Was Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition Worth It?

Two worlds, two games, and over 40 playable characters. We played the Switch version of this classic JRPG. Was Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition Worth It?

Background

Chrono Trigger was a hard act to follow. This game is incredibly divisive, and there’s decades of discourse from Chrono Trigger/Cross fans fighting over which game is better. Being chained to such an iconic game hasn’t done Cross any favors, and it has always been judged by the merits of its predecessor.

Would Chrono Cross have had a different legacy if it wasn’t tied to Chrono Trigger? Hard to say. It’s difficult not to view every facet of the game as “well, compared to Chrono Trigger,” but that’s on the developers for putting us in this position, especially when they keep gently retconning the lore to strengthen the connection between the games.

This remaster comes packaged with the official translation of Radical Dreamers, a visual novel that was released for a SNES peripheral. Radical Dreamers had been fan translated, but this is the first time it has actually come stateside.

What does Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition do well?

If you’re replaying this, you’ll probably remember some of the music. It has that distinct classic JRPG sound. The environments are interesting. The element system has some merit.

The stat system is different from what you’re probably used to. Your characters generally only gain stats when you defeat bosses, so you don’t have to grind. It’s not perfect and there’s some inherent jankiness, but it’s much better than games that pad out the runtime with enforced grinding. Encounters are also avoidable and can be omitted entirely.

What could Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition do better?

This game is old enough to buy alcohol, but I’ll still try and avoid spoilers.

Weak Writing

I hate plot contrivances and “coincidence framing.” It’s lazy storytelling. If you hate modern movies where everything is extremely convenient and serendipitous then you’ll have issues with Chrono Cross.

Characters

Having a ton of characters is great…when they’re actually worth using. You can only field three characters at a time, and one of them will be Serge (unless you’re on NG+). Plenty of characters don’t get a chance to shine, and many of them are never worth using. There’s also a shortage of character-specific interactions, be it combination attacks or dialogue.

Retcons

They really need to calm down on the George Lucas shenanigans. Every time a remaster or updated version comes out, they retcon more plot points. If you played Trigger and Cross a long time ago, you may want to brush up on some of the lore changes.

You should also bear in mind that Radical Dreamers has largely been superseded by Chrono Cross and isn’t canon.

Remastered, but not revamped

The three resolution options didn’t do much for me. I felt like I might as well just play the game on an emulation device instead. The framerate also suffers on the Switch, which is unacceptable for a PS1 game.

Is Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition fun?

It’s relatively fun. Unfortunately I didn’t ever feel like I was playing “the best version” of the game.

Is Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition good value?

There’s a substantial game with a lot of replay value here (Cross, not Radical Dreamers). The game is obviously leaning on its status as a classic, but 19.99 isn’t an outrageous asking price, and is commensurate with other classic ports on the eShop. These games also tend to go on sale relatively often. If you’re on the fence, just wait until the fall sales and it’ll likely be half off.

Was Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition worth it?

Chrono Cross is an adequate RPG with a lot of nostalgia going for it. Is it worth playing for the novelty? Sure. While Radical Dreamers is an interesting curio, I would not buy this title simply for a dated visual novel.

This isn’t their first rodeo when it comes to ports, remakes, or remasters. Square Enix can do better.

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a mediocre port of a good JRPG at a reasonable price point. It’s worth picking up, but the lack of true quality of life features make this a better item to pick up on sale.

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