The Shrine

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>This is from a Chrono Cross website. They polled a bunch of guys (don't know how many, but I guess it's more than, um, 10) on their favorite songs from Chrono Trigger/Cross/Xenogears. Here's what the result show up us. I see most of the well-recognized pieces show up... what do you guys think about the placement?

1. The Scar of Time (Chrono Cross Opening) - This one's sort of a no brainer. I think it's not better than the other tracks out there, but you can't help but to be impressed by it...

2. Chrono Corridor (Chrono Trigger, Kingdom of Zeal) - This one seems like an easy choice too. I would've rated it higher than Scar of Time.

3. Radical Dreamers, The Unstealable Gem (Chrono Cross Ending) - Personally this one is my favorite out of the 3 so far, but I guess since you don't hear it until the very end, and the ending doesn't make a lot of sense, the impact is weaker than the opening.

4. Small of Two Pieces (Xenogears ending) - At first I'm a little surprised, but looking at what went above it, it really is hard for Small of Two Pieces to compete since the three that placed about it all blend in well with the story, while Small of Two Pieces is really just a song.

5. Magical Dreamers, The Wind, The Stars, The Waves (Chrono Cross, after you beat Black Dragon) - This one I'm afraid I just don't understand... :(

6. The Wind Calls Shevat in the Sky (Xenogears Shevat theme) - To me, Shevat's theme is better than Zeal, but Zeal looked way cooler even though it's on an older system.

7. At the Shore of Dreams (Chrono Cross Another World) - I'm not sure how to compare an overworld theme to the rest of the music, but there really isn't any overworld theme that's comparable to this one. It is really just that good.

8. Sarah's (Schala) Theme (Chrono Trigger) - The highest ranked character theme. No complains here. I think Life, A Distant Promise fits her better, but then again, that's really just a variation of Radical Dreamers so you really can't say that's unique.

9. Flight (Xenogears, Achtzehn vs Seibzehn) - The character themes get pushed pretty far down by the songs, which I don't think is fair. Maria's theme is another top notch piece by Mitsuda. Unfortunately the song version (Spring Lullaby) sucks.

10. The Girl who Stole a Star (Chrono Cross, Kid's theme) - Okay, even though she's my favorite character, I do admit I like the previous two character themes better. It's so sad... sometimes I don't want to listen to it and switch to the happier Flight or Gathering Stars from the Night Sky (don't have any Chrono Trigger CD around at the moment, because I'd never switch anything else if they're here!)

Also tie for 10th. Can't translate the name, but I believe it's the music played in the Ethos Headquarter in Xenogears - No comment, you might've figured out that I don't know what this even sounds like. :)

A quick break down of the distribution:

Opening - 1
Location music (including overworld) - 3
Ending - 2
Vocals - 3
Character Theme - 3
Other - 1 (Magical Dreamer, I guess you can call it event music)

Interesting enough, there are no battle themes chosen. I do think battle themes are where Mitsuda's relatively weak at. Aside from Trigger, I don't find Xenogears or Cross to have exceptional battle music. Sure, there are a couple of good ones, like Deus in Xenogears and Dragon God in Cross, but overall it's not consistently awesome.

I would've swapped out Magical Dreamers to put in Magus's theme, and rearrange the order a bit.

Any thoughts?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>As for CT, I love the Epoch theme, the Black Omen, the Undersea Palace, and Magus' theme. I'm definitely surprised Magus' theme wasn't one of the top songs on the poll.

I've always loved the CT battle music too...</div>

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>I agree with most of the Chrono Trigger selections, but I think Magus' Theme and To Far Away times should be on there.

Off the top of my head for Xenogears, I would replace Shevat with the Nisan theme, and Small Two of Pieces with Wings. Flight definately stays.

As for Chrono Cross, well, I can't disagree with Scars of Time, but I would drop Kid's theme in favor of People Improsoned by Destiny. (the one when you meet Miguel in you know where), and Magical Dreamers with Time of Dreamwatch(plays in the opening demo after Scars of Time).

Those are my pics for now. Subject to change when I get the Shadow Hearts OST.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Been a while since I checked the listing for CT OST. What's To Far Away Time? I'm guessing Epoch's theme?

Nisan was quite good, but it didn't seem quite as unique as Shevat. Nisan is your typical peaceful music which isn't very hard to do, relatively speaking. Shevat feels different... feel kind of like Zeal in a sense, but without the magic.

Those Imprisoned by Fate (the tracks all say Fate, not Destiny, but of course there's also FATE in CC, so sometimes Destiny is used instead when people translate these things) is good, but of the 3 times (or at least the 3 times I remember) it used in the game it's only used correctly once, i.e. versus Miguel. Vs Dario you've too bright of a background which ruins the mood even though the track is perfect. It's also used after you return after getting the antidode for Kid. Problem is that scene is totally anticlimatic, if not just outright stupid.

The Time of Dreamwatch is nice, but it's only a demo music more than anything else. I prefer the original CT opening demo music (aka Crono's theme with minor modifications, though not exactly. BTW, Crono's theme is not in the OST).

If you've to evaluate music on how good they are standing alone, then yeah, I'd say there are tracks in Chrono Cross that are better than The Girl Who Stole a Star (The Garden of Gods come to my mind offhand), but that track fits the situation perfectly in the 4 times it's played in this game (yeah, I know these things, scary huh?). It's simply one of the most powerful atmosphere tracks out there. Whether it's Radical Dreamers on the SNES, or CC on the Japanese version, or the English version, you can always feel the mood swing when this track is played. I think Mitsuda's musical talent adds far more to her character development than the game did. Mitsuda's liner notes says people tend to think about Kid as just a strongheaded tomboy or something in those lines, and I think he's right, if you just look at what she does in the game, since the game really doesn't try to develop her (she's missing for more than half of the game!).

Tracks like The Girl Who Stole a Star really just have to go along with the context they're presented. Whenever I hear that song I'll always remember the starry sky when Serge promised to stay by her forever (or not!). It's kind of like Secret of Mana at the ending. Is it really the graphics or the story that captures the Sprite's sense of loneliness of being separated from his best friends forever, or is it the beautiful ending of Secret of Mana? I think it's latter. Good tracks tell a story on their own without the need for words or pictures.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>To Far Away Times is the theme that plays during the staff roll. One of the best ending themes ever, IMO.

And yeah, I guess you could say that Time of Dreamwatch is only demo music, but then again, so is Scars of Time.

As for Those Imprisoned by Fate, I picked it for pretty much the same reason you picked The Girl who Stole a Star, it went along great with the context. Whenever I hear Those Imprisoned by Fate, I'll always think of that scene with Miguel. Of course, the whole thing would prove to be a little disappointing, but seeing <font color=black>the first real connection with Chrono Trigger</font> was definately one of the high points in that game.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>That's probably why it wasn't on there. It certainly is one of the best ending themes out there. I still prefer Radical Dreamers, especially if you've the lyrics so you know what she's saying.

I like Miguel, but because the little ghost guys are running around before you fight him. He was just cool. :)</div>