distinctive and successful as its own.
User Rating: 9 | Chrono Cross (PSOne Books) PS
Well sadly I never played Chrono Trigger but from what I've researched it shouldn't be categorized in the same realm as Chrono Cross gameplay wise. The stories do interlock, and while Chrono Cross does find alot of its story's depth by constantly referring to past Trigger events, it finds alot of content in its present ongoings and diversity of characters. There are overwhelmingly thirty plus people that you can possibly recruit, and the beauty of Cross is that more and more of its content is unlocked as you play in name game+. Much like its predeccessor CC revolves around the concept of time and space, going through parallel worlds and through different time spans so the game is not restricted to the first run through but involves your main character going through the same story but often experiencing different events during the progression. Cause and effect come into play mostly by influencing who joins your party, and there are alot of choices. The wide range of abilities and stats among your party can greatly diversify the battles in CC. Its so refreshing to be able to play as the Lynx, Harle, someone other than the stereotypical protagonist Serge. The battle system itself is unique, involving more strategy than your usual turn based rpg. How much you can do is mostly governed by how much stamina you have, so you can do pretty much whatever you want to the enemy as long as your stamina bar doesn't empty. Usually, physical hits use less stamina and amount to combo hits while elemental attacks and summonings take up more effort and stamina. Another nice touch to the battle system is the precedence of the elemental affinities. There's an energy field in battle that changes according to what elemental magic used, and oftentimes this becomes a useful strategy against bosses, and there are many of them. Chrono Cross is one lengthy adventure with both vibrant visuals and an excellent score. For from Squaresoft, it's quite a change from the usually subdued, dark pallette of previous games as Final Fantasy VII.
