Final Fantasy vs. Chrono Series

So I made this thread years back.

Now, having completed the Chrono duology, I feel like doing it again. Only with more focus.

Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross - both said to be "products of the time." But how do they hold up against other "products of the time?" from the same company?

Chrono Trigger and FFVI are often compared or lumped together as "the greatest old-school JRPGs ever". I can at least see why with Trigger. Maybe I would have seen why with VI too if I had finished it. But alas.

And yet, what about the other FFs from the Super Nintendo/Famicom? What about Final Fantasy IV? And that other one? That other one probably isn't worth mentioning but I can see comparing CT and FFIV. Well, up to a point. FFIV's ending...well, it was more like Cross' ending if you get my drift.


And then how about the Playstation era? How does Chrono Cross compare to FFVII, VIII and IX?

My mini-comparisons to start off with:

Chrono Trigger vs. Final Fantasy IV-
Soundtracks about even.
Cecil is a better protagonist.
Magus is a superior antagonist. Well, he's a superior everything really.
FFIV was actually a harder game, relatively speaking. I sure had more trouble with Zeromus and his stupid spamming Big Bang. Also while CT perhaps barely had the overall better soundtrack, FFIV wins easily in the Final Boss Music department.
Also Lunar Whale > Epoch. Music is better for FFIV here too.
Trigger had the better wold even if it was "technically" smaller. The various eras and doing sidequests across eras was fascinating.

Also I just realized what a perfect comparison this is as these two games were sold together as "Final Fantasy Chronicles" for the PS1. Can I call them or what?

Anyway....

Chrono Cross vs. Final Fantasy VII
Music to Cross.
Cloud is a better protagonist than Serge.
Cross had the better plot twists and reveals.
Both kinda had disappointing endings. Although Cross gets points for alternate endings. With FFVII, I always just turned the game off after the final showdown between Cloud and Sephiroth.

Chrono series? There's only been one game!

Ya know I didn't think about it until I saw a Chrono Cross video called "You Can Hear the Cries of the Planet" but another comparison between it and FFVII is that they both had strong environmental messages with a....sentient planet or whatever you want to call it. I guess it just came on a bit stronger in Cross than in VII where you really kinda forget about the environmental stuff after a fashion. At least I did.

Chrono Trigger beats all the Nintendo era FFs for me (except MAYBE FFV) but for me the PS1 FFs were just so revolutionary in so many ways.