Chrono Cross is here at last... well, sort of. The official Japanese
release date has arrived, and a few lucky importers have already snagged
their copies. But for the average American gamer, the arrival of Chrono
Cross is still the better part of a year away. Sucks, eh? That's why I'm
importing, despite my staggering lack of Japanese comprehension. Is it an
act of faith, or merely an obsession? Only his mother knows for sure.
By the time the U.S. version sees release, I hope to have this thing
completed. But no promises.
This Guide may be distributed, reproduced, copied, folded, spindled or
cited, so long as you credit me and don't change the text. If you don't
like the way I write, feel free to create your own guide - all I ask is
that you respect my intellectual property and investment of time! This
Guide may NOT be distributed for profit, under penalty of, uh... death, or
something. Thanks.
The most recent version of this document will always be available at
http://www.toastyfrog.com and http://www.gamefaqs.com.
And finally, there are going to be spoilers in this Guide. If you don't
want to spoil the game for yourself, for crying out loud, DON'T READ THIS
GUIDE! You'd think that would be obvious, but then again some woman made
millions of dollars because McDonald's didn't tell her that coffee is hot,
so you can't be too safe these days.
I. ABOUT THIS FAQ
II. ABOUT THE GAME
A. KNOWN GAME DETAILS
B. THE CHARACTERS
C. GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS
1. COMBAT
2. MAGIC (ELEMENTS)
a. CLASSES
b. CUSTOMIZATION
3. FIELD EFFECT & SUMMONS
4. COMBINATION ATTACKS
III. WALKTHROUGH
A. (PENDING)
IV. CHARTS
A. MAGIC
B. COMBO ATTCKS
C. WEAPONS
D. ARMOR
E. ACCESSORIES
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, ETC.
A. REVISION HISTORY
B. LINKS
C. MUCHAS GRACIAS
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
PART I: ABOUT THIS FAQ
The ultimate goal for this Guide is to be a comprehensive resource for the
game Chrono Cross in conjunction with my website (for the simple reason
that it's a little tough to use images and screenshots in a text-only FAQ).
However, this Guide has a few limitations. One being that I can't read
Japanese, just English words written in Japanese alphabets. So while I can
tackle the systems pretty easily, I will have very little idea of the
actual story of the game, just vague guesses. So please, don't ask me
things like, "Hey, why did Serge deep-kiss Yamaneko at the beginning of
Disc Three?" or whatever, because I'm just as clueless as you.
Another limitation is my time - I work full-time and after hours as a
freelance designer, so my gaming time is rare. Add to that the fact that I
STILL need to play through the Japanese reissue of Chrono Trigger, and you
can see that I'm pretty ill-suited for this endeavor. I will write up Guide
information as I pass through parts of the game, but no sooner. Please
don't write to me to ask me to hurry to such-and-such a place, because it
ain't happening. Also, have some courtesy; if I haven't written up a
section, assume I haven't gotten there and don't want it to be spoiled. So
if the walkthrough takes you an hour into the game, don't rave about the
scene 10 hours later where an alien bursts out of Kidd's chest and rips off
Lucky Dan's face, because I probably haven't gotten there.
Finally, Chrono Cross may be rather non-linear in its structure, or at
least it may offer branching story paths. If that's the case, I obviously
can only tackle a branch at a time.
In short, don't expect this to be perfect. However, if you notice an
inaccuracy, I welcome your comments and corrections! Write to me anytime at
tfrog@camalott.com to help me refine the content of this FAQ, or simply to
discuss this impressive game.
Anyway, enjoy - I'm sure you're sick of my prelude, so here's the Guide.
------------------------------------------
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PART II: ABOUT THE GAME
------------------------------------------
A. KNOWN GAME DETAILS
Chrono Cross, as you hopefully know, is the sequel to 1995's extremely
successful uber-RPG Chrono Trigger. The game takes place 20 years after the
original... well, 20 years after the main time period, I suppose, making it
6,000,020 years after Ayla's time and about 979 years before the Day of
Lavos. Erm, anyway.
