One thing that I didn't mention here is the tech abilities that are unique to each character--essentially special moves that are unique to them. This could serve as a reason for a player to pick a specific character on top of their innate element color. Double and triple techs also return from Trigger, but pulling them off and even learning how to access them is a bit of a hassle. I almost never used them, so I didn't end up mentioning it in the video. -Mike

Scars of Time is one of my favorite pieces of music in the history of games.

13 year old me playing Chrono Cross for the first time "I have to save Kid its the right thing to do" second playthrough "what?! I can get Glenn? well screw Kid, come to me Glenn"

Chrono Cross is my favorite game of all time. Its true, the game isn't perfect. Nor is it a "sequel" to Trigger. But its a beautiful game, with enchanting concepts, characters, art, world building, music and atmosphere. The type of game you can put on and sit infront of your tv in a dark room and completely forget the real world exists.

Chrono Cross is so underrated it breaks my heart

I always thought the central theme was about how even the smallest actions have major consequences down the road. You can see this in story, and even gameplay, as the element system affects the color chart, causing elements to be weaker or stronger. Story-wise, the entire thing seems to be about how Serge trying to undo the weird happenings in his life totally screwed up what happened in Chrono Trigger. The message at the end of the game even goes over how every single life on the planet can make a major change, simple by existing, and nobody is useless in the end.

for me, i had the benefit of playing chrono cross before trigger. it was the game for me growing up. to this day i still have the CD OST set with me, and i regularly listen to it. the music is what made me play this game.

Just wanna put this out there. This is my favorite game of ALL time. Best story ever. And One of the absolute best soundtracks to ever be in a video game.

Man, the soundtrack and atmosphere of this game is next level.

The Girl that Stole the Stars, and Radical Dreamers literally give me goosebumps every time I hear them.

Crono Cross is still my favorite PS1 rpg and in my top 5 of JRPGs i've ever played. I played it as a kid before i had even heard of Chrono Trigger, so i treated it as a standalone game. The quirky characters (many of whom were playable), the masterful soundtrack, and fun combat all drew me in. I also enjoyed the story and being able to travel between worlds. It saddens me that this game doesn't get as much love as Trigger. And the very least, i wish Square would port this to PS4 with trophies like the did for FF 7 & 9. :)

Thanks so much for giving a fair review of my favorite JRPG. I was in 7th grade when Chrono Cross released in NA and I was mesmerized by it. I didn't grow up with the SNES. I had the Genesis and then got a Playstation. I had never heard of Chrono Trigger before Cross released nor had a means to play Trigger. So my view of this game is different from a lot of other people's when the topic comes up. Out of the series, Trigger may be better, I did play it when I was in College and loved every moment of it. But Cross was my introduction to JRPGs and I remember waking up one day, realizing I had a snow day, and immediately sat down in front of the T.V. to play more Chrono Cross. It may be a mess with how it show's the backstory of the game, but to me, it was a fun ride. Thanks for giving it a fair review instead of bashing it like so many other fans do.

As Chrono Cross is probably my favorite game ever I would love to see a remake of Chrono Cross or an hd remaster at the least . No game will ever be as good as Chrono Cross. The music was epic , awesome story , loved the gameplay, great graphics for the time

need a remastered for the ps4 as I would love to play it again

I legit teared up at the first note of music in this video. This game is so, so special to me. I know it's divisive, and I know for many people it pales in comparison to Chrono Trigger, but Cross really meant a lot to me as a tween/early teen. Looking back I think it's because of the weird body horror/depersonalization/detachment from self stuff that Serge goes through. Younger me wasn't able to understand why that mattered so much, but now that I'm older (and in therapy, and on meds, and have a diagnosis) I totally get it. Plus I'm a sucker for romance plot arcs :P The music is what sets it above and beyond, too. ETA: Hearing Scars of Time had me burst into tears. Thanks, I hatelove it!

Chronocross was brilliant. I loved every second of it.

this is my personal GOAT.

