I actually dug up and played 'Radical Dreamers'. The SNES Broadcast satellite Chrono Trigger sequel. It made Chrono Cross make more sense, but... I can't really recommend it as a Chrono Trigger game, it's sorta it's own weirdness. Suffice it to say that Chrono Cross is a sequel to Radical Dreamers, which is a spinoff of Chrono Trigger, not really a sequel.
I was going to write a long objection to your opinion on chrono cross but it would be way to long. Instead I'm just going to the the story's are interconnected the developers dont treat you like a child. its story, just like xenogears is what makes video game art it uses philosophy and theoretical physics to connect time lines and worlds. Last note an insult the reason Japan didnt want to release RPGs here is they thought we wouldn't be able to appreciate that depth and or criticism of religion, so thanks for your contribution to that (your simple minded)
We moved into a new house in 2002 when I was a kid. We were exploring the backyard, and hidden in the bushes was a $20 bill, and Chrono Cross, case artwork and all. I still had my PS1 so I went DEEP on this game.
I appreciate the main plot of Chrono Cross. I love needlessly complex stories. Makes me feel good when I finally figure them out. And if you want to get 100% completion, you'll have to play the game 3 times. My favorite part about the plot is that basically, Lavos created himself a back up plan, just in case he did get destroyed. Also, CC is so separated from CT because if they interacted with the CT game, it would screw with the timeline of the game. One of the cool touches in CC is that the El Nido archipelago uses mind control through the Record of Fate to make sure the islanders don't interact with the mainland and screw up the timeline. But yes... the 45 characters are essentially meaningless as most of them have nothing special about them. I'd easily trade in the novelty of having 45 characters, and cut it down to 12 if those twelve were more compelling and interesting characters.
The nature of how the characters joins your party fits with the theme of the planet perspective. That's why there are dozens of characters, they don't have deep development because in this type of story is unnecessary. Just Serge and Kid are really the main characters, they represent the duality on which the game present the thesis.
The part a lot of people miss is the joy of the variety of characters. Combining the correct groups together open different paths , events and dialogs. Playing with say 2 friends who vs 2 enemies vs 2 characters who are lovers or 2 who are brothers has different interations like being invited to a castle, having to charge a gate, sneak inbehind a VIP, rent a boat, Entering in all undercover. Very open world and non linear is what I like about it. It is more Suikoden /romancing saga then people expect. But definitely I consider it a worthy Chrono Trigger sequel.
I heard that the whole ”Lavos backup plan” was written because of some disagreements between CC and CT teams. Apparently it was a middle finger to the old team which made the events of CT kinda meaningless.
Why the hell are you putting spoilers in this without a warning? This video is literally here as a promotion for people to try out the game who have not yet. This video is for people WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED IT. Of all places to drop spoilers, why this comment section?? At the very least warn people that there are spoilers before you say them, holy shit this is insane. If you liked the game so much why ruin it for people who want to experience it themselves?
Overworld Theme (Dream of the Shore Near Another World)... Just this song alone makes this game worth playing. I've remembered it since the 90s. Just stopping and listening.
This is one of my favorite jrpgs ever. The soundtrack, the dozens of characters, the setting, the soundtrack, the crazy convoluted story, the soundtrack, and the soundtrack.
Amen to that, the soundtrack is damn awesome. Ze history is good enough for me. I only disliked the dozen of chars, mostly Macha, Korcha and the girl, the masked wrestler man and a few more.
Chrono Cross is actually a very difficult game to review. It's easy to fall into the trap of evaluating it like every other RPG, separating out the separate elements, but this game is quite different. Remember that Square Enix doesn't really do the whole sequel thing. Final Fantasy is not a series of sequels, nor was the Mana series. With a Square game of the '90s you gain much more from the experience by putting in a little thought. A game's value is in the questions the game asks of the player, and this game has some serious questions to ask. The question the Chrono series is asking is: What is the relationship between information and heroism? In Chrono Trigger, before you embarked on any part of the adventure, you had all the information you needed to feel like you were the hero of the story. Rescue princess? Check. Rigged court trial? Check. Rescue the world? Check. In every action you were justified, for you knew you were the hero of the story. Even when you died, you died a hero. And when your friends rescued you from death, you got the hero's welcome. This is the story of the high-information hero. Enter Chrono Cross. One of the first cut scenes you see is you murdering someone. Then you go killing innocent animals for a necklace for your girlfriend. Then you are wisked away to another land. You rescue Kid (or not), and find out she's more street rat than princess. Then, to save her life, you must destroy an entire ecosystem. Later on, you take on the villain's body. You know you are not a villain, but you aren't really a hero, and your actions are certainly not seen as heroic. You just play on, learning more, advancing the story, exploring the beautiful world set to an exquisite score. You are not a hero, yet you make friends and get help along your journey. It isn't until the end of the game, where you finally get a clue for what you have been doing this whole time, that you feel like you've been doing heroic things. This is the other side of the Chrono Trigger coin, the story of the low-information hero. I thought Chrono Trigger was an OK game, but I loved Chrono Cross.
Yes. I love both games and actually hated Chrono Cross at first. The Final Fantasy sequels, although not connected, still blended elements of the previous sequel while CC put a baseball bat to Trigger and started from scratch from its pace to the music to the way the story was told. When I got over that it was not Chrono Trigger, I started to really get into it. You wanted to see the differences between worlds, you wanted to see everything. The story was more puzzley which can be frustrating at first and some of the characters are annoying, but, it did feel that you embarked on a different type of adventure especially if you are like me, who played every RPG imaginable. Chrono Trigger was that fun fast beautiful car you drove, while Chrono Cross was that delicate machine that had a feel and let you be in the moment.
I'd argue that Cross is indeed a sequel, just not a direct one. *********************SPOILER************************** The story was originally supposed to star Magus (Guile) while he looked for Schala, so from the beginning of development it was meant to be a sequel. They just felt that going that route wouldn't give Magus the justice he deserved so they changed him into Guile and just made him a normal side-character. Magus was also a character in Radical Dreamers. Then there's Prometheus (Robo) who has arguably suffered from the events of Chrono Cross more than Magus has. He was placed inside of FATE by Lucca and Belthasar with the sole purpose of starting a rebellion when Serge showed up as The Arbiter, only to be destroyed by FATE the moment Surge arrived. Lucca, Belthasar and Robo have GIGANTIC roles in Chrono Cross. This is why Lynx was after her and wanted her dead. If not for their actions, the game wouldn't have even existed. But yeah, not a sequel :3
while this may be true, they could have done without them and made other people the reason for it and it would have stood as a good game on its own. iirc, what they did though.. .this isn't another world, this is a small part of CT's world, remnants of Lavos and the magical kingdom. That's why all this shit happens. CT was about time, CC is about dimensions. CT what you did in the past affected the future CC you live to see the consequences of actions by others, and yourself in other dimensions. I think of them as sequels moreso because they both tackle that theme.
Another useful life skill to acquire is the knowledge that time isn't a thing that exists, and can't be manipulated. Time is simply a measurement from event A to event B just as a mile is the measurement from point A to point B. You can't manipulate a mile to be anything other than a measurement of 5,280 feet which is a measurement of 63,360 inches. Time is merely a rhythmic pulse used to measure how long it takes for events to occur. It's just a fun fantasy to imagine time being a thing that can be manipulated and "traveled", and what the consequences might be. Before anyone says, "But it's proven that time moves faster in space!". Not true. What is happening in space is mass being subjected to less gravity, allowing atoms move faster. You "age" faster in less gravity because your atoms are moving faster ... Hence "aging" more rapidly. Time isn't moving faster. Just your mass. GPS satellites had to be re-calibrated because they measure the decay of a carbon atom for precision. Well, being subjected to less gravity means that decay takes less time, and that fact had to be compensated for to make GPS systems accurate. A measurement of 1 second is still 1 second no matter the circumstance.
Yep. CC came out when I was getting into video games and so I played that first and wasn't even aware of CT until the early 2000s when I saw it parodied on Newgrounds. I had an SNES too, as did a lot of my friends, but none of us just ever heard of CT for some reason.
One of Chrono Cross' weaknesses is indeed the ton of characters involved. It's almost like someone on the dev team looked at the Suikoden games and thought "hey, we can do that too!", ignoring that Suikoden managed to get away with it because there was a big central narrative that tied everyone together (meaning you didn't need more than a motivation for those characters to join you).
Chrono Cross holds a very special place in my heart. I ate, slept, and breathed this game for a couple of months one summer. For the time, the graphics were GORGEOUS, and the music still holds up today. The dragging combat, slow exploration, and BAFFLING story or lack thereof keeps me from playing it a second time.
Great review, I will note that I think you may have missed the story connection to the original game. It does indeed exist and is a little more than a superficial connection.
It doesn't really become obvious until the end of the game though. Also the ending is a little on the WTF side to be honest. For most of the game, Lavos is the only real connection the player knows about to the original. I mean there are some subtle hints along the way, but that's about it really. I think the design team wanted to started with a blank page (new world, new characters, etc) and loosely tie it in with the original. In a way they succeeded with that, but it wasn't what people were expecting or hoping for at all. I honestly just enjoyed the game on its own myself, but I went into it knowing that it was loosely based on Radical Dreamers.
Zos Xavius Your assumption about the design process is actually totally wrong, although I can see why u would think that, its a reasonable assumption. The game was actually originally planned to have a lot more to do with CT, but was changed over time to be more original (u know how much Square hates direct sequels n all that haha). The main character was even originally supposed to be Magus, but then they decided to turn him into a new character (Guile) and reduce his significance (into a side character) while they rewrote the story. It seems to me that they started with a smaller scope of what the game could be, but then started exploring the possibilities that opened up with the parallel worlds mechanic and kinda went overboard with rewrites to make everything fit
I remember (and it's been 15+ years) Lavos being mentioned and then the short exchange between Chrono, Marle, and Lucca. It seemed like an afterthought to me. I was so disappointed because it didn't bring anything new and fresh to the table. It was like a bread crumb trail to a "thanks for playing" sign. It gained nothing from the minuscule amount of tie-in and created nothing new for me to be excited about. This review is spot on imo.
Chrono Trigger is one of my favourite games. Finally got around to Chrono Cross.... And oh my goodness, with an open mind.. this game is something special
What makes me love chrono cross is the replayability. The dialogue changes depending on who's with you, and even the route that you take in certain situations. You can play the story having a very different experience in every playthrough.
