I've just played Chrono Cross for the first time and I'm gonna write my thoughts on it down (PS1 version bc im not a faget) There's a lot of shit to get through here, if Chrono Trigger is a lean steak with all the fat cut off, Chrono Cross is like eating a jar of honey, its thick and gloopy and not always in a good way. So onto probably the best part of this game, the aesthetics! This in my opinion is the most beautiful video game ever made. This is Square's cg prowess at it's peak. The tropical vistas, those late 90s green and blues which make you dream of endless clear skies. The CGI, the portraits, the backgrounds are all utterly stellar and I'm not afraid to say this game represents the artistic pinnacle of video game graphics. The music is good and immersive but I felt it was weak compared to Chono Trigger. There are standout moving tracks like ''The Girl Who Stole The Stars'' and the opening theme. The music is quite atmospheric and the punchy 90s synths give it energy long lost from video game osts. However I didn't think the music was as outstanding as Chrono Trigger, it just felt weaker and often less evocative outside the best tracks. Still good however.This is where things start to go wrong, the gameplay. The mechanics of the game while innovative and fairly stimulating when it comes to strategy at time fall pretty flat on the fun factor. The elemental system is interesting but the game feels so very slow compared to Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger's awesome quick battle system probably the reason it's endeared itself to so many normalfags in the first place. Chrono Cross's battles can feel like a real chore sometimes, so I'd possibly say the battle system was misplaced ambition, but overall pretty fine.(Part 1/3)
The story and characters eh, now here's a meal. Kid is lovely, incredibly cute, attractive, she has really heart pulling story moments which work perfectly. But that cant really obfuscate the final truth, that the story and characters in this game are fucked. The brick shit house style of character recruitment simply doesn't work, you get all these characters with basically no development, very little dialogue etc and its like who really wanted to play as the fucking chef. The story starts off traditionally and it's easy to be awed by the beautiful graphics and music but the story soon falls apart. Questions like why am I doing this, where the fuck am I supposed to go, is Kid really gonna need to be saved twice?!?! There's some really good pinnacles like the scene of Kid under the stars, or the body swap, and the story telling with ghosts in Chronopolis.However most of this is overshadowed by the game raping you in the mouth ERMG HERR DEE DERR ALL THE TRIGGER CHARS GOT BUTT RAPED TO DEATH BY THAT HOBO. Not to mention the incredible amount of plot holes and the fact the end of the game is just a fat lore dump makes the entire game seem unfinished and liked it needed 2 more years to re pace the plot, cut the chars and actually you know show the story not tell it all. This is potentially the worst case of missed potential in gaming history, and we can all blame Square for it's niggerish 2 year dev policy for ruining this and Xenogears. Then the entire undermining Chrono Trigger makes it even worse, in fact the connections to story have to Trigger are really stupid in general, or at least presented in a entirely unconvincing manner. Pair this with any fun the chars could of been being sucked out by the stupidly massive cast and yeah this game's story was a terrible blunder.(Part 2/3)
To end it off I would like to say Kid is highly arousing to me and she should of been given a better game... oh wait! Thanks for reading (FIN)(Bonus equipment paragraph)First of all the equipment I used. This is the original PS1 release, I played the game on a peak sdtv crt (L04 chassis Euro Phillips curved, literally the best slot mask consumer tube ever made), I used and preferred the original composite cables over rgb cables. The games were designed for composite in mind, and the softness of the image made the backgrounds all the more beautiful. The direct comparison I made was Arni village, the composite cables blended the sea in the background into a beautiful visage, while rgb displayed the image literally and transformed the bubbling seafoam of composite into literal white pixels. I find 5th gen consoles and before are much better with composite cables than with rgb. The way it obfuscates and blends the textures and pixels is the right way to see the image, composite is king (never thought you'd hear that from a eurofag ey?)
