There's a bit of a disconnect between Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition and the world it's being released into. In an era of video game history where live service updates are often an expectation and digital services can up and stop at any point, invalidating online collections, Chrono Cross's remaster is doing the exact opposite. It's a bare bones remaster with updated graphics, character illustrations that wouldn't be out of place on the original PlayStation, and a few other bells and whistles. It's also the preservation of two important moments in gaming history that might have faded away without this timely revamp.
Chrono Cross is a JRPG, first released in 1999, that follows teenager Serge on a quest to save the world. Featuring a diverse cast of over 40 characters and an interesting story that features all kinds of alternate timeline shenanigans, Chrono Cross is a worthy inheritor of the world in which its set, which it shares with the legendary Chrono Trigger. All of its narrative beats and its innovations in casting remain compelling in 2022, which is a testament to the quality of its writing.
Gameplay features real-time map exploration with enemies that can either be chased down or run from, and turn-based combat that uses a stamina system to determine how many actions each character gets per turn. It's simple at first and escalates quickly into a fun, enthralling blend of strategy and optimism - seeing the percentage chance a certain strike has to hit can lead down some dangerous roads, but also makes for a great story to friends, lamenting a 63% chance gone awry. Combinations of skills and the diversity enabled in party composition also makes for a thrilling journey into team-building, and small quality of life upgrades like the ability to speed up exploration is welcome.
The Radical Dreamers, on the other hand, is an entirely text-based adventure that was originally conceived to tie up loose ends in Chrono Trigger. It's plot correlates somewhat to events in Chrono Cross, but the two narratives diverge so differently in others that the two actually can't co-exist alongside each other. It's an interesting look into multiple timelines - the same way both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross explore non-linear chronology - and even The Radical Dreamers' existence at all provides a sort of "meta" feel to the Chrono Cross experience.
That said, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition does very little to alter the experience of either game, especially Radical Dreamers. The few graphical changes are welcome but Chrono Cross looks and behaves very much like a game from 1999 still. As far as remasters go, this is one that doesn't feel significant from a technical standpoint.
However, from a games preservation standpoint, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition does everything right. Its few changes don't impact the overall experience and can be toggled off, while the package unites two disparate takes on a continuation of the world of Chrono Trigger in one collection. Its release ensures that the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of Chrono Cross don't gradually disappear as the only somewhat-modern ways to collect the game, and that's a win.
Actually deciding whether or not Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is worth it varies wildly depending on what a given consumer is looking for. As a remaster, it falls short of the high bar some other projects over the last few years have managed to meet. As a gaming experience absent its new bells and whistles, Chrono Cross remains a stunning title that still captivates as a JRPG over two decades since its release, while The Radical Dreamers remains an oddball text adventure that few but the most dedicated lore enthusiasts will find appealing. As a preservation project, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is all but necessary. What players choose to do with that information is up to them.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is available on April 7, 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.