Right, I'm probably going to get stoned for saying this. But... I... don't like Chrono Cross.
*Guns and weapons appeared*
Here me out! Look, I love Chrono Trigger, it's probably the best games for the SNES and it holds so many good memories with me and my sister who absolutely ADORES the game. Even now, as many years go by, it's still fondly remembered and holds up. It was Squaresoft's most ambitious project and it shows. They went all out. But as I looked back at Chrono Cross... it doesn't hold up that well at all.
Let me try to explain why and if you think I'm too harsh or unfair. That's fine. This is my opinion and my experience playing the game. Nothing more. If you liked it, that's fine. I didn't. So, let's begin our tale that transcends time and dimensions...
STORY
Oh boy... this is gonna be a struggle. So we start off in some place we don't know along with a group of three characters we don't know. The third party member is always random. Anyway, we're going after some guy named Lynx and we do... something. ... We're... we're not starting off too good. So, we make it to the top of this tower and what I assume is the main character get's a premonition of him killing his partner.
And then we wake up. Okay, did any of you understand what the fuck just happened? No? Good, it's not just me. Our main character is Serge and today he needs to make a Komodo Scale necklace for his friend Leena, who's birthday is coming up. So after running around and gathering the scales and made the necklace, Serge waits for Leena to show up at the beach shore.
She arrives as she reminiscences about how they knew each other for a long time and that Serge almost died when he was young, but by some miracle, he survived. As Leena leaves, Serge goes to follow when all of a sudden, a strange portal appears and engulfs the boy. When he comes to, he's still at the beach. But that's when you realize something is off.
You meet along a girl with an Australian accent named Kid. She tells Serge to follow her since she has an idea as to what's going on and she has and agenda or her own. Serge agrees or declines depending on the answer, but the result is the same. Serge makes it to a cliff side near his hometown and finds a grave.
The inscription horrifies and confuses him. It's his own grave. But he was still alive, how could this be? That's when we all realize what happened. Serge was transported to another dimension where he dies and certain characters lives and fates have been altered. You battle one of the members of the Acacia Dragoons sent by General Viper.
After Serge and Kid beat them, in order to find answers as to what's going on and making it back to his own world, he and Kid have to team up, so they go to the city of Termina. No, not the world Termina from Majora's Mask, although I can see why many people jump to that. From there, you have three party members to choose from to invade Viper's Manor.
We have Pierre, a French swordsman who claims to be a legendary hero. But he needs hero equipment to be strong. You have one of Serge's friends from a fishing port going into a secret entrance, and finally, you have Guile, a wandering magician who looks strangely familiar. It honestly doesn't matter, you get in regardless. From there, you infiltrate the Manor and find out that Kid is after two things.
One, a person named Lynx who did something horrible in her past, and the second is searching for an artifact and treasure called the Frozen Flame. You also meet this weird jester girl named Harley who also speaks in a French accent. My, my, Square does love accents, don't they? Anyways, the group encounter General Viper and a mysterious beast man who is Lynx. Apparently he and Viper have struck a deal and Lynx is after something.
Including someone who is the Chrono Trigger.
... Yes. They went there.
They're eventually cornered by guards and Lynx and he realizes Serge has the power to travel between worlds and that he's the Chrono Trigger. But the group manage to escape and wash up at the fishing port town and find out that Kid has fallen ill due to some disease or illness picked up.
However, the cure doesn't exist in this world. That's when Serge and the party members have an idea. They'll go to Serge's world and find the cure there. And this is the problem, you have to go back to the beach where it started and do this constantly. Of course, this is all rendered pointless since you get the cure, they think Kid's dead, but oop, nope. She's fine.
You fail at drama, game. F-, see me after class. So after that pointlessness, we're just... running around trying to find out what the hell Lynx is up to. After trying to save some fairies, only to be exiled because their dicks, one joins us because we tried our best. We board a pirate ship and recruit the captain and I'm suddenly wondering where the fuck the plot went?
FINALLY, Serge and Kid have a lead and figured out that Lynx and General Viper are going to the Tower of Dragons, a place of worship for eight elemental dragons spread out between the two worlds. Why? I don't know. So they head there and hey, this seems familiar. This is exactly like the opening, only there's actual bosses here. Neat.