The battle system is similar to, yet shockingly different from, the system
in Chrono Cross. I'll get to that later; but another major difference is
the premise of the game. While Chrono Trigger focused on time travel and
the resulting paradoxes (as well as the malleability of the past - who
would have known that selling a piece of beef jerky would generate 20
generations of greed?), Chrono Cross seems to focus on inter-dimensional
travel. Not dimensions as in 2D and 3D (although CC *does* make the jump
from 2D to 3D), but rather parallel worlds and alternate realities. So
don't expect to hear Serge say, "Ich bin ein Flatlander!" On the other
hand, having seen those Evil Kirk episodes of Star Trek will probably come
in handy....
A few CT characters are known to be returning. First and foremost is Lucca,
whose presence was indicated by the sight of her home in flames at the end
of the Chrono Cross demo. Apparently, Lucca opened an orphanage after her
time-hopping adventures and even had Kidd, the heroine, as her ward. Other
suspected returnees include Frog (is it a coincidence that CC has a
character named Glenn, which was Frog's name as a human?) and Marle (who
apparently married Crono at the end of the first game and ascended to the
throne... unless, of course, those balloons they got stuck to in the "good"
endings caused her and Crono to ascend into orbit and they bit the dust in
the inky void of space). Finally, a young cavegirl named Leea is a playable
character, suggesting Ayla and her wussy boyfriend Kino may be back. And
who knows, maybe we'll see other luminaries like Robo or Biggs and Wedge.
The general plot is based on a Super Famicom text adventure called Radical
Dreamers, which was briefly available by Satellaview (a dial-up
downloadable Super Famicom game service in Japan). In that regard, Chrono
Cross is more of a remake than a new game, with a plot centered on finding
a relic called the Frozen Flame, which can grant the ability to twist
reality according to the will of whomever holds it. Yamaneko, an
anthropomorphic cat in a Soviet military dress uniform, appears to be the
main villain. However, this is a Square game, and Square games are noted
for their plots twists; I imagine defeating Yamaneko and acquiring the
Frozen Flame are about as likely to be the ultimate goals of the game as
much as beating President Shinra was the goal of Final Fantasy VII.
The game is being designed so that random battles are rarely necessary. Not
only can you see your enemies on screen to avoid them, but you can win the
game without spending much time leveling up (boss fights, of course, will
be necessary). No doubt people who take time to boost their levels will
blow through, but those who are tired of constant combat won't be penalized
for their reluctance to fight.
Chrono Cross allegedly features *40* playable characters. Whether the
characters who appear will vary based on plot branches or if they'll simply
hang around nowhere in particular like in Suikoden has yet to be seen.
Small, piddling production details: the characters, for better or for
worse, are designed by Nobutero Yuuki. Yuuki also designed characters
Record of Lodoss War, Seiken Densetsu 3 and more recently, Tail Concerto.
The prerendered FMV is being churned out by the amazing people who put
together Final Fantasy VIII's video sequences. Hironobu Sakaguchi, of Final
Fantasy and Chrono Trigger fame, is the producer. Yasunori Mitsuda
(composer for Chrono Trigger and Xenogears) has written the music, which so
far sounds amazing.
Any questions?
------------------------------------------
B. CHARACTERS
As I mentioned, Chrono Cross is reported to have 40 different playable
characters. Some of whom look, ahhh... very, well, interesting. You can
check for yourself at the GIA (http://www.thegia.com) where you'll find
tons of sketches, some of which will probably astound and horrify you.
Hopefully this massive, eclectic cast will work FOR the game rather than
against it.
So here, in no particular order, are the heroes. OK, actually it's mostly
alphabetical order.
SERGE -- The hero. You can tell he's the hero because he never talks and he
wears a bandanna, just like McDohl, and Locke, and Stinger. OK, so
probably Serge doesn't want to be ranked among the likes of
Stinger, or anyone else from Shadow Madness. Anyway, he's
apparently very heroic, being the hero and all. Except in the
alternate dimension, where he has a bluish cast to his face and
says mean things to Spock.