That's because of the french game that was second in the series. I was confused to until I found the actual sequel. The story from the text based game Radical Dreamers reveals how the original Surge, Kid and a third person breaks into Viper manor to steal the flame believing its in the hands of the evil Lynx. In the end the real Serge dies when he takes Lynx off a cliff. Kid devastated and being one of Lucca's orphans, Lucca decides to help out. By this point she is the leader of a large science institute and for Kid's sake creates basically a dimensional clone of Serge in the other dimension. The institute itself had dominion of the second dimension in the archipelago for the sake of experimentation. The new Serge was then allowed to grow up, until one day his father and friend got caught in a storm and end up at the other version of the institute, the one that exists in the alternate reality. Serge's father then uses the facility to heal Serge how ever the A.I. seeing Serge as an anomaly seeks to remove him. Serge's father saves his son by sacrificing himself. The A.I. loosing its chance to remove said anomaly creates a version of Lynx, similar to how Lucca created the new Serge, but Lynx took the info he had and went rogue. At first I thought Lynx was the panther incarnate that they show almost killing Serge how ever if you pay close attention its mentioned that the A.I. created something that represented what killed the original Serge. Its odd and vary easy to miss. Later in the normal world the soldiers of Viper manor seek out the frozen flame like their original leader before them and eventually come to the original facility. There the flame exists in both worlds like the A.I. as both of them kept the facility tethered to both sides. One as the energy source and the other the controller. How ever it goes wrong for them when and the facility goes critical destroying it. Mean while, Kid tired of being an observer drew Surge into the first dimension starting the game. (Lucca gave her creation "Serge" the ability to freely cross over between both dimensions, this is why Lynx needed his body. In my opinion this event is why the game is called Chrono Cross. As both characters are intertwined between dimensions and time.) This is why the A.I. wants to get rid of Surge when you get to that point in the game, this is why Lynx needed to steal Surges body and the links between the first and third game. A good hint is how Robo from the first game was actually incorporated into the A.I. as insurance by Lucca. I think this was a crappy way of doing it. They should have dropped the second barely known title before creating this game because its more of a sequel to Radical Dreamers than it is Chrono Trigger.
Atlusfox How did you get all that from radical dreamers? I dont think so. It seems like you made a lot of shit up. Lucca “creating” another serge? Nah that’s not confirmed anywhere.
I beat chrono cross before I even knew chrono trigger existed and I loved it. I feel bad for the people that have that nostalgia weighing down on them that prevented them from fully enjoying it. A few years after I did beat chrono trigger also and I do think it's a great game but compared to cross, well it's no contest for me. Chrono cross easily beats it but I will say that the storyline is quite convoluted in cross. Trigger had its moments of ridiculousness but cross could've benefited from a more grounded story but still, it's one of the best games of all time imo without a doubt. I actually just beat it again today 20 years after the first time. Been wanting to ever since and finally did. Better late than never 😅
I played Trigger before cross came out but i have liked Cross more since I've first played it.. I guess it helped that i viewed cross as a sequel to trigger the same way i viewed Final Fantasy 2 as a sequel to final fantasy 1 so i didn't really have that baggage that so many seem to have.
The worst thing about Chrono Cross is that the plot elements that do overlap imply that by simply playing the game you've undone everything that was accomplished in Chrono Trigger. Yeah, fuck you hero! Second worst thing is that the characters were so interchangeable once recruited that the devs literally devised a system to allow them to reuse overlapping dialogue - there was a set tags that were replaced with whatever that character's verbal tic was on display. You would recruit someone and unless they had a specific questline they lost all of their personality.
I did notice some overlapping dialogue in a couple instances but I didn't want to assume that was the case across the board. That's pretty lousy if that's the case
If you understood the plot you would understand that everything crono and the gang did in trigger was in vain. They never killed lavos, hes omnipresent. They only killed him in their reality. Schala knew this and so created a plot along with the help of the remaining sage, belthazar, to truly destroy lavos. Play the game again! Pay attention!
The events of Chrono Trigger aren't undone, the story of Chrono Cross still required those events to occur as they did/will, but it focused heavily on the idea of consequences of the choices you make. Destroying Lavos was a good thing, but even it had untended consequences that played out in Chrono Cross.
In fairness, programming a new system to play MadLibs in both Japanese and English was technologically impressive for a PS1 game. So many games would just recycle scripts verbatim or not even have certain characters talk at all.
I'm not gonna go through all these comments, but I just want to point out that while the bulk of the game seemingly has nothing to do with chrono trigger, it's only at the end of the game do all the dots connect. If you got the chrono cross and get the true ending of the game, it's pretty much made apparent that the current world you're in is a direct result of Lavos messing with time and space, and that your whole adventure was engineered by the main protagonists of CT (Chrono, Lucca and Marle) and that Kid is essentially the daughter of Schala. The big loose end of CT. The whole point of the game, as it turns out, was to save Schala.
There were a lot of dots to connect pretty early on in the game too...Guile, for one...dude was obviously Magus with a mask on if anyone was familiar with the character in the slightest, and the soldiers from Porre clearly establish that it is indeed the same world.
I know I'm the minority but I actually prefer CC over CT, nothing about CT really got my attention while there's a ton about CC that I loved when I first played, and I'm totally conscious that a lot of my love for it nowadays is nostalgia. Oh, and one minor detail, I'm pretty sure you don't start every round with 7 stamina, like you said, different characters have different stamina recovery rates and items that increase that are very rare.
As a SNES kid growing up, and someone who certainly prefers CT over CC, I still really respect folks who enjoy CC over CT because the game has strong merits. It's almost frustrating to me that I don't like CC more. I just personally have trouble staying interested in the game, not because I compare it to CT so much, but even other games in the PSX library that were able to pull me in and keep me hooked better than CC was able to.
J Myers Which ones you preferred? I wish I could get me interested enough to play Legend of Dragoon, my cousin played through it all way back when and said it was his favorite PSX RPG. I played so many SNES and PSX JRPGs that nowadays they seem really boring to me and I prefer action RPGs/WRPGs. Oh, and BTW I think it's important to mention that I played CC *before* CT and that's certainly one of the reasons I prefer the former.
moonra Playing CC first really helps enjoying that game over CT for sure. As for PSX RPGs I prefer, I'm a huge fan of the Suikoden games, Grandia is a lot of fun, Xenogears I really enjoy (even disc 2, lol), a few other that aren't coming to mind atm.
Ahh, never played any Suikoden or Grandia. I did start Xenogears but played about... 20 minutes of it, can't remember exactly why I stopped so quickly. For me it's definitely Legend of Mana, by far my favorite PSX game and probably my favorite game of all time. The OST is as good as CC's, graphics are awesome and timeless, since they're 2D [btw, maaan, how I wish we could get PSX games working on the PS2 emulator, the texture sharpening feature would make Legend of Mana look AMAZING] and the gameplay is awesome and VERY deep in customization. You can customize EVERYTHING, your equipment, your pets, your magic, even the world map.
I prefer CC of CT, but I played CC first, which might have been the reason. I liked being able to get the various characters, and the great CGI at the time. Of course when I learned it was a sequel, I did play CT too :).
One of the only games I bought the soundtrack for but couldnt complete the game(probably for the reasons you mention, but it was a long time ago). I'm thankful for the game because its what got me to fall in love with Yasunori Mitsuda.
SNES Drunk, been a big fan of your vids for over a year now. This has to be the MOST balanced review I've seen about this game. I still own my original copy of CT I picked up in 1995 at Walmart and absolutely love that game, I don't care for the PS1 version as much (the anime is cool, but takes away from the ending with the epilogue scene) Now onto CC, I bought it on release in 99-00 whenever it came out. I still haven't beaten it to this day. The reason: you nailed it in your review, "if you were expecting the sequel to CT, prepare to be disappointed" ...I was. The thing no one ever seems to cover though is this game is actually the Super Famicom satellaview game Radical Dreamers. The only difference is some JPN producer at Squaresoft was like hey I got this game over here that's story is kind of like CT, can we use it in a new PS1 game that we can call Chrono something or other....their first mistake. And made the big budget PS1 version...mistake two. Anyway I've complained for years about the game and this isn't the place and I'm tired of wasting time on why I didn't care for it. Too many characters, too confusing plot, crazy battle system, no true leveling up, pretty much everything you mentioned. So last comment, the reason why the music seemed so similar to CT is because Yasunori Mitsuda came back and did the OST for this game as well, so it would share some thematic elements with the first game is because he composed this game as well. So that makes perfect sense. Anyway loved the video and all of the others, keep'em coming and Happy Thanksgiving. Cheers.
Being a kid who played both as they came out, this is like asking me which I love more: The house's puppy or the house's kitty. I love them both for completely different reasons. Yet I do remember, as a kid, getting more involved in Cross world more. Maybe it's because I never got into the whole "time traveling" bit, but the idea of multiple dimensions always spoke to me more for some reason.
Hey SNES drunk awesome channel man!!! So glad your doing PS1 games now! Hoping for a Breath of fire 3 review and Castlevainia SOTN review soon! Love those games and love this channel! Keep it up
I've played through this game nearly as many times as Chrono Trigger, and I feel the appreciation for it grows with every playthrough. Kid's origin, the true origin of Lynx, the actual legit tie-in to Chrono Trigger are all buried deep under layers of gameplay. It is a direct sequel, in the sense that the events of Cross were directly caused by the heroes in Trigger stopping Lavos and saving the world. If you're looking for a game with the same characters and same world, this isn't it. But it is a direct follow-up in a different vain. The handheld tie-in "Radical Dreamers" is a good gap filler for anyone trying to understand some of the references.
I love crono cross and admittedly I never got to play CT on the SNES as a kid so when I found out CC was set in the same world from all the elements of it I sort out a copy on the PS1. The beauty behind this game besides being it's own unique game not to be compared to it's predecessor it takes a different angle. Chrono trigger was all about time travel and changing events in history. Chrono cross focused on two parallel worlds that resulted from changing an event in time (Surges death) and how this butterfly effect made the people and their doppelgangers different from each other.
Things were different in this game compared to Trigger. And Lucca told us exactly why. She said, when they were doing all their time traveling and changing and altering events, they never considered the possible futures they were destroying and what they were actually doing to the timeline. This also lead to Dalton from 10,000BC getting the Epoch and going to "the present" and building up the Porre army or whatever it was to basically overthrow the main kingdom. Crono and Merle probably died.
The first time I played Chrono Trigger, I was hooked within the first 10 minutes. I recently got the remaster of Chrono Cross for Christmas, and it’s kinda decent, but nowhere near as good as its predecessor.
This game’s intro video is indeed one of the best made to its time. I must have watched that video dozens of times, I listened to the music from it when working out, even. It is an absolutely amazing intro video for its time
I was actually about to mention this! While each of the 108 characters don’t directly impact the plot or have significant character development, these games told amazingly powerful, emotional stories despite having an incredibly large cast. Suikoden is one of my all time favorite series and honestly wish they were still making them.
@@minigmaenigma CC is good. But too many go into it expecting to understand most everything about the game and how to manipulate it from a single playthrough. CC is one of those rare old games... and even rarer RPG's that you don't fully know what's going on until you've played it through at least a couple times because there are additional story elements as you wrap through it again. that was an almost unheard of concept back then and it's stuck into a fairly original 50 to 60 hour run RPG at that.
Been playing through it all over again, trying to collect more characters. Nothing can beat 90s (and early 00s) RPGs, especially SNES and PS1 games. Those were golden years man.
I'm sure plenty will disagree with me, but I think Cross has the best combat system of any turn-based PS1 JRPG. I didn't care about the story much, which is usually the death knell for me with any JRPG, but I just loved the battles so much. It felt so good to get the field element just where you need it and to plan out your moves and so on and so forth. I love that game for the gameplay alone.
also, Chrono Cross absolutely takes place in the same world as CT, just in a sectioned off part of it that's prevented from interacting with the outside of the El Nido archipelago by FATE. It absolutely IS a sequel to CT, even though on the surface it doesn't appear to be. You have to dig a little deeper and read some stuff, but trust me, it's there. It's not a perfect game, but it's perfect to me.
It's definitely not an in your face hand holder when it comes to all the story elements and ties like so many. Which is fitting to follow up CT. Which had a bunch of hidden story elements itself and kind of needed multiple playthroughs to see it all as well.
