Is Chrono Cross a good game?

[Moodmon]

Well, having played a good ten hours now, my opinion is slightly different. The setting is good, I like the parallel world idea, and the fighting system is decent. The music is completely and utterly wonderful, and it looks good for a PSOne game.

Shame the plot hasn't done an awful lot, that Kid seems to veer between English and Australian, and that none of the characters I've found so far have any personality whatsoever. It does seem very easy, but there is a more devestatig flaw. If you are going to have a Glenn in it (ie Frog from Chrono Trigger) you must make him a complete bad-ass, whom women find irristable and give him non spiky hair.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about any of the characters thus far. In the original, you felt they had put time and effort into some of them (like Frog, Magus, Robo) but here they are just annoying, and vapid. And where the fudge are the dual techs? Hell, the only two characters who can handle themselves in a fight are Serge and Kid. No-one else is actually any good, except maybe the fairy, but she can't take a hit. If you want to make a game rely on magic, then at least give me some decent magic users. The one physical guy I've found is useless, and he joined my party for no good reason.

Yes, that was a rant, and it probably isn't as bad as I've made out. Just that it isn't a patch on CT (fair enough), but character wise it struggles against stuff like Grandia 2 (which had some of the most generic peeps imaginable).

[Tom Salter]

I tell you, the game is terrible. Very pretty and airy fairy - but don't waste your time on it any more. It only goes downhill in terms of plot :S

[Baseley09]

Pretty mediocre stuff. It's not rubbish, just very average with a lot better games around to play.

[Moodmon]

Ack. I just looked at an FAQ, and found why it seems to lack personality. It appears that I have managed to miss all the good characters, and have ended up with all the **** ones. I can't believe it. No wonder I don't seem to have any decent third character.

How was I supposed to know that on my 1st play through. Now I'm stuck with rubbish ones till the end of the game, and I'm not even past the 1st disc yet.

[Ady]

I tell you, the game is terrible. Very pretty and airy fairy - but don't waste your time on it any more. It only goes downhill in terms of plot :S

Hah! That's rich coming from someone who just recommended all post-7 FF games overpage!

[Moodmon]

Hah! That's rich coming from someone who just recommended all post-7 FF games overpage!

Oooh, a typo. Surely you mean post VI/III-FF games. ****ty Cloud.

No, really

[Tom Salter]

Hah! That's rich coming from someone who just recommended all post-7 FF games overpage!

Nah man - the other FF games had an ace plot though - Chrono Cross is pretty and that's about it!

[Polygon]

Hum, I assume you didn't get very far in the game. It has one of the most riveting, audacious scenario Square has ever conceived (THIS shift at the middle of the game !!!), the great backgrounds, sublime music and pacing convey a genuine sense of discovery, and it refers cleverly to Chrono Trigger. It's a really good sequel, in my opinion (despite the often iritating characters).

[dataDave]

I'll probably play through it again after I finish FFTactics.

I'm pretty sure I went through with the pant characters the first time - although I still enjoyed it.

Then it's on to Xenogears...

[Izayoi]

Have a pen and paper handy when playing Xenogears, the plot starts simple enough, then gets a little complicated, then over-complicated, then totally ridiculous.

Quality music though, and the plot is pretty grown up and absorbing, despite the over-complexity.

Oooh, a typo. Surely you mean post VI/III-FF games. ****ty Cloud.

BLASPHEMY!!!

[Moodmon]

Hum, I assume you didn't get very far in the game. It has one of the most riveting, audacious scenario Square has ever conceived (THIS shift at the middle of the game !!!), the great backgrounds, sublime music and pacing convey a genuine sense of discovery, and it refers cleverly to Chrono Trigger. It's a really good sequel, in my opinion (despite the often iritating characters).

Why chose this quote? Well, to show that your opinions are wrong, and you have no right to express them

Anyway, rant mode on. If you don't like offensive language, huge great chunks of spoiler text, or other such nastiness, please look away now.

I have finished it. What compelled me to do so I have no idea. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. It looks good, I'll give it that. It sounds good too. Everything else, on the other hand...

