A Big 'Ol Review of Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition

[@Majuular]

This the official "Laugh at me because I pronounced it masa-myoon instead of masa-moo-nay" thread. Reply here to rake me over the coals.

[@wedding2710]

I always said masamyoon as a kid, since that's how it reads in English, and I didn't know how Japanese works. I would wager most English-only speakers think it's pronounced that way. Masamunei would be a better, less ambiguous transliteration

[@byebyeeeeeee3674]

Nah, I grew up thinking and saying "massahmoon," all is well.

[@byebyeeeeeee3674]

Also, I think I may have been the only kid in America that thought it was "sehr-gay" and not "surge".

[@timothykirby4406]

When I was a kid I always said it like that too. First exposure was Edge in FF4 getting the Masamune and Murasame. Pronounced them both wrong.

[@adamverrett8608]

I found it wired how you decided to call her "har-L" and not "har-lea." She's dress like a clown, she's got a French accent. You could've connected the dots with the Batman character of the same name.

[@frozenfragment]

I was 14 when this game came out. I was super impressed by the "complexity" of the story and tried to explain the entire thing to my dad. A few days later he sat me down and we had a long talk about drugs.

[@lronjack]

I mean... the drugs any good?

[@pandamonium9255]

😄

[@Spacecowboyy69]

similar story with me and ffX

[@RPGs]

i had a similar experience with FF8 haha

[@BIacklce]

did you learn the vital lesson of "Obtuse =/= Complex" that day?

[@NINAO_0]

The way you get more and more manic while going over the story in Act III is so on point and really well done.

[@MrKaneShadow]

Up until Act 3 I was watching this like "Man, I loved this game, why did I never finish it?" But now I remember.

[@noway5266]

My least favorite part is soul swapping and playing as Lynx

[@lclpuddle5047]

I let my original playthrough remain a fond yet hazy memory from long ago - I listen to the OST at least once a year and it scratches the itch.

[@Kenvy1]

Why?

[@higueraft571]

@@Kenvy1 Because it goes from 1 to 100 on the "Batshit insane-o-meter" in an instant? :V Makes Homestuck look straightforward...

[@tonystark7906]

@@mr.tamoshanter50 I felt the exact same about the last leg of metal gear part 2

[@somnbody]

I love your story synopsis at the end. Laughing so hard. But it's also the perfect explanation.

[@Null_Experis]

Hey, that was Koudelka! Nice! Also, there IS a mini-level system in the game. Every time you gain a star level, every character has a counter reset to 0, and after X number of battles, that character gains a mini-level with various stat boosts. In addition to this, you can also get single-stat boosts after battles, but only a few per star level. If you do not gain these mini levels between star levels, they are LOST FOREVER, and due to the semi-random nature of star stat gains, it's possible for unused character to start lagging far behind. Also, characters who are dead at the end of a boss battle miss out on star level stat gains. This is one of the reasons why Serge feels so much stronger than other characters, he's ALWAYS in your party, and always gets those mini levels.

[@SpiritStoneWarrior94-yx3gs]

Ohh wow! That's interesting to know 😊 thanks heaps for that info!

[@haeventein634]

@@SpiritStoneWarrior94-yx3gs i'm pretty sure this is wrong you gain the mini levels stats back once you get a true level up.

[@Moozeooze]

yeah this feels pretty disingenuous in the video, after a boss you see your characters level their stats after battles until you saturate it

[@ethan2claflin37]

Your videos are amazing man. Thanks for all your work. Just trying to catch up on my back log I only found out about you some months ago. 👌

[@edgelee0]

Holy shit, the explanation of the plot of Chrono Cross in Act 3... There is that "Mind blown" meme, but all that convoluted story-line explanation left a nuke to blow my mind. You are amazing at explaining everything for this game

[@12ealDealOfficial]

Played CC before CT. I loved this game. Played through it trading controllers with my best friend at the time when we would buy anything Squaresoft. This was in 2002. Maybe six years later, I played Chrono Trigger for the first time and said out loud to myself, "So this is why people don't like Chrono Cross."

[@fragolari_ml]

This has to be the best review/analysis Chrono Cross related I've ever watched. I've been a passionate fan of this game ever since I played it back in 2001 and still to this day keep getting details I missed. You've earned yourself a new suscriber.

[@fenrirlives2226]

The prospect of a cast of 45 characters was executed so well on one level, and then so poorly on another. I love Suikoden for the same reason: When you make that many character slots, you REALLY have to push your creativity when it comes to character design , but also gain the ability to tell interesting stories with a crazy new set of tools! sadly, any chance of seeing games with such expansive rosters are restricted to the realm of Gacha these days, but boy would I like to see a single player RPG try this again, and do even better!

[@haveagoodday7021]

A year late, but if you like tactical games, the Fire Emblem series has the large cast you're looking for.

[@Uncle-Jay]

Suikoden 1 & 2 were both amazing games. I really loved playing halfway through two and thinking it was a standard JRPG and then suddenly, surprise, now it's a military sim. I got 2 before I got one and honestly I think 2 is the better game. More in depth sim stuff.

[@Jokoko2828]

@@Uncle-Jay Suiko V's army stuff was fun, until you had enough rune users to fill out every squad with them and just popped nukes the moment enough cannon fodder entered the range.

[@teecee1827]

Triangle Strategy has a somewhat large cast with good stories for most

[@amarg7657]

@@teecee1827is it worth playing story wise?

[@Namingway248]

I would argue a lot of chrono cross' problems come from limitations that the team couldn't ultimately get around. They wanted to explore the guile/magus situation and they wanted each character (and even more!) to be fully fleshed out and they wanted the story to be able to weave itself over time but you can really tell the exact point in disc 2 they ran out of time/budget, a problem that may feel somewhat familiar to xenogears fans. As for the remaster itself, the fact it only fixes some of pip's issues (his stat growth for form changes is still wrong) when none of those existed in the original JP release is such a sin. If it wants to be the definitive version of the game and can't even fully fix well known problems (there were many other issues with how pip worked in the NA ps1 version and to the release's credit, some were fixed) then what is even the point. Chrono Cross deserved better than a port that is just debateably worse than the original release.