I hear you. I can't play JRPGs all that much anymore either due to the same problem. I recommended LoD as it's a special game to me yet it's a 4 disc game so... yeah X). Keep it in your to-play list though, you'd enjoy it. Curious about what you would have to say too. Keep up the good work!
Great video! I must agree with you on almost all fronts, except one: the story. While I do agree that the story is way too convoluted, I must disagree in regards to the ending. [SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO'VE NOT PLAYED IT] I too got lost in the story, but once we get to focus on FATE being the main antagonist, I feel like things get way more streamlined and interesting. The journey to reach Chronopolis is filled with tension, the plot twist involving the dragons, after you defeat FATE did genuinely surprise me (which was a rarity in video games, back at that time), and damn if the battle against the Dragon God wasn't one of the best boss battles (in terms of soundtrack and ambience) I've ever experienced, up there with it's predecessor's battle against Magus or Lavos.
I remember reading somewhere at some point that this whole game was somewhat centered around magus (guile) but the devs decided a direct sequel featuring a character many new players wouldn't understand the backstory of would be a bad idea. So they turned one of the best characters ever, ever into a..a crono cross character..
This game is almost Zelda 2 levels of divisive. On the one hand, you got people who wanted this game to be Chrono Trigger 2 so bad that it devastated them when it had next to NOTHING to do with the original game. No Toriyama, no real ties to the original games or characters, and a much more complicated story. On the other hand, there were the Playstationphiles who believe there are no bad RPGs in the 32 bit era under the Sony banner. Probably cut their teeth on RPGs for the first time here, and it makes sense that they would defend this era of RPGs fiercely. I'm not personally a huge fan of this era of RPGs, but I'll admit, the soundtrack, unique combat, bright colors, and the allure of a large cast of characters is a strong one (to a certain type of RPG player). I was certainly lured back to this game under those merits. However, after objectively setting aside my love of CT and trying to play this game in earnest based on its own merits (a few months ago), I lost interest about 10 hours into the game. I think this game will age better than a lot of its PSX contemporaries, but I think a certain level of stubborn devotion to this game is required to REALLY love it.
I think your evaluation is weak and ignores the still very enjoyable visual art, the timeless music, the well thought out gameplay and enjoyably imaginative fantasy world that make it very easy to see why people like this game over many other RPGs, 16 or 32 bit. You've replaced bias with generalizations.
I find the game itself to be pretty, colorful, but not overly engaging. I finished it and got the requisite endings, but it took wikis to tie it together with Chrono Trigger. The MUSIC, however, is some of the best in video game history. I think it stands alongside Trigger as having some of the most memorable, enjoyable tracks I've ever heard.
Chrono Cross is amazing because it's not just a sequel. Yes, the story is convoluted, but sorting out all the craziness and making sense of a complicated story like this is what makes it worth the play. And yes, the story makes sense when you spend time reflecting on it. The roster of recruitable characters is one of its strengths, allowing for a large array of team composition, even if certain choices come down to aesthetic. Recruiting Guile, for instance, has become an almost must for me because of how bad ass Serge, Guile, and Mojo look breaking into Viper manor. These character choices add flavor to the chosen story paths and make playing through the game more than once extremely rewarding. In short, I am a huge fan of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. When it comes down to it, Chrono Trigger is, as you put it, more streamlined, but it's the complexity of Chrono Cross that has lead me to place it above Chrono Trigger in terms of favorite RPGs.
I'll admit I had to do some research to truly understand the story. But holy crap once the light bulb came on and everything story-wise clicked (especially with Trigger's involvement), my mind was blown. I definitely agree the music is the best part here.
reyco1987 Yeah. I got into this a lot when it first came out and was able to ascertain what was happening without outside stuff, so maybe that is why I love it so much. But it is truly a fantastic sequel and has a great many ties to CC. it just isn't the regular fanfare of beating your face into the sequel *cough*lightningreturns*cough*
I think this game is really interesting. I’ve never played it, but I know one interesting fact. It uses a 480i/576i title screen and menus, and 240p/288p gameplay. This transition is seamless on a CRT TV, but on a modern screen or upscaler, there is a significant dropout before the video sync signal adjusts. However, if you use a crappy upscaler or bad TV, the switch will be seamless, because the scaler or TV simply doesn’t know what 240p/288p is and instead just assumed it’s 480i/576i, and tries to deinterlace it. You get significantly reduced picture quality, but no sync dropout. Or you can just use a CRT like a normal person.
Man... I've played through this game dozens of times. It's easily as good as Chrono Trigger was in my opinion, but then I really liked the story. The fact that it was so convoluted and complicated and involved so many people made the story and the world seem more realistic in a way... less video-gamey. I've played it recently, and it remains my favorite game on the platform and probably one of my top five favorite JRPGs of all time. Oh, well. Different strokes I guess.
watched the whole review, great job, well summerised. A clumsy story with too little character development. I wish that Surge - Leena stuff at the beginning actually went somewhere.... but Leena just joins your party and nothing more happens with their friendship.
I mean the game's main romance is Serge/Kid, considering the ending has a picture of a timeline where Serge and Kid are married. Though... They dropped the ball on that relationship, too. I mean, there was no hint of anything romantic before that aforementioned picture at the end of the ending...
Chrono Trigger might be my favorite video game ever, or at least in the top five. This may sound dumb but one big reason why I didn’t even bother with CC was the look and design of it. I think I had gotten more into PC games at the time and I always thought CC’s graphics looked absolutely terrible. It may have had older tech, but CT is absolutely gorgeous. There really is something to be said about the feel and overall atmosphere of the 16 bit era RPGs.
Replaying it as an adult, I don't think a single PS1 (or ps2 or ps3 for that matter) game conveyed an aesthetic as beautifully as Chrono Cross. Even if the literal story may be iffy, the entire mood the game conveys is more important in this case.
Thanks for reviewing this. I've been wanting to try this game again, but wasn't sure if it was worth revisiting. I actually never finished it because the rental copy I had was too damaged to get past long cut scenes.
I like them both, but I think I grew to like Cross better for not hoping it was gonna be Trigger v.2. The ties between the two games are displayed on different ocasions, and many of them will likely go unnoticed; in my opinion it seemed like a development decision to not outright point them out, and instead present the plot as if it was an independent game altogether, but both games are certainly heavily connected. And yes, the soundtrack is a precious gem, as is the colorful art used to create the mood; the Frozen Flame piece never leaves my playlist. Also just found out your channel and wanted to say: congratulations and keep up the great work! This is quality stuff, and I'm always happy to find people who produce content from the SNES era. All the best on your project!
i never beat this game but i thought i was very good. i was just too distracted with Final Fantasy 8 and Diablo 2 lol. i mean to go back and beat it. meanwhile i beat chrono trigger about 100+ times
After playing through the Radical Dreamers edition I'm starting to see what you mean. Trigger is my favorite game of all time and I went in with an open kind knowing that it's not the same as Trigger, but I couldn't get invested in the story or the combat system at all. Sure the art direction and music are the crown jewels of this game and the nods to Trigger are a nice touch, but overall....eh.
playing many rpgs from old games until today high graphic games, only Chrono Cross gives deep impact to me...something about it that melancholy and nostalgic that keeps u reminiscing about the game... 😔
I actually heard of and fell in love with Chrono Cross before even hearing about Chrono Trigger. I agree the relationship between them is not clear. Not sure why but Chrono Trigger just slipped by at the time it came out. It wasn't until 2016 sometime that I finally played Chrono Trigger.
This is one of those hills I will absolutely die on. Cross is absolutely a worthy sequel, and I would argue that it is equally as good as Trigger. I personally place the two as a tie for greatest game ever. Is it very different? Yes. does it only have a vague connection to Trigger? Yes. That's also a point in it's favour is that it does not rely on the original. Not only that, but when has anything Square/Enix done anything to set a standard that the sequel is always directly related? Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest do this all the time, why are they not faulted for the same thing? The other point I like to make is that while the story is absolutely bonkers, that's also the point. This is intended to be a much more introspective journey, with the plot details intended to evoke personal and emotional change in the player. Think about how often this game talks about fate and breaking free from it. This game is intended to get the player to step up and break free and create a positive change within themselves. Also, everyone mentions this and it's in the video itself, but it still needs to be stated, this is the single greatest soundtrack in video game history. I've many other points and I could expand on a lot of this, but that would be an essay and a half, so maybe I make a video of my own some day about this topic.
It's also worth noting that once you beat the game you get a fast forward function for every game after it. It's one of the top buttons on the controller and believe me, it makes life easier when playing this game.
This is my favorite game of all time. It saddens me how I can't play it anymore. The music is lovely, the locations are beautiful and vibrant, the animation scenes are phenomenal, and the fact that there are so many playable characters was always a plus, for me. Everyone has different playing strategies and methods, and each major battle requires different attack plans. Having so many characters helps each player decide on their own how each battle will be handled. As for the story, focusing on how little it has in common to the first game is pretty detrimental to how the game can be viewed. I have purposely played the game DOZENS of times, gaining EVERY character, fighting ALL the bosses (even the secret ones) and each time, I find more and more in common with the first game. It's not a REMAKE. The story works better when you detach the two and realize it has it's own stories to tell and plot lines to hash out. It's a beautiful game that doesn't get as much love as it should by people too hung up on how unlike Chrono Trigger it is. They are both excellent games, but I always remember that Chrono Cross was my first 100% completed game and the one that grabbed my attention, leading me to become a gamer.
While I agree this is not a great sequel. I believe somewhere in the game they do mention that the archipelago that the game takes place in is one of the islands/parts of the overworld from Chrono Trigger. They even mention war and what not that took place in Chrono Trigger around this time as well. I haven't played and beaten CC but a handful of times so I am a bit fuzzy in where they mention this, so I may have to play it again.
GamerEX Yeah. One of the places is straight up the ruins of Leene Square. there are a LOT of ties to Chrono Trigger, and it is nowhere near as bad as SNES Drunk made it sound.
Actually, CC's world technically does not exist in Trigger as we know it. It's a separate dimension from Trigger that exists after Lavos is defeated in Trigger with more background time traveling... it's confusing to explain everything. But there is a reason why the continent in CC is not in CT.
@@seacliff217 it does and does not exist at the same time in the CT world. it's part of the world but it's affected by aftermath of the time traveling done in crono trigger and a couple different things happened to seal it off and a bit of other stuff. But it is actually in CT's world by technicality... Though in the future after the events of CT and the world not being ended by Lavos but paying for that adventure in different ways. There is a presumption that there may be other parts of the overall world suffering from similar or different effects while some parts are entirely unaffected by time travel issues.
I don't know why the differences between the games never bothered me. Chrono Trigger was a really important game to me when I was young and I was excited to play CC but never experienced the jarring dislike some people had.
My friends used to tell me how unbelievable chrono cross was, that the story was the most mind blowing thing they ever played, and so eventually I got my hands on it, and it bored the absolute shit out of me.
