The original version of Chrono Cross released to critical acclaim back in 2000, with valid reason. Rather than rehash what had come before in Chrono Trigger, the PlayStation sequel brought entirely new gameplay systems along with a compelling and well-told story that stood triumphantly on its own. By some black magic, the team were able to pull together 40-plus playable and swappable characters amongst a parallel-world plot with all of the bespoke dialogue and types of conditions that involved and still come forth with an end product that worked. It didn’t hurt either it continued Square’s penchant for gorgeous visuals and CG cutscenes in the PS1 releases and came filled with one of gaming’s all-time great soundtracks thanks to Yasunori Mitsuda.
The game’s gameplay and battle systems were equally praised for bucking convention within the turn-based JRPG space. Combat deftly combined a risk-reward attack mechanic that balanced hit percentages and stamina having a meta where characters would receive buffs once the field of battle full of a component they favoured. Additionally, it eschewed the idea of invisible random battles as well as employing a rudimentary point-and-click type of item interaction, all things that made it stand out against its contemporaries because the plucky and slightly experimental cousin to Final Fantasy. Obviously there’s not much I can say about Chrono Cross itself that hasn’t been said many times over (and better) within the last 22 years. What I’m really for would be to break down what’s changed within the Radical Dreamers Edition and whether which makes it worth your time and cash to experience the game again or the first time.
The biggest difference in Chrono Cross on modern consoles is obviously the HD graphical upgrade and this is probably the Radical Dreamers Edition’s most contentious change. See, it’s great to be able to play the game in a lot more modern resolutions but for this reason being an upscaling from the source content and not a full-scale rebuild the results really are a mixed bag. Similar to Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, it’s a case of the updated character models and UI elements looking markedly better than their original counterparts while everything around them somehow looks slightly worse. The re-done 3D elements are sharp and new character models remain faithful towards the originals while being given a tasteful update that also feels in line with time, and also the new character art in menus and text boxes is fairly nice across the board too.
What’s most disappointing is the vaseline-smear filter applied aggressively over every pre-rendered background making them even less cohesive with the other visual elements. You’re in a position to switch to ‘Classic’ visuals should you really can’t stand it, but only from the main menu and just with the other HD updates switched off too. Factor in as well the inconsistent frame rates and there’s a roughness that just doesn’t feel in a contemporary HD re-release of these a revered title. It checks out with all this release is an emulation as opposed to a full-on rebuild but it still sucks that more couldn’t be/hasn’t been done to make this the easiest method to play Chrono Cross. Hell, fans have done a great job with this on their own previously.
It’s in the quality-of-life updates to the battle system that returning fans will probably discover the most joy in replaying the game with this version. For starters you are able to turn battles off entirely that is a godsend during exploration, especially considering that grinding battles isn’t a real viable way to progress in Chrono Cross anyway. Whenever you do get into a fight you’re able to switch on an auto-battle that lets the sport handle everything for you personally, in addition to toggle on which is essentially an invincibility mode that causes every enemy attack to overlook your party. Coupled with a fast-forward toggle, this can help much with monotony from fighting basic monster parties if you’re confident with breezing through everything.
Not everyone is going to be compelled to tap into these options constantly but there are definite moments where they take the edge off of a few of the game’s pain points. Dealing with that frustrating horse-feeding minigame in Viper Manor? Just turn on slow-motion mode and show those horses who’s boss (it’s them, they’re being fed literally hundreds of times in a single night). The fast-forward and slow toggles are actually a holdover from the original but they’re available immediately now, as opposed to unlocked after completing the sport, plus they really come in handy for that impatient in our midst. I just wish there was a quick save/load option outside the occasional auto-saving, it seems like this kind of obvious inclusion for a title similar to this.
So far, so similar to almost every other HD port that Square Enix has taken to modern machines recently. One cool reason for difference here though is the inclusion of Radical Dreamers, a text-based adventure that predates Chrono Cross itself and was never officially translated to English before now because of its existence on the Japan-only Satellaview device for that Super Famicom.
As a kind of a side-story/parallel to Chrono Cross, Radical Dreamers follows Serge, Kid and Magil inside a heist attempt for Viper Manor that will later go on to inform one of the main game’s early missions. It’s hardly essential playing/reading over its 3-4 hour runtime but definitely an interesting look into the attitude from the franchise’s creators heading into Chrono Cross, whilst offering a distinctive undertake text adventure gameplay with its choice-based combat scenarios, timed events and light relationship building. It also feels quite dark and violent as compared to the main game with techniques I hadn’t expected. Overall, it’s just nice to see it finally translated and released within an official capacity (and the translation work isn’t half bad, either!)
With the inclusion of Radical Dreamers and also the handy quality-of-life stuff, there’s definitely good reason to look at this re-release of Chrono Cross if you’re a longtime fan or curious JRPG enjoyer. It’s not every good, the visual update swings wildly between pleasant and puke-inducing for one, however the more available farmville is the foremost I reckon.
