![]() The story also culminates with Lynx basically kicking everyone's ass and only forced to accept defeat when an army organized by Dalton appears via deus ex machina. To illustrate, in Radical Dreamers, Lynx kidnaps Lucca and then murders her in front of Kid. It is a dark and brutal "hard reset" meant to pave the way for future projects. It, like Chrono Cross, cares not about your nostalgia for Chrono Trigger. ![]() I will warn you right now Radical Dreamers is not for the faint of heart. ![]() So, if we are talking about the number of people who even could play Radical Dreamers as God intended, it was a percent of a percent. I'm not going to review the history of the Satellaview, but I will note the highest number of active subscribers to the platform was around 100,000 people. As the Satellaview itself never launched outside of Japan, that limited the possible audience for Radical Dreamers. Radical Dreamers was one of a hundred or so titles exclusive to the Satellaview add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Part of the reason it was never released outside of Japan was due to its platform of choice. Much like Chrono Cross, Radical Dreamers is a wildly ambitious title, but a flawed one at that. Suddenly, they get embroiled in a conspiracy capable of destroying the world. The two are joined by a comrade named "Gil," and as they attempt to rob Viper Mansion, they quickly find themselves way over their heads. However, its story featured a stark tale involving a young boy named Serge and his female companion, Kid. The player's agency is relatively limited, but that was the standard for visual novels then and even today. Its gameplay was a then-novel mix of text-based dialogue choices and scripted cutscenes. Radical Dreamers, or Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Houseki, was a visual novel sequel to Chrono Trigger exclusive to Japan. Even radical Dreamers is a technical marvel to look at. As a result, I think it is both healthier and fairer to view Chrono Cross not as a sequel to Chrono Trigger but instead, a fully realized release of one of Squaresoft's most obscure failed projects: Radical Dreamers. If you go into Chrono Cross expecting a logical continuation of Chrono Trigger, you will not appreciate anything it accomplishes. However, I think immediately jumping into Chrono Cross expecting a sequel to one of the most beloved JRPGs ever made "poisons the well" in more than one way. They were the ones that billed Chrono Cross as the successor of Chrono Trigger and included various references to the game within Chrono Cross. Admittedly, these grousing opening statements are partly Squaresoft's fault. Virtually every review starts its assessment with a piece about how different Chrono Cross compares to its supposed predecessor, Chrono Trigger. Whenever people try to assess Chrono Cross, I think most evaluations, especially negative ones, make a critical misstep from the onset. But for now, Jesus Christ, Chrono Cross sure is a video game! Part #1: The Legacy Of Radical Dreamers Maybe as this series progresses, I'll be able to wrangle the proverbial creative "mixed bag" that is this game. Nonetheless, I still do not know if I'd recommend the game to anyone, especially those with any nostalgia surrounding Chrono Trigger. However, the game is a monumental accomplishment and a work of art that speaks volumes of the creative " Golden Age" Squaresoft was ridding on during the PlayStation One. I still cannot fathom how this game's story and mechanics were allowed to ship in the incoherent mess they are, and to be honest, always have been. That aside, Chrono Cross is one of those games that, top-to-bottom, left me speechless. However, for various reasons, which we will discuss shortly, this series was a teeming nightmare to create. Initially, I had planned to air this series to mark the twentieth anniversary of its North American release. When I wrapped up my Final Fantasy XI series last year, I mentioned my next "long-form" blog series would detail my adventures with Chrono Cross.
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