I would suggest that the reason that used the word element is because it resembles a periodic table of elements when you allocate elements but anyway yeah I freaking love this game your channel is giving me so much nostalgia and really soothing the wounds of this year
I played Chrono Cross first than CT., Chrono Cross is a good game within the standards of Square RPGs of the time weighed mostly down by gimmick of a large cast of recruitable characters (I have a vague memory that the large cast was a selling point or something, thus a gimmick) since this causes character development to take a hit. The story is a "mess" I guess, but to some extent one could say the same for FF8, FF9, etc (and I enjoyed FF9, mess or not). All in all, I think CC is a pretty good if not great game among its contemporary. CT however, just feel perfect within the category of 16-bit RPGs. Streamlined, very well done, very entertaining, having ATB instead of turn-base makes sense here, etc etc. An ideal for 2d/16bit RPGs to strive for.
It is the same world... after Lucca broke reality using skynet/the matrix. It is explained that the area the game takes place in was made by Lucca in order for her to perform research without interference. It is seperated from the rest of reality by a barrier. All I know is Lucca Ashtear died then Serge was assaulted which lead to times division... complete with Schrodinger's cat.
I think I've tried the game two or three times, but I could never really get into everything that much, but I watched it twice played by HCBailly and I'm glad I did. He really takes his time to show everything off, gets all the cool stuff and explains everything really well, so if anyone ever wants to get into it but can't or don't want to play it himself, he's your man.
If they only removed the ties to Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross would be pretty excellent. There's a lot to like in Cross, make no mistake, but two integral parts of the backstory for it are: 1) Defeating Lavos at the end of Trigger didn't save the world. In fact, it made everything worse. 2) The original cast all died offscreen. And at least three of them were murdered horribly. That shit just feels like a slap in the face to Trigger itself (which was a very happy, rousing, optimistic game, so these plot points almost feel like a rejection of positivity), and to everyone who enjoyed it. And that's not a good way to set up a sequel's plot. If they lifted those bits out, Chrono Cross would be an uncontested classic. My advice is to try and headcanon those plot points away. You'll enjoy the game more for doing so.
Yeah I agree. Although to be honest I think if the game did not have Chrono in the title it would have been another of those forgotten PS1 JRPG's that were good but not good enough to be remembered 20 years later. Much like how people played it at the time to see how it tied into Trigger it probably still rides that hype wave even now.
I've never understood this line of logic. "If it just had a different name, this game would have been amazing." A name ultimately means nothing. The game still exists as it is. If your name was something completely different than what it is, but your life played out exactly the same, you would still be the person you are wouldn't you? What if Mario was called Sonic and Sonic called Mario, or dogs called cats and cats called bananas? None of those things would cease to be what they are. Fans really need to get the fuck over themselves and accept things as they are and not get caught up in semantics.
A title shapes your expectations when you walk into an experience. When I played Chrono Cross, the "Chrono" in the title led me to believe it'd be more Chrono Trigger. Can't help but be disappointed that it was different, or mad how it mistreated the cast of the original. However, if it was named something else, then I could see myself just appreciating the game for what it is as opposed to thinking "I wish this was more like Chrono Trigger."
matchboxmatt your expectations and assumptions still don't change the fact that the game exists as it is. Again, you are too hung up on what things are called rather than seeing things as they are. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. If you can't like something because of a name, then that's on you. As for me, I appreciate and judge things for what they are, and not what they are called.
Chrono Trigger is light heated and Chrono Trigger is dark. It's like Dragonball versus Dragon Ball Z . I like both, but Chrono Cross feels more massive.
I pretty much agree with all points in your review, except for the battle and leveling system (will get back to that in a moment), but let's say the game's negative aspects weighed a lot more heavily on my experience with the game than they seem to have in your case. The soundtrack is phenomenal, I'll have to admit, and those are some of the best graphics on the system. To me the battle system remained uncomfortable for a good chunk of the game, but it's not that bad. But that star level system and how restrictive it was really annoyed the hell out of me. I know they wanted to keep a good control over how challenging each battle in the game would be (which was ironic, since I remember CC being really easy overall), but appart from element setup you have little strategic options, and the classic "brute force through hard work" jrpg idea of being able to grind was not an option. This also made normal battles an almost complete nuisance, as there was hardly anything worth to gain from them, and even if you could avoid enemies by dodging and fleeing, it was still somewhat a pain.
Claudio Marcelo Basckeira I don’t think you played the game properly. The element system was very well made and lets you strategize your battles to a level that I’ve never accomplished with a grindy jrpg. Use the element system to turn the field to your advantage, then slam your foes with spells. It’s simple, yet satisfying. Furthermore, SE knew that battling unnecessarily puts a strain on the experience, hence making running away from battles 100% effective unlike ff games that give you a random chance of escape. This was even true in boss fights. You could leave a boss to pause, reset elements and re-strategize your effort in order to best them. Again, this adds to the games unique, strategy conscious gameplay. Now here’s something you may have overlooked: the random battles are specifically made so that you can use trap elements to gain some of the games most powerful spells, including level 7 summon spells, which can only be gained via specific elemental enemies. Ex: you can gain summon Red wolf by trapping it from a hot diggity in mount pyre. I recommend taking full advantage of these features. It really lets you manipulate the games features effectively.
As someone that hates grinding in RPG's I actually thought the star leveling system was the most brilliant thing about this game. And naturally complements the ability to run past regular enemies on the field. Unlike in Trigger where you could run past them but might end up under leveled so you probably fought them anyway. The rest of the games systems were a bit awkward even once you understand them.
@@chicodepuertorico1450 I think that might actually be where some people fail with the star and battle system. it's a JRPG. they are expecting to be able to grind and brute force. But there actually was a fair bit of strategy involved in setting things up in your favor. Or in some cases actually getting the enemy to set it up for you by trying to counter what it read as the play you were trying to make.
This is one of the few Square games from this era that I remember playing and loving at the time, that also got like EXCEPTIONAL ratings (10/10 in EGM which never happened), but couldn't tell you a thing about it these days. I don't remember anything from it, at all.
I played Chrono Cross 10 years before I played Chrono Trigger, so I’m in the minority when I say that I absolutely love CC, and think it is much better than CT.
i wish it still had Akira Toriyama's art style like the first one it would look dragon quest like. Character art doesn't look bad it just feels like a different RPG game from the first.
Great idea for a series, sometimes it is hard to revisit old RPGs because you get too used to the conveniences of modern RPGs. Looks like a beautiful game, I really want to make time to play it someday.
Well and some of his complaints about the mechanical system are really more early game problems than they are late game problems. But that's typical of main games and many rpg's.
Chrono Cross is a sequel based upon the effects of Crono and co's time travel. After they kill Lavos in 1999, an alternate future occours, and at the same time, a paradox is created (which is localized in the Dead Sea). In the new future, in 2400 AD, the Time Crash forces Chronopolis to travel back to around 10000BC. Then all of the events with FATE, Lavos - Frozen Flame, Serge, and Kid/Schala occour. Eventually, the Chrono Cross is used to fix all of the tears in the fabric of space and time created in CT.
Hey, i was wondering if it might be possible for you to cover a little known shoot em up for the gameboy color called S-11. Im new to your channel and you really deserve more subscribers. Great work.
What's funny is, I played through both Chrono Trigger and Cross and never once thought that it might NOT be a sequel. Then again, I generally ignore all text or story in games unless it is telling me what to do next. Both were excellent games.
I was born in 1999, and I can attest to having thoroughly enjoyed most of the "greats" that predate me, in their original forms, no less! I first played the SNES version of CHRONO TRIGGER via the Wii Virtual Console in 2016, and received a DS copy for Christmas that same year. It would seem few other videogame players my age are even aware of these gems. "What a sad state of affairs..." -Melchior, CHRONO TRIGGER
Confession time. I actually played Chrono Cross before Chrono Trigger. Chrono Cross was one of my favorite games on the ps1. I loved it's story and characters it really blew my mind. Then I played Chrono Trigger and it blew my universe.
I have a distinct memory of my brother playing this game when my hands weren't even big enough to hold a controller well. I remember cut scenes, scenarios, the music I remember really well too, character designs etc I just can't remember the story because I couldn't read at the time. Come this year and I talked about it to him and he told me he never actually played Chrono Cross. I guess my brother from another dimension did. I must have switched dimensions somehow :T
FYI, it says on the back cover, "The long awaited *sequel*" i.imgur.com/LsfnZBN.jpg
Like most Square RPG's of the PS1 era, it was just "meh". It didn't have the charm of the SNES era games.
I actually dug up and played 'Radical Dreamers'. The SNES Broadcast satellite Chrono Trigger sequel. It made Chrono Cross make more sense, but... I can't really recommend it as a Chrono Trigger game, it's sorta it's own weirdness.
Suffice it to say that Chrono Cross is a sequel to Radical Dreamers, which is a spinoff of Chrono Trigger, not really a sequel.
@@poisonouslead85 i disagree. Thought it was fantastic. I played it before trigger though so didn't have any expectations
I was going to write a long objection to your opinion on chrono cross but it would be way to long. Instead I'm just going to the the story's are interconnected the developers dont treat you like a child. its story, just like xenogears is what makes video game art it uses philosophy and theoretical physics to connect time lines and worlds. Last note an insult the reason Japan didnt want to release RPGs here is they thought we wouldn't be able to appreciate that depth and or criticism of religion, so thanks for your contribution to that (your simple minded)
@@theskull8637 lol poor baby can't handle different opinions
We moved into a new house in 2002 when I was a kid. We were exploring the backyard, and hidden in the bushes was a $20 bill, and Chrono Cross, case artwork and all. I still had my PS1 so I went DEEP on this game.
I think your future self traveled back in time and left that for you.
you didn't live in particular snowy state did you?
@@trevormills3339 why did you leave it there? lol
You found 20 bucks and a game?
@@thalesatreides9566NOO I turned the 69 likes into 70
I appreciate the main plot of Chrono Cross. I love needlessly complex stories. Makes me feel good when I finally figure them out. And if you want to get 100% completion, you'll have to play the game 3 times.
My favorite part about the plot is that basically, Lavos created himself a back up plan, just in case he did get destroyed.
Also, CC is so separated from CT because if they interacted with the CT game, it would screw with the timeline of the game. One of the cool touches in CC is that the El Nido archipelago uses mind control through the Record of Fate to make sure the islanders don't interact with the mainland and screw up the timeline.
But yes... the 45 characters are essentially meaningless as most of them have nothing special about them. I'd easily trade in the novelty of having 45 characters, and cut it down to 12 if those twelve were more compelling and interesting characters.
If I remember right. you don't even figure out the whole Lavos Backup plan and what that sort of means until like the second play through do you?
The nature of how the characters joins your party fits with the theme of the planet perspective. That's why there are dozens of characters, they don't have deep development because in this type of story is unnecessary. Just Serge and Kid are really the main characters, they represent the duality on which the game present the thesis.
The part a lot of people miss is the joy of the variety of characters. Combining the correct groups together open different paths , events and dialogs. Playing with say 2 friends who vs 2 enemies vs 2 characters who are lovers or 2 who are brothers has different interations like being invited to a castle, having to charge a gate, sneak inbehind a VIP, rent a boat, Entering in all undercover. Very open world and non linear is what I like about it. It is more Suikoden /romancing saga then people expect. But definitely I consider it a worthy Chrono Trigger sequel.
I heard that the whole ”Lavos backup plan” was written because of some disagreements between CC and CT teams. Apparently it was a middle finger to the old team which made the events of CT kinda meaningless.
Why the hell are you putting spoilers in this without a warning? This video is literally here as a promotion for people to try out the game who have not yet. This video is for people WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED IT. Of all places to drop spoilers, why this comment section?? At the very least warn people that there are spoilers before you say them, holy shit this is insane. If you liked the game so much why ruin it for people who want to experience it themselves?
