OCR00973 - Chrono Trigger "Forever"

[Brim]

Quality is top-notch, very nice song. Friend told me "go to ocremix its awesome and download chrono trigger - forever". And I told him I knew about it and it was awesome discussion time.

[Bobwillis]

Beautiful

[Bummer]

Bipidibopapipipadej

That was my attempt to do some beats, but this mix does it way better.

Very harsch piano in the beginning, like someone died/gonna die/supposed to have died/dropped his cup of coffe/just having a bad day.

As for the beats, they were great and together with that techno trancy thingie do-hickie, Suzu sure made it somethin´ worth listening to.

Tumbs up for you.

[Turkaholic]

I have to admit, I have a weakness for a good set of synths, and this hit the nail right on the head. I'm normally really picky about what remixes I'll download - they have to have a certain something for me to want to download it, and this was more than good enough for me - the chord transitions were especially well done. *applauds*

[suzumebachi]

I am entirely bored and have nothing to do at the moment, so I am going to answer some 3+ year old questions! Some Suzumebachi Q&A if you will.

Loved the sound you got out of the piano... how did you do that? The quality was excellent.

The piano is just a free soundfont (I don't recall which one, but it was a steinway sample of some kind). All I did was simply double the sample an octave apart. This can be done in FruityLoops using the Fruity Soundfont player. Go to the FUNC tab of the Soundfont player, and in the first "Echo delay" box, set "FEED" to 100% or higher (play with it and decide where you want it). Set "ECH" to 1, "TIME" to 0:00, and "PITCH" to -1200 (the lowest it goes). Basically what this does is produce a simultaneous (since the time is at 0:00) echo 1200 cents, or one octave below the original.

I will say, the intro is deffinitely one of my favorite parts, the "static" that was intentional in the backround?

Yeah that was intentional, though upon relistening it does sound a bit loud. The static was taken from yet another free soundfont that was basically just looped recordings of blank vinyls.

I'm wondering who did the piano, does suzu play?

Yes, I do. But not in this song. That piano was actually painstakingly sequenced by hand. Just the first little run took me a good 2 or 3 hours of editing and tweaking. The piano and the beatslicing were easily the most difficult parts of this mix.

And uhh... I think that's it.

Yes, I am a pompous jerk.

[Merid]

I just recently listened to this remix and feel I have to add a comment about it.

Love the intro, totally feels like something out of Persona, or another SMT game (the piano with static/mild distortion). Then the bass hits and flows into what (sadly) feels like standard techno.

However, given that the original piece is just a strip of background noise in my mind, this is definitely an enhanced take on it. Mad props for that. I just feel that the latter aspects of the remix could've been further expanded on.

Then again, it may just be the unusually powerful intro that dominated the mix.

Overall, seek it out and download it. It is tasty.

And Suzu, it's been awhile, no?

[about:blank]

I absolutely love the vinyl piano introduction, and how the beats are slowly filtered in. The transition between the intro to the trance part is just awesome. From there, though, nothing much seemed to jump out at me.

That being said, this is still a very solid mix, with an outstanding introduction.

[KogeJoe]

Uh!!! I was gonna say how much I HATED the scratched record thing at the beginning. The piano is nothing short of extravagant, but the record thing has been done a little too much IMO. Like, is that like a pre-requisite for a re-mix? "Rule no. 1 - Must have record thing... check!" Right up there with quick doubled up snares...

But you know, as a whole, this re-mix is BEATIFUL. I really love it.

[WolverineDK]

it is an ok remix , but it depends on my mood, how I am with that melody. But it is an ok remix not bad at all

[Iconian]

I feel that “Forever” should have been played upon defeating Lavos in Chrono Trigger.

I found the piece months ago, and somehow I knew there was something different about it. For some reason it just spoke to me more than others.

“Forever” is based on the melody of “The Day the World Revived.” On the soundtrack that’s CD 2, track 6 (the .rsn for CT can be found here, and the SnesAmp plugin for Winamp is here). I found “The Day the World Revived” back in April last year as a midi and couldn’t remember it from the game. I ended up looking on www.ocremix.org and downloaded “Forever” and others.

“The Day the World Revived” is a song of defeat, coming onto the soundtrack just after you’ve discovered Lavos, but it also plays every time you are defeated in battle. Isn’t it incredible that the same melody can be used in “Forever?” It is the sound of victory after pain and struggle. In recent months I’d come to enjoy “Forever” and “Last Battle,” though I didn’t see a connection between the two. Now I do.

