Stuff I Played: Chrono Cross

Stuff I Played is where I write about games I recently played. It’s not really a review, just a short write up of my totally subjective thoughts as the formed in the days after I finished playing something.

Chrono Cross is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.  Cross on the other hand is a divisive game to say the least. While it was well regarded and critically acclaimed at release over the years it has developed something of a reputation as being a bad game, or at least a disappointing one. Having played it now, I can say that I really enjoyed Cross, but I also totally understand the negativity surrounding the game.

The main point of contention Trigger enthusiasts tend to have when it comes to Cross is that it lacks a clear link to Trigger. This is initially true, it’s setting and characters are totally different. Of the 7 playable characters from Trigger none are among the 44 playable characters in Cross. At most, some of them are talked about or appear in minor cameos. The two games share no common locations either, with Cross being set entirely in an archipelago isolated from the setting of Trigger, which is referred to throughout the game as “the mainland.” Because of these factors, a lot of people have said that Chrono Cross is not a “true” sequel to Trigger, but that’s where they're wrong, Cross only works as a sequel to Trigger, and that’s where the problems start for me.

See, these games are about time travel. Which is usually a red flag but in the case of Trigger the story was well told enough that it all was very easy to follow. Any time events in the past changed the present or future the changes were set up enough in advance and the change was shown well enough that it all clicked in the players mind. It’s called one of the best games of all time for a number of reasons and this is chief among them.

In the case of Cross though, it’s not so easy to follow. Running a Google search for “Chrono Cross plot” will auto complete the search with “confusing” and “doesn't make any sense” and while it is pretty confusing I do think it mostly makes sense.  Serge and company never do any significant time travel in the game, it all exists in exposition that is backloaded into the last few hours of the game. So much of this games plot remains a total mystery to players until very late in the game when it’s all dumped on you at once. Like I said, it all mostly makes sense in the way Time Travel stories need to (you don’t want to split hairs too much with these things) but it comes at you so late and fast that processing it all can be overwhelming.

Not only that, but the time travel stuff is all built on the events of Trigger. To understand anything that’s going on in this game demands you have an intimate knowledge of that game’s events. The stuff with the Dragonians for example is all building off the events of the prehistoric era of Chrono Trigger, something explained in terms only someone who has played Trigger will understand. The entire plot of Cross is designed to tie up a loose end from the events at Trigger’s Ocean Palace, one of that game’s most crucial and memorable points, again explained in only terms someone who played Trigger will be able to really follow. I haven’t played Trigger in over two years and while I was able to at least identify when Cross was calling back to that game, the specifics of what I needed to know were often lost to me.

It all reeks of a game that was rushed through production late in development to meet deadline. If you've ever played Xenogears (which Cross writer-director Masato Kato also worked on) you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’d love to see this game get remade and be given the time it needed to have its story fleshed out and told properly, because there are a lot of cool ideas here, even if they are going to be lost on the vast majority of players. For now, if you’re really interested in sorting it all out there is this handy timeline(s) which might end up giving you a headache.

Outside of the story the game play is solid. There are no random encounters; enemies roam the map and making contact with them triggers a battle, similar to what many JRPGs have adopted in recent years. Combat is hard to explain to anyone who hasn't played it, but it’s all designed around preventing the player from spamming a single powerful spell for the entire game. It’s nice and not nearly as complicated as some people have made it out to be. I actually found the system to be very simple and intuitive. Leveling up is no longer an issue either. The game lacks a traditional level up system in favor of scaling the players stats to the point of the game they’re in based how many bosses they've beaten.  There are random stat boosts gained after minor battles but I never found the need to grind for those. Whenever I got to a new area I was always right where I needed to be for the game to be not too hard but not too easy.

One final thing before I wrap this up, the soundtrack is handled by veteran composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Mitsuda is one of the greats and he did most of the heavy lifting on the Chrono Trigger’s sound track when he was just starting out. He did some of his career best work on Cross and that’s not a statement to make lightly. Just listen to Time's Scar.

Overall I really did enjoy Chrono Cross despite my misgivings about how the story is told. That said, while I would recommend Chrono Trigger to pretty much everyone who isn't a total degenerate, Cross is something I can recommend only to those like myself who are really into the genre and even then you should probably take that recommendation with a grain of salt. This one is not for everyone.

Currently playing: Mass Effect 2