tommy_lop's Full Review: Chrono Cross for PlayStation 1
I got this when I was at the store looking for final fantasy, well the store was all out so I search the bargain bin. Found this gem for 15 dollars and decided to buy it. Not having played the original Chrono Trigger I did not know what to expect. Well so far this has been the best 15 dollars I spent in a long time.
Story.
20 years ago a group of adventures where able to destroy a future in which the earth was destroy, and thus save the future of humanity. Unfortunately that future has reappeared once again and it’s up to another trigger to decide the fate of humanity.
Enter Serge (Sirgay) a 17-year-old boy from Arni which has just woken up from a bad dream. In the dream him and a young girl named Kid are climbing a tour, at the top he sees a vision of Kid lying at his feet with him holding a sword. At that time he wakes up, and finds himself late for his date with his girlfriend. With the exception of being late for his date the only thing that has gone wrong in Serge life was a near drowning incident 10 years ago. When he gets to the beach to where is girlfriend is waiting a strange feeling passes over him and he collapses. He wakes up and finds himself in an episode of it’s a wonderful life from hell. See he has fallen into another reality, and in this reality he died in that drowning incident 10 years ago, but that’s not all that’s wrong with this new reality. He quickly meets Kid the same girl from his dream and they start a quest to figure out what’s going on, and to stop an evil demi human named Lynx from getting the frozen flame. However the memory of the dream still haunts him, is it his destiny to someday kill Kid.
Graphics.
Squaresoft games have always had a certain graphical flare of their own. While the graphics are a bit more cartoonish then FF8 they are a lot clear and easier to see, with better colors to. Also the characters move a lot more smoothly then in FF8. The special FX in spells may not have has much eye candy has in FF8, however they don’t last forever, the longest spell I have seen so far has only lasted about 30 seconds. This compared to the long GF summons in which the time it took to the attack scene, you could walk your dog, clean your room, and possibly go on a cruise around the world. Any ways the graphics are pure eye candy, just has you expect from a Squaresoft game.
Sound.
From the opening music scene I knew this game was going to rock in the music department. The music is very catchy, and always conveys the emotion you are supposed to be feeling during a scene. If it’s a cave scene it plays music to make you feel your exploring a cavern, if your in a scene where your character is sad happens a lot of string musical felling making you feel a bit mellow, and if your about to get your butt mowed down by a huge boss well you get the hard core boss music that comes from Squaersoft game.
Gameplay.
Leveling up
This is a bit different then your FF game in the battle system. There is no exp. instead your characters collect stars from boss battle. At this point for a short time after every enemy fight your characters status will go up, in till they reach a plateau, at this point they can no longer level up anymore, that is in till you get your next star. While this elements having to stay in one place to fight monsters until your bored out of your mind, it does make boss fights harder because you just can’t simply go back and fight more enemies for more power.
There are no random battles instead the enemies appear on screen like they did in Mario RPG there for if your a smart person you can easily avoid the monsters and get back to safety if you need to.
Battlesystem.
The battle system is a turn base one in this game. Each character has a stamina stat, this is how much he can attack on each turn. When you choose to due a physical attack a choice appear between 1 and 3 each with a different hit percent, while doing 3 will do more damage, and cause your element level to go up faster (more on that later), however they also have a lower percent of hits. You can also choose to defend and raise your character stamina if it'’ to low to get off a decent attack combo.
So what about spells, your spells are your elements. You equip them like you did Marteria on FF7, each spell has a certain level it goes on, to reach these levels you have to have your characters do physical attacks, you can only use each spell once in a battle. Once you use that spell you can’t use it again for the rest of the battle, in less you have equipped two. Also each character and enemy has a innate color, these colors mean he can cast is color spells stronger then anything else. It also means that he is weak against certain color spells do. Another thing you have to look out for is the grid on top of the screen, each color spell adds to the color of the screen, which means if you cast a spell someone is weak against it will make them weaker. If you cast a spell that is there color then they become stronger, it’s important to know the enemy color your fighting against so you don’t cast spells that makes them stronger. I know this sounds confusing but it’s not has difficult has it sounds..
Weapons.
While you can equip weapons and armor like you do in most RPG’s you still have to forge them first like you do in FF8 this means of course going on item hunts and killing lots of enemies to up grade weapons and armor. However the fact that you can always equip additional armor and accessories is a big help in doing these.
So how long does it last.
I am about on the 30 hour mark, and I am barley thorough the first of 2 discs, add on to the fact that it has multiple endings, additional quests, and different ways to go thorough the game and this will last you a couple of months. Not bad for 15 dollars.
Final conclusion
Need a good, cheap, rpg then this is definitely one to pick up. I am going to try to track down final fantasy chronocles so I can play the original Chrono Trigger, or track the original one for the SNES.
Chrono Cross follows a boy named Serge across parallel worlds--both the world in which he lives and one in which he drowned 10 years earlier.More at onSale
Chrono Cross follows a boy named Serge across parallel worlds--both the world in which he lives and one in which he drowned 10 years earlier. Classica...More at MacMall
Chrono Cross for the PlayStation Game System Brand New and Factory Sealed Game. Sequel to the RPG hit Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross expands on the exce...More at eBay
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