Im only 17 but as I was scrolling through KZfaq I saw this video and was hit with a huge amount of nostalgia for these games. They are truly great and I absolutely loved to story of them, thank you for reminding me of them

I love this video, the thoroughness, pouring through interviews, taking time to explain the battle system (barely anyome else does this), and coming through with a perspective rare for JRPG criticism-you aren't married to games you cover and don't overemphasize plot minutia in storytelling. I would profane it with one of my many Chrono Cross hot-takes. Accept my algorithm engagement token.

Just hearing the music from CC brought my childhood flooding back. I freaking love this game!!

To Be Honest.. i like this game more than Chrono Trigger.. please dont judge me

I love this game, so many memories! the soundtrack is amazing too.

Easily one of the most underrated, misunderstood games of all time.

This may be my favorite RPG of all time. Soooo many party members with actual personality, story impact, endings, etc. This was an absolute masterpiece.

The ending song makes grown man cries

Man, what a journey to finish this review! It’s truly amazing how much work goes into creating a single 28 minute video. Great job, guys. Glad to be a Patron of such an awesome channel.

"Chrono Cross is not a sequel to Chrono Trigger." I'll openly admit I was one of those sour fans as a youngster; thinking they had just needlessly killed off my favorite characters. It was until years later upon replaying it that I realized what a masterpiece, like Trigger, Cross was. When I realized that Cross wasn't a sequel but...a game that takes place BECAUSE of the events of Trigger and not necessarily after it. If that at all makes any sense. While Trigger is my second favorite game of all time, closely behind Xenogears for the first, Cross really did tug on the heartstrings when I played it again as an older fella. With time and understanding, seeing the paths of Cross being made by the ripples of the first games endeavors, it really painted Cross as the masterpiece it is rather than the finger-painting I first thought it to be due to my childish lack of understanding when I first played through it... God, I miss games like this. Games that made you really FEEL.

Whenever i hear "Time's Scar" i cant help but shed a few tears from how emotionally moving it feel.

just wanna let you know I really appreciate your transition from Radial Dreamers "Gale" to Chrono Cross "Gale" near the end of the video. Quality content as always!

Yasunori Mitsuda is such a legend. Such a great musician.

The thing about chrono cross is that it well illustrates that the journey is more important than the destination. This is reinforced by the need for multiple play throughs in order to fully experience the stories. The fact that you cannot have everything in one journey that you want is just a reality of being in an adventure; being alive and living.

Jeeze, this is legitimately one of the best reviews of a video game I've ever seen. You guys do quality work. Time to crack open my copy of Chrono Cross again... Haven't played it since it came out.

This video is very well put-together. Cheers!

This was such a great review. I can't think of how this game could've been handled better for such a divisive Chrono fanbase. Fair criticism and praise where due. Loved how you handled the gameplay segment and also included the self-discovery theme. Seriously, that was very meaningful. Thank you!

I don't care what anyone says, this game is an underappreciated masterpiece. Living in the shadow of Chrono Trigger really hurts this game. I played Cross first so perhaps I'm jaded but I personally find it hard to compare the two. I think they'r both woderful. The music is INSANE and the art style is beautiful and holds up today even.

I think what really elevates Chrono Cross from the other JRPGs of its time is the soundtrack. Even twelve years after playing it for the first time, the credits theme still makes me tear up, and no other game has ever done this to me.

Such an oddly forgotten about game. I remember it scoring a 10 on Gamespot back in the day.

Nice retrospective, I've never been able to tear the two apart for myself. For me, both games are very intertwined that to choose one over the other would be impossible. So, I cheat and when someone asks what's your favorite JRPG I said the Chrono Series. Thanks for giving an honest but fair opinion of the game many Trigger fans seem to dismiss it out right despite all it's merits.

It's crazy that both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross had fast forward options and new game+ features that wouldn't come to more modern games and re-releases till this past decade...insane! They were so ahead of their time.

This game really pushed my buttons back then. I remember staying in some kind of trance for several weeks after playing this one. Truly epic game. Truly epic age.