KIDD -- The requisite jailbait chick. She's either going to fall in love
with Serge and turn evil, or she'll fall in love with Serge and be
killed. This is Square, after all. Well, I suppose she may fall in
love with Serge and be arrested for that indecent outfit she wears.
BANCLIFF -- A little bookworm kinda character who probably aspires to grow
up to be like Templeton from Suikoden. He's got the look. I suspect
he'll function as the party's Hall Monitor.
DRAGON CHILD -- Surprisingly enough, this character appears to be a
child-like dragon.
FARGA -- A big, hulking brute. Not to be mistaken for Rafarga, the big
hulking brute from Magic Knight Rayearth. Well, OK, I'll forgive you
if you confuse them once or twice.
FIO -- A living flower. Think Peco, but with radishes instead of onions.
GRENN -- I think that's supposed to be "Glenn." We've all been trying to
figure out if he's actually Frog as a human, and you know what? I'm
still not sure. Please don't ask again; I might cry.
IRENES -- A mermaid who doesn't seem to have any qualms about flopping
about on land, using her tail as legs. Normally I'd find that
strange, but she's kinda cute, so I think we should let it slide.
And compared to some of the other characters, she's almost a little
boring.
ISHITO -- Does the term "waif" mean anything to you? Does "Calvin Klein ad
model" ring a bell? I suspect Ishito will attack by gouging people
with his protruding ribcage.
JANICE -- This girl gives new meaning to the word "creepy." She seems to be
obsessed with rabbits. OK, I can understand that; rabbits are
interesting, and I have an affinity for them since that's my sign in
the Chinese zodiac. But there IS such a thing as taking things too
far, and Janice is a good example. When she goes into combat, she
wears fake rabbit ears and paws - at first I thought the paws were
her fists, though they're the size of boxing gloves. She's a
freakish aberration and just the sort of thing that gives me
nightmares about video games. She's like a bunny girl gone horribly,
horribly wrong. Parodius this ain't.
JILLBERT -- He's got the physique of Dilbert and the garb of a Mexican
wrestler. You can bet I'll be keeping him out of my playable party
with every opportunity.
JIN -- Imagine a cross between Power Stone's Rouge and Tenchi Muyo's Ayeka.
Congratulations! You've just visualized Jin!
KABU -- Did you ever play Atlus' Eggs of Steel? No? Neither did I. But I
saw the cover, which was burned into my retinas forever. Kabu looks
like the freakish egg on the front of that other game, but with
Statue of Liberty spikes and a duck bill. Danger, Will Robinson!
Danger!
LAZZULY -- Either an effeminate male sprite, or a macho female sprite.
Lazzuly is delicate and dimunitive, and talks like a man. Reading
his, or her, dialogue is like seeing royalty let out with a
thundering belch in public.
LEEA -- A little blond cave girl. Why, she would be just about the right
age to be Ayla's child! Give or take 6 million years.
LUCKY DAN -- Mere words cannot describe the immense coolness of Lucky Dan,
but words are all we mortals have. For a thorough biopic, check
http://www.toastyfrog.com/docs/ro/luckydan/
MAMACHA -- Remember how everyone thought Barrett was an unflattering racist
stereotype? Well... brace yourself.
ORLHA -- Orlha appears to be one of the legendary Lolita Knights. At least,
that's the only explanation I can offer for the fact that she wears
body armor which covers every vulnerable location EXCEPT her heart,
so she can show off her cleavage. Hey sister! Did anyone ever tell
you that's the MOST important place to protect? That, combined with
her schoolgirl pigtails, makes her appear to be a cross between
Gauntlet's Valkyrie and Pippi Longstockings.
POSHUL -- "Mom, why did Barkley the Dog from Sesame Street dye his fur
purple?" "To get into a video game, dear. Now eat your peas."
RADIUS -- An old guy in a white uniform. I think it's astronaut Dave Bowman
in his old-age form, right before he turns into:
STARCHILD -- Feed me Elixir!
STEENA -- Well, see, I was trying to order a pizza, but instead this
goddess arrived at my doorstep. So I asked her to join my combat
party. Although really, I'd rather have had the pizza.