So they make it back up and Serge has the same premonition again. Oh God no! Don't send me back to the begin-oh. Never mind. Serge tells Kid about his vision and she says they'll worry about it later. ... Mmkay. They enter and fight General Viper and defeat him, only for Lynx to betray him and finish the job by fighting the party. He loses and then something strange happens... All of a sudden, the Dragon's Tear or whatever the hell that thing is, starts to glow.
And Serge actually starts talking! Something is odd. Serge goes to finish off Lynx when he makes an error that hasn't been brought up until now. Kid's motivation to hunting down Lynx was to avenge her foster mother, Lucca. Yes, the same Lucca from Chrono Trigger. Kid's surprised at this and mentions she never brought her up, so how did Serge know? That's when they realized what happened.
The artifact swapped bodies. This was Lynx's plan all along. If he has the body of Serge, the Chrono Trigger, he will find the Frozen Flame at a place called Chronopolis. Serge, now stuck as Lynx is left for dead as the real Lynx transports him to another dimension. He escapes and meets some new party members that I don't care about. They must head to Chronopolis and stop Lynx and find out why Serge can travel between worlds and reclaim his body.
They arrive at Chronopolis after breaking the seal there and find out it was in the middle of an apocalypse. But time has stopped. You can walk on the waves, certain debris can be seen floating in midair and it looked like it hasn't aged in years. Serge makes it to Leene's Square and finds a man who hasn't aged a day. This man is very familiar because his name is Miguel, who is Leena's long lost father and was best friends with Serge's named Wakazuki.
Turns out, this is the reason why Serge was alive. He was injured and affected with poison and nearly died. They found Chronopolis and through it's magic and technology, brought Serge back from the brink of death, but at a price. He has no memory of this event and he has the power to traverse through worlds.
Miguel's role is to be the guardian of the ruined future, so they fight and Serge after a lengthy and tough battle, manage to defeat and kill Miguel. Chronopolis' time stream starts to activate and the place collapses. They are told by Miguel that they must go to the Tower of Dragons in Serge's world to reclaim his body.
Heeding his advice, they trek back up the other tower and encounter Lynx with a new makeover with Serge's body. His powers have been increased and with newfound youth, he can pretty much be a dark copy of Serge. Serge and his party fight the Dark Serge and win, he retreats as he heads to the other Chronopolis to find the Frozen Flame.
The group makes it to the top and Serge reclaims his body, with this task done, they now have entrance to Chronopolis as he's the Chrono Trigger again. That still sounds weird saying it in this game... Anyways, they arrive and this Chronopolis is different. It's a future where the disaster hasn't happened yet and they see shadows of people who used to exist and conduct experiments regarding time and dimensions.
Serge makes it to the deep chamber and finds Lynx, only to find out he was an avatar to a being and supercomputer named FATE. Oh yeah, the save points you see? FATE has been recording and watching people's memories, absorbing them as data so it can become stronger. However, a protection program named Prometheus wants to prevent FATE from escaping, but it's too late.
FATE overrides the protection protocol and deletes Prometheus, killing him. Yep. They killed Robo. It's personal now. Lynx fuses into Fate and the group fight the rogue supercomputer deity. They manage to kill and destroy FATE, save Kid who survived because she was needed for this ceremony FATE had planned and the day is saved, right?
Nope.
Turns out, the dragons have been using you to get rid of FATE and Lynx and fuse into the Dragon God. ... I'm so fucking lost. What?! When the hell was it implied that they hated humanity? Did I miss something and have a stroke? You also go through Kid's memories and find out that the orphanage that Kid and the others kids came from was Lucca's house.
Lynx had invaded and killed Crono, Marle and Lucca. That's right, they're fucking dead. ... I'm so angry right now, this isn't even for a joke. So, now you know the reason Kid was chasing after him, and that Lynx was actually Serge's father transformed and used by FATE to get around. So they go the Tower of the Stars made by the Dragon God by using a magic flying canoe... I don't even fucking know, just roll with it.
From there, you make it to the top and find out what the Frozen Flame actually is. It's a piece of Lavos that survived and corrupted anyone going near it. And that dragons and the Dragon God, are another avatar created by Lavos. God damn it! Really?! We have four main villains? Which is it!? Is it Lynx? FATE, the dragons or Lavos?! Gaaagh!
