Tubular lazy people
There are a lot of opinions going around Chrono Cross. Complete Chrono Activator and ask someone about its sequel, and they’ll probably tell you it’s not as good or that it simply shouldn’t be compared to the original. To their credit, it’s a complicated topic. Chrono Cross is a sequel, but it’s not. It doesn’t have to be like, say, Final Fantasy VIII not a sequel to Final Fantasy VII in terms of narrative continuity. There are blatant links connecting the two games. But it is Not Chrono Trigger 2.
Then you will find people who think Chrono Cross actually ruins the story of Chrono Activator. The developers have stated that they just want to make a new game in a similar way, but if so, why tie them together? I guess the key point is Chrono Activator is a JRPG SNES and Chrono Cross is a PS1 JRPG, and both are completely similar and feel the part.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (computer, Switch [Reviewed], PS4, Xbox one)
Developers: Square Enix, D4Enterprise Co., Ltd.
Publishing company: Square Enix
Released: April 7, 2022
MSRP: $19.99
Chrono Cross is Serge’s story. One day, he is sucked into an alternate timeline where he has been dead for years. People are looking for him, though, and things get weirder from there.
Like I said, that’s your typical PS1 JRPG. If you have played Final Fantasy VII-IX, you almost know what you’re in for. The combat system is different but still turn-based. Enemies can be detected in the world, so there is no true random combat system. The focus is on recruiting a number of optional characters to join your party. The backgrounds are pre-rendered with polygon characters stepping on them. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing Chrono Cross is a prototype JRPG PS1. I’m just giving you a picture of what you’re at.
For the improvements of Radical Dreamers version to the original game; Graphics are enhanced. Just enough. The characters have more detail and the pixelation has been removed from the background. However, the overall viscosity is a reminder that they have been filtered rather than reworked. You can get the same result by squinting hard at the PS1 version. It seems that the character portraits have received the most love when they look more colorful and bright.
You can switch the graphic style to classic if you want more pixels and the original portrait. However, you can’t pick and choose what you want to look old and new, and to change the style you have to quit the game completely and restart it. It is clear that the main purpose of Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is to port games to modern hardware and more formal editing operations.
Where Chrono Cross The most interesting thing is its quite flexible design. Progress can often be achieved in many ways, and it’s not possible to recruit every team member in a single playthrough; some just cancel others. It takes a few plays to really see things, and even then, you might need a guide to figure out some of the deeper secrets.
Of course, this has some limitations. For example, maybe there’s a character who looks like a team member you wouldn’t mind working with. However, the path to doing so is never clear. Accepting another character’s cooperation invitation or other seemingly innocuous actions will result in team members being completely locked out for unknown reasons. You have to accept the “whatever happens, will happen” mentality or go crazy guessing what actions will have consequences. Or just use multiple save slots.
There’s also the issue that some characters have actual plot stakes, which makes it a bit strange that you can’t just recruit everyone. Some join literally with the motivation of “there is nothing better to do”. It leaves quite a few characters just there to customize your party. I really feel this is inferior to how the characters actually develop throughout the story.
Talking about the story, Chrono Cross is a lot more bonders Chrono Activator to be. That is largely due to the angle of the parallel dimensions, which always deviates from the more complexity you try to place on top of it. It was also because it insisted on connecting with Chrono Activator.
The nomenclature “Radical Dreamers” refers to what most people have played Chrono Cross to death will be concerned. It’s an adaptation of a visual novel that appeared on the Super Nintendo’s Satellaview add-on, which means it was only released in Japan. This is its first official translation. It means to loosely end the word Chrono Activatorbut mostly feels like a prototype to Chrono Cross. It’s an interesting bit of history for fans of the series.
As I said before, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition like an excuse to port the game to modern hardware, like Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. This package is a bit disappointing altogether and the transition is difficult. So why is there so much stuttering and slowing down?
When I first saw the frame rate problem, I put it down to some sort of artifact of the original engine’s camera movement. Sure enough, when I fought multiple groups of enemies, things started to spin. It doesn’t matter if you set it to classic graphics or not; the slowdown is always there. In fact, it’s a bit annoying to rework on newer generations of hardware than it was when it was first released.
My best theory is that it was an original engine mistake that made sense on the PS1. It would be great if it could be fixed for the remaster. No, scratch that. I feel like a smooth frame rate is minimum we can claim at a new port.
What it comes down to is a disappointing port of a decent game. I don’t want to start any battles, I still think it deserves to be available to all, but I don’t think it’s Square’s best game on PlayStation.
And really, that’s all you need to know: it’s a PlayStation-era Square RPG. You can still stand to play Final Fantasy IX and Night Parasites? Later Chrono Cross It’s worth your time and it’s the right way to play. Is that era too outdated for you? After that, this redo has no chance to change your mind. Regardless of what you think of the game or genre, it’s not a gate of love or respect, and Chrono Cross deserves better.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