TSUMALU -- OK, so if the movie Twins starred Jigglypuff instead of
Schwartznegger and DeVito, you'd have Tsumalu Devil and Tsumalu
Angel representing the different personality aspects instead. Oh
geez, I just predicted the plot of Pokemon The Movie 3.
And then we have the villains, who are almost as plentiful as the heroes.
This is getting to be like a Cecil B. DeMille flick...
YAMANEKO -- He appears to be the main baddie in the game. But that's sort
of obvious, doncha think? I mean, look at Magus... and Edea... and
so on. One thing's for sure - if he ever shed fur in my apartment,
I'd definitely put him on my bad list.
GYARADUN -- Imagine if Mac Tonight, that singing moon guy from the old
McDonald's commercials, were to take over for Hiryu as the next
Strider. That's what Gyaradun looks like. He's a singing moon who
could kick your butt any day.
JYAKOTU -- And you thought vampires were immortal. Well, here's proof
otherwise - this guy is obviously Alucard as a geezer. Personally, I
blame that shrew Maria.
KARSH -- A purple-haired pretty boy wearing a girdle. LIke a punk version
of William Shatner.
KORSCHA -- A creepy little boy who wears nothing but a vest and those tight
shorts that Japanese school girls have to wear to gym class. Son,
listen - you've got to leave a little more room down there, or
you'll be singing soprano at age 30. Just a friendly word of advice.
LUTIANNA -- A young woman who seems to take fashion advice from Rufus
Shinra. No doubt about it - she's evil.
MARCELLA - She's 8 and evil. Did William Peter Blatty become a scenario
writer for this game while I wasn't paying attention? If she attacks
by spinning her head and vomiting, I'm going to quit.
MIKI -- In the world of Chrono Cross, women fight most effectively when
they're wearing bikinis! She must be an evil Lolita Knight...
PIERRE -- If I don't hear the Beautiful Scarleticia theme playing when
Pierre appears, I will be very, very disappointed.
SLASH -- Don't mistake this guy for Chrono Trigger's Slash, whose Japanese
name was something like Mayonnaise or another typically
Toriyama-esque food name. This guy's the real deal - he attacks with
a rock guitar. If he wore a top hat, I could die happy.
ZOAH -- He's mostly naked, but that knight helmet will definitely keep his
head safe from harm!
And of course, as more characters appear I'll catch 'em all and write them
here in this FAQ - consider it my "Chronodex."
C. GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS ---------------------
While I can't yet provide a lot of details on the game's story or events, I
do know a few things regarding the gameplay itself. This information is
derived from the demo, so the details might have changed slightly. Forgive
me in advance.
-- 1. COMBAT -----------------------------
Neither turn-based nor active-time. What madness is this? Why, it's the
Chrono Cross battle system, of course.
Describing Chrono Cross' battle system is much easier with visuals, so if
this text is incomprehensible for you, check the charts I've made at
http://www.toastyfrog.com/ Anyway, here's my best effort at a text-based
description.
Chrono Cross has three numbers which indicate a character's battle status.
The first and most obvious is HIT POINTS, which determine who lives and
who dies.
The second number is the ELEMENT LEVEL. Rather than using Magic Points,
Chrono Cross Element use is determined by a histogram which rather
resembles the level displays on a stereo. Refer to the Magic section
below for more information.
The third number is shown at the bottom of the character status
indicator, and that is STAMINA. Stamina determines who can attack, and
the number and power of their possible attacks at once.
Each character begins battle with their stamina at 7 (maximum), the
Elements at 0 (minimum) and with however many hit points are carried over
from previous battles. Because the game is not real-time like Final
Fantasy's Active-Time Battle system, you can stand and stare at your enemy
for as long as you want while you devise a strategy.
What does determine the flow of battle is Stamina points. For each attack a
character launches, that fighter uses a set number of Stamina points.
