Shampoo-Girl's Full Review: Chrono Cross for PlayStation 1
Truly great RPGs are the ones that are able to stand the test of time while separating themselves from the majority of other soon to be forgotten lesser offerings. Examples include such memorable classics as Final Fantasy 2, 3 & not forgetting of course, the highly acclaimed Chrono Trigger. It's simply amazing to note how Chrono Trigger, a game created over 5 years ago, still remains popular to this very day. And like many other hugely popular games out there, a sequel would be ultimately called for to satisfy the ever-increasing number of fans addicted to the original game. This is where the developers are faced with an uphill task of creating a follow-up that's supposedly even better than the first.
Taking full advantage of the Playstation's 32-bit engine, the folks at Square were successful in coming up a sequel that's clearly superior to its predecessor in both sound & graphics, however in spite of its overwhelming technological edge, Chrono Cross wasn't that great a follow-up we'd all been hoping for. But even with that said, it was still a fairly decent effort, deserving of credit where credit is due. It tries hard to live up to Chrono Trigger, succeeding only with its sound & graphics while coming up short in all other areas. With its timeline being set 20 years after the events in CT, it can be said that the 2 games are not directly related. You do not have to play the first game in order to understand the events taking place in Chrono Cross. Veterans of the first game may come across missing pieces of the puzzle here but this shouldn't be much of a concern to newbies as the events were not intended to be too closely related.
Chrono Cross starts out on a similar note to Chrono Trigger, where our young protagonist wakes up one morning, pretty much the same way Crono did 20 years ago, to find himself later forced into an unlikely partnership with a mysterious, scantily-clad Aussie female after being thrown into a weird parallel dimension. Like Detective John McClaine, he's about to have a really bad day. It's about to get even worse when we are introduced to a big cat-like baddie named Lynx, who's responsible for the whole mess. Now, that's what I'd call a good excuse for trouble to start an RPG with.
Graphics
The name Squaresoft says it all. The graphics are unbelievably crisp & well detailed in all areas, right down to the zero pixelated character close-ups. Animation was superbly done, unsurpassed in its smoothness & fluidity by any other game, with the possible exception of Final Fantasy 9. Realism is further enhanced with its richly detailed pre-rendered backgrounds, which appear to be more life-like than the inside of my living room.
The wide array of colors used makes the whole game seem like one big piece of expensive electronic artwork. What's even more amazing is that even the water appears to look real. The awe-struck player should be able to see everything right down to its tiny ripples as well as underwater corals through something called depth perception. After seeing all that eye candy on my TV, I'm beginning to wonder how hard the game is actually pushing my battered old PS to work. The graphics alone should be reason enough for anyone to get ( or rather, rent ) the game even though it doesn't quite live up to the original CT in terms of replay value. Overall Grade: A
Music
The music score features the work of Square's number 2 maestro, Yasunori Mitsuda, who's often compared to the great Nabuo Uematsu. However, I do not feel that there should be a winner here as they are both equally talented in ways attainable only with a gadzillion logged hours on MTV's Music Generator. Although the music doesn't quite top that of CT, there are still several pieces worth listening to. The opening number should be one of them, followed closely by the alternate world theme, which is actually a piano variation of the former. Aside from the aforementioned pieces, I was relatively unimpressed with the rest of what the game had to offer. The guitar riffs were a welcome addition, but then I really thought they would have sounded better on a catchier tune. The 3-disc soundtrack is being offered on sites as ebay for as low $19.95, if anyone's interested. Yasunori Mitsuda fans, take note. Overall grade: B.
Gameplay/Battle Engine
This is the main area in which the Chrono Cross fails to live up to its much sought after predecessor. The storyline starts out on a relatively simple note but gets pretty convoluted as you progress deeper into the game. The dungeon sequences were made less combat-heavy compared to Final Fantasy with the elimination of the tiresome random battle system. Like Lunar 2, players will be able to see the enemies on screen and thus are able to take the necessary steps to avoid being dragged into an unwanted battle.
Another feature separating this from the regular Final Fantasy series, is the large number of enemy bosses found throughout the game ( I counted about 50 of them ). The level of difficulty in defeating these bosses depends largely on the innate orientations of characters in your party. In all, there are 6 different innate types, each represented by colors associated with certain elements ( red = fire, blue = water, etc ). Red elemental attacks would obviously do more harm to blue innate characters and vice-versa. Characters of other innates are also susceptible to these attacks but on a far less damaging scale. As each character gains experience, s/he is able to perform more powerful elemental attacks based on the level attained.
Some characters are more physically inclined, relying more on brute strength while others who are less built would have a more than impressive magical arsenal at their disposal. The physical attacks remind me of the 3-level system used in Capcom's Street Fighter & SNK's KOF games. A light attack has a higher chance of connecting but the damage done would not be enough to even put a dent on an old tin can. It's a bit like hitting a brick wall with a twig, if you catch my drift. A fierce attack should inflict a considerable amount of damage but the chances of it actually connecting can be as low as 60%.
A big problem with this probability based hit system is that the calculations may not be entirely correct. For instance, the chances of connecting with a light attack is roughly 90%, which means there is a 1 in 10 chance of it actually missing. According to the laws of probability, the chances of it missing for the second time is multiplied ten-fold, giving us a figure of 1%. This means the probability of missing 2 light attacks in a row is 1 in 100. And this happens rather frequently, to me at least. Without a doubt, both the laws of physics & probability are non-existent in the Chrono Cross universe, but it isn't the physics part that I'm really mad about.
Aside from that, I do not have any real complaints about the game other than the fact that some parts can be very chore-like, particularly during its confusing dungeon sequences. One other thing to note is that the play area is rather cramped compared to the near infinite vastness of Final Fantasy. In all, I counted only 4 towns ( 8 including the ones found in the alternate world ), which doesn't leave much for the gamer to explore since they both look pretty much the same anyway. The world map still appears a bit cramped even after opening up to a larger scale halfway through the game. Overall Grade: B
Conclusion
While it isn't exactly the best of sequels, Chrono Cross is certainly way ahead of others like the totally sucky Legend of Mana & Saga Frontier 2. It's a great buy only if you're a huge fan of Squaresoft and although I consider myself one, I would rather pay a $3 rental than cough up $30 for it at a used VG store. Final Grade: B
Sequel to the RPG hit Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross expands on the excellent story-line of its predecessor and combines cutting edge graphics with a dy...More at eBay
Featuring a story line developed by the creator of "Chrono Trigger" and "Xenogears," Chrono Cross has been christened the "Best RPG Creation" by its d...More at Amazon
Featuring a story line developed by the creator of Chrono Trigger and Xenogears, Chrono Cross has been christened the Best RPG Creation by its develop...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Featuring a story line developed by the creator of "Chrono Trigger" and "Xenogears," Chrono Cross has been christened the "Best RPG Creation" by its d...More at Amazon Marketplace
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