Poll: Something About "Chrono Trigger" is really bothering me.

[Austin Howe]

You ever notice that, despite the fact that the rest of the tracks are excellent, the battle and boss themes all. . .suck??? Seriously, it's just not right.

Thankfully, the battle themes in Chrono Cross are great, especially "Prisoners of Fate", the song first heard fighting Miguel. It's part of the reason Chrono Cross is so much better.

Seriously though, anyone else notice/think the same?

 

[feeback06]

I really think the bass line in the main battle theme is catchy. And Magus' boss battle theme is very epic. I think Chrono Cross has the best soundtrack ever in a video game however.

 

[Defense]

Oh, don't worry. If you think that's bad, wait until the Final Boss theme. It's just so damn horrible. It wouldn't be as bad if it weren't unfitting, but most people would expect a theme fitting for a last boss, not one for a gay bar.

 

[Austin Howe]

Yeah, the BASS is good, as opposed to say FFVII's battle theme, in which every component is awesome. The battle themes in Trigger definitely live up to Mitsuda's style, but they're just not up to par, especially compared to that OTHER classic Square RPG on the SNES (there's only one, take a guess).

 

[Austin Howe]

Oh good god the Lavos battle theme is terrible. It's just the same shit, over, and over, and over, and over. All the good Final boss themes EVOLVE. "One-Winged Angel", "The Extreme", "Dark Messenger", "Dragon God", etc. Seriously, CT's is outright pathetic.

Again, don't get me wrong, EVERY other track on the Trigger soundtrack is fantastic, just, the battle themes are really, really awful. It makes me not want to play sometimes, honestly.

 

[Austin Howe]

Ok, the boss theme in VI is OKAY, and don't confuse me for a fanboy of that game, but the battle theme is heavy as all get out and "Dancing Mad" is so awesome it survives on a single rock organ line, atmospheric guitar power chords, and a rap beat.

 

[mangledmailman]

i guess if you like a game with 40 undeveloped characters thrown into an incoherent plot, then chrono cross is the game for you.

if you want a game with a few very well developed characters revolving around an original and immersive plot, than you might like chrono trigger.

to think that cross, though a good game, is better than trigger is pretty ignorant. and having your first line of reasoning for that being "better boss battle music" is just more ignorance.

 

[Austin Howe]

Please, neither of those plots are good, we all know it, however, I find Kid from Cross to be infinitely more likeable than any character in Trigger. And Serge, still silent=bad, but they give him some development. Comparing silent protagonists, Serge is much better than Crono.

 

[Austin Howe]

Also, battle system, setting, character customization, character variety, vast replay value, and, yes, soundtrack.

 

[starwarsgeek]

Gonna have to disagree with you. I think all the tracks are great.

 

[mangledmailman]

chrono crosses character variety were akin to the variety of budget cheese at a supermarket. they may be different cheese, but theyre all cheese and most, if not all of them, taste the same. i would prefer the variety of trigger, where there actually is variety between fleshed out characters, where as crosses character were diluted sludge being pushed through a sewage pipe into our party until i couldnt help but wonder why any of them matter in the least.

the battles of cross were pretty innovative, but triggers were immensely better. the combination between characters moves in trigger worked better, as did the active time gameplay, and not having to load a battle screen every time an enemy decided to pop up.

if you want to say cross has character "customization" then you wouldnt be wrong. but that customization only goes as far to concern what different spells they use, and in that respect you can just make everyone do nearly the same damn thing. in trigger at least everyone was varied even if you couldnt give them a skill tree, or choose what they learned.

and the setting for cross was nice, but all 6 settings for trigger were better. cross had two worlds that were identical. trigger traveled through time. i wonder which has better and more diverse settings.

soundtrack is the one thing i can undoubtedly give to cross over trigger. you wont be hearing trigger music at video games live, but when they had the composer bring out the glass violin and play some cross music i nearly jizzed myself out of sheer amazement. but saying that the music is better as your first choice for saying the game is better is entirely unfounded.

