RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Sequel. A word both thrilling and terrifying. How many times have you heard someone say about a movie that the sequel wasn’t nearly as good as the original? But unlike the movie business, the video game industry lives on not just sequels and prequels, but franchises. The biggest-selling RPGs these days are nearly all part of established franchises.

But sequels can go wrong. Very very wrong. Case in point: Chrono Cross.

Meet Serge. Like Crono, he’s the strong silent type.

Every franchise has its own way of going about things. Final Fantasy games are entirely independent the one from the other but are connected by similar world elements (chocobos, crystals, moogles, etc.) and similarities in gameplay from one game to the other. Breath of Fire games always deal with a character name Ryu who can morph into a dragon. Suikoden, on the other hand, has games that take place in different locales and eras of the same world. Enter Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, a franchise of two (we’ll leave out Radical Dreamers, the Japan-only text-based game which predates Chrono Cross).

For anyone unfamiliar with the PlayStation title, it was the much-anticipated sequel to one of the Super Nintendo’s biggest hits, Chrono Trigger, a game that sold 2.6 million copies worldwide. Chrono Cross was well-reviewed and went on to sell 1.5 million copies. Now here’s the thing… though the game sold well enough to join the Greatest Hits collection, you’ll note that there’s not been another Chrono game since. There are many reasons for that, but one of them is that while Chrono Cross did sell 1.5 million copies, that doesn’t mean it left behind 1.5 million satisfied customers. Chrono Cross is a game that divided its audience — which really isn’t a great career move for a game.

Some people liked the game very much for its complexity and unique battle system, but just as many were alienated by these same elements. At its heart, Chrono Trigger was a simple game. Chrono Cross is anything but. The plot was convoluted. Chrono Trigger‘s time travel paradoxes are as child’s play against the dimensional hopping of Chrono Cross, which also suffered from uneven pacing. There was an attempt to emulate Chrono Trigger‘s movement from epoch to epoch by having characters move between dimensions and have actions in one realm affect the other. But while the dynamic was excellently handled in Chrono Trigger, in Chrono Cross, it often led to repetitive gameplay as one was forced to return to the same areas, or just to a great deal of confusion.

Serge, I am your father.

The game’s peculiar battle system employed materia-like orbs and slots (a la Final Fantasy VII) but which could only be used once per battle. It made an attempt at connectivity with its predecessor by having Techs available for some characters, but these, the highlight of the Chrono Trigger battle system, were few and far between. This is, in part, due to the huge cast. While Chrono Trigger revolved around a small band gathered from different eras, Chrono Cross had a cast worthy of a Suikoden title with a total of 45 recruitable party members, most of whom got little time in the spotlight. Also, for reasons that boggle the mind, their lines were fed through a dialect creator, which, in case you had any doubt about it, did not make for smooth, witty dialogue.

For a sequel to be successful, it needs to harken back to its predecessor in a way that fans can appreciate, while bringing new elements to the table. It’s a fine line, one which some games walk with grace and others… not so much. Chrono Cross isn’t by any means a terrible game, but for many it was a terrible sequel, burdened with a predecessor it could not live up to and tried to imitate in all the wrong ways.

That said, there are an awful lot of fans waiting for more Chrono and willing to give it another shot.  Fingers crossed.