11/19/99-5:51 P.M.-korin-"Here is an outline of the plot in Chrono Cross sent to us from Chris Carlson Thanx alot Chris,Korin

Serge awakens to find himself in a universe where he died 10 years agoand no one knows who he is. As he struggles to find out precisely how (andwhy) he arrived in this "other" world, he meets up with Kid and a newcharacter, Alf. Alf dresses somewhat like a mummer, or a masquerade ball attendee;he fights with sleight-of-hand and magic. So far, the young miscreantKochya has also made a cameo appearance. The plot is still forming, butwhispered themes thus far include the Frozen Flame (the "King of Treasures" that "gives the user whatever they want in the entire world") and long-lost dragons. Where the game goes from here is, at this point, anyone'sguess. The game itself is graphically quite colorful and vibrant, and the load times are much improved since the demo. The wacky character designsactually work well within the PSX-rendered confines of the game. Once you become attuned to the new battle system, skirmishes move quickly and the game unfolds at a brisk pace. The music, thus far, is one of the moststunning aspects--it is truly well-orchestrated and often hauntingly beautiful.And as non-native speakers of Japanese, we can certainly attest to Squaregiving each character a unique dialect; our head hurts trying to keep them all straight! All in all, the small bit of Chrono Cross we've played hasmore than lived up to our expectations. Stay tuned for more updates to come!