Game Review:
Chrono Cross.
RPG
1 Player
So far, I've played 40 hours
"Hey, what's this?"
"...."
"Serge?"
"....!"
"Serge!?"
".........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Bah, I'm going to go talk to someone who isn't silent."
Chrono Cross. If you haven't heard about it by now, you must have been hiding in a rock since 65 million BC. Chrono Cross is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, one of the top three RPGs ever made. The other two? FF6.. and Chrono Cross. Yes, Chrono Cross is the best RPG on the Playstation and quite possibly the best RPG ever. It's incredible if you haven't played CT, if you have played CT then you'll be in total SHOCK from the pleasure and plot.
The Characters
Chrono Cross has a total of 44 playable characters. Fourty-freaking-Four. And ze characters, zey all have zer own vay of speaking, oui? Zoh, zey are not always ze easiest to comprehend.
The System
A totally unique battle system in an RPG? And it's actually good? Well kick my arse and make me kiss the moons, it's about time. The battle system is based upon elements. Each character has one of 6 Elemental affinities: White (Holy), Black (Gravity, Darkness), Green (Air, Trees), Yellow (Lightning, Earth), Red (Fire), and Blue (Water, Ice). Each character then has an Element Grid which grows as you progress in the game, and different 'magic' (Elements) can be put on the grid in different spaces. Each has a set level, but you can pump a magic up a bit by increasing it's level... Putting Fireball (level 1) on level 2 will net Fireball+1 and a bit of extra punch. Characters also have their own particular tech skills which are on levels 3, 5, and 7. In battle, instead of active time battle or turn based, it's stamina based- a character can attack as long as he or she has stamina up to a total of 7 stamina. A weak attack takes 1 stamina, medium 2 and feirce 3... Elements take 7 but you can be as low as 1 to use an element, in which case you'll be "Out 6" which means you need 6 stamina just to be back at zero. Whenever an attack is done, it increases other player's stamina as well. It's a very involved battle system but it's also very intuitive.
Chrono Trigger
Some people seem to call this a "Spinoff" which isn't true. It's a true sequel to Chrono Trigger - it just doesn't star the same characters. It happens in 1020 AD, and things are different now...
Storyline
My head hurts. It really does. In some cases, Xenogears is *less* complicated and deep then Chrono Cross... at least in Xenogears you dont have to keep track of the goings on in *two* worlds.
Graphics
Let's ask the characters, shall we?
Grobyc: Grobyc-thinks-the-graphics-are-amazing.
Zoah: THE CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE ALL UNIQUE.
Kid: Oi! The backgrounds are Kickin'
Serge: .......!
Starky: Ii thiink thee baatlee areeaas aree goood!
I have to say that I agree with these guys, even if Serge is a bit of a pottymouth. The graphics, animations, and videos are higher quality and more colorful then what you've seen out of Square before... CC's graphics kick ass.
Music
It's Mitsuda. It kicks ass. That's really all you need to know.
TIME (ha ha) for a wrap-up
Overall, Chrono Cross is an incredible game- there's almost NOTHING wrong with it. I give it ten little Serge memory card icons!
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