Chrono Trigger

[Ayreos]

Grandia 3 and Grandia Xtreme have dual and triple techs in them, though, as a big component of gameplay.

 

[Athelas]

Grandia 3 and Grandia Xtreme have dual and triple techs in them, though, as a big component of gameplay.

Well, they didn't add much to those games (apart from the aerial combo's) and I don't see how the dual/triple techs suddenly make CT's combat note-worthy (apart from the cool concepts/animations behind the techs). 'Give up 2 or 3 character turns for massive damage' isn't a very interesting choice within the constraints of such a simple combat system.

Chrono Trigger is a lot of fun, but it's mostly for everything else other than its combat.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Funny how I have so many good memories with CT, and still didn't played Cross sequel. Is it any good ?

 

[MasPingon]

Funny how I have so many good memories with CT, and still didn't played Cross sequel. Is it any good ?

It's not a coincidence. Chrono Cross is not a terrible game, but it doesn't have any of CT strengths.

 

[Cosmo]

It's not a coincidence. Chrono Cross is not a terrible game, but it doesn't have any of CT strengths.

And it's a shame because it's one of the most beautiful games of the psx ; the music is great too.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Cross has some questionable decisions (dropping a few interesting characters for a hundred with little or zero development) but it's worth a look. Trigger Warning (lol) : the fate of CT's party is grim.

Grandia's battle system is the closest you'll get to CT's, I think.

Uhm, they have nothing in common. Grandia has a somewhat interesting and novel simultaneous turn-based system. Chrono Trigger just has the standard simplistic jRPG battle system, but with seamless battle transitions (which for some bizarre reason almost no other jRPG developer have decided to implement).

No, CT has Final Fantasy's ATB system + positioning, it's as atypical as it gets for a jRPG. You can choose to play in "wait mode" (causes time to pause when choosing an action), though.

 

[Athelas]

No, CT has Final Fantasy's ATB system + positioning, it's as atypical as it gets for a jRPG. You can choose to play in "wait mode" (causes time to pause when choosing an action), though.

There is no positioning. ATB is pretty standard considering it's been used in at least a dozen Square Enix RPG's.

 

[Damned Registrations]

FF had wait mode too (not sure when, but FF6 for sure had it, and I'd guess it was probably in 5 and 4 too.)

There was nothing really new about CT's combat. Earlier games had better positioning systems, or combos. It was just a well done rehash of previous ideas. Which is why I get pissed when people bash something just for being a rehash of old concepts. Doing exactly that is generally how the best stuff is made. There's a balance to be struck between refinements and innovations.

 

[yes plz]

chrono cross was great, fuck da haterz

As for its bloated cast, the characters connected to the plot (particularity Karsh, Fargo, and Nikki, as well as probably others that I'm forgetting) get as much development and fleshing out as the CT's cast, maybe even more. The side characters, like Glenn, Doc, and Luccia, also get a handful of decent scenes. It's only really the more hidden / completely auxiliary characters that feel tacked on, like Turnip and Funguy, though even then there are a few that get fleshed out quite a bit (i.e. Skelly).

 

[Damned Registrations]

I think the giant cast in CC bothered me less because it wasn't fleshed out enough and more because too many of them were wacky exaggerated characters that detracted from the atmosphere. FF6 has the same issue to some extent; but it didn't have sentient vegetables at least.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Funny how I have so many good memories with CT, and still didn't played Cross sequel. Is it any good ?

worse as a game, outstandingly awesome under every other artistic aspect.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I've never touched Chrono Cross.

 

[Damned Registrations]

(Incomplete) List of other jrpg games I'd easily recommend before Chrono Cross:

Saga Frontier
Valkyrie Profile
Breath of Fire (all of them)
Phantasy Star 4
Star Ocean 2 (the psx one)
Final Fantasy 1-7
Tales of Destiny
Xenogears


List of jrpg games I'd recommend before Chrono Trigger:

 

[DragoFireheart]

How good is BoF 4 compared to 3?

 

[Athelas]

Play Dragon Quarter instead.

