Music Chrono Cross

Yasunori Mitsuda agreed to write the soundtrack for Chrono Cross after his work on music for Chrono Trigger , the famous predecessor of Cross . After a conversation with Masato Kato , the director of the game ^[4] , Mitsuda decided to take as a basis the cultural trends of the old world , including Mediterranean music, fado , Celtic music and African drum rhythms ^[5] . In order for the soundtrack to fit into the theme of parallel worlds , he added to the melodies of two worlds, the Native and the Other, which appear in the game, major and minor colors, respectively ^[4] . In the end, Mitsuda was happy to complete at least part of what he had originally planned ^[5] . Writing music took six months. After completing the main work, Mitsuda and Kato tried to play Chrono Cross in order to evaluate their own impressions and see how the events happening combined with the soundtrack; listening to the final topic, Kato burst into tears ^{[5] [6] [7]} .

The Radical Dreamers , a visual novel game, was released in 1996 as the Chrono Trigger Guide . It was created to develop some unfinished storylines in the previous game of the series ^[8] . The music for this game was also created by Yasunori Mitsuda ^[5] . Some parts of the soundtrack contain natural sounds, such as the murmur of water or the whistle of the wind with guitar chords. Players can listen to any of the tracks at the end of the game, gaining access to the secret menu in an additional Gil script : Between Love and Adventure ^[9] . The Soundtrack of Radical Dreamers was never released as a standalone album.

Some musical themes and motifs were used in writing the soundtrack for Chrono Cross at the suggestion of Masato Kato; many of them were taken practically unchanged, with the exception of playing other instruments ^[5] . Chrono Cross has such soundtracks as “Gale”, “Frozen Flame”, “Viper Manor”, ​​“Far Promise ~ Dream Shore” (as part of “On the Beach of Dreams ~ Another World”, “The Dream that Time” Dreams ”),“ The Girl who Stole the Stars ”and“ Epilogue ~ Dream Shore ”(as part of“ Jellyfish Sea ”) ^[5] . Other tracks contain keynotes from both Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers ^[4] .

Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack

Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack ( ク ロ ノ ・ ク ロ ス オ リ ジ ナ ル ・ サ ウ ン ド ト ラ ッ ク ) is an album with original music from the game Chrono Cross , written by Yasunori Mitsuda. The entire soundtrack occupies 3 CDs and consists of 67 audio tracks with a total duration of almost 3 hours. The album was released by DigiCube on December 18, 1999 , and then reissued by Square Enix on June 29, 2005 ^[10] .

Tomohiko Kira , who played several songs for the soundtrack of Xenogears , performed the opening and closing themes of Chrono Cross . Noriko Mitose ( Eng. Noriko Mitose ), chosen personally by the scriptwriter Masato Kato , sang the final song "Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel ~" ^[4] . Masato Kato, hiring Noriko Mitose, was faced with internal divisions:

Personally, the biggest pressure on me was due to the final song. From the very beginning of the project, I planned to insert a Japanese song in the final credits, but the problem was, "who will sing the song?" People from the PR department put pressure on me, wanting to hire someone popular and famous, but I was against this idea. As usual, I did not pay much attention to comments from other team members, but this time the fight turned out to be quite difficult ^[7] .

- Masato Kato

Ryo Yamazaki, a synthesized sound programmer at Square Enix , helped Mitsude realize his ideas based on the sound capabilities of the PlayStation ^[5] . Subsequently, critics described the soundtrack as "incorporating the most memorable melodies" ^[10] . Songs related to the Homeworld in the game received the epithets “emotional”, “bright”, “energetic”, and the tunes of the Other World were characterized as more “slow”, “thoughtful”, “serene” than songs of another dimension ^[11] .

The soundtrack won the Gold Prize at the Sony PlayStation Awards 2000 ^[12] . Many observers praised the music from the game, for example, the reviewer RPGFan called it his favorite, especially noting the vocals in the song "Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel ~" ^[10] .

Square Enix Music Online supported this view by calling the soundtrack “one of Mitsuda’s best creations,” which even “surpasses the music he wrote for Chrono Trigger .” Square Music Online columnist highlighted “Scars of Time” and “Radical Dreamers” as the most successful, and rated the album 9 out of 10 ^[11] .

