Xenogears Original Soundtrack
Encyclopedia
The Xenogears Original Soundtrack is the official soundtrack
to Square
's console role-playing game Xenogears
. It was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda
and contains 44 tracks, including a Bulgarian
choral
song and two pieces performed by the Irish
singer Joanne Hogg
. Though the game was released in both Japan and North America, the album was published in Japan exclusively as a 2-CD
set on March 1, 1998.
The soundtrack was composed with strong traditional
and Irish music
influences, while the lyrics for the vocal tracks were written by the game's director Tetsuya Takahashi
and its scenario writer Masato Kato
. The soundtrack reached #55 in Japan and was generally well-received by critics, though some disagreed on whether the album can be fully appreciated by non-players.
Two arranged
versions of the soundtrack, Creid
(1998) and Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album
(2011), were also released by Mitsuda. The composer, along with Joanne Hogg, reprised their roles for the soundtrack to Xenogears' s spiritual prequel Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
in 2002. Tribute album
s were also produced by fans.
, the event planner and script writer of Xenogears, to compose the score. Mitsuda considered it hard at times to maintain his motivation throughout the whole two-year period, especially since he had to wait for the end to see the most dramatic tracks implemented. The game's director Tetsuya Takahashi
did not initially think "music was all that important" compared to graphics, but eventually acknowledged its importance when he realized it could strongly enhance the expressivity of the images. Takahashi explained that without Mitsuda's music, he would not have been able to achieve his goals for the project.
The development team wanted to have a Western
singer contribute to the score. Mitsuda initially had difficulties finding an artist that matched his vision, but eventually chose Joanne Hogg
from the Celtic
band Iona
after stumbling upon their album The Book of Kells
in a CD store and listening to the song "Chi-Rho". Hogg was enthusiastic in contributing as it was her first video game-related recording. She did not play the game for the project, however. Irish music was not well known in Japan at the time, but Mitsuda felt that a "Celtic boom" was about to hit the country. His prediction would later turn true with the popularity of the American film Titanic
and the Irish stepdancing
show Riverdance
.
"Stars of Tears", one of the songs included on the soundtrack album, did not appear in the final version of the game. It was originally intended to play in a cut scene at the start of the game along with the main staff credits. The scene, however, was removed for pacing issues, as it would have made the combined opening movie and introduction scenes last roughly ten minutes. Another song on the soundtrack, "Small Two of Pieces ~Screeching Shards~", was the first ending theme with sung lyrics to ever appear in a game developed by Square
.
track and two songs. According to Mitsuda, the music of Xenogears belongs to the traditional music
genre. Though he first described it as stemming from "a world of [his] own imagining" rather than any specific country, he has also claimed a strong Irish
or Celtic music
influence. Mitsuda felt that composing for the game was very difficult due to the unfamiliarity of most Japanese with foreign traditionals, but expressed his wish for listeners of the soundtrack to open up to music from all over the world. His musical approach was to insert Celtic influences into "easy-to-listen-to" pop
tracks, rather than making either "dense" Celtic music or simple background music
. Other influences on the soundtrack include Arabic music on the desert town theme "Dazil, Town of Scorching Sands", and religious music
, in keeping with the game's storyline. Mitsuda explained that he wanted music that "felt religious, but from a different angle".
The opening movie of the game was produced before the corresponding track "Dark Dawn" was, and Mitsuda had to rearrange his composition after realizing some parts were out of synch with the frames by about a minute and a half. The choral track, titled "The Beginning and the End", was performed by a 41-voice choir named The Great Voices of Bulgaria and features lyrics written by Tetsuya Takahashi. His lyrics were translated from Japanese to English then to Bulgarian
for the recording. Joanne Hogg sang in English on "Stars of Tears" and "Small Two of Pieces ~Screeching Shards~". The latter took Mitsuda "an awfully long amount of time" just to compose the demo
version. Masato Kato wrote the original lyrics for the two songs, and Hogg arranged them so that they would fit the melodies better and sound more Celtic. As with most of his previous soundtracks, Mitsuda composed a musical box
arrangement of one of the main themes; in Xenogears' case, the track "Distant Promise" is the musical box version of "Small Two of Pieces".