Is Chrono Cross worth playing today? Debatable. Is it worth listening to the soundtrack? Abso-fucking-lutely.
True dat.
True but I feel like you're going to appreciate the music more if you played the whole game.
***** Yeah, the music in Terra Tower is pretty epic.
Fuck yah it is mate!
Overworld Theme (Dream of the Shore Near Another World)... Just this song alone makes this game worth playing. I've remembered it since the 90s. Just stopping and listening.
This is one of my favorite jrpgs ever. The soundtrack, the dozens of characters, the setting, the soundtrack, the crazy convoluted story, the soundtrack, and the soundtrack.
Got a copy of the game, and like 3 soundtracks.
My bitch gave it to me as a gift you fuckers
Amen to that, the soundtrack is damn awesome. Ze history is good enough for me. I only disliked the dozen of chars, mostly Macha, Korcha and the girl, the masked wrestler man and a few more.
@atariDC_ you forgot about the soundrack!
@@darkprincesmwc9099
Yeah...
BUT HOW ABOUT THAT SOUNDTRACK?!?
Chrono Cross is actually a very difficult game to review. It's easy to fall into the trap of evaluating it like every other RPG, separating out the separate elements, but this game is quite different.
Remember that Square Enix doesn't really do the whole sequel thing. Final Fantasy is not a series of sequels, nor was the Mana series. With a Square game of the '90s you gain much more from the experience by putting in a little thought. A game's value is in the questions the game asks of the player, and this game has some serious questions to ask. The question the Chrono series is asking is: What is the relationship between information and heroism?
In Chrono Trigger, before you embarked on any part of the adventure, you had all the information you needed to feel like you were the hero of the story. Rescue princess? Check. Rigged court trial? Check. Rescue the world? Check. In every action you were justified, for you knew you were the hero of the story. Even when you died, you died a hero. And when your friends rescued you from death, you got the hero's welcome. This is the story of the high-information hero.
Enter Chrono Cross. One of the first cut scenes you see is you murdering someone. Then you go killing innocent animals for a necklace for your girlfriend. Then you are wisked away to another land. You rescue Kid (or not), and find out she's more street rat than princess. Then, to save her life, you must destroy an entire ecosystem. Later on, you take on the villain's body. You know you are not a villain, but you aren't really a hero, and your actions are certainly not seen as heroic. You just play on, learning more, advancing the story, exploring the beautiful world set to an exquisite score. You are not a hero, yet you make friends and get help along your journey. It isn't until the end of the game, where you finally get a clue for what you have been doing this whole time, that you feel like you've been doing heroic things. This is the other side of the Chrono Trigger coin, the story of the low-information hero.
I thought Chrono Trigger was an OK game, but I loved Chrono Cross.
Beautifully put
Yes. I love both games and actually hated Chrono Cross at first. The Final Fantasy sequels, although not connected, still blended elements of the previous sequel while CC put a baseball bat to Trigger and started from scratch from its pace to the music to the way the story was told. When I got over that it was not Chrono Trigger, I started to really get into it. You wanted to see the differences between worlds, you wanted to see everything. The story was more puzzley which can be frustrating at first and some of the characters are annoying, but, it did feel that you embarked on a different type of adventure especially if you are like me, who played every RPG imaginable. Chrono Trigger was that fun fast beautiful car you drove, while Chrono Cross was that delicate machine that had a feel and let you be in the moment.
I'd argue that Cross is indeed a sequel, just not a direct one.
*********************SPOILER**************************
The story was originally supposed to star Magus (Guile) while he looked for Schala, so from the beginning of development it was meant to be a sequel. They just felt that going that route wouldn't give Magus the justice he deserved so they changed him into Guile and just made him a normal side-character. Magus was also a character in Radical Dreamers.
Then there's Prometheus (Robo) who has arguably suffered from the events of Chrono Cross more than Magus has. He was placed inside of FATE by Lucca and Belthasar with the sole purpose of starting a rebellion when Serge showed up as The Arbiter, only to be destroyed by FATE the moment Surge arrived. Lucca, Belthasar and Robo have GIGANTIC roles in Chrono Cross. This is why Lynx was after her and wanted her dead. If not for their actions, the game wouldn't have even existed. But yeah, not a sequel :3
while this may be true, they could have done without them and made other people the reason for it and it would have stood as a good game on its own.
iirc, what they did though.. .this isn't another world, this is a small part of CT's world, remnants of Lavos and the magical kingdom. That's why all this shit happens. CT was about time, CC is about dimensions.
CT what you did in the past affected the future
CC you live to see the consequences of actions by others, and yourself in other dimensions.
I think of them as sequels moreso because they both tackle that theme.
Another useful life skill to acquire is the knowledge that time isn't a thing that exists, and can't be manipulated. Time is simply a measurement from event A to event B just as a mile is the measurement from point A to point B. You can't manipulate a mile to be anything other than a measurement of 5,280 feet which is a measurement of 63,360 inches. Time is merely a rhythmic pulse used to measure how long it takes for events to occur. It's just a fun fantasy to imagine time being a thing that can be manipulated and "traveled", and what the consequences might be.
Before anyone says, "But it's proven that time moves faster in space!". Not true. What is happening in space is mass being subjected to less gravity, allowing atoms move faster. You "age" faster in less gravity because your atoms are moving faster ... Hence "aging" more rapidly. Time isn't moving faster. Just your mass. GPS satellites had to be re-calibrated because they measure the decay of a carbon atom for precision. Well, being subjected to less gravity means that decay takes less time, and that fact had to be compensated for to make GPS systems accurate. A measurement of 1 second is still 1 second no matter the circumstance.
Thing is I missed CT till later so I actually played CC first, and I really enjoyed it. Music rocked!
Same!
Yep. CC came out when I was getting into video games and so I played that first and wasn't even aware of CT until the early 2000s when I saw it parodied on Newgrounds. I had an SNES too, as did a lot of my friends, but none of us just ever heard of CT for some reason.
One of Chrono Cross' weaknesses is indeed the ton of characters involved. It's almost like someone on the dev team looked at the Suikoden games and thought "hey, we can do that too!", ignoring that Suikoden managed to get away with it because there was a big central narrative that tied everyone together (meaning you didn't need more than a motivation for those characters to join you).
Chrono Cross holds a very special place in my heart. I ate, slept, and breathed this game for a couple of months one summer. For the time, the graphics were GORGEOUS, and the music still holds up today. The dragging combat, slow exploration, and BAFFLING story or lack thereof keeps me from playing it a second time.
Great review, I will note that I think you may have missed the story connection to the original game. It does indeed exist and is a little more than a superficial connection.
It doesn't really become obvious until the end of the game though. Also the ending is a little on the WTF side to be honest. For most of the game, Lavos is the only real connection the player knows about to the original. I mean there are some subtle hints along the way, but that's about it really.
I think the design team wanted to started with a blank page (new world, new characters, etc) and loosely tie it in with the original. In a way they succeeded with that, but it wasn't what people were expecting or hoping for at all. I honestly just enjoyed the game on its own myself, but I went into it knowing that it was loosely based on Radical Dreamers.
Zos Xavius Your assumption about the design process is actually totally wrong, although I can see why u would think that, its a reasonable assumption.
The game was actually originally planned to have a lot more to do with CT, but was changed over time to be more original (u know how much Square hates direct sequels n all that haha). The main character was even originally supposed to be Magus, but then they decided to turn him into a new character (Guile) and reduce his significance (into a side character) while they rewrote the story.
It seems to me that they started with a smaller scope of what the game could be, but then started exploring the possibilities that opened up with the parallel worlds mechanic and kinda went overboard with rewrites to make everything fit
@@zosxavius It was obvious pretty early on...the soldiers from Porre, Kid's pendant, a lot of Guile/Magus' dialogue.
I remember (and it's been 15+ years) Lavos being mentioned and then the short exchange between Chrono, Marle, and Lucca. It seemed like an afterthought to me. I was so disappointed because it didn't bring anything new and fresh to the table. It was like a bread crumb trail to a "thanks for playing" sign. It gained nothing from the minuscule amount of tie-in and created nothing new for me to be excited about. This review is spot on imo.
Chrono Trigger is one of my favourite games. Finally got around to Chrono Cross.... And oh my goodness, with an open mind.. this game is something special
What makes me love chrono cross is the replayability. The dialogue changes depending on who's with you, and even the route that you take in certain situations. You can play the story having a very different experience in every playthrough.
That's because of the french game that was second in the series. I was confused to until I found the actual sequel. The story from the text based game Radical Dreamers reveals how the original Surge, Kid and a third person breaks into Viper manor to steal the flame believing its in the hands of the evil Lynx. In the end the real Serge dies when he takes Lynx off a cliff.
Kid devastated and being one of Lucca's orphans, Lucca decides to help out. By this point she is the leader of a large science institute and for Kid's sake creates basically a dimensional clone of Serge in the other dimension. The institute itself had dominion of the second dimension in the archipelago for the sake of experimentation. The new Serge was then allowed to grow up, until one day his father and friend got caught in a storm and end up at the other version of the institute, the one that exists in the alternate reality. Serge's father then uses the facility to heal Serge how ever the A.I. seeing Serge as an anomaly seeks to remove him. Serge's father saves his son by sacrificing himself. The A.I. loosing its chance to remove said anomaly creates a version of Lynx, similar to how Lucca created the new Serge, but Lynx took the info he had and went rogue. At first I thought Lynx was the panther incarnate that they show almost killing Serge how ever if you pay close attention its mentioned that the A.I. created something that represented what killed the original Serge. Its odd and vary easy to miss.
Later in the normal world the soldiers of Viper manor seek out the frozen flame like their original leader before them and eventually come to the original facility. There the flame exists in both worlds like the A.I. as both of them kept the facility tethered to both sides. One as the energy source and the other the controller. How ever it goes wrong for them when and the facility goes critical destroying it.
Mean while, Kid tired of being an observer drew Surge into the first dimension starting the game. (Lucca gave her creation "Serge" the ability to freely cross over between both dimensions, this is why Lynx needed his body. In my opinion this event is why the game is called Chrono Cross. As both characters are intertwined between dimensions and time.)
This is why the A.I. wants to get rid of Surge when you get to that point in the game, this is why Lynx needed to steal Surges body and the links between the first and third game. A good hint is how Robo from the first game was actually incorporated into the A.I. as insurance by Lucca.
I think this was a crappy way of doing it. They should have dropped the second barely known title before creating this game because its more of a sequel to Radical Dreamers than it is Chrono Trigger.
I imagine CC as a "what if..." showing just one of the alternatives thats the cast of CT created after defeating lavos time after time.
Lucca had a science institute? Lucca created a clone of Schala??? What are you talking about? that was Balthazar, Lucca only had an orphanage
Atlusfox How did you get all that from radical dreamers? I dont think so. It seems like you made a lot of shit up. Lucca “creating” another serge? Nah that’s not confirmed anywhere.
