This song, wholly by itself, is responsible for me becoming a musician. What an absolutely gorgeous piece of music.

The song, the intro, the game. The good old times. Squaresoft was something else. The best developers in the world. Unforgettable memories. Thank you

Despite never playing this when I was younger, I always get hit with a wave of nostalgia every time I hear this.

This song is the sole reason i fell in love with japanese video game music all those years ago..... before i got my first ps1 before even playing any of the FF games the single video with this song in was the spark that started it all and now 20 years later i am still here still loving great works of people like Nobuo Uematsu , Masayoshi Soken and of course Yasunori Mitsuda and many many more

Chrono Cross was my first real outing into the RPG genre. I still remember just how powerful that soundtrack felt to teenage me. Scars of Times gave me chills back then and still does today.

"i own my fate" oh man... that is poignant to this game in ways you can't even dream of.

YESSS, FINALLY! This song has been playing in my brain ever since 2006. 👍

I don't think it was a coincidence this video popped up today. Been dealing with alot of horrible existential dread lately, and I've been slowly finding my way out. Scars of Time is one of my favorite pieces of music ever, and Chrono Cross is one of my favorite games ever. This video spoke to me and comforted me in many ways that I've been needing, so thank you for this. I'll appreciate your analysis & your passion, always.

All i am going to say is The Legend of Dragoon - If You Still Believe. you will love it. as do i.

I was talking about Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross recently due to the hype about a supposed rerelease of a classic SNES RPG making many people think of Chrono. And it was literally only then that I realized that this song, the opening to Cross, had leitmotif from To Far Away Times, the ending song from Trigger. And that, like, that was the whole point and I had missed it for years until revisiting the OSTs.

Chrono series really have some of my all-time fave vgm of all time. Time's Scar is such a classic! ✨

You know, the theme of the game is obviously water, what with the blue title, the beach, the main character on his boat etc, so what if the abrupt ending of the song is like the feeling when you surface after having taken a dive? Like, you breathe in, dive, hold your breath for as long as you can, and then you have to abruptly halt your undersea adventure as you go back up for air where you break the boundary that is the water's surface, the surface that separates the undersea world from real life (the overworld). You know that feeling when you re-surface and take in aaaaall the air you spent underwater? That's the feeling I get from that ending.

In high school, we had to present a musical piece in front of the class. This was the song I picked. It's just so beautiful! Powerful themes of moving forward, pushing on, determination. Simply amazing.

The introduction with that spanish guitar so full of melancholy my gosh....

I've always loved how the instrumentation of this piece immediately puts you in the setting of the game. You begin in a sort of pacific island oceanside town, and something about the rhythm and instruments in this song reflects that sort of rustic, but lively flavor. There's a quality to it that feels celebratory, like a festival. That driving rhythm is what gives this song a pulse that's both carefree and powerful, a rising heartbeat that just encourages you to _feel_ that rhythm with your body. There's a lot of ocean imagery with Chrono Cross and I feel like this song also reflects those aspects in how the song paces itself; the sea can be vast, overwhelming and frightening, but it can also be playful, endless and liberating. The sea can drown us, but the sea can also push us forward to new horizons. There's also a fairly obvious leitmotif that borrows from the main theme of _Chrono Trigger_ , tying the two games together in canon. But I also think there's another neat thing in terms of this song's unique rhythm; this song itself is like a festival and celebration of life, compared to Chrono Trigger's opening which is like a heroic anthem. Much of Chrono Trigger could be described as an epic of heroism and adventure across time and space to defeat a foe beyond imagination. But Chrono Cross is a lot more melancholy and somber; much like you described, it's about finding your place in this life and taking charge of your fate. Also, as a neat little parallel, Chrono Trigger literally begins with a festival.

The best track in Chrono Cross, and we get it right at the beginning. This track, and this OST (along with Chrono Trigger) have been foundational in my writer's journey. I continually go back to this music--and this track in particular--when I'm brainstorming scenes and characters. There's so much emotion packed into this short piece, and you nailed the feelings I get from it perfectly, Marco. Thank you for this!

So glad you saw fit to hear this song. I remember this game coming out, and it was at the height of the 90's JRPG scene, when writers and producers and directors were really getting into the meat of storytelling. This game was phenomenal to me, of course, but this song was one of the few ones that to this day hits a very primal, tribal, divine chord with me that reminded me what it was to be mortal and the importance of remembering our place in the universe.

A beautiful piece of music. This is probably the first track that made me start listening to music instead of just hearing it. I remember booting up the game and just following one instrument through the song.

How can one song slam the listener through so many emotional states in 2 minutes and 20 seconds?

That violin CHANGED ME as a person the first time I heard it: absolutely unreal!