[@oratomo4454]

Xenogears should be a 4 discs

[@Hovrice]

I remember reading that after pre-production some of CC's budget/team was cut and rationed toward FFIX leading the remaining team to scramble to piece together what they could, but I can't say for sure if that's true.

[@Gabriel198765432]

I would vote for a remaster... this game is so remarkable and weird, different from everything i've played so far. There is this vague link to CT, but the story itself is already interesting

[@casteanpreswyn7528]

​@@Gabriel198765432it already has a remaster. What it really needs is a complete remake from the ground up(something they are doing for the second worst FF game, but not this diamond in the rough).

[@kakizakichannel]

​@@oratomo4454 Xenogears was like 60 hours just in disc one, I don't want to imagine a world where Xenogears came on four discs

[@Maguspwns2]

I really appreciate this review and agree with almost everything. I think the characters deserve a little more credit. There are definitely some characters that just exist to fill a slot, but I think the philosophy behind the character writing is different than CT. In CT, you're there for every major character moment. In CC, one of the major themes is how we affect each other and how we only get glimpses of people's lives, including playable characters. The attack on Razzly's village epitomizes this for me. The village was fine before you showed up, you may or may not have been the cause of the attack based on your choices, and even though you help where you can, you never get to see if the village ever recovers and Razzly has to live with the consequences while you move on. We get so many small moments with various characters and it's almost always implied their lives carried on before Serge and will carry on after. CC definitely lacks the strong obvious character writing, but I think it makes up for it with a lot of subtlety and implications. The characters are a mixed bag, but I found both the playable ones and NPCs to be compelling enough that I wanted to save them just so they could live their lives how they wanted. Also, you're absolutely right about the battle theme.

[@Majuular]

That's an excellent point, and something I've never really considered. Cross gives you little, transient glimpses into these character's lives. It's true for both the NPCs & the party members, and is totally thematically appropriate for Cross. Thanks for sharing those thoughts!

[@unique_mushroom]

great comment🙂

[@amsgame7148]

@@Majuular I always chalked Chrono Cross' story up as a blantant message: "Don't ever, ever time-travel under any circumstances because it winds up making a gigantic mess of things." I love the game though. Chrono Trigger and Cross deserve remakes or a sequel. And or ....actually both.

[@Omniverse0]

@@amsgame7148 Also, don't mess with FATE.

[@shirenthewanderer4770]

@Silvar: I think Leena is one of my favorite characters. The Home World Leena is entitled to you, but the Another World Leena (who's Serge is dead) is much more respectful of you (and actually goes with you on your quest, as opposed to say Home World who just stays there. She's also the Marle Expy to Kid's Lucca. Also green eyed redhead.

[@hgc7000]

Thanks to your battle theme intro montage, my coworkers think I'm crazy, but I can't stop laughing. I actually like the song, and it never really bothered me, but your montage is some solid comedic gold.

[@yevtusa1474]

I started watching the video and got sucked into it without seeing how many views or subscribers you had. When I finally finished it and had it minimized to see the comments, I was shocked to see how little views and subscribers you have for the quality of this content. This is a quality review/summary

[@BlueInfinity22]

If it wasnt noted, a patch came out that makes the framerate flawless. Its so fast and well done that in speedruns it has to be a separate category.

[@AthenaAutocross]

Found you through LoD video, but following up right away with this. Keep up this sort of production and you're going to be way more blessed with the algorithm. quality content for sure.

[@DominicMaez]

48:19 Mind flip. I loved how convoluted the story was

[@everdash]

54:48 "It serves to do nothing but answer a thousand questions that you never even asked, while asking a million questions that will never be answered." THE GOD DAMN GENIUS OF THIS IS UNDERRATED. It absolutely sums up the entire game in one sentence. I had to pause and slow clap to my screen.

[@BinaryDood]

I was aking those questions in Trigger.

[@Xpwnxage]

Nomura taking notes

[@Loquacious_Jackson]

Cringe

[@gabrielwag]

They had this looming ghost of Chrono Trigger in their backs and decided this was the moment to deal with it. Thing is, if you (like me) had not played Trigger before playing Cross, it feels exactly like Majuular said and you quoted. Maybe it would have been best if Cross was not tied to Trigger and was it's own thing.

[@incognit01233]

@@gabrielwag If it wasn't. We wouldn't be talking about it now. Look at the comment section. It's almost all about it's ties to chrono trigger.

[@mariana.okimoto5823]

So I showed the explanation about the plot to my boyfriend and asked him to give me a summary and he actually did it and said it wasn't that complicated. I'm just baffled.

[@Majuular]

If he can wing that, I can only assume he's either a big fan of Japanese media, or a philosophy/classics major.

[@higueraft571]

​@@Majuular Honestly, i feel like this is how an outsider would react to being told "Actually Homestuck isnt that complicated" "So there's these four kids, right? Well..." :V

[@streptococo4735]

@@higueraft571 Homestuck isn't complicated, but Andrew Hussie just loves to make pointless and meaningless dribble. We can summazire Homestuck as "multiple children (alien children related to zodiacal signs and human children) trapped in a game trying (and failing multiple times) to beat said game.

[@higueraft571]

@@streptococo4735 Dont forget that the goal of said game is to create a new universe after their home gets destroyed, and that the Time Lord of an Antagonist's defeat at the end is what kicks off the start of the story too, and how it's largely a single bootstrap paradox with more bootstrap paradoxes contained within it To keep it fairly simple

[@kryoter]

I didn't feel overly complicated even when I 1st played it back on early 2000's. The problem is HOW the plot is tolded. Walls of text isn't for everyone.

[@afrokidryder]

15:27 I do not regret not saving Kid, Glenn is a beast and the 2nd best character in the game for me, with Einlanzer and his story...I love that guy

[@unclestone8406]

New Game+ or Continue+ allows you to have them both, and one reason of many why I still play this game even now. Glenn is even more beastmode when you take him to (Another World) Termina's shrine when he has the Einlanzer equipped. Our boi has the Einlanzers of two separate worlds recognize him. Garai would be proud 🫡

[@danjseif]

This is the single greatest review/ explanation of Chrono Cross on the internet. Especially your breakdown of Act III, which had me cracking up the whole time.

