Chrono Cross
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I’ve fallen for Chrono Trigger’s text adventure pseudo-sequel
I’ve fallen for ‘Chrono Trigger’s’ pseudo-sequel text adventure, Radical Dreamers.
Games of a Lifetime: Xav's picks
After more than ten years devoted to video games and the people who make them, Joystiq is closing its doors. We won't be reporting on the best games of 2015, so join us for one last hurrah as the Joystiq family reveals their Games of a Lifetime. Chrono Trigger In my recent Joystiq Presents episode I talked about the profound impact the strategy guide of Chrono Trigger had on my love of games. Being able to finally play the game, just thinking of the first time I had that chance, still gets me a little choked up. It still stands as my favorite game of all time. I've played it a countless amount of times on so many platforms. It has wonderful characters, a story about fighting fate and shaping the world. I don't know if was supposed to be so "heady," but I think of it that way. It was meaningful, it showed the consequences of action, it had a talking Frog and a badass Robot. To me, Chrono Trigger is perfect.
Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts music from Tokyo Philharmonic
The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra recorded Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo, a live album of classic video game music, during its two days of sold-out shows in 2012. The performance includes orchestral renditions of music from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross – and the full album is now available worldwide on iTunes, courtesy of X5 Music Group. Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura says of the new album, "Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo is a wonderful experience – I cannot imagine a higher appreciation of my work." Hear "Fantasy 1: Kingdom Hearts," the only track released in full to the wide and wild internet, below. It's a fairly spectacular feast for the ears and heart.
Hiromichi Tanaka leaves Square Enix
Hiromichi Tanaka, a producer and designer who has been a part of Square Enix since before it was even Square Enix, announced his departure from the company during Vanafest 2012, an event held to commemorate Final Fantasy XI's 10-year anniversary.Tanaka's departure is due in part to his health; he suffers from a "major illness" of some kind, according to Andriasang's translation of a Famitsu interview. Tanaka also cited a desire to work as a "single creator" on future development projects as a reason for resigning his post as Final Fantasy XI's producer.Aside from FFXI, Tanaka's portfolio at Square dates back to 1984's The Death Trap, although his work on the original Final Fantasy probably garnered more exposure. He also worked on Final Fantasy II, III and IV, as well as Xenogears and Chrono Cross. Akihiko Matsui, currently part of the Final Fantasy XIV team, was named as Tanaka's successor. Matsui will work on both FFXI and FFXIV, primarily focusing on FFXIV until Version 2.0 is completed.
PSN's classic JRPGs: What holds up?
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. "Hey Jason," you say, an innocent twinkle in your eye. "I've never played any old-school JRPGs. Where should I start? Which are the best ones? Do any of them hold up in 2011?" Excellent questions, my hypothetical friend. There are plenty of ways to get your paws on the classics, but it can be tough for newbies to tell exactly which ones are worth playing. You could try asking a more experienced JRPG fan, but he might be too blinded by nostalgia to discern whether or not his favorite game has aged well. So to help you sort through the chaos, I'll be delving back into a whole bunch of old JRPGs over the next couple of weeks. I'll spend about 30-60 minutes with each one -- certainly not enough time to properly review a game, but enough to get a feel for whether it holds up today, and how it compares to my memories of it. Today we'll start with the PlayStation Store, a veritable treasure trove of classic JRPGs.
Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 5 and 6 all coming to PSN in coming weeks
If you, like us, have felt jilted as other territories received a glut of Square Enix RPGs while the U.S. got table scraps, it's time to relieve yourself of your worries. PlayStation Blog has just announced the "Winter of RPGs" campaign, which will see the release of three much-desired PSOne Classics on the PSN: Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 5 and Final Fantasy 6. You'll be able to grab the character-rich Chrono Cross next Tuesday, November 8, the career-oriented Final Fantasy 5 on November 22, and the positively operatic Final Fantasy 6 on December 6. It's nice that they'll finally be on there -- though forcing them to compete for our free time with Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations seems, well, kind of mean.
Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy Origins rated for PSN
Oh, Chrono Cross? And Final Fantasy Origins, which includes the franchise's first two NES installments? You mean those games that have been available in other territories' PlayStation Stores for a few months now, leaving us to stew in a bog of our own jealousy? You're telling us that they were recently rated to be released on the North American PlayStation Network? Well, guess what -- we don't care anymore. We don't care that we'll be able to play Chrono Cross on our PSP, taking the magical adventures of Serge, Kid (and a third party to be named later) on the bus with us. Maybe if you'd gotten to us a few months ago, our hearts wouldn't be so cold and calloused.