I think it's really fun how the different accents work in the game, especially from an English point of view where dialects can vary ridiculously if you drive even 40 miles away, and it was cool recognising the dialects.

Chrono Trigger: solving a crisis, one grueling step at a time. Chrono Cross: mopping up the consequences of fixing the crisis, and cleaning up the bodies.

This channel deserves more subs. It touches on games that a lot of people love but forgotten due to the current generation. Great video and well spoken content creator.

This Game, Chrono Trigger, Nier series, The Last of Us 1 and 2 (don't hate me for this), FF7, Tactics Ogre, Xenoblade Chronicles are the games that impacted me emotionally and will forever be the best games I've ever played. Though SE is rarely making these kind of games anymore, I'm still thankful that they had a phase where they made these kind of games. And also to Yasunori Mitsuda for making the music for this extraordinary game. Just beautiful. I remember seeing this video in 2018 and it has been 2 years. Time flies.

I watched this to remember how I used to feel when playing chorono cross.

I nominate this game for best soundtrack on the Playstation. If anybody disagrees with me I will force you to play Bubsy 3D until you win. Not being made with a central theme in mind explains why the game throws that theme about deciding one's own destiny and why it is down so poorly. When you actually look at Chrono Cross' plot it is unintentionally an example of how a player's choices do not matter in a video game. No matter what choices you make, even if you don't recruit Kid, you have to go after Lynx. No matter what you do, Kid lives. You fight Lynx multiple times and when you defeat him, the game just says "no you didn't." Frankly I feel this game would been better off if it framed it's narrative like Metal Gear Solid 2 or Bioshock and deconstructed the idea of a video game narrative, it certainly has the tools for it. I also felt like this game's plot suffered from too many random ideas with no focus. You spend most of it fighting Lynx, then it's revealed the Dragons want to kill all humanity, and they after you defeat them you are told everything was about stopping Lavos. Lavos to be frank is not something to bring at the last minute because he has no real characterization beyond causing destruction, he only worked in Chrono Trigger because of how much of destructive force he was shown to be and how you needed to kill him to save the future. Bringing him back at the last minute just draws more attention to how generic a villain he is. I also really hated this game's preachy environmental message. I once saw an article that joked you that can divide every story with environmental messages into two categories; the good ones in Studio Ghibli films, and everything else. That's not true but this game doesn't help my case. There is also that plot with Porre military that doesn't really go anywhere because Lynx supplants them as a threat. I only watched an LP but I admit the sub scenario I did see with the Masamune was hurt by how it was resolved with a joke after how emotional everything else had been. Regardless I can understand the idea of a creator not holding the same attachment to their work the fans do. It's kinda like George Lucas with Star Wars, the OT holds many fond memories for the fans, for him it just reminds him of a very painful chapter of his life. All that said I feel that this game's plot is an example of why being different doesn't automatically make something better in terms of writing. The main plot feels too unfocused and doesn't take advantage of the good ideas it has, not to mention I feel it connection to CT that imply killing off its characters, or flat out showing them being killed, are just needlessly cruel shock moments. You could remove the deaths of the original characters and have the deaths be new characters in this game, and it wouldn't effect anything.

I LOVE Chrono Cross. A game that gave me so much happiness in my lonely childhood. I feel a nice warm in my chest every time i see a video about Chrono and i immediately click it lol. I dont even know how many times i have played this game since i was a child, and every single one felt like the first time. Is like a time loop were i rediscover this beautiful and fantastic world and story and i just feel fascinated... again and again, and every time i reach the end, the very same tear comes out, extinguishing the flame in my chest, leaving my memory in darkness until the next time my inner child decides to rekindle that fire and rediscover that happiness of the "good ol' days" that is sleeping in the empty corners of my heart. I love Trigger too but Chross have a special place in my life that no other game will ever replace.

Thank you for shinging such a positive light on my favorite games of all time. :)

Oh, PlayStation Squaresoft. I miss ya.