[@GamesofFuturesPast]

I’ve loved this game since I was a kid but admittedly never gave the story much of a critical eye. I think you did a good job encapsulating the odd parts of the narrative while hi-lighting the elements that make CC unique.

[@jesseo2103]

I seriously can’t believe how well written and delivered these videos are. I just watched all of your review videos and they’re all incredibly entertaining. Great job!

[@ChaosAngelZero]

Great video. My two observations are that it's actually possible to never recruit Kid into your party, although she'll show up during the Viper Manor infiltration, and grinding normal battles is still useful because they net you money, elements and materials used for forging weapons, armors and accessories.

[@kryoter]

And don't forget the sweet 'free" cure.

[@industrlbeatnik]

Fantastic review, very fair, very honest. Love the ending analogy with the Trigger dad and Chrono I. Its shadow. Very well done. Gonna start watching more of your reviews . Also finally glad someone gave this much detail to Chrono Cross. Always looked at it more like a "cousin" tobTrigger. Similar bloodline, but completely different in it's own

[@00ABBITT00]

This was incredibly well done. Thorough, funny and honest. Subbed.

[@tombrady1434]

My theory is that Cross's battle music only existed to make you appreciate the very few battle where it is NOT playing. When you battle Miguel with this languid melancholic music, it hits real hard. (Also I'd have bought this remaster in a heartbeat if they had a HD version of the bangin' opening, but alas...)

[@gloam2428]

Had to come in to mention that going through save Kid route also gets you Razzly, who is both a good party member and has some story content that rivals Glenn with her drama in the Water Dragon Isle

[@cvetaq6456]

But god, Glenn's sword actions and sound effects are just the best and even better when he duel wield his sacred sword~ oof

[@kryoter]

And you need her to do one of the 2 Triple Techs.

[@roxas3soraxxx]

i love that you showed kudelka, litterally one of the best ps1 rpgs and criminally underated

[@TheWorstType]

lmao the amount of times you showed the scene of solt kicking Poshul off the cliff when Serge visits his grave had me cracking up "thith ith an outhrage of abuthe!" amazing job and learned a ot!!!

[@fenrirslayer06]

You explained the plot really well. The fact that I've had to listen to it several times to try and grasp everything though....damn I forgot how confusing the story is.

[@sarafontanini7051]

it less confusing and more...there's like three or four seperate stories (lynx, fate, dragon god, lavos) all jokceying to be the main plot all at once and not really sticking the landing in any of them.

[@tidq]

I’m gonna subscribe just because you made an analogy comparing Chrono Cross’ plot to an overstuffed Subway sandwich. Absolutely brilliant.

[@ciscornBIG]

Get a hold of yourself. The analogy was rather thin.

[@justdrop]

12:50 Thank you for including Legend of Dragoon. So late in the PSX life cycle, a lot of people missed out on a gem.

[@Majuular]

In that case, you may want to keep an eye out for my next vid 😁

[@althesilly]

I come from the future you will be very happy also Majuular keeps his prommises!

[@aeroga2383]

Tried it. Was immediately appalled I couldn't speed up the extremely slow dialogue without mashing the cross button and dropped it

[@The24thWight]

@@Majuular Now this has me interested.

[@unique_mushroom]

im sorry to be this guy but LoD received huge push as a sony first party game and sold 1mil copies in the US alone and got a greatest hits release. its not some gem a lot of people missed out on, it was basically impossible to miss if you were playing games at the time. i regularly see this rhetoric online irt LoD these days and not sure why, its curious to me

[@mitchmediak]

Dude your smart and funny as hell. I've been going through all your stuff and you do such an incredible job breaking these games down in an intelligent way while being hilarious, all with fantastic editing

[@identityshift7261]

Love the comment about Korcha’s posterior pelvic tilt… not sure if I got that right, but the reference is spot on

[@theloz]

Found your channel today and already ended up watching three of your vids including that 2-hour Tales of Symphonia monster. Big fan of this content lad.

[@thecreepythecozy8891]

Time is a flat circle in which parallel realities swap cities and cybernetic reptiles fight chronotechnocrats again and again and again and again. Such a great video, aghast at the low views, commenting to give you a boost!

[@thezerowulf2046]

If you went Pierre's route and believed in him till he became top tier then you are a homie and I salute yo

[@feedittothegoat388]

this video is a true work of art, i loved both games but man you give the narrative such justice. it also made my head spin, but it's beautiful thank you so much ill rewatch...and replay the games! youre genius

[@gonzaloaguilar8680]

Beautifully well paced video. It kept me interested going from technical aspects to story elements with some of your own insights about them in between. This was such a weird experience, I must have played Chrono Cross when I was like 14 or 15 and while I could understand some english at the time, keeping up with the plot of this game was really difficult (I'm 30 years old now, from Chile btw). This review is really nostalgic for me though, because the way I remember CC is pretty much the same way you describe it. Despite the frustration of hearing the same battle theme over and over, not really understanding what the game was all about (my mind is unable to recall anything that happened after the fight against Miguel end before the final boss, and didn't even knew about Chrono Trigger at the time), there was something about the game that pushed me to keep coming back to it despite its flaws. The world it presents feels so unique: the vibrant, colorful, imaginative and sometimes bizarre or unsettling backgrounds; the way the soundtrack manages to feel somehow alien, warm and nostalgic at the same time, like falling asleep and drifting to a dream while traveling in the back of your parents car as a child, in a warm summer day while the sun is hiding in the horizon and the sky turns from orange to pink, then to purple. Plains of Time, Shore of Dreams, Fossil Valley, Chronomantic, Isle of the Damned, etc; and a world full of little details and secrets, characters with their own speech quirks, interactions between one dimension and the other. It certainly had a vision. Maybe it was a little too ambitious, but I haven't been able to feel the same way for other games.

[@Sawngawkuh]

That expositional onslaught/"This will be on the test" skit perfectly encapsulated the overwhelming feeling of how much plot and so many concepts were being thrown at you during the back end of the game. Still a fun ride overall, but the game definitely needed some breathing room in-between each exposition dump and new revelations. It came to a point where, by the very end, they just dispensed with any theatrics and had the ghost children on the beach just casually say big reveals to clean whatever's up. :P

[@deboraron2794]

Yeah I agree. I enjoy the story and all but for the love of god let me enjoy more visuals tell some story whatever but don’t unload all this text on me

[@DragonKingZero]

I don't know if this was mentioned already, but you do actually (sometimes) gain stat boosts from normal battles. The star levels are a cap on those gains (which are also random), and once you hit the cap, you have to get your next star to get more stat boosts.

