Talk:January 28, 2008 - 1UP Interview with Yasunori Mitsuda

You may not be familiar with the man, but if you're a lover of role-playing games, you're no doubt familiar with his music. Yasunori Mitsuda is the composer of some of gaming's finest melodies, from those found in his first project, Chrono Trigger, to the more recent epic orchestral soundtrack of Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht. Originally a composer at Square and then a contractor for many publishers, Mitsuda has become known for his distinct style, with its Celtic and New Age rock influences. Since Mitsuda's had such a profound effect on players of many of the most revered RPGs of the last decade, we decided to sit down with him to look back on his career and forward to his future. We discussed everything from his extreme workaholic nature -- he was actually hospitalized while scoring his breakthrough project, Chrono Trigger -- to the fantastical way in that melodies have appeared to him in dreams. It's a rare look into the life of a man who's touched so many with his compositions.

1UP: Tell us, how did you get into the game industry to begin with?

Yasunori Mitsuda: Back in the early 1990s, while I was looking for a job, I was helping my mentor, who was teaching music to game companies. We visited one game company, and there was a copy of Famitsu [Japan's top gaming magazine] on the desk. I flipped through it and came across an ad for a sound producer at Square [as the company was known before it merged with Enix]. I wasn't specifically looking to get hired by a game company, but it just kind of happened like that.

1UP: So what was your first project at Square?

YM: I first worked on Hanjuku Hero [a 1992 Super Famicom strategy-RPG] with Koichi Sugiyama [composer on the Dragon Quest series] and Final Fantasy V and then Secret of Mana and Romancing SaGa 2. Back then, no one else was really able to do the sound effects for the games.

1UP: When it came to then working on Chrono Trigger, you famously told Final Fantasy creator/producer Hironobu Sakaguchi that if you weren't allowed to score that game, you were going to quit Square. Is that pretty much how it went?

YM: Yeah, that's true. I started as a sound composer, and that meant that all I was able to do were sound effects -- not to mention that I wasn't being paid very well at the time. I wasn't even able to pay the bills, so I started thinking to myself that I had no other choice. I felt the situation was unfair. "If you're not going to let me create music, then I'm going to quit," is what I basically said to Sakaguchi. So he responded: "In that case, you should do Chrono Trigger -- and after you finish it, maybe your salary will go up."

1UP: So did it?

YM: Only slightly!

1UP: So when all that happened, were other people at the company surprised or jealous with your perhaps sudden rise in stature?

YM: Inside the company, not that many people paid attention, but outsiders who liked my work were definitely excited for me.

1UP: Do you think it's interesting that a lot of great talent from Square has now broken off to create new studios -- you have a studio, Final Fantasy creator Sakaguchi has Mistwalker, Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has his thing, Final Fantasy Tactics composer Hitoshi Sakimoto has his music production company Basiscape, and so on. Is that kind of the trend with Square Enix as of late? If so, what does that leave for the company itself?

YM: In the beginning, I was actually the first to split from Square Enix -- and back then, everyone else was either worried for me or doubting that I could succeed on my own. But they were all watching me, and they saw that I did well -- I was able to work on various other projects outside of just Square stuff -- so they started to tell me it looked interesting, and then various people started to split off and do their own things, too. I don't know if it's like a trend or whatever, but people probably got influenced by me leaving.

1UP: So you're the one to blame!

YM: Heh, maybe, but to be honest, a lot of the people who left and are doing their own things are still good friends -- we all still meet up and stuff.

1UP: Yeah, I noticed you've worked with Hitoshi Sakimoto on Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, for instance.

YM: I'm really close with Sakimoto. I was actually just hanging out with him like two days ago.

1UP: Are you guys working on more projects together?

YM: There's a big possibility that could happen anytime.

1UP: That's cool. We actually recently visited Sakimoto. He has a great studio, and his house is actually attached to it. Do you live close to your studio?

YM: Nah, not really.

1UP: I ask because I remember when we spoke to you awhile back, you mentioned how deeply absorbed you'll get in a project, where you'll basically live the project for a given period. Do you still find that to be the case? Is the distance part of finding that balance?

YM: I used to live really close to the studio, so I didn't care about the last train and would keep working all night. But yeah, now I do try to catch the last train to make it home at a decent hour.

1UP: I also remember that you said you'd fall asleep in your chair because you'd be working so hard and that melodies would actually come to you in dreams. The ending theme to Chrono Trigger, for instance, came to you in a dream.

YM: Yeah, that's true. Back then, I'd camp out in the studio the entire time. I'd keep everything on all the time and I'd drift off to sleep. If I was sleeping and a melody came to me, I'd jump right up and be able to work on it.

1UP: So did that really happen?

YM: Yes, and it's happened a lot to me recently.

1UP: Do you think that's kind of amazing in a way?

YM: You know, it's kind of like what happens in everyday life -- if you think about something a lot, it'll appear in your dreams. That's how music can be for me. I'll be thinking about a project so much that melodies will come in my sleep.

1UP: Any other examples that you can distinctly remember of melodies coming in a dream?

YM: "Bonds of Sea and Fire," Bart's theme from Xenogears.

1UP: So how do you pick your projects?

YM: I don't have any strict rules -- whatever captures my interest at a given time. I tend to like to do stuff that I haven't done before.

1UP: In the gaming space, you've primarily done role-playing stuff. Are there other genres you'd be interested in, too?

YM: I've worked on a few sim games and did an action game in 2005 [Tsukiyo ni Saraba, known as 10,000 Bullets in Europe], but lately there haven't been that many adventure games, so I'd really be interested in doing one of those if I could.

1UP: In the past, you've done some rather epic soundtracks -- Xenosaga immediately comes to mind. Do you have anything planned on that scale?

