Chrono Cross

Sometimes any company can make a game that plain out, hands down, no holds barred, dissapoints a whole franchise. Take, for example, the sequel to Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask- a game that just didnt feel like a sequel and more of a crappy expansion pack. Sometimes, just like Majora's Mask or in this case, Chrono Cross, these games would have done fine on their own. But companies like Squaresoft need to learn that a tagline like Final Fantasy demands a certain level of quality.

Chrono Cross is the sequel to Chrono Trigger. Originally, I was hoping this game was going to stick to the theory of Chono Trigger and maybe revamp it: Time Travel with an interesting story, fun characters, and a great battle system. Unfortunately, it seems with what I call the "Big Three Rush" (The period of time in which Squaresoft released Xenogears, Vagrant Story, and Chrono Cross) seems to have given Squaresoft an udder paranoia of being original. Take, for example, the fact that they didnt make the Xenogears sequel, or that Vagrant Story is gratuitously ignored by many gamers.



Now lets get to this game. First off, Chrono Cross takes place 20 years after Chrono Trigger. Interestingly enough, the world does not look the same, there are no towns from Chrono Trigger, or it doesnt mention which period of time this game based off of (Remember how there were like 5 different time worlds in CT?). Frankly, it's basically just using the franchise. Don't kid yourself: This game has basically nothing to do with the original game.

The battle system is unique but I slowly grew to hate it. First of all, you have over 30 characters in the game, making this the worst game for indecisive people to play. I do not have the time or effort OR ENERGY to level up 30 characters, so obviously I have to go find some faggots I prefer. Naturally, the game switches your characters around a ton, so you're never really happy. The battle system uses this wierd Magic and Fighting system that really left me in the dark. Per se, you can hit multiple times, basically meaning you have:
Light Hit- 1 point
Normal Hit- 2 points
Heavy Hit- 3 points
And each character can basically hit as many "Points" as they hold, like how starting off they always have three points (Meaning one heavy hit, a normal and a light, or three lights..). With all this complexity that really never needed to be there, I never had the reassurrance that I was getting somewhere with this game. I always felt like I was a little lost during battles. Go ahead, call me Stupid- but it's still an issue with me.



The graphics in this game are nice to the eyes, but sometimes basically rape your eyes. The 2D backgrounds on 3D characters, much akin to Final Fantasy 7, always means that the backgrounds will look very nice- but, frankly, the characters that move look like ass. This doesnt help when the battle scenes kick in, and everything is 3D, giving you that nice PS1 compressed texture headache.

The music in this game, of course being composed by Squaresoft, is outstanding. This is really the only part of this game I actually would jump out and say I liked, because some of the music is just fun to listen to. The battle music is dumb, and so is some of the basic music, but the overworld themes and some of the area themes just are a joy to the ears. If this PS1 disc would play in a CD player, I guarantee you it would be in the CD player more than the PS1.



Oh, as for the story, I have to say that it too blows. There's not much I can say about this story, because:
1. I don't care for the characters
2. I don't care for what HAPPENS to the characters,
3. The above two are because I'm micromanaging 30+ d***ed characters who all seem to be equally weak and uninteresting.


My recommendation is to only pick this game up if you REALLY are desperate for an RPG. Hell, I'd recommend ol boring Final Fantasy 5 over this game, just because even it has more exciting moments and interesting plot twists. This game is boring. This game is lame. I hate having 3 billion characters to deal with. I hate having it where I have to use almost every one to complete the story, forcing me to level them up to keep up with everyone else. It's just a pain.

1 star(s) out of 5

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