Beyond all time this game shall stand

(Note: A copy of this game was provided to me by Squaresoft.)

Every so often, a game comes out that totally surprises you with its play. The last time this happened to me, I played Chrono Trigger, a classic role-playing game for the Super Nintendo. I knew Square well, but even with that I was amazaed at the convoluted thinking needed to truly grasp the game, the first to really effectively use the concept of time travel. I hoped, and waited, for a sequel to arrive. And now it has, and you can get it from me when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

The story starts off with Serge, the silent hero of the game, dreaming of walking through a temple with two strangers. He has an odd flash, of a potential murder at his hands, and he quickly wakes up to his rather sedate life in his home village. He goes to pick up something for his girlfriend, and meets her at the beach. But there, he is suddenly warped without warning to a world similar to his own but not precisely, where he supposedly died ten years ago but there are still people hunting for him.

The plot immediately grows rather thick, as you're suddenly thrust from a normal lad in a fishing village to an apparition of a present that never was. Even beyond poking around and finding out what is different with the world, you find that there are many people who have designs on Serge, from the mysterious Kid who accompanies you to the sinister Lynx who is searching for Serge. Even though Serge is silent, in the tradition of Chrono from the first game, the plot moves forward rather quickly, and you barely have the answer to one question playing on your mind when an even bigger question comes up. In the words of Zymurgy, "when you open a can of worms, you need a bigger can to put them back."

Moreover, the characterization is rather excellent. Serge himself presents a challenge well-handled: how do you develop a character that doesn't speak? The answer is through the nuances and responses the other characters in the game send to you. The other characters you meet are built well, but aren't overly developed. While they tend to be somewhat static, they aren't faceless drones, as some other games give as main characters.

Moreover, you'd have a serious problem giving life histories for all of the characters. You literally have dozens of characters you can eventually get in your group - I believe up to 40. With this kind of freedom, you can build a party of 3 to nearly any proportion you'd like. You can favor heavy brawlers or powerful magicians, all to preference. While certain parts obviously require certain characters, you have much more freedom than any other game since Final Fantasy Tactics.

The battle system, however, takes some getting used to, but is ultimately an excellent system. While you characters, like in the original, learn techniques for battle use, you also assign techniques to suit your mood. You assign these techniques, called elements, to suit your mood, which can be used in battle in the proper circumstances. Instead of relying on on magic points, however, the game instead just asks you hit with a number of regular physical attacks before using a spell. So what prevents this game from being a spell-fest like Final Fantasy 8, for example? You can only use each spell once per battle. You can equip multiple copies of one spell, but only at the expense of another spell which you might need.

As a result, while you can use more spells overall than many other games, you can't save them up for the big battles. Consequently, this adds a serious level of challenge to the game. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I had such a difficult time bringing bosses down. I've already died a couple of times in the game, which I almost never do early in a role-playing game. This game does not take it easy on anyone. However, I like that alot in a game. I don't want the game handed to me on a silver platter - I want to earn it.

Adding to the challenge is that you don't level in a traditional role-playing game sense. Instead, like the later Final Fantasy Legend games, you randomly gain stats after battle. In addition, your stats have ceilings which can only be raised by beating bosses. The game, in effect, limits what your power and makes you think strategy to beat a boss. Again, this adds to the challenge, but I enjoy that alot in a game.

To further the work your brain is going to go through, the game deliberately teases you with the nature of the sequel. There are two types of sequels in video games: direct sequels, like the Mario or Mega Man games, or the thematic sequels, like the Final Fantasy games. Chrono Cross deliberately makes you constantly guess which sort of sequel it is. There are many elements of the game that are similar to the first: some character names, some monsters, and even hints of the fabled Chrono Trigger, which I assure you does figure heavily into the game. But even with those hints, it makes it even more difficult to figure out. I'm going to end up with brain sprain from this, and I'm loving every minute of it.