sound module
in Tokyo
, Japan, while "The Beginning and the End" was recorded live in Sofia
, Bulgaria. Hogg's songs were recorded in two days in Dublin, Ireland in 1996; they featured the Riverdance musician Davy Spillane
on low whistle
. When Titanic premiered in November 1997, Mitsuda noticed coincidental similarities between the film's ending song, Celine Dion
's "My Heart Will Go On
", and the Irish-themed music he was composing for Xenogears. He felt irritated and devoted himself to complete the soundtrack's recording before Titanic came out.
As with some of his previous soundtracks, Mitsuda would stay in the Japanese studio for long amounts of time and regularly fall asleep from overwork, while some melodies would first come to him in his dreams, such as that of "Ties of Sea and Flames". The composer collapsed during the soundtrack mastering process due to exhaustion, and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. The score involved in total nearly a hundred people. At one point, the music staff considered adding sound effects and voice narrations into the soundtrack album, but the idea was scrapped in favour of normal renditions of the game's music.
The album reached #55 on the Japan Oricon
charts. Soundtrack Central felt that Mitsuda "created a masterpiece in Xenogears", while RPGFan thought it was "most certainly his greatest achievement". On the other hand, one reviewer on Square Enix Music Online (unrelated to Square Enix
) felt it did not represent Mitsuda's best album, saying that "what was an amazing soundtrack in its day ... has [not] stood the test of time very well." Reviewers disagreed whether the album could only be enjoyed by Xenogears players, or if it could be appreciated by a wider audience.
Several reviewers noted the diversity of styles present in the score. Soundtrack Central thought it was a "superb mix of epic adventure and traditional themes", while Square Enix Music Online appreciated the melding of futuristic, ethnic and religious themes, feeling that the recurring chanting sound effects made everything sound coherent. Critics also noticed similarities between some melodies and Mitsuda's previous work Chrono Trigger
, though reviewers felt that those of Xenogears were more "widely based" and had a distinctive Celtic sound. The reviewers also praised the sound system used for the instrumental tracks as being up to the highest standard for the PlayStation console.
The emotional tracks were considered the strongest part of the score, and were praised for their ability to musically reflect the various locales and characters seen in the game. The opening track "Dark Dawn" was similarly lauded for showcasing all the influences of the soundtrack in a single composition. The battle themes were described as a weaker area and were called either effective or repetitive, with Square Enix Music Online noting that "Mitsuda has never been very good at composing interesting battle tracks". The final boss
theme "The One Who Bares Fangs at God" received the most diverse comments, ranging from praises to criticism, due to its reliance on synth choral sound effects rather than a clear melody. The ending song "Small Two of Pieces" was received positively and, as Mitsuda predicted, compared to "My Heart Will Go On".
, another musician from Riverdance, to record an arranged
album of Xenogears. Titled Creid
and released in April 1998, the arranged album features 10 instrumental and vocal tracks from the soundtrack arranged in a more dominant Celtic style. "Stars of Tears" and "Small Two of Pieces" appear on the album as "Two Wings" and "Möbius" respectively, and are sung in Japanese by Tetsuko "Techie" Honma. A second arranged album, titled Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album
, was released on February 23, 2011. The original soundtrack versions of "Stars of Tears" and "Small Two of Pieces" were featured on the 2001 compilation Square Vocal Collection, and again in 2009 on the compilation Colours of Light
. The Xenogears soundtrack remains one of Mitsuda's favourite projects, and one of the works that he continues to feel a "special connection" to.
In 2002, Mitsuda composed the score to Monolith Soft
's Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
, the spiritual prequel to Xenogears, also directed by Tetsuya Takahashi. Joanne Hogg returned to sing the soundtrack's vocal themes, while the instrumental tracks were performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
. Monolith Soft did not ask Mitsuda and Hogg to reprise their roles for Episode II
and Episode III
, however.
