This review contains spoilers
CHRONO CROSS IS THE ONLY TIME TRAVEL GAME WHERE YOU DO NOT TRAVEL IN TIME
We need to address something first and foremost. What is the deal with 90s JRPGs and third acts? Chrono Cross suffers the same third act storytelling misstep as Final Fantasy IX, which is tragic because both games have some of my favorite first acts. Both games have a beautiful and whimsical fairy-tale-esque world that they spend time lovingly building from the first moment. Intriguing villains, charming allies, and something I call "just plain magical". All of these wonderful things are abandoned and completely undermined by the end for what feels like "getting crazy with it for the sake of getting crazy with it".
I have to admit something...It may say that I finished the game here but only because YouTube exists. It's not just narrative that suffers in the third act--gameplay becomes a slog as well. I got to what I felt was surely the final boss of the game, only to find out that there was an entire level and set of bosses beyond that. I guess the ultimate point that I'm trying to get at here is that 90s JRPGs suffer from content "padding".
OKAY. With that out of the way, let me tell you the incredible things about this game.
Gameplay is original and exciting. It feels more real-time than the ATB system despite the fact that it is statically turn-based. I also like the elements system. In fact, I think that these gameplay systems may be my favorite among all turn-based RPGs. Being able to do a melee attack multiple times AND falling back to use a spell in the same turn feels really fun and fluid.
Mitsuda's score is transcendental as usual.
The 40+ player characters seemed like a silly gimmick at first but ended up being pretty charming with more hits than misses. I really did enjoy a lot of the fun vignettes.
And for all of it's faults of storytelling in the final act, the story and writing overall are genuinely beautiful, though a bit heavy-handed with the philosophical stuff.
Chrono Cross, I enjoyed you so much and it pained me that I had to finish you on YouTube. I hope one day you can forgive me.
We need to address something first and foremost. What is the deal with 90s JRPGs and third acts? Chrono Cross suffers the same third act storytelling misstep as Final Fantasy IX, which is tragic because both games have some of my favorite first acts. Both games have a beautiful and whimsical fairy-tale-esque world that they spend time lovingly building from the first moment. Intriguing villains, charming allies, and something I call "just plain magical". All of these wonderful things are abandoned and completely undermined by the end for what feels like "getting crazy with it for the sake of getting crazy with it".
I have to admit something...It may say that I finished the game here but only because YouTube exists. It's not just narrative that suffers in the third act--gameplay becomes a slog as well. I got to what I felt was surely the final boss of the game, only to find out that there was an entire level and set of bosses beyond that. I guess the ultimate point that I'm trying to get at here is that 90s JRPGs suffer from content "padding".
OKAY. With that out of the way, let me tell you the incredible things about this game.
Gameplay is original and exciting. It feels more real-time than the ATB system despite the fact that it is statically turn-based. I also like the elements system. In fact, I think that these gameplay systems may be my favorite among all turn-based RPGs. Being able to do a melee attack multiple times AND falling back to use a spell in the same turn feels really fun and fluid.
Mitsuda's score is transcendental as usual.
The 40+ player characters seemed like a silly gimmick at first but ended up being pretty charming with more hits than misses. I really did enjoy a lot of the fun vignettes.
And for all of it's faults of storytelling in the final act, the story and writing overall are genuinely beautiful, though a bit heavy-handed with the philosophical stuff.
Chrono Cross, I enjoyed you so much and it pained me that I had to finish you on YouTube. I hope one day you can forgive me.