Chrono Cross

I remember when Chrono Cross was released and wasn't blown away in the least.  Chrono Cross didn't live up to the hype by the media (Gamespot gave it a 10, EGM gave it a 10).  It didn't live up to Chrono Trigger's standards either.  It was ultimately a disappointing sequel to one of the greatest games ever made.  Chrono Trigger did so many things right that Chrono Cross just doesn't even toy with.  For one, they tossed out the idea of a 'on field battle' that Chrono Trigger did with ease.  In Chrono Trigger, if you saw a monster, you would jump right into battle with him if you got close enough, the battle would happen instantly.  The characters would run around, and you could use special attacks that would cover the entire field.  In Chrono Cross, you fight a 3 by 3 battle, just like Final Fantasy 7.  Sure, it looks good on a technical stance, but it just isn't as original or as fun as Chrono Trigger.  

Chrono Trigger was full of minigames, there is none in Chrono Cross.  Chrono Trigger is fun and quirky, but knew when it get dark and serious.  Chrono Cross is mostly dark and serious once you get past the first few hours.  The leveling up system is completely thrown out.

I hate how tacked on Chrono Trigger's backstory was in this game.  It just seems like they threw that storyline arc in at the last minute.  While I ultimately enjoyed the storyline, I hated how there was so many characters.  They is little to no difference between them, and their only use is to open up sidequests.  If you ask me, there's only 3 main characters in the game, and the rest are complete filler.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Chrono Cross, it's just not "The greatest game ever made" or anything near that.  It's not even the greatest PS1 RPG.  

It did have some good ideas.  I loved the stamina system.  The graphics were freaking amazing, as was the music.  The 2 dimensions was cool, although not quite as neat as time traveling in Chrono Trigger.

----------Battle System----------
Chrono Cross is a turn-based RPG.  Unlike most RPGs, you don't gain experience after defeating an enemy.  Your whole team gains levels after defeating a boss, which could be similar to Zelda or Vagrant Story.  If you have a high level, then you'll eventually gain random stat attributes among your party for defeating a monster.  The higher your level, the better chance of gaining more attributes.  You will eventually bottom out and be "capped" until you gain a new level though.  When you do gain a new level, you also open up new slots for your Elemental magics.  You also gain 1 slot for Summon attacks, but that's so useless it's hardly worth talking about.

The battle system is hard to describe but easily to learn within the game.  Basically each character has their own element feature.  For example, Serge is a white element.  Serge can use ANY elemental magic, but he is strong with White, and can hit Black element enemies with great damage.  It's a very basic rock paper scissors used in most RPGs, but there are 6 elements overall.  

Each element has levels up to level 8, for example a level 1 White is a Revive magic, a level 2 white is a Meteorite and so on.  To use a magic on the battle field you first need the element equipped on a character, then build up their Stamina level during a fight.  Each character is given 7 Stamina points to begin with.  Each time you attack using either your weak (1), medium (2), or strong (3) attacks, you'll gain a point if you successfully attack the enemy.  So each time you use a weak attack, you'll gain 1 Stamina level, each time you attack with a medium attack, you'll get 2 Stamina points.  Once your stamina meter drops to zero, your turn is over, but as long as you have atleast 1.0 Stamina points, you can use a special elemental attack.  Since each Elemental attack is placed in levels, if you use a level 1 White magic, then you'll lose 1 Stamina level.  You'll lose that magic until the match is over though, so there is some strategic elements to the game.

One more thing you have to watch out for is a elemental field.  On the top left hand of your screen, you'll see sphere, with 3 minispheres inside.  Each time you use an element, a new sphere will pop in, knocking out the last sphere.  You can use this to your advantage, but I rarely paid attention to it.  If the sphere is fully green, then if you or the enemy uses a green element, it was be extremely powerful.  If the sphere is completely white for example, you can summon one of the 6 special elements.  This is pretty worthless though because you can't summon anything until the last few hours of the game.  