All this fan theorist making up bullshit
I beat chrono cross before I even knew chrono trigger existed and I loved it. I feel bad for the people that have that nostalgia weighing down on them that prevented them from fully enjoying it. A few years after I did beat chrono trigger also and I do think it's a great game but compared to cross, well it's no contest for me. Chrono cross easily beats it but I will say that the storyline is quite convoluted in cross. Trigger had its moments of ridiculousness but cross could've benefited from a more grounded story but still, it's one of the best games of all time imo without a doubt. I actually just beat it again today 20 years after the first time. Been wanting to ever since and finally did. Better late than never 😅
I played Trigger before cross came out but i have liked Cross more since I've first played it.. I guess it helped that i viewed cross as a sequel to trigger the same way i viewed Final Fantasy 2 as a sequel to final fantasy 1 so i didn't really have that baggage that so many seem to have.
Chrono trigger and Chrono Cross are both beloved and timeless classics for me.
This game is a material piece. You get the see Crono, Lucca and Marle in the dead sea before a boss fight.
what
@@mikeys167 He prob meant masterpiece
@@TehPwnographer ur a masterpiece
The worst thing about Chrono Cross is that the plot elements that do overlap imply that by simply playing the game you've undone everything that was accomplished in Chrono Trigger. Yeah, fuck you hero!
Second worst thing is that the characters were so interchangeable once recruited that the devs literally devised a system to allow them to reuse overlapping dialogue - there was a set tags that were replaced with whatever that character's verbal tic was on display. You would recruit someone and unless they had a specific questline they lost all of their personality.
I did notice some overlapping dialogue in a couple instances but I didn't want to assume that was the case across the board. That's pretty lousy if that's the case
If you understood the plot you would understand that everything crono and the gang did in trigger was in vain. They never killed lavos, hes omnipresent. They only killed him in their reality. Schala knew this and so created a plot along with the help of the remaining sage, belthazar, to truly destroy lavos. Play the game again! Pay attention!
The events of Chrono Trigger aren't undone, the story of Chrono Cross still required those events to occur as they did/will, but it focused heavily on the idea of consequences of the choices you make. Destroying Lavos was a good thing, but even it had untended consequences that played out in Chrono Cross.
In fairness, programming a new system to play MadLibs in both Japanese and English was technologically impressive for a PS1 game. So many games would just recycle scripts verbatim or not even have certain characters talk at all.
I'm not gonna go through all these comments, but I just want to point out that while the bulk of the game seemingly has nothing to do with chrono trigger, it's only at the end of the game do all the dots connect. If you got the chrono cross and get the true ending of the game, it's pretty much made apparent that the current world you're in is a direct result of Lavos messing with time and space, and that your whole adventure was engineered by the main protagonists of CT (Chrono, Lucca and Marle) and that Kid is essentially the daughter of Schala. The big loose end of CT. The whole point of the game, as it turns out, was to save Schala.
THIS
There were a lot of dots to connect pretty early on in the game too...Guile, for one...dude was obviously Magus with a mask on if anyone was familiar with the character in the slightest, and the soldiers from Porre clearly establish that it is indeed the same world.
It's the sequel to a visual novel that has nothing to do with Chrono Trigger. They shoehorned the plot shit in, and it blows.
I know I'm the minority but I actually prefer CC over CT, nothing about CT really got my attention while there's a ton about CC that I loved when I first played, and I'm totally conscious that a lot of my love for it nowadays is nostalgia.
Oh, and one minor detail, I'm pretty sure you don't start every round with 7 stamina, like you said, different characters have different stamina recovery rates and items that increase that are very rare.
As a SNES kid growing up, and someone who certainly prefers CT over CC, I still really respect folks who enjoy CC over CT because the game has strong merits. It's almost frustrating to me that I don't like CC more. I just personally have trouble staying interested in the game, not because I compare it to CT so much, but even other games in the PSX library that were able to pull me in and keep me hooked better than CC was able to.
J Myers
Which ones you preferred? I wish I could get me interested enough to play Legend of Dragoon, my cousin played through it all way back when and said it was his favorite PSX RPG. I played so many SNES and PSX JRPGs that nowadays they seem really boring to me and I prefer action RPGs/WRPGs.
Oh, and BTW I think it's important to mention that I played CC *before* CT and that's certainly one of the reasons I prefer the former.
moonra Playing CC first really helps enjoying that game over CT for sure. As for PSX RPGs I prefer, I'm a huge fan of the Suikoden games, Grandia is a lot of fun, Xenogears I really enjoy (even disc 2, lol), a few other that aren't coming to mind atm.
Ahh, never played any Suikoden or Grandia. I did start Xenogears but played about... 20 minutes of it, can't remember exactly why I stopped so quickly.
For me it's definitely Legend of Mana, by far my favorite PSX game and probably my favorite game of all time. The OST is as good as CC's, graphics are awesome and timeless, since they're 2D [btw, maaan, how I wish we could get PSX games working on the PS2 emulator, the texture sharpening feature would make Legend of Mana look AMAZING] and the gameplay is awesome and VERY deep in customization. You can customize EVERYTHING, your equipment, your pets, your magic, even the world map.
I prefer CC of CT, but I played CC first, which might have been the reason. I liked being able to get the various characters, and the great CGI at the time. Of course when I learned it was a sequel, I did play CT too :).
One of the only games I bought the soundtrack for but couldnt complete the game(probably for the reasons you mention, but it was a long time ago). I'm thankful for the game because its what got me to fall in love with Yasunori Mitsuda.
What you call fantastic music I call one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard in the video game
A tad redundant, no?
My favorite part is when you beat the game you get the Speed Egg, which really helps if you have desires to keep playing.
SNES Drunk, been a big fan of your vids for over a year now. This has to be the MOST balanced review I've seen about this game. I still own my original copy of CT I picked up in 1995 at Walmart and absolutely love that game, I don't care for the PS1 version as much (the anime is cool, but takes away from the ending with the epilogue scene)
Now onto CC, I bought it on release in 99-00 whenever it came out. I still haven't beaten it to this day. The reason: you nailed it in your review, "if you were expecting the sequel to CT, prepare to be disappointed" ...I was. The thing no one ever seems to cover though is this game is actually the Super Famicom satellaview game Radical Dreamers. The only difference is some JPN producer at Squaresoft was like hey I got this game over here that's story is kind of like CT, can we use it in a new PS1 game that we can call Chrono something or other....their first mistake. And made the big budget PS1 version...mistake two.
Anyway I've complained for years about the game and this isn't the place and I'm tired of wasting time on why I didn't care for it. Too many characters, too confusing plot, crazy battle system, no true leveling up, pretty much everything you mentioned.
So last comment, the reason why the music seemed so similar to CT is because Yasunori Mitsuda came back and did the OST for this game as well, so it would share some thematic elements with the first game is because he composed this game as well. So that makes perfect sense.
Anyway loved the video and all of the others, keep'em coming and Happy Thanksgiving. Cheers.
gamesmaster5555 you didnt like everything great about it.
Being a kid who played both as they came out, this is like asking me which I love more: The house's puppy or the house's kitty. I love them both for completely different reasons.
Yet I do remember, as a kid, getting more involved in Cross world more. Maybe it's because I never got into the whole "time traveling" bit, but the idea of multiple dimensions always spoke to me more for some reason.
Hey SNES drunk awesome channel man!!! So glad your doing PS1 games now! Hoping for a Breath of fire 3 review and Castlevainia SOTN review soon! Love those games and love this channel! Keep it up
doakiller666 Breath Of Fire III yes!!
I've played through this game nearly as many times as Chrono Trigger, and I feel the appreciation for it grows with every playthrough.
Kid's origin, the true origin of Lynx, the actual legit tie-in to Chrono Trigger are all buried deep under layers of gameplay.
It is a direct sequel, in the sense that the events of Cross were directly caused by the heroes in Trigger stopping Lavos and saving the world. If you're looking for a game with the same characters and same world, this isn't it. But it is a direct follow-up in a different vain. The handheld tie-in "Radical Dreamers" is a good gap filler for anyone trying to understand some of the references.
I always look forward to seeing your videos in my sub feed man! Keep up the good work
I love crono cross and admittedly I never got to play CT on the SNES as a kid so when I found out CC was set in the same world from all the elements of it I sort out a copy on the PS1.
The beauty behind this game besides being it's own unique game not to be compared to it's predecessor it takes a different angle. Chrono trigger was all about time travel and changing events in history. Chrono cross focused on two parallel worlds that resulted from changing an event in time (Surges death) and how this butterfly effect made the people and their doppelgangers different from each other.
I tried. I can’t finish it. I did once before. Chrono Trigger is the end of the story for me. It’s best that way in my brain.
have you played radical dreamers? its honestly worth a play
me too! I just got lost after 20 hours.
Things were different in this game compared to Trigger. And Lucca told us exactly why. She said, when they were doing all their time traveling and changing and altering events, they never considered the possible futures they were destroying and what they were actually doing to the timeline.
This also lead to Dalton from 10,000BC getting the Epoch and going to "the present" and building up the Porre army or whatever it was to basically overthrow the main kingdom. Crono and Merle probably died.
The first time I played Chrono Trigger, I was hooked within the first 10 minutes.
I recently got the remaster of Chrono Cross for Christmas, and it’s kinda decent, but nowhere near as good as its predecessor.
This game’s intro video is indeed one of the best made to its time. I must have watched that video dozens of times, I listened to the music from it when working out, even. It is an absolutely amazing intro video for its time
Suikoden has 108 characters.
Eric Moors my favorite game ever :)
Well the second one is!
I was actually about to mention this! While each of the 108 characters don’t directly impact the plot or have significant character development, these games told amazingly powerful, emotional stories despite having an incredibly large cast.
Suikoden is one of my all time favorite series and honestly wish they were still making them.
Yeah but the Suikoden games are good
@@minigmaenigma CC is good. But too many go into it expecting to understand most everything about the game and how to manipulate it from a single playthrough. CC is one of those rare old games... and even rarer RPG's that you don't fully know what's going on until you've played it through at least a couple times because there are additional story elements as you wrap through it again. that was an almost unheard of concept back then and it's stuck into a fairly original 50 to 60 hour run RPG at that.
Been playing through it all over again, trying to collect more characters. Nothing can beat 90s (and early 00s) RPGs, especially SNES and PS1 games. Those were golden years man.
The intro vid/song still gives me goosebumps.
Wow Snes Drunk,you're on fire now. :D,also could we have PS Drunk too? :D
I'd love some PS1 / 2 game recommendations! I just dusted off my old PS2 and have been playing Star Ocean
+Sebastian Rodriguez great,i grew up playing. ps1/2 so iam also looking foward for it.^^
I'm glad I played this game because, at the time, I enjoyed it, and now I can listen to the soundtrack with nostalgic ears.
Me too...
I'm sure plenty will disagree with me, but I think Cross has the best combat system of any turn-based PS1 JRPG. I didn't care about the story much, which is usually the death knell for me with any JRPG, but I just loved the battles so much. It felt so good to get the field element just where you need it and to plan out your moves and so on and so forth.
I love that game for the gameplay alone.
also, Chrono Cross absolutely takes place in the same world as CT, just in a sectioned off part of it that's prevented from interacting with the outside of the El Nido archipelago by FATE. It absolutely IS a sequel to CT, even though on the surface it doesn't appear to be. You have to dig a little deeper and read some stuff, but trust me, it's there. It's not a perfect game, but it's perfect to me.
It's definitely not an in your face hand holder when it comes to all the story elements and ties like so many. Which is fitting to follow up CT. Which had a bunch of hidden story elements itself and kind of needed multiple playthroughs to see it all as well.