Graphically, the game takes advantage of the varied palettes the Playstation has. I haven't seen a game this colorful on this station before. Moreover, the colors just highlight, not detract from, the graphics elsewhere in the game. The characters are similar to Final Fantasy 8's designs, but with a tighter computer graphics style that makes it easy to figure out your character's details. You can even see fingers. Moreover, it's even easy to tell what kind of animals run around town. I've even seen mutant versions of the Taco Bell chihuahua about. Now that is detail.

Also, one worthy note of the character designs: Square, continuing with the precident of Final Fantasy 8, has designed the characters with a very human feel to them. While still drawn in the traditional anime style, with character designs by noted graphic artist Yoshitaka Amano, the builds on the characters are refreshingly normal. Serge, who you will see alot of, is trim and fit, but doesn't have seriously large muscles - his clothes actually hang a little loose on him. Similarly, Kid, the first female character to join you, has a very light build, and Lina Inverse-style breasts. Even the large build characters appear relatively normal - no professional bodybuilder molds here. It's refreshing to see such realistically rendered characters in the world of Lara Croft and ever musclebound meathead in a first person shooter.

The game's control is a bit more flexible, but still somewhat spotty. The analog controller isn't as responsive as the controls for Final Fantasy 8, and a little more slipshod. On occasion, you may just want to return to the directional pad. On there, though, Square has finally answered one problem with controls that plagued the previous two Final Fantasy games. Some people want to run but walk while holding cancel. Others want to walk but run while holding cancel. Square has finally allowed you to customize that to your own preference, which will finally get every gamer cheering.

The sound of the game truly astounds me. First, you will find familiar Chrono Trigger tunes in this game - they even keep the original battle victory music in this game. No word yet on if two of my favorites, Frog's theme and Magus' theme, are in there, but as shocking as it may seem, this game may not need it. The music is rather rich in layering and well orchestrated. None of the tunes are repetitious, and the only thing keeping me from standing still to enjoy the music is the possibility of even better music ahead. In all, the music gets my highest recommendation: I want the soundtrack to this game.

Now, I've raved about the game longer than anyone probably should have a right to. Is it the perfect game? No, there are still some minor flaws in the game. Most prominent is that each character has some sort of nationality, and an accompanying accent. In some cases, there is even foreign languages appearing. You will quickly encounter people speaking with a British cockney accent, a neutral accent, a German accent, a light Chinese accent, and even a French accent peppered with French words. In fact, not all the language is understandable. I had to rush to a dictionary to figure out what one character meant with a French phrase - and I'm a French major in college. For anyone who got annoyed seriously with Faris' translation in Final Fantasy Anthology, you might want to read the dialogue boxes as quickly as possible. And never let this game into the hands of people who like to read the dialogue out loud.

Also, the types of elements makes little sense. While Chrono Trigger had four elements - fire, water, lightning, and shadow; Chrono Cross has six. But those six are red, blue, yellow, green, white, and black. While four of those are easily figured out, I still can't figure out what makes a yellow or green element so special. It's not earth and wind, or nature and civilization... I still don't understand the logic of it. But while there is little logic in the game's build, the implimentation isn't bad at all.

However, with all that aside, the game really makes you think. Even with the title, you know this game is something beyond what is normal. Think of a cross. It's a pair of axes. Similarly, you don't just go across time in this game, but alternate realities. Breaking out graph paper might help you get things straight in your mind, but really, you have to think to play this game, even more than keeping track of dates like in Chrono Trigger. It also brings about philosophical questions about what things would be like under different circumstances. It's rare enough that a game makes you think. It's even more rare for a game to make you think about philosphy, which this game can do to you without you even realizing it.

While there are some minor flaws, Chrono Cross is beyond anything I ever expected. I do believe it may become one of my all time favorites - a list even more narrow than my "Love It!" list on Epinions. Even after I beat it, there is so much to find that I'm going to go back at it again. I only wish I could jump the time stream and play this game as much as I really want to. This game has exceeded all of my (admittedly lofty) expectations, and enough to make me stand back and say, "wow." While the battle system does take some time to get used to, the game is worth playing by anyone who fancies themselves an RPG fan.