One of the greatest PS1 JRPGs is back on modern consoles and PC.
“So, is this a Chrono Trigger sequel or not?” I said while pulling a friend’s copy of Chrono Cross off their shelf. “Sort of,” they explained. “It is, and it isn’t.” The question immediately sent them into a long-winded ramble involving time travel and phenomenology that faded from my memory ages ago.
That impromptu philosophy lesson was my only experience with Chrono Cross for years. Now, after sinking over 30 hours into this classic turn-based JRPG with the Radical Dreamers Edition, I get why questions regarding its lineage are complicated. Between egregious exposition dumps and an exhaustive list of characters to keep track of, enjoying the plot was challenging for me. However, the wonderfully punchy combat, beautiful soundtrack, and thoughtful coming-of-age tale made Chrono Cross something that had my full attention from beginning to end.
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Set in the thriving tropical archipelago El Nido, Chrono Cross stars a stoic young man named Serge. He’s pretty proficient with blades and budding romances, but mortality isn’t his strong suit. Serge is dead, you see. In one timeline, at least.
The game kicks off with you exploring Serge’s childhood home, getting to know everyone who lives there. Then, after an hour or two, it’s all ripped away and Serge wakes up in a timeline where he died as a young child. Almost everyone else – all these people you just spent time with in another reality – has endured. It’s eerie to see specific characters lament the tragic loss of their childhood friend while he’s standing right in front of them . It’s like perpetually watching your own funeral, and nothing can convince friends and family that you’re still alive since their version of you most certainly isn’t. Identity is integral to the first half of Chrono Cross, and its multiverse offers a brilliant world-swapping examination of finding oneself in places where you seemingly don’t belong.
Unfortunately, most of your party members in Chrono Cross are immediately forgettable. Of the 44 recruitable characters, I can only name those that lean on ridiculous (or ugly) stereotypes for no other reason than they would consistently make me wince. For example, Kid (yes, that’s her actual name) has over-the-top Australianisms that are excruciatingly irritating after the 700th “buggar.” Meanwhile, the Lucha libre professional wrestler Greco relies on the tired trope of dropping random Spanish words amid otherwise English sentences. I don’t mean to judge Chrono Cross too harshly for this kind of thing since it’s perhaps unfair to hold an old game to modern scrutiny regarding representation. However, the supporting cast lacks any depth, so there’s little else to say about them beyond what’s on the facepalm-worthy surface.
Nobody is deficient in their ability to brawl, thankfully. The turn-based combat in Chrono Cross is more elaborate than you would ever expect from a late-90s JRPG. There are three types of physical attacks: light, medium, and heavy. Each deals more damage than the last while containing varying degrees of hit chance. Heavy attacks, for instance, will land less than the other two initially. With each successful strike, though, your chances of actually landing all attacks also slightly increase. My go-to strategy for bog-standard enemies involves poking them with two light attacks, then following up with a heavy attack that will (hopefully) unleash hell — gotta love landing critical strikes amid the chaos. Every melee engagement allows for three opportunities to stick bad guys with the pointy end of your blade, and flawlessly executing combos is oh-so-satisfying. Part of me is astonished that modern turn-based JRPGs like Persona 5 Royal or Dragon Quest 11 haven’t cribbed from Chrono Cross in this regard.
Regrettably, combat showcases how rough Chrono Cross: the Radical Dreamers Edition can be from a technical standpoint. I can only speak for my experience on the Nintendo Switch, but there were many instances where the frame rate dipped into single-digit territory. Battles with a full party and upwards of three enemies typically devolve into stop-motion that would make Ray Harryhausen grimace. Sure, the new models and texture work are undeniably better than in the original release, but this isn’t some RTX-on showpiece that guests will go wide-eyed over while watching your 80-inch 4K OLED screen. Of course, Square Enix may release a patch to solve these problems, but how a PS1 game can somehow make modern hardware sweat is mind boggling.
For any shortcomings Chrono Cross might have, there’s no denying how staggeringly exquisite the soundtrack is. I’m no band nerd, so getting into time signatures or harmony would be a vain effort on my part. Instead, I’ll just say the music sounds like System of a Down and the best violinist you’ve ever heard did an unplugged album. The attract mode song “Time’s Scar” has been in regular circulation on my workout playlist since I began playing the Radical Dreamers Edition, which won’t change anytime soon. Purists might be unhappy with the fact that this re-release doesn’t have the original recordings of every single song, but for what it’s worth, the rearranged versions are absolute bangers.
Probably my biggest gripe with Chrono Cross is its final act. What begins as a relatable story about moving from adolescence into adulthood ends with one titanic lore dump after the other — each containing as much grace as a baseball bat swing to the skull. It almost makes me wish the Radical Dreamers Edition was a full-on remake rather than a remaster since many of the loftier ideas on offer here are compelling. Yet so many are bogged down by plot threads devoid of tact or meaningful thesis.
Thinking back on that interaction from all those years ago, I now understand my friend’s hesitance to call Chrono Cross a sequel. You’ll undeniably enjoy it more after a Chrono Trigger playthrough, but the broad narrative strokes will likely hit the same regardless, for better and for worse. Regardless of any shortcomings, you’d be hard-pressed to find a JRPG that’ll leave a lasting impression like Chrono Cross: the Radical Dreamers Edition.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
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