Chrono Cross

PSX

Squaresoft - 2000

This is one game that I never fully understood. Not only is the plot more conveluted than the normal Final Fantasy plot, it hardly involves anything from the previous game. For all those who are wondering, this game, the sequel to Crono Trigger, made 5 years after the probably greatest SNES game ever made, Crono Trigger, ruins everything that one could have loved about it. First off, let's look at the facts.

Chrono Cross takes place in a bunch of Islands, the El Nido Archipelago, nearby to Guardia, the town Crono lived in. Yes, lived, for apparently he is dead. In fact, Crono is only in this game for around 5 minutes, and says a bunch of nonsense. Yes, "Says." For Crono does indeed talk in this game. Which is one of the many things that annoyed me with the game. But that is getting ahead of myself.

So in Chrono Cross you get to control Serge, a Coca-Cola commerical/ Hero. He is this boy who winds up being teleported into an alternate world where he is supposedly dead. Hmm, interesting. There he meets "Kid." Yes, the cuter-than-can-be girl with a shorter skirt than Tifa and weird face paint. Her name is Kid. Enjoying the game yet? Wait, it gets better, for she's got an annoying accent. Enjoying the game yet? Wait, it gets even better, for just about all of the 44 characters than can join your party get annoying accents. Now you are enjoying the game. So you end up saving Kid, and she takes you on an adventure. First off though, you wander around doing a whole bunch of side quests and not fully understanding what the heck is going on, where the plot is, and why you just don't go move into your home town, assume a different identity, marry your girlfriend, and live happily ever after.

Well, about half-way thru the game, plot starts happening. I hope it is ok for me to spoil a bit of it, for this is the one thing I really loved about Chrono Cross. Halfway thru the game, you meet this guy, Lynx, a failure named after the failure of a videogame system. He somehow has some power to change bodies with you. So you play a part of the game as Lynx. Talk about smartness. Turns out your body was needed to power some ultimate weapon. And while most rpgs with that plot (ahem, all of them) would just have the villian invite you to his lair, Lynx uses his brain, swaps bodies, and then has free access to the evil weapon. So then your goal is to stop him. For some reason, stopping him involves switching from one world to another repeatedly, so fast that you can't remember what world you are doing a certain task in. So you meet a bagillion characters (44) who join you. The problem is figuring out which world the characters will join you in. In one world they will help you, the other hinder you. It's annoying how different the two worlds are, since the only first difference was that Surge lived in one world, and died in another. After that, the worlds get so screwed up, sheesh, I won't even comment on that.

One thing I do want to comment on though, before I go any farther, is the use of two dopy villians for humor, and teaching the basics of combat. Square has always had two dopy characters in each of their games. The thing is, in a few Final Fantasys they were called Biggs/Vicks and Wedge. Then in Chrono Trigger there was a Biggs and Wedge. So what do they call the dopy characters in Chrono Cross? Why Solt and Peppor. What? Ok Square, if you learn one thing from me today, it is this. When you make a game, and include two lackeys. Name them the same in every game. You might as well. It adds something for all the fanboys to notice, and if quite enjoyable that way. The entire time I saw Solt and Peppor though, I just wanted to rename them Biggs and Wedge. It drove me quite crazy. Ok, enough of that rant, now back to the rant, er review.

So then you finally find out how all this connects to Chrono Trigger. Barely at best is the answer. Turns out that Serge existing causes some sort of time-space-continuem mishaps that kills Crono and the others, and let's Lavos live. Also, it makes Schala, Magus' sister, alive? I never understood this part. Add in some sort of future station that monitors the world, and a reptilian counterpart, a bag of Mary Jane, and some pure, un-adulterated Squaresoft brand mentions of Heaven, Hell, God, and human love. I don't understand how these all connect together, and I don't think the writer did either. Actually I do have a theory though. The first writer, George, was killed while he was making a game that has NOTHING to do with Crono Trigger. Then, another writer, Bob, was working on a sequel to Chrono Trigger. When the president of Square came by to look at Bob's stuff, and Bob realized he has nothing to show, cause he was a slacker, he stole George's stuff, mixed in some Final Fantasy nonsense about life, God, destroying the world, and love, then showed it to the boss. The president hated it, fired Bob, then got Timm from accounting to come and fix it. Timm had alzheimers though, which the president didn't know about, so Timm screwed up the story even more. Then the boss got the writer for Xenogears to take everything Timm did and screw it up. He figured after all that, no one could complain the story was bad, for then he would tell them they just didn't understand it, and to play it until they did. The problem with that is that it would take an infinite amount of playing to find a reasonable explanation of the plot, and I personally have other games to play.

For some reason though, when you play this game, you love it. As soon as you stop playing it for a week, you hate it. I think there is some sort of addictive substance in the game that made me keep playing, and altered my brain to like it. I can't remember why I did like it so much, or play it so much now.

What liked: There are a few cool things about the game, I must admit, even after all that about hating the game. The translation is pretty good, everyone keeps their awful accents throughout the game no problem. While 44 characters with no plot for any of them gets really annoying, the game has a "no levels" system which helps tremendously. You gain stars, and each star makes every character stronger by a certain amount. This also means though that you can't build a powerful character with extra "stones" or whatever that up their stats. One or two characters looked cool in the game, but most were quite a disappointment. My favorite thing about this game, and the reason I still like it after everything bad about it, is the music. It has the best music of any game I have ever played, and I am fully serious. I must admit that I liked the battle system, although some of the fights in the first time through the game were incredibly tough.

What disliked: I think I covered that enough in my rant above. After beating the game three times (It has the new game + a la Chrono Trigger) you can't build your characters up any more, for you can only get 99 stars. I wanted to play a bunch more, so I could sort of understand the plot.

What to expect: Great music, fun battles, infuriating plot.

What not to expect: Chrono Trigger. I doesn't keep anything from the original, excepting Lavos (or a piece of lavos.) Crono, Marle, and Luca are shown as little kid's ghosts twice, and then only offer cryptic advice. The battle system is even very different, although still enjoyable.

What's so different from this and other games of it's genre:

Ratings on:

Control: 9 - It's an rpg. I don't think I should be allowed to rate rpg controls.

Graphics: 9 - These are some of the best graphics for PS1 anywhere. It's argued which are better, FF9 or this game. (Of course everyone with a brain knows FF9 had better graphics than FF8, so it's not argued whether it or FF8 had better graphics.)

Sound: 10+ - My favorite soundtrack ever. Period. I recommend getting it just for the soundtrack.

Style: 3 - One for the battle system, because it resembles Xenogears. Three for the fact that the villian is smart. Minus one for the plot.

1st hour: 10 - This opening is great. The graphics are sweet. The music is to die for. But where am I in the world of Chrono Trigger, and most important, where is Crono?

5th hour: 8 - Ok, this plot is very nonexistant, conveluted, and just plain messed up.

1st week: 7 - I am wondering if I ever get out of these islands and see the world of Chrono Trigger.

5th week: 5 - They made Crono speak! They must die!

#1 reason why I hate this game: Crono speaks, Don'tCHA know?

Hawke actually did understand the plot a bit more than he lets on, but still wished Square could make an understandable plot once in a blue moon.