IGN in its review also called the soundtrack “magnificent”, which “touches the strings of the player’s soul”, noting the good sound quality. Nevertheless, the IGN observer added that he could not single out a single song that would be truly memorable:

... One of the comments concerns the soundtrack to the game. In general, he is good, but there is not a single track that can be called memorable. In most other soundtracks for outstanding RPGs, there are several tracks that sound much better than others; but here it is not. The music as a whole is good, with the possible exception of the music in battle - it may seem boring and not too inspiring. However, no track can compare with compositions from other great RPGs such as Xenogears or Final Fantasy ^[13] .

- David Zdirko, IGN Reviewer

On the other hand, in an article about Japanese composers eating music for computer role-playing games , IGN notes the tunes Scars of Time and Arni Village - Home World as some of Yasunori Mitsuda’s best creations, calling him the second best composer of ten after Nobuo Uematsu ^[14] .

Tracklist

Chrono Cross Music Selection

Chrono Cross Music Selection is a mini-album containing selected tunes of the soundtrack for Chrono Cross , which was released only in North America as a bonus for fans of the game who pre-ordered the game. The release of this disc, containing only five tracks, took place on August 15, 2000 . Its duration was 15 minutes 47 seconds ^[15] . Although the release of the album was accompanied by rumors that the full version of the Chrono Cross soundtrack will appear in North America, Square Enix has not released Chrono Cross OST in any country other than Japan ^[15] .

The RPGFan reviewer spoke well of the album, calling the song “The Girl Who Stole the Star” the best among all the others, but noted that this disc did not fully meet his expectations:

... Many were disappointed when they learned that there would be only 5 tracks on the disc, as they hoped for more. <...> In my opinion, the biggest disappointment is that the album did not include the final theme <, performed by Noriko Mitose> ^[15] .

- Patrick Gunn, RPGFan Reviewer

The reviewer also added that there is no great need to buy this album, as it is easier to get the full version of the soundtrack ^[15] . The Soundtrack Central reviewer gave the disc a more negative characterization:

... I expected 70 minutes of great music from the game. But when I saw the tracklist, I was shocked. 5 tracks with a total duration of only 20 minutes. What?! Compared to the original three-disc release, this album is just a joke. Square used it as a cheap PR for Mitsuda's work. <...> Do yourself a favor, and find the full original version. You will be much happier ^[16] .

- Brad Stabler, Soundtrack Central columnist

The best song of the album, according to the reviewer, is "Chrono Cross ~ Scars of Time ~" ^[16] .

To Far Away Times: Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross Arrangement Album

In 2005, Yasunori Mitsuda began recording a new album with Chrono Cross music, which was scheduled for release in July of that year ^[19] . However, the release did not take place; in an October interview, Mitsuda said that he was engaged in a large project together with other composers, and did not want to rush to release a new album, since work on several projects at once was unacceptable to him ^[20] .

At the concert Play! In May 2006, A Video Game Symphony Mitsuda announced that the disc will contain acoustic music and will be released “throughout the year” ^[21] . A few months later that same year, he again postponed the release, postponing it to 2007 ^[22] . Nevertheless, the release of the album never took place. Subsequently, Mitsuda published on the Internet a sample of one of the compositions, which will be included in the new album. The browser RPGFan compared the disc to the game Duke Nukem Forever , the output of which was “postponed, canceled and delayed so many times that many have already lost hope of ever seeing it” ^[23] . The official release date was never announced, but Yasunori Mitsuda several times said in an interview that he would see the disc on the tenth anniversary of the release of the game ^[23] . The composer assured fans that his creation was "almost finished", but it was unlikely to be released until the end of 2009 ^[24] .

