Chrono Cross - Sony PlayStation PS1 NTSC-J JAPAN Squaresoft 1999 RPG Game

Chrono Cross is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Chrono Cross was developed primarily by scenarist and director Masato Kato and other designers from Chrono Trigger, including art director Yasuyuki Honne and composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Nobuteru Yuki designed the characters of the game.

The story of Chrono Cross focuses on a teenage boy named Serge and a theme of parallel worlds. Faced with an alternate reality in which he died as a child, Serge endeavors to discover the truth of the two worlds' divergence. The flashy thief Kid and many other characters assist him in his travels around the tropical archipelago El Nido. Struggling to uncover his past and find the mysterious Frozen Flame, Serge is chiefly challenged by Lynx, a shadowy antagonist working to apprehend him.

Upon its release in Japan in 1999 and in North America in 2000, Chrono Cross received high ratings and critical acclaim, earning a rare perfect 10.0 score from GameSpot. The game shipped 1.5 million copies worldwide, leading to a Greatest Hits re-release and continued life in Japan as part of the Ultimate Hits series. Chrono Cross is planned for release on the Japanese PlayStation Network. Square also released a "Millennium Edition" featuring a calendar, clock, and music sampler disc.

CHARACTERS:

Chrono Cross features a diverse cast of 45 party members. Each character is outfitted with an innate Element affinity and three unique special abilities that are learned over time. If taken to the world opposite their own, characters react to their counterparts (if available). Many characters tie in to crucial plot events. Since it is impossible to obtain all 45 characters in one playthrough, players must replay the game to witness everything. Through use of the New Game+ feature, players can ultimately obtain all characters on one save file. Several characters speak with unique accents, including French and Australian English.

STORY:

Chrono Cross begins with Serge located in El Nido, a tropical archipelago inhabited by ancient natives, mainland colonists, and beings called Demi-humans. Serge slips into an alternate dimension in which he drowned on the beach ten years prior, and meets the thief, "Kid". He learns while infiltrating Viper Manor that ten years before the present, the universe split into two dimensions—one in which Serge lived, and one in which he perished. Through Kid's Astral Amulet charm, Serge travels between the dimensions. At Fort Dragonia the use of a Dragonian artifact called the Dragon Tear, Lynx switches bodies with Serge. Unaware of the switch, Kid confides in Lynx, who stabs her as the real Serge helplessly watches. Lynx boasts of his victory and banishes Serge to a strange realm called the Temporal Vortex. He takes Kid under his wing, brainwashing her to believe the real Serge (in Lynx's body) is her enemy. Serge escapes with help from Harle. Discovering that his new body prevents him from traveling across the dimensions, he sets out to regain his former body and learn more of the universal split that occurred ten years earlier. He travels to a forbidden lagoon known as the Dead Sea - a wasteland frozen in time, dotted with futuristic ruins. At the center, he locates a man named Miguel and presumably Home world's Frozen Flame. Charged with guarding the Dead Sea by an entity named FATE, Miguel and three visions of Crono, Marle, and Lucca from Chrono Trigger explain that Serge's existence dooms Home world's future to destruction. To prevent Serge from obtaining the Frozen Flame, FATE destroys the Dead Sea.

Able to return to Another world, Serge allies with the Acacia Dragoons against Porre and locates that dimension's Dragon Tear, allowing him to return to his human form. He then enters the Sea of Eden, Another world's physical equivalent of the Dead Sea, finding a temporal research facility called Chronopolis. Lynx and Kid are inside; Serge defeats Lynx and the supercomputer FATE, allowing the six Dragons of El Nido to steal the Frozen Flame and retire to Terra Tower, a massive structure raised from the sea floor. Kid falls into a coma, and Harle bids the party goodbye to fly with the Dragons. Serge regroups his party and tends to Kid, who remains comatose. Continuing his adventure, he obtains and cleanses the Masamune sword from Chrono Trigger. He then uses the Dragon relics and shards of the Dragon Tears to create the mythic Element Chrono Cross. The spiritual power of the Masamune later allows him to lift Kid from her coma. At Terra Tower, the prophet of time, revealed to be Belthasar from Chrono Trigger, visits him with visions of Crono, Marle, and Lucca. Serge learns that the time research facility Chronopolis created El Nido thousands of years ago after a catastrophic experimental failure drew it to the past. The introduction of a temporally foreign object in history caused the planet to pull in a counterbalance from a different dimension. This was Dinopolis, a city of Dragonians - parallel universe descendants of Chrono Trigger's Reptites. The institutions warred and Chronopolis subjugated the Dragonians. Humans captured their chief creation - the Dragon God, an entity capable of controlling nature.

Chronopolis divided this entity into six pieces and created an Elements system. FATE then terraformed an archipelago, erased the memories of most Chronopolis's staff, and sent them to inhabit and populate its new paradise. Thousands of years later, a panther demon attacked a three-year old Serge. His father took him to find assistance at Marbule, but Serge's boat blew off course due to a raging magnetic storm caused by Schala. Schala, the princess of the Kingdom of Zeal, had long ago accidentally fallen to a place known as the Darkness Beyond Time and began merging with Lavos, the chief villain of Chrono Trigger. Schala's storm nullified Chronopolis's defenses and allowed Serge to contact the Frozen Flame; approaching it healed Serge but corrupted his father. A circuit in Chronopolis then designated Serge "Arbiter", simultaneously preventing FATE from using the Frozen Flame by extension. The Dragons were aware of this situation, creating a seventh Dragon under the storm's cover named Harle, who manipulated Lynx to try and steal the Frozen Flame for the Dragons.

GAMEPLAY:

With multiple scenarios cast along a single story thread and many different endings, each time you play Chrono Cross can result in an entirely new adventure. In addition, a brand new battle system makes combat smooth and innovative by introducing an elemental field system and combo system that gives the player extreme flexibility in their fighting options.

The battle system is a little different than the usual "pick a single attack and wait" equation. Instead, Chrono Cross introduces the use of stamina points. Each character is gifted with seven stamina points at the beginning of a fight. Battle options are divided into weak, middle and strong powers with the more powerful attacks requiring a larger number of stamina points. Therefore, you can use any combination of moves within the seven-point range. If you'd like a single massive strike, go ahead and pick a strong power h it. If you'd rather land the first blow, pick a weak attack and utilize your quickness.

With character designs by a famed Japanese illustrator and music by the original Chrono Trigger composer, Chrono Cross features visuals and sounds that bring its magic to life.

FEATURES:

* The long-awaited sequel to Chrono Trigger

* Encounter a multitude of playable characters and intertwining game scenarios

* Unique design eliminates random battles and experience points

* A new visual and audio experience from the original creators

* Over 40 playable characters

* Each character has their own back-story

* Special moves, abilities, and weapons

* Spans two discs

  Manufacturer's description:

A Timeless Adventure... Twenty years after the events in Chrono Trigger, a new set of adventurers are preparing for a battle that will surpass even space and time.

The long-awaited sequel to one of history’s favorite adventures.

A multitude of playable characters and intertwining game scenarios,

Unique design which eliminates random battles, experience points and a new visual and audio experience from the original creators.

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