Creid - Reception and Legacy

Reception and Legacy

Creid was well received by reviewers such as Patrick Gann of RPGFan, who claimed that every track on the album was "amazing" and held the work to be Yasunori Mitsuda's best. He especially applauded the "diverse multitude of instruments" and the fiddle playing of Máire Breatnach. Critics from Square Enix Music Online were also approving of the album, citing the album's "real emotion" and "extremely enchanting themes", with one reviewer naming it "one of the best arranged albums ever". Another reviewer felt that, though it was in his opinion one of Mitsuda's best works, some of the vocal performances such as "Two Wings" and "Spring Lullaby" held the album back.

RPGamer praised the album for its uniqueness and for "break away from the traditional 'arranged versions' of RPG soundtracks". They termed the songs "beautiful and moving" and especially praised the vocals as being an excellent mix of Japanese and Celtic influences. Elliot Guisinger of the site, however, in his review of the album cited the vocals as a weaker spot in what he called "the blueprint after which all future arrange albums should be modeled". Calling the album "a dream come true", he noted his disappointment that singer Joanne Hogg did not return from the original soundtrack. Eric Bowling of Soundtrack Central was also enthusiastic about the album, calling it "a turning point in arranged soundtracks" and "simply beyond words to describe". He noted "Lahan" as symbolizing the album as a whole, calling it a "coming together" of "diverse instruments and people" to create an energetic work of art.

Impressed with Tomohiko Kira's guitar playing, Mitsuda laid out plans after Creid to have him perform in Chrono Cross, resulting in the latter game's ending song "Radical Dreamers ~ Jewel which Cannot be Stolen ~". During their stay in Ireland, Mitsuda and the Creid album coordinator attended a live set of the folk band Lúnasa in a pub. As Mitsuda liked the concert, the coordinator encouraged the Irish band to do a Japanese live tour. No other Xenogears album has been produced by Square Enix after Creid, but an officially licensed 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. An 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". While Creid is the only album released by the ensemble dubbed "Millennial Fair", Mitsuda said in 2002 that he would like to try bringing back the formation, in some way, for another project. In February 2011, Square Enix released Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album, a second arranged album of music from the game, in an orchestral style.