I may be lenient on this game for just being a cozy game I played at the right time, it was nice to go back to a ps1 jrpg again, despite maybe those games handling certain aspects better, while I haven't played Chrono Trigger, I know enough about it to understand why the fans of Trigger or other ps1 jrpgs, may be disappointed or not look as fondly on this game as they do others.

The game is ambitious and weird, but that is why I like it. But it also has a incredible soundtrack that beautifully sets the mood for the paint-like prerendered backgrounds the game features as well as unique designs for the party members that range from more 90s anime characters to more cartoonish creatures that I personally enjoy in rpgs. the novelty of 45 party members is that a novelty, with such a wide arrange of characters most of which are outclassed by others in the gameplay department I assume the intention was to see who you would get/find on your playthrough to harken back to a time where you would share game secrets with your friends in real life or on early message boards.

Because the more you have the less you really are going to end up using considering there are parts where doing the plot dumps you with 3-5 at a time, not that a lot of party members can' work look at any strategy game or games with larger parties, I'm told suikoden does it well,

But chrono cross has 2 party members you can pick and the protag who can't be swaped til new game plus.

as for how each character effects the plot it really is going to vary, again there a lack of general focus on a group of characters, aside from a few select characters that get a kind of arc at awkwardly paced moments in the game some of which are entirely optional, there's really only one character who I can say is safely consistently well written.

that being Kid who is such a fun character that has a strong relationship with the player over the course of the game that I genuinely cared about her, her dialouge was charming and her backstory and motivations were paced well, and maybe that was the intention to have her be the main focus, that's not to say she's the ONLY character that has any arc or development, characters like Radius, Fargo, Karsh, as well as one of the main antagonists are interesting and well written I would say like I said before they kind of come in at weird times, which I can forgive and it isn't like characters NEED an arc to be good I have a few favorites that really don't do much like skelly or ponshul or leena.

But people who like their rpg casts to be more focused where each maybe at least gets a small arc and enough screen time may not enjoy this game as much.

despite me preferring a more solid smaller focused party I wont lie when I say how much I enjoyed the pure adventure and spirit this game carries perhaps from that aesthetic and music it has, I do resonate with the themes despite the fact if you played an rpg from this era I doubt it will be anything that new that will blow your socks off ( at least if you played FF7 or xenogears), ive seen some people call the themes generic "humanity bad""war bad" themes but for the time it works and even if its a tad generic, I think this is the writing aspect of the game that it handles well what it lacks in character writing makes up for in what it does want to say, including how it handles discrimination which I wont spoil much but being able to experience it first hand later game when you did not experience it early game is a fun way to show it just simply through npc dialouge which is just a fun thing from this era of games.

as far as gameplay goes it has a system where you can basically equip almost anything on anyone and the aforementioned 45 party members makes it so you will probably have someone good for whatever your team needs, the elements system is quite interesting and I had fun just setting up my characters and preparing for a fight, you can run away from anything in this game including story bosses, which is nice for the preparing for battle or loading a previous save to swap your party, I think this aspect of the game was made to accommodate amount of party members, and personally that part works for me, the bosses feel often like puzzles but in a fun and challenging way regular fights are kind of whatever but the bosses are where the gameplay shines. a minor gripe maybe is that physical is way too good late game I feel magic just gets kind of outclassed for the most part would have preferred more balance in that area, early game is the opposite where magic is insanely strong but its more balanced since the stronger spells are at higher levels on your grid, which I enjoyed, I would critique how some party members are kind of useless but I went out of my way to get everyone which I am sure that was not intended for a first time player. A friend of mine also playing the game around the same time used different party members than I did because she decided to go in more blind on that aspect which I think does add replay value to the game as well as a few plot choices that really don't add much other than thematic value and if you want to be a dick to kid or not. Combat is simple but effective and exploration is really fun to see what secrets you can find which is something I do genuinely miss from this era.

no title relevancy intended but this game is very much a time capsule for this era in a very fun way, It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you are in it for the adventure and aesthetic of this era id say the themes and excellent worldbuilding and simple but overall fun gameplay, and mushroommen will show you a nice adventure I almost didn't want to see end.

I swear every single time this game tried to go all "HUMAN BAD, NATURE GOOD" cracked me up, not because I disagree with environmentalism or anything, I just think they did this in an incredibly silly and heavy-handed way here. It's weird because Chrono Cross was released by the same company that made Final Fantasy VII, that game also had environmentalist themes except they were much better handled and more relevant to the plot compared to Chrono Cross' story being this convoluted mess that tries to be a lot of different things but doesn't excel at any of them in particular.

That being said, I do think there are some good isolated moments in the story, the battle system is fun and the sheer atmosphere evoked by the gorgeous art coupled with one of the most beautiful video game soundtracks of all time make this worth playing at the end of the day.

