What did I like about this game?

• The music
• Unique characters
• Multiple endings
• Branching story lines
• Graphics
• The referral to Chrono Trigger's story line
• The phrase: "I'll kick yer arse so hard you'll kiss the moons!"
• The weapons 
• The ability to use a finished game's data for a new game
• Characters varying personalities

What did I not like about this game?

• Story is confusing at times
• The inability to venture OUTSIDE of the Archipelago
• Other than that...nothing! 

Time travel, multiple futures, possibilities unknown. The thought of these are just too good to be true, right? Well, in Chrono Cross, all these factors are used as the central idea of the whole story! Your decisions will carve a new future for you, but in effect, they will also destroy another future. 

The futures that are destroyed exist only in parallel universes that you, and only you, can access. This theme is not unlike Chrono Trigger where Chrono and his friends travel back and forth through time to save the world. Chrono Trigger's story actually plays a big enough role in the sequel; almost big enough to send a tear to your eye. 

Exploration is quite necessary. In fact, without any exploration, you could be missing out on over half of the characters...and there are a LOT of characters. I think there are forty-five playable characters to be exact. Think about it...FORTY-FIVE characters! While some of them are pretty weird (*cough* Mojo! *cough*), some are pretty cute and adorable, like Starky and NeoFio. 

Your characters, besides their weapons, can use magic and other attacks in the form of elements. Each character has his/her own innate color, and depending on what it is (Yellow, Green, White, Black, Red or Blue), you'll want to Allocate different elements to different people. Serge, with an innate color of white, should be allocated to the most white elements, and the fewest black elements. Your Element grid levels up as you do, and in the end you can end up with about an 8X8 grid. 

Your personal leveling up, however, is a bit different. After each boss battle, your party gains another star. And after each boss battle, your party's attributes (Strength, Magic, etc.) will level up for a short period of time. Your weapons are also different in how they improve. Much like the Final Fantasy VIII version of re-modeling your weapons instead of just buying new ones, Chrono Cross also requires you to find certain items in a certain amount before you can remodel your weapon. And forging new equipment does not come cheap I might add, what with 45 weapons to look after. 

After you finish the game, you can use your data to start a new game. This means your characters will have the same amount of HP and the same weapons as they were left with in your first game. Pretty cool, eh? You are also bestowed the "Time Egg" so as to give you the opportunity to challenge the final boss at any time you wish. AND you are given a nifty little gadget that controls the speed of the game. Holding R1 will speed everything up by at least triple the speed. This makes for some very funny scenes.. Holding L1 will slow down the speed, making it much more enjoyable during those wicked attack sequences. 

What about female degrading?

Now, there happens to be some degrading stuff in here, and it's all in how the female characters are dressed. My main concern is Orlha where "certain" female parts are very much exposed. For shame!! Kid's clothes have been described by many as...not the best for someone only 17 years of age. These could easily be fixed by placing a little more cloth on the girls, but I guess it's too late now, isn't it? Oh well, Chrono Cross gets an A+ for effort anywho. And an A for everything else!

-Rogue