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When a game company makes a sequel, they always hope it does a few things: that the game pleases the fans, attracts new players, and, best of all, inspires players to buy the previous game. Chrono Cross is perhaps the best example I can think of that does all these things, and makes it look effortless.
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The game sports a very pleasing visual style, a colorful, animated look that's hard not to enjoy. The characters look basically the same in game, in the dialog box, and (for those who get them) in cinemas. The character design itself is perhaps a tad eccentric (see Serge's hair...), but they fit well in their world. Essentially, the world created in Chrono Cross is very much alive, and you'll enjoy getting to know it.
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The music is even better. If the graphics give the game’s world life, the music makes it a full person, with a face to match the world's every mood. The festive tunes of Termina, the sad chirps of Kid's theme, even the strange silence of the final battle fit perfectly within this living world, drawing you ever further in.
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The game is played like many other RPGs, with an important exception; you can see opponents before you face them. Indeed, I believe it's possible to avoid every non-boss in the game, which is fine since leveling is almost exclusively achieved after boss battles. Combat is built around Stamina Points. At the start of a fight, you have seven, and may chose from weak, strong, or fierce attacks, which consume 1, 2 and 3 stamina points each, and progressively diminish in accuracy. Every stamina point spent on a successful attack turns into an element level. Elements (magic spells) are placed in an elemental grid, and you may use spells on parts of the grid as you gain up to their level in combat. Casting the element consumes a full 7 stamina, but you may cast them with less and have 'negative' stamina. Stamina refills as other characters or enemies attack, although the exact amount varies from character to character. Each character also has an innate element. Characters are better at casting elements of their own innate, but take more damage from attacks of the opposite innate. This also applies to physical attacks. That is, a white innate will deal a little extra damage to a black innate, but a little less to another white. Finally, as a sort of added bonus, you can run from ANY fight in the game, even bosses. Now, the enemy is still there, but running gives you a chance to adjust your elements, heal, or just avoid the fight, depending on the situation.
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The overall story is a bit of a mixed bag. Although good overall, toward the end the game loses a good deal of cohesion, especially as it tries to include elements from Chrono Trigger, the game's predecessor. The story is that of Serge, a boy who is mysteriously sucked into another world, seemingly identical to his own, with the exception that all his friends and neighbors insist that they've never heard of him, but a boy called Serge drown nearly ten years before. Toward the end, Serge is apparently the spark of events that will destroy space-time, leastwise I think that's what's going on. Honestly, I kinda lost track toward the end. Still, as long as you don't try to over think the game, it's a perfectly decent tale of a boy trying to change his fate, and further has some of the most truly unexpected twists of any game I've ever played.
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Chrono Cross also has a large and likable cast of characters. All forty something of them! Actually, it was a tad too large. Although I thought the game did a decent job of making sure all the characters had a good amount of characterization, a few too many characters just seemed... unnecessary. The straw voodoo doll? The rabbit-ish monster trainer? I suppose it gives you a chance to play around with your party and innates a bit, but honestly a good 10 or 15 could have been cut and made the completist a tad saner.
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Speaking of completist, Chrono Cross has plenty to do, even after you've finished. Recruiting all the characters takes at least 3 plays, because you at one point must choose between three characters to go someplace. There are nine endings that one must have beaten the game to view. On the downside, it may take a few playthroughs just to achieve the best 'regular' ending. Although you're supposedly able to get this on the first try, the puzzle to do so is nearly impossibly obscure.
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Still, Chrono Cross stands as one of the most entertaining games I've ever played. Not the best, perhaps, but definitely a great deal of fun.
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