No matter how many times I listen to this track, I always get goosebumps. And I never ever skip this intro when I play the game! Thanks for talking about this one!!

ETERNAL banger. I have so much love, emotional attachment and nostalgia to this song. I literally never even played it myself, but I still remember sitting in front of this intro, next to my brother, as he spoiled the entire plot for me. lol Here I am regardless, yeeeears later, still always moved by it.

i get chills hearing this song...every single time!

That Chrono Cross OST is something else. That whole thing is next level. And the opening theme/movie really sets the tone!

Anytime I hear this song, it reminds me of the days I’d sit down on my grandmother’s living room floor and watch this very opening on repeat from her PS1 demo disk. It was my first and still is one of my favorite examples of how beautiful video game music can be. Thanks for the reaction, Marco! 🙌

Chrono Cross was the ONE game I was never able to finish but I absolutely fell in love with the music. So good to see its main theme on your channel!

I love how the early bass line is such a nostalgic sound. I swear they used the exact same bass synth that was used in many Chrono Trigger tracks.

Love that you listened to this. This song was my childhood. Even more than any final fantasy song. I remember you saying you never played the Chrono series. I hope you get to experience those games one day. Keep doing your thing Marco. Love these videos.

While I couldn't make myself sit through the remaster, due partly to personal pet peeves, I played this in its time on the PS1 and it will always be one of my favorite RPGs.. Along with this amazing song being eternal for me.

First real RPG for me and this song was the first that really caught my attention as a kid. Its just such a beautiful and emotional piece

Always gives me chills, this song... also can't help but want to 'sing along' by whistling when that melody kicks in.

This song is so impactful and have so incredible memorable visuals. I was five when my brother played this game first and I used to watch him play and that opening is kind of the only clear memory that I have of my childhood. I just saw it and hear it once and it was printed in my brain that I spent years looking for the game (the game was a pirated copy, third world country) so I had no PS1 to check all the unnamed CDs to look for it and my brother didn't even remembered it for the longest time until I found it again in KZfaq greatest gaming soundtracks playlists of all places.

I'm so happy to hear you reviewing this! I've always loved this song!

Scars of Time is such a rich opening track to a video game that it holds a special place in my heart as Chrono Cross was among the video games I remembered watching my siblings play growing up. Yasunori Mitsuda, perhaps like the rest of the “Squaresoft Dream Team” who worked on this game as well as its beloved predecessor Chrono Trigger before it, has mentioned being inspired by all sorts of folk music from around the world to create and mix the music for this game, and, in his commentary about Scars of Time, mentioned that new ideas constantly came to him while listening to the high level performances of the musicians who were recorded for this soundtrack and found that the sounds produced by laying a Gran Cassa (a huge drum) on its side and hit with brush sticks to be very interesting, according to translated commentary I found in an old Chrono fansite from 2004. I’d like to think that this is why this track captures that expansive feeling prompting one to dive into the adventures head on. I appreciate how you started asking yourself thought-provoking questions about the nature of scars left by time but also the sense of grabbing your destiny you get from a track like this, especially because this game does go musing into these philosophical themes through the different stories and experiences of its bountiful, colorful cast of characters, many of them playable ahah. There’s a certain other video game that comes to my mind that is famous for a journey across a vibrant fantasy, idyllic paradise world (hiding dark secrets challenging fate and technology beneath the surface) inspired by so many cultures from real world influences also beloved for its music that comes to mind when I think of how wonderful video music becomes when it continues to experiment with folk music and traditional sounds with new ideas. I’d like to imagine that some of its staff members perhaps cherished games such as Chrono Cross and many others that influenced what they do long after these early RPGs were brought to life. Beautiful music is timeless, regardless of what tech has enabled to bring the instruments to life combined with a story you travel alongside with for as long as there are those who help connect to bring it to new life together. Thank you for this reaction, Marco!

It is the Ultimate RPG theme. Opens with contemplation reflective of our ordinary lives. Then you dive into it. Each swell introducing quirky unforgettable characters and unique settings. Even hints at the climax and conflict you're bound to face. In this adventure. Then lull and reset to A parallel of the opening with another character. Just to reset and return to the actual point of origin as if time went backwards. Literally, the theme of the whole game summed up in an OP. And once youve played the game it gives even more meaning and each swell tugs on your heart strings and the lulls leave you with your memory of the journey.

*Dream of a Shore near Another World* lives rent free in my head over the years

Loved playing this game as a kid. My all time favorite piece from Crono Cross is Prisoners of Fate.

This is one of my favorite songs of all time. I usually get Goosebumps when I hear it. Today, good sir, with your verbal interpretation of time and life, you've made me cry. 🥲In a good way.

