Chrono Trigger OST Remastered: Magus Confronted / Schala's Theme

Update 2: I re-did Magus' Theme and made it to my modern standards of quality: • Chrono Trigger OST - C...
Update/disclaimer: the pieces in this video were some of the first game remasters I ever did and frankly, they don't really live up to my standards nowadays (though back then, I thought they were pretty good). The method I used to make these two I don't even do anymore. These pieces were made in a program called Finale by downloading a standard MIDI file and applying sample patches (from Garritan Personal Orchestra) to each MIDI channel, and letting the computer play it back with the new samples. Nowadays, I actually listen to the original sound version of the song and record each instrument (by hand) on my MIDI controller one by one using Logic Pro, Vienna Symphonic Library, and a host of other sample libraries. Some instruments I even perform live with a microphone because even the expensive sample libraries still sound too fake and mechanical (such as guitars). Just keep this in mind when listening :)
Thanks again and enjoy!
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Two songs from the Chrono Trigger soundtrack remastered and re-orchestrated. I picked these two songs because they share elements of the same theme (being brother and sister, Mitsuda probably wanted Magus and Schala's theme to share this element). You can hear it in the opening sequence of Magus' theme and the flute part in Schala's theme. Enjoy!

[@AxadXaeed]

Poor Magus. He had a big heart he could bear all the sadness for such a long time.

[@KayneArcheron]

To this day, I still consider Magus one of Square's greatest accomplishments in character development. It's a shame they took a huge shit on his character in Chrono Cross, but I still love that game.

[@chimamiresatoh]

You could say that despite his moderately small screen-time role, Magus was the most important character in the game.

[@TheTBrawn]

Sounded fine for me, too. I actually like that you brought the strings and the flute down an octave on these. It was a subtle change, but it did wonders for both pieces!

[@CTEpoch]

Tehstickguitar - so love it!! This game is just so epic on so many levels, and that is just one of the reasons. I love Magus as a character. He has some serious inner demons and pains that many would many would never begin to understand. It is a very sad story indeed.

[@AdricBraithwaite]

I might re do Magus' theme at some point when I'm less busy. A few people have mentioned the same thing. Thanks for watching!

[@josephgargoyle]

I got chills down my spine with this songs... Specially the part of trumpet solo of Magus... I was expecting the high noice and climactic effect but instead I got a smooth sound that lifted me up and I can't stop shivering (sorry, I couldn't express this very well in english). And then schala's theme with the image of her and the prophet...

[@Syraniss]

Well, Guile was originally slated to be Magus but they changed the story because it would complicate elements of CC too much, but there are theories that Serge is Magus, regardless of how they don't fit the timeline of CT.

[@MachaTwilight]

There is actually an extra boss mode in the ds where you do fight Lavos and schala is being consumed by it. After the battle, Crono and everyone are thrown into a time warp and Magus tries to stay behind and save Schala but Schala said that there was no use and got rid of him too. So she essentially just stays put until Chrono Cross. It was never put into the ps version however.

[@rocketchris853]

I have listen to this version of the song so many times and it is truly incredible. This version does it so much justice, great job man

[@Jader7777]

I loved it how when Magnus joins you his portrait icon has such a sombre look to it.

[@TonyBMan]

I used to be pissed at Magus, but then I made it to the Kingdom of Zeal, and I learned the truth behind the Lavos incident.....now Magus is a tragic coolbro.

[@Krati08071995]

Amazing. Astounding. Stunning. Demoralizing. I love both themes. Keep it up

[@JohnnyDarko01]

Agreed, and corridors of time is up there as well but those are definitely top two

[@AdricBraithwaite]

Schala's theme just has a regular flute playing throughout. Magus' theme has two different flutes. The 1st one is a Japanese wood flute called a Shakuhachi. That one is played during the intro @ 0:20. The 2nd one that comes in behind the rest of the ensemble @ 0:41 is a piccolo if I remember correctly.

[@LeonGun8]

Now now, he's actually got a good hold of Magus character. Several of his endings actually show you he hates humans and humanity as a hold. He hated Zeal and he hated his mother for thinking of nothing but their own power and "enlightnment". It's the main reason he didn't feel any sense of guilt for trying to exterminate humanity while working out his plan to defeat Lavos. Read his dialogue when facing Frog in the ending of "The Oath". All he really cared was about Schala and revenge.

[@MegaLlamalord]

No. see in reality, that letter was meant as a foreshadow for the originally planned 3rd game (which was cancelled of course). Which was going to feature Magus finding Kid and discovering that kid is really Schala's clone which led them to eventually find the real Schala. But since none of that happened.... The player is Magus. Lucca's letter said. "Hi Janus" who we all know is Magus, and the player is clearly reading the letter, and the only one besides kid reading the letter.