One cool thing about the battle system is the stamina system.  Your characters can combo, as long as they have stamina, but it doesn't matter which order the characters go in.  If any of your characters have atleast 1.0 stamina, they can attack at ANY time during the fight.  This is really cool and can be used during strategic moments of the battles.  One last thing about the battle system is the tech skills.  Each character has their own special tech skills.  Like in Chrono Trigger, you can merge these attacks into a double or triple tech skill.  However, because of the massive amount of characters, and the lack of compatible characters, it's not very easy to match characters.  They don't even tell you in the game who matches.  I never used a double or triple tech skill during the entire game.  Kinda worthless addition if you ask me, but it's sad they didn't use them to their fullest.

Because of this, you can't button mash your way through a battle, and you have to pay attention to them all.  Outside of that, the game is very very easy.  I had no trouble with any boss fight in the game, including the final bosses.  The dungeons are very easy to get through.  Also because you are level capped through out the entire game, you'll never be to strong or to weak to fight anything.  

----------Characters / Story----------
Chrono Cross takes place 24 years after the events in Chrono Trigger.  You play as Serge, a silent protagonist.  Serge is a young village boy that went out on an adventure to find dragon scales for his girlfriend Leena, but gets warped into another dimension by accident.  Serge finds himself as an outsider, roaming around familiar territory, but no one recognizes him.  He quickly becomes an outlaw by Lynx, who is trying to capture Serge.  Serge eventually teams up with Kid, another outlaw, who is attempting to assassinate Lynx for destroying her town. The story has some MAJOR twists towards the middle of the game.  

My biggest beef with the storyline is it was promoted as a sequel to Chrono Trigger, but there are hardly any connections until the very very very end of the game.  It just seems like they tacked it on to appease fans of Chrono Trigger.  I think I would have enjoyed this game more if it was it's own separate title.  It barely plays like Chrono Trigger and has little ties to it, so why bother?

Another problem with the game is the lack of personality with the characters.  Serge is a silent protagonist, which is fine in some games, like Chrono Trigger because of the strong cast of characters that back that character up.  However, in Chrono Cross the secondary cast of characters are very rotateable.  You'll get one character but he might leave the next hour and you might never use or see that character again.  There is little reason to use different characters in Chrono Cross because they're all basically the same.  

Ok, maybe it's not the lack of personality, the characters do have unique personalities.  So much that most characters have their own slang, like Kid for example she talks like an Australian.  Some of the story arcs with the secondary characters are really creative and fun.  It's just the fact that you hardly adventure with anyone in your party.  You can only take 2 characters with you at a time.  It's similar to Suikoden, except you can take 5 different characters with you, and it's actually fun leveling everyone up or giving them the best equipment, unlike Chrono Cross.

I didn't totally hate the story, just the execution.

----------Graphics----------
The graphics are amazing.  Chrono Cross is easily one of the best looking RPGs on the Playtation, although probably edged out by Final Fantasy IX and maybe Xenogears.  Chrono Cross uses pre-rendered backgrounds, much like Final Fantasy 7 although with much better detail.  The battle system looks great, it's also in the FF7 fashion.  Your team stands in a line, and the enemies stand across from you in a line, you attack until they die.  There are alot of special attacks, and most characters have a few unique Tech attacks too.  There's even summon attacks, but you get the ability to use them so late in the game that it doesn't matter.  I only used one but it looked pretty impressive.


----------Sound----------
Man, the music in Chrono Cross is amazing.  My favorite track is easily the Another World theme music.  There are a few familiar Chrono Trigger songs, but overall the music is mostly original and definitely different than Chrono Trigger's style. The sound effects are good, but there's no voice clips at all, not even grunts or war cries during battle.

----------World Map----------
The world map is a basic overhead map found in Chrono Trigger or most recently the Baten Kaitos games.  If you have played any of those games, then you'll know exactly what to expect.  The big twist to Chrono Cross is the ability to switch dimensions, rather than time travel in Chrono Trigger.  There's only two worlds, your home world and the new world.  You'll see minor and major differences between the worlds but nothing drastic like in Chrono Trigger.  You'll eventually acquire a boat in both worlds, and this will be your only modes of transportation through out the entire game.  

Once you get the boats, you can travel to about anywhere in the world map, giving the game a non-linear feel to it if you please.  

----------Time to Complete Game----------
43:55:01

There's only two possible endings for your first playthrough with Chrono Cross. Although I think once you beat the game and get the New Game+ feature you can unlock more.  Chrono Cross is just to long of a game to play through again, especially after being disappointed with the ending I got.