[@flackfingers3105]

Best retrospective for this game that I've seen! Great work!

[@WatchSnatcher]

This is a really great in-depth, well-paced, and entertaining overview of the sequel I never played and was always interested in learning about. Athankyou!

[@mcskatcat4582]

Ok... That "recap" with Chrono cross going away and coming back "Different", FUGGIN PERFECT

[@JoachimVampire]

okay, few things here, i'm not here to ask questions but to answer a few of them why does the frozen flame know that lavos has fused with schala? well, the frozen flame is a part of lavos that crashlanded with him in the planet, it's a self centient thing by itself but it's bound to his master and most likely could feel the change on lavos, and also, the story of chrono trigger changes the past and the future so most likely the lavos fragment that became the frozen flame already saw schala on it. schala doesn't "shut down the power" when hears the screams of serge, it transfers the admin rights to him, which is the reason only you can interact with the lab/university itself but that's also the reason why it just flippin' stopped working in the first place. for the "chrono trigger references" you're talking about at the end: they are cheff kiss... remember that you say that at the end the world splitted and in one dimension chrono saved the world but in the other it didn't? well, those two realities timelines and locations are the same you say they collide when they are put together in the same spot (50:00 )creating a singularity the fabric of reality got mixed which is the reason why you are transported on the other world in the first place, you belong on both and none at the same time (which is told to you multiple times).

[@skins4thewin]

I feel like the best sound design in JRPG"s is where the battle theme sometimes changes depending on the environment. Sometimes the music will change altogether, sometimes you'll only hear the ambient noise of the environment. Trigger did an amazing job of this! One area of note is in Magus' castle, where there is no battle music aside for the droning background theme, & it's absolutely PERFECT for the given situation! Same thing in the Ocean Palace, you just hear the ominous Ocean Palace theme as you fight your way thru the labyrinth & it's beyond perfect. That is good sound design right there! It also helps the main battle theme not overstay it's welcome.

[@Konradix05]

Cross also almost did that, the Terra tower for one, but then it was undercut by the victory theme playing regardless.

[@ehrenloudermilk1053]

How am I just now stumbling onto a channel that reviews seemingly every game I love

[@Membranericky]

Great review! More people need to see this.

[@Majuular]

I appreciate it!

[@Membranericky]

I also subscribed. Looking forward to your growth

[@Fadolapanoli]

Majestic review my man, I am a fan of this kinda o format videos but goddam u nailed it, funny expo and insightful

[@Seifersythe]

This was excellent! Thorough, well articulated, light humor without it being overbearing or distracting, not extraneous framing device to drag down the whole thing, and an excellent use of footage to back up your points. Def subscribing and look forward to more of your work.

[@thishouseofglass]

Really fantastic review man. Great step by step info and great analogies made.

[@Silvarian]

Love the video, great mixture of humor and in-depth analysis. Keep up the awesome work and I think your channel will really pop off! Loved the thumbnail btw, really caught my attention. Two points of criticism: First. as someone who has played the game I personally had no trouble following the thread between Act 1 -> Presentation -> Act 2 pt 1, but for anyone that wasn't familiar, I think you would have lost them. You had a very natural transition into the presentation section, but then transitioning out to Act 2 pt 1 felt very jarring and if I didn't know the story I would have been somewhat lost. You nailed your other transitions though. For the second one, it's something a lot of reviews/essays of Chrono Cross get incorrect which is the "there are no level-ups" thing. I get why people do it, the mini-level up mechanic is complex to explain, but it's also frustrating because it's very widespread misinformation. There is a very noticeable difference between characters that get a ton of the mini-levels and characters that you left in reserve the whole time.

[@Majuular]

I very much appreciate your constructive criticism here. 1. I 100% agree with you. This is my first "long-form" video, so I think I got lost in the sauce a bit after re-reading my script for the umpteenth time. Watching it back after a bit of a break, I'm kicking myself over that Act 2 pt 1 transition. It was a mistake to not visually communicate the showdown at Viper Manor there, and I could have at least MENTIONED that it was Lynx himself who poisoned Kid. 2. I appreciate you giving me the benefit of the doubt here, because it is as you say - I asked "Is it worth the time investment to explain this mechanic?". Certainly didn't mean to across as dishonest, I think I may have underrated the significance of the "micro-levels" since I swapped characters so often. That type of potential misinterpretation is something I'll keep in mind moving forward, since my goal is to be fair with my criticism. Once again, thank you. I'm trying to develop a style as far as writing goes, so knowing what works and what doesn't is critical. The fact that you cared enough to help me in that way means a lot, and I hope you'll stick around and check out my future vids!

[@Silvarian]

@@Majuular ​ No problem and definitely don't kick yourself too hard about those two little missteps! Honestly I commend you for choosing to start your long-form foray with what I think is one of the more difficult games ever made to discuss, the combination of the Chrono Trigger baggage/connections, the complex battle system, the massive cast, and the exposition dumps(/insane plot points) at the tail end of the game make Chrono Cross a big complicated ball of yarn to untangle. It's hard for me to recommend the long-form format because I know the algorithm doesn't exactly love it/treat it with kindness, but from a selfish point of view I hope you stick with it because it's my favorite type of KZbin content and if this video is anything to go by you have a knack for it, I've watched a lot of Chrono Cross videos over the years and yours was one of the best. Liked, subscribed, hit the bell, and can't wait to see what you cover next!

[@ryanladuke9399]

This is a beyond excellent video, very good job! Discovered your channel today and can't wait to marathon the rest. Please keep it up, you're one of the good ones.

[@alexdoodt]

Never tested by a boss? Fighting Dario without the yellow plate ruined a solid month of my teenage years

[@degenerationalist2645]

You missed a few things. Non boss battles will sometimes end in smaller power-ups that're usually a single point stat-up so grinding is still useful and running from all the small battles leavesyou with weak characters. The field colors allow you to use more powerful elements called summons when the field is all mono-colored. Also, there ARE special elements you can use depending on who is in your party, replacing usual skill elements... kind of like the special attacks from trigger.