I'd like to add I have highly conflicting feelings on the game and I'm not completely sure how to really describe the feeling of playing it. This game could of been the greatest JRPG ever made, and it just wasn't given the time to be cooked to completion, was yanked out the oven and shoved in our mouths half baked. The potential was mesmerizing, but I come away from the game feeling so odd. I can't describe this feeling. The whole almost 4th wall breaking thing at the end of the game was kinda weird as well, Kid coming to find me in my timeline?? I'd hate that hahah (I'm so lonely) Also read this here, turns out the devs didn't think of a lot while writing the story! Japs are often too proud to blame their bosses, or constraints but it's obvious what happened here. DAMM YOU SQUARE!!!!https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Chrono_Cross_-_A_Mea_Culpa_for_a_Sea_of_Plot_Holes.html
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k.. thanks for the blog post.. mediocre game tho
>>10855513hi jarin
>>10855263I have nothing against Cross, but I really wish re-releases of Trigger didn't try to shoehorn connections to it.>Porre destroying Guardia is revealed to be the result of Dalton landing in 1000AD and wanting revenge on CronoThing is, this was brought up as a fan-theory long before the DS version came out and was laughed off as a longshot at best.
Good review OP, we need more threads like this. On the subject, I and most people agree with you. The game had great highs and lows. However I don’t agree more time would have improved the game, it was badly produced that’s all. You didn’t mention it but the monsters were inferior to Toriyama’s design, but that’s to be expected.There wasn’t any reason to revive CT without the original team, it was better left alone.If you want more psx disappointment play Vagrant Story next.
>>10855526Don't worry, the re-releases of Chrono Trigger are terrible anyway. The added content was really bad, and took away from Chrono Trigger's ''lean steak'' nature which was obviously made that way on purpose (tcrf shows they cut two dungeons to achieve the leanness of the game)>>10855538God I don't think I can do another JRPG after this one for a while haha. This game kind of winded me. Still can't make head nor tails of it. It's such a shame since Chrono Trigger felt like one big high, I think it really is the best jrpg of all time possibly, I do like nocturne a lot
>>10855263Reddit Trigger was garbage and so is Reddit Cross
>>10855610Back 2 reddit Reddit Anon.
One of the very rare sequel to try something really new and boldAnd if i recall correctly ,only defeating boss increase stats and you can escape from any battle so i don't see the chore in the battle system
>>10855648If the battle system is the meat of any jrpg and you just avoid it, then you have no game.
>>10855663No, you have the boss who is at the heart of any J-RPGMob battles are the turn-based J-RPG's biggest weaknessThere is almost no strategy in these encountersChrono Cross is one of the few J-RPGs that manages to erase this weakness by making mobs combat virtually pointless.
>>10855678True, but I recommend you to play skipping every combat and see how much fun you get from that.
>>10855263>Chrono Cross is like eating a jar of honeyThis is pretty funny and apt. When I saw the first line of your analogy, I was thinking CC is like some weird seafood, like cuttlefish or something. Kind of good, kind of unpleasant in an unsettling way.
>>10855263When I was a kid, I would crank it all the time to specific CC hentai. I was shocked to see that it's still online and the artist remained active until 2021.studiocutepet com/category/hentai-pinups-y2000
>>10855801Later I ended up able to fuck a girl who was the spitting image of Kid (she was even Australian) but the sex was sadly awful. Very particular about things, wouldn't let me lead.
>>10855263>holding hair tie in mouth>while doing something with hair alreadyI don't get this. I've had long hair for 20 years and never had to do pre-tie my hair with something else before tying my hair back.
>>10855868Her hairstyle has more than one ribbon.
>>10855263>This in my opinion is the most beautiful video game ever madeits at least the best looking PS1 gamebest sounding one too imo>However I didn't think the music was as outstanding as Chrono Triggeridginot that triggers bad. its iconic. but its also on the SNES.cross is most of the old themes from trigger, just CD quality and more elaborate arrangements, with a bunch more awesome ones on top.or are you just one of those guys who hates the battle theme because its in 9/8?git gud. its literally just blue rondo a la turk>The elemental system is interesting but the game feels so very slow compared to Chrono Triggerdefinitelythe battles are the weakest partwho knows why they scrapped triggers system?the thing with cross is that outside of bosses, you dont really need to do any battles if you can just run around or away. no exp outside mandatory fights, so just try and dodge them. unless youre trying to stock upon disposables>The brick shit house style of character recruitment simply doesn't work, you get all these characters with basically no developmentmeh i just used the characters i didnt think sucked. the trick is to tell kid to fuck off until she does, then roll with leena and later kid most of the gamei can imagine its probably a completionist autists nightmare thoi just grabbed the others in NG+s desuas for the raping triggers storylol yah idk why that happened. it plays into the the theme of hopelessness and consequences that the game toys with a lotthe real reason for all that half-baked shit is far simpler tho. super late PS1 release. if it didnt come out RIGHT NOW it wouldntve at allpersonally im glad they did ittheres still nothing like it
That's okay; didn't read. It's bad.
