Millennial Fair -- Chrono Trigger Extravaganza!

Welcome to the music review at RPG Classics.com! Our goal is help people see the soundtracks they listen to in a better light as well as help the RPG music lovers out there know what to get and know what crap they should stay the hell away from before they're stuck listening to something so bad, they'll want to drive ice picks into their ears to relieve the pain.

This week: Chrono Trigger OST. Three discs, four reviews!

To view our previous reviews, check out the archives

Alwyn Aldarion

Ah, Chrono Trigger, what can I say to convince you of both the exquisite quality and marvelous sounds of CT? Well first things first... I'll go with my favorite ones.

The Glenn theme and the songs from Magus Castle really capture your feelings for the game. I mean when I first played the game, Magus's Castle had the mood of a Resident Evil game -- the castle, the impression of being in a Count Dracula movie, the beautiful graphics, and the quality of the sound made Magus's Castle immortal for me. Another great song would be when you confront Magus at the top of his castle, that one just rocks. It's magnificent! It reminded me of the Atma Weapon battle in FF6 when I first heard it, Magus casting spells in the middle of a magic circle with the demonic-gothic statue in the background and your team fighting him, it's just a quality which can't be put into mere words. Even the little wind which you hear at the beginning of the theme is exquisite! It really puts you into the mood of "You're gonna die for your crimes, wizard!".

A third one that captured my attention was the one in Azala's lair, (or should I say Tyrano Lair?) the prehistoric castle theme was really rhythmic and cryptic too! I dunno about you, but I felt there was a raptor or some other beast waiting for me at every corner of the castle. It gave you a chill when the lights were off and then some random enemies appeared!

I mentioned Glenn's theme earlier, so let's talk about our favorite froggy-knight a bit, shall we? Frog's song (aka. Glenn's theme) is also good, because it always has this sound of a flute which gives it the impression of "I'm a Knight and I shall defend thee with my life, my lady!" each time you saw Frog. And it was also well-matched for Frog since he's kinda like Sire Percival in the movie "Legend of Excalibur". Ya know, the gallant knight who speaks in archaic/medieval English and humbly serves his king. And Glenn's so cool, so he needed a cool theme as well I suppose, and Squaresoft gave it to him. The last one (well my last favorite one) was when you battle Lavos for the first time. Lavos at first appears apocalyptic, but as the music goes on it adapts itself and gives a more pacified sound to the battle! I really like the difference between those two parts of the theme, it's what makes the first part of this huge battle so special. I could go on like this for each song of the game, but I'd still be there tomorrow. So for the rest of the tracks which I haven't named, I could say simply this: wonderful! Each track fits perfectly with the environment it goes with, the futuristic lab, the Epoch flight, the prehistoric beat, the mysterious Middle Age, the holy song of the shrines, and the snow winds of the Mountain in the future. Chrono Trigger will always be in my humble opinion the number one game Square made, for its beautiful sounds & music! After FF6 of course... I give it a 9.5/10. Why 9.5? 'cause nothing's perfect!

Well on to that, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!