"The community was so freaking supportive": Amanda Achen talks Final Fantasy 14's community, music, favorite Scion, and more (Exclusive)

At the recent Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest London, I got to hear Amanda Achen sing live, and in person. Alongside Keiko-san’s immaculate piano work, I sat quietly in a concert hall, as song after emotional song played out. FF14 has some of the most emotionally moving songs out of any game I’ve played, so I was thrilled to finally be there live. I missed the Vegas concert because I was under the weather, unfortunately. Afterwards, I reached out to Amanda in hopes we could chat about her work.

Amanda Achen is incredibly down to earth, and honest about her love of the music in Final Fantasy 14. We spoke about how it feels to be included in the game, what it’s like to be a Warrior of Light, and her overwhelming thirst for Thancred. While I do not know if she’s going to be singing in Dawntrail, I, for one, am hoping this will be the case.

Amanda Achen discusses her love of Final Fantasy 14’s music and being a Warrior of Light

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Q. First, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me! For those who might not be aware, could you please introduce yourself to our audience?

Amanda Achen: Yes, I'm Amanda Achen. I sing the high singing stuff that you hear in Shadowbringers and Endwalker. And now Final Fantasy 16, where I sing My Star. So all together, the songs I sing are Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Flow, that bit in Footfalls, and My Star.

Q. You’ve been a part of the Final Fantasy 14 music scene for a few years now - first taking up vocal duties during the Shadowbringers expansion, but I don’t believe you were playing yet, correct?

Amanda Achen: I only just started doing that this summer and I am officially addicted. It's what I think about before I go to sleep and what I think about when I wake up, and I need to figure out how to balance my life with playing an MMO.

Jason Parker: You were one of the amazing voices behind the Shadowbringers theme, but at that time were not playing the MMO. Did Masayoshi Soken give any kind of direction or context for the song, to sort of put you in the headspace to perform?

Amanda Achen: Yeah. And this is such a favorite question of interviewers. He gave me- he has been giving me just a general emotional landscape to fill, but no real details or context or spoilers. Maybe because he thought maybe one day Amanda would play, which is cool. I'm just gonna imagine that is the case because I appreciate that.

Or you know, it’s a lot of information to convey, and the way that Soken and I have been working thus far pretty much all of our communication is through email. I had one Zoom call with him once. But I think going forward, we're going to keep doing the Zoom calls because that was really nice just to be able to see him and ask him questions.

I had then and there in person. But now, going forward, I do want to ask him very specific context without spoilers. I guess, if that's possible, because I'm playing. So I don't know, it might be a little tricky. Now I don't want spoilers, but I want maybe more than just a general emotional landscape. That's gonna be hard actually for him to do, probably.

Q. How does preparing for a game like Final Fantasy 14’s performances differ from say, your work in animated films (Birds of Prey, Mulan, Frozen 2)?

Amanda Achen: So, you'll notice in my bio, it says Mulan and The Simpsons and all these things, and those look really good in my bio. I didn't sing any solo bits in those. So it differs in that those were sessions with a choir. And so I show up and I sing in a choir and that's fun and cool. And it looks nice in my bio, but I didn't have any solos.

It wasn't about my personal artistry or interpretation. So Final Fantasy 14 is really the first instance where, on a grand scale, I have been able to step forward as a soloist as an artist. I've done, you know, recording sessions for smaller projects of course for the last 10 years, but nothing on the scale of Final Fantasy 14. So it makes a huge difference.

Q. However, you’ve become a Warrior of Light! A few months back you started a Twitch channel to begin your journey, and you also briefly mentioned it during the Fan Fest London concert. How does it feel to be a part of the community? What was the reception like from the fans to see you playing the game?

Amanda Achen: I love that this is a question in my interviews. Interviews just several months ago didn't have these questions and I just, I feel like there's this whole new part of me that is opening up and revealing itself, and it's that I'm a gamer and a streamer, and that feels so right.

Yeah, the community was so freaking excited and so freaking supportive. I really didn't know what to expect because really Fan Fest Vegas started to give me a glimpse of what the community was like.

Before that, I performed in Tokyo and that was incredible too, but it wasn't Fan Fest and I wasn't as close with the fans interacting-wise. But Fan Fest Vegas made me realize that holy crap: There's a whole amazing world of people out there that I want to hang out with and be involved with.

So I'm gonna do my best to connect with this community, and really all it took was creating a Twitch account. Well, a Twitch and a Twitter because as we know, Instagram sucks. Making my Twitter, making my Twitch, making my Discord, and having a bunch of people apply themselves to want to be mods for me.

Now, I have the best mod team ever for Discord and Twitch. I was just astonished by how much love and support and excitement and willingness to help there is in this community, and I've never experienced anything like it.

Jason Parker: Yeah, that’s one of the things I really like about FF14, because I’ve covered MMOs for about 10 years now. I’ve seen just, just the worst of people, and it’s so nice to see a different side of the MMO community.