A tribute album
titled Xenogears Light: An Arranged Album, was published in limited quantities by the fan group OneUp Studios in 2005. The album features 20 tracks arranged from the Xenogears score and performed with acoustic instruments, such as piano, flute, guitar and violin. Another, unofficial album of remixes titled Humans + Gears was produced as a digital album by OverClocked Remix
on October 19, 2009 consisting of 33 tracks on two "discs".
Main personnel
"The Beginning and the End" personnel
"Stars of Tears" personnel
"Small Two of pieces ~Screeching Shards~" personnel
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to Square
Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
's console role-playing game Xenogears
Xenogears
is a science-fiction console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation. It was released on February 11, 1998 in Japan and on October 20, 1998 in North America. The game was never released in PAL territories...
. It was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda
Yasunori Mitsuda
is a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He has composed music for or worked on over 35 games, and has contributed to over 15 other albums...
and contains 44 tracks, including a Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
choral
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
song and two pieces performed by the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
singer Joanne Hogg
Joanne Hogg
Joanne Hogg is an Irish singer and songwriter for the band Iona.-Biography:Hogg was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and is best known as the lead singer and songwriter with the Christian progressive Celtic/pop/rock band Iona . Her father is a Presbyterian minister, her mother a nurse; her...
. Though the game was released in both Japan and North America, the album was published in Japan exclusively as a 2-CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
set on March 1, 1998.
The soundtrack was composed with strong traditional
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
and Irish music
Music of Ireland
Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...
influences, while the lyrics for the vocal tracks were written by the game's director Tetsuya Takahashi
Tetsuya Takahashi
Tetsuya Takahashi is currently the head of game software company Monolith Soft, Inc. In the past, Takahashi has worked at Square and on such games as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger...
and its scenario writer Masato Kato
Masato Kato
is a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".- Biography :...
. The soundtrack reached #55 in Japan and was generally well-received by critics, though some disagreed on whether the album can be fully appreciated by non-players.
Two arranged
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
versions of the soundtrack, Creid
CREID
Creid is the arranged soundtrack to Square's console role-playing game Xenogears. It was written by the game's composer Yasunori Mitsuda and performed by a musical ensemble dubbed Millennial Fair. It was released on April 22, 1998 in Japan by DigiCube, and re-released by Square Enix on June 29, 2005...
(1998) and Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album
Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album
Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album is an arranged soundtrack to Square Enix's role-playing video game Xenogears. It is the third soundtrack to the game, after Xenogears Original Soundtrack and Creid, another arranged album, both released in 1998...
(2011), were also released by Mitsuda. The composer, along with Joanne Hogg, reprised their roles for the soundtrack to Xenogears
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
is a console role-playing game for the PlayStation 2 and the first title in the Xenosaga series. Der Wille zur Macht, "The Will to Power", is a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's posthumous collection of notes and unused aphorisms, which was intended to become his magnum opus...
in 2002. Tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
s were also produced by fans.
Context
Xenogears entered development in 1996 and was released in 1998. The game's soundtrack was Yasunori Mitsuda's first major solo work, as his previous soundtracks were collaborations with other composers with the exception of the score to Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki, which never saw an album release. Mitsuda worked closely with Masato KatoMasato Kato
is a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".- Biography :...
, the event planner and script writer of Xenogears, to compose the score. Mitsuda considered it hard at times to maintain his motivation throughout the whole two-year period, especially since he had to wait for the end to see the most dramatic tracks implemented. The game's director Tetsuya Takahashi
Tetsuya Takahashi
Tetsuya Takahashi is currently the head of game software company Monolith Soft, Inc. In the past, Takahashi has worked at Square and on such games as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger...
did not initially think "music was all that important" compared to graphics, but eventually acknowledged its importance when he realized it could strongly enhance the expressivity of the images. Takahashi explained that without Mitsuda's music, he would not have been able to achieve his goals for the project.
