

x​

ARR OST includes many songs or the respective themes
FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK​

2.0, 2.1​

119​

406:16 min​

$49,99​

BD, D: Spotify, Apple​

16.03.2014​

BEFORE THE FALL: FINAL FANTASY XIV ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK​

2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5​

63​

259:04 min​

$49.99​

BD, D: Amazon, Apple​

26.08.2015​

FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward -EP- Vol. 1​

6​

35:38 min​

$7,99​

D: Apple​

14.09.2015​

x​

Songs in Heavensward
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward -EP- Vol. 2​

5​

17:24 min​

$6,45​

D: Apple​

14.10.2015​

x​

Songs in Heavensward
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward -EP- Vol. 3​

5​

29:07 min​

6,99 €​

D: Apple​

18.11.2015​

x​

Songs in Heavensward
HEAVENSWARD: FINAL FANTASY XIV ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK​

3.0, 3.1​

58​

283:54 min​

$49,99​

BD, D: Amazon, Apple​

24.02.2016​

THE FAR EDGE OF FATE: FINAL FANTASY XIV ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK​

3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5​

50​

214:58 min​

$49,99​

BD, D: Amazon, Apple​

07.06.2017​

Untempered: FINAL FANTASY XIV Primal Battle Themes​

Up to 3.5​

33​

150:27 min​

$39,99​

2CD, Square​

21.09.2017​

x​

Many songs included in FFXIV: The Best already
Time and Again: FINAL FANTASY XIV Raid Dungeon Themes​

Up to Stormblood​

38​

151:25 min​

$34,99​

2CD, Square​

22.06.2018​

FFXIV: The Best or Eorzean Symphonies perhaps better overall choices
STORMBLOOD: FINAL FANTASY XIV ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK​

4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3​

105​

370:19 min​

$49,99​

BD, D:Amazon, Apple​

04.07.2018​

Final Fantasy XIV: The Best​

Up to Stormblood​

54​

284:52 min​

$49,99​

BD Only​

14.11.2018​

FINAL FANTASY XIV: STORMBLOOD - EP​

8​

49:15 min​

7,99 €​

D: Apple​

17.04.2019​

x​

Songs in Shadowbringers
SHADOWBRINGERS: FINAL FANTASY XIV ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK​

4.4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.05​

88​

368:01 min​

$49,99​

BD, D: Amazon, Apple​

11.11.2019​

FINAL FANTASY XIV: SHADOWBRINGERS - EP​

5.2​

5​

30:55 min​

$4,95​

D: Amazon, Apple​

16.03.2020​

FINAL FANTASY XIV: SHADOWBRINGERS - EP2​

5.3​

5​

24:31 min​

$4,95​

D: Amazon, Apple​

10.09.2020​

As you can see, your best bet is to avoid fresh EP releases, or else you might rebuy those songs in the bigger OST albums for a complete collection. When both are released already you can decide much better what it is worth to you. Currently you would pay more for the 3 Heavensward EPs than the Heavensward digital version which has so much more content.

Arrangements

Title​

Included Patch​

#Tracks​

Length​

Price​

Availability​

Release​

Obsolete​

Comment
Final Fantasy XIV: From Astral to Umbral​

2.x​

11​

66:34 min​

$39,99​

BD, D: Apple​

17.12.1014​

x​

Superseded by The Primals - The Primals Album and PIANO COLLECTIONS
Final Fantasy XIV: Duality​

Up to Heavensward​

14​

68:07 min​

$39,99​

BD, D: Apple​

07.12.2016​

x​

Superseded by The Primals - The Primals Album and PIANO COLLECTIONS
Journeys: FINAL FANTASY XIV Arrangement Album​

18​

87:20 min​

$39,99​

BD, D: Amazon​

19.06.2019​

x​

Combines Duality and From Astral to Umbral
The Primals - The Primals Album​

Up to Heavensward​

18​

73:29 min​

24,99 €​

CD, D: Amazon and others​

16.05.2018​

Rock/Metal. Supersedes Duality and From Astral to Umbral Rock songs, has additional songs
The Primals - Out of the Shadows​

