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Chrono Trigger/Cross

PorkyTheKing

Is literally Kirby because he sucks so much
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Even though it's two games, the games are great. I haven't even played Cross, but with how amazing Trigger was, I'm sure it's up to that quality. This is the place for general CT discussion, or for talking about reasons why it's so good. But really, this video talks about everything you can say:
 
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I haven't even played Cross, but with how amazing Trigger was, I'm sure it's up to that quality.
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That depends on who you ask.
 
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I personally like to pretend Cross isn't canon.

I never finished it, to be fair, but the writing and presentation were pretty much opposite of what I liked out of Trigger. From what I understand (confirmed by people who did finish it) Cross is pretty much the poster boy (along with Xenogears and Xenochronicles, helps that they were written by the same guy) for that specific brand of psuedo-philosophical nonsense that was kinda popular back then.

Soundtrack is rad though, even if it's a completely different style.

Trigger is indeed a real masterpiece though. Been thinking I should replay it sometime soon.
 
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cross fucking sucks
good music though
literally one of the best OSTs on the PS1, no lie
 
I've always loved this game, but could never put into words why it was so good. The guy in the video said something like "The game had no voice actors, but the BGM filled it's role." I don't quite remember this so I'd like to ask have other people experience'd the same/similar ?
 
I've always loved this game, but could never put into words why it was so good. The guy in the video said something like "The game had no voice actors, but the BGM filled it's role." I don't quite remember this so I'd like to ask have other people experience'd the same/similar ?

To me it's a game in which a lot of great things come together with good execution to create a game with a lot of heart and imagination.

The battle system has everything that made Final Fantasy's ATB system fun, and the dual attacks are a pretty smart extension of the whole time based thing. Sprite art and music are gorgeous and super distinctive. Characters are memorable and endearing. Story is simple and accessible but has a sense of epic scale and feels super diverse with all the time periods you visit.

It's just really fun stuff.
 
I'll just say, I don't think any good RPG should expect players to read an essay's worth of dialogue right before the final boss in order for them to understand what the boss is, where it came from, and why they should care about fighting it.
 
Oh, we're talking about Cross relative to Trigger?

Cross SUCKED as a sequel. In every way. Lotsa spoilers.

Killing off most of the characters Tigger, scratch that, ALL the characters from Trigger was just idiotic. Hell, Robo being a super computer doesn't make a lick of sense because he lives in an alternate(?) future. There's almost no reference to Frog/Glen at all, even Magus was pushed to the side even when he was supposed to be playable. Throwing the Epoch into a little chamber was really unnecessary when the game doesn't even have any relation to the time factor of Trigger. That's another thing, the fact they don't even freaking use Time, the whole thing of Trigger, but instead alternate realities. Why? Why stray away from the original point? Hell, they try to throw the Time Eater into the very end for absolutely no reason. The whole plot point of the Frozen Flame is dropped so fast it oughtta break the ground it was dropped on. Along with that, Kid is such a dumb side-plot/character. There's a whole thing where she can be denied joining Serge, and you can do this consistently until she's poisoned, then you can decide whether to save her or let her die as if if you denied her so much earlier you'd even care. Then you find out she's like the ............. Hold on, I just..... Daughter-Clone of Schala (whaddafuck) and that's why she can control Time Eater. And speaking of Serge, he is such a bland unneeded character. At least in Trigger Crono was kind of relatable in some sense- I just feel like Serge is completely dumb. The most interesting part of him is when he turns into Lynx- AND THEN THAT'S FUCKED BECAUSE YOU FIND OUT LYNX IS SOMEHOW HIS DEAD MISSING FATHER?! And that's not even counting all the dumbass side quests with absolutely insane concepts for stories. A mermaid married a pirate and had a demihuman daughter who is also the only person who can you know what fuck it. And then Ozzy Flea and Slash as secret bosses for just no goddamn reason?!
/Large rant

I just really hate Cross as a sequel.

That's not to say it's gameplay wasn't good, hell I liked the percentage for different attacks and the Innates and all of that, some of the characters were pretty freaking cool and all the animations were nice, and the Soundtrack, like Ruin said, is one of the best on the PS1 comma run on sentence.