[@sirmagus6600]

"Ah! The Masamune! I bet you're just dying to use it! The black wind begins to blow... Okay... give me your best shot... If you're prepared for the void!"

[@prejistador]

his song is so hauntingly awesome

[@Urzaran]

The tears in time were created by the pendant passed down to Marle/Nadia by Schala, so in essence Schala contributed to this problem. Schala then helped Dalton (of all people, wtf?) escape from the void and raise an army within the non-existent kingdom of Porre and then overthrew Guardia and stole the Masamune, which then becomes corrupted and disappears. In the end, a bloodline which existed for over 65 million years was wiped out. By the way, Kid is not Schala's daughter. She is Schala.

[@awildserah]

That is your opinion. I think they sounded really good.

[@FrogTheSwordsman]

"You dare to insult him?... Mine name is Glenn! Cyrus' hopes and dreams...and now the Masamune, these will now become my burden! forthwith I will slay Magus and restore honor!"

[@ChrisKorah]

the first 28 seconds of this are magic - if you could build the rest of this mix to that lvl, this would make "epic" look like "breathing".

[@ZammyBomb]

Indeed. I don't know why they didn't made a game for Magus alone. He has so much potential...

[@IMadeAllThese]

I killed Magus with Frog just because of how epic that battle was. But then I just reloaded my game to see what saying I didn't want to fight Magus did. Never actually thought he'd join me.

[@danilomesquita3021]

chrono trigger é simplesmente o melhor rpg que joguei na vida. nossa e essa música tema da batalha contra o magus, que nostalgia, que feeling, ÉPICO!!!

[@RandomCitizen369]

I borrowed my game of CT to a friend and want it back , cause it is so awesome

[@ridleyroid9060]

how the fuck can i trash talk the man who helped me beat Lavos i mean seriously his (i think i can't remember well) dark matter attacks are fucking POWERFUL and he is the most fun party member, and is also a key party member, i am pleased the other characters got interaction with him and pleased he turned from villain to hero

[@danilomesquita3021]

Sem dúvida uma das 10 melhores músicas da história dos jogos!

[@AdricBraithwaite]

Don't get me wrong. I LOVED Schala's theme! That and To Far Away Times are my two favorite pieces in Chrono Trigger.

[@Projecthypocrisy]

I cry at night at the mere thought...

[@Tirithedain1]

It's the bridge -- trumpet part -- that most remixes don't make hard enough, though the other instruments are supposed to seem heavy as well. Magus's them is supposed to be frantic, urgent -- crashing symbols, whirling percussive beats and wild-sounding instruments. The trumpet is supposed to sound panicked, defiant -- like someone trying to sound a horn that won't be heard miles away. At least, that's what I got out of the original composition. ;)

[@AdricBraithwaite]

That bridge is a royal pain in the butt to get sounding right lol (actually the entire piece is difficult but especially the bridge). It's hard to bring out the trumpets without losing the intensity of the choir and timpani. I've since moved to MUCH better software since making this remaster (moved from Acid Pro to Logic Pro) so I'm going to give it another shot at some point when I have more time. Expect a hand played performance, a much better mix, and of course the dearly missed wind.

[@SerothTalon]

Schala eventually is consumed by Lavos, their essences merge to form the Time Devourer that begins to tear all of time and space apart around it by using the holes in time created by Crono and his friends. Schala's daughter is raised by Lucca, and it is she who finds the boy who time forgot, together they search for a way to stop The Time Devourer and free Schala, Magus is never seen in the game but it is made abundantly clear that he is watching over her from the shadows.

[@sab3rm4st3r99]

The countless times I played this game I did not let Magus join my team even once. I believe he Frog had the right to slay the bastard after all he did to the guy.

[@pergimio]

I was trolling!!! xD But actually it feels kind like a anime, the game has a good history and nice cutscenes on the PS1.

[@maggiekarp7414]

Guile is Magus, but he lost his memory in Chrono Trigger DS. In Radical Dreamers he's Magil, another dude that wears a mask but he never lost his memory. Basically the best way to remember it is Guile="I'M GONNA CRY UNTIL I LOSE MY MEMORIES" and Magil="Oh hey I'm going to deal with my shit and try set an example for my amnesiac sister also gonna explode some ghosties"

[@AdricBraithwaite]

I think that he was being sarcastic unless I'm missing something. Flamenco is spanish folk music. Also, I kind of agree with you. The mix is a little muddy. I made this one when I was still kind of learning how to do these things. It's pretty old.

[@AdricBraithwaite]

What a lot of people don't realize is that old game music was mixed in such a way to get around a lot of the technical limitations of the hardware to make the song interesting but when translated to modern software, it sounds ridiculous. If it were a synth remix, it would work but in an orchestral environment, not so much. Believe me, I've tried. In short, the moving bells worked because on the original, they sounded fake as hell anyway.

