Chrono Cross

The Good
Chrono Cross has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Seriously. Nothing. Nada. And the really sad part I had high hopes for this game. Having enjoyed the original Chrono Trigger, I anticipated this long awaited sequel. Only to find that it was not even a sequel! Furthermore it is one of the worst games I have ever played!

The Bad
In this portion of the review I will debug the “qualities” of this game. Yes it’s true this is not a real sequel, it cannot be as it is supposed to take place about 20 years after the original yet the world looks completely different…huh? The fact that there are many characters available to join your party is often listed as positive attribute this is anything but. You see, when you can only use three characters at a time the “benefit” is lost. Furthermore, more than half of the party members you can acquire are useless. A common trait in Square’s dubious rpg’s.

You would think that the music would be good right? As the original had such an incredible score but alas, the music and sound for this poor excuse for a game is also lacking.

The graphics are better than those found in the Final Fantasies on the Playstation. But at the end of the day it’s still just a Playstation game. Besides graphics do not make the game.

The gameplay is often called “unique” or perhaps, “original”. This is a lie. The reason is simple the so called originality is that at certain points in the game the player has multiple choices when dealing with a certain situation. This is a lie for two reasons: first is that these events are rare, there are only about three. Second and more importantly, the choice you make does not significantly change the course of the game so choice, is therefore just an illusion.

I saved the best for last, the plot of this tripe. It is funny to me that rpg’ers claim that plot is the most important aspect of an rpg. If that is so then this game cannot possibly be considered good by anyone who enjoys rpgs. The begins with Serge, no joke that’s the fools name, going to kill lizards so he can gather the scales and make a necklace, no joke. And it does not get any better. The rest of the plot unfolds like a Philip K. Dick novel sans being enjoyable to read. There are a few scant references to the original many of which make no sense. And lastly the game’s ending is impossibly retarded, once you finish it you can view many other endings all of which are a waste of time, but then again this game is a waste of time!

The Bottom Line
I would tell others to avoid this game like the plague. Copies of this game should be confiscated, and buried in the desert, and forgotten. Avoid this one at all costs, even if you enjoyed the original.

The Good
When Chrono Trigger first came out in 1995, the gaming community was amazed. No previous game had had such a quality storyline and such a unique battle system. Yet, after finishing it, the loyal fans of CT had a distant fear lingering in their minds-- the dreaded "curse of the sequel".

They had nothing to fear. Chrono Cross somehow manages to live up to its' predecessor in almost every aspect. Where Chrono Trigger played with the notions of time travel, Chrono Cross tackles inter-dimensional travel. 20 years after the events of Chrono Trigger, a young boy named Serge (yet another silent protagonist like Crono) goes to meet his girlfriend on a beach outside his village. Suddenly he feels distant, like voices are calling him... as his dimension shifts around him, he passes out and wakes up in a world where he, is in fact dead and gone.

Chrono Cross has, by far, the best graphics of any game on the PlayStation. Gone are the horribly blocky characters of FF7-- every character is modeled and textured beautifully, and the colours are incredibly vibrant and bright. Just one look at Arni Village shows the amazing vibrant skies and oceans this game has. It's almost awe-inspiring in a way, and is a welcome change from games like FF7 which spends the first 20% of the game inside a dark, dreary city.

Like the original Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross features no random battles. All enemies are visible on the screen-- when you run into one, a battle occurs (unfortunately, it switches over to a different battle screen unlike CT, where the battles occurred on the map itself). Tired of the FF series and their dull battles? Chrono Cross has THE perfect battle system. In FF (and other games), all you had to do was wait for your black mage's turn, where he/she would then cast Ultima3 or whatever and the enemies were wiped. In Chrono Cross, however, the more physical attacks you do, the higher level elements you can cast (elements are equivalent to magic). Specific elements can only be cast once per battle. This brings up an interesting balance-- your characters must strike a fine line between physical strength and magic strength, because what happens if you run out of elements? You'll be doomed. It requires more thinking then just the standard "fire and forget" systems in other games. That's why I like Chrono Cross' battle system so much.

The Bad
Thought the story in CT was complicated? Well, this one will knock you off your feet. Don't get me wrong, the story is fantastic (and fits together with CT very well) but it is extremely complicated with many aspects to consider when trying to figure out the grand picture.

The Bottom Line
If you have to buy only one PlayStation RPG, this is it. Too bad it wasn't released in Europe.

The Good
The graphics are the best I have seen in a PlayStation RPG. The OST had some really great works, with the rare exception of a few mediocre songs. The Battle System was really great, as it was original, interesting, and made this game more fun in this way than your average FF Battle system clone. (Don't get me wrong--Square does a really good job of making original battle systems for their games) There were some nice puzzles, too, and hidden sidequests, (also various endings) and when people say that RPGs don't require any skills at all, just think about trying to get the scales from the Komodo you have to jump down to, right? (man, that part's tough....) Also, the reflection of past events from Chrono Trigger, I think, was a really nice touch.It gave the story so much more depth. It made it a sequel in a way, but it is also a "Novel" (if you will) as far as video games go. Also, I thought the concept of having to forge your weapons with various elements and resources was very cool, too. The newgame+ option was also very cool. The story as a whole was very well written, and this is one of the most original RPGs I have played.

The Bad
There was nearly zero character development. And this was due, in part, to how many different characters their were. I mean, people have their story, and then they each have a different manner of speech, (accent, ways of wording things, etc) and that's pretty much it. I would say the most developed character is Kid, but, take Serge, for instance. He's not a character! He's a protagonist zombie who only talks when possessed by other people! NPCs are more developed characters than he is...

The Bottom Line
A very good game, and one that you should certainly consider if you own a PlayStation 1 and/or 2.