This brings so many memories back.. thank you.

This game has some of the best music not only in video games but just in general.

This was a great video. More of a historical glance at the series than an opinion piece which I enjoyed. The use of citations and the overall tidy presentation was nice too. I will subscribe for more!

Thanks, Mike!

I played through both Trigger and Cross again this past year. It had been quite a few years for both. Still absolutely loved Chrono Trigger but it was such a chore getting through Cross. It was not enjoyable. I thought all the characters were boring and flat and the story convoluted even by JRPG standards. The battle system, while unique, was boring. Some great music in Cross still. 90's era RPG music is still the best for any video games music. I just remembered enjoying this game when it came out but I just don't know why anymore. It was not a good game. I also replayed Xenogears recently after about 10 years and it's still pure gold! One of the greatest games ever made in my opinion.

To see someone dedicate such a well done and beautiful video to Chrono Cross warms my heart. You gave some amazing constructive points, but also praised it for what it really is meant to be and Im so happy I could cry. So many people think Chrono Cross is a terrible sequel, but just like you said it really isn't that much of a sequel and more of a tribute to it honestly. I wish more people could appreciate the game for what it is like you

I wish you had more views! Your videos are so insightful and you're really eloquent and easy to listen to.

I don't know...I happened to thoroughly enjoy the battle music.

Local panther demon ruins *everything*.

Love your comments on the music of this song... the opening and end credit songs have always held a special place in my heart.

Man. I was obsessed with JRPG's growing up (FF6/7/8, Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross being the highlights), but I haven't really been into the genre since then (Persona 5 being the exception). I've been binging your videos and you really helped sparked my interest again and I'm currently replaying Chrono Cross for the first time since release! Live A Live is next. Keep up the great work!

I love this game I actually learned to play on guitar its soundtracks when I was still in high school.. One of its soundtrack which I already I forgot is the one I always use to tune my guitar. Now 26...

Excellent video and information about this excellent game. I really love it. Cross is a masterpiece. I played it a lot of times. The problem is that people fail to see that it is not a sequel as we are used to define a sequel... but deep in the game almost at the end of the secnd disc you understand that it is a sequel just for the fact that if we do not know about Trigger we wouldnt understand everything in Cross. That is the link between both games. It is sad to see people who do not play this game because someone told them that it is way too diferent to Trigger... This is Cross, not Trigger 2. sometimes diferent is good.. and this game is objectively more complex than it's predecesor because it takes to another level the consequences of the journey made by Chrono and his firends. Greetings from Argentina and thanks a lot my friend for this video.

This was wonderfully put together and gave me the good feels recalling back to why this is one of my favorite games period. The battle system spoiled me bad. Being able to leave any fight, and no random encounters let me enjoy the game and not get frustrated much. Having that huge cast was one of the most fantastic things to me. It was such a treat that I could talk to someone in town and if they had a picture near their face, there was a 90% chance I could recruit them. This game gave me one of my first representations of a character that I could relate to physically too. Good old Momma Cha! I watched the video waiting for you to touch on the individual character attacks that were pretty fun and unique, but see you did comment on it outside the video. I know you didn't like the choices, but I adored them. In a time when making decisions in games rarely meant anything, Chrono Chross made your choices matter and it just added to the replayability for me. Anyway, great job. This just made me want to pull the soundtrack out and try again to get the only character I missed through all of my playthroughs. That dang Fairy!!!

The battle music may not be great, but the victory music when you win a battle is amazing, I could listen to it for hours. And the variation when you defeat a boss? So epic.

I cannot review CC as a sequel because I did not play CT. Stand alone, CC is my favorite game in the PS1. Up to this day, I still play its OST on my phone... almost 18 year later than I played the game for the first time.

This looks like it's being rendered at a higher native resolution that a PlayStation. Did you capture this from emulator or does the game look like this off PlayStation 3?

A very enjoyable retrospective review! I have some of the soundtrack pieces on my phone to listen to in my car... they're deeply emotional pieces that really evoke something. It says a lot about a game where I can hear one track and be completely wrapped up in thoughts and feelings from 20 years ago.