YM: With all the new hardware out now, there are several interesting projects in progress, but whether something will become a big project is sometimes hard to tell when a game is in early development.

1UP: But in terms of scope, budget, and so on -- using a real orchestra, for example -- do you have anything planned on that scale?

YM: If there is a possibility of using a real orchestra, of course I would like to, but looking at PS3 and the development costs, Square Enix is probably the only company that could afford the budget for an orchestra right now. Maybe Namco Bandai or Capcom also have the budget for PS3. I would need to look for opportunities with those guys, I guess. But actually, I'm also looking into how to cut down the fees of using an orchestra -- so we could use a real one but somehow lower the price. I would really like to use one. I'll even cut my fee a bit if I can make it happen.

1UP: Do you think it's a shame that game companies don't always recognize the importance of music?

YM: Most of the Japanese companies don't view music as important, so yes, it's frustrating. There's only a small pool of people who appreciate music in Japan -- everyone else is just like, "If it's there, that's cool -- if it's not, no big deal." I think in the U.S., more people appreciate music, so it would be nice if I could work more with American clients -- not to mention that the gaming business is a bit healthier in the U.S. right now, so there might be better budgets.

1UP: How about your style? What are some things you're experimenting with or drawing inspiration from now?

YM: There are times when I hear other music, but I mostly get inspired when I see things -- paintings or other things. When I see things, music just pops into my head. When I'm scoring a game, once I actually see it, that's when things come into my head. If there's nothing to see, I have a hard time.

1UP: Are you a fan of jazz rock? The game Tsugunai: Atonement had a bit of that, and I thought it was an interesting choice.

YM: During my childhood, I listened to all types of music -- all genres -- and my father was a big jazz fan, so I've been listening to jazz all my life. I probably have jazz permanently inside me. I do try to listen to all sorts of genres, though, so my creations become something different.

1UP: Recently, you've also done some original-music CDs. What's your focus right now, more games or more original work?

YM: It's not like I'm concentrating on music CDs. This one -- KiRite [points to the collaboration music CD/storybook he did with Chrono Cross director Masato Kato] -- we had the concept five years ago, and it just recently actually happened.

1UP: It's neat; you don't see a lot of CDs with a storybook. This collaboration -- you called it the "golden combination" in the credits -- are you still working with Kato on games? You worked on the DS game Deep Labyrinth together, but are you working with him on more in the future?

YM: I'm not quite sure, but if I have the opportunity, I would definitely like to. For the DS game, Kato approached me, and I did it. Kato is working on various things at the moment, so we'll see.

1UP: What is the inspiration for the music in KiRite? It seems very dreamy.

YM: The story is about a girl who finds herself inside of the dreams of a girl who was in an accident -- it's really dreamy. I wanted to express the dreamy atmosphere but also the borderless music; it's not Japanese music or American music or any specific style of music.

1UP: Is it on iTunes?

YM: Only on the Japanese version, unfortunately. But we actually did a performance of the story as a play. We're planning to release a DVD of the play.

1UP: You wouldn't believe how many questions we get about whether there will ever be another Chrono game. What are the chances of you and Kato getting together on that, you think?

YM: Regarding the series itself, there are a lot of politics involved, but of course if anything were to move forward on it, I would love to be a part of it. Regardless of whether it's a Chrono game or not, though, I would want to work on something similar in scope and atmosphere with Kato again in the future.

1UP: Kato doesn't actually work for Square Enix anymore, though, right?

YM: Not anymore, no.

1UP: So would it be possible to do a new Chrono game anyway, then?

YM: Well, I still talk with the folks at Square Enix, and I have a really good relationship with some of them. If they had a good concept for the game, I would be OK with it.

1UP: Kato too?

YM: Of course, he left the company for a reason -- there was some frustration -- but if Square asked him to work on it, he probably would. [Kato actually recently worked with Square Enix as the scenario writer on Dawn of Mana and Heroes of Mana--Ed.].

1UP: If Square Enix didn't ask for his involvement, would you still do it?

YM: If that would be the case, I would feel weird about it -- because if it's a Chrono game, Kato should be involved.

1UP: Do you still talk with Hironobu Sakaguchi at all?

YM: I haven't seen him in awhile, but I do hear about him from others.

1UP: What do you think about the position he's in, with Microsoft counting on him to try to save Xbox in Japan? Do you think Xbox has a chance?

YM: In Japan, software is key to hardware's success, so if you think about it from that point of view, there is a chance that 360 could come back if they use good talent like Sakaguchi. Personally speaking, of course the PS3 is a good piece of hardware, the 360 is a good piece of hardware, and the Wii is unique hardware -- for me, I hope they all succeed so I can work on all of them.

1UP: Are you working on any of those three at the moment?

YM: Yes.

1UP: Ha! Well, I mean, which?

YM: I can't say because it's not announced yet.

1UP: Are there any projects you've worked on that you look back and say, "I wish I could have done it better"?

YM: I feel that way with all my work. That's why, whenever I work on a new project, I try to pick up from the point that I wasn't satisfied in my previous project.

1UP: You have a lot of fans around the world, you have music CDs, you have a studio -- is this kind of like a dream come true for you? Or how do you view it?

YM: Not at all. I'm still moving forward, and I haven't completed my goals yet. I'm still in progress, and there are so many things I want to still do.

1UP: Such as?

YM: Of course more games, and I'd like to do more work for plays and movies and do some more of my own music. And producing female vocalists -- my list is endless.

1UP: If you could pick out one song or melody of yours that is your favorite, which would that be?

YM: I like all of my music, but especially "The Girl Who Closed Her Heart" and "Pain" from Xenosaga. I also have a lot of favorites in KiRite.