[@pergimio]

One of the bests anime I played ;)

[@1KonArtis]

I think the major factor in character development was that older games were strictly text, and it allowed more to be put into a character, and our imagination on how we see that character plays a part as well. Personally, I think some characters in the Final Fantasy series would have been better off silent, FF 13 comes to mind.lol

[@Fractal_blip]

GET EM.

[@Morpheuschild]

Magus's theme lacks the power I'd hoped for, but otherwise very well done.

[@Urzaran]

However, the appearance of the Time Devourer begs the question: Where did it come from? When you fought and defeated Lavos, Schala was nowhere to be found. Depending on when you fought it, Schala would've been long dead and gone. When did Lavos get around to merging with Schala? Ahhh, retcons... Gotta "love" them, eh?

[@PokePackFire]

would be awesome and explore more of kingdom of zeal

[@AdricBraithwaite]

@sschafi1 Oh no! D: I just double checked and everything sounded fine on my monitors. Sure it's not just your system? I'm going to go back and re check it on the spectrum analyzer but I ain't re-uploading this thing! lol Thanks for the constructive feedback! :)

[@phyzicsify]

*spoilers* Zythrone, the new ending in the DS version heavily implied that Magus was indeed Guile, as the new final boss is the Dream Devourer from CC. It served as the link between the two games.

[@DerrickJMitchell]

Spoiler: Chrono cross, luccas letter to kid sayd that kid had someone watcheng over her, then said "hello janus" does that emply that serge is magus?

[@UndeadCookieMonster]

I chose that option straight away and fucked Magus up. Bad-talking a dead person! Punishable by... DEATH!

[@MachaTwilight]

Magus shows up as an Easter Egg in CC. He was also in Radical Dreamers.

[@myhime23]

but in all honesty i haven't played cc or ct yet i am going to get them now for sure and i did hear about them when i was a kid but just never got it i was playing other spectacular 90s games their was just so many back that it was hard to play them all

[@MystikAzn4vr]

You only need to play Chrono Trigger, the rest are optional.

[@ZammyBomb]

Once you got Magus, Chrono was nothing but a useless bum. Best character ever.

[@betoxexexe]

I agree

[@RkeyNirun]

Schala's is really nice, but the original is stereo and you should really make this on stereo too because the l/r moving of the bells is really nice.

[@EameTempus]

magus use his most powerful spell: Darkmatter

[@myhime23]

i dont know about that rhanc777 the last of us was a big tear waterfall at least for me that game was horrifying and extremely sad id even venture to say that was the best rpg that naughty dogs has ever put out storyline wise absolutly epic.

[@Willtedwards]

23 people are going to be taken down by "dark matter" in one hit

[@ZidaneTribal93]

@sschafi1 I hope you're going to do Magus's Theme someday, too :)

[@NegrodamusTheOne]

I love this Remix better Battle SQ Music: Chrono Trigger Decisive Battle with Magus

[@TheTBrawn]

by the way, what type of flute is this that is played on the first part of Magus's theme and throughout Schala's? Really suits the mood well.

[@AdricBraithwaite]

@ZidaneTribal93 google image search "chrono trigger magus art". It's in the first page of the results.

[@Zythrone]

Uh actually. That wasn't Magus. It was supposed to be him while in development but then they scrapped the idea and made him a separate character.

[@prejistador]

magus should have his game

[@markdevlin150]

well the bells, in the mixed version of the game it had a backup bell, it wasn't just one. This sounds singular. its different but doesnt have the same charm effect that the game had. not bashing your mix, just making an observation of how many instruments are heard in your version and original.

[@drecklia]

I'm not a music expert, but I feel like the track is not powerful enough. Overall is really well done.

[@MinecraftMartin]

You tried the same thing as him and thought it sounded great? Did you upload your version?

[@WorldWalker128]

What's happened to the age of Gaming? Most games these days are more about dumping a disk full of Mary sues and Gary Stues, a half-effort romance shtick, or putting more holes in your enemy than Swiss cheese and screaming out cusses and stating the obvious when plans go sour rather than any actual thoughtful dialog. I grew up in a gaming-world where your characters could have been built from Lego-blocks, the soundtrack was often less than 20 songs, and when it had a decent story it was just as enthralling and immersive as a book from LOTR or Star Wars. When a character died it was heart-wrenching, not just 'OMG-he's-dead-you-must-die-now!' Sure, some games have that today, but the true gems are few and far between, and are often hidden by the shadow of all these over-rated shooters!

[@Volgrand]

You putted in words my feelings. I miss those days in which a 16x32 sprite could have more charisma than a whole set of characters from a modern shooter.

