Finish the game! Everything from the Sea of Eden to the end.

Good luck!

I don’t know about you, but my mana gauge is full.
Mana powers the brain? I thought it was used for magic. Please explain.

Ah, I see. You want a good kick in the pants. NOW I understand!
You would attempt physical violence? You cannot reach me as I exist only in a dream of my own making. Checkmate.

Consider how many of the world’s greatest questions could have been answered with the brainpower wasted discussing Chrono Cross?
That’s my day job. In my time off, I prefer to engage in frivolity.

Are we real, or is life a dream, like in the Matrix?
Ah, I see. You want a good kick in the pants. NOW I understand!

Or perhaps the real question is, how much brainpower is used up per discussion? Is there a limit; a total amount of brainpower per person?
I don’t know about you, but my mana gauge is full.

Your speculation as to the thinking behind the attack accuracy percentage leads me to the conclusion that you have devoted too much deep thought into this subject. Consider how many of the world’s greatest questions could have been answered with the brainpower wasted discussing Chrono Cross?

I don’t mean to be critical, but I have to wonder if there will ever be enough time (or brainpower) left after pondering mediocre PS1 RPGs. What is the meaning of life? Are we real, or is life a dream, like in the Matrix? Was Neo really “The One”? We could have had these answers. Or perhaps the real question is, how much brainpower is used up per discussion? Is there a limit; a total amount of brainpower per person?

while CC is a good little RPG, the battle system is really poor. But am I saying that because I ‘know better’?
No, it was rubbish at the time, too. I wasn’t even a huge fan of Chrono Trigger when I played CC, but I still felt immediately that this game was mostly frustrating garbage, albeit dressed up and presented very nicely.

Is it possible to fairly judge this or any other game without bias? Is it not the nature of humanity to allow experience to color our perspective?
That’s not the same thing as ‘bias’ in the pejorative sense of irrelevant premises or conclusions. Experience can provide relevant knowledge, and knowledge is perfectly acceptable (indeed, it is the only acceptable thing) as the basis of a logical argument. If we are to rule out information gained as result of experience, then no information can be admissible (all information is at some level gained via experience). It is logically groundless or irrelevant matters that should not colour our perspectives. If we are trying to make an objective decision about a game, for example, we should not admit of subjective bias in the form of reminisces, where we were when we played it, etc., as these are facts about the subject and not about the game’s independent aesthetic or systemic merits.

Is it possible that the allocation of elements is less a stupid exercise, and more challenging a game-within-a-game?
No. It is not presented as one and does not meet the qualifications of being one in any case.

Does the 50-50 chance of a 95% attack hitting an enemy remind us of our own humanity, and teach us to cherish the attacks that actually land?
No. That a thing has probabilistic content does not automatically make that thing an intellectually significant examination of other things that also have probabilistic content. The national lottery is not actually an introspective commentary on lung cancer rates in rat terriers.

No. Limited element allocation and constantly missing 90%+ attacks are stupid things.
Indeed, and more saliently, they are the results of poor decisions made by the development team.

As an aside, I have long suspected (although I have not cared enough to verify) that the percentage chance to hit is the chance before any enemy evasion is calculated into the equation. So, when a character attacks, the game ‘rolls’ a first ‘to hit’ roll based on the on-screen percentage. If that attack hits, the game rolls a second time based on the target’s (unseen) evasion statistic. Only if that roll also hits does the blow actually land at which point damage is calculated. This is purely speculative, but it would explain the observed behaviour of the game.

I do think games should be judged on their own merit, and while CC is a good little RPG, the battle system is really poor. But am I saying that because I ‘know better’? Is it possible to fairly judge this or any other game without bias? Is it not the nature of humanity to allow experience to color our perspective?

Is it possible that the allocation of elements is less a stupid exercise, and more challenging a game-within-a-game? Does the 50-50 chance of a 95% attack hitting an enemy remind us of our own humanity, and teach us to cherish the attacks that actually land?

No. Limited element allocation and constantly missing 90%+ attacks are stupid things.