I'd be really interested in hearing your opinion of more Chrono Trigger / Cross music after you've played the games?

A great game, really enjoyed it back in the day. And yes, this theme is iconic.

I heard this music for the first time 20 years ago and I am still amazed by it, a true work of art

Of COURSE you reacted to this. My new favorite channel

Its my favorite video game music. And there are so many more amazing pieces from chrono cross! This game and its music & its wonderful art has kept me incredibly in love with it for more than 10 years. And bought the remaster edition to relive again such a timeless masterpiece.

So many of these games start off with a big tragedy that befalls the main character for whatever reason - death, sickness, something big and something that would normally stop us in our tracks. [Time has inflicted a Wound] But something or someone or even the MC themselves realize that they can either let the event be the end of their story . . . or rather the beginning of their adventure. To quote a very wise baboon, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it. [The Wound becomes a Scar] Time is not done. Over the course of this adventure, it will inflict many more wounds upon you through other people or events. But if you keep pushing forward with the light that has been given you, to resign yourself to keep ascending the mountain, to realize that you yourself can't do it alone, that you need people (a party) to help you through life. Yes, some people may come and go from your 'party' as they do in game, but they will become part of the beautiful melody that will tell the story of your life. [Scars of Time] AKA A Story Worth Listening To.

Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross will always be my favorite RPGs. I love the music and I love their stories. I never got to beat them as a kid, but when I got my hands on them again in my 20's and getting the true ending in Chrono Cross I started to choke up. I didn't want that adventure to end, for me or for the characters.

Lol I always love seeing Marco groove out while just *nailing* the intention behind the beat. 🎵✨

I love this song so much words can’t even describe the emotions it gives me every time I listen to it 😭💗

The OST that got me in the world of VGM.

You just know the composer put a lot of effort into a song when you can grasp the main themes of the whole game with just a few minutes of listening to it. Chrono Cross is one of my favorite games of all time and it's soundtrack is full of amazing songs. Please make more Chrono series song reacts!! I'd love listening to your interpretation!

Ohh nostalgia hit. This was the song that inspired me to learn to play by ear. As a flute player and huge chrono fan, I was obsessed with this song as a kid.

I remember vividly back in the late 90s when I first saw this opening cutscenes during my 1st playthru. I instantly fell in love it. By the music alone gave you the vibe and a promise that it's gonna be a hell of an adventure. I really do miss these kinds of things but i am glad to experience it.

Every time i hear this song, o get that tingle in my head and down my whole body

I know this is mainly about the music, but the music together with that intro little text breaks me every time. 😭❤️

Wow! Chrono Cross… I haven’t heard this one in a while! Nice puck dude. Actually, I’m tempted of picking up the game again!

Oh the nostalgia

Chrono Cross OST? Oh yeah! Since you're checking out CC, why not try: - Dream of a Shore Near Another World (one of the best overworld themes ever) - Jellyfish Sea OR If you want the polar opposite of the positive feels; Nightwish's 'Master Passion Greed' You think Doom OST is angry? Get a load of this...

Glad to see someone making the same movements and faces of when I hear music like that. Makes me feel like I am actually not weird ;,)

Scars of time makes one nostalgic. I am a Chrono Cross fan. Chrono Cross made me what I am today in many things and stories I had conducted. And every time i hear this song, its nostalgia and made me rethink all that time I spent until where I am right now. Scars of time, AND Dream watcher's time. Yasunori Mitsuda is a music genius.

Man to see you do this makes me feel better knowing I feel similar

You did get it, thank you for this video

Chrono Cross still tears at me when I get time to think about how things played out. Just a series of tragedies, no closure, a perfectly tailored score (Yasunori Mitsuda), and a demonstration of why trust and perspective are important. It's unreal to think how Square used to consistently punch so far above their weight.

This song made me not start the game for couple of hours when I was simply contemplating the music in the opening on this masterpiece. And then I found more masterpieces inside the game itself. This music stole my soul and made a small upgrade to it then gave it back.

How have i not heard this over the 25 years of my life?

Ooo nice choice. Such a wonderful song. So nostalgic.

I played chrono trigger, not even to completion and never played cross but, every time i hear this song, i can't help but build tears up and make me feel all choked up.

Listening to someone else's interpretation of orchestra is so interesting in that you share the same experiences yet have your own interpretation to describe it. One might say the intro sounds like a 'curiosity' however another might say it sounds like 'wisdom' and yet both are correct while being polar opposites

As you know the original now, please enjoy the cover from the Tribute Album to its composer...! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hL58mc2h2LWYdps.html Also, there is the boss music that was the first (used to be only, thanks Soken) boss battle I ever cried through: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gbJmldNktK-pn40.html Chrono Cross music (and the game itself) is criminally underappreciated. It has maybe one of the soundtracks that I was wholly satisfied/moved by (again, until FFXIV).... Found you through GG, very much enjoy your reactions and introductions of music to folks from your time in opera! Thank you for listening to this wonderful and underappreciated music!