Amanda Achen: And I've heard that from Jason Charles Miller because he's been in this world for a while. And he mentions to me and sometimes on stage that, you know, he's seen some stuff with other communities, and this is really called the Warriors of Light because we are beacons of light. I can say we now. That's amazing. You know, we really do want to create the best environment, the best universe that we can for ourselves.

And, and we're so supportive of each other in this amazing world. And it starts from the top because Yoshi-P and Soken and, and the whole dev team, they want this world to be a beacon of light also. So when it starts from the top like that and it just trickles down and out and we, you know, magical Snowflake Warrior of Light, unicorn pony people. I love it.

Q. So of course, I have to ask, since I don’t get a chance to watch as much as I’d like - as a White Mage main, what is your favorite class so far?

Amanda Achen: So, I've only been playing Bard. Well, actually, I just got to Bard. I've been Archer until just this last stream. I got to level 30.

Jason Parker: Congrats!

Amanda Achen: Thank you. So, that's all I've done. And that's fun. I think being ranged is cool. And I like the fact that I can shoot arrows and run around simultaneously, but I kind of want to get closer into the action and punch stuff. So, Monk has been suggested to me. I also do think that it would be fun to cast some spells also.

Jason Parker: When I started in A Realm Reborn, I started with what would become Summoner, and I had such a lousy time. It’s way better now, but I loathed Summoner. That’s why I’m a White Mage now! I’ve really been having fun with Dragoon, too! They have the best armor.

Amanda Achen: Yeah, they look super cool. Now, off stream, I really want to level up. I’ve gotten to the guilds, and I put in my application at the guilds that I want to be a part of, but I haven’t started leveling those up yet. I want to see what I like, what’s fun.

I think I’ll probably try my hand at every class, every job, just to try it out. On stream, I get so many opinions, which is really cool. I ask a question on stream and it blows up. I’m like, ‘I can’t read this fast.’ I think it just boils down to, I’ve got to f**k around and find out.

Q. Everyone’s got a favorite Scion, too; which do you connect with the closest? Who gives you those real, emotional moments while playing FF14?

Amanda Achen: [Pause] Yeah, because he’s sexy. Thancred.

Jason Parker: [Laughs] My favorite is Y’shtola.

Amanda Achen: I literally just met them on my last stream. It was a big deal. Like, it just happened because I've been really chatting it up on my stream. So it's been very slow going. But as soon as I met him, I got a little thirsty. Let's just say that.

I think someone made some clips there. So that's on my Twitch somewhere. It was exciting. It was my first crush in Final Fantasy 14. So we'll see and, and people say he just gets even hotter. So I'm excited to see what happens with that.

Q. When I think back to my favorite songs in the game, tracks like Oblivion (Shiva) and Wayward Daughter (Tsukuyomi) come to mind. Oh and of course Metal: Brute Justice. What about songs that you didn’t have a hand in, that speak to you on an emotional level?

Amanda Achen: Gosh, that's a great question. And I haven't heard a whole lot yet in-game because now, you know how far I am, which is really not very far. I've really been enjoying the music in, well, I mean, each of the cities is so different and I think that's so cool. Gridania kind of reminds me of the Shire a bit. I hear some similarities there which are really nice and familiar in a cool way and pleasant.

And the South Shroud, which I only just recently got to, I start to hear some of Keiko's really beautiful piano in there.

Jason Parker: Oh, it’s so good.

Amanda Achen: Yeah, I really like that. The times I've been to Limsa, the music is super exciting and I really want to just hang out there more in general. But with my MSQs and side quests, I've mostly been in Ul’dah, and Gridania, obviously if I'm a Bard.

So just being in the different zones in the cities is so cool because they just had so much fun when they were creating these light motifs for these different areas, and they're really earworms. So that's my overal feeling with it. Because I haven't gotten to any cutscenes with any major songs while playing it.

Jason Parker: Just wait till you get to the Trials. Every Trial has an earworm. LIke, they’re all very good, but my favorite is hands down Shiva’s Oblivion. There’s a reason I started farming the horses; just so I can ride around and hear it.

Amanda Achen: Cool, I will make a note of that and let you know when I’m there. Am I close? Am I far?

Jason Parker: I think you might be getting closer to Titan. I believe Titan is first, it’s been a very long time.

Amanda Achen: Oh my god, that’s my favorite Primal song! OK, I’m getting close to that. I’m so excited because that’s my favorite song by the Primals. I start to head bang and jump around, and I actually started a mosh pit with Alex and Husky at EU (Fan Fest) when we were watching. We were up in the Limsa Docking Area, and we were just on this dock, kind of slightly above the people watching, and then we had a whole mosh pit. It was so fun.

Q. Final Fantasy 14 can be a pretty daunting game to get into. There are many fans of the Final Fantasy series who either don’t want to, or aren’t sure if it’s right for them; any advice for would-be Warriors of Light, or new players getting started?

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Amanda Achen: Yeah, I actually have been talking to Colin Ryan (voice of Alphinaud), because he mentioned on Twitter that he wants to start playing too, and now I feel like I can be the person who kind of helps him and guides the way and encourages him. Like I want him to play too because I've been having so much fun.

