A Fat and Geeky Review

Publisher: Squaresoft

Genre: RPG

Platform: Sony Playstation

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: Teen

Difficulty: Easy

Fat: Hey Geeky....it's time to earn our 2 cents worth of store credit.

Geeky: ehhh...I don't feel like it today.

Fat: Geeky! It doesn't matter whether or not you "feel like it"...We have a legion of fans that rely on us to tell them about the great games they can play and the crap ones to avoid!

Geeky: "Legion of fans?" does 2 people count as a legion?

Fat: mmm...at any rate, it is our DUTY to spread our reviews to the masses! It is our DESTINY!!!

Geeky: Pretty pathetic destiny. Why can't I be destined to date Kate Moss?

Fat: She's too thin even for you, I'd hope....

Geeky: yeah, I guess. So can I pick the game to review this time?

Fat: Sure, as long as it isn't that porno rock-paper-scissors game for the PC again.

Geeky: Damn....okay, second choice then. A bunch of others have reviewed this one already, but here goes: Back around 1995, the Super Nintendo game system was still going strong, but was in a bit of a rut. That's what happens sometimes near the end of a system's successful run. That rut was broken when Square released what is, in my opinion, one of the best RPGs of all time in the form of Chrono Trigger. This game had it all: Great characters, good storyline, memorable music, colorful graphics, and multiple endings. It's the top 16-bit game on my Cast & Crew bio, and one of the few long RPGs that held my interest long enough to beat it.

Fat: Yep, that's one of my favorites too. I wrote about it in a "Fat's Philosophies" column, available for your reading pleasure on this website.

Geeky: As if anybody reads your "columns".

Fat: Well...my mom does.

Geeky: Moving on....Chrono Trigger was one of my all-time favorite games, so when I first heard of it's Playstation sequel, Chrono Cross, about 4 years later, I was excited, but a bit apprehensive. You see, if you've played RPGs for as long as Fat and I have, the older games, like Phantasy Star 1 and 2, Lunar, and Final Fantasy 4 and 6 seem like the best RPGS, while the later ones, like FF7 and FF8 which are much better graphically, seem to be lacking something. For a while, we were wondering if maybe those older games seemed better because we were younger and more easily pleased back then, or if maybe the new games really did lack something the older ones had. For me, finally playing Chrono Cross answered that question.

Fat: For me as well. I think Chrono Cross may actually be Square's first true RPG "Sequel". (Parasite Eve 2 is their second one). What I mean by this is that while all of the Final Fantasy Games are in a similar world with airships, chocobos, and they always have Cid as a recurring character, they are never really in the same time-line. It's always as if the other FF games never happened when you're playing a current one. Chrono Cross, however, is in the same time-line as Chrono Trigger, taking place some time after the first game (And if any of you Chrono Trigger fans question that, it's explained during play). Later on in the game there are a lot of references to the first Chrono Trigger, but if you haven't played the first one, don't worry, it's not a requirement.

Geeky: Here's a brief story synopsis; you play the part of Serge, a young boy who's living a normal life until he somehow ends up in a different world. He meets a young girl with a mysterious past named Kid, and they travel together, meeting lots of different characters that travel with them, to battle Kids' nemesis, Lynx. The connection between the three main characters is interesting and very original.

Fat: In your travels you can meet over 40(!) different characters that will travel with you, each one with their own stories and skills. While some of these characters aren't very interesting, others are about as cool as the characters in the first Chrono Trigger.

Geeky: This game's element magic system is similar to the first game, but a bit more complex. Basically you have colors that are weak against each other: Black(darkness) against white(light), Red(fire) against blue(water), Yellow(earth, lightning) against Green(life, plants). Each of your characters has a natural element. For example, Serge's element is light, which means he can use all colors of spells, but his light magic is most powerful,and he'll gain new light powers as he levels up. This also means he is weak against black magic. As you level up, you get more brackets to place spells in. Each spell has a level, 1,2,3, and so on. You can place weaker spells in higher brackets, and they're a bit more powerful. You can also place some stronger spells in lower brackets, and they're weakened. Later on in the game, if you fill the battlefield with a certain color (it partially fills every time you cast a spell), you can summon an elemental of that color. It may sound a bit complicated now, but it's a LOT easier than Final Fantasy 8's stupid "Junction" system.

Fat: This is a pretty big game. It's on 2 CDs, but it seems about the same length as Final Fantasy 8, which is on 4. Another nice feature this game has in common with the first title is "new game +", which allows you to start a new game with the stats and most of the equipment from your previous game. The way this game works, if a certain traveling companion joins you, there's another that won't. But you can play again with new game + to get all the characters, and uncover new secrets (and find new alternate endings) you didn't find the first time, without having to level up all over again.

