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Chrono Cross Preview
Kim Wild
00/12/0000
Chrono Triffer fans your prayers have been answered.
Chrono Trigger was one of Squaresoft's great successes on the Super Nintendo and is to me one of the best RPG's released on the system. Fans have demanded a sequel for a long time and now it looks as though their wishes have been granted.
But for those of you wishing to continue the adventures of Chrono and Lucca you will probably be disappointed to hear that the sequel will focus on a new set of characters. The game follows Serge, Kid and Glenn. Serge is a treasure hunter and is the main hero. Serge is accompanied by Kid, a female character and Glenn who is a knight. The villain of the piece is Yamaneko, a half cat half human who is nicknamed "Mountain Cat". The character designs are not by Toriya Akira who was behind the art of Chrono Trigger. Hopefully this will not affect the game severly. Luckily, some of the original staff members remain on the project so the game should link well with its predecessor. Storyline details are scarce although Chrono Cross will almost definitely feature time travel.
Graphically, the game is rich with very vibrant colors. The visuals are atmospheric and have a "sketched" feel which looks great. Just like in Chrono Trigger, enemies are visible before you fight them and the game will have music by Yasunori Mitsuda, which should please fans.
The battle system has been modified into a turn-based system. Unlike most turn based systems however, each character can attack whenever they wish. Each character has a stamina bar that is depleted with each attack you use. Three different strengths of attack are available which adds some added strategy to the game. The strongest attack takes up 3 points of the stamina bar, the normal attack uses 2 and the weakest attack uses 1 point. The magic system works in a similar manner. Each character has an element meter, which has varying strengths of magic power. The stronger the spell you use, the more stamina will be depleted from the bar.
Chrono Cross looks fantastic and has a surprisingly original battle system. It certainly looks set to be a great game but it will need to appeal to RPG fans and anybody who played the original game. The absence of Toriyma Akira will no doubt disappoint fans but hopefully the game will still retain the feel of the original and add enough new features to warrant a purchase. How the two games will be linked remains to be seen when it is released in Japan at the end of the year. With the opening of Square's office in the UK, a release over here seems very likely though. Stay tuned to TVG for any new information.