 

[Austin Howe]

To be fair, I didn't grow up with SNES, I grew up with Playstation, so MAYBE I'm biasing a bit, but I still think Cross is much better. I really loved the stamina system, the elements, and the graphics were as good as the PS1 ever got, except maybe Final Fantasy VII or VIII, and/or Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, but all three games have massively different settings.

 

[mangledmailman]

@Zekksta

theres opinions and then theres facts. you can have an opinion about something but that doesnt make it true. looking factually based on a variety of criteria, trigger trumps cross. that doesn't mean your opinion that cross is better is wrong, but it would mean that you like an inferior game, even if said game is still good.

maybe if he had nto just given a reason of music as to why, and maybe fleshed out an argument like i had, i would have called it ignorance. but just saying things without basis or proof is ignorant.


@Austin Howe

you growing up in the PS era does make mroe sense. ive found that people who hadnt experienced trigger at all before playing cross like cross more. and crosses graphics were some of the only graphics i could say i liked on the playstation. FFIX and VIII as well, btu not VII. Soul Reaver was also an amazing game, with great graphics. but as a chrono trigger fan from when it came out, cross was a huge disappointment, and is by some, seen as a reason there hasnt been another sequel to the series yet.

and im not trying to bash cross, im just creating an argument. i enjoyed cross when i played it. its hard for me to sit and finish a JRPG and cross is still one of the few ive played through. just trigger is better.

 

[Austin Howe]

@mangledmailman: I actually played Trigger emulated, then ordered Cross on ebay after being impressed, and seeing pieces of HCBailey's LP, it's just my bias towards Sony in general. And I do have a major problem of pretty much equating JRPG quality with it's battle theme, not totally, but it helps Cross in my perspective. It makes me more likely to actually sit down and PLAY the dang game when I think about it. I see why fans would hate Cross. Not really ever having much of a fanboy problems for specific series' (consoles and the JRPG genre are a different case) I appreciate and enjoy Cross's differences from the original.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I found Chrono Cross to be under-appreciated, because few people understand how the two games are connected, and it's actually kind of genius.

Cross's events are caused in part by a paradox created in Chrono Trigger (involving the reptites, in what is probably the most justifiable revenge story ever), and an unresolved plot thread in Trigger (Schala).

With maybe one or two exceptions, I cannot think of a part in Chrono Trigger where the musical score isn't appropriate or memorable. Even the intro does it better than most modern games. Speaking of...
Chrono Trigger's intro is the absolute best intro for any game I've ever played. It's appropriately long, the music is amazing, and it summarizes the tone for the entire game.
Chrono Cross comes in a narrow 2nd, with the amazing intro and violen quartet.

On a technical level, Chrono Trigger isn't going to sound as epic when compared to the orchestral awesome of Cross (or CD quality music for that matter). Scars Across Time is probably my favorite game intro of all time. It's easily better than anything Nobuo Uematsu produced (in my opinion, and I have great respect for Uematsu).

 

[Austin Howe]

Oh, and just to stoke more flame, Yoko Shimomura of Kingdom Hearts and future FFVersusXIII fame has far surpassed Uematsu and Mitsuda.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

You ever notice that, despite the fact that the rest of the tracks are excellent, the battle and boss themes all. . .suck??? Seriously, it's just not right.

Thankfully, the battle themes in Chrono Cross are great, especially "Prisoners of Fate", the song first heard fighting Miguel. It's part of the reason Chrono Cross is so much better.

Seriously though, anyone else notice/think the same?

i guess if you like a game with 40 undeveloped characters thrown into an incoherent plot, then chrono cross is the game for you.

if you want a game with a few very well developed characters revolving around an original and immersive plot, than you might like chrono trigger.

to think that cross, though a good game, is better than trigger is pretty ignorant. and having your first line of reasoning for that being "better boss battle music" is just more ignorance.

Ok, both of you, when referring to each other in specific posts other than the opening one, hit the quote button. Much simpler all round, thanks.

 

[Austin Howe]

Ok, both of you, when referring to each other in specific posts other than the opening one, hit the quote button. Much simpler all round, thanks.

Apologies.