The night before Chrono-Cross25th anniversaryit’s a good time to dive back into Square Enix’s weirdest direct sequel ever and one of the most underrated RPGs from the PS1 era. The remastered version is also currently 50 percent off on PSN, making it an easy retro buy for the PlayStation 5 or PS4.
A sequel to Chrono trigger on the SNES, which sits comfortably at the top of the lists of the best games of all time, Chrono-Cross took a corner of the first game’s world and blew it up into a sprawling, mind-shattering adventure that goes to incredible places, from the silly and cliched to the unsettling and emotionally profound. Its amazing art style and evocative music are top-notch, even if it’s much more inconsistent and esoteric than the beloved original. There are also 45 playable characters to recruit, including wizards, pirates, rock stars, and a literal human mushroom (he’s called “Funguy,” for all the weirdos out there who like puns).
I wasn’t a big fan of the remaster, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Editionwhen it launched in April 2022. The port felt pretty poor, and the quality of the higher resolution backgrounds and framerate performance fluctuated wildly. It felt like a missed opportunity to give the game the comeback it deserved. A year later, however, Square Enix has released an update This has significantly improved performance, and now the game is currently only $10 until June 6 in the PlayStation Store. That’s how much the classic PS1 version cost before It was copied from the PS Vita and PS3 stores.
That makes it a no-brainer if you’re looking for a dense retro RPG to while away those nostalgic Saturday mornings and hot summer nights. Some quality of life options like turning off enemy encounters or speeding up the game also help reduce the occasional boredom of repetitive turn-based combat and dungeon backtracking. Plus, the Radical dreamers Edition contains the never-before-localized visual novel that connects Chrono-Cross And Chrono trigger together. If you defeat both, a short new ending to the saga is revealed. And the Platinum Trophy is quite fun and easy to get.
Despite all the shortcomings, Chrono-Cross still lives rent free in my head, like so many other fans who played it for the first time back then. The dead Sea will haunt me in my dreams forever.
