Usually when people mention the words Square and RPG in the same sentence, the subject is usually the Final Fantasy series.  Since its the days of the NES, Square continues to publish RPGs based on that name.  When the topic of discussion is limited to the 16-bit era however, Chrono Trigger is long argued as being the best RPG from that era.  Chrono Trigger offered us the charming innocence of three young heroes -- led by Chrono -- across time and space in a quest to save the world.  Its innovations included not only its unique timed combat system, but the stellar graphics and music that accompanied it, as well as multiple endings which were dependent on the people your in your party.  The greatest tragedy of Chrono Trigger, however, is that after such a great adventure, nothing was ever offered in the way of a sequel.  That is, until now. Nearly five years after the original made it's debut on the SNES, we finally have Chrono Cross, the sequel to Chrono Trigger.

Chrono Cross begins with a sequence in which Serge, the silent controllable protagonist; Kid, the young thief with an Australian accent; and Orlha, the tough but calm bar maid, search an old temple for an artifact called the Frozen Flame.  After a small search and a few battles, they find it on a pedestal in a large room. The Frozen Flame is an artifact that is rumored to be so powerful that if one is to gaze into its light it will either transform you or kill you.  As Serge gazes into the legendary Frozen Flame, images begin to flash in his mind.  In the distance, he can hear a voice call his name.  Serge awakes to find that his mother has been trying to get him up.  He overslept and his initial adventure was just a dream.  However, Serge soon finds out that the Frozen Flame is quite real and that an adventure that transcends not only time but also multiple universes is about to unravel. 

Of course, to reveal any more of the plot would be a great injustice to those who have yet to play it.  Chrono Cross has an amazingly deep storyline loaded with multiple sub-plots, endings, and several twists that tie in quite nicely to the original SNES version.  Interestingly, Chrono Cross was rumored to be a semi-sequel and otherwise unrelated to the first Chrono Trigger.  Thankfully, it only appears this way only initially and Chrono Cross is indeed a real and true sequel to the classic Chrono Trigger.  Because the storyline in Chrono Cross can get quite involving, it might help to play a refresher round of the original. 

Chrono Cross has graphics similar to those found in the Final Fantasy series on the PlayStation.  The adventure portions are real time, game engine-rendered characters on a pre-rendered background and combat sequences are in real time full 3D.  There is very little to complain in this area as both the characters and the pre-rendered backgrounds match fairly well in the game. There are a few areas -- such as Master Gogh's house -- that look poor next to the always clear and consistent real-time generated characters but, thankfully, such examples are few and far between.  The majority of the backgrounds are very well done.  The combat sequence graphics are also well done and if you've played either Final Fantasy VII or VIII then you know what to expect.  One thing that Chrono Cross seems to excel at is amazing character animation.  All motions are exceptionally smooth and realistic.  Most of the characters have very distinct personality traits and their appearance matches them.  

The audio is exceptional but not exactly memorable. There isn't a single note that seems out of place and the entire soundtrack fits the mood of the game quite well. The only real problem is that separate themes in the game don't exactly stand out from the rest.  There is well written music throughout the game but nothing you can pick out specifically and hum at work either. 

Controlling the heroes is a relatively simple task in the adventure portion.   Up is generally up and down is generally down.  It's the battle system that requires some time to get used to.  To attack, the player must select between three different power levels, each with a corresponding hit success percentage.  Use a heavy attack early and you'll most likely miss due to a low success percentage.  Instead, players are encouraged to hit with weak attacks first to build up the success percentage of stronger attacks and build up levels for elemental attacks.  Elementals are more commonly referred to as magic attacks although there is a change in this department for Chrono Cross as well.  Each character is attributed with a certain elemental color.  Serge is attributed with white, for example.  This means that if he uses a white elemental attack against an enemy that is attributed with the opposite color, black, it will do far more damage than with other colors.  Along with attributed elemental attacks is the ability to change the field color of battle.  If a character, such as Guile, who is attributed with black, launches an elemental attack while the field is also attributed black, his attack will multiply in force.  What seems to be an intimidating combat system becomes almost second nature after a few battles and I found it to be one of the better RPG combat systems envisioned yet.  Probably the best thing about the combat system is that, like it's predecessor, there are no random encounters with enemies.  You can see them trudge about on the screen as you walk around.  This allows gamers who may not be properly equipped or badly hurt to avoid combat and go the nearest town to heal up. 

What Chrono Cross does right with the combat system seems to slip with element management and exit points.  When new elements are awarded to the heroes, they first have to be attributed to the characters before they may be used.  Even if you found a Photon Ray elemental in that last boss battle, it will remain useless in your inventory until you give it to a character who may use it.  It's not really a problem but if a character has a mix of different colored elements and you wish to switch and organize between different characters then the interface can be a chore.  It might take a few minutes out of game time to rearrange elements between new characters.  Also, the exit points in different scenes can be somewhat hard to find.  Occasionally, it might be necessary to wander the border of an object or scene to find an exit point or an area you can walk on.  These are not huge problems and most of the time they are quickly forgotten but Square could have optimized the inventory system a bit as well as adding more visual clues to provide an easier path to navigate. 

Chrono Cross, like any other game, has a few flaws but they're not major enough to distract from the otherwise deep and enjoyable plot and overall fun factor.  A few minor problems here and there don't skew the fact that this is one of Square's better RPGs as well as being a worthy sequel to the 16-bit great, Chrono Trigger.  Fans of RPGs will definitely enjoy this title but big fans of the original simply must buy this title.  Multiple plot points and multiple endings make this game something not only to enjoy once but a few times through.  A great experience and a worthy addition to the PlayStation library.