Gameplay: Very good
Story: It's an story is very deep and although it has several references to Chrono Trigger, it does its best to detach itself from that game in order to be a game of its own
Music: Really good
Replayable: If you want to take out the other endings and the ex-dungeon
Streamed: Yes although I am currently streaming it

One of my favorite JRPGs with a lot of uniqueness wrapped up in one package. As something related to Chrono Trigger, it does quite a bit to separate itself as it focuses on dimensional rifts rather than the passage of time which I found far more appealing. The writing and localization is pretty dry but doesn't stop it from having some great impactful (and hilariously dissonant) moments that feel like they matter in the long run.

Really the only reason I even ding this game a half star is its endgame is, as I hate to say it, very rushed and poorly thought out compared to much of what the game has to show before. It hastily tries to wrap up its plot and tie into Chrono Trigger in a very haphazard way which it honestly didn't need to. Had they kept more focus with its connection to the prototype of this game, Radical Dreamers, I feel this would've been a slam dunk. However, I digress as that's not the case.

Still if you want a trip on the more bizarre side of JRPGs with a colorful cast, gorgeous visuals, unique mechanics, and a soundtrack that'll knock your socks off, this is a game I would absolutely recommend.

Chrono Cross is a bizarre game, that's really the best way I have of describing it. If I knew nothing about this game and just sat down and played it, I wouldn't have known it was a sequel to Chrono Trigger until maybe 10 hours into the game. But yet, I really think that works in this game's favor. Chrono Trigger is one of the most influential JRPGs out there, so a making a sequel similar to it would be hard to get right. I think Chrono Cross going in an entirely different direction really works well, though I'd still say it's not as good as Chrono Trigger.
To get through with the story first, I don't really know what to say of it. I feel it's one of those games where the less you know about the story, the better. It's this maze of distortion and bewilderment, but I do think it works well in the end. I don't really want to go into anything specific because of that.
The combat is really interesting! It takes more of a turn-based approach than its predecessor, and I really like the systems it has. Nigh fully customizable movesets for each character, and so many ways to approach enemies in general. Rarely did the game ever challenge me, but those moments that they did were really memorable because of it. One integral aspect of the combat that I really loved at the end of the day was the leveling system, or in other words, the near lack of. Levels only really happen after each major boss fight, and you rarely gain stats from generic enemies. Sure, that means that there's no way of getting stronger through simply level-grinding, but at the end of the game, that really felt like a nonissue. The game felt properly balanced to where you don't need any grinding at all as long as you understand the combat mechanics enough.
Another major part of the game is just, how many playable characters there are. Though unable to obtain them all in a single playthrough, this game touts 45 playable character total, which is absurd. I remember getting I think 36 characters? So you can get a generous amount in a single playthrough, especially since you can only use 3 in battle at a time. And while I really liked trying to obtain every single character I could, I ended up really not using many of them, and sticking to a main set of three.
While I don't think it's as good as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross still ended up being a fantastic JRPG. In fact, when I first planned to play this game, I thought it was PS2 game, so I was surprised to see that it was a PS1 game instead. Chrono Cross is definitely weird, and I'm unsure if many would like it as much as I would, but I'd at least recommend trying it out.

Chrono Cross is weird. It's an alright game overall, but it makes for a very strange sequel to Chrono Trigger. I’m not a huge fan of Chrono Trigger, but I did enjoy it overall. I’d probably say the exact same thing about Chrono Cross. But there’s almost no overlap in why I like each of them.

The things that Trigger did best, Cross was terrible at. It was annoyingly slow both in its overworld movement and in the battles themselves, making me desperately wish there was a fast-forward button or something that could speed things up a bit. Whereas Trigger has a small main cast of (generally) good characters, Cross went for an ensemble of characters the vast majority of whom were worthless in battle and forgettable in their personality and role in the story. And where Trigger had a very simple story that seemed more of an excuse to see a bunch of different locations, Cross’ plot was convoluted and stupid as hell to the point where it feels like they took 3 different ideas for a story and just shoved them into a blender.

But the same holds true in reverse. The things that Trigger was bad at are the points where Cross was at its strongest. Thematically Cross actually had a consistent message that, while awkwardly executed at times, at least had much more presence than anything equivalent in Trigger. While Trigger’s combat was extremely simple and relied far more on speed than on strategy, Cross’ system placed a much larger role on long-term resource management and strategy.

So if you just finished Chrono Trigger and want more of the same, Chrono Cross is probably one of the worst games you could choose. Which isn’t necessarily a mark against it. There’s no hard rule saying a sequel needs to be similar to its predecessor. But it does make a recommendation a bit awkward.