First play the “Last Battle.” Lavos roars at the party for having destroyed his armor and revealed the final source of all their difficulties. He makes his last ditch attempt at defense, bringing out the bio-engineered bits he has prepared through the ages for this moment, in hopes of keeping his grip on the world and procreating to the continuation of his race’s “life cycle.” Everyone surveys the scene from Right Bit to Left Bit. Then the battle begins, with a little haste, a little confuse, a wondershot or two, and then Antipode and Luminaire to finish up. The music goes hand in hand with the action on screen, and soon Lavos, once ruler of the world, falls.

Now, “Forever” begins. The Lavos shell explodes, collapsing onto the party and pinning them under debris, as the piano plays harsh tones. There are more explosions, each getting worse and worse, bringing greater uncertainty. Then they find each other in the dust and darkness, and as the music picks up there’s a round of spells and tonics, ethers and elixirs, to get back up to strength as they wind their way out through the tunnels to reach the surface and get transported back to the End of Time.

Soon they are with their friends, dusting themselves off and glowing at their victory. Everyone pats each other on the back for a job well done. Then they take a look all around while the guitar see-saws, and they find that they're surrounded. On every side, from every time period, are all enemies who still remain under the influence of Lavos, gathered into one from the eight time warps right at the end. Hundreds of them are there, waiting to greet the heroes for their destruction of Lavos. The army closes in and they survey from right to left, the guitar comes up, and all any of the seven (or six) can do is smile warmer than ever, knowing that the victory achieved over Lavos outweighs whatever these creatures can throw at them.

The real last battle begins when the melody begins. Everyone gets geared up for the final confrontation, and then the fighting starts, and everywhere the characters work together and use double techs, triple techs, and tech rocks, all fighting simultaneously--no party limits for the Last Battle. The drums slip up several times and tonics and everyone slows down a bit to catch their breath, cast some healing, take some ethers. At 2:23 they all retreat back and everyone heals up, and they use barrier, shield, and haste on everyone.

Shortly they head back out to finish fighting. There are a few more battles for our powered up characters, and then the beats of "Forever" start to break up, until at the end all remaining enemies are gone.

A lot of people have criticized the ending of “Forever.” Square probably had a good reason for making Chrono Trigger the way they did, but if “Forever” is worthy any criticism then so also is Square. Their ending to the game never gave you the feel that there was any slam-bang finish, but perhaps with a battle sequence like this after Lavos, playing “Forever” in the background, the ending would have had all the slam-bang you'd want. The music breaks up right at the end once all the work is done, and then the party splits to their respective times. “To Far Away Times” becomes all the more powerful for it.

In my view, the last battle in Chrono Trigger just wasn’t epic enough end to such an epic game. You bring in “Forever” and a huge battle right at the end, with all things gathered into one from good and evil, and the feeling of definitive victory really sets in.

Square fell a little short, and the battle with Lavos didn’t quite pack the punch it should have. Suzumebachi picked up the slack by making the song that should have been played after the party has won the “Last Battle.” Haven’t you ever wondered what happens after the screen goes white? Can one honestly believe that after the defeat of Lavos all evil had gone from the world? Lavos was the core, but there would surely be remnants of his power left after he’s destroyed. “Forever” represents the hard work and the victory of the party to not only show that Lavos is no more, but that the world truly is a different place now that the party has cleaned up all those remaining enemies everywhere Lavos asserted his influence.

[HoboKa]

Old School remix, old school coolness. I still like it

[DragonFireKai]

The piano at the start is a little deceptive, but when the electronica starts in at around 0:35, you can really feel this mix starting to gear up. It quickly bursts into a full bloom electronic masterpiece. Very well executed.

[42]

This reminds me of some mystic around some campfire wearily telling a dire tale of desperation and determination. Like the piano was him waving his hands causing the campfire smoke to thicken before a cut scene shows the audience the story the wizards is telling.

This is absolutely one of my favorite Chrono Trigger mixes, if not favorite overall; it creates a wonderful sense of atmosphere for me, which I absolutely love in a mix.

[OceansAndrew]

Interesting combination of styles, and it's pretty good. Extra props for mixing a more obscure track from the game. Pretty cool beats and synths, and the piano intro was nice. I'm not sure the elements all fit completely- old tyme piano + synth-heavy techno don't seem like an obvious choice, but overall this was jammin. Nice work.

[Octagon]

The amazing intro gave me a great thirst for piano DnB, but without the rest sating it. The techno/trance section is still very solid, though I wish there was more of a change/variation/buildup in effects and melody layers (but I guess I'm just spoiled by stuff like more recent bliNd tracks in that regard).