Summer of Sequels Entry #5
Chrono Cross is a bit of an oddity to me. If I were to sit down and play this, with no prior knowledge of the game, I wouldn't have known this was a sequel to Chrono Trigger until about 10 hours in. And honestly, I think that's to this game's benefit. It's so different compared to its predecessor, allowing it to really stand on its own.
The story of Chrono Cross is one of those I don't think I can really talk about. The game is best played with little to no information about it, it relies on disorientation and confusion, and if I explained anything, that would ruin things, I feel. I do really like the story and I think it comes together well, but yet again, its one of those I just can't talk about.
Combat is easily the most different thing compared to Chrono Trigger. It now features a turn-based battle system, with a lot of more complicated mechanics. You can have a lot of elemental skills that you can use, however you have to build up your level high enough to use it, and you can only use each skill once, which I think helps balance things. And there's a ton of customization which I really adore.
One major aspect I really want to mention is the fact that this game almost lacks a leveling system. You really only gain levels after major boss fights, and on rare occasions you can get minor stat increases from beating enemies. And honestly, for the longest time while playing, I was worried that I would eventually reach a roadblock, a point where, because I couldn't grind, was unable to proceed. However, that just didn't happen, the game was balanced with this in mind, and as long as you have enough knowledge of how combat works, you should be fine!
Another major aspect I want to acknowledge is the fact that there are just a ton of playable characters in this game. 45 in fact, though you can't get them all in a single playthrough. And in my playthrough, I think I got 36, so you can get a lot of them. And while I loved trying to get as many playable characters as I could, I really didn't use all that many. I stuck with 3 characters, and that just helped me through the entire game.
While I'd still say Chrono Trigger is still better than Chrono Cross, Chrono Cross is still a fantastic game. What's funny was that when first looking for this game, I thought it was a PS2 game, I'm still astounded that this is a PS1 game while I type this. I'm pretty confident in saying I don't think Chrono Cross is for everyone, but, I do think it's worth making the attempt.
Next Game: Tales of Vesperia