(Chrono TRIGGER spoilers in this review)
Life is built upon an uncomfortable yet foundational truth. For one to exist, one must consume. To exist is to impose a tax upon the world, one that is ultimately paid for by other life-forms. Our wants, our needs come at the expense of the world in one way or another. The land we inhabit is denied to others, the food we eat torn of their flesh. But what other recourse do we even have? The alternative is simply that of nonexistence. Instead, we choose to persevere, to exist and to love ourselves. So too we learn to embody hate, to possess a necessary contempt for the lives of those that are sacrificed in order to allow us to live.
Once comfortable with this concept, that to survive we must destroy, it becomes increasingly easy to extend this thought. The life-forms that we extinguish out of necessity so quickly become those eradicated out of convenience. The strong survive and the weak diminish. Survival of the fittest is the core tenet of evolution. Is this not the natural extension of that foundational truth? Is this not the ultimate journey of life itself? That we exist no more as iterations in this infinite cycle of love and hate?
Chrono Cross is a contentious game. It is a game that follows from a prodigious pedigree in which its themes clash and contrast against. It is impossible to discuss this game without also its predecessor. Chrono Trigger is a game about the indomitable will of humanity. A celebration of us as a species. The love that we embody for one another. How this love enables us to overcome any trial, any hardship. How our mutual love can unify strangers across time. That through love nothing is impossible, our destinies no longer inevitable.
It is also less evidently a showcase of humanity’s capacity to hate. To compartmentalize this hate in such a way that we are blind to it. The ultimate ambition of Chrono Trigger’s journey is to ensure the long-term survival of humanity. However, the Reptites and the Mystics, two competing life-form species are suppressed during the journey. The love we embody is selective. For humanity to thrive its enemies must be eradicated. This hate is not construed to be of malice though, merely prescribing to that foundational truth once more.
The game culminates in a final showdown against Lavos, a world eating parasite that seeks to consume the planet itself. The cast of Chrono Trigger are inspired to stand against Lavos out of love, but to destroy Lavos we can only do so by embodying hate. The strong survive and the weak diminish. Lavos does not represent any ideal or conviction. Lavos is simply just another life-form that we are competing against. Another among many we ultimately triumph over.
Love and hate, this dichotomy of contradictions that represent the struggle of existence. Can they be reconciled?
Chrono Cross is the evolution of Chrono Trigger. For a thing to exist, we have come to understand it requisites a toll to be paid. A life given to ensure its conception. Chrono Trigger, its progenitor, is consumed in its entirety to enable Cross to exist. This cost is intended to hurt. To make you grieve a personal loss. To recontextualize what the struggle of the journey meant. To make you resent the rigidity of that foundational truth. To follow that train of thought to where that truth leads. To ponder what is the point of an existence built upon a foundation so cruel? Perhaps you may even find an answer.
(I recommend this game to anyone who can stomach it. Its statement on the world resonated with me and I would encourage everyone to experience it. But it is contentious for a reason. You need to be willing to engage with it. If you are coming into this game desiring a second Chrono Trigger you will be disappointed. But do play Chrono Trigger first as understanding its events is integral to the experience of Cross. The game has a bit of a slow start to facilitate a necessary buildup that may be off-putting for some. It is a game more focused on what it is trying to say than challenging its players with its gameplay systems. Its combat system is in fact designed to minimize the effort needed to succeed. If you are playing this game, it is to experience its story)
Life is built upon an uncomfortable yet foundational truth. For one to exist, one must consume. To exist is to impose a tax upon the world, one that is ultimately paid for by other life-forms. Our wants, our needs come at the expense of the world in one way or another. The land we inhabit is denied to others, the food we eat torn of their flesh. But what other recourse do we even have? The alternative is simply that of nonexistence. Instead, we choose to persevere, to exist and to love ourselves. So too we learn to embody hate, to possess a necessary contempt for the lives of those that are sacrificed in order to allow us to live.
Once comfortable with this concept, that to survive we must destroy, it becomes increasingly easy to extend this thought. The life-forms that we extinguish out of necessity so quickly become those eradicated out of convenience. The strong survive and the weak diminish. Survival of the fittest is the core tenet of evolution. Is this not the natural extension of that foundational truth? Is this not the ultimate journey of life itself? That we exist no more as iterations in this infinite cycle of love and hate?
Chrono Cross is a contentious game. It is a game that follows from a prodigious pedigree in which its themes clash and contrast against. It is impossible to discuss this game without also its predecessor. Chrono Trigger is a game about the indomitable will of humanity. A celebration of us as a species. The love that we embody for one another. How this love enables us to overcome any trial, any hardship. How our mutual love can unify strangers across time. That through love nothing is impossible, our destinies no longer inevitable.
It is also less evidently a showcase of humanity’s capacity to hate. To compartmentalize this hate in such a way that we are blind to it. The ultimate ambition of Chrono Trigger’s journey is to ensure the long-term survival of humanity. However, the Reptites and the Mystics, two competing life-form species are suppressed during the journey. The love we embody is selective. For humanity to thrive its enemies must be eradicated. This hate is not construed to be of malice though, merely prescribing to that foundational truth once more.
The game culminates in a final showdown against Lavos, a world eating parasite that seeks to consume the planet itself. The cast of Chrono Trigger are inspired to stand against Lavos out of love, but to destroy Lavos we can only do so by embodying hate. The strong survive and the weak diminish. Lavos does not represent any ideal or conviction. Lavos is simply just another life-form that we are competing against. Another among many we ultimately triumph over.
Love and hate, this dichotomy of contradictions that represent the struggle of existence. Can they be reconciled?
Chrono Cross is the evolution of Chrono Trigger. For a thing to exist, we have come to understand it requisites a toll to be paid. A life given to ensure its conception. Chrono Trigger, its progenitor, is consumed in its entirety to enable Cross to exist. This cost is intended to hurt. To make you grieve a personal loss. To recontextualize what the struggle of the journey meant. To make you resent the rigidity of that foundational truth. To follow that train of thought to where that truth leads. To ponder what is the point of an existence built upon a foundation so cruel? Perhaps you may even find an answer.
(I recommend this game to anyone who can stomach it. Its statement on the world resonated with me and I would encourage everyone to experience it. But it is contentious for a reason. You need to be willing to engage with it. If you are coming into this game desiring a second Chrono Trigger you will be disappointed. But do play Chrono Trigger first as understanding its events is integral to the experience of Cross. The game has a bit of a slow start to facilitate a necessary buildup that may be off-putting for some. It is a game more focused on what it is trying to say than challenging its players with its gameplay systems. Its combat system is in fact designed to minimize the effort needed to succeed. If you are playing this game, it is to experience its story)
4 Comments
@straylight Thankyou. I enjoyed reading your Chrono pieces as well. I did not expect going into this game that I would love it so much.
Fascinating review!
@GingerV I didn't either! I played it on a whim because I got PSX emulation working on my phone and then, some months later it was my favorite game of all time. In a way it's kind of cool that Chrono Cross is such a sleeper of a masterpiece because it makes the feeling of discovering it for yourself all the more special.
straylight
2 months ago