Introduction

"Hey guys, check out my Chrono Trigger fanfiction I posted. I think it turned out pretty good..." - Masato Kato 1999...The Day of Lavos

What the hell is Chrono Cross?
Chrono Cross is a JRPG released in August of 2000 (with a November '99 release in Japan) late in the Sony Playstation's lifecycle. It is a sequel to 1995's much acclaimed Chrono Trigger. Well...it is a sequel in the sense that it takes place in the same world (technically) and makes many references to the previous title. It doesn't actually continue any manner of plot from its predecessor...at least not directly.

To be frank, Chrono Cross is a terrible sequel to Chrono Trigger. It takes place in a region that didn't exist at any point in the previous game. The plot has fuck all to do with Trigger until toward the end. And it basically shits all over its predecessor and its characters at several points. So, if you really liked Chrono Trigger and were hoping for some more time traveling antics goodness...yeah...look elsewhere...

Strangely enough, Chrono Cross is also a pseudo-remake of a text adventure spin-off of Chrono Trigger, Radical Dreamers, for an obscure Japanese SNES peripheral the Satellaview. Several of the characters and plot points in the early game were directly from that title, as well as a number of music tracks. I'll point out parallels to Radical Dreamers and Chrono Trigger when they crop up. I've done my homework.

So what is good about Chrono Cross?
Well, it is a shit sequel to Chrono Trigger but it really isn't too bad a game on its own merits. It tries...however unsuccessfully...some new things. It has an absolutely massive cast of playable characters (45 in total.) On the downside most are completely undeveloped and range from forgettable to some of the worst/most ridiculous fucking designs to ever offer a hand to a RPG party. This is not helped by a somewhat restrictive battle system (with only three characters in a party to boot) limiting who is viable. Gee...these sound like negatives... Well, the plot is err...it is something... Umm... Well, it is a gorgeous game and undoubtedly the prettiest thing the PSX ever pumped out coupled with a fantastic soundtrack that is still top notch to this day. It has its charm once getting past being a huge step down from its big brother.

Or not... I suppose you'll decide on that yourself.

Well, there's still time travel at least, right? That was a fun gimmick. I mean it is named Chrono Cross, after all.
Ergh...well... No... No there is no time travel. Chrono Cross' gimmick is traveling between two dimensions. And not exactly bizarro world dimensions or anything either. More like Alternate History style different dimensions. We'll get to that when we get to it. It is sort of kind of neat... Well, no. It gets ridiculously convoluted and worthy of a lot of mocking and I'll be doing just that. It has some neat ideas. And a lot of terrible ones. The bag is, as they say, mixed.

So there is an ass load of characters to recruit, are you going to get them all?
Hell no! Mostly because it is impossible to do so in a single playthrough. Indeed, it takes about three playthroughs (the game has a New Game + much like Chrono Trigger) with a FAQ open the entire time to recruit everyone. The game has quite a few branches and is meant to be played through a few times. Which I won't be doing. But, I will let you jerks decide on things the occasions it do come up.

So you're not going to play through the 50+ hour game multiple times?
Fuck no! I am playing through exactly once for the benefit of the LP. I will, however, show off the array of alternate endings after said completion. I'll also be 100% (within the given parameters of a single playthrough) the actual playthrough.

Edit: Turns out I changed my mind...sort of... Check out the Overtime section of the Post Game content.

Do we get to vote on the names of the characters?
No. Unless they are an awful character I will never ever use. Then maybe I'll consider it _{_{(so many terrible characters...)}} But enough of this crap, let's get started...

Hey, what's the deal with spoilers in this thread?
You can discuss whatever. Just use spoiler tags for anything we haven't gotten to yet in the LP. This includes retarded characters we recruit, plot points, etc. Chrono Trigger spoilers don't need tags UNLESS it leads into a tangent that is part of Chrono Cross' plot.