... But I digress. They meet the ghosts of the main trio who are informed they need Belthasar's Time Egg to travel to where Lavos is and that Lucca can put the finishing touches. At this point, I just nod and go whatever the game tells me at this point. Sure, why not? Also, you need the Chrono Cross, hey, the name of the game!
So they go to deepest part of the dimension... time... whatever it is and meet Lavos who is the Time Devourer and it's fused with a blond haired girl. This girl is Schala. Why she has blond hair instead of blue, I don't know. Maybe royalty and the people of Zeal died their hair? I don't know. Anyways, you play a song and use the Chrono Cross to free Schala and destroy Lavos for good.
Also, it's revealed a bit... uhm... too late, that Kid is actually a clone of Schala, or a Schala from a different timeline sent to Lucca to take care of. Look, I don't know! This game makes no fucking sense to me! Anyways, the day is saved, Schala is free and Serge... wakes up? What? Turns out, Serge fell asleep waiting for Leena and woke him up, waiting to get the Komodo Scale necklace he made.
... You mean to tell me... it was... all... a DREAM?!?!
... This game is dead to me. Oh, as for the bad ending? You kill Lavos fused with Schala, nothing changes. Just: "Hurray the day is saved! But Schala is dead, you monster." That's it, roll credits. And that was Chrono Cross.
Fuck this game.
GAMEPLAY
Right, gameplay. For some reason in combat, you have three options for attacking with different accuracy. 1 is a weak strike, two is a slightly stronger strike, and 3 is the strongest attack but with low hit rate. Why they did it this way, I have no idea. Also, you have no magic. You use Elements instead, which are really attack items in disguise, and what's stupid, you can't use them over and over in one battle.
That's fucking dumb. You don't level up either, certain areas and enemies increase your stats. Oh God, it's the same method as Final Fantasy 2! Other than that, it's the same as any Square RPG. You have three party members, they're changed and that's it. Oh! The way to travel between the two worlds is stupid as well.
In Chrono Trigger, there are many time portals, or Gates, to find. Here? There's just one. And it's at the beach. Making backtracking a chore. Why they decided to do it this way, I have no fucking idea, but it's stupid, it wastes time, and it's busywork.
SOUNDS
Sounds are pretty good and stuff. Not much to annoy me.
MUSIC
Okay, this is where the positive comes in, the music by Yasunori Mitsuda is simply beautiful. Oh my God, he went all out with this one. There is not one track I don't like. They all sound so good! Check it out if you want, you won't be disappointed.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND SCORE
So, that was Chrono Cross. If it was just its own game, I wouldn't mind. But it tries to connect it with Chrono Trigger and falls flat on its face. I hated this game so much, it wasn't fun for me and I was just confused, frustrated and bored. It moved so slow, the pacing's all over the place and there are too many characters not to give a shit about.
My final Score is...
4/10
I like the music, some the character designs are unique and interesting, and it tried to tell a story but falls flat on its face. I'm not sure what else to say other than... eh. And now I'm going to be stone and chased out for saying this. Damn it. Oh well. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going in the corner and sulk at what Chrono Cross should have been. Also, I hated this game so much I sold it and traded it in for some better games. THAT bad. Anyways... that's it.
Searching and fighting the dragons were a pain in the ass. Not the fight's themselves, just getting them to show up. Plus, all the characters have the same motivation. "Oh, you're doing this thing that I have no idea what you're talking about and there might be another me in that world? ... D'oh, okay! I'll join! :)" What the fuck?
Trust me, Trigger's good. I will admit there are parts of Chrono Cross I liked. But there so few and far between and I was... just so tired halfway through. So much running around and not accomplishing anything. Bah. But never mind.
Searching and fighting the dragons were a pain in the ass. Not the fight's themselves, just getting
I think the main problem was it was over-ambitious. Radical Dreamers was an unreleased novel-like game for the SNES. So they thought: "Hey, make the game an actual RPG. But with a billion characters." And it spiraled from there.
I think the main problem was it was over-ambitious. Radical Dreamers was an unreleased novel-like ga