Yeah, the music is some of the best ever made for a game. EVER.
The backgrounds of this game look great, kinda reminiscent of The Legend of Dragoon's, which is an awesome game. Do you plan on reviewing it someday?
I'd love to someday but it's too time consuming. This and FF7 were my summer projects so they're kind of one-time deals
I hear you. I can't play JRPGs all that much anymore either due to the same problem. I recommended LoD as it's a special game to me yet it's a 4 disc game so... yeah X). Keep it in your to-play list though, you'd enjoy it. Curious about what you would have to say too. Keep up the good work!
this is the first jrpg i ever played. i played up till the body change and had to return the rental and never played again. ill go back one day.
Great video! I must agree with you on almost all fronts, except one: the story.
While I do agree that the story is way too convoluted, I must disagree in regards to the ending. [SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO'VE NOT PLAYED IT] I too got lost in the story, but once we get to focus on FATE being the main antagonist, I feel like things get way more streamlined and interesting. The journey to reach Chronopolis is filled with tension, the plot twist involving the dragons, after you defeat FATE did genuinely surprise me (which was a rarity in video games, back at that time), and damn if the battle against the Dragon God wasn't one of the best boss battles (in terms of soundtrack and ambience) I've ever experienced, up there with it's predecessor's battle against Magus or Lavos.
The intro had me so hyped to play this game. I realized about a third of the way in that it just wasn't going to live up to it.
I remember reading somewhere at some point that this whole game was somewhat centered around magus (guile) but the devs decided a direct sequel featuring a character many new players wouldn't understand the backstory of would be a bad idea. So they turned one of the best characters ever, ever into a..a crono cross character..
I love Chrono Cross even more than Trigger. Just sayin'.
Vyse Legendaire me too!
Dummy
I also like.... Skies of Arcadia!
I do too, I know its unpopular to say, but man I loved that game, loved trigger as well of course.
Jonathan Diosa i forgot all about that game, the only really good rpg for the dreamcast. wish i could get it on ps4 now
This game is almost Zelda 2 levels of divisive. On the one hand, you got people who wanted this game to be Chrono Trigger 2 so bad that it devastated them when it had next to NOTHING to do with the original game. No Toriyama, no real ties to the original games or characters, and a much more complicated story.
On the other hand, there were the Playstationphiles who believe there are no bad RPGs in the 32 bit era under the Sony banner. Probably cut their teeth on RPGs for the first time here, and it makes sense that they would defend this era of RPGs fiercely. I'm not personally a huge fan of this era of RPGs, but I'll admit, the soundtrack, unique combat, bright colors, and the allure of a large cast of characters is a strong one (to a certain type of RPG player). I was certainly lured back to this game under those merits.
However, after objectively setting aside my love of CT and trying to play this game in earnest based on its own merits (a few months ago), I lost interest about 10 hours into the game. I think this game will age better than a lot of its PSX contemporaries, but I think a certain level of stubborn devotion to this game is required to REALLY love it.
I think your evaluation is weak and ignores the still very enjoyable visual art, the timeless music, the well thought out gameplay and enjoyably imaginative fantasy world that make it very easy to see why people like this game over many other RPGs, 16 or 32 bit. You've replaced bias with generalizations.
I find the game itself to be pretty, colorful, but not overly engaging. I finished it and got the requisite endings, but it took wikis to tie it together with Chrono Trigger.
The MUSIC, however, is some of the best in video game history. I think it stands alongside Trigger as having some of the most memorable, enjoyable tracks I've ever heard.
Try Xenogears, Legend of Legaia, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Legend of Dragoon.
There was links to chrono trigger and the the events of ct actually led to chrono Cross, some where harder to see but if you look they are there.
Chrono Cross is amazing because it's not just a sequel. Yes, the story is convoluted, but sorting out all the craziness and making sense of a complicated story like this is what makes it worth the play. And yes, the story makes sense when you spend time reflecting on it. The roster of recruitable characters is one of its strengths, allowing for a large array of team composition, even if certain choices come down to aesthetic. Recruiting Guile, for instance, has become an almost must for me because of how bad ass Serge, Guile, and Mojo look breaking into Viper manor. These character choices add flavor to the chosen story paths and make playing through the game more than once extremely rewarding.
In short, I am a huge fan of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. When it comes down to it, Chrono Trigger is, as you put it, more streamlined, but it's the complexity of Chrono Cross that has lead me to place it above Chrono Trigger in terms of favorite RPGs.
I'll admit I had to do some research to truly understand the story. But holy crap once the light bulb came on and everything story-wise clicked (especially with Trigger's involvement), my mind was blown.
I definitely agree the music is the best part here.
reyco1987 Yeah. I got into this a lot when it first came out and was able to ascertain what was happening without outside stuff, so maybe that is why I love it so much. But it is truly a fantastic sequel and has a great many ties to CC. it just isn't the regular fanfare of beating your face into the sequel *cough*lightningreturns*cough*
I think this game is really interesting. I’ve never played it, but I know one interesting fact. It uses a 480i/576i title screen and menus, and 240p/288p gameplay. This transition is seamless on a CRT TV, but on a modern screen or upscaler, there is a significant dropout before the video sync signal adjusts. However, if you use a crappy upscaler or bad TV, the switch will be seamless, because the scaler or TV simply doesn’t know what 240p/288p is and instead just assumed it’s 480i/576i, and tries to deinterlace it. You get significantly reduced picture quality, but no sync dropout. Or you can just use a CRT like a normal person.
This game has to be play with a guide to be enjoyed fully.
There are a ton of characters, different game paths, and so much missable stuff.
Man... I've played through this game dozens of times. It's easily as good as Chrono Trigger was in my opinion, but then I really liked the story. The fact that it was so convoluted and complicated and involved so many people made the story and the world seem more realistic in a way... less video-gamey. I've played it recently, and it remains my favorite game on the platform and probably one of my top five favorite JRPGs of all time. Oh, well. Different strokes I guess.
watched the whole review, great job, well summerised. A clumsy story with too little character development. I wish that Surge - Leena stuff at the beginning actually went somewhere.... but Leena just joins your party and nothing more happens with their friendship.
Yeah, I agree! Thats a huge disappointment right there. They really dropped the ball on the potential of that relationship :/
I mean the game's main romance is Serge/Kid, considering the ending has a picture of a timeline where Serge and Kid are married.
Though... They dropped the ball on that relationship, too. I mean, there was no hint of anything romantic before that aforementioned picture at the end of the ending...
Chrono Trigger might be my favorite video game ever, or at least in the top five. This may sound dumb but one big reason why I didn’t even bother with CC was the look and design of it. I think I had gotten more into PC games at the time and I always thought CC’s graphics looked absolutely terrible. It may have had older tech, but CT is absolutely gorgeous. There really is something to be said about the feel and overall atmosphere of the 16 bit era RPGs.
I love this game! It came out whenever I was a teen. Brings me back so many memories.
I thought the story was way too convoluted and didn't reveal itself until the last minute, and all at once.
The music is so tied to Chrono trigger because it's the same composer, Yasunori Mitsuda. He also composed xenogears music
Replaying it as an adult, I don't think a single PS1 (or ps2 or ps3 for that matter) game conveyed an aesthetic as beautifully as Chrono Cross. Even if the literal story may be iffy, the entire mood the game conveys is more important in this case.
I just could never stand that the connection to Chrono Trigger in Cross was basically undoing most of the happy endings for the characters in Trigger.
You should start these PS1 videos with "PSSSSSS Drunk" it'll sound like piss drunk lol
I'M WITH YOU
PLEASE DO THIS
Yes please 🤣
Thanks for reviewing this. I've been wanting to try this game again, but wasn't sure if it was worth revisiting. I actually never finished it because the rental copy I had was too damaged to get past long cut scenes.
2020, I just beat it. Love it.
How I can play that game in pc ???
@@babiskotrokois6181
Emulator.
I like them both, but I think I grew to like Cross better for not hoping it was gonna be Trigger v.2. The ties between the two games are displayed on different ocasions, and many of them will likely go unnoticed; in my opinion it seemed like a development decision to not outright point them out, and instead present the plot as if it was an independent game altogether, but both games are certainly heavily connected. And yes, the soundtrack is a precious gem, as is the colorful art used to create the mood; the Frozen Flame piece never leaves my playlist.
Also just found out your channel and wanted to say: congratulations and keep up the great work! This is quality stuff, and I'm always happy to find people who produce content from the SNES era. All the best on your project!
Thanks for watching André
Yes it is Worth. I have played it 3 Times. And I still find secrets xD
i never beat this game but i thought i was very good. i was just too distracted with Final Fantasy 8 and Diablo 2 lol. i mean to go back and beat it. meanwhile i beat chrono trigger about 100+ times
After playing through the Radical Dreamers edition I'm starting to see what you mean.
Trigger is my favorite game of all time and I went in with an open kind knowing that it's not the same as Trigger, but I couldn't get invested in the story or the combat system at all. Sure the art direction and music are the crown jewels of this game and the nods to Trigger are a nice touch, but overall....eh.
playing many rpgs from old games until today high graphic games, only Chrono Cross gives deep impact to me...something about it that melancholy and nostalgic that keeps u reminiscing about the game...
😔
I actually heard of and fell in love with Chrono Cross before even hearing about Chrono Trigger. I agree the relationship between them is not clear. Not sure why but Chrono Trigger just slipped by at the time it came out. It wasn't until 2016 sometime that I finally played Chrono Trigger.
This is one of those hills I will absolutely die on. Cross is absolutely a worthy sequel, and I would argue that it is equally as good as Trigger. I personally place the two as a tie for greatest game ever. Is it very different? Yes. does it only have a vague connection to Trigger? Yes. That's also a point in it's favour is that it does not rely on the original. Not only that, but when has anything Square/Enix done anything to set a standard that the sequel is always directly related? Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest do this all the time, why are they not faulted for the same thing? The other point I like to make is that while the story is absolutely bonkers, that's also the point. This is intended to be a much more introspective journey, with the plot details intended to evoke personal and emotional change in the player. Think about how often this game talks about fate and breaking free from it. This game is intended to get the player to step up and break free and create a positive change within themselves. Also, everyone mentions this and it's in the video itself, but it still needs to be stated, this is the single greatest soundtrack in video game history. I've many other points and I could expand on a lot of this, but that would be an essay and a half, so maybe I make a video of my own some day about this topic.
It's also worth noting that once you beat the game you get a fast forward function for every game after it. It's one of the top buttons on the controller and believe me, it makes life easier when playing this game.
This is my favorite game of all time. It saddens me how I can't play it anymore. The music is lovely, the locations are beautiful and vibrant, the animation scenes are phenomenal, and the fact that there are so many playable characters was always a plus, for me. Everyone has different playing strategies and methods, and each major battle requires different attack plans. Having so many characters helps each player decide on their own how each battle will be handled. As for the story, focusing on how little it has in common to the first game is pretty detrimental to how the game can be viewed. I have purposely played the game DOZENS of times, gaining EVERY character, fighting ALL the bosses (even the secret ones) and each time, I find more and more in common with the first game. It's not a REMAKE. The story works better when you detach the two and realize it has it's own stories to tell and plot lines to hash out. It's a beautiful game that doesn't get as much love as it should by people too hung up on how unlike Chrono Trigger it is. They are both excellent games, but I always remember that Chrono Cross was my first 100% completed game and the one that grabbed my attention, leading me to become a gamer.
why cant you play it?? just emulate it
@@brokeish for real
It’s getting a remaster release look up the trailer
@@somebodyelseathome emulate it noob
While I agree this is not a great sequel. I believe somewhere in the game they do mention that the archipelago that the game takes place in is one of the islands/parts of the overworld from Chrono Trigger. They even mention war and what not that took place in Chrono Trigger around this time as well. I haven't played and beaten CC but a handful of times so I am a bit fuzzy in where they mention this, so I may have to play it again.
