Chrono Cross review - for those Radical Dreamers

"For those Radical Dreamers"



Unfortunately for some Chrono Cross was not what they wanted, they wanted a
direct sequel to the outstanding game Chrono Trigger (Which I will be
review this week as well) but for those who didn't care that it wasn't a
sequel like me, it was and will always be one of the greatest RPG's of all
time.



The gameplay in Chrono Cross is one of my favorite for a list of reasons.
First they followed Chrono Trigger in suit of being able to see the
creatures before you fought them. Yes, yes, yes I know that other games
have done it in the past and present but it's nice to know that they kept
some things similar to the original. You can escape from just about every
battle, in fact (It's been a while) I don't remember a battle in which you
couldn't. What other game had that, and if a game did have that what game
could let you run away as fast as this game does? The battle system is one
of my all-time favorites. It's a little confusing at first but once you
figure it out it's a breeze. It's a little hard to explain but here's a
short version when you start a battle everyone in your party starts with
7.0 Stamina that you use for Attacking, Defending, and Magic. You can
restore your stamina when your other party members attack and when you
defend. There is also a Field Effect Grid which tells you/shows you what
color or magic the field is made up of. If all three parts of the grid are
one color magic for that color is increased and you can use a summon of
the corresponding color. The battle system is very complex but its
downright awesome once you get use to it.



What's really nice about this game is there are 2 worlds, your "Home"
World and "Another" World. In both there are differences and similarities
and because of that you can do things in one world that you couldn't do in
another. it really adds another layer of depth to a game full of stuff to
do.



Speaking of being full of stuff to do this is by far the most characters
filled RPG that I've ever played. There are something like 44 characters
that you recruit from both of the worlds. (It's a really great feature)



The graphics are really good here, the colors are vibrant and nothing here
looks dull/boring. Even the world map(s) look great. The bosses are hard,
they are challenging, are some are really, really really annoying. But one
thing they almost all have in common with is how freaking amazing they
look. The people being the designs did a fantastic job with not only the
characters design but the design of the bosses as well!



The story is surprisingly really good. It isn't the whole boy saves girl
saves the world (Well it kind of is but the main story isn't) the story
has some bleh parts in it (What game's story doesn't? heck what story in
general, game, movie, life doesn't have bleh parts in it) but on the whole
the story is always in the back of your mind because it's literally linked
into everything you do, everywhere you go, and everyone you meet.
basically the story is that Serge (the main character) is at the beach
with your childhood friend Leena, when all of a sudden you hear a strange
voice calling your name. You look at into the sea and notice some kind of
weird rift opens and a black and white group of images appear. A tidal
wave is coming and is about to crash into you when some kind of magic
force appears below your feet. When you wake up from whatever happened you
go back to your village and find out that you not longer in Kansas
anymore. You're in "Another" World and you find out that in here you died
10 years ago. This is where you story takes flight. You're on the quest to
find out what happened to you and how you can go back to your real World.



The music in the game is outstanding. The scores in this rival the music
in Chrono Trigger. (There are few that can beat Chrono Cross) One of
coolest things about the music is that there are different songs for both
the Home World and Another World. I even found myself buying the
soundtrack because it really is an amazing piece of art. The sounds of the
game are also pretty dang good, from the sounds of the world to the sounds
of battle there is hardly any dull moments.



Replay in this game is huge because like how I said that Chrono
Trigger and Chrono Cross have some thing in common this is another one of
them, it's called New Game +. In case you don't know you can start the
game all over again with all of the items you had before like weapons,
armor. All of it is back (sans key items).



All in all it's a really good game with a good story that does tie into
that of Chrono Trigger (Albeit loosely) but it's still one to play because
forgetting that it's not a sequel to one of the best RPG's of all time and
you see Chrono Cross as it should, an excellent RPG and one of the best
that's ever been made!



Bottom line is I give this a 9.5/10