- Chrono Cross-Greatest Hits.
Product Description
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While it's officially a sequel to the immensely popular Chrono
Trigger, Chrono Cross is completely its own role-playing game
with over 40 characters, a branching story line, and multiple
endings. Like its predecessor, the game is about crossing through
time and setting things right. This story focuses on Serge's
quest for the Frozen Flame, which will give the beholder the
power to bend space and time. Serge wants the power to save
himself from dying in a parallel universe but, as you can guess,
nefarious forces are also vying for the Frozen Flame to suit
their own purposes.
Chrono Cross features the stylish character designs and wondrous
cut scenes that gamers have come to expect from SquareSoft, but
the game also has a number of gameplay innovations. Though the
battle engine is essentially turn-based, characters don't have to
wait their turn to cast a spell or make an attack; battles are
moderated by stamina. Also, the repetitive battles with lesser
monsters that make so many RPGs sag can be easily avoided because
all monsters can be seen on the screen.
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Chrono Cross, the sequel to the Super Nintendo classic Chrono
Trigger, turns out to be well worth the wait. Taking off 20 years
after the first game, Chrono Cross follows a boy named Serge
across parallel worlds--both the world in which he lives and one
in which he drowned 10 years earlier.
Chrono Cross will wow players with beautiful prerendered graphics
and a unique battle system. Elements replace magic and items in
battle, and using the same element three times in a row will
ultimately increase your power. In addition to using elements,
the accuracy of physical attacks is determined by probability,
with easier-to-land weak attacks setting up fierce blows.
The plot, while a bit slow to develop, is full of interesting
characters. Players will need to travel between the two worlds to
advance the plot. While many of these areas will initially appear
to look similar, you'll find them to be quite different upon
closer examination of the details. For instance, a that is
extinct in one world thrives in the other.
My only qualm with Chrono Cross is that, despite the
complexities of the battle system, veterans will have an easy
time with early battles. Still, there's much to like about this
SquareSoft epic. --Robb Guido
Pros:
* Lavish, vibrantly colored graphics
* Unique battle system involving elements and casting away
role-playing clichés like experience and magic points Cons:* Easy
battles due to powerful offensive and cure elements
* For hours, players will be saying, "Get to the time travel
stuff"
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Review
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Square's Chrono Trigger got everything right. The
self-procled "dream team" of scenarist Yuji Hori (Dragon
Quest), producer Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy), and
character designer Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z) created a
quirky, enjoyable romp through time with a cast of endearing
characters, memorable environments, solid RPG gameplay, and
unparalleled presentation. Needless to say, fans of the 16-bit
SNES game have clamored for a sequel ever since. Which is why,
after nearly five years of silence, the announcement of Chrono
Cross drew so much ire. Where was the legendary dream team? (Only
Sakaguchi contributed to Chrono Cross.) Where was the cast of
characters we had grown to know and love? And who the hell was
that Thundercats reject named Yamaneko? Things looked grim for
the Chrono Trigger faithful. When Chrono Cross was revealed to
have 40 playable characters, many lost faith entirely in the
game. Had Square thrown all pretense of a coherent title out the
window? But fortunately for series' fans, Chrono Trigger's dream
team doesn't have a monopoly on RPG innovation. As with the first
SNES title, everything in Chrono Cross clicks in a way most games
wish they could imitate. The different parts combine into an
instant RPG classic. The story begins with the hero, Serge,
thrust into a parallel world where he had died under mysterious
circumstances more than a decade earlier. He teams up with a
rowdy adventurer, Kid, and sets out in search of the mysterious
Frozen Flame, an artifact that lets the holder reshape time and
space at will. The enigmatic Yamaneko, a regal man-cat who hunts
the Frozen Flame for his own purposes, ses them. In his quest
to return home, Serge will collect both allies and foes and will
find himself thrust into an adventure that will reveal his
heritage, purpose, and ultimate destiny. Only by crossing between
the two dimensions can Serge find the answers to his questions.
Without revealing any more of Chrono Cross' excellent storyline,
it can be said that it successfully pulls off the difficult
balancing act every sequel faces. It's not a rehash of the
original Chrono Trigger, nor does it exploit the characters and
setting of Chrono Trigger for name re alone. Instead, it
sets up an equally valid, separate, and well-developed world,
then slowly and responsibly weaves in elements, characters, and
events from the first title. It doesn't continue the original
Chrono Trigger mythos so much as it expands it. You will be
stunned by the resolution of the disparate plot threads. And with
features like an impossibly taciturn hero, an accommodating
attitude toward interdimensional travel, and a New Game+ mode,
Chrono Cross manages to maintain the ineffable Chrono Trigger
feel. The battle system deviates slightly from the RPG norm. The
traditional active time bar has been replaced with a bar of seven
stamina points. While the engine is still ostensibly turn based,
any character can take a turn at any time as long as he has at
least one stamina point remaining. Enemies can even interrupt
your characters' attacks. Party members can unleash a weak,
medium, or strong attack, requiring respectively one, two, or
three stamina points. Even though the game pauses while waiting
for input, the ability to start and end a character's turn
whenever you please makes for a more frantic, pseudo-real-time
experience. Elements - Chrono Cross' magic system - are divided
into six colors: black and white, red and blue, and green and
yellow. Each character has a color alignment that determines his
affinity to certain elements. Once you obtain a spell, you place
it in an acceptable empty slot on a character's element grid. For
example, a spell with level "5+/-2" is a level-five spell, but it
can be placed in any slot from three to seven with the expected
drop/rise in effectiveness. Successfully landing a weak, medium,
or strong attack adds one, two, or three bars to a character's
element grid. A character with sufficient element bars can cast a
spell, but the cost is seven stamina points, temporarily dropping
him out of action. Combine building element grids and plummeting
stamina bars with the dynamic nature of characters' turns, and
battles become a constantly shifting endeavor - yet always remain
under your total control. Once you understand the intricacies of
the battle system, encounters are always over quickly. Two other
features of the battle system are dual techs and the color field.
As in the original Chrono Trigger, characters can combine their
special techniques for combined attacks; while not as prevalent
as might be expected, the combos are there to be discovered. The
color field keeps track of the color of the last three spells
cast. If the field becomes a single color, characters with that
color alignment gain a statistical boost. Moreover, a
monochromatic field is the only time when one of the game's
mighty summons can be unleashed. Manipulating the field so that
it becomes a single color is trickier than you might expect, as
your nents' spells (and interference) can't be
ignored.--Andrew Vestal--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or
medium without express written permission of GameSpot is
prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
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