[@BinaryDood]

As for making sense of the story, I tend to express the following: The way I see it, Trigger is Free Will and Cross is Determinism. And in the good ending of CC you achieve Compatibilism. "Humanity is the offspring of Lavos" About half of the story of Chrono Cross I sort of predicted while playing Chrono Trigger for the first time, having 0 idea of Cross's story. This is because CC is a very thematic game. Its brush strokes are far more important than its plot points. And Lavos' biology was the key to understanding everything about CT's structure and story, and IMO, in my first reading, I considered the ENTITY to be the hypothetical Lavos' final form, had Chrono not stopped it and it went on other further planets with the cycle of creating and destroying civilizations for it's own end of absorbing their useful data and energy until they become useless: as it is in it's nature. A God furnace, for the perfect being. That being would lie beyond time alltogether. However, Schalla, falling into it in an eternal instant, became part of a dilema over the entire fate of the universe and humanity alongside it. Both Kid and the Frozen Flame are the respectful avatars for Schalla and Lavos. They were put into the world to be apart of its collective causality with the purpose of seeing who wins, what the answer is to the argument: "Are humans, not being apart of the planet, fit to be live among the ecossystem when, in their inevitable progress, they can only hurt it?". Schalla (a human): Yes Lavos ("creator" of humans): No "It all began with Nu. It all will end with Nu." It is a Nu that tells you in Zeal a sequence of elements to open sealed doors. Likely the sequence on the chrono cross is a much ancient melody like the Nu's themselves, the same type of elemental sequence they gave you in Trigger but much more ancient and important (it being longer, using more elements, being somewhat of a proof). The song is called "Life", borrowing leitmotif from Schalla's theme, I assume it is the first melody of the universe, once the first being started being able to understand things like rythm, awareness of play in sound. Humanity, if being able to understand this, and not merely paving their way taking everything for granted acording to their will, would be in agreement with Schalla's argument. Understanding the melody is being in tune with the idea that everyone is apart of the "golden chain" Schalla speaks off, that your past is not the sole writer of your destiny (planets are eggs, Lavos is the seed, impregnating them. But you are not merely your DNA). By merely killing the Devourer of Time AKA The Entity, who has orchestrated everything in this game of destiny for finding an answer to the dilema, you are agreeing with Lavos on humanity's destructive nature, us being incompatible with the broad homeostasis of the planet due to having originated from an outer place. Lavos is the "other" to all the things in the world, yet it seeded the fate of those not meant to be (us). Take note on when Lavos decides to rise from the earth being at around the same time AI reached sentience and power. Likely humanity were not the apex leaders of the world and would serve no more use to Lavos, hence passing the torch to Mother Brain and eliminating Humanity, the inbetweners of the Natural and the Artificial. Ending the Entity's life at the Darkness Beyond time would be in agreement to Lavos' will, which would also be a death wish from it's part, as having attained its perfect form and existing outside of time, it has been living for an eternity, and having served its purpose there would be no reason to exist the moment it's point is proven. And since it is outside of time, an eternity is also an instant, so while Schalla and Lavos were wainting infinitely for your answer to their question, they also got their answer immideatily as they became intemporal Hence Chrono is a child of Will, everything you/he does in Trigger is a direct forward action that stems from the natural way you play a game. Chrono would be dead before any of the events he decides to take part in would affect him, but he is in tune with the player who has the will to see things through. Therefore you completely change the world, altering the future by altering the past, you are a sculptor and the planet is the mold. But Serge is a child of Fate, everything he takes part in ends up being and bigger game than the one he thought he was playing, every single one of his moves a subversion from a higher party trying to shape the world as their own clay (Balthazar, Lynx, Chronopolis, Dinopolis...). You, Serge, are a piece, not the player. Not even an owner of his own life, the game makes it clear, the first meaningful thing he encounters is the notice of his own death, in the past. When you use the song of the elements in the the Darkness beyond Time, you/Serge are crossing from this deterministic point of view to a compatibilist one. Crossing from Lavos' argument to Schalla, from fate to will. Because the game made it clear that actions have consequences. What you did in Trigger was great from your point of view, but imagine all the futures that never happened. By putting one piece in motion, you make others fall, and even you were a piece at some point yourself. You can't disprove determinism, Lavos is correct, Fate is correct, Balthazar is correct, Miguel is correct. But you can choose at every instance to take the "other" turn. Kid developted her own personality, being a child of the world, despite being a vehicle for another being's purpose. The Frozen Flame stayed put. Compatibilism says that though determinism being very real, that is something we cannot consider every aspect of at our every moment, so the very illusion of Free Will ends up being "real". That seems to be the only way for the destructive progress of humanity to coexist with the ancient nature, a fleeting hope. But that is up to the players themselves, should you go through the labor of finding and figuring out the chrono cross. If you do not, you are on Lavos' argument's linear path. I agree on Cross's pacing and storytelling and battlesystem being a mess. If anything, its biggest virtue is making Trigger even better, as all these elements make it so much richer that it is hard to diassociate them from the Lore. I can't think of Trigger wihout Cross after playing the latter. If Chrono Break was ever made I would like it to be acording to the Compatibalist nature of Cross's ending. A game were instead of intereacting with past and future you interact directly with alternate timelines, like in Cross, but with the freedom of Trigger. Perhaps changing many alternate futures of leading to Lavos. Imagine many cults of alternate timelines WANTING to be Lavos, that it was a method of being closer to The Entity, and in a way or another these many timelines would end up merging with it. And your turn is to put a brake to those timelines. Breaking their connection to Lavos, and perhaps later down the line it would be brought up if the Lavos' part of the Entity diserves to win in some timelines. Perhaps Schala becoming the the wider supremacy for unallowing Lavos to win due to your actions depending on how many timelines you would "Break". It is this type of speculation that makes Cross so rich. Even the combination of the painted background and the music gives the vibe of a world that doesn't need "say" but just "be". Look how blue nearly every aspect of Cross's world is, now see how red the Frozen Flame is. Red being the warmest color: forward motion, entropy. Blue being the coolest: stillness, serene, calm. Once it is all over, there are more hours in your life you didn't spend playing Chrono Cross than those you did. Because of that, making the game so strong thematically and artistically brilliant might have been a far better option than attempting cohesiveness of events in a plot that would naturally dissipate in memory over time. Cross works as a deconstruction of Trigger due to that.

