by pierrot Thu Nov 15, 2018 10:00 pm
I started replaying Chrono Cross last night. I put a few hours into the Japanese version, which I have not played before now, and oh my sweet petunia, this game is potentially even better than I remember it being. The writing in this game is exceptional. There are very few games out there where I feel like the writers could easily be writing respectable novels, and Chrono Cross is almost certainly one of those games. There's so little pretense even though the game is tackling all of the big issues of human existence (very similarly to BoF: Dragon Quarter, and Suikoden III). Every character/npc feels like a real human being, with genuine humanity baked into their dialogue, and not just silly caricatures. Arni is a sleepy little fishing village, and I'm convinced that all of its denizens are simply virtualizations of real people. This is all because the writers were able impart each one of them with his own tone and personality, to make them all individuals. I really love the Home World waitress, and her poetry, but her stubbornly pragmatic Another World version is also great.
It's not just the writing, though. Chrono Cross is the entire package. The game is blissfully soothing with its lush, vibrant world, and angelic soundtrack. I have begun to encounter some of the more contentious moments in the game, as I head to Termina with Kid, and Poshul (whose little signs on her doghouse are hilarious; I really wish it would make any sense to translate the Home World one), but it is still serenity, for me. Serge's story is one of the most involved that I can think of, for a mute protagonist, and I'm excited to fill all the details back in, even if I still remember a lot of the big reveals.
The combat is still great, also. It's upper echelon; Forcing me to think through my actions, while also being swift, and not too complex. I may be a little too pro at it, though: I had forgotten to recruit Poshul beforehand, and I still killed the first boss before it had even really had time to fully materialize. (I'm just kidding, it was able to get one attack off on me.)