PlayStation
Chrono Cross
| Graphics: Sound: Gameplay: Overall: |
8.03 8.14 7.55 7.80 |
| Votes: | 66 |
| Reviews: | 2 |
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| Reviewer: Beamer | Date: Feb 24, 2026 |
| I have never understood why Square wanted to make this a sequel to Chrono Trigger. If it was its own story like a Final Fantasy game, I would understand. But here you also have things that clearly put this story connected with Chrono Trigger. The fall of Guardia makes no sense. The change of the landscape makes no sense. Nothing about this game makes any sense at all.
Graphics: 8 The graphics are really good. It's a PS1 game that could be mistaken for a PS2 game. But I also think this is because a lot of PS1 games didn't harness their graphics potential as well as they should have. There's nothing that special about it except the cutscenes. The cutscenes are truly where the graphics shine most. Sound: 7 By itself, the music of this game is really good. Compare it to its predecessor however, it falls a bit. Chrono Trigger had all kinds of interesting and exciting music along with tranquil and emotional music. Chrono Cross unfortunately doesn't really stand against it. Gameplay: 3 This is where I believe this game falls hard. The story, the characters, the battle system, leveling up, and the pacing is all just bad. The story by itself is good, but it's supposed to be a sequel. A sequel that has to pair up with Chrono Trigger. If it doesn't properly pair up with its predecessor, it won't make sense. The fall of Guardia, why and how did this happen? It makes no sense. In Chrono Trigger, Porre was a small town south of Guardia that had no military force and a mayor that, if you consider the change made in the game, is very generous and caring. Why would they invade and destroy Guardia? And how would they do that with no military? Obviously they didn't just take control or build over its ruins. It was just mindless destruction. And considering they were just villagers against and kingdom with a castle and military, the idea of it doesn't work. This takes place in 1020 AD, 20 years after Chrono's time in Chrono Trigger. It shows in 1999 AD, the town's changed, but the land didn't. So why does the world of Chrono Cross look entirely different? Chrono Trigger had a great battle system. Techs, magic, double techs, triple techs! They could've taken that and evolved it into something better. Instead, it seems they decided to throw it out the window and replace it with something entirely different, something that I just never found to be that good. Battling is such a task, not really something fun to do. Sure the idea of the elements and grid are interesting, but this is where I say there's too much complexity. Some things like small battles don't need to be complex and complicated to be fun. Simplicity is much better. Overall: 5 Honestly, I usually never make it past the manor because I lose interest. The characters are good, but totally unrelated to Chrono Trigger. (Like seriously, where was Lynx when Chrono was beating the crap out of Lavos?) This game tries to be a Chono Trigger sequel but it fails miserably. If they took out the references to Chrono Trigger and say it's in its own world, its own story unconnected with Chrono Trigger, I would understand it better. By itself it wouldn't need Chrono Trigger to make sense, it just would. But it's supposed to pair up with Chrono Trigger's story and fails. I cannot stress this enough, Chrono Cross makes no sense. If you've never played Chrono Trigger and you think this is good, I understand. But if you have, you're going to have a lot of trouble making any sense of it. Why did they need to change everything when Chrono Trigger was already so good? They could've taken what was great about that and built on it. Improve the mechanics, don't all out change everything! If you're going to do that, than don't make it a sequel! |
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| Reviewer: Judge489 | Date: Aug 22, 2011 |
| Seen as the "inferior" sequel to what's known as one of the best, if not THE best RPG of all time, Chrono Trigger, this game still amazes me with how much hate it gets, and I don't understand why. I actually played this game before I ever played Trigger. Heck, it's my favorite RPG of all time, even beating the Final Fantasy games, and of course, it's predecessor (just barely though).
Graphics: 10 I have shown people the opening cut-scene of this game, along with some of the gameplay, and they were amazed. They all thought that this game was for the PS2, and were stunned when I told them that it was for the original PlayStation. To me, it's on par, if not better, graphics wise with Final Fantasy X. Then environments are very well detailed, and very fun to explore. Sound: 10 The music catches the atmosphere of the game perfectly. From the battle music (boss, regular, and special battles), to the environments you explore, every piece of music fits perfectly. Sad music when a dramatic scene happens. Jungle appropriate music in Gaea's Navel. And probably the best boss music I've ever heard in any game. Period. This games soundtrack has won awards, and was even released as it's own compilation album. If that doesn't say something about the music, I don't know what will. Gameplay: 9 The gameplay mechanics are much different than most RPGs of the time. Yes, it's still turn based battles, but with a few nice twists. The most important one, you can choose between a Weak, Strong, and Fierce attack, and the hit percentages are shown next to each one. Weak attacks have a higher chance of hitting, but have a small payoff. Fierce attacks are the reverse. You can increase the percentages for each hit with every successful hit. Another change to the formula is the magic system, as it gets rid of the the traditional MP system, and replaces it with an Element Grid. You attach your magic somewhat like you do equipment, however, in a Grid form. Each Element that is not a consumable (Tablets, Antidotes, etc.) can only be used once per battle, and can only be used after your Grid level gets to the level the spell (or element) is on. You increase your Grid level with normal attacks. Weak attacks increase it by 1, strong by 2, and fierce by 3. Every character has 3 their own Signature moves (Commonly known as "Egg moves"), learned at Grid Levels 3, 5, and 7. Some can even combined with other characters egg moves for "Super" moves. You gain these levels only from boss battles. You can use the "Stars" from these levels to summon creatures such as Salamander, Frog Prince, as well as others. The last key change is the color system. Each character has an innate color, and can be used against whatever the opposite color is as either a strength or weakness. Each color is not only strong, but weak against whatever is the opposite color is. White and black are strong against each other, as is Blue and Red, and so is Yellow and Green. Depending on what color Element you use, you can increase the attacks of your characters. So, say you use 2 White Elements in a row. The field effect will be 2/3rds White, and all White innate characters will have an attack increase, as well as better resistance to their opposite color. Overall: 10 Realistically, a 9.7. This is almost the perfect game (in my opinion). Gameplay is very well done, the soundtrack is amazing, and the story and (most) of characters are very fun to follow. One thing I should really note: Don't really think of this as a "pure sequel". Trigger is only really mentioned in the key moments of the game. Look at this as more of a "Reimagining" or an "Homage" to the original. Still, fantastic game, and can't recommend it enough. |
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