I mean, I think the advice that I would give and that I have been given is just to enjoy it and take your time. And obviously, streaming is different than just playing on your own. So there's more that I'm considering while I'm streaming, like interacting with chat and being entertaining, which slows the whole process down.

But I think overall I'm going at the pace that feels right and sometimes when I'm inspired and excited, which I have been over the last week. I'll play by myself off stream with no one around and just kind of go through as many side quests that sound fun to me at that time, and just get a better understanding of the world and how to use the freaking map, dude so much. I'm excited for the day that I really 100% am confident in my map usage.

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Jason Parker: I’m still miserable with the map. But that’s usually what I tell people, just take your time. You don’t have to commit to any one class. If you’re tired of one, you can play something else. You can go be a Dragoon, or Astrologian, or whatever. It’s a huge world, just have fun. Dawntrail isn’t until 2024, so there’s not exactly a rush.

Q. Before you began singing for Final Fantasy 14, were you a fan of the series before? If so, what are your favorite titles?

Amanda Achen: I had heard of Final Fantasy before I knew that Final Fantasy was a video game and that it was a popular one. And that's all I knew. The last game I played before I started playing was Banjo Kazooie in 1998 on the Nintendo 64. If that gives you any frame of reference for a gamer.

Jason Parker: Well, now you’ve got a perfect excuse to play more FInal Fantasy games, because the MMO is chock-a-block with references to the franchise as a whole. I mean, the current expansion is basically Final Fantasy IV the MMO. So thank you again, Yoshi-P, for making my favorite Final Fantasy game into an MMO expansion. That’s what I wanted it.

Amanda Achen: Have you played 16?

Jason Parker: Oh yeah, I have about 120 hours or so into 16.

Amanda Achen: What do you think?

Jason Parker: Oh I loved it. I wrote our review for Sportskeeda, and beat it before the full game launched, and then streamed the Final Fantasy difficulty over on my Twitch. There are some little nitpicks I had with it - I’m old and prefer turn-based combat, for example. But I really enjoyed it. They set up a beautiful world, and there are still plenty of stories you can tell in it. Oh, and the music was exceptional.

Q. So, when I very first got into this business, one of my first interviews was with Soken-san himself, during PAX - this was around Heavensward. What is it like working with him as a composer?

Amanda Achen: Yeah, he's super nice and humorous and he knows what he wants and he's not afraid to ask for it. This, according to Koji, and also according to my understanding, is the exception in Japanese culture. A lot of times people don't want to embarrass you.

So they don't say, ‘Hey, you know, essentially, I didn't like how you did this. Can you do something this way?’ Instead, instead of wording things directly like that, they'll kind of beat around the bush and ask you to do things over and over and over and over and over, and you don't necessarily have direction for it.

I did one session for a Japanese video game that was remote. I was in Burbank and they were in Japan and it was that. That's what was happening to me, and the session ended up going quite long because they just kept having me do repeats of the same thing over and over. I would hear them in Japanese having like a five-minute-long conversation, and then at the end of it, the translator would be like ‘more softer.’ Like that's not what they were saying.

But it's the cultural thing. They don't want to offend you or make you feel embarrassed or like you're in the wrong, which is just interesting for Westerners to wrap our heads around because generally. We are a little more upfront with what we want or we can be. Although I have to say that LA is maybe a little bit more like Japan in that we hide behind this mask of, ‘Oh my God. That was the best thing I've ever heard’ when we really hated it.

So we're not the most straight-shooting here either. But back to Soken, again, we've only ever really communicated via email while I would record things. I never called in live while I was recording. But he just has a way of being very specific. This is again with enough specificity and enough wiggle room for me to feel like I understand what he wants. And he's giving me the freedom to do my thing and put my touch on it.

And my favorite thing about Soken is he wants me to record 3 to 4 takes of a song. First take will be exactly as is written in the music. The second take will be with some embellishments. The third take will be have a free-for-all, and then maybe fourth take for safety, you know, of whatever I wanna do.

And then he will comp the takes into the ending comp and more often than not, he chooses stuff from my free-for-all recording. This just goes to show that, you know, he is so good at what he does that he can then allow and trust me and Jason to do what we do best. It really feels like a collaboration.

He creates this space for us to be our best version of ourselves. And speaking for me and for Jason, you know, from the conversations I've had with him, that's super rare in this industry. That's really cool.

Q. I know this might be a spoiler - but I have to try - will we be hearing your vocal talents popping up again in Dawntrail?

Amanda Achen: I cannot say! I cannot say, I cannot say. But I am what- like what is a very typical Final Fantasy thing to say? Because I know that Yoshi is always- they love teasing you guys, don't they? They love dragging it out and giving you little hints. So I feel like I need to learn something that he says when he's teasing. Something like, ‘Please understand. Please enjoy, please understand, and enjoy your anticipation.’

Jason Parker: Well, you heard her, Square Enix! Put her in the game! Make it happen! Don’t dawdle!

You can hear Amanda Achen on the latest Final Fantasy 14 compilation album, Forge Ahead, in the MMORPG proper and live on Twitch.tv.