Old School Review: Chrono Cross

[EileenCruz]

I recently picked up Chrono Cross from the Playstation Network. I remembered loving it the first time around and since I could play it on-the-go via my PSP, I figured why the hell not?

Chrono Cross is a very well-crafted RPG from a time that was really, really good for RPGs. Square (now Square-Enix) had a particularly good run of RPGs on the original Playstation. Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross. While I am still working my way around to play them, my brother assures me that Legend of Mana, Threads of Fate and Xenogears are well worth our time.

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[aboleth_lich]

In my humble opinion, the all-time best Square RPG and the greatest SNES game is this franchise's original entry: Chrono Trigger! There are have been other RPGs with epic stories that include numerous surprising twists and affords multiple alternate endings, side quests, extra playable characters, etc--but I'm hard pressed to think of another game that spans so many multiple disparate chronological eras, thereby blending together several sub-genres within the broader fantasy and science-fiction umbrella, and incorporates powerful, novel, and down-right fun cause-and-effect time travel scenarios! It's practically Doctor Who: The RPG! Moreover, Chrono Trigger had a fantastically varied combat system that allowed your party to grow together and not separately, learning special character specific team-work moves!

And, yet, despite my absolute love for Chrono Trigger as professed above: Chrono Cross completely passed me by! (Its release just so happened to coincide with a time in my life when I put aside gaming for a few years to concentrate on my studies, etc!) I'm definitely going to have to make of point of playing it at some point! Retro Gamer Bucket List updated!

 

[lindbergh]

I loved both games - Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger but I loved Chrono Cross on the PS1 a lot more than the SNES Chrono Trigger. I dunno. Maybe the updated graphics on the PS1 helped. Or perhaps the overly complex story. Or the serene into to the surprising twist wherein *Spoiler alert* Serge is transferred to a mirror dimension of his world wherein he is already dead.

The multiple ending is a nice touch. I was just irked though because I got a crappy ending in my first playthrough.