3 and 4 have different strengths, but I'd probably rank them equally in the end.

 

[MRY]

Who at Square thought this remake wasn't worth a release?[/MEDIA]

I remember being interested in that, and disappointed by its fate, but I'm much more curious whatever happened with the ROM hack sequel that Square killed -- Crimson Echoes. Any of you guys ever play it? I kind of suspect it would be terrible in the KQ Silver Lining fan fiction way, but it certainly generated buzz.

[EDIT]

Cedric the Executor, the ruthless first King of Guardia

. . . who later went on to become an equally ruthless King of Comedy.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I never bothered finishing it. It's not bad really, I've just played so many by this point that it felt stale.

In direct comparison to 3, it's definitely worse in my book. The dragon system in 3 was much more interesting. I think they both have the master system pretty much the same, and I actually like the characters in BoF4 a bit more in general. But it always felt too easy, and it didn't have the fun gene experimentation side or incentive to explore for them that 3 had. There's a somewhat similar thing eventually in the story where you can find extra dragon forms, but they aren't really that interesting. The pacing of the story also felt pretty bad, even in comparison to 3, which was really slow at times. In 4 you spend a fair amount of time controlling Fou-Lu instead of the main party, and his segments are boring because he never changes and there's nothing to the battles because he's all alone.

 

[Delterius]

It's not a coincidence. Chrono Cross is not a terrible game, but it doesn't have any of CT strengths.

And it's a shame because it's one of the most beautiful games of the psx ; the music is great too.

Seriously, Chrono Cross is worth a playthrough for these alone.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I really need to boot this up again with a different party.

I always fall back on Chrono / Ayla / Robo. I don't think anything is more powerful. Feed Robo lots of magic tabs and watch as he heals your entire group for 999.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

edit: by the way, if like me anyone is thinking of buying the game on PSN to play on a nice big screen from your couch - don't, it's the Playstation version with loadings interruptions for everything.

No, CT has Final Fantasy's ATB system + positioning, it's as atypical as it gets for a jRPG. You can choose to play in "wait mode" (causes time to pause when choosing an action), though.

There is no positioning. ATB is pretty standard considering it's been used in at least a dozen Square Enix RPG's.

By positioning I was thinking of how the characters move around the battlefield, maybe there's a word for that.

 

[Grimlorn]

It's not a coincidence. Chrono Cross is not a terrible game, but it doesn't have any of CT strengths.

And it's a shame because it's one of the most beautiful games of the psx ; the music is great too.

The music was great except for the song that plays during random battles. God it was annoying, and it's the one you're going to be hearing most. Cross's magic system sucked imo. The story was a bit convoluted and didn't make much sense. The idea for splitting dimensions was good though. It just didn't feel like it was set in the Chrono Trigger universe. Nothing really made any sense at all with the plot.

 

[Dreaad]

The boss music was awesome though and the game had some awesome bosses to go along with it. Who can forget Masa and Mune, the T-rex, Zombor, the two bulls guarding the chains or even the dragon robot on the bridge. Was also awesome how you had to fight all those bosses again if you decided to fight Lavos face first.

 

[Gragt]

It's not a coincidence. Chrono Cross is not a terrible game, but it doesn't have any of CT strengths.

And it's a shame because it's one of the most beautiful games of the psx ; the music is great too.

The music was great except for the song that plays during random battles. God it was annoying, and it's the one you're going to be hearing most. Cross's magic system sucked imo. The story was a bit convoluted and didn't make much sense. The idea for splitting dimensions was good though. It just didn't feel like it was set in the Chrono Trigger universe. Nothing really made any sense at all with the plot.

The greatest flaws of Chrono Cross’ plot lie in its delivery: every so often a character will dump a huge load of information on you, making it very hard to process it—I was left rather confused at the end of my first playthrough. It takes a few more times to get it. A shame because it is otherwise rather rich and fascinating.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I've got the CT soundtrack in my music library, I probably listen to it more than anything else.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The 20-minute trippy exposition Belthasar gives you right before a hard boss fight was particularly classy.

edit: and then the game does it again on the dead sea with Miguel.