Chrono Cross Review

 
 I first played Chrono Cross when I was about 18. I was elated to check out the sequel to my all-time favorite game, Chrono Trigger. I remember getting through a couple hours of it, and just lost interest. It's a game I've always wanted to play. Fast forward to 2020 where after beating FF VIII, I moved right on to it.

First off I thought it was important to have the mentality that this was not really a direct sequel to Trigger. This game demands to be seen as its own kind of thing, whilst loosely tying into the original source material. I think many peoples' lack of appreciation for this game all stems from not seeing it as it is--and holding it to a high pedestal of wanting it to be a direct sequel. I think this made all the difference in my enjoyment of the game.

Serge is our seemingly mute protagonist who dies but somehow comes back to life. What follows is a story about parallel worlds that is intriguing and interesting. The world is vibrant and eye-catching, even with the dated PlayStation graphics. The music is one of the best RPG OSTs ever recorded.

The battle system is unique, but doesn't deviate so far from the norm as to be obtuse. Each character has stamina points; and one can do a weak, mid, or strong attack--each taking more stamina. The battle system becomes about carefully portioning out this attribute. Aside of that, there is the rock-paper-scissors kind of gameplay of elemental types with weakness and strengths. Taken together and simultaneously, battles do take a bit of time, but are also very strategic and enjoyable. It was enjoyable to have such a challenge with some battles (I'm looking at you, Miguel) that one had to go back to the drawing board--decide 

which elementals to equip and what the strategy was to be. Unlike FF 8, the battle system is also very well explained in battle after battle with Salt & Peppor.

EXP is also not gained in the normal way--it is only bosses technically which level up the party; and fresh off a boss battle, the party can continue to gain stat boosts for a bit after. This made me really reconsider my modus operandi of play as it is all too easy for me to get in the habit of excessive grinding out of levels. I found it to be a welcome change. Enemies are also not random encounters, but appear on the screen and are engaged in turn-based battle by running into them. I really appreciated that this game tried to do something different with the typical JRPG format, and it succeeds well at it.

The game is host to a amalgam slew of many, many characters--45 to be precise. Depending on what choices the player makes, they will gain some characters in that playthrough only to lose others in said playthrough. That's where the EX game steps in, which allows one to amass all the characters and to explore their various stories a bit. Characters from the first game transfer over to the EX game. The characters are very diverse and fascinating, and many are memorable. There's a voodoo doll that has been given life, a living skeleton, and many others--far too many for me to touch upon too much here.

A lot of the time there were subtle homages to the source material the game is based on--and it often took a keen sense to realize these. Especially later in the story, there is a more direct tie-in with Trigger. It's an eye-opening, mind-blowing story that feels genuine to the atmosphere of the original game. Perhaps a bit convoluted and takes a bit of rationing through to fully get out, but good nonetheless.

Often the game gave me this wistful sense of wonder. I appreciated the environmental message of having saved a character yet destroyed a forest. The impact of one choice in the parallel world was fascinating and interesting to observe. Each set piece was unique to itself, and I was always fascinated to explore and see what there was to see. There are many ways to triumph over the final boss, one which has to do with correctly using musical tones and that is very tricky yet has to be mentioned because of its uniqueness. So much of the game is so memorable, and the desire to replay it to piece together more characters and an understanding of each of them really drives me on. There were many clever twists and turns, and it was such an immersive, interesting world. The challenge was very much cumulative, and definitely delivered on being a challenge. There were some bosses which I didn't think would be much trouble, but I really struggled with, and nearly had my ass handed to me. It's so hard to cram in all my thoughts with this game because there is just so much to the game, and so much of it is great.

This is really a fantastic game that I feel is harshly treated and not seen for what it is--because as its own thing, it is really great. No, it isn't as good as Chrono Trigger, but also isn't that game. Approached with the right mentality, I think anyone is up for a really enjoyable experience that will be memorable. The game is a bit short in my opinion, but because of the EX game and many characters this is a bit allayed.

9/10