[@BrisingrFan55]

I'd say that we're kinda putting on some rose-tinted nostalgia glasses here. I agree that most video games are *extremely* cut and paste, most of them have simple stories and single-motivation flat characters, but that was true back when video games first came out. We remember Mario because, at the time, it had a good sense of imagination and tight controls. Today, people point to games like Spec Ops: The Line for games that veer away from the norm. Games like Chrono Trigger were just as rare, if not more rare back then as today. However, the art of the RPG had certainly been stumbling, to say the least, what with the rather lackluster Final Fantasy games, few notable JRPG's (that I've heard of), and nearly no Western RPG's. But in the end, all it takes is one.

[@100organicfreshmemes5]

+WorldWalker128 Undertale and Tales of The Abyss would like to have a word with you.

[@WorldWalker128]

At the time when I wrote that Undertale didn't exist yet. And yes, I love that game.

[@ChronosGiegue]

I don't know if it is just me, but I think that the brass section in Magus' Theme was meant to have been blaring out at forte. Overall, you did well, but the bass needs to be brought out a bit more as well. It would have been nice if both pieces would have been a bit louder overall. I rate this with an 8 out of 10 due to some frequent major dynamic flaws.

[@zero71234]

fuck. now I wanna play CT again

[@OnionSodaClassic]

I really hated what they did with the backstory in the sequel. It's just plain cruel killing mayor characters offscreen is some event which is nothing compared to destroying an Alien kind-of-God

[@theqbzy]

no wind or laugh

[@seltzinator]

That is sad and they are certainly sympathetic characters, but that doesn't make them the protagonists. They are simply richly developed ancillary characters and neither falls into the category of villain or hero. Like real people, they are flawed, make mistakes and desperately to find where they belong.

[@edukarasch]

Don't take it so serious man. Magus isn't real. And - in fact - he's in good shape of coolness.

[@Chokoboh]

Just what i wanted to say.

[@nmarinpe]

:')

[@StayCalm0]

No guile is magus. He lost his memory in radical dreamers though and can't remember

[@SimmanGodz]

Don't you miss when games had real stories behind them?

[@GNSstudios]

Noone said fake meant bad

[@DreamDevourer1]

Does anyone know where can I find this picture

[@Zythrone]

Nothing more than an implied retcon. Unless they actually come out and say it, Guile is not Magus. Gil is Magus, but Guile is not.

[@insanityprod]

Sad thing I killed magus in the game... Bitch didn't hold thy tongue...

[@MSnapem]

Nope, the magician guy is (I forgot his name)

[@GuiltyKit]

Poor Magus? You're talking about a genocidal character who started a war, killed untold numbers of innocent people, and kept the souls of some of the dead around to torture them so more by making them relieve their deaths over and over and over. Magus was an interesting character but I find it hard to see any sympathy for him when he basically became even worse than the mother he hates. At least Queen Zeal could blame Lavos's influence. Magus was basically Magical Hitler.

[@korgotth]

Where can i find that Schala Magus image

[@TheMagus413]

CT is a game, not an anime!

[@lucas64007]

zica

[@TheKestevon]

In term of music western RPGS are pale in comparison to JRPGs

[@Verixus113]

Baldur's Gate 2 Throne of Bhaal would like to have words with you.

[@TheKestevon]

Verixus113 No thanks.I find it boring and repetitive that I couldn't even remember any of them.

[@robertsollorn6493]

+TheKestevon I know this comment is a year old but Witcher 3's OST is absolutely god-tier

[@jehadnafea1495]

put up a download link please

[@KevUrbie]

needs more cowbell

[@foxtrot1071]

Hmmm... needs a little more omf in the bass department, I think. Otherwise, good.

[@nerfbattothefacelol]

Wait... where's the wind?

[@ZidaneTribal93]

Source of picture?

[@MrMoondown]

However, Schala is not really saved, like, ever.

[@weaverssystem]

I'm not sure that it's missing anything per se. It lacks so much of the "hit" of the original. It sounds as though all the elements are there, but so poorly mixed that it's dissolved into mud. It's supposed to be a "villain being villainous" theme, or at least "dark horse being mighty" theme, after all. The remix avoids all the intensity of the original.

[@Zythrone]

Magus wasn't even in Chrono Cross.

[@GuiltyKit]

I'm not taking anything seriously. I'm saying someone thinking Magus is "cool" has a very weird definition of the word. Maybe if he was an actually useful party member or didn't screw up practically everything he tries to do in the game, frequently just making everything worse...

[@sab3rm4st3r99]

I'm sorry, its only a game, its not real life. If I make a decision in a GAME it is not gonna have an effect on your life, or does it?

[@TheHornet79]

Mario Kart

[@TheOniNeko]

Drums and brass are forceful! Like Magus! This composition feels a bit too flat, like all instruments are at the same level. This really shouldn't be so in most cases. The Schala part is beautiful, though. It is calmer, so the mixing is fine for that particular piece, but the Magus piece needs a bit of work to fit. Good luck! I'm looking forward to what you come up with!

[@grandangodang]

not quite the same thing