Patreon Pin Up 11/29/21 (Patreon)

The rumor is this week that Chrono Cross is the latest classic game to be getting the remaster treatment. (And if the word "remaster" sends a chill down your spine anymore, I don't blame you.) I was a bit surprised to hear it, honestly. Original Playstation games aren't a quick, easy project to upgrade to modern hardware, I don't imagine. It's also curious that it's not the fan-fav preceding game, Chrono Trigger, getting the love, but its divisive sequel instead.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Chrono Cross is, in my opinion, a goddamn masterpiece. I think it has the best original soundtrack of any game ever, and second place is not even close. The artwork is gorgeous and the presentation was way ahead of its time. The character designs by Nobuteru Yuki were somehow each wildly creative despite an enormous cast of characters. Much of the talent behind the classic original was back for the sequel, with one notable exception being Akira Toriyama. And sorry, Dragonball fans, but everything he does looks like Dragonball to me. His style is just too iconic to make me think of anything else when I see it. I liked the new guy better. XD

So with all this praise, why did I call the game "divisive" in my opening statement? Well, excellent as Chrono Cross was as a standalone game, as a sequel to Chrono Trigger, it fell flat on its face, rolled down the stairs, and stood up with both feet in buckets of paint somehow. 

It just wasn't the kind of sequel Chrono fans were hoping for.  The original game was like a lighthearted fairy tale. A simple, razor-sharp story that anyone could follow, with a tight cast of lovable characters that you had a hard time picking a favorite from. Whereas Chrono Cross introduced a twisty, confusing and existential narrative that would sadly become the norm for JRPGs overall as time went on.  The tone of the game was often dark, bordering on tragic. The small cast was replaced by a massive roster that, as I said, looked great, but there just wasn't room to flesh any of them out properly and let you get attached to like the first game did. Still a great game, but a drastic departure from the original.

With this supposed remaster looming (again, just a rumor as of this writing, could be getting way ahead of myself here,) my guess is that this is the latest test from Square Enix to gauge interest in making a new Chrono game. The last test was in 2009, with the release of the DS version of Chrono Trigger. Still the definitive version of the game by far, but it failed to set the world on fire sales-wise, so no sequels for us. 

Putting aside my white-hot rage at this business practice, I personally don't care if we fail the test again, and a third game never comes to be. Chrono Trigger was lightening in a bottle, just the right game for just the right time. Even the same team couldn't recreate the magic back then, so it's hard for me to imagine a group of newbies somehow making something even comparable in quality now. 

Oh and this is "Kid," by the way. With so many badass characters to choose from, I had a hard time settling on who to draw today. She's the poster girl for the game, if it had one. If this remaster actually sees the light of day, I might do another character as well. 

But what do you think? Did you actually read this far? Is this too obscure a property for a Monday pin up? And no one but old man Reinbach even knows what the hell Chrono Cross is? Let me know!