Ok. I’m done ranting about hit percentages now (hopefully!). I actually discovered something tonight! You can actually switch active characters in battle by pressing left and right, as long as another character’s stamina is 1 or greater. I had no idea this was possible, always thought that you were just limited to selecting the actions of whichever character that the game dictates. It makes me feel kind of dumb for not realizing this before.

The more I play, the more I enjoy the soundtrack. I forgot how much of it is rearrangements from Chrono Trigger, and I am definitely coming around to this soundtrack being stronger than CT overall.

I just fought Captain Fargo and am currently on his ship.

There are too many characters and most of them are forgettable, I would play the game again if not were by sonic advance 2.

@Lusipurr- You never let me play a bad game, such shady behavior.

It’s also one of the most beautiful games on the ps1, and has perhaps my all time favorite video game soundtrack (to date the only one I own).

The combat system is for sure the low point, along with the management of elements once you start acquiring them in large number.

Overall though ,I think it is definitely worth playing at least once if you like jrpgs. I was debating about whether or not to join in on the site playthrough since I had completed it so recently (especially given how tedious at times it can be), but I think I am going to give it a go. I remember reading about Pip’s evolutions just after beating the game last time, so I might try using him since I never had a need for a white innate besides Starky or Serge. Actually in general think I might try messing around with some different party setups. The game has some pretty decent replay value in that way.

@Ferchu, stop playing that bad game and play this very ordinary one instead!

@Sebastian, if you ever find something that delivers like FF7, let me know. FFTactics is a fantastic game–it’s pretty close, even with its many translation woes–but it’s still no FF7. I think the thing about FF7 is that it manages to maintain its tone throughout, and to do so in a way that is consistent within its world and believeable to those without. Chrono Trigger is another game that does this–they are immersive in that they completely capture the player and make the player feel as though the game world is a believeable place in which they can be involved. Sometimes games go too far with what they want the player to accept, with the result that the immersion is broken; or the systems are aggravating, or the translation is awful, or the music is grating, and so on. All of these things conspire to draw the player out. But in the case of FF7, one sinks right into it. The game world becomes the world of the player, seamlessly.

@RabidKitten: Well, it is worth playing a little bit (and it is on PSP/PSV), even if only to learn why there are problems with the combat system. I will say that, in its defense, it moves at a pretty quick clip up through the Sea of Eden. It doesn’t have too many places where it bogs down, except when it comes to dealing with the dragon gods near the end of the game (which I always find very tiresome).

@Fumunshu: I HATE the Beeba Bros. >:(

The visuals and music are nice, as I remembered, but I’m not feeling engaged at this point. Perhaps I’m over-thinking this as I’m only part way through Viper Manor at level 6 (star 6?)… Still, I have been challenged from the beginning in other games (FF Tactics comes to mind) and it was the satisfaction of accomplishment after winning a tough battle that won my investment in those RPGs.

@Lusipurr I think what saved me was FF7, which I owned first but had never played past the first boss, having no idea what an RPG even was. When I started playing FF8 at a friend’s house and then played through CC, I went back and played FF7 to the end, feeling very let down afterwards when I realized I had to find a new game that would captivate me as much. I still haven’t.

-attack (often a miss)
-interupt (sometimes several in a row)
-get one more attack in
-interupts
-healing round (why do consumables heal less in battle??)
-repeat…

All of it slow as molasses…

I do like having the quick heal option after battles though. I wish more rpgs had that.

I hope you won’t be disappointed with Chrono Cross. Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest games ever made, so it is a tough act to follow.

I will play this game, once that I have finished with Chronno trigger.

So many good games and so little time.

Being interrupted mid-attack is vile. Especially as it resets your hit percentage.

The battles are REALLY slow–that’s not a Vita issue, either. The game runs like that on the PS1 as well. We’re a bit spoiled nowadays that we see slowdown as a serious issue worth mentioning when, during the PS1 era (like in other eras before), slowdown was a natural thing that one encountered fairly regularly. FF8 is the same way; there’s even some slowdown in Symphony of the Night!

Go back further in time and we start to run into sprite flicker being acceptable. Today, that’s definitely not on!

Missing attacks doesn’t frustrate me half so much as being interrupted mid-attack – which is infuriating!