Dan Kiden

Chrono Symphonic has been a long time coming. It's really a shame that Square never gave Chrono Trigger the kind of orchestral love that it shows for Final Fantasy (concerts! I would kill for a CT concert. You hear me, Square?). But never fear; Claado Shou, OCR and the Chrono Symphonic team have saved the day. Now, on to the music. As above posters have said, the success of CS relies on its use and reuse of certain character motifs (in subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways) and an awesome sense of cohesion. The goal was one orchestra, one sound; the result is one orchestra. What sticks out for me is when an artist uses a theme in a fashion different from its original intention. A good example of this is "Crono's Dream," where "Peaceful Days" warps and becomes disorienting. It's unnatural yet familiar, and it works. By far my favorite track is "To Far Away Times" by Reuben Kee and pixietricks. I'd been following the project a long time, and by that I mean I downloaded every demo, wip, every file that was available to the public before the project went top secret. When I first heard Reuben's WIP of the song, I nearly fell apart. It was so perfect. I'll admit I was hesitant to hear that a vocalist had been added, but after listening and understanding the lyrics, she did nothing but add the undeniable warmth of a soft, human voice. Favorite lyric: "As the shadow dawns upon us, all I seem to think about is where our hope has faded away into" Good stuff. About the mixing (this is for Compyfox): I consider myself an average musician (piano and organ) and have no real hope to learn all the technicalities of audio mixing and engineering, but I hope you can take what I'm going to say to heart: Ignorance is bliss. I have no idea about reverb or -5 dB vs -10 dB, whatever. But I do know what's pleasing to my ears. This stuff, Chrono Symphonic, is pleasing to the ears. These fans have been waiting a long time for this. They're in love with the source material and the Remixers' work. I don't think the Average Joe Gamer is going to beat you up over it. It's kinda disconcerting to hear you knock your own work. It sounds great. So relax and take some pride in what you've done. All in all, great job. In the time that I've taken to listen to CS and type up this post, my mind has changed. Square, I don't need to wish for a CT orchestral concert that will never happen. I have Chrono Symphonic.

Great stuff. Overall, the To Far Away Times piano WIP is my favorite. It really derives its power from its simplicity.