Each character has an innate color, enhancing the power of using same-color Elements. These pairs are Red (fire/magma) and Blue (water/ice), Green (wind/flora), Yellow (earth/lightning), White (light/cosmos), and Black (darkness/gravity). Elements are divided into six paired oppositional types, or "colors," each with a natural effect. With each level up, the grid expands, allowing more powerful Elements to be equipped. They are ranked according to eight tiers certain high level Elements can only be assigned on equivalent tiers in a character's grid. Once acquired, they are allocated to a grid whose size and shape are unique to each character. Elements can be purchased from shops or found in treasure chests littered throughout areas. The game's magical system focuses on Elements, which unleash magic effects upon the enemy or party and must be equipped for use (much like the material of 1997's Final Fantasy VII). In battle, players can attack, use Elements, defend, or run awayĬhrono Cross's developers aimed to break new ground in the genre, and the game features several innovations. If all the player's characters fall in battle, the game ends and must be restored from a previously saved chapter-except for specific storyline-related battles that allow the player to lose. When a playable character loses all hit points, he or she faints. For both the playable characters and the CPU-controlled enemies, each attack reduces their number of hit points, which can be restored through Elements and Consumable Elements. Battles are turn-based, allowing the player infinite time to select an action from the available menu. Touching the monster switches perspectives to a battle screen, where players physically attack, use Elements, defend, or run away from the enemy. Like Chrono Trigger, the game features no random encounters enemies are openly visible on field maps or lie in wait to ambush the party. Locations such as cities and forests are represented by more realistically scaled field maps, in which players can converse with locals to procure items and services, solve puzzles and challenges, or encounter enemies. Around the island world are villages, outdoor areas, and dungeons, through which the player moves in three dimensions. Navigation between areas is conducted via an overworld map, depicting the landscape from a scaled down overhead view. Players advance the game by controlling Serge through the game's world by foot and boat. A "Millennium Edition" featuring a calendar, clock, and music sampler disc was also released.Ĭhrono Cross (like Trigger until it's recent DS port) was never released in PAL territories.Ĭhrono Cross features standard RPG gameplay with certain innovations. The game's 1.5 million copies shipped worldwide led to a Greatest Hits re-release and continued life in Japan as part of the Ultimate Hits series. Upon its release in Japan in 1999 and in North America in 2000, Chrono Cross received high ratings and critical acclaim, earning a rare perfect 10.0 score from GameSpot. Struggling to uncover his past and find the mysterious Frozen Flame, Serge is chiefly challenged by Lynx, a shadowy antagonist working to apprehend him. The flashy thief Kid and forty-three other characters assist him in his travels around the tropical archipelago El Nido. Faced with an alternate reality in which he died as a child, Serge endeavors to discover the truth of the two worlds' divergence. The story of Chrono Cross focuses on a teenage boy named Serge and a theme of parallel worlds. Composer Yasunori Mitsuda scored Chrono Cross and Nobuteru Yūki designed its characters. Unlike its predecessor's "Dream Team", Chrono Cross was developed primarily by scenarist and director Masato Kato and other programmers from Chrono Trigger, including art director Yasuyuki Honne and sound planner Minoru Akao. Playstation Network ( PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV)Ĭhrono Cross ( クロノ・クロス, Kurono Kurosu ?) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Sony PlayStation.