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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months Binding: Video Game Brand: Square Enix EAN: 0662248900087 ESRB Age Rating: Teen Feature: Featuring a story line developed by the creator of "Chrono Trigger" and "Xenogears," Chrono Cross has been christened the "Best RPG Creation" by its development team. Format: PSX Genre: RPG (VG)/ Rating: T - Teen UPC: 662248900087 Manufacturer No: 9780 Label: Square Enix Manufacturer: Square Enix Model: 6.62E+11 Platform: PlayStation Publisher: Square Enix Release Date: August 16, 2000 Sales Rank: 1253 Studio: Square Enix
Features:
Featuring a story line developed by the creator of "Chrono Trigger" and "Xenogears," Chrono Cross has been christened the "Best RPG Creation" by its development team. Format: PSX Genre: RPG (VG)/ Rating: T - Teen UPC: 662248900087 Manufacturer No: 9780
Product Description: Featuring a story line developed by the creator of "Chrono Trigger" and "Xenogears" Chrono Cross has been christened the "Best RPG Creation" by its development team.Format: PSX Genre: RPG (VG)/ Rating: T - Teen UPC: 662248900087 Manufacturer No: 9780
Editorial Review: Chrono Cross, the sequel to the Super Nintendo classic Chrono Trigger, turns out to be well worth the wait. Taking off 20 years after the first game, Chrono Cross follows a boy named Serge across parallel worlds--both the world in which he lives and one in which he drowned 10 years earlier.
Chrono Cross will wow players with beautiful prerendered graphics and a unique battle system. Elements replace magic and items in battle, and using the same element three times in a row will ultimately increase your power. In addition to using elements, the accuracy of physical attacks is determined by probability, with easier-to-land weak attacks setting up fierce blows.
The plot, while a bit slow to develop, is full of interesting characters. Players will need to travel between the two worlds to advance the plot. While many of these areas will initially appear to look similar, you'll find them to be quite different upon closer examination of the details. For instance, a plant that is extinct in one world thrives in the other.
My only qualm with Chrono Cross is that, despite the complexities of the battle system, veterans will have an easy time with early battles. Still, there's much to like about this SquareSoft epic. --Robb Guido
Pros:
Lavish, vibrantly colored graphics
Unique battle system involving elements and casting away role-playing clichés like experience and magic points
Cons:
Easy battles due to powerful offensive and cure elements
For hours, players will be saying, "Get to the time travel stuff"
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Loads of fun, excellent
I got this game and played it because I loved Chrono Trigger so much. While connected to Chrono Trigger, I agree with others that it is better to think of this as its own game in the same universe/world as Chrono Trigger, rather than a sequel.
I thought the battle system was always a lot of fun. You find and buy magic elements which you allocate to players, instead of the usual 'spells'. The nice part is that there is no MP, instead you are just allowed to use each element once during a battle, and they all recharge for your next battle (except a few aptly-named Consumables). The battles are not too difficult, and I liked that. Also, you can automatically heal at the end of battles with the push of a button.
The story is engrossing and complex. It takes a long time to develop, and then once it does it is a rush of too much information. You might refer to an online summary once you finish the game to understand just what really happened. But just because the story is complex, does not mean that it is boring or engrossing. It is fascinating, and in this way shares something with Chrono Trigger.
Weapons have to be constructed from raw materials, but this is not as annoying as it sounds. It is kinda fun. The Rainbow Shell weapons are a little harder this way though. There are also many, many playable characters. The minus side is that there is very little development of each individual character, and you will find the assistant characters saying the same scripted things no matter which one you choose. This was a disappointment because Chrono Trigger's 6-7 characters always offered their unique perspectives on a situation. On the plus side, there is a lot of gameplay in taking a certain character to a place you suspect they might interact with at different times during the game. (For example, having Leena with you when you go into Arni Village.)
There is some encounter with futuristic stuff, and time and alternate dimension stuff that will mess with your mind, so Chrono Trigger fans might like some of that. Also, the graphics and music are excellent!
Rating: - Didn't think I'd like it.
I wasn't sure what to make of this game when I first bought it. I started playing it and it seemed so strange. It had a different system for nearly everything I was used to in an RPG. But I'm glad I stuck with it.
Once you get through the beginning of the game, it quickly becomes a fun, interesting one. The music is memorable, and the (many) characters as well, especially since you often are given choices which effect which characters will join your group, and which you'll have to replay the game to use. This all increases the game's replay value, making each play through different from the one before it. The story is great, and the actual gameplay is incredibly fun.
You should definitely play this game. I still love it, in all its PSX glory.
Rating: - Great Classic
I must admit first off that I'm a bit of a sucker for pretty graphics in a game and can overlook almost anything in order to play them. Just the same, most often older games turn me off because of simple or bad graphics.
