 "This video game is awesome!" | 2009-08-31 |
| - Reviewed By User: ADJN47U9ADUK2 |
| I adore many of the characters, and do feel somehow very connected to this storyline, like there's just something real about it. I mean there's a few things that could be improved, but big deal. Its still a great game. We need sequels to this. |
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 "What the heckCHA is this?" | 2009-07-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3GPR7GJ6HGVEY |
Chrono Cross is the type of game you go in wanting to like, but the more you play it, the more you find yourself thinking it's good (all those positive reviews surely aide this delusion) instead of actually believing that. And finally, if somehow you make it to the very end, you wonder what in the heck you just experienced. But an evil little bug inside lets you know that whatever it was you played through, it was a verrry prolonged waste of time.
We begin well, with a delightful presentation of cool looking characters and an organic environment, but the trouble sets in probably with the battles. Like all RPGs, there are too many of them (how can anyone bear these time-eating bores, title after title?) and like most RPGs the battle system is redundant and more than a little absurd. Chrono Trigger at least narrowed things down to a nearly accessible level, but here the battling is a guaranteed bore, with opposing color elements that alienates the character from the fighting.
So the battling is bad, granted, so what about the characters? Their presentation is good enough to fool us they have any color until of course we read their dialogue long enough and realize each one is a hack-job. This dialogue has to be read to be believed, especially that from a veritable blunder named Korcha, who the writers feel was appropriately fleshed out after they appended the letters 'CHA' (ex. Dont'CHA, joinedCHA) to the end of a given word in every other of his sentences. It continues like that, with small, inconsequential traits (even if it's only say an Aussie or a French accent) completely coating a character. MANY capital letters are used in dialogue, as this in their writers' mind will I suppose paint a character with passion. All in all, the dialogue honestly sounds as though the writer wrote a huge scenario for the game that was abruptly lost to him, so he started from scratch, compromising his characters for the deadline.
The story commits the opposite sin, over-complicating, stretching, and hopping around so much that before long we just wish we could start over and hear something more sane, and maybe an iota more concise. The story doesn't even seem to exist on the same plane as this game's terrain, as playing the game and learning more about the game's story seem disconnected in quality and range. We like to explore this world, take in its beautiful sights and sounds, wander outdoor lands always alive and fresh with movement. The story on the other hand is fixed and technical, more remote than any story I can think of. I would just love to ask the boneheads at IGN and others who appreciated this game so much to describe in-so-many-words, just what the heck this plot is about. And even if they could do it, which great Wikipedia can't, it wouldn't remove the overwhelming remoteness anyone must feel to it as they play. Words need a source, and the plot-relevent words of this game seem to emanate from a trench deep in the sea, or possibly nowhere at all.
So there's nothing to identify with, head to toe. Back to those locations then. I praised their presentation, their music and their color content, but how good can a place be without a good purpose? The only lingering location in this whole game for me (which is sad since there are so many from the first game I still nod with affection toward) is the Dead Sea, only accessed after a lot of heavy lifting and useless task-traveling. But this place is actually interesting, a forecast of doom suspended in motion and time, inhabited only by ghosts and machines, a fantastical mess of busted highways, ruined technology still gorgeous in an icy demise. Above it all the looming, spectral shopping mall. Just enough is shown of it to get us intrigued...and that's of course when it's destroyed by a great dragon.
The idea of having these six Elemental dragons in the game is a buffoonery I can't believe anyone would let pass. Why waste the time with six, when you can put one all powerful dragon in the game, and try to actually do something interesting with it? Why dragons at all, if only for a showy FMV or so, baffling us some more with truly odd fights and impenetrable intrigues? Why, oh why?
In the end, this is a game correctly displayed by its front cover: Silly, stupid, with only a superficial resemblance to Chrono Trigger. |
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| "But wait... where's Crono and the Frog?" | 2009-06-28 |
| - Reviewed By User: A15E8RW3A026BV |
Fans of Chrono Trigger... I understand your concern.
I, like many of you, spent an entire Christmas vacation being captivated by Square's epic SNES RPG. I became engrossed in the wonderful storyline and came to love the well-developed characters. When I finally played Chrono Cross (which was a good ten years later), I eagerly awaited seeing what my favorite characters were up to.... only to find them totally absent! What gives, I thought? What kind of sequel is this?
Other reviews cover the merits of the game play very thoroughly. I will focus on this game's merits as a sequel.
At the very beginning, Chrono Cross doesn't seem to have much to do with the original - a different world, a different cast of characters, a radically different battle system. While a fun and engrossing game, it hardly even seems like a sequel! But wait... give it time to develop, and you will be pleasantly surprised.
This is, without a doubt, a sequel created with fans of the original in mind. Unlike more recent sequels like Kingdom Hearts 2 and Final Fantasy X-II, the action doesn't simply pick up where the original left off. Much of the mystery and excitement stems form learning how this world and these characters tie in with Chrono Trigger. Bit by bit, Square's master storytellers reveal the aftermath of Crono's original adventure, and how these new characters found themselves involved in it. Here, Square achieves a "best of both worlds" scenario. New characters, new places to explore, but still plenty of chances to reconnect with the original game that you knew and loved so well.
Before you play this game, play Chrono Trigger. Being familiar with the plot and characters of the original will help you decipher the complex storyline of the sequel. Square doesn't show much mercy in this department... they directly reference the origianl, and assume that you know what they're talking about. You'll still enjoy the game without a knowledge of Trigger, but you may have trouble comprehending the plot. It would be like watching Return of the Jedi without having seen Star Wars.
If you loved Chrono Trigger, play this game for sure. It's like revisiting an old friend. And old friend who's changed a lot since the last time you've seen them, but fondly remembers the good old days you've had together.
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| "Bring back memories but its picky about what system its played on." | 2009-04-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: A39IULZY14MIN8 |
One of the main reasons i bought this game is because I want to have it before it is sold out everywhere so i can still play this game but the only draw back to this great game is its combat and skill/magic system which could of been improved on but other then that its a great game.
PS: ITS UNPLAYABLE ON PS3 SO YOU NEED A PS2 TO PLAY IT !!! |
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| "Another Heads Up For PS3 Owners" | 2009-04-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A27G9LMQTMND03 |
Well,PS3 owners,add this title to a seemingly 'SquareSoft only PS1 games that don't work on your PS3' Because this one don't work, When you get to the Viper Manor that's when things go downhill,The game freezes when you try to use elements at random at the flying boss,You can get by it by not using elements,but at a certain boss you HAVE to use elements,and it freezes up....Damn shame,It seem all Squares PS1 games have problems on the PS3,Sony has let the success of the PS1 and PS2 go to there head,because they have forgotten who has made them what they are today,if it wasn't for Squares multiple hit titles on the PS (FF series,Xenogears,Vagrant Story,Threads of Fate,Ehrgeiz God Bless The Ring,Legend of Mana etc...) ALL good titles,shame...
Game tested on a 60GB PS3. |
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Expedited Available