>>10855263I just think its better than trigger. I mean, I like both but the art direction the story, the character, the gameplay. Its just better. But yeah Kid is a fucking cutie.
>>10857206Do you have nostalgia for the game by a chance?
>>10855263mediocre game which would have been forgotten if it had no connection to trigger
>>10857427Which one?I started with CC and played Trigger after I found out there was a prequel. I liked both, but personally I like CC. I think its most because I think Toriyama should've just stuck with DQ. His work in Trigger is lazy and uninspired.
>>10857505>His work in Trigger is lazy and uninspired.Come on.
>>10857539Vegeta scribbles and generic monsters with thick black outlines, typical Torislop
>>10855263Sex
>>10855801>cutepetGod, I remember them now. Something about their anatomy really bothered me back then.IIRC the reason I stopped looking through was because they got a spanking fetish, and suddenly every fucking thing they did was about that.
Uoh
Can we go back to shitting on this game?
>>10855313If Lavos can make spawn then it makes sense Dream Devourer can make spawns of Schala in a weird way. >>10855559I liked the animated cutscenes but they weren't worth fucking load times
I played Chrono Cross much later in life totally blind to how controversial and divisive it was and I ended up loving it. I don't even disagree that it has big flaws but I still loved it a lot.
>>10855513This... i wish it were better.
>>10859018The problem with triggerfans is their argument is always disingenuous. They act like the game has no merit, when there is a lot of good things going for it.
I'm betting all these "bad game is actually good" threads are made by the same guy
>>10861276>order a steak>get a salate>the salate is good but is not a steakwonder why people with expectation feel betrayed. That ignores how many CT characters are killed off for no good reason while 20 CC characters are cardboard cutout of the old cast.CC is a good game but no CT. If CC was called dreamjumper and had no connection beside of staff... it could be viewed as a classic.
>>10861302Based retard
>>10861302It's not a bad game though.
>>10861302It's Hidden Gems™
>>10861328>no good reasonYou fuck with time, you pay the fine.
>>10855678>Mob battles are the turn-based J-RPG's biggest weakness>There is almost no strategy in these encountersStop playing baby mode games then. Even in casual FF the hardest fights come in late game random encounters.
>>10855313Good review. I hate this game with a fucking passion although I enjoy the OST more than you did. Fuck this piece of fucking shit game and anyone who likes this garbage.
>>10857505Best girl
>>10863557I just cant take you seriously. you don't judge a game for its own merit, you have to involve your pathetic feelings of the previous installment into the picture. and you're so angry, its hilarious. listen, they're both good games.
>>10863350that's not a good reason
>>10864890Is impossible not judging a product based on your expectations, for the same reasons not involving your nostalgia is so hard when you ponder the quality of a game.And the review that anon is referencing points out flaws of the game that are independent of chrono trigger. There is no reason to feel violent against the people who enjoyed it, but there are good reasons to feel disappointed at it.
>>10855269>you get all these characters with basically no development, very little dialogue etc and its like who really wanted to play as the fucking chefThis was my main issue with the game. However, i really did like the combat system. It made me think of when to build up level, whether to use a strong element with the drawback of letting the enemy's get stronger on the field, etc. I think it added a fair bit of strategy, whereas in Chrono Trigger i usually found myself spamming heal magic and double techs against bosses
>>10865021Man, those kids did whatever they fucking wanted. played with powers way beyond their understanding. its no surprise it came back and bit them in the ass.
>>10865094>>you get all these characters with basically no developmentanyone why says this shit clearly never bothered to do the side quests.
>>10865437The development that happens during the sidequests is minimal. Not to mention that most characters don't have any substantial stake or involvement with the main villainsDespite having a great deal of interesting characters there ends up being little room for characterization during the main plot because it would be impossible to have a different scene ready for each possible party permutation
>>10855274for me? its zoah
>Solt and Peppor>Salt and pepper
>>10855526I mean we already knew in the SNES trigger that at some point Guardia fell. There was no Guardia dome and in 900 years people didn’t even recognize the name anymore, implying that it fell somewhere soon after the year 1000. It isn’t a retcon in Cross it was there in the beginning.