Your reviews consistently bring new insight into the most engaging periods of gaming in my life. I loved Chrono Cross, but never picked up on the journey of the protagonist that you lay out. Thank you and kudos!

Chrono Cross is a beautiful game with amazing visual design and music. I love the soundtrack, and the combat system. The fault is that the story is trying too hard. Too many unnecessary characters, too many unnecessary plot contrivances. Its too concerned with its own navel to tell an engrossing story.

Getting Molested By Clowns In Hell should have been the name of the battle theme.

Theres just something about Chrono Cross. Its managed to burrow deep into my heart and make its home there, even just listening to the retrospective review fills me with this emotion that I have difficulty explaining.

My greatest RPG memory is pulling off the the perfect melody at the end of the game. I forget exactly what it was but it was a special way to beat the final boss. The music that played when I achieved it was amazing.

as someone who experienced chrono cross before going back to play the predecessor, I'm glad that I can appreciate both of them on their own. however, potential spoilers ahead, I would say that the secret true ending is really sudden and random and there's no way a majority of people would get the hint at the floating castle and connect the dots to reach the said ending. it also feels like it unnecessarily tried to tie back in to the previous game, which contradicts the dev's initial objective. overall the game feels like it had something distinct going on for 75% of the game, and then all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere became a continuation of the story from their predecessor.

CC OST is magic. Regarding battle music: the battle with miguel "people imprisoned by destiny" suits the context beautifully imo.

A well thought out and executed review and retrospective. Very well done on paying homage to one of my favorite games of all time. Subscribed!

Literally died when he mentions the comment about the battle music! 😂😂 Thank you for your review of this amazing game, made me reminisce about my childhood!

Love Chrono Cross! Such an epic game

This is the most comprehensive and we'll produced review of Chrono Cross I've seen. Keep it up!

Got nostalgiac and wanted to see if anyone had reviewed this. Super glad to see it's gotten the care and attention it deserves. Excellent review. :)

You are so well spoken. Great video with well done research! Thanks for making this.

Really liked this game back in the day. Xenogears FF7 Chrono Cross and Legend of Dragoon were my favorites.

I think that one of major issues I have with Cross is Serge himself. If they wanted to make a more serious sequel,that's fine,but keeping Serge a mute doesn't really help the narrative. In Trigger,making Chrono mute worked because 1)it was more a light hearted game,so I feel that the MC really didnt need dialogue. 2) We barely knew anything about Chrono himself so him talking wasnt as jarring and 3 even with the above,Chrono showed emotion through different spirited that gave us something of a throughline to show how he feels in that moment so there was a connection of sorts there. With Serge though, it's a different case since Cross is billing itself as being a darker and more serious game than Trigger. In a more serious storyline I feel like the MC never getting any kind of dialogue breaks my immersion of the story. What makes this problem worse is that we know(and get)far more about Serges backstory than we ever do with Chrono. We get a sense of what Serge's life is actually like. Because of that,its jarring when Serge never reacts to the events that's happening around him either with dialogue or expressions.It gets especially stupid when it comes to a certain reveal related to Serge later in the game. I'm just thinking, 'Why isn't there a reaction?! I think that keeping Serge a mute for this game,with this kind of plot was a mistake. The team behind this game was willing to change so much other stuff,so why not remove that so there can be insight into Serge as a character? To me it comes off as half-hearted attempt to stick with tradition.

I remember playing this back in the day. Such a classic. Trying to figure out the battle system/elements was awesome. Had a lot of fun with this game.

This was a fantastic game. Some of the best music ever made for a game soundtrack. The best ending's song, RADICAL DREAMERS, will bring a tear to your eye.

Superb as usual!

I'm never against a series charting radical new directions, so long as the essence of previous works is preserved. I felt that Chrono Cross did this magnificently, and that's probably why I love it even more than CT. I'll never really comprehend some fans complete opposition to anything genuinely different or new.