However, another six years passed, and only in July 2015 at a concert in Tokyo Dome dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of Chrono Trigger , Mitsuda officially announced the album with the arranged music of the series; It is called To Far Away Times: Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross Arrangement Album . The release took place on October 14, 2015 via Square Enix Music Records ^{[17] [25] [26]} . The album simultaneously tells the stories of two heroines of the series: Princess Shala and her clone daughter named Kid . Shala was a non-player character in Chrono Trigger ; in the story, she was thrown into Darkness beyond the times, where the girl began to slowly merge with Lavos , the antagonist of the game. In Chrono Cross, Shala creates Kid, his own clone, and sends her back in time in order to prevent a cataclysm ^[18] . In the notes for the album, Yasunori Mitsuda described his creation as follows:

If you think about it, for a long time I wanted to release a similar album. [...] When the release of Chrono Cross took place, I asked myself the question: “What happened to Kid and Shala in the future? Was she able to travel back in time and meet with Serge? ” I am sure that the players also thought about this. Characters, each with their own unique story, are what make the Chrono series special. Kid and Shala, however, were special heroines in both games; they were special for me. Because for a long time I wanted to reveal them from a musical point of view. [...] This album [...] was the end for me. However, Kidd’s story does not end here: it transcends time and lasts forever. Until next time, Kid.

- Yasunori Mitsuda

The album received positive reviews from critics. The RPGFan reviewer writes that the song “Time's Scar”, which the composer gave the sound of in the style of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant , is an excellent prelude for a fabulous journey. He separately noted the musical parts of pianist Kumi Tanioki, who, according to the journalist, demonstrated “wonderful improvisation skills”. The work of the composer Laura Shigihara, who previously wrote the soundtrack Plants vs. Zombies Laura not only engaged in arranging, but also performed the parts of Princess Shala; the journalist considered her voice "perfect" for this role. “Shigihara even invented the pseudo -language for the composition“ Schala's Theme “. [...] She expresses the princess's most hidden thoughts, but we can only guess what these words really mean ... although they definitely have a meaning in them, ”the observer admires. He concludes that To Far Away Times is a wonderful album, but still I would like to hear the arrangement of other songs of the original Chrono Cross soundtrack. “I am counting on you, Mitsuda-san,” concludes the review ^[18] . Original Sound Version reviewer also praised the album. He especially noted the compositions “Wind Scene”, from which “it is simply breathtaking”, and “Corridors of Time”, in which the vocals give the song a Celtic sound, especially suitable for Frog . In a summary in the review, the journalist notes that although the album could still be longer, the work of Yasunori Mitsuda is worthy of respect ^[27] .

Yasunori Mitsuda personally arranged the music from Chrono Cross for performance at Play concerts ! A Video Game Symphony in 2006 ^[1] . Songs from the game were performed at other concerts, such as Video Games Live , As well as the Eminence Orchestra Orchestra ^[28] . The performance of music from Trigger and Cross made up the fourth part of all the concerts of the Symphonic Fantasies in Leipzig in September 2009, which were played by the creators of the Symphonic Game Music Concert conducted by Ernie Roth ^[29] . At the performances, such compositions as “Gale” and “Prisoners of Fate” were played ^[30] . Press Start -Symphony of Games- 2008 in Tokyo and Shanghai also performed tunes from Chrono Trigger and Cross ^[31] . Procyon Studio has published versions of soundtracks from Chrono Cross arranged for one and two guitars ^[32] .

Many fans created remixes of the Chrono Cross tunes, which were featured on several albums. Among them, the official Time & Space album - A Tribute to Yasunori Mitsuda , released by OneUp Studios on October 7, 2001 and containing 18 remixes with a total duration of 1 hour 58 seconds; the second version of the album was released on June 17, 2003 . No less popular was Radical Dreamers: Thieves of Fate , an unofficial album available only for downloading from the Internet, released by the OverClocked ReMix website team on January 5, 2008 . This collection contains 15 remixes of songs from the Radical Dreamers soundtrack, including those tunes that subsequently appeared in Cross ^[3] . The best cover versions also appeared on Japanese remix albums, as well as on English-language websites of relevant subjects, such as OverClocked Remix ^[2] .

In an interview, Yasunori Mitsuda noted that some remixes of his compositions are really very beautiful, and he is glad that his work inspires fans to create such melodies ^[20] .

• procyon-studio.com - the official website of Yasunori Mitsuda (Japanese)
• Chrono Compendium Music - tracklist, official release notes and fan remixes