[@BinaryDood]

the Dragons are antithesis to Lavos as they were supposed to be the natural evolution of the planet's lifeforms into sentience, and humanity being alive only because of the parasitic "Lavos the Stranger" (to the planet, thus deviating the evolutionary line) AKA its "offspring". Given this humanity's sole existence is the opposite to the normal flow of the planet had it not been present. It is not so much an environmental message but a concern with one of main high parties of the game against the other, when both are competing for the existence of their own timelines. It comes across as environmentalist but really it is weaponized by the Dragons/Reptites to ward off against what they consider a threat. The game at its very end doesn't take a main stance on either side. Only the chrono cross allows to cut ties with Lavos by playing the ancestral melody of life to prove that humanity need not be parasitic, etc etc. Imagine that (example) the Cetra knew that Midgar from FF7 is going to be a thing, even before it exists, just by knowing what and how humans are (since the Dragons are entities from a future that was lost it helps). They would likely do everything in their power to stop it before it had a chance. There are other details that people tend to miss. Schalla's hair being blonde because Zealots tried to differentiate themselves from Earthbound Ones by painting their hair blue. And she being much younger in Cross being possibly due to dividing herself when lending her power to her avatar: Kid. She had infinite years to figure out how but in the end she was only human, Lavos being the furnace of God, progenitor of all humans, would have a much easier time when creating its own avatar. The Frozen Flame would be like other spawns, just with more dedicated power from Lavos. Something that could be replaced on Lavos' end, non-unique. Kid, on the other end, is unique, showcasing Schalla's side of the argument.

[@Majuular]

@@BinaryDood This is wonderful reading/interpretation of the Chrono universe. You've scratched an itch I have for broad transcendental concepts being arranged into narrative. You clearly have a lot of love for this universe and have given these connections much more thought than I have. I will certainly agree with you in regards to Cross's speculative nature, which is what has made the story stick in my mind for so many years. When the story is comprised of both time AND dimensional travel, you leave a lot of room for curiosity, mystery, inquisitiveness.. but you also carry the burden of rounding off a narrative which has become the equivalent of 12 strings of Christmas lights are tangled together. Really appreciate your thematic analysis, you've given me a lot to chew on (and another reason to replay Trigger).

[@BinaryDood]

@@Majuular HEhehe. I mean you hearned yourself a subscriber. This is still an amazing video and you definetely have given already a lot more thought than 99% of people who played Cross. As for Time "and" Dimensional Travel, I always considered them to be one in the same. Timelines split, kind of implying a "multiverse" of sorts, as if every ending you had in Trigger exists in its own way. A singularity like the Dead Sea being a place where those converge. Think of Time as a four dimensional infinite construct to us. It is impossible to imagine in 4d, so think youserlf a 2d entity crossing a 3d universe. What a 3d being sees as space, the 2d being will see as "time": the famous example of a 2d plane crossing a 3d sphere (the 2d being sees a circle growing and disappearing, the 3d being is able to see the sphere altogether). Such could be the case of our 3d universe as a "plane" crossing a 4d one. There are endless possibilities for an aditional "w" axis ( after the original xyz). The Time Devourer is essentially a 4 dimensional being in this case. So when we cross dimensions in Cross, we are simply going to another point in the "w" axis, due to the distortions that came in chain since the Schala/Lavos fusion.

[@mikicerise6250]

Kid, sit down. You and I need to have a long talk about 'the ganjas'.

[@applesandgrapesfordinner4626]

Wow, that just sent me to Sagittarius A!

[@wires8054]

Probs a bit late to comment on this vid but I’m going through your back log. Love your work. I’m commenting here part way through the vid when I saw Koudelka gameplay and… please. I’d love your take on that game. It’s such an abstract title in my brain that my friend had when we were kids and I dunno, it’s just fascinating. No pressure or anything, love what you’re doing. But as you know, a creator can’t consider something if they don’t know what the hell the viewers want haha

[@signalflare3791]

I unapologetically love this game honestly. I was a young teen when this game and others around it came out, I feel like I was able to experience it alot different than alot of people. only a few games made me lose sleep at night because i had to stay up and play more to see what happens next. this was definitely one of them.

[@zuliusbazworth8627]

I have watched this a few times and I'm still wondering who the eight Chrono Trigger character is. Doppelganger Crono? Counting Glenn / Janus separately somehow? The monster critter in the DS remake? YOU the player?

[@GrandAngel8000]

I'd argue instead of focusing on getting Korcha in the Save Kid route, you get Razzly, the best green mage in the game by far. And Glenn does *not* become great until he duel-wields, which can't happen until Dario is defeated, which is right next to endgame. Razzly, in comparison, is the most useful in her role the moment you get her. What's more, if you don't go down the Save Kid route ... she dies, which is so sad.

[@Majuular]

True enough... but man, as long as the promise of dual Einlanzers exists, it's a tough one for me.

[@GrandAngel8000]

@@Majuular Continue+ The only things you'll lose out on with a DWing Glenn in a fresh game run are Chronopolis and Terra Tower.

[@Magus12000BC]

Pierre is almost a suitable replacement when you have all of his Hero gear. You'd have to be blind to miss the Prop Sword so it isn't like you won't have all you need once you get Serge back.

[@Philemon_Logos]

Pretty good video. Man, I love Chrono Cross. It's tied with Xenogears for my favorite RPG.

[@jeggitv]

Chrono Cross is my fave JRPG of all time. It has issues, I know, but there's something about the game that just draws me in every single time I play it. I love it!

[@GoeTeeks]

Something about the battle system you didn't mention was the extra layer of frustration that comes with enemies just straight up interrupting a character's turn without any warning. As you attack and try to plan out lighter attacks to build accuracy Vs stronger attacks to deal damage Vs build element levels to cast an element/tech, enemies will straight up take a turn while one of your characters is still attacking. And if said enemy attacks your character, they lose all of their accuracy build (and enemies seem to be weighted to attack whichever character is currently attacking, too). You have no real warning or decent sense of timing as to when this will happen, so it's hard to plan for, and just feels annoying.