Geeky: Graphically, this is the best looking Playstation game I have ever seen. Like other Square Playstation RPGs, the backgrounds are pre-rendered flat drawings that 3D characters run around in when they're looking around, and it switches to a full-3D battlefield in fight mode. In most of the other games, the 3D backgrounds looks crude and sparse, but in this one, they look a lot like the pre-rendered scenery, with the same color scheme and a lot of effects. The overhead scenes are better as well, with lots of animation, scrolling and effects like animated fire, fog and smoke. The character models are the best Square has ever done. They are just oozing with style and detail, and they even look good up close. The creatures you fight look great, particularly some of the bosses, which use visuals that are quite surprising on the ol' Playstation. The elemental spells are also a sight to behold, though as with other Square games, they sometimes get too long to have to sit through over and over again. Something else worth mentioning is the smooth transitions between Overhead and Battle modes. Unlike FF7 and FF8 before it, Chrono Cross doesn't have a whole lot of loading time at all once the game is underway. As usual, the Full Motion Video sequences look spectacular.

Fat: Musically, Square is on top on their game once again. The music for Chrono Cross is done by Yasunori Mitsuda, the same musician responsible for the first Chrono Trigger soundtrack. His style differs a bit from Nubuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame(read: not as BORING, Dayne...here's "my" 2 1/2 cents when it comes to FF8's music...yawn...zzzzz....snore.....FF6 is WAY better, and so is CC), as he tends to use more piano, and some sitar instruments as well. This is another soundtrack that's good enough to stand on its' own.

Geeky: Another sound note-Chrono Cross is one of the few Japanese-made games to use Surround Sound. Most games that use it are European. This adds a lot to the game for me, as with my surround sound system, it makes the elemental spells sound as amazing as they look.

Fat: If I was to complain about anything in the game, I guess it would be the translation. Square seemed to try a bit too hard to make the characters "sound" different by screwing with the accents of the way they talk. For example, Harle is a female evil(?) clown with a french accent. When I read her speech, I can't help but think of the French "taunter" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail ("Off COURZE I am French! Why du yu Zink I Havv Zis OUTRAGEOUS Accent yu zilly King?!?"). Each character seems to have their own speech quirk, and while I can see what they were trying to do, a lot of the "quirks" seem forced, and sometimes the characters lose them and speak normally. In reading up a bit on the subject, I found out that this is because the accents are controlled by an "auto accent generator" created just for the game. It does do it's job, but it doesn't really replace actually writing out all of the game's dialogue. Also, there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy when it comes to how the people you talk to react sometimes, as they don't notice some things that they should. I realize what a vast undertaking putting an RPG like this together is (just play it to see how complex the story is), but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point things like this out.

Geeky: I've spotted little plot holes here and there, but nothing like the Mack-truck sized holes like in Final Fantasy 7. There certainly wasn't anything that stopped me from enjoying the game, and at times the storytelling comes up to the same lofty level as the original Chrono Trigger. The story tends to drag a bit here and there, but even the best RPGs do.

Fat: So, with a great production and more replay value than your average RPG, I myself consider Chrono Cross to be Square's best 32-bit gaming effort yet. Perhaps it's just a matter of taste, but I honestly feel that this is the first current Square RPG to come close in terms of character and storytelling quality to the classic 16-bit Square titles.

Geeky: I don't know about that, but I will say this: I was only able to play Final Fantasy 7 and 8 for so long before I got bored with them and lost interest. Chrono Cross, on the other hand, is doing a great job of keeping me going. It's hard to put down. There's just one thing I wanna know...Chrono Cross was done by the same creative team that made the original Chrono Trigger. So, where have these guys BEEN for the last 4 years? Anyway, it's good to have them back. Um....well, that just about does it....

Fat: Aren't you forgetting something?

Geeky: hmmn.....oh yeah. Perv perv perv, porn porn porn. Sorry, I'm having an off day.

Graphics: (Fat)9.6 (Geeky)9.0

Sound: (Fat)9.4 (Geeky)9.9

Control: (Fat)8.7 (Geeky)9.0

Playability: (Fat)9.9 (Geeky)9.9

Worth a rent?: Yes, but only to see what it's like. Unless you're really fanatical about it, you won't get too far on a rent.

Worth a buy?: Yes

Worth buying the system for?: If you don't have one, yeah. This game is supposed to be enhanced when played with the Playstation 2, so maybe it'd make it worthwhile to invest in one of those as well.

Fat & Geeky's Final Notes: Squaresoft looks to be on the quality comeback trail. We know that there's a lot of Square fanboys out there that would claim they never wavered, but we believe that with this game and the return to their original roots on Final Fantasy 9, Square themselves figured out that their games could be better.

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