Woo, I got a shout out. I haven't played Chrono Cross, but the issues you mention in the fandom are the reason why, not so keen on seeing everything the past game worked for be screwed up. Plus I've heard some other critiques that make me less keen to play it, like claiming that the massive roster of party members leads to none of them having any nuance.
I'd much rather go through Radical Dreamers when it comes to Chrono Trigger sequels personally (though Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross are paired together in the latest release, so when I finally get around to it I'll have access to both anyway).
Serge's circumstance is a classic 'needs of many versus the few' situation. Though I think letting it be bypassed entirely cheapens it. Without the easy solution on hand, I think the big difficulty comes from Lavos's return happening in the future rather than imminently. People aren't good at sacrificing to prevent vague futures.
Yeah, Cross has many faults, and is very much an acquired taste. It's not an accessible game by any standard, even for hardcore Chrono fans (*especially* for Chrono fans, as seeing the previous story so cruelly dismantled is a very, very bitter pill to swallow). The issues with the number of PCs are painfully apparent, as well. Out of all the 40+ possible PCs, only about a handful of them have any narrative significance, and even then only at certain points. If they're not in your party during their relevant scenes, you'll miss out on potentially critical background info and not even realize it.
The timeline merging thing does feel like a bit of a cop-out, and I'm surprised Kato took the easy way out given how many creative risks he was willing to take throughout the rest of the game. Besides that bit, the ending is generally very open to interpretation, so there's room there for whatever headcanon floats your boat. But yeah, the timelines merging does feel cheap.
All that said, there *is* a certain beauty to Cross underneath its very rough veneer, though I acknowledge that sticking with the game enough to notice is a TALL ask for almost anybody.
I actually played Radical Dreamers while researching for this article series, and I found it to be much more accessible and not nearly as obtuse as Cross. It's very short, only about three hours long, and it provides some useful background for some of Cross' more puzzling. Magus is in it, too! Still has a few head scratchers of its own—but I'll get into all that fun next week.
Out of that massive, epic piece of work you thoughtfully put together for us, my favorite section was about the game music and leitmotifs! I love musical storytelling for games and movies-- the music provides cues to the player or audience member that help them navigate through the game and even make subconscious choices about which actions to take! Horizon Zero Dawn did a fabulous job of that with the noises they designed for the robot creatures. You know whether or not a creature (and which creature, for that matter!) is searching, attacking, backing off, etc. without even seeing it! So cool.
Glad you enjoyed it! It's remarkable how much visuals and sound (and, in the case of gaming, player input) can reinforce each other, and I'd love to someday sink my teeth even deeper into sound as a tool for environmental storytelling. Haven't played Horizon yet (someday, hopefully within the current decade, I'll get my hands on a PS5...), but I'll be looking out for those sound cues when I do!
On a similar note (pun intended), Breath of the Wild (I couldn't just leave BotW out of the comments! LOL) also does such a great job with environmental noises. I do miss the more grandiose overworld tracks from the Koji Kondo era, but BotW deploys the series' more iconic leitmotifs with such mathematical precision, that their impact is SO much greater when they play. That Hyrule Castle track? Perfection. 👌
Woo, I got a shout out. I haven't played Chrono Cross, but the issues you mention in the fandom are the reason why, not so keen on seeing everything the past game worked for be screwed up. Plus I've heard some other critiques that make me less keen to play it, like claiming that the massive roster of party members leads to none of them having any nuance.
I'd much rather go through Radical Dreamers when it comes to Chrono Trigger sequels personally (though Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross are paired together in the latest release, so when I finally get around to it I'll have access to both anyway).
Serge's circumstance is a classic 'needs of many versus the few' situation. Though I think letting it be bypassed entirely cheapens it. Without the easy solution on hand, I think the big difficulty comes from Lavos's return happening in the future rather than imminently. People aren't good at sacrificing to prevent vague futures.
Yeah, Cross has many faults, and is very much an acquired taste. It's not an accessible game by any standard, even for hardcore Chrono fans (*especially* for Chrono fans, as seeing the previous story so cruelly dismantled is a very, very bitter pill to swallow). The issues with the number of PCs are painfully apparent, as well. Out of all the 40+ possible PCs, only about a handful of them have any narrative significance, and even then only at certain points. If they're not in your party during their relevant scenes, you'll miss out on potentially critical background info and not even realize it.
The timeline merging thing does feel like a bit of a cop-out, and I'm surprised Kato took the easy way out given how many creative risks he was willing to take throughout the rest of the game. Besides that bit, the ending is generally very open to interpretation, so there's room there for whatever headcanon floats your boat. But yeah, the timelines merging does feel cheap.
All that said, there *is* a certain beauty to Cross underneath its very rough veneer, though I acknowledge that sticking with the game enough to notice is a TALL ask for almost anybody.
I actually played Radical Dreamers while researching for this article series, and I found it to be much more accessible and not nearly as obtuse as Cross. It's very short, only about three hours long, and it provides some useful background for some of Cross' more puzzling. Magus is in it, too! Still has a few head scratchers of its own—but I'll get into all that fun next week.
Out of that massive, epic piece of work you thoughtfully put together for us, my favorite section was about the game music and leitmotifs! I love musical storytelling for games and movies-- the music provides cues to the player or audience member that help them navigate through the game and even make subconscious choices about which actions to take! Horizon Zero Dawn did a fabulous job of that with the noises they designed for the robot creatures. You know whether or not a creature (and which creature, for that matter!) is searching, attacking, backing off, etc. without even seeing it! So cool.
Glad you enjoyed it! It's remarkable how much visuals and sound (and, in the case of gaming, player input) can reinforce each other, and I'd love to someday sink my teeth even deeper into sound as a tool for environmental storytelling. Haven't played Horizon yet (someday, hopefully within the current decade, I'll get my hands on a PS5...), but I'll be looking out for those sound cues when I do!
On a similar note (pun intended), Breath of the Wild (I couldn't just leave BotW out of the comments! LOL) also does such a great job with environmental noises. I do miss the more grandiose overworld tracks from the Koji Kondo era, but BotW deploys the series' more iconic leitmotifs with such mathematical precision, that their impact is SO much greater when they play. That Hyrule Castle track? Perfection. 👌
You’re so right! BOTW... ☺️