4​

18:44 min​

$19,99​

CD, D: Amazon and others​

11.04.2020​

Rock/Metal
PIANO COLLECTIONS FINAL FANTASY XIV​

Up to Stormblood​

17​

99:29 min​

$35​

CD, D: Amazon​

06.03.2019​

Supersedes piano songs from "From Astral to Umbral" and "Duality", has additional songs
Pulse: FINAL FANTASY XIV Remix Album​

Up to Shadowbringers​

14​

53:34 min​

$35​

CD, D: Amazon​

30.09.2020​

Experimental electronic take on the OST​

The Duality and its follow up From Astral to Umbral albums included both Piano and Rock/Metal versions of the songs, until these were split apart into their respective own albums.

Arrangements Orchestral

Title​

Included Patch​

#Tracks​

Length​

Price​

Availability​

Release​

Obsolete​

Comment
Eorzean Symphony: FINAL FANTASY XIV Orchestral Album​

Up to 3.5​

18​

92:45 min​

$69,99​

BD, D:Amazon​

20.12.2017​

Live Recording, some limited recording and mixing issues, but a very good experience anyways
Eorzean Symphony: FINAL FANTASY XIV Orchestral Album (Concert Version)​

16​

75:04 min​

23,39 €​

D: Amazon, Apple​

20.12.2017​

Almost identical to Eorzean Symphony Vol. 1, without clapping, Dragonsong + Answers missing
Final Fantasy XIV Orchestral Arrangement Album​

8​

36:09 min​

$26,99​

CD​

20.09.2017​

8 studio versions from live Eorzean Symphony Vol. 1, better recording/mixing quality
Eorzean Symphony: FINAL FANTASY XIV Orchestral Album Vol. 2​

Up to 4.5​

19​

100:21 min​

$59,99​

BD, D: Amazon, Apple​

11.12.2019​

Live Recording, superb quality
Eorzean Symphony: FINAL FANTASY XIV Orchestral Album Vol. 2 (Concert Version)​

19​

92:54 min​

$22,79​

D: Amazon, Apple​

11.12.2019​

Almost identical to Eorzean Symphony Vol. 2, without clapping
FINAL FANTASY XIV Orchestral Arrangement Album Vol. 2​

8​

39:15 min​

$26,99​

CD​

18.09.2019​

8 studio versions from live Eorzean Symphony Vol. 2​

Personal Recommendations

Eorzean Symphony Vol. 2 is so well done, I would universally recommend it to non fans. Preferably as the digital Concert version, because it is cheaper and has no clapping. The first volume has amazing arrangements as well and is a great experience too, but unfortunately the recording and mixing quality has a few issues. Ultimately I can glance over it. The studio version called Orchestral Arrangement Album is the solution, but unfortunately it contains only a small fraction of the songs. Not sure what Square tries to do here, except confusing customers to double dip.

FFXIV - The Best is probably the OST collection suitable for most, if you want more or do not want the arrangements from the Eorzean Symphony, but its non-availibility as digital is a problem.

The Piano Collection has beautiful city themes and should be considered as well. I liked the Pulse Remix for its unexpected takes, but Square's MSRP of 35 dollars is absolute bonkers. You can get it for much less than that. The Primals' rock albums are just average. Live surely enjoyable, but then again so are many local bands and musicians.

Other recommendations would be the ever so great Distant Worlds series which has orchestral arrangements from other Final Fantasy titles as well.

Personally, I much prefer unique arrangements for listening than just the same song I heard in-game a million times as you can probably guess from my recommendations.

General Notes

Square advertises vocally their 5.1ch soundtracks in high quality. Stereo is absolutely sufficient, because there is no need for directional information and you can upmix stereo to your other speakers anyways. In practice the 24bit vs 16bit difference will not matter, as almost all DAC, apart from a few types, will not be able to max the dynamic range of 16bit anyways. And I am not sure whether audio recording equipment even picks up that much. In practice, sound quality is much more limited by microphones and mixing, if your setup is not too shabby.

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