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Rating: Awesome After a wait of five long years, the sequel to Chrono Trigger has finally been released. Chrono Cross is either deeply fulfilling or hugely disappointing, depending on what you're expecting. If you're expecting a true sequel to Chrono Trigger, you will undoubtedly be disappointed. Square could have easily called Vagrant Story or Final Fantasy 9 "the sequel to Chrono Trigger" and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The combat is completely different from Chrono Trigger, and the characters are also completely different. Even the game world is completely different, despite the fact that Chrono Cross supposedly takes place just 20 years after Chrono Trigger. Sure, a few re-mixed songs from Chrono Trigger are in Chrono Cross, but that hardly makes it a true sequel. The only thing that Chrono Cross really has in common with Chrono Trigger is that it's a phenomenal game with the word "Chrono" in its title. If you look past the fact that Chrono Cross isn't a true sequel to Chrono Trigger and judge the game on its own merits, you'll find that it's yet another masterpiece from the kings of RPGs at Square. Before the story line begins to get going, you'll notice that the combat system is innovative and easy-to-grasp at the same time. Standard physical attacks can be executed with one of three strengths, with weaker attacks having higher hit percentages and stronger attacks being more likely to miss. This adds a strategic element to combat even when you're just hacking away at enemies, as you have to decide in each individual battle whether the risks of powerful attacks are worth the rewards. Using magic (or "elements") is just as strategic because all enemies have elemental alignments that can be exploited to your advantage. If you use the automatic feature and don't delve into the intricacies of the element system, you'll still be able to do well in combat, just not too well. To give you an idea of the difference that elements can make in battles, I once went into a boss battle completely unprepared and got annihilated. After strategically changing my elements, I went back to the boss and kicked its ass, simply because I had switched some elements around in the right places. The standard battles aren't as entertaining as the boss battles, but they're still remarkably fun. Square did a very good job of walking the fine line between character customization and character individuality in combat. You get a nice amount of character customization because any character can be equipped with any element, and you also get a nice amount of character individuality in combat because every character has a few unique attacks that no other character has. Many RPGs give you one of these two things; Chrono Cross gives you both. It makes a huge difference to be able to see the enemies in the environments before you encounter them. It's also nice that the magic animations are kept faily short, unlike those in FF7 and FF8. My sole complaint with the combat system is that you can't select the next command while the current command is being executed. This makes the combat in general somewhat slow-paced, but this isn't too big of a problem. The graphics in Chrono Cross are truly beautiful. I'm not just referring to the cut scenes; the "in-game graphics" as beautiful as well. While Final Fantasy 7's graphics were beautiful because they were technologically incredible at the time, Chrono Cross' graphics are beautiful in an "amazing artwork" sort of way. Every single area in the game, from the overland map to the towns to the dungeons, is bursting with color and detail from the top of the screen to the bottom. The music is also memorable, with a wide variety of tones ranging from happy to dramatic to somber. The music adds to the mood and feel of many scenes in the game, which is exactly what RPG music should do. The sole exception to this game's musical excellence is the annoying Scottish music in the town of Termina. I thought "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was going to appear when I first entered that town... The biggest problem with Chrono Cross is that there are simply too many characters (over 40 in all). When you first get a new character in your party, you're treated to a decent amount of character development, and in fact, this character development is very good and will often pull at your proverbial heart strings. The problem is that after this initial character development is complete for a particular character, that's it. Odds are that there will be very little additional character development for the rest of the game in this character's case. They will tag along with you if you have them in your party for combat, but they won't say or do much for the rest of the game. Most of the story throughout the game focuses on Serge, Kid, and well... Serge and Kid. This is really a shame, because many of the side characters could have been truly classic if they had been explored further. I would prefer that the game have 15, 10, or even five characters that are prominently featured throughout the game, rather than having over 40 who are mostly left to the player's imagination. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Chrono Cross has a bad story or even a "just good" story. What I am saying is that in one important way, it could have been better. The character development that is in the game is excellent, and the story as a whole is very deep, with surprising plot twists throughout the game. I also like how the game gives you real story-related choices for once. This is much preferred over the old RPG method of appearing to give you multiple choices, when in fact you can only choose one. This game also gives you lots of choices at any given time when it comes to where you go next, making the whole experience very non-linear. At the same time, though, the game still has focus, unlike some other non-linear RPGs like the original SaGa Frontier. If you're looking for a perfect game, Chrono Cross isn't it, but then again, neither is any other game on the market. Sure, it's not a true sequel to Chrono Trigger and it has too many characters for its own good, but don't let these two flaws prevent you from enjoying one of the greatest RPGs ever released. Send your thoughts on this review to ivan@mastergamer.com
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