[@Majuular]

My understanding of that is enemies have a stamina counter much the same way that the player does, so an enemy *can* choose to interrupt an attack sequence, or they can wait until their gauge fills further to use a strong element. I guess in a way it incentivizes the player to use Lvl 3 stamina attacks more often, at least you can dish out a bit more damage before being interrupted. It can be annoying for sure.

[@GoeTeeks]

@@Majuular Oh I understand it, more or less, it's the random out of nowhere nature of it that can get frustrating. Enemies can wait until 2 of your characters fully deplete their stamina guages before their first attack, or they can attack after your very first light attack.

[@MrBreakthewalls]

It's the RPG I defend the most. When I feel I can get interupted, I defend before

[@ziegfeld4131]

You can 100% tell exactly when the enemys will interupt you watch a speedrun of the game and how they manage it

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

The interruption doesn't matter though because you can just cast an element and then use another character. Elements only take 1 time unit but use 7 stamina, while attacks take an equal amount of their time and stamina so a 3 attack is 3 time units and 3 stamina. The interruptions are not a bad thing unless you're ignoring the entire Element system at which point it deserves to be annoying. If you want to see this in action a simple way to track how time passes is with characters who gain 1 stamina an time unit if I remember right. A simple strategy to destroy bosses is use 1 attacks till they get their action, I prefer counting from their 1st to 2nd action, and this is the time units it will take for them to act. You can almost consistently destroy bosses and defend from every attack while using elements.

[@hantaroo2]

algorithm brought me here and i gotta say: i love your reviews they are comfy yet so funny, the chronopolis segment had me laughin really hard cuz i remember breaking my head tryin to understand what they meant

[@_timetravels4528]

its been a while since an hour flew by. Especially watching a fuckin review ???? I literally mean it, I tought it was a 20 min video when it was done. That was great. The only other review channel that did this previously for me is RennsReview, and he's a titan. Best lucks to you , when I saw your subcount my jaw dropped, it has no corroletion with the quality of what Ive just watched.

[@Majuular]

Wow, awesome comment to read. Thank you! Prepping some reviews I hope you'll enjoy.

[@Exigentable]

I love your videos man, you have a unique style.

[@VanWelij]

This and your LoD video were great! I hope you gain some more subscribers in the future.

[@GrandEpsilon]

I just came to say this is the best thumbnail I’ve even seen.

[@skins4thewin]

The sound chip in the PS1 was truly amazing for the time, and that's by design. A lot of effort was spent on the sound quality of the PS1, & we definitely reaped the benefits of it. It absolutely blew everything else before it away as far as the sheer quality of the synthesized samples it had available. I think it still holds up to this day compared to the quality of synthesized music in today's modern games.

[@jackmesrel4933]

Yah, it's impressive how good the MIDI quality of the PS1 is compared to the other competitors of its generation

[@skins4thewin]

@@jackmesrel4933 The PS1 doesn't use the MIDI standard, but ya it's synthesizer chip was nice.

[@betom0rales882]

I'm loving you're videos. Making me play these games.

[@Tftapodcast]

I’ve watched this 3 times now. Thank you for giving Cross its due. Trigger is my favorite game of all time and I adored Cross when it came out.

[@Wolvus_Grimstone]

Been looking for a channel that covers these games like you do...for a long effin time now. You rock dude.

[@tatltails3923]

Okay but you didn't mention the order of elements you choose in the final boss to unlock the true ending is done because each element chimes a different note when you cast it and the correct order is PLAYING SCHALA'S THEME SONG.

[@Kilo-e2f]

Oh man! So many core memories unlocked! I'm surprised you didn't mention taking Fargo (is that his name? The pirate guy?) around to all the dragons and getting him to steal from them (which was one of his special moves), to get the elemental plates. Each plate, the colour of the dragon you stole if from, would make it so the character who has it equipped gets healed when attacked with the same elemental colour as the plate they're wearing, like, yellow plate makes you get healed when attacked by yellow. Then, you could steal the yellow plate, equip it to whomever, go to the Criosphinx and actually defeat it, you get the sunglasses which makes whoever has it equipped literally OP. I know none of that makes any sense, so I'll say that the camera man was there to help them I suppose.

[@marthlink5015]

You sir are very kind to the exposition and weird storytelling that is Chrono cross. Buuut your explanation of it is superb and the example of Chross being that son that leaves then suddenly comes back and wants to be remembered for trigger's cool stuff is pretty spot on. My thing is I would've been fine with the alignment of cross and trigger with fate, and maybe there being some universe where Chrono didn't do any of that and some far down the line serge from his family line had to make up for this fate or break it and allow his own universe to exist. Instead of the weird Dino stuff, then Time Eater where you'll probably 9.9/10 of the time kill schala if you don't know or are told how to do the battle right.

[@Naleco]

I've never played/heard of this game, legend of the dragoon, nor you before. But YT knew where to take me. Amazing content man! Can't wait to waist hours watching your videos!

[@palamecianrider7385]

I played Cross first and just LOVE the art. Its one of those games that I can watch the scenery and listen to the bgm for hours and this was 20 years ago

[@MichaelJesmer]

This was like the first game I ever found or beat on my own. It was like my game and hardly anyone I've met knows anything about it. I fucking love this game, it's by far the most nostalgic game for me; my love of this game actually made me enthusiastic to read more at a time when I struggled with English courses, I think later growing up and becoming an author proves how important that was for me. I even believe it holds up story and gameplay wise. It'll always have a special place in my heart, and I'm stoked to finally see someone else's take on my personal favorite.

[@Greenmachine305]

Chrono Cross: when plot contrivance isn't actively avoided, but instead elevated to an art form.

[@MikeCatrone]

I've been playing this game for 20 years and I have never heard a review that explained the story so well, bravissimo!!!