GamerEX Yeah. One of the places is straight up the ruins of Leene Square. there are a LOT of ties to Chrono Trigger, and it is nowhere near as bad as SNES Drunk made it sound.
Actually, CC's world technically does not exist in Trigger as we know it. It's a separate dimension from Trigger that exists after Lavos is defeated in Trigger with more background time traveling... it's confusing to explain everything.
But there is a reason why the continent in CC is not in CT.
@@seacliff217 it does and does not exist at the same time in the CT world. it's part of the world but it's affected by aftermath of the time traveling done in crono trigger and a couple different things happened to seal it off and a bit of other stuff. But it is actually in CT's world by technicality... Though in the future after the events of CT and the world not being ended by Lavos but paying for that adventure in different ways. There is a presumption that there may be other parts of the overall world suffering from similar or different effects while some parts are entirely unaffected by time travel issues.
This is what got me started on RPGs! One of my all time favorites.
I love Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross!
The Crono Cross soundtrack is fuckin amazing, the graphics are also nice to look at.
I don't know why the differences between the games never bothered me. Chrono Trigger was a really important game to me when I was young and I was excited to play CC but never experienced the jarring dislike some people had.
Plus I love complex/convoluted stories.
My friends used to tell me how unbelievable chrono cross was, that the story was the most mind blowing thing they ever played, and so eventually I got my hands on it, and it bored the absolute shit out of me.
The soundtrack is a MUCH better investment than the game itself.
Try Xenogears, Legend of Legaia, Star Ocean:The Second Story, Legend of Dragoon.
I would suggest that the reason that used the word element is because it resembles a periodic table of elements when you allocate elements but anyway yeah I freaking love this game your channel is giving me so much nostalgia and really soothing the wounds of this year
I played Chrono Cross first than CT., Chrono Cross is a good game within the standards of Square RPGs of the time weighed mostly down by gimmick of a large cast of recruitable characters (I have a vague memory that the large cast was a selling point or something, thus a gimmick) since this causes character development to take a hit. The story is a "mess" I guess, but to some extent one could say the same for FF8, FF9, etc (and I enjoyed FF9, mess or not). All in all, I think CC is a pretty good if not great game among its contemporary. CT however, just feel perfect within the category of 16-bit RPGs. Streamlined, very well done, very entertaining, having ATB instead of turn-base makes sense here, etc etc. An ideal for 2d/16bit RPGs to strive for.
If u ask me, this game’s soundtrack easily stands toe to toe with Castlevania Symphony of the Night
I'd die on that hill too.
It is the same world... after Lucca broke reality using skynet/the matrix.
It is explained that the area the game takes place in was made by Lucca in order for her to perform research without interference. It is seperated from the rest of reality by a barrier.
All I know is Lucca Ashtear died then Serge was assaulted which lead to times division... complete with Schrodinger's cat.
Oh man, this game was everything thats amazing in 1 game.
I think I've tried the game two or three times, but I could never really get into everything that much, but I watched it twice played by HCBailly and I'm glad I did. He really takes his time to show everything off, gets all the cool stuff and explains everything really well, so if anyone ever wants to get into it but can't or don't want to play it himself, he's your man.
I've been a huge fan of his for 10+ years
If they only removed the ties to Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross would be pretty excellent.
There's a lot to like in Cross, make no mistake, but two integral parts of the backstory for it are:
1) Defeating Lavos at the end of Trigger didn't save the world. In fact, it made everything worse.
2) The original cast all died offscreen. And at least three of them were murdered horribly.
That shit just feels like a slap in the face to Trigger itself (which was a very happy, rousing, optimistic game, so these plot points almost feel like a rejection of positivity), and to everyone who enjoyed it. And that's not a good way to set up a sequel's plot.
If they lifted those bits out, Chrono Cross would be an uncontested classic. My advice is to try and headcanon those plot points away. You'll enjoy the game more for doing so.
Yeah I agree. Although to be honest I think if the game did not have Chrono in the title it would have been another of those forgotten PS1 JRPG's that were good but not good enough to be remembered 20 years later. Much like how people played it at the time to see how it tied into Trigger it probably still rides that hype wave even now.
I've never understood this line of logic. "If it just had a different name, this game would have been amazing." A name ultimately means nothing. The game still exists as it is. If your name was something completely different than what it is, but your life played out exactly the same, you would still be the person you are wouldn't you? What if Mario was called Sonic and Sonic called Mario, or dogs called cats and cats called bananas? None of those things would cease to be what they are. Fans really need to get the fuck over themselves and accept things as they are and not get caught up in semantics.
A title shapes your expectations when you walk into an experience. When I played Chrono Cross, the "Chrono" in the title led me to believe it'd be more Chrono Trigger. Can't help but be disappointed that it was different, or mad how it mistreated the cast of the original. However, if it was named something else, then I could see myself just appreciating the game for what it is as opposed to thinking "I wish this was more like Chrono Trigger."
Should've been called Dimension Cross
matchboxmatt your expectations and assumptions still don't change the fact that the game exists as it is. Again, you are too hung up on what things are called rather than seeing things as they are. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. If you can't like something because of a name, then that's on you. As for me, I appreciate and judge things for what they are, and not what they are called.
Years later and I'm still waiting on a follow up this series...
Chrono Trigger is my favorite game ever. Could never get into Crono Cross though. Never even ever finished it.
Chrono Trigger is light heated and Chrono Trigger is dark. It's like Dragonball versus Dragon Ball Z . I like both, but Chrono Cross feels more massive.
Cross is kinda dull honestly.
This is one of the most well polished games I ever hated. And not only because of Chrono Trigger related disappointments.
"one of the most well polished games I ever hated" is a great line
I pretty much agree with all points in your review, except for the battle and leveling system (will get back to that in a moment), but let's say the game's negative aspects weighed a lot more heavily on my experience with the game than they seem to have in your case. The soundtrack is phenomenal, I'll have to admit, and those are some of the best graphics on the system.
To me the battle system remained uncomfortable for a good chunk of the game, but it's not that bad. But that star level system and how restrictive it was really annoyed the hell out of me. I know they wanted to keep a good control over how challenging each battle in the game would be (which was ironic, since I remember CC being really easy overall), but appart from element setup you have little strategic options, and the classic "brute force through hard work" jrpg idea of being able to grind was not an option. This also made normal battles an almost complete nuisance, as there was hardly anything worth to gain from them, and even if you could avoid enemies by dodging and fleeing, it was still somewhat a pain.
Claudio Marcelo Basckeira I don’t think you played the game properly. The element system was very well made and lets you strategize your battles to a level that I’ve never accomplished with a grindy jrpg. Use the element system to turn the field to your advantage, then slam your foes with spells. It’s simple, yet satisfying. Furthermore, SE knew that battling unnecessarily puts a strain on the experience, hence making running away from battles 100% effective unlike ff games that give you a random chance of escape. This was even true in boss fights. You could leave a boss to pause, reset elements and re-strategize your effort in order to best them. Again, this adds to the games unique, strategy conscious gameplay. Now here’s something you may have overlooked: the random battles are specifically made so that you can use trap elements to gain some of the games most powerful spells, including level 7 summon spells, which can only be gained via specific elemental enemies. Ex: you can gain summon Red wolf by trapping it from a hot diggity in mount pyre. I recommend taking full advantage of these features. It really lets you manipulate the games features effectively.
As someone that hates grinding in RPG's I actually thought the star leveling system was the most brilliant thing about this game. And naturally complements the ability to run past regular enemies on the field. Unlike in Trigger where you could run past them but might end up under leveled so you probably fought them anyway. The rest of the games systems were a bit awkward even once you understand them.
@@chicodepuertorico1450 I think that might actually be where some people fail with the star and battle system. it's a JRPG. they are expecting to be able to grind and brute force. But there actually was a fair bit of strategy involved in setting things up in your favor. Or in some cases actually getting the enemy to set it up for you by trying to counter what it read as the play you were trying to make.
This is one of the few Square games from this era that I remember playing and loving at the time, that also got like EXCEPTIONAL ratings (10/10 in EGM which never happened), but couldn't tell you a thing about it these days. I don't remember anything from it, at all.
I played Chrono Cross 10 years before I played Chrono Trigger, so I’m in the minority when I say that I absolutely love CC, and think it is much better than CT.
i wish it still had Akira Toriyama's art style like the first one it would look dragon quest like. Character art doesn't look bad it just feels like a different RPG game from the first.
Great idea for a series, sometimes it is hard to revisit old RPGs because you get too used to the conveniences of modern RPGs. Looks like a beautiful game, I really want to make time to play it someday.
Well and some of his complaints about the mechanical system are really more early game problems than they are late game problems. But that's typical of main games and many rpg's.
Chrono Cross is a sequel based upon the effects of Crono and co's time travel. After they kill Lavos in 1999, an alternate future occours, and at the same time, a paradox is created (which is localized in the Dead Sea). In the new future, in 2400 AD, the Time Crash forces Chronopolis to travel back to around 10000BC. Then all of the events with FATE, Lavos - Frozen Flame, Serge, and Kid/Schala occour. Eventually, the Chrono Cross is used to fix all of the tears in the fabric of space and time created in CT.
First of the two i played, after watching my brother play Chrono Trigger. Still one of my favorites out there.
Elemental Elements... the best kind of elements.
Hey, i was wondering if it might be possible for you to cover a little known shoot em up for the gameboy color called S-11. Im new to your channel and you really deserve more subscribers. Great work.
I loved chrono cross. I hadn't played trigger before hand. But this game was such breath of fresh air. So many great memories.
What's funny is, I played through both Chrono Trigger and Cross and never once thought that it might NOT be a sequel. Then again, I generally ignore all text or story in games unless it is telling me what to do next. Both were excellent games.
I was born in 1999, and I can attest to having thoroughly enjoyed most of the "greats" that predate me, in their original forms, no less! I first played the SNES version of CHRONO TRIGGER via the Wii Virtual Console in 2016, and received a DS copy for Christmas that same year. It would seem few other videogame players my age are even aware of these gems.
"What a sad state of affairs..." -Melchior, CHRONO TRIGGER
Confession time. I actually played Chrono Cross before Chrono Trigger. Chrono Cross was one of my favorite games on the ps1. I loved it's story and characters it really blew my mind. Then I played Chrono Trigger and it blew my universe.
Yeah. Trigger is 10 times better than Cross honestly. Nothing bad about Cross, just wasn't near as great as Chrono Trigger or other RPGs.
JJ C it’s better than ff vii
I have a distinct memory of my brother playing this game when my hands weren't even big enough to hold a controller well. I remember cut scenes, scenarios, the music I remember really well too, character designs etc I just can't remember the story because I couldn't read at the time. Come this year and I talked about it to him and he told me he never actually played Chrono Cross.
I guess my brother from another dimension did. I must have switched dimensions somehow :T