I first played Chrono Trigger when it came out on the SNES, I guess I was 8 or 9 or so...since then my SNES was fried due to faulty wiring where I was living at one point, and I sold all my games to Gamestop. Huge mistake, as I now have the engineering knowledge to fix it, but no reason to. However, I digress.

I picked up CT for the PS1 after I fixed my PS2, and play through it all the time on an emulator. I can get 100% completion in about 20 hours now without New Game+. New Game+, however, is fun for having an "ongoing" game, which can continue even after beating the final boss. However, again I digress~

Chrono Cross to me was lackluster, because I was expecting something to live up to the Chrono Trigger name. I was extremely disappointed upon playing it, to find that it did not tie in with the Chrono Trigger storyline at all, and I ended up not continuing at some point. I think I was still on the first disc.

I later found out that the storylines do, in fact, tie in...but in a way more like FF4/FF9. Actually playing through it is still on my to-do list.

I guess my advice to you is just to keep playing. Try to push what the hype planted in your mind, back out of your mind. The most boring part of the game, to me, is circa 12000BC. It just seems repetitive right there. However, before and after own. Maybe you'll get some enjoyment out of the storyline.