Interview with Yasunori Mitsuda
Reprinted with permission from Squaresound
SS: You're most well-known internationally for your Square works, though your many freelance works are often praised as well. Has there been a comparable level of interest towards your recent albums from fans of your Square works?
YM: I think a good number of my fans today are fans of my work from back when I was with Square. As for their level of interests in my recent works, well... I'm not too sure myself, but I hope they're good (laughs). But to tell you the truth, I'm not really the type of person who gets swayed by what other people think of me.
SS: During your famous recruitment interview with Square, you reportedly stated that you told the company that you only wanted the job as a stepping stone for bigger roles. Did these feelings remain after composing hits such as Chrono Trigger and was this the primary reason you left the company in 1998?
YM: My feelings never changed. I'm really hard-headed in that sense. Whenever I make up my mind on something, I really stick with it to the end. Also, regarding the question of why I left the company, the main reason was like I said, I wanted to move on to bigger and better things.
SS: You stated in the liner notes to the Chrono Trigger Original Soundtrack that you found aspects of your music in the Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version to be immature. Do you find it ironic that this remains your most widely known work? Do you prefer your other works for Square, and, if so, which is your personal favourite?
YM: In my opinion, my compositions in Chrono Trigger are in fact very immature. But taking other aspects of the game such as graphics, scenario, sound, and music, the game was very well-balanced, which is the primary reason why the music has probably remained in the hearts of players.
Ask a person who has never played Chrono Trigger, for their opinions on the soundtrack, and they probably wouldn't give you a very high rating. In that sense I think you can say that game music has to be in balance with other parts of the game, and having the music just stand out on its own is not beneficial for the game.
Also, a lot of people say that Chrono Trigger is my representative album, but I take on every project with everything I have and push myself to the limit, so I think that they're all representative works.