Oh man, this song is singularly responsible for an amazing musical journey in my life. There is music, art and artists I likely never would have discovered if not for this piece.

this song was what i first heard onb that christmas morning in 1999. ill never forget this game.

I still remember this song, man so many years ago, we didn't even understand English (I barely did back them and that was enough for us to love the game)

this game was my first game, and even after all of this years this game is my top 3, i know you have almost no time to play games, but i garantee you will fall in love whit this game is a game where almost all characters have immense carisma, it is a masrter piece.

This track made me play the remastered version for the first time in 2023.

Only God know how many times I had looped the intro movie over and over again watching this trailer, yearning to play this game. This game came out for the PS1 but by the time I came across this trailer and the ending song (Radical Dreamers), it was the era of PS2 and Saturn, and I wasn't ready to drop money on an old console just to play. Finally emulation gotten to the point where I could play the game. Yes, just listening to the *music* of the game made me want to play so much that I place it as one of the items on my bucket list.

I know this game isn't popular so the views are not gonna be high, but absolutely adore it's OST and super happy you are checking it out again

This has been my profile icon for over a decade, possibly longer. This game will always hold such emotional weight for me.

Chrono Cross to this day has the best soundtrack of any game I’ve ever played. “Dream of a shore near another world” and “The Dream that Time Dreams” are my favorites along with Scars of Time. The only other game that is close lately is Divinity 2 because of the song “Rivellon”.

Not only is this one of my favourite pieces of video game music, this is one of my favourite pieces of music of all time.

i still have my chrono cross ost (the cds) that i bought back in 2007/2008 and its the only vgm i ever bought physically

If you were a PS1 JRPG fan back in the days, and you played this game and listened to this song for the first time; It can easily become the best video game track you've ever heard. That was definitely the case for me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and articulation of this song.... You may have touched on some points I didn't consider before about this song. I love it.

I would listen to this everyday in the 2000s on my mp3 player. Thanks to that Lemon Wire thing. :)

I heard Scars of Time before ever really touching Chrono Cross, but even without getting far into the game, this piece had a profound effect on my art and writing growing up. To me, it always sounded like adventure-the fear and uncertainty of starting and the suffering one endured being pushed past to go on a brighter journey to fix what was broken.

Sublime.

Another old track that's dear to my heart is "A Deus" from Grandia II's title, I believe. It has Portuguese lyrics

Gossepumps everytime I hear it, even after all these these years, it strikes me like the first time I hear it.

I have the original PS1 preorder bonus OST CD disks for this, Threads of Fate, and Legend of Mana. I don't think I will ever be able to sell them because there's something just amazing about pulling this song on whenever i feel like it.

Melancholy Cross strikes again. My favorite game of all time, and Yasunori Mitsuda's magnum opus. This is just the intro to the game, a very flawed yet deeply moving and beautiful game.

If anyone is interested, there's a collaboration crossover between Another eden and Chrono cross. Serge, kidd and Harley have voice actors now.

This was my first jrpg,I could never finished before because the ps2 wasn't mine,last year I did finish and omg it was so good.

You should listen to "Dragon God" too if you have time. It's the Final Boss theme.

This song it so burnd into my mind

You were pretty close as one of this game's main themes is defying fate.

This honestly just makes me sad so many reasons. The track, the whole OST, always had the heavy emotional feel, but now after so much time has passed it just punches me into the ground. The entire soundtrack is amazing music. If time allows even just in your free time I'd listen to the *whole* OST. In between the day to day music of towns you get some absolutely epic tracks. Specifically, "Life - A distant promise" and "Radical Dreamers - Unstolen Jewel." (I see you've heard the second) Many others. Chrono Cross is one of those games where when you "beat it" you feel like you lost. Understanding the true ending is somewhat difficult to comprehend for most people. When you find out you will cry.

Such a touching song.

You've now have heard the beginning and the end of Chrono Cross. There are still a track or two in there that be looked into and dissected if there is interest.

one of the goat easily

I also feel that if you love this song you will love Morning Sky ((forgot the japanese name) from crystal Chronicles

I've never skipped the intro in that videogame. This is a masterpiece.

It fucken slapped hard

love to see your reaction to suikoden II & III intro and credits (the credits are always funny and/or in ff14-level emotional damaging^^) :)

My foam is frozen in time.