Even now, knowing what happened afterwards in several timelines and dimensions, what other reasonable alternative was there? What better opportunity did they have and not take? In theory this sort of narrative rug-pull is a great idea, the only problem is there was never any doubt that Lavos needed to be stopped, because we all spent an entire RPG seeing for ourselves what would happen if/when the parasitic space hedgehog unleashed its apocalyptic fury. So let’s help the game out a little: what it’s trying to do here is make you see old scenes in a new way by asking if the currently dead/absent/missing Trigger team did the wrong thing by denying an entire future the right to exist. Cross’ story contains a nigh-infinite supply of pretty words to catch your eye… and like soap bubbles on a hot summer’s day, they all collapse under the lightest scrutiny. I promise you I’m not being obtuse for the sake of it Cross just doesn’t make the effort to explain (or even follow up on) any of this information with the clarity necessary for such an event as monumental as breaking time to hit its emotional mark. He’s also the lock for a very important door created in the future and then sent to the past too, but for all our sakes I’ll leave that detail alone. Serge has apparently “murdered time” because he’s not as dead as he’s supposed to be in the “correct” timeline, but on top of that the act of saving the world in Chrono Trigger has created a special sort of alternative unreality that never was, and now time’s back and according to a line said by mini not-Crono it wants revenge, and Serge is the (drumroll) Chrono Trigger. Like every other major revelation in Chrono Cross, this statement’s not quite as simple-or true-as it should be. Only I know he hasn’t done anything like that, because I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed if he’d killed time. The first encounter takes place by that bell, bathed in the sombre light of the memory of a setting sun, and it’s here we’re told Serge is a murderer. The times Serge meets the ghost-child echoes of Crono, Marle, and Lucca are a prime example of the avoidable mess this fusion creates. It doesn’t seem to matter if this unhelpful borrowing actually fits its new PlayStation home’s interest in dimension-hopping or the previous game’s time travel themed events either, as Cross is more than happy to pull convoluted excuses out of thin air for every strained reference it foists upon you, as if to say “Look! This was planned all along! We just didn’t tell you or explain or imply anything before now.”.Ĭross would rather insist Trigger’s grass was actually blue and its sky was green the whole time than miss out an opportunity to shoehorn in another feeble allusion to Squaresoft’s 16-bit tale. Cross’s story keeps on trying to be clever in the stupidest possible way, mistakenly certain that invoking the name of something last seen in the much-loved SNES RPG before it and grafting broken reality twists onto done and dusted plot threads is the same as creating a meaningful connection between the two. The main problem is that Cross places one foot on a new road, while the rest of its body chooses to walk down the “clinging to the previous game for dear life” path of sequelling, even though this decision’s continually to the game’s detriment. Meanwhile, in a universe other than the one I’m writing this article in, Chrono Cross knew what to do with itself after delivering such a promising start. Looking for something in particular? Search for: Click here to be taken to a random article! Archives ArchivesĬhrono Cross is keen to make a memorable first impression, the opening hour or so rapidly crashing straight through a playable flash-forward with a bloody twist and into a cute quest this game’s heroic teen, Serge, takes on behalf of his childhood friend, which soon leads to the same bandana’d teen standing in front of his own grave, the sad stone marker undeniable proof he’s now stranded in a universe other than his own.
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