Mitsuda claims to compose by "just fool[ing] around on my keyboard" and letting the melodies come to him. He is also inspired by
Celtic music, and has created two albums of music in that style. His soundtrack for
Chrono Trigger also shows the influence of
Asian music, including the sounds of
Japanese shakuhachi flutes,
Indian tabla drums and the
sitar. He has cited
Maurice Ravel,
J.S. Bach,
Pyotr Tchaikovsky,
Claude Debussy,
Robert Schumann,
Antonín Dvořák, and
Gustav Holst as his favorite classical composers, claiming that his modern influences are too numerous to name as he listens to so much music. Mitsuda names his favorite works as the soundtracks to the
Chrono series,
Xenogears,
Xenosaga Episode I, and the original album
Kirite, though he also says that all of his soundtracks are "representational works", as they represent who he was as a composer when he made them. His favorite pieces overall are "The Girl Who Closed Her Heart" and "Pain" from
Xenosaga Episode I and pieces from
Kirite. When he starts to compose a soundtrack, he first takes one month to gather information and artwork about the game world and scenario, so that his music will fit in with the game. He also finds it easier to be inspired if he has a visual representation. Mitsuda claims that he does not save his best work for more popular games, as he tries to compose each piece to correspond to how it is going to be used in a specific game. He also tries to compose good pieces even for games he feels do not live up to them, so that they will be a redeeming point about the game for the players. The majority of his video game soundtracks are for
role-playing games, but he likes projects that are different from what he has done before and is interested in working in other genres. ==Legacy==