That's my biggest beef with it: it doesn't pay off on its promises, whether promises made in-game or promises made in gamemaking intent that were tossed aside at the last minute. It had tremendous potential, but squandered it. The game it could have been, ZOAH as the child of Crono and Marle, Guile as an incongnito Magus, development of characters other than Serge/Kid, and resolution of various plot threads, would have been FANTASTIC. Unfortunately, it abandoned character development for character quantity, and, as you note, it failed to tie up ANY loose ends, of which there were MANY. Its like the first three quarters of a book that's had several key pages ripped out- its well written and laudable, but far too incomplete in its current state from a narrative standpoint to stand among the greats. It doesn't get an F, it gets "Incomplete, See Me After Class" and a discussion about the student in question's home life and stress levels.
That was my problem with Chrono Cross, too. It was trying too hard to be different simply for the sake of being different, nevermind what would make sense, even in the context of its own storyline. And that never works in any medium.
The review mentions that the "writing is easily some of the best," but doesn't note anything in particular. Even if the entire game had taken out the Chrono Trigger connection, the game would still be very vapid and superficial. Characters and story in actual novels would actually get some attention. Instead, you get a lot of stock characters like "comic relief" guys like Solt and Peppor, or "Unlucky Childhood Friend" girl, or "Mysterious Stranger" Guile, or "Voodoo doll" guy.
Even the characters who do get any development don't get a lot of it. We find out a lot of backstory, but we never really get to know the characters. The Prometheus Circuit's sacrifice, is lessened, because we really don't know much about it, except as a nod to Robo from Chrono Trigger. He's a very different character here, and we really know little about him. It can't really be a Tear Jerker if you can't connect to the character.
GloveAndBoots is good for Blog!
Chrono Cross seems to have a decent plot but the writing is absolutely atrocious. Not even close to \"some of the best in the virtual medium\"
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What do you mean Fin?!
Be aware: this troper sees the Chrono duology as some of the best things to ever happen to video games and will include some spoilers. Where Chrono Trigger rounded out the SNES's life span with a satisfying bang, Chrono Cross puts the Playstation to bed screaming. The game has multiple endings, as did its predecessor, but the canonical ending simply leaves you wondering what will happen next. By that point, you'll have poured hours into the excellent combat system and learning about your giant and well developed cast of party members only to pull a plot 360 without a revealing of what your actions have changed. This and some inadequately expained plot threads can be attributed to the game's premature release. If the legendary development staff had been given the time neccesary to apply the finishing touches, we would have received an even greater experience. To summarize, my only problem with Chrono Cross is that it ended. It's great Serge managed to save time itself, but I want to see him reunite with Kid; I want to see how merging the two worlds affected the new world and my party members; and lastly, I want to know what happened to the original characters of Chrono Trigger. At various points you are given indications of what might have happened to some (Luca's kidnapping, Robo aka Prometheus in FATE, Magus looking for Schala) but the only physical appearances we get are the ghost kids from the time crash. All negativity aside, this is one hell of a ride that most people can appreciate. There are detractors, mainly Trigger purists, who will call the game out on breaking some JRPG conventions, but the intuitive lack of experience and skill points are part of what make it so great. The writing is easily some of the best in the virtual medium and easily surpasses the average novel. Completing Chrono Trigger will make the experience more cohesive so long as it is with an understanding that some parts just aren't complete. This is Squaresoft's grand eloquent love letter to its longtime lover, RPG Nerds, that was delivered too early.