Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
I’m kind of surprised at the Steam reviews for Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition. I recently finished the game and decided I wanted to give those “mixed” Steam reviews a bit of positivity. (I posted a smaller review there, but wanted to write this out here.)

This is one of those HD remasters, although only 3D models were given the HD treatment, so backgrounds do look horrible since our eyes are now so overwhelmed with beauty and impressive graphics these days. However, what a game looks like, even if it’s aged 20 years, doesn’t make or break it.

Chrono Cross was a JRPG that came out in 1999. It is apparently one of the best RPGs ever according to some things I’m reading. I played through it only one time, but I remember that I really enjoyed it. That’s why I was glad it was getting the HD treatment and coming to Steam. You’ve probably heard of Chrono Trigger, well Chrono Cross is it’s sequel. I’d say the two can be thought of as completely separate as different as they are, but they also have similarities.

Chrono Cross, like pretty much all RPGs, has it’s own ways of doing things. For instance, there is magic in the game, but they’re called “elements.” There’s a circle in the upper left hand corner. It contains two other circles. These circles contain colors of the elements used. So, if you use a blue element like “Cure,” the innermost part of the circle will turn blue. The next element will push that blue to the next ring. This repeats until that first color disappears. If you want to use a summon, you have to get the entire circle of circles all one color. So, you’ll probably have to use some elements to get the field the color you need it, but enemy element usage also affects the circle. Items are use like elements, too. You’re limited by how many elements you can use in battle. This limitation is based on your element tech levels, which will grow as you do as you gain experience.

Otherwise, it’s just as familiar as all other great RPGs. You walk around an open world, talking to NPCs, recruiting characters to your party, exploring the world, and getting through the story. It’s very good though, I think. So, if you enjoyed Chrono Cross, I recommend getting this. It’s only $20. It has some extra features, too. You can press a button to speed up the action or another to make your party pretty much invincible.

The “Radical Dreamers” part of the title escaped me, because I was not aware of what it referred to, but I learned. It’s a text-based game based on the game, but as a bit of a prequel. I played it and died. It was interesting.

Steam users are complaining about the fact that sometimes the FPS is surprisingly not smooth. This isn’t an irrational complaint as you’d expect something like this to be smooth especially on today’s PCs. I did notice the issue, but it was so infrequent and lasted so briefly that I deem it as insignificant. It didn’t affect my enjoyment of the game.

After finishing the game, I found New Game+ and Continue+. The latter is confusing. Basically, Continue+ lets you take data from your completed game and put it into a regular save file. So, it won’t work with a New Game+ save. It’s supposed to help you get all the characters. I had trouble figuring it out at first, but I eventually understood.

I tried to replay Chrono Trigger after this, but it was too difficult and I gave up. LOL

Let me know what you think about this. Have you tried it? Do you know about or like Chrono Cross?