Overall 9.4 Graphics 9 Sound 9.5 Addictive 9 Story 8 Depth 9 Difficulty 5.5
8.5
Not quite as good as its predecessor, but worth a play through Michael91
Chrono Cross is the sequel to the acclaimed SNES JRPG, Chrono Trigger. Chrono Cross expands on the story, introduces a new wide cast of playable characters, and revamps the gameplay. Largely the endeavor is a success, and should appeal to fans of the original.
As is typical of JRPGs, Chrono Cross features a large and detailed story containing numerous cut scenes. To understand Chrono Cross’ story, you must have played Chrono Trigger. However, even with a firm background in Chrono history, the story will be difficult to understand. Chrono Trigger’s original time travel based story was understandably complex. However, Chrono Cross adds several layers and dimensions (literally) to this already dense tale. Chrono Cross covers a story, at first separate from the events of Trigger, based around a boy named Serge and a split in time. You travel back and forth between two dimensions created by this split as you unravel the plot. There's a lot of interesting material in the story, but keeping track of everything is nearly impossible. Whether the plot is too much, or just right, will depend on what kind of player you are. If you love convoluted sci-fi plots that require careful attention (and perhaps additional research) to make sense of, this story is for you. Personally, I felt the plot could have done with some trimming, and it's predecessor managed to better integrate time travel in the story while keeping it grounded. While the main story commands most of the game's attention, there are also numerous side quests that give the player an opportunity to explore the world and provide back story for dozens of playable characters.
Chrono Cross' gameplay departs from Chrono Trigger's. It introduces a new battle system where characters can strong, medium, and weak attacks which each take up points from a stamina pool. Using these attacks builds up magic points which can be used to cast spells placed in various levels before the battle. Once a spell is used, it's no longer available for the rest of the battle, but will be available in the next battle. Characters are then healed after each battle from the stock of available spells that haven't been used. This system allows you to use lots of interesting spells even in run of the mill battles, without leaving you in a weakened state for further battles. It's a nice change of pace from RPGs where the best course of action is often to constantly use physical attacks on enemies. While the overall system works quite well and is entertaining, the game is generally quite easy. In contrast to Chrono Trigger, which featured a small cast of characters, there are a myriad of characters to choose from in Chrono Cross. Differences between characters aren't generally vary large, but it's nice to have the options. On the other hand, Chrono Cross does not completely abandon it's predecessor’s system. Like Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross also eschews random encounters. Instead, you see enemies on the screen and can choose to avoid them or fight them. This is an improvement over the random encounter system, and one of the strengths of the Chrono series.
As for Chrono Cross' graphics and music, both are quite strong. The music in particular is top notch. It always appropriately matches the tone of the location, and there are numerous tunes that are a pleasure to hear whenever they crop up. If you liked Chrono Trigger's music, Chrono Cross' should also be a pleasure.
While not without its faults, Chrono Cross is an engaging experience with a complex story and original battle system. If you liked Chrono Trigger and are in the mode for a JRPG, Chrono Cross is a fine choice.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 8 Story 8 Depth 9 Difficulty 4
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 08-19-13
Review Replies: 2
10
Chrono Cross, one of the best RPGs ever made. Popful
Graphics: This is a very late PS1 title, and it really shows, the character models are very well-rendered and detailed, and they animate pretty smoothly for the system, too. The character designs are memorable, ranging from a skeleton in a clown outfit, a flower, a dancing strawman, a mushroom-headed man, a mermaid, a mexican wrestler, and some 30 or so other recruitable characters. The backgrounds are very detailed, with some of the best art I've seen in a game. The enemies are also well-animated and rendered. The motif of the ocean is ever-present, always showing itself whenever possible. The overall theme is very island-ish, with beaches, towns floating on rafts, and of course, pirate ships. The battles have a little pan-around of the arena before the fight, establishing where it takes place very well.
Sound: As a sequel to Chrono Trigger, it has an equally memorable soundtrack, words really can't do it justice. The overall theme is, again, the ocean, and the sound effects added during the beginning of a battle, from seagulls, to the rocking of a massive boat, all enhance the atmosphere greatly. The battle theme itself sounds chaotic, even written in an unusual meter, and fits the ocean motif very well. The boss theme is intense as well, with a tribal sound to it. The Island of the Damned has a very grim, desolate theme, capturing the death and despair around it perfectly.
The Another World theme captures the feeling of a world very much like your own, but vastly different in many ways.
Addictiveness: The game has several branching paths through the plot, and loads of characters to recruit, it'll take you at least three playthroughs to get them all. The world is vast, and fun to explore, there are neat cutscenes here and there to discover, and experimenting with different party combinations is really fun, too. Each character will get you slightly different dialogue in each cutscene, my personal favorites to tag along are Kid and- well, I don't wanna spoil it, but let's just say you'll know her when you meet her! ;3
Story: The story itself is engaging, the characters are likeable, and the plot never gets dull, always throwing a twist at you when you least expect it. Problem is, it also gets very, VERY confusing past a certain point (those who've played it know what I mean). As much as I like it, it could've been explained a heck of a lot better.
Depth: In addition to everything mentioned above, there's also the unique battle system. Basically, every turn, you pick between 3 different intensities of attack, 1 being the mildest, 2 being aggressive, 3 being outright vicious. 1 has the highest chance of hitting the enemy, 3 has the lowest. The probability of hitting the enemy with each intensity increases as you attack, so you can either stick with an intensity, or climb your way up. Each character has a stamina bar that gets used up with each attack. The magic and item systems are replaced by Elements. Every time you attack, higher tiers of elements become available, and using an element makes it unusable again until the next battle (unless it's a consumable, then it's gone forever). Using an element depletes your stamina entirely, so you'll have to switch to another character after using one.
Going into the rest of the game's mechanics would take several pages, but it's easy to learn after you've played for a while, plus there's a very thorough (but thankfully optional) tutorial at the beginning of the game.
Difficulty: This game's difficulty's about the same as any Squaresoft RPG, with the occasional hair-pullingly difficult segment here and there.
Overall, this game is a must-play for anyone who likes RPGs, and possibly some who normally don't.
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 8 Depth 9 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.9/5
Submitted: 06-24-13
Review Replies: 1
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