[@annapierce8666]

I played this not understanding anything other than Trigger came before and everyone said it was the better game. I tried to save *Kid* but somehow failed and found Glen and was extremely happy when *Kid* showed up later cured and ready to rejoin the party. I never knew Lynx was Serge's father until watching your video. Think I'm going to play again and collect many of the other characters I missed. Thanks for making this informative essay. 💃

[@cogline9]

I remember having this game and a guide for it back when it came out. I played it incessantly for months trying to get every character. If these was one I couldn't get character A because I got character B then I made another game and chose the other character. IIRC I was nearly successful but there was one character I couldn't get for whatever reason. By that point I was burned out on Chrono Cross and moved on to other games. With that being said this video really brought back a lot of memories and was nicely done. Great job!

[@bananaslamma35]

Bringing up the Soundtrack, the original PSX version is good. The Chrono Cross soundtrack played by an orchestra is amazing. Also the saving kid sidequest gives you access to Razzly. Sort of a consolation prize for missing Glenn. Plus, technically, there's two more choices after that, which is the ending you want, and whether or not to rescue Kid from the dream.

[@ChuckART]

Excellent video man. I can’t wait to dive into your others

[@bjlight1988]

I got the remaster specifically because I thought "I remember enjoying the game and not understanding it, but you know, I was a moron 14 year old so maybe I just wasn't smart enough for it." Replayed it at 34 and god damn, nope, it just barely makes any sense whatsoever. During a recent FF series replay, I kept trying to pinpoint where modern Square went off the rails in their storytelling, when they got "on their bullshit" and started making stories that were far too complex for their own good, twisting and turning up their own asses pretending to be super clever. I had originally thought FF13, but man, I kept going back and back and back and after this remaster I'm torn between whether they hit this point with Cross or Final Fantasy VIII. Please tell simple and enjoyable stories again, Square. Sometimes less is more. Anyway, your video was great and obviously got me having a lot to say. Always nice to get recommended a quality new content creator.

[@axe7665]

FFX isn't hard to understand.

[@Sigismund697]

VIII easily the jump in quality from 6 to 8 is so massive it makes it hard to believe there was only one game between these two yet they were made by the same company Like how do you go from two games that excel at different things (plot in the case of 6, character in the case of 7) to the absolute Trainwreck that is 8? just how?

[@prisonBob]

hilarious and genius review, 10/10 visuals choices and verbal. i played this as a kid and this was exactly what i wanted to see.

[@gamingbythefollowing4999]

Side note: u do get bonuses to your stats after x fights, u lvl up (or lvl ur element grid with more spaces) at boss fights.

[@royhardingiv1244]

I think one of my favorite aspects of your videos aside from your humor is the focus you give to a game's music. I really appreciate you finding out what instruments and time signatures are used and how you talk about how the music influences a game's atmosphere

[@IncredibleMD]

Imagine writing the third act of Chrono Cross, filling it with all these Chrono Trigger characters, and then having the gall to say it's not a sequel to Chrono Trigger. Which is weird, since it probably would've been way better had it NOT tried to be a sequel to Chrono Trigger, even though it didn't want to be, and just been its own standalone game.

[@matthewchandler7845]

Gosh.....I miss this game, and games that really let you find your own way. Your video was very well done and enjoyable to watch

[@southcac24]

This is my favorite JRPG of all time. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing!! It was my entry game into turn based rpgs.

[@risersin7957]

This is my favorite RPG of all time! So I feel your passion!

[@KobayashiBrynhild]

It's one of my favorites. Dragon God is one of the best boss themes ever.

[@LorainPsycho]

20:29 no level ups? That's a deal breaker for me. Grinding is my go to for feeling like playing a game, but not really wanting to progress, all so I can eventually blaze through the game when I feel like it

[@shizuwolf]

There's a bit of grinding. Mostly in crafting material. And I guess you could count the act of recruiting characters as a form of grinding.

[@dou5397]

Fantastic video, even if i do disagree with how Trigger affected Cross. To me there's 2 key thing to have in mind, first, the game suffered budget problem, wich means the game isn't what they actually wanted to do, but hey, thats their fault, planning is also part of development and they failed at it. Second and more important to me, Kato relationship with Trigger, he did a lot of unofficial work in that game, like early characters design, story writing and there it is said that he was the closest thing to a director the game had (a problem of having the best of the best working together is that they weren't very good at accepting each other's ideas, which lead to usual disagreements), also he was responsible for the Zeal part. He thought that Schala's story was left unresolved and that it was the only thing Trigger failed at, and it was his fault, then Square pressed for a sequel in the satellaview, wich went bad. To me Cross it's Kato attempt to redeem himself for mistakes no one asked to be resolved or even thought they were mistakes to begin with, and that this mentality pushed him to make a game as different to Trigger as he could , while also resolving Schala's story and Radical dreamers ideas. A lot of text i know

[@Majuular]

Interesting perspective! I definitely think you're on to something here.

[@jperkinstheatre]

Got me with the thumbnail. Just.... amazing...

[@javsandarts]

Gotta say while the story is kinda weird I like the fact they made the save-point a plot point and not just something the game uses to save your game

[@Dresden358]

xenogears did it first

[@sarafontanini7051]

Just...don't think about how saving is probably still a thing despite the fact you murdered the one controlling it like an hour ago.

[@ApprenticeNick]

Sorry to reply to an old comment, but if you like this idea then you might want to try out KOTOR 2. They do a similar thing but with EXP.

[@mohammadislam2324]

@@Dresden358 congratulations

[@MASJYT]

Yeah Xenogears did it first but I got a feeling Masato Kato wrote that one too lol, he was a writer for gears after all.

[@devon674]

I played this game to completion as a teenager and maybe my brain was younger and more subtle or just smoother, but I don't remember it hurting the way listening to you try to analyze and unpack the story did. Maybe I just let the story's specifics kind of wash over me and through me and enjoyed the vibe.

[@dukemagus]

If the immense crazy lore dump was well distributed throughout the game instead of 3 excessively long dialogues near the end and this game was 100% independent from Chrono trigger, it would probably be side by side with Xenogears as "weird, bold and crazy RPGs from Square's golden years" instead of "shoehorned pseudo sequel"

[@akiradkcn]

True

[@MASJYT]

My man Xenogears had a way worse lore dump than this game. Did you forget about disc 2? 98% reading, 2% gameplay.