Oh, but the facts there's only like nine dual techs and literally I think 3 triple techs with the most idiotic teams ever conceived is fucking retarded.

What I'm trying to say- Sucky as a sequel, decent as it's own thing.
 
Trigger is one of my favorite games. One of the things I always think back on, or go experience again, is how the game makes you feel like your team is unique to you. With Dual Techs and Triple Techs, it felt like your team really was a team and not just a handful of characters doing just what you told them to do. Something that made it better was your characters not learning the dual techs until you put them in battle together, making it actually feel like they were learning to fight together as opposed to just leveling up and unlocking a bunch of dual techs that you may or may not ever use. Even if the Dual Tech wasn't super amazing, doing them felt great, and watching your favorite characters work together in a new way was always fantastic.
 
Cross had the same problem so many PS1/2 JRPGs had: with the expanded ability to tell a story, the scattershot nature of the writing was able to come through, more. The SNES era was strongest in a lot of people's memories because of what the games didn't (read: couldn't) tell us due to the limitations of the system.

Trigger is top 10 for me, though. It really was ahead of it's time, in so many ways. Multiple endings, team techs, and a very satisfying time travel hook. Seeing Lavos destroy Earth was absolutely haunting, as a child.
 
Cross had the same problem so many PS1/2 JRPGs had: with the expanded ability to tell a story, the scattershot nature of the writing was able to come through, more. The SNES era was strongest in a lot of people's memories because of what the games didn't (read: couldn't) tell us due to the limitations of the system.

As it was explained to me, the guy who wrote Cross was on the Trigger team, and he originally wanted to fill Trigger with the same kind of wankery that fueled Cross. However, in that case, the rest of the writing team said "ha ha ha...no". He was the one who came up with Zeal, but his contributions to Trigger were overall very controlled and toned down thanks to the rest of the team.
 
As it was explained to me, the guy who wrote Cross was on the Trigger team, and he originally wanted to fill Trigger with the same kind of wankery that fueled Cross. However, in that case, the rest of the writing team said "ha ha ha...no". He was the one who came up with Zeal, but his contributions to Trigger were overall very controlled and toned down thanks to the rest of the team.
... I kinda want to know what he wanted just to see how much fluff and BS there was.
 
... I kinda want to know what he wanted just to see how much fluff and BS there was.
I don't know a ton, but as I understand it, he originally wanted Zeal and that society to play a much larger role.
 
It's good to know there are more people today willing to challenge Masato Kato's claims to CT. He's usually been touted as the irrefutable final word on the storyline, even though the celebrated script in CT was clearly the result of a team effort. I'm pretty sure his original ideas for Zeal were mostly transferred into his writing for Chronopolis, since that place was stuffed with a lot of the same tangential theories and dialogue that Zeal teased at.

I don't want to get too deep into my thoughts on Cross, but one thing that's always annoyed me about it is how good it could have been. There are really interesting story elements in it that I think would have made for a fantastic sequel, even without a lot of the stuff we enjoyed in CT. Unfortunately, Kato's vision was way too overblown, and in the end, I think a lot of his ideas probably would have been better suited for a standalone game instead.
 
It's good to know there are more people today willing to challenge Masato Kato's claims to CT. He's usually been touted as the irrefutable final word on the storyline, even though the celebrated script in CT was clearly the result of a team effort. I'm pretty sure his original ideas for Zeal were mostly transferred into his writing for Chronopolis, since that place was stuffed with a lot of the same tangential theories and dialogue that Zeal teased at.

I don't want to get too deep into my thoughts on Cross, but one thing that's always annoyed me about it is how good it could have been. There are really interesting story elements in it that I think would have made for a fantastic sequel, even without a lot of the stuff we enjoyed in CT. Unfortunately, Kato's vision was way too overblown, and in the end, I think a lot of his ideas probably would have been better suited for a standalone game instead.

Well, like I said, I enjoyed the gameplay and music aspects, and to be honest some of the graphics and models look amazing for PS1. Hell, I love a lot of the characters in the game. Mojo/y is hilarious, Sparky and Poshul are adorable, and Fargo and Greco are badasses.

But the story was just SO FUCKIN BAD
 
this is the best video about it now, without too many personal stories.