But putting aside comparisons to Trigger and judging the game on its own merits, I’m not particularly inclined to recommend it anyway. As mentioned already, the game is painfully slow. Even with the added complexity with the battle system, you’ll still be spending the majority of your time watching battle animations play out rather than deciding on your moves because of how drawn out everything is. And the complexity isn’t even that high to begin with, made even worse by the fact that there aren’t any difficulty options. There’s just the single default difficulty which felt extremely easy. I don’t think there’s a single boss in the entire game that took more than 3 tries in total, the vast majority of whom I beat handily in just the first attempt. Even worse, the complexity of the battle system is very frontloaded, giving you a lot of info to start out with but never evolving beyond that point. The only meaningful difference between battles at the start of the game and at the very end is just how big the numbers are.

And as for the story… it was a mess. The first two thirds or so feel directionless, pursuing a villain who wants to kill you for unknown reasons as you explore the world without much of a stake in whats actually happening… and then you get to the last third which, to put it in as much of a spoiler-free manner as possible, feels like the writers room had a collective bout of insanity where every plot twist, no matter how ludicrous, was thrown into the final script. I don’t know how I could summarize what happened without sounding like a raving lunatic. So needless to say, the story really didn’t fit my taste.

To be quite honest, I don’t really understand what the appeal was here. There are some individual aspects that work well, but nothing so extraordinary for so many people to remember this game as a masterpiece. I still kinda enjoyed it, but disliked a lot of it at the same time. It’s fine, but honestly I’d recommend just skipping it unless you have a lot of free time on your hands or have a very strong sense of curiosity.

Chrono Cross foi um jogo que eu demorei um tempo pra decidir terminar ele, desde criança até mais adulto, sempre jogava chegava em um certo ponto do game e parava de jogar e então por N motivos acaba perdendo o save do jogo, mas hoje finalmente pude terminar essa obra prima de jogo. Assim como seu antecessor Chrono Trigger, este jogo é um maravilha. Em minha opinião este jogo acaba não sendo melhor que seu antecessor, mas isso não faz dele um jogo ruim nem de longe.
As mecânicas do jogo são bem diferentes de qualquer outro RPG, tanto que se você pega esse jogo pra jogar logo após o anterior você acaba ficando perdido, mas não se engane pois as mecânicas desse jogo são muito bem feitas, uma única critica que tenho é pelo sistema de field que você pode passar um aperto se quiser usar os summons do game, mas de resto, é uma sistema totalmente funcional e bem feito.
A trilha sonora do game é impecável, assim como seu antecessor, o jogo está repleto de musicas épicas e emocionantes.
A historia do game pode ser um pouco confusa se comparar com Chrono Trigger mas acompanhar ela desde o inicio ao fim me emocionou quando eu finalmente consegui terminar. Alerta para quem tem facilidade em se emocionar, talvez você chore com o final desse jogo.
Pontos ruins desse jogo como eu já disse, é o sistema de field que pode se tornar um pouco difícil de entender e conseguir completar a field inteira com uma cor só e também pelos chefes do jogo serem um pouco fáceis, principalmente o ultimo chefe, outro ponto negativo é que pelo fato de terem muitos personagens no jogo, muitos deles acabam não sendo utilizados pois você se acostuma muito com uma equipe e não quer trocar por nada.
Num geral eu dou a minha nota de 4/5 pra esse jogo, recomendo a todos os fãs de J-RPG por ai jogarem e experimentarem essa aventura maluca envolvendo mundos alternativos.

An great idea, however there are a few points that should be considered when talking about this game:

1. This game has an outstandish soundtrack, that make you feel extremely linked to the game's imersion and narrative.

2. Killing the previous chars, chars that destroyed the strongest beast in this universe, does not make sense, how could the idiot DALTON, killed chrono? Ridiculous.

3. Lynx is the name, of one of the most disgusting creatures in this game, an IA, that could make the world goes to the ruin. (also a name of a guy that i know)

é o tipo de jogo que eu não quero rejogar pra perder parte da minha memória afetiva.
eu lembro exatamente ONDE e QUANDO eu joguei isso.
era uma tardezinha nublada na roça onde minha vó morava, e um primo que tinha ps1 trouxe uma cesta de jogos pirateados e a gente começou a testar um por um. passamos por spyro, resident evil 2, crash bandicoot, silent hill, sheep raider, gran turismo e eventualmente chrono cross.
não entendemos nada do jogo, mas aquele jogo, aquela introdução linda ficou na minha memória.
anos depois fui jogar o jogo com meus 12 anos, já entendendo o plot, e adorei, assim como adorei como chrono trigger.
eu sei que tem imperfeições e provavelmente eu acharia mediano se jogasse hoje, mas na época significou muito pra mim!