THE NOT-SO-ULTIMATE DEBATE: Chrono Trigger vs. Chrono Cross
I figure this is about as fair as I can be. I am fresh off my first and only playthrough of both games. I do intend to replay both of them of course and see what all I might have missed or misunderstood.
Now first off, I must confess a certain bias on my part here: I like LONG games. It's part of why JRPGs are the genre of video game I've played the most of. I was told going into Trigger that it was short by JRPG standards and that was absolutely true. I think my run, and this was my first run which is always the longest for me, was only about 20 hours. Cross was close to 50 hours. So Cross is over twice as long as Trigger. Now I know what a lot of people would say in response to this - a s good, concise, well-paced story beats a doorstopper. Perhaps you are right. What's the old cliche? Good things come in small packages? After all, the big thing wrapped up in te package could be a load of elephant trout while the thing in the aforementioned small package is a priceless diamond.
So that was the "wrappings" I was discussing there. Cross is longer but is what it contains better? I....find it hard to say. Maybe I'm a superficial ninny but I like the pretty and gigantic box even if what's inside it wasn't all that great a lot of the time.
Story - Okay, dropping the metaphors,I'm gonna say flat-out. I would rather replay Chrono Cross than Chrono Trigger. Does this mean Cross is the better game? I have no idea. I already admitted I was perhaps influenced by a lot of skin-deep flash and pizzazz. The thing is I just had a lot more fun playing Chrono Cross. It kept me guessing even though I knew a few details about what was to happen. I will gladly admit that my foreknowledge of Lavos really crippled Trigger's storyline in a lot of ways and thus both games perhaps weren't starting off on an equal footing. It be like if I had started off Cross knowing about FATE. But regardless of what I knew or did not know going into the games, Trigger presented a very simple, bare-bones story. A group of adventurers found out about an alien and said they wanted to stop that alien and they used time travel to do it. Yes there's a bit more to it but I have just summarized 90% of Trigger's storyline in a single sentence. Could you narrow down everything important in Cross with a single, simple sentence?
But perhaps to some people that's a bad thing and they would condemn Cross for the exact reasons I am praising it and vice versa for Trigger. To them, Cross might some a bloated, self-indulgent monstrosity and I can see that. At the very end. It was at that point when a lot of things seemed to fall apart and I have no idea what happened. I don't think i twas an intentional design choice but something forced upon the developers and writers for whatever reason. But up until that point, up until the climax at Chronopolis, things were amazing in my view. Maybe I'd change a few things here and there but the overall package I really liked. By contrast, there are precisely...two parts of Trigger I found particularly memorable or well-done. Well, longer segments or stretches of game I mean. Point 1 would be Frog's Arc all the way from reclaiming the Masamune up to defeating Magus. That whole section was perfection. The other part was the "climax" of the Zeal Arc. I thought it started off kind of weak but the Ocean Palace and the immediate aftermath was similarly flawless. But really, Trigger's ending is a different kind of weak than Cross'. I didn't find reviving Chrono to be interesting or emotional enough and the confrontation with Lavos had absolutely no...drive? No impending sense of urgency. Consequence of time travel I suppose. You can literally do whatever you want whenever you want.
Characters - Now getting away from the overall plot, let's examine characters. People have said in the past Trigger was "character-driven" and Cross was "plot-driven." I can definitely agree with that. However just because a game or piece of fiction is focused on more than one than the other doesn't mean said other side is outright terrible. You play Trigger for its plucky band of adventurers but that doesn't mean the whole Lavos thing is to be ignored or looked down upon. And the same is true for Cross, it's a game that dwells a lot on its storyline butit can still give characters intriguing backstories, develop their personality and so-on.
Let's start off with our mains. Serge vs. Crono. Both Silent Protagonists, both kinda just wandering where the game takes them. However, the thing about Crono is that he's...he's nothing. I could easily take an NPC and put them in place of Crono and there'd be no difference in Trigger or its events. Why does Marle even love him? Yes, Serge might be a living Plot Device but at least that justifies his presence in the game as our main character. It HAS to be Serge while it doesn't HAVE to be Crono. There's also little things scattered about the game that definitely justify a potential relationship between Serge and Kid more than love blossoming between Crono and Marle. Stuff like him reflecting on their time together after she reappears under Lynx's control, or when you rescue her from the burning orphanage. That hug he gives Lil' Kid was just...so sweet.
Now, moving onto characters with a tad more actual personality to them, I've made no secret of the fact Magus was hands down my choice for Best Character in Trigger It seems this it not at all an unpopular sentiment so I'm glad I can see eye-to-eye with people in that regard. His presentation was just so perfect from the first time you confront him. Yet learning who he is just makes things a 100x times more perfect. Yes, I suppose everyone in the party "had a reason" to be there and to fight Lavos. However, even disregarding the fact he's my favorite character in the game, I absolutely brought Magus along for the final battle because it just....it's the only way that makes sense. Yes he's gonna kill off humanity in nearly 1,000 years but I just felt that Trigger suffered from that age-old JRPG dilemma of "why are they even here?" In a thematic sense, it worked because you had everyone from every era but what really did Robo bring to the table that was essential? And did we need three people from Crono's time? What did Lucca bring to the table?
