Chrono Cross had the unenviable task in 1999 of continuing the story of Chrono Trigger, which remains, to this day, one of the most celebrated RPGs of all time. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, the game had to do without Chrono Trigger’s famous “dream team” of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama at the helm. Instead, the development of Chrono Cross fell to Chrono Trigger writer/story planner Masato Kato. Chrono Trigger composer Yasunori Mitsuda returned to provide Crono Cross’ music, and The Vision of Escaflowne artist Nobuteru Yuuki took over Toriyama’s position as character designer. The results were controversial. Now that divisive legacy is available for a new generation to discover with Square Enix’s release of Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition on modern consoles and PC. While it’s great to have such a fascinating game at players’ fingertips, and the remastered version provides some quality of life upgrades, The Radical Dreamers Edition proves less definitive than hoped.
