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StarTopic Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition |ST| A Jinx From A Lynx

Who is your guide into Viper Manor?

  • Guile

    Votes: 5 45.5%

  • Nikki

    Votes: 4 36.4%

  • Pierre

    Votes: 2 18.2%
  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .
big lantern ghost

big lantern ghost

cantstandya
Moderator
Pronouns
he/him
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Available April 7, 2022
On Switch, PS4, Xbox One & Steam


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How does it play?
In many ways, Chrono Cross is laid out like a typical JRPG. You fight monsters in turn-based combat, use a world map to travel from town to town, and upgrade your spells and gear as you go.

In many other ways, Chrono Cross feels like one of a kind. You choose from three different kinds of physical attacks for example, each with a different strength and percent chance to hit. A “field effect” keeps track of the last three element (spell) colours cast and affects the intensity of the next elements. Stamina governs all of your attacks, and characters recover at different rates. There is no traditional levelling; occasional stat increases from battle and a party-wide “star level” from beating bosses raise fill in the gaps.

Even people who’ve played a fair amount of JRPGs will find something unique here. Chrono Cross stands alone!

Can I play this if I haven’t played Chrono Trigger?
While the connective tissue is there, it takes up quite a small amount of the runtime overall. Chances are pretty good you’ll be doing some research online anyway, as things get pretty convoluted! I think playing Cross on its own is just fine.

…although hey, if you haven’t got around to playing Chrono Trigger yet, it’s pretty dang good. The PC and phone versions have recently received a nice patch.

How has Chrono Cross been updated for the remaster?
💅 character models / 3D elements touched up
📖 new, cleaner font selection
🧐 blurring / smoothing effect placed on backgrounds to make them appear a little less pixelated
🎵 soundtrack revamped with some new instrument samples & background noise cleaned up, along with a brand-new song
⚔️ battle boosters: speed up battles, use auto battle, flip encounters off or toggle an overpowered party for tough fights (or to just enjoy the story and atmosphere)

In other words: it’s pretty much the original Chrono Cross with some minor updates, and playable on modern platforms!

It’s worth noting that you can flip between the remastered assets and original ones as you play, but you can’t choose specific elements to be either original or remastered! It’s all or nothing.


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Excellent ST! Really looking forward to revisiting this game, I always adored it despite its flaws and weirder aspects.
 
chocolate_supra said:
Agreed. Has there been any word on whether there are border options? Or is Square being as opaque about this as they were regarding the OST?
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a mod on era claimed you can turn them off but only had heard that 2nd hand ...but nothing otherwise suggests that is an option (and nobody bothers to mention basic shit like this in a review).
 
I have been lucky enough to be able to play it already. My review is still in progress but I put up a Dutch preview on our website :).
 
Why isn't this out today? I miss New Game Tuesdays, and I need some sweet, sweet Mitsuda in my life.
 
I have just watched the happy console gamer Review of this and got excited. I don't think Chrono Cross is better than Chrono trigger, but it is great on its own merits and, frankly, the game looks beautiful
 
sagadego20 said:
Fun Fact the Ps1 ver. is one of the many ps1 rpgs that support Dolby Surround
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And Mitsuda's music deserves it

jzero said:
I have just watched the happy console gamer Review of this and got excited. I don't think Chrono Cross is better than Chrono trigger, but it is great on its own merits and, frankly, the game looks beautiful
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Yeah, I think one of the reasons it had a bad rep for a while was because people were comparing it to Chrono Trigger. That's a near-impossible act to follow. It reminds me of how Adam Lambert (while touring with Queen) reacted to fans saying "he's okay but he's no Freddie Mercury," by saying "yeah no shit." 🤣

I'm glad to see a lot more positivity about Cross these days from people who, like you say, believe it stands great on its own merits.
 
So excited to play this! Life keeps throwing curveballs at me, but I want to do a Chrono Trigger replay asap, play Radical Dreamers, and then enjoy this remaster.
 
I'm in purely for Radical Dreamers. I'd rather play the original PS1 version of CC than this somewhat botched "remaster"; but I can't resist the opportunity to finally play RD in English!

Hopefully they at least eventually update the game to have an option for the original OST. Releasing this game without the original PS1 soundtrack is absolutely unforgivable.

As for CC itself? I think it gets a bit of a bum rap, being a follow-up to the single greatest RPG ever made. That's an impossible act for anyone to follow, but CC is a perfectly good RPG in its own right, with a genuinely unique and interesting battle system; that really shouldn't have been pitched as a sequel to Chrono Trigger (hell, its story barely even relates to the original CT at all until the hastily cobbled together end section!).
 
So I just learned that Chrono Cross' character designer/illustrator is the guy who did Escaflowne, Record of Lodoss War, and Mother Fucking Battle Angel Alita.

Holy hell.
 
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To me, the most important upgrade from the original is the fact that it is coming in Europe and translated in French.
 
Dcubed said:
I'm in purely for Radical Dreamers. I'd rather play the original PS1 version of CC than this somewhat botched "remaster"; but I can't resist the opportunity to finally play RD in English!

Hopefully they at least eventually update the game to have an option for the original OST. Releasing this game without the original PS1 soundtrack is absolutely unforgivable.