The battle system is flawed. I have no problem with it normally, but when the computer blatently breaks it at every single oppotunity, I tend to get narked off with it. Fine, have the power levels, but don't let the computer start off a battle with some stupid spell without having attacked. Trapping elements may have made for some tactical battles were it not for the fact that unless you trap certain ones, you WILL die. NO question. It's cheap, and the only way you can counter act it is by doing the fight again.

Not to mention that, despite these moments, only one fight in the game gave me even the slightest trouble. The final boss was, well, see the plot bit later on. The penultimate boss was more a question of stamina over skill. And when you can only use a spell once per battle, it gets annoying. Especially when after half an hour, the boss uses one of these 'you need to trap me' elements and finishes my party off. Even the Skies of Arcadia final boss sequence was less annoying.

The characters barely deserve the name. They have none. Not once did I feel an single emotion attached to any of these characters. Why have so many, so you can play a game of guess the best one? The vast majority are useless. To cap it all, the only ones who looked like they may have some personality didn't join my party, because of a decision I made in the 1st hour. Rubbish.

A-ha. Now I can tear into the plot. Don't worry, it will all be in lovely spoiler-ific text.

Did anything actually happen during the game? What was the point? Why dump over everything Chrono Trigger did? Don't expect this bit to be in any sort of order, just go with it.

So, it turns out that you need to rescue Schala, after she has been merged with Lavos. Fair enough. Shame it only mentions this just before you fight it/her, making you wonder what's the point. Why did she search out Serge? Surely if she had any sense, she would have called for the man with the pointy ears, purple cape, and gloves that keep coming off

So Lucca takes Kid in. You see pictures of the CT gang on the wall of her house. Yet it burns down due to Lynx and Harle. So, when the house is on fire, a certain spiky haired bloke in blue just happens to be out of town? Hell, Lucca would have taken Lynx on her own. Even if we say the Epoch was destroyed, and Frog, Robo and Ayla weren't involved, surely Crono, Marle and Lucca would have taken them?

Oh, have to laugh at the bit at the end, when it goes all Star Wars (No, Lynx IS your father). Where the hell did that come from?

The dragons were the bad guys all along. So what was Lynx doing the whole time? Surely if someone had just explained it, you could have just let FATE get on with it. Or tried to find the Guru of Time to get the time egg so Lavos could be taken down.

Hang on, the dragons weren't the bad guys. Humans are. Spawn of Lavos, Chronopolis etc. So why bother at all? It's their world, after all.

Everything was just a rubbish knock-off of Chrono Trigger. Characters with the same names, or nearly the same names as in the original. At one point, Lucca, Marle and Luccia were mention in the same sentence, and I had no idea what on earth was going on.

The parallel worlds thing was a good idea, but in the end it was too limiting. You ended up getting confused which one you were supposed to be in, and what was were in each. At last with the different time periods, you had no chance of mixing things up.

The final boss was stupid. He didn't do an awful lot. The method to get the 'good' ending was laughable. What a stupid way to go about it. If I didn't have a walkthrough, I doubt I'd ever work it out. Plus, getting it required an awful lot of luck. The Chrono Cross itself was a level 8 element. Yet it was +/- 7, so you could just stick it on power level 1. Why not just make the thing level 1 then?

The ending. Well, I got both the normal one and the 'good' one. What's the difference? Text. Text that makes no sense, and barely has anything to do with the game. Maybe a small extra FMV sequence, but nothing special. It seems a little odd to erase everyone's memory, but still try to find Serge again. He's taken, you idiot. He has a girlfriend.

I will have forgotten something to rant about, so don't be surprised if you find this being added to again. For now, I'm going to hide the game away from my eyes, so I can pretend it never happened. Then fire up ZSnes and play Chrono Trigger. Again.

[MikeRox]

I hate this. I own both this and Xenogears, but can't play the chuffing things as I don't own a modded/NTSC PS1/One. And my PS2 is a boot disc import thing.

They're only about $50 in the states now, my m8 got one for $75 with an official screen in that box set when he was over, surely u can find somewhere that'll export one even with international shippin it'll be pretty cheap.

[Moodmon]

Errr, ^^^^^^

[MikeRox]

tiny little PSOne consoles

[Tom Salter]

Nice summary Moodmon. This game should be forgotten in the annals of **** RPG's forever, I can't understand how anyone can consider this to be good :S