The development team wanted to have a Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
singer contribute to the score. Mitsuda initially had difficulties finding an artist that matched his vision, but eventually chose Joanne Hogg
Joanne Hogg
Joanne Hogg is an Irish singer and songwriter for the band Iona.-Biography:Hogg was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and is best known as the lead singer and songwriter with the Christian progressive Celtic/pop/rock band Iona . Her father is a Presbyterian minister, her mother a nurse; her...
from the Celtic
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
band Iona
Iona (band)
Iona is the name of a progressive Celtic rock band from the United Kingdom, which was formed in the late 1980s by lead vocalist Joanne Hogg and multi-instrumentalists David Fitzgerald and Dave Bainbridge....
after stumbling upon their album The Book of Kells
The Book of Kells (album)
The Book of Kells is a progressive rock album by Iona. Released in 1992.The Book of Kells, an 8th century manuscript filled with lush pictures illustrating the Gospels, possibly originating from the monastery at Iona....
in a CD store and listening to the song "Chi-Rho". Hogg was enthusiastic in contributing as it was her first video game-related recording. She did not play the game for the project, however. Irish music was not well known in Japan at the time, but Mitsuda felt that a "Celtic boom" was about to hit the country. His prediction would later turn true with the popularity of the American film Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
and the Irish stepdancing
Irish stepdance
Irish stepdance is a type of performance dance originated in Ireland from traditional Irish dance, characterised by solo dancers who dance with hands by their sides and upper body stiff, making quick, intricate movements of the feet, often with a troupe. Irish stepdancing was popularized by the...
show Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
.
"Stars of Tears", one of the songs included on the soundtrack album, did not appear in the final version of the game. It was originally intended to play in a cut scene at the start of the game along with the main staff credits. The scene, however, was removed for pacing issues, as it would have made the combined opening movie and introduction scenes last roughly ten minutes. Another song on the soundtrack, "Small Two of Pieces ~Screeching Shards~", was the first ending theme with sung lyrics to ever appear in a game developed by Square
Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
.
Composition and writing
The score contains 41 instrumental tracks, in addition to a choralChoir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
track and two songs. According to Mitsuda, the music of Xenogears belongs to the traditional music
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
genre. Though he first described it as stemming from "a world of [his] own imagining" rather than any specific country, he has also claimed a strong Irish
Music of Ireland
Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...
or Celtic music
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
influence. Mitsuda felt that composing for the game was very difficult due to the unfamiliarity of most Japanese with foreign traditionals, but expressed his wish for listeners of the soundtrack to open up to music from all over the world. His musical approach was to insert Celtic influences into "easy-to-listen-to" pop
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
tracks, rather than making either "dense" Celtic music or simple background music
Background music
Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
. Other influences on the soundtrack include Arabic music on the desert town theme "Dazil, Town of Scorching Sands", and religious music
Religious music
Religious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.A lot of music has been composed to complement religion, and many composers have derived inspiration from their own religion. Many forms of traditional music have been adapted to fit religions'...
, in keeping with the game's storyline. Mitsuda explained that he wanted music that "felt religious, but from a different angle".
The opening movie of the game was produced before the corresponding track "Dark Dawn" was, and Mitsuda had to rearrange his composition after realizing some parts were out of synch with the frames by about a minute and a half. The choral track, titled "The Beginning and the End", was performed by a 41-voice choir named The Great Voices of Bulgaria and features lyrics written by Tetsuya Takahashi. His lyrics were translated from Japanese to English then to Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
for the recording. Joanne Hogg sang in English on "Stars of Tears" and "Small Two of Pieces ~Screeching Shards~". The latter took Mitsuda "an awfully long amount of time" just to compose the demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
version. Masato Kato wrote the original lyrics for the two songs, and Hogg arranged them so that they would fit the melodies better and sound more Celtic. As with most of his previous soundtracks, Mitsuda composed a musical box
Musical box
A music box is a 19th century automatic musical instrument that produces sounds by the use of a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc so as to pluck the tuned teeth of a steel comb. They were developed from musical snuff boxes of the 18th century and called carillons à musique...
