Many weeks back, when 61 Frames Per Second was still being molded into what you’re reading now, the OST feature was conceived (at least by me) as nothing more than a venue for talking about Yasunori Mitsuda. Music was the source of my first real emotional engagement with videogames; the frenetic excitement of early Mega Man soundtracks and the somber coda of Mega Man 2’s ending, the desperate minor key of stage 5 in Bionic Commando. These melodies sparked my imagination, created a foothold for my experience with these works beyond the visceral rush of successfully playing them. But it was Mitsuda’s work in Chrono Trigger that made me, for the first time, physically put down the controller just to listen. It was "Guardia Castle", a booming march whose synthesized horns implied fading grandeur more than patriotism. I sat on the floor of my bedroom, eyes closed, and let the song loop for close to twenty minutes.
Mitsuda gravitates towards the same styles in his game soundtracks, specifically jazz fusion (Chrono Trigger), punctuated baroque symphony orchestration (Chrono Trigger, Xenosaga), and celtic (Xenogears, Tsugunai). But my personal favorite Mitsuda work, the soundtrack to Trigger’s divisive sequel Chrono Cross, is his most adventurous and strange. Chrono Cross’ soundtrack is a sonic mélange of every style Mitsuda composed in previously, alongside folk rock (“Radical Dreamers”) and Caribbean modes (“Fields of Time *Home World*”) that perfectly suit the game’s archipelago setting. As opposed to his previous work, whose compositions were typically based in jazz combo or symphony orchestra arrangements, the majority of songs in Cross are based in solo acoustic guitars (“Beginning of a Dream”), and acoustic guitar melodies layered with exotic instrumentation (“Guldove *Home World*”). Mitsuda didn’t completely turn away from the new age, “gamey” style of compositions found in his work on Trigger and Xenogears, but they are rarer and more elaborate in Cross (see the ominous, industrial “Chronopolis” or the tribal “Death Volcano”). As much of a stylistic departure as his work on Chrono Cross is, Mitsuda visits the same themes that typified his work in Chrono Trigger, songs that evoke a melancholic tenderness even at their most triumphant.
You can check out the full soundtrack at Galbadia Hotel right here.
Previous OSTs:
Soul Blazer
Everyday Shooter
Rule of Rose
Treasure of the Rudras