Great review. The music from this game was amazing. LOVED the battle system too.

This is my first rpg, and even teached me english. I remember whining because i cant get the game in spanish, then trying to play it while reading a dictionary.

Hey man have you ever thought about reviewing the original nier?

I just played the Chrono dualogy nearly back to back for the first time. Such interesting games, but overall I have to give the nod to Trigger. The battle system in Cross is very unique, but quite restrictive and leads you to spending hours in menus across the length of the game to keep a balanced team on your first playthrough when you don't know what's coming (this also led me to not using hardly any of the 40 characters available on first playthrough because I didn't want to go through the hassle of equipping and balancing elements all over). The plot synopsis you gave about the end game really echoed my own sentiment, being that the last couple/few hours of the game are just littered with walls of text attempting to string the two games together in a very draining finale, literally up to the final battle and ending where it peaks in this regard. I appreciate deep lore and complex plot lines, but Trigger's to me just said a lot more with a lot less. The desolate future (well the overworld and domes with the suffering remnants of humanity, aka not the factories and labs) is easily my favorite area in either game, and did a phenomenal job at setting up the importance and magnitude of Trigger's plot early on, something Cross failed to do for me. I thought Cross was a pretty fantastic game, and over the course of the 2 weeks I played it I was always excited to get back into it. That being said, this game is also much longer than Trigger; my playtime nearly doubled between the two (which probably added to the fatigue of the end game lore). For me personally though, Cross exceeds as a game separated from its predecessor, and its greatest flaw is trying too hard to intimately involve it with Trigger, which to me it didn't seem to be designed to do through most of the experience (especially until Disc 2). Both games look fantastic (although Trigger, like all 2D sprite based styles compared to PS1 early 3D wins for me), and their soundtracks are both absolutely top notch. I even enjoyed the generic battle theme in Cross, as well as all of the upbeat boss themes and gorgeous overworld compositions, but I'd be lying if I said that anything hit me like the Magus fight in Trigger. All in all, two incredible games, Trigger is just the more perfect of the two IMO, its flaws are less apparent and less numerous.

Great review! I love Chrono Cross, I missed Chrono Trigger at initial release because I was in college at the time and was far too busy to play games. So I actually played this one first. I went in without the baggage of the first game, so I fell in love with it instantly. I love Chrono Trigger as well, but my first experience with it was a good year and a half after I played this one. And you're dead on about the music. I think that's what sucked me into the game so quickly initially was just how wonderful the soundtrack was. I need to put this on my play through roster. Now I need to go back and watch your discussion videos about Chrono Cross. (On an unrelated note, looking at your about page, it's good to see a fellow Utahn kicking butt on KZfaq. You've got some fantastic content, so please keep up the great work.)

I love the music you use here. It's very relaxing.

Ohhhhhh boy gonna have a great dinner tonight watching this!

This game has one of the best battle systems I've ever seen. And the levelling system is amazing. I love it when games don't force you to grind. It makes the experience more fluid. Best game on PS1, and a shame they never continued the franchise. Nice review!

Great video again. The music is this game is just jaw dropping. Probably one of the best sound tracks along with Silent Hill 2 🎮👍

This was really satisfying to watch after beating the game recently. Thanks for the great analysis.

I know I'm late to the party but personally I love systems like FF7 and Chrono Cross where most characters play the same and change depending on how you equip/allocate them. This lets you freely choose whomever you like best without detriment. Unlike FF13 for instance where the best party is locked to being Lightning, Fang, and Hope (the 3 characters I hated the most). Using any other team makes a huge difference negatively, which is awful.

Thank you for the timestamp to avoid spoilers.

The only game where the music instantly makes me emotional.

Now I can finally stop playing this game after completing it with all the characters obtained. Harle was the hardest one to unlock, the game doesn't tell you how🤷🏻 or even if it is possible to do it. But I feel satisfied and Chrono Cross won a special place in my heart.❤ Great review,👍 I hope I can see more of you in the future.