#9
I'll kick yer sorry arse so hard you'll kiss the moons!
Developer: Square Product Development Division 3
Publisher: Squaresoft
Platform: Sony Playstation
Release Dates: November 18, 1999 (JP), August 15, 2000 (NA)
253 Points, 10 Votes, Highest Vote: #1 (Kirin)
I'll kick yer sorry arse so hard you'll kiss the moons!
Developer: Square Product Development Division 3
Publisher: Squaresoft
Platform: Sony Playstation
Release Dates: November 18, 1999 (JP), August 15, 2000 (NA)
253 Points, 10 Votes, Highest Vote: #1 (Kirin)
It's been said that Chrono Cross is a great game but a bad Chrono Trigger sequel, and I am very inclined to agree. It's got maybe the most beautiful visuals on the system, a story that isn't any more bonkers than most of the JRPGs of the era, an innovative battle system, a colorful cast of characters, and a contender for greatest game soundtrack of all time.
And yet...
There it sits, the fact that this is the sequel to one of the most beloved JRPGs of all time, one that tops many such lists, including our own. How do you follow that up? More of the same? I suppose it would've been okay, but most fans would not have liked that either. It took 16 years and one huge misstep before we got another game that played like Chrono Trigger that people actually liked. Yet while people praise Radiant Historia, it's not generally put in Top 10 All Time lists.
So what do you do?
You kind of have to admire Square's gumption. While going from time travel to alternate realities made sense, everything else was throw-everything-at-the-wall experimental. It did turn out to be pretty good as a gaming experience, barring a couple of lackluster moments. But as a sequel to The Big One? There it was clear that everyone involved was lost and maybe a little desperate, in that they anticipated Kylo Ren's "Let the past die" line and applied it liberally, while still trying to throw in enough callbacks to say "See? You loved Chrono Trigger! PLEASE LOVE ME!" For every perfect moment like the Dead Sea there were two that just made you wish the staff had made whatever the game was supposed to be in the first place.
So Chrono Cross. It's a mess, but it's a beautiful mess. I'm not just talking about the aesthetics, either, though again, that score. That freakin' score.
WisteriaHysteria said: Incredible game all around, taking the ambition of its predecessor and magnifying that ambition 100 fold. A wonderful coup de grace for the PS1, and maybe the best soundtrack of the 32bit Era.
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