This game is not only a beauty to behold, but a great play. It has a mass amount of characters that you can unlock, so you actually have to play through several times to get all of them. It's the only PS game that I actually own, and I'm still having a ball with it.
I would recomend this game to any one that hasn't played it before or anyone that has for a good revisit.
Rating: - I had alot of fun with this game...
Like my title says, I had alot of fun playing this game. If you really enjoyed Chrono Trigger and are expecting a sequel, you may be dissapointed with Chrono Cross. I have a really hard time envisioning this as a sequel-it just seems so far removed from the original Chrono Trigger (the original cast of Chrono Trigger's appearance is rather cameo). However, if you don't think of this game as a sequel, then you may enjoy it just as much as I did. Well, here's a more in-depth look at this game:
Graphics (9/10): Obviously, this is a Playstation 1 game, it's going to have PS1 graphics. I thought the graphics were very nice looking. There really wasn't anywhere in the game that made me exclaim "those lazy graphical designers! How dare they!". Although not as good as other PS1 games in terms of graphics (especially later games, for obvious reasons), most everything was pleasing to the eye and I have no complaints.
Music (9/10): Music was pretty good. Songs fit the emotional content of scenes pretty well, and many are pleasant enough to listen to outside of the game ("Time's Scar" comes to mind). The music may not be that memorable, but it's still pretty nice to listen to.
Characters (7/10): They really go for quantity over quality here. There are at least 30 characters available. Obviously, this high character volume means that no one particularly gets well-developed (except Serge of course). Normally this would bother me, but the characters were all so unique and colorful in appearance and attitude that I didn't mind as much. I sort of fell into the collector's mindset, in that I had alot of fun just trying to get people to join the party. Gotta catch 'em all!
Story (7/10): The story is very enjoyable until the last 1/8 of the game. Then it just sort of degenerates into an incomprehensible convoluted mess. I felt like the last part of the plot had been sucked into some kind of demensional void and distorted beyond reason. However, as I said earlier, the story is very enjoyable and understandable before that point; definitely enough to make the game worthy of playing.
Battle System (8/10): Nothing really wrong with the battle system. It is basically turn-based. Each character has a certain number of slots (which increase as you get stronger) that magic (called Elements) is assigned to. The system is fairly easy to get used to. My only complaint here is that switching elements from one character to another can be rather tedious.
Gameplay (9/10): This is my catch-all category. Some people (like me) will enjoy the ability to travel between dimensions to the two worlds (although it can be confusing at times). Others will find this constant back-and-forth travel to be rather annoying. I have no complaints with other gameplay elements like the controls or menus. Overall, everything's pretty good.
Overall (8/10): NOTE this score is not an average, it's my subjective overall score. Despite the lack of any real character depth, and the somewhat convoluted story towards the end, I really enjoyed this game. Considering it's current price (it's rather cheap, at least for now), I recommend picking it up.
Rating: - Great game, but...
After playing Chrono Trigger, I wanted a sequel, so I bought this game. Overall, I am satisfied with the gameplay. Those who expect this to be another Chrono Trigger will not get what they expect. The story intersects that of Chrono Trigger, but everything else makes it a unique game.
The gameplay is interesting and a refreshing change from Chrono Trigger. Unlike most RPGs, you can choose which spells to equip and use in battle. As your characters get stronger, you can buy and equip stronger spells and techniques. Instead of using up HP or MP to use techniques and cast spells, you use "power levels" which you gain from using basic attacks. So you don't run out of MP as you do in other games since you can always gain it back and it resets after every battle. Because of this, you can heal your characters using "power levels" during and after every battle, which makes the game seem too easy. You can also run away from boss fights (!), but you have to fight them to advance the storyline.
The back of the game cover boasts of "a multitude of playable characters." Being a seemingly good idea, this innovative element is the biggest negative as well as the biggest positive aspect of the game's story. Because of the huge number of characters, there isn't much character development outside of the three main characters (Serge, Kid, and Lynx), though one could argue that there isn't much character development of the main character at all since he never speaks. The large number of characters serves the game's goal of lengthening the game's potential playtime since there are numerous side quests. Each character has his/her own story and personality, but the characters' personalities are not as developed as the main characters'.
Overall, I enjoyed this game very much and would recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed Chrono Trigger and other similar games. The soundtrack is just as good as Chrono Trigger's if not better and the gameplay is an improvement despite its flaws. However, if you are expecting an excellent story that rivals that of Chrono Trigger, you will be disappointed. Also, one last thing to note: BUYER BEWARE: Some people who purchased the game from Amazon, including myself, received defective copies of the game (the game freezes near the end of the first disc). Other reviewers also mention this.
- Loads of fun, excellent
- I had alot of fun with this game...