arrangement of one of the main themes; in Xenogears
Recording
The instrumental tracks of the score were programmed with the PlayStationPlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
sound module
Sound module
A sound module is an electronic musical instrument without a human-playable interface such as a keyboard, for example. Sound modules have to be "played" using an externally connected device...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan, while "The Beginning and the End" was recorded live in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria. Hogg's songs were recorded in two days in Dublin, Ireland in 1996; they featured the Riverdance musician Davy Spillane
Davy Spillane
Davy Spillane is a songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle.early yearsDavy was born in Dublin in 1959 . At the age of 12 he started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him and inspired him with his love of all music genres...
on low whistle
Low whistle
The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of modern Irish musicians and groups such as Riverdance and Davy Spillane, and is increasingly...
. When Titanic premiered in November 1997, Mitsuda noticed coincidental similarities between the film's ending song, Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
's "My Heart Will Go On
My Heart Will Go On
"My Heart Will Go On" is the theme song/love theme of the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. With music by James Horner, lyrics by Will Jennings, and production by Simon Franglen, James Horner and Walter Afanasieff ,, it was recorded by Céline Dion...
", and the Irish-themed music he was composing for Xenogears. He felt irritated and devoted himself to complete the soundtrack's recording before Titanic came out.
As with some of his previous soundtracks, Mitsuda would stay in the Japanese studio for long amounts of time and regularly fall asleep from overwork, while some melodies would first come to him in his dreams, such as that of "Ties of Sea and Flames". The composer collapsed during the soundtrack mastering process due to exhaustion, and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. The score involved in total nearly a hundred people. At one point, the music staff considered adding sound effects and voice narrations into the soundtrack album, but the idea was scrapped in favour of normal renditions of the game's music.
Reception
The album reached #55 on the Japan Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
charts. Soundtrack Central felt that Mitsuda "created a masterpiece in Xenogears", while RPGFan thought it was "most certainly his greatest achievement". On the other hand, one reviewer on Square Enix Music Online (unrelated to Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
) felt it did not represent Mitsuda's best album, saying that "what was an amazing soundtrack in its day ... has [not] stood the test of time very well." Reviewers disagreed whether the album could only be enjoyed by Xenogears players, or if it could be appreciated by a wider audience.
Several reviewers noted the diversity of styles present in the score. Soundtrack Central thought it was a "superb mix of epic adventure and traditional themes", while Square Enix Music Online appreciated the melding of futuristic, ethnic and religious themes, feeling that the recurring chanting sound effects made everything sound coherent. Critics also noticed similarities between some melodies and Mitsuda's previous work Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Chrono Triggers development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, a...
, though reviewers felt that those of Xenogears were more "widely based" and had a distinctive Celtic sound. The reviewers also praised the sound system used for the instrumental tracks as being up to the highest standard for the PlayStation console.
The emotional tracks were considered the strongest part of the score, and were praised for their ability to musically reflect the various locales and characters seen in the game. The opening track "Dark Dawn" was similarly lauded for showcasing all the influences of the soundtrack in a single composition. The battle themes were described as a weaker area and were called either effective or repetitive, with Square Enix Music Online noting that "Mitsuda has never been very good at composing interesting battle tracks". The final boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
theme "The One Who Bares Fangs at God" received the most diverse comments, ranging from praises to criticism, due to its reliance on synth choral sound effects rather than a clear melody. The ending song "Small Two of Pieces" was received positively and, as Mitsuda predicted, compared to "My Heart Will Go On".
Legacy
While in Ireland, Mitsuda also worked with Spillane and Maire BreatnachMáire Breatnach
Máire Breatnach is one of the most prominent fiddle players in Ireland. She also sings in Irish on some of her albums. Since the early 1990s, she has had five solo albums, participated in many other albums , with substantive contributions in some cases, and contributed to many music CDs, as well as...
