by Jay "THE FLEA" Wade
All hail, the king of RPGs has returned.
Ask most any long time RPGer what's the best RPG you ever played? and you'll get one of two answers. Final Fantasy 3 (or 6 on PSX & Japan) or Chrono Trigger.
Finally Square has made a sequel to Chrono Trigger called Chrono Cross.
Chrono Cross takes place twenty years after Chrono Trigger, new characters have to battle through space and time.
You play as Serge, a young boy who's life is turned upside down when he's thrown into a dimension where he died as a young boy and anything he knew and loved is lost.
Serge meets a strange girl named Kid who offers her help to the confused boy.
In your quest you find other characters who join or help you on your journey back.
The graphics are some of the best seen in a PSX game. The design of the game still holds the same feel as the first Chrono.
Great characters that only could come from Square. And FMV that really look beautiful.
The Battle system and experience point system is really like no other and take a little getting used to. (don't worry it's nothing like FF8) In a turn based battle you attack but choosing attack levels to make combos. Lower attacks you'll be able to hit more but cause little damage with each hit.
High attacks can cause major damage but you'll be lucky if you can do two hits.
You'll have to try different combos on different enemies to see what will do the most damage. You can also use Element moves. (basically they're Spells) Buy or find new Elements in your quest. Battles are not random like most RPGs ether, If you see the creature you can ether fight him or avoid him.
The Experience point system is simple, there isn't any. (what! No experience points you say?)
PUBLISHER: SQUARESOFT / EA
GRAPHICS: 10 SOUND & MUSIC: 10 CONTROL: 9.5
SECRETS: 10 ORIGINALITY: 10 FUN & REPLAY: 10
After a battle you'll sometimes earn power-up points towards your stats. You beat a creature and you'll find a 2+HP, 1+MAG & 1+STR. and your characters can become better fighters. but each character can only go as high as their max limit goes. You'll have to earn Power-Up Stars by beating bosses to raise that.
You can also switch who is the lead character in your party. want Kid as the leader? press select.
There's tons of characters that will join your party in your quest.
And just like Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross has multiple endings. Not sure on how many yet.
But this will add tons of replay. Chrono Cross is a definitely can't miss for any RPGer. OVERALL: 10