Of course Cross is more guilty of this than Trigger by a lot. Half the cast doesn't need to be there and a good chunk of the rest could settle for temporary playable characters at most. A guy elsewhere listed these as his choice for the only characters you should get in the game from a story perspective:
"Serge, Kid, Guile, Norris, Glenn, Radius, Fargo, Greco"
I disagree with Greco. I'd put Karsh in his place but ah well. Nikki also sounds like he's rather important but I of course missed all that.
Now, admittedly, this is one area that I have a much more limited knowledge of Cross than Trigger and in which Cross is simply, objectively beyond its predecessor. While you could argue the essential-ness of these characters, a lot of them have more personality and subplots to them than some detractors give them credit for. A huge reason I want to replay CC is to uncover a lot of this. CT though, I did all the endgame sidequest sand that was that for the characters. I know everything there is to know about Crono and the rest of them. I still have a ton more to learn about what happens with Nikki and Fargo and that whole subplot, and I'm sure Van has some resolution to his problems and even Karsh, one of my favorite characters, apparently has a bit more to him if you take him to see home Zappa.
Overall I almost feel as if I'm not qualified to fully assess Cross' cast at this point in time because I need to play through the game more and try to uncover the myriad sidequests and things that relate to everyone's development. That is something at least I will definitely be using a walkthrough for.
Now let's get to the star of my "CC Characters vs. CT characters" discussion.
Representing Team Trigger - Schala.
Representing Team Cross - Kid
Schala was this chick who had like, three or fur scenes in Trigger and that was about it. Not even long or memorable scenes either. Unless we count Lavos destroyign Zeal as a scene of hers but, really, she was just a part of that scene and not particularly significant. Learning what I did about Kid - everything makes a lot of sense. Lucca's letter to her, about how she wants Kid to knock off the tomboy act and become more polite and ladylike? It perfectly sums up why Kid is better.
Let's get one thing straight - Schala killed Zeal. Queen Zeal was perhaps more largely to blame but it was Schala's stereotypical "I love everyone and everything, even the crazy and evil" that doomed the kingdom. Queen Zeal couldn't have done crap if Schala had just, I dunno, jumped off a cliff or run away or something. But she was all flowery princess and junk and thus humanity was nearly wiped out.
But Kid? She takes no guff from nobody. Perhaps there is some residual Schala in there...some temporal or genetic memory or that kind of thing. Deep down, Kid knows that her old, weak nature is very much a bad thing. Combined with her own very hard life, she had morphed into a far more independent person and characters. Kid is almost the antithesis of Schala in how she thinks and acts and that just is so perfect.
Favorite CT Character - Magus
Favorite CC Character - Kid
Both equally great.
(Now it's time for a seamless segue) Speaking of Schala vs. Kid...
Music - Chrono Cross Wins. Flawless Victory.
Okay, it's not quite that simple. Trigger certainly hooked me with its music faster than Cross did. The first track I remember "wowing" me in Cross was the world map theme for Another. However it's all uphill from there. There are so many good tracks in both games it's hard to compare but I've already made it known that I prefer "Steal-Stealing Girl" to "Schala's Theme." Of course CT's normal battle music is MUCH better than Cross' but that's because the battle theme in Cross was an uncharacteristic low point. However, face it, nothing in CT's soundtrack can compare to "People Imprisoned by Destiny" that plays when you fight Miguel/Dario. Trigger's stand-out tracks are many but I'd say only "Corridors of Time" really reaches the highs that Cross' soundtrack achieved.
Gameplay - And really, there is also no competition when it comes to Gameplay. Chrono Trigger's battle system had a neat gimmick but it didn't use said gimmick at all most of the time. Things were just as simple as the FFFIV days but enemies moved now. Ooh! Cross' gameplay is remarkably intuitive and while I was daunted at first I quickly came to grasp it. I'm not some master or anything, and the game isn't really that hard, but it still has so much more in the way of layers and the numerous party members, while many are the same, still offer up a great diversity to keep your interest up than the CT cast.
Conclusion - Both good games. Please leave your pitchforks and burning torches at home just because I think I slightly prefer Cross and feel Trigger is weighed down a lot by the time it was made.
I'm reminded of this quote from Kid which I will now use to thoroughly mock both games:'
"Perhaps it was the awakenin' Lavos who pulled the Frozen Flame back through time to it. Maybe so that Lavos, who saw the possibility that some young adventurers might destroy it, could create a backup plan."
Every time I read this or another line about how "a group of adventurers stopped Lavos," I imagine the characters saying it having the most derisive snorts in their voices.
Lavoso: -strokes nonexistent beard- So I have been manipulating this entire planet for several million years and my power is so vast and limitless that it accidentally brought down the greatest civilization ever known to humankind. Heck, me simply landing on this mudball wiped out the dominant lifeforms. But alas! My PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS are no use against a group of adventurers (TM) composed of a robot, a frog, an apewoman and three teenagers! MY PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS could reach through space and time and drag a city here but they are no use against three kids from some podunk town! Given a couple more years they probably would have all gotten the Plague and died.
Addendum:
Trigger takes it as far as Dungeons are concerned. While the Dead Sea was a great stand-out, CC as a whole did not wow me in this department. Trigger had Fiendlord Keep, Ocean Palace, Tyranno Lair....
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