Chrono Cross is just not a good game, and as a sequel to Chrono Trigger...for some reason, it's also a disappointment. From weird battle choices, characters leaving the whole time, story narratives straight up being different, mundane graphics, and a slow soundtrack; Chrono Cross steered itself so far away from Trigger that it just doesn't feel like it was trying to do anything right, just different.
While I can certainly get not wanting to be stuck in the same role, Chrono Cross is just an odd game all over. Why this game deals with different dimension instead of time travel is already different enough, but they really just changed everything they could. Combat is often slow and tiresome with how often you have to manage it, and most of this comes down to the magic system. Magic in Chrono Cross is dumb and stupid and I hate it. Why do I have to buy magic? Why can I still not understand the combining system, WHY DID THEY BREAK SOMETHING THAT WAS SOLVED. I really, really don't know, but just having traditional combat would have been miles better. Instead you can just run out of magic and be SOL. Then you also have a stamina bar that just sort screws a lot of the system. It's like a proto proto version of the bravery default system, but with next to nothing of that systems coolness of risk and reward. We also have over 40 characters that would have to be trained and used properly that it just ends up being a waste. It's very clear that there are just better characters to use and having a bigger party is often just a status symbol over something useful like Suikoden.
Honestly how they went from having gripping characters in Chrono Trigger to just an outright mess of a character cast in Chrono Cross is perhaps it's biggest offensive. With like only 5 characters getting any proper screen time, and the rest getting small neat parts just makes for a far cry of the dynamic the Chrono Trigger group had. Really this whole game's story is a mess, and while I understand it has a bit of connection to Chrono Trigger, it really shouldn't have. The games plot is too vastly different, tone and otherwise, the game does have an interesting plot twist, but before you can even get there the game would have shown you it's ugliness and either you're in for a pound or just left for something more interesting. Largely the different dimensions only holds interest for so long, mainly because you think they do something interesting with it, but they just don't. The dimensions are just too similar to one another, and it never really exploits the parallel dimensions the way Trigger did with time travel.
Really Chrono Cross is an ambitious game that was a huge disappointment and a let down for anyone that liked Chrono Trigger. Why this game has to share the same name is also as maddening as it is disheartening. Honestly you're just better off playing Chrono Trigger again.
While I can certainly get not wanting to be stuck in the same role, Chrono Cross is just an odd game all over. Why this game deals with different dimension instead of time travel is already different enough, but they really just changed everything they could. Combat is often slow and tiresome with how often you have to manage it, and most of this comes down to the magic system. Magic in Chrono Cross is dumb and stupid and I hate it. Why do I have to buy magic? Why can I still not understand the combining system, WHY DID THEY BREAK SOMETHING THAT WAS SOLVED. I really, really don't know, but just having traditional combat would have been miles better. Instead you can just run out of magic and be SOL. Then you also have a stamina bar that just sort screws a lot of the system. It's like a proto proto version of the bravery default system, but with next to nothing of that systems coolness of risk and reward. We also have over 40 characters that would have to be trained and used properly that it just ends up being a waste. It's very clear that there are just better characters to use and having a bigger party is often just a status symbol over something useful like Suikoden.
Honestly how they went from having gripping characters in Chrono Trigger to just an outright mess of a character cast in Chrono Cross is perhaps it's biggest offensive. With like only 5 characters getting any proper screen time, and the rest getting small neat parts just makes for a far cry of the dynamic the Chrono Trigger group had. Really this whole game's story is a mess, and while I understand it has a bit of connection to Chrono Trigger, it really shouldn't have. The games plot is too vastly different, tone and otherwise, the game does have an interesting plot twist, but before you can even get there the game would have shown you it's ugliness and either you're in for a pound or just left for something more interesting. Largely the different dimensions only holds interest for so long, mainly because you think they do something interesting with it, but they just don't. The dimensions are just too similar to one another, and it never really exploits the parallel dimensions the way Trigger did with time travel.
Really Chrono Cross is an ambitious game that was a huge disappointment and a let down for anyone that liked Chrono Trigger. Why this game has to share the same name is also as maddening as it is disheartening. Honestly you're just better off playing Chrono Trigger again.
straylight
2 years ago