Chrono Cross coming to Japanese PSN, we give up hope forever
To celebrate its 20,000th Twitter follower of its Members (Japanese) account this week, Square Enix announced its next PSOne Classics release for the Japanese PlayStation Store -- the one just about everyone has been waiting on -- Chrono Cross. The tweet doesn't mention pricing or release date details for the downloadable version of the beloved RPG, but if we were to venture a guess, we'd say "around $10" and "a hundred thousand years before the game makes it to the American PSN," respectively. Yeah, we're a little bitter. But what did you expect after we watched other regions get PSN versions of Squeenix jams like Brave Fencer Musashi, Bushido Blade, Chocobo Racing, Einhander, Legend of Mana, Parasite Eve, Parasite Eve 2, SaGa Frontier, Vagrant Story AND Xenogears? We try so hard to stay optimistic, but ... well, all this unchecked disparity is making our heart hurt.
Dream Games: Chrono Cross
Dream Games is a new weekly column where we explore a game we'd love to see on the PSP. Feel free to check in, and comment, every week.Chrono CrossYou may remember a little game called Chrono Trigger. It's considered one of the best games ever created, and the sequel is almost equally superb.Why PSP?Square loves remaking games. And the PSP is home to a good number of them: Valkyrie Profile, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Tactics. Surely, a Chrono Cross remake will be heading our way.Is it possible?Yes. I'd like to think it's quite likely. But, will Square put the effort to make a Rondo of Blood-like remake? Imagine: a fully graphically revamped Chrono Cross with Chrono Trigger added as a bonus. It would be the most value-packed UMD ever created. Hmm ... doesn't sound like Square's into that "value" thing. Regardless, both Chrono games are good enough to warrant a revisiting.
Microsoft buys Chrono series, news retracted [update 1]
Our RSS feed is a long reaching fish net across the sea of the interweb. It catches more or less everything regarding Xbox 360. This includes news stories that get immediately pulled from their site of origin. Xboxic had a story that hit our feed along with others, that reported on Microsoft buying the Chrono series, with Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger prime candidates for XBLA. Even the thought of a new gen Chrono title was bounced around. Then, in a puff of smoke, it disappeared. News items preceding and following are intact, though. Obviously something fishy is going on, and usually Microsoft doesn't care when one posts the wrong information. What they do care about is when the right information is posted at the wrong time. Feel free to speculate and tell us how you'd feel about seeing the Chrono series on you 360.Update: Regular reader dpcough points out that the story was a fake and that was the reason it was taken down. Mystery solved, and thankfully no memory wipes are required of our fanboys.
Our most wanted PSone games
We have faith that one day, the PlayStation Store will be accessible via PSP without the need for a PS3, and will flourish into a glorious realm of classic games, one that will be untouched by the competition. Of course, homebrew users will rip their own games ... but for the rest of us, this is my personal wishlist of PSone games that I'd like to see available for download.
Role-playing titles that made a "quantum leap"
Gamasutra recently polled its readers on which role-playing game made the biggest "quantum leap" at the time it was released. Any RPG throughout the history of the genre was fair pickings, but the top entry was the game that received the most votes from readers identified as industry professionals (because grunts like you and me only dilute the quality of the selection process).Classic heavyweights such as Final Fantasy IV, Neverwinter Nights, EverQuest, Baldur's Gate II, and the Ultima series are celebrated as honorable mentions, which illustrates the impressive depth of the genre. I won't reveal the top five vote-getters, but a certain spike-haired dude with a huge sword is absent from the list -- just one omission of many that should fuel some interesting debates among the RPG faithful. What are your thoughts about the list?See also: "Epic" RPGs: too time-consuming for casual gamers? "RPG" missing from today's MMORPGs
Random encounters with Final Fantasy parody videos
Western Square fans have been waiting a long time for the next canonical (read: Roman-numeral-bearing, non-MMO, non-X-2) Final Fantasy release--five years if we're not mistaken--and they've apparently taken to creating live-action videos of the game to make the wait easier.
Sonic and Chrono composers to join PLAY! in Chicago
It appears that PLAY! A Video Game Symphony will be hosting yet another guest from Japan as well as another musical exclusive. Yasunori Mitsuda, main composer on Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and a number of other epic Japanese RPGs, will be attending the opening PLAY! concert in Chicago on May 27th. An "exclusive suite" of his music from the two Chrono games will be featured in every PLAY! concert worldwide. Mitsuda will join his compatriot Yuzo Koshiro, whose "special suite" of arranged music from the Sonic the Hedgehog series "will be heard live for the first time at the world-premiere." They will engage in a meet and greet with fans--who fork over the $125 needed for VIP tickets--along with Jeremy Soule (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind), Marty O'Donnell (Halo), and Jason Hayes (World of Warcraft). [Via 1UP]