, another musician from Riverdance, to record an arranged
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
album of Xenogears. Titled Creid
CREID
Creid is the arranged soundtrack to Square's console role-playing game Xenogears. It was written by the game's composer Yasunori Mitsuda and performed by a musical ensemble dubbed Millennial Fair. It was released on April 22, 1998 in Japan by DigiCube, and re-released by Square Enix on June 29, 2005...
and released in April 1998, the arranged album features 10 instrumental and vocal tracks from the soundtrack arranged in a more dominant Celtic style. "Stars of Tears" and "Small Two of Pieces" appear on the album as "Two Wings" and "Möbius" respectively, and are sung in Japanese by Tetsuko "Techie" Honma. A second arranged album, titled Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album
Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album
Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album is an arranged soundtrack to Square Enix's role-playing video game Xenogears. It is the third soundtrack to the game, after Xenogears Original Soundtrack and Creid, another arranged album, both released in 1998...
, was released on February 23, 2011. The original soundtrack versions of "Stars of Tears" and "Small Two of Pieces" were featured on the 2001 compilation Square Vocal Collection, and again in 2009 on the compilation Colours of Light
Colours of Light
Colours of Light is the compilation album of vocal pieces by Yasunori Mitsuda. It was released on August 26, 2009 in Japan by Sleigh Bells. The album is composed of 14 remastered songs from games and soundtracks that he has composed, and one piece from an album of original songs by game music...
. The Xenogears soundtrack remains one of Mitsuda's favourite projects, and one of the works that he continues to feel a "special connection" to.
In 2002, Mitsuda composed the score to Monolith Soft
Monolith Soft
is a Japanese entertainment company that has created video games for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, and cell phones. The company was founded in 1999 by producer Hirohide Sugiura after he left Square Co. and accepted an investment from Namco...
's Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
is a console role-playing game for the PlayStation 2 and the first title in the Xenosaga series. Der Wille zur Macht, "The Will to Power", is a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's posthumous collection of notes and unused aphorisms, which was intended to become his magnum opus...
, the spiritual prequel to Xenogears, also directed by Tetsuya Takahashi. Joanne Hogg returned to sing the soundtrack's vocal themes, while the instrumental tracks were performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
. Monolith Soft did not ask Mitsuda and Hogg to reprise their roles for Episode II
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse
is an RPG for the PlayStation 2 and the second title in the Xenosaga series. Jenseits von Gut und Böse, literally "Beyond Good and Evil", is taken from a philosophical work by Friedrich Nietzsche of the same name...
and Episode III
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra
is an RPG for the PlayStation 2, and the third game in the primary Xenosaga trilogy. Also sprach Zarathustra, literally "Thus spoke Zarathustra", is also the title of Friedrich Nietzsche's most famous work, which introduced the concept of the Übermensch...
, however.
A tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
titled Xenogears Light: An Arranged Album, was published in limited quantities by the fan group OneUp Studios in 2005. The album features 20 tracks arranged from the Xenogears score and performed with acoustic instruments, such as piano, flute, guitar and violin. Another, unofficial album of remixes titled Humans + Gears was produced as a digital album by OverClocked Remix
OverClocked ReMix
OverClocked ReMix, also known as OC ReMix and OCR, is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and paying tribute to video game music through arranging and re-interpreting the songs with new technology and software, as well as by various traditional means...
on October 19, 2009 consisting of 33 tracks on two "discs".
Disc one
Disc two
Personnel
All information is taken from the Xenogears ending credits and the independent site Square Enix Music Online.Main personnel
- Yasunori MitsudaYasunori Mitsudais a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He has composed music for or worked on over 35 games, and has contributed to over 15 other albums...
– composer, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Hidenori Suzuki – sound programmer
"The Beginning and the End" personnel
- Peter Liondev – arranger
- Tetsuya TakahashiTetsuya TakahashiTetsuya Takahashi is currently the head of game software company Monolith Soft, Inc. In the past, Takahashi has worked at Square and on such games as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger...
– lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of... - The Great Voices of Bulgaria
- ChoirChoirA choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
I – Snejanka Radoulova, Iordanka Alexieva, Nina Stanimirova, Tania Dosseva, Zlatina Ouzounova, Iva Gidikova, Tzvetanka Varimezova, Zoia Jeleva, Sylvana Pravtcheva, Hristiana Ignatova - Choir II – Galina Nedekova, Svetla Anastassova, Veronika Hristova, Svetla Tzetkova, Mariana Gueorguieva, Ivanka LuBomirova, Valentina Lavtcheva
- Choir III – Maria Naydenova, Virgina Antikadjieva, Ludmila Stoyanova, Silviya Nenkova, Kouna Staykova, Daniela Entcheva
- Choir IV – Hristinka Vassileva, Lora Beltcheva, Stoyanka Boneva, Hristina Lutova, Daniela Malamova, Donka Stoyanova
- TenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
s – Veliko Totev, Nikolay Varionov, Karlo Hristov, Peter Todorov, Alexander Alexandrov - BaritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
s – Benedikt Molhov, Dentcho Belev, Ivan Rendov - Bass – Teodor Hristov, Anton Donkov, Alexander Stoyanov, Kiril Stoyanov
- Choir
"Stars of Tears" personnel
- Joanne HoggJoanne HoggJoanne Hogg is an Irish singer and songwriter for the band Iona.-Biography:Hogg was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and is best known as the lead singer and songwriter with the Christian progressive Celtic/pop/rock band Iona . Her father is a Presbyterian minister, her mother a nurse; her...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Masato KatoMasato Katois a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".- Biography :...
– lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of... - Davy SpillaneDavy SpillaneDavy Spillane is a songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle.early yearsDavy was born in Dublin in 1959 . At the age of 12 he started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him and inspired him with his love of all music genres...
– low whistleLow whistleThe low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of modern Irish musicians and groups such as Riverdance and Davy Spillane, and is increasingly... - Hitoshi Watanabe – electric bassElectric BassElectric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
- Hiroshi Hata – electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound... - Hidenobu Ootsuki – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Yasunori MitsudaYasunori Mitsudais a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He has composed music for or worked on over 35 games, and has contributed to over 15 other albums...
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
"Small Two of pieces ~Screeching Shards~" personnel
- Joanne HoggJoanne HoggJoanne Hogg is an Irish singer and songwriter for the band Iona.-Biography:Hogg was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and is best known as the lead singer and songwriter with the Christian progressive Celtic/pop/rock band Iona . Her father is a Presbyterian minister, her mother a nurse; her...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Masato KatoMasato Katois a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".- Biography :...
– lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of... - Davy SpillaneDavy SpillaneDavy Spillane is a songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle.early yearsDavy was born in Dublin in 1959 . At the age of 12 he started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him and inspired him with his love of all music genres...
– low whistleLow whistleThe low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of modern Irish musicians and groups such as Riverdance and Davy Spillane, and is increasingly... - Anne-Marie O'Farrell – harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
- Hitoshi Watanabe – electric bassElectric BassElectric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
- Hiroshi Hata – electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound... - Hidenobu Ootsuki – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Yasunori MitsudaYasunori Mitsudais a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He has composed music for or worked on over 35 games, and has contributed to over 15 other albums...
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | March 1, 1998 | DigiCube DigiCube DigiCube Co., Ltd. was a Japanese company established as a subsidiary of software developer Square on February 6, 1996 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The primary purpose of DigiCube was to market and distribute Square products, most notably video games and related merchandise, including toys,... |
SSCX-10013 |
| May 14, 2005 | Square Enix Square Enix is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series... |
SQEX-10043~4 |
External links
- Xenogears Original Soundtrack at Yasunori Mitsuda's website