As for CC itself? I think it gets a bit of a bum rap, being a follow-up to the single greatest RPG ever made. That's an impossible act for anyone to follow, but CC is a perfectly good RPG in its own right, with a genuinely unique and interesting battle system; that really shouldn't have been pitched as a sequel to Chrono Trigger (hell, its story barely even relates to the original CT at all until the hastily cobbled together end section!).
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???????????? there is no other soundtrack in this game. there is only the original soundtrack.

the 7 new arrangements ONLY play on the title screen.
 
Dcubed said:
Hopefully they at least eventually update the game to have an option for the original OST. Releasing this game without the original PS1 soundtrack is absolutely unforgivable.
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@TheMoon already responded but just to clarify (because I've seen this complaint about the OST repeated a lot and it sucks that it got spread around) the difference between the remaster's OST and the original PS1 OST is that the remaster uses uncompressed samples. Mitsuda himself said they used the original source files/samples so as to reduce the noise and increase clarity, but other than that it's the same. They did not change the OST for this game. That news that went around that said there won't be a way to toggle the music, that's because it's the same music. This is not like FFXII or Trials of Mana where they orchestrated the entire OST, this is the same OST because Mitsuda said he was happy with it as it was.
 
TheMoon said:
???????????? there is no other soundtrack in this game. there is only the original soundtrack.

the 7 new arrangements ONLY play on the title screen.
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Well that’s superb news then! I was absolutely livid when I heard that we were only getting the “new” OST with no option for the original (thinking that the new arranged album contained the new music that would be used in-game!).

S-E really botched their communication surrounding this game!
 
Hey everyone! Thank you for the kind words about the OP and for representing Chrono Cross!

Here's a message from Mitsuda from just a few minutes ago that clarifies about the soundtrack:

 
Shadow said:
Oh sweet, I had no idea! What's the best option to get it, not counting Play-Asia for (I hope) obvious reasons.
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They are unfortunately the only store I found selling it, aside from Nintendo Soup which several people strongly warn against using (people will buy and never receive, then customer service won't talk to them).
 
Shadow said:
Oh sweet, I had no idea! What's the best option to get it, not counting Play-Asia for (I hope) obvious reasons.
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chocolate_supra said:
They are unfortunately the only store I found selling it, aside from Nintendo Soup which several people strongly warn against using (people will buy and never receive, then customer service won't talk to them).
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click the link I posted :p
 
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like I said there, a bunch of stores will only start listing this kind of import after it's out or sometime around then. so don't throw in the towel if they don't list it yet, weeks in advance.
 
To celebrate, I found a nice album on Imgur with extracts of the background images from the PS1 release to use for Zoom backgrounds at work. God the art direction on the backgrounds was so good.

Unfortunately I also realized how little of this game I actually remember so I think a replay is in order.

For anyone who also wants to look at the gallery (no I don’t know why it’s flagged with 18+):
 
Here’s something I thought would be a fun read today: this translated interview with composer Yasunori Mitsuda, courtesy of Shmuplations! It’s from 2003 and covers a variety of his work up until that point. Here are two excerpts especially relevant for today:

Do you ever listen to the music for Radical Dreamers anymore?
Mitsuda: Ah, that game is quite famous isn’t it. (laughs) I wrote the music in about three months, but I think it came out really well! Unfortunately, even if you still have a Super Famicom, the Satellaview system is no longer broadcasting games, so… (laughs) I think about half the material in Radical Dreamers is also used in Chrono Cross, but I wonder what will become of the other half…?
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Which of your own compositions are you especially fond of?
Mitsuda: I have feelings for all of them, so it’s a little hard to rank them, but if I had to name one it would be the ending theme for Chrono Cross. It’s probably a personal attachment more than anything else. Of course, I love the ending song for Xenogears, and Joanne Hogg’s singing, but merits aside, it’s more that during Chrono Cross I was working with Masato Kato, and I have strong memories and feelings about everything from that period. It’s sort of hard for me to express in words, though.
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You can read the whole interview over on their website.
 
Do we have an outlet for complaining about this game’s dashboard icon? They used that sweet art of Serge and Kid to promote the game for months and the icon is just text on a white background! Again!
 
ngpdrew said:
Do we have an outlet for complaining about this game’s dashboard icon? They used that sweet art of Serge and Kid to promote the game for months and the icon is just text on a white background! Again!
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Talk to the Carrion devs and ask how fans managed to convince them to change theirs. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Just popping in to say that Chrono Cross has maybe my favourite tutorials ever. I love Solt and Peppor, and their song is banging. On the Apple Music OST it's called "Paradise" but I couldn't find that on YouTube?

Making my way to Viper Manor later tonight. I put up a poll in regard to how you like to infiltrate it! I think I'm gonna go with Nikki's route because I am near-positive I have never used that way in.
 
I'm excited to play this for the first time...... when I get my physical copy in eventually : (
 
Man the intro's music still gives me chills and teared eye. Really looking forward to buy this later today.

Is there any differance in performance between the Series X and PS5 versions?
 
bellydrum said:
I'm excited to play this for the first time...... when I get my physical copy in eventually : (
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I feel ya, probably will receive mine around the end of May, the long wait begins.
 
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