Similar to Xenogears, a strong attack uses 3 Stamina points, a medium
attack uses 2, and a weak attack inflicts little damage but uses a paltry 1
Stamina point. But while a fighter's Stamina is being used up by physical
attacks, 2 things are happening. One, other characters (enemies and allies
alike) are recharging their own Stamina to prepare for an attack. Secondly,
the active character builds his or her Element Level for each successful
attack landed. A successful attack that costs 3 Stamina Points will add 3
Levels to the Element meter; but a 1-Stamina Point attack will only add a
single level to the meter. A strong attack that misses is a real waste -
not only do you lose 3 Stamina Points, but you earn nothing on your Element
Meter, leaving you more vulnerable.
When you begin to attack an enemy, a small box opens that displays your
chances of landing a successful blow. With each successive strike, your
chances improve. Weak attacks are more likely to hit than strong attacks,
especially at the beginning. But as you score more damage, you will have
more success with strong blows. A 3-point attack may have only a 60% chance
of connecting at the beginning of a round, but after landing a few 1- or
2-point strikes, a strong attack may rise to 85% success or even higher.
Balancing your attacks is imperative.
However, despite the obvious advantage of consecutive strikes, you're not
required to strike only a single enemy per move. Nor are you required to
attack with the same fighter. At any time, you can switch your attacks to a
different foe; you may also choose to have a different character pick up
the attack. However, switching targets or fighters will destroy the
statistical advantage your successful attacks against an enemy may have
generated. But aborting attacks is the key to effective Summoning and
Combinations, rather like Xenogears' AP but less tedious.
-- 2. ELEMENTS (MAGIC) -------------------
Elements serve the role of Magic in Chrono Cross; a rose by any other name
kicks just as much butt. Like in Chrono Trigger, Elements are divided into
a series of classes. Additionally, spells have a power level to them which
can be enhanced or diminished depending on their placement in your magic
hierarchy.
-- a. CLASSES ----------------------------
This is fairly straightforward. Each spell is ranked in a category that
seems to match up with Chrono Trigger's system, with a few small changes.
Each character seems to have an Elemental affinity; while they can cast
spells of various kinds, it seems the spells for which they have the most
affinity will be more effective. For instance, Serge is Light, Kidd is Fire
and Glenn is Water (hey! Just like Frog! Uh, never mind).
1. Light (Lightning) - Cosmic and light-based Elements. More varied than
Crono's Lightning, which was simply electrical, Light incorporates
attacks that would have been classified as Shadow in Chrono Trigger
(such as Laser, which Serge possesses but belonged to Robo in CT).
Spells include Holy, Laser and Comet.
2. Fire - Fiery attacks. Surprising, huh? Spells include Volcano,
Meltstone and the Salamander Summon.
3. Water - Ice, water and healing. Spells include Flood, Ice Lance, and
Cure/Cure-ra.
4. Wind - Air and nature-based attacks, such as Leaf and Tornado.
5. Earth - Seems to be mostly support magic, like in Suikoden. Elements
like Fear Arrow and Heavy appear to affect status, while Uplift raises
a slab of rock and drops it on an enemy.
6. Shadow - The antithesis of Light. As you might well imagine. This seems
to consist of complimentary versions of Light Elements, such as Hell
Laser.
-- b. CUSTOMIZATION ----------------------
The Element system is an interesting hybrid of other magic systems. It
resembles Suikoden and the original Final Fantasy in that each character
has a hierarchy of spells to use - Level One spells are weak, but can be
cast with only a single level build on the Element Meter in combat. Level
Five spells take five successful strikes to activate, but are much more
powerful than Level One spells.
However, what makes the Element system different from those terribly
limited games is that it's completely customizable, like Junctioning in
Final Fantasy VIII. By opening the status screen, you will have access to a
grid that allows you to switch around the Elements you find. Yep, magic in
this game is not learned but rather earned and found. The more you find of
a particular Element, the more frequently you can use it.
Each spell slot on your grid can only be used once per battle, so you need
to use them with discretion. Choosing which Elements to take into battle
(should you equip 5 slots with Cure-ra, or focus more on heavy-hitting
attacks and eschew the curative Elements in favor of offensive spells?)
will offer many hours of fun for people who like to twiddle with stats, but
it's still simple enough a system not to be overwhelming to a casual
player.
An interesting note about Elements is that each spell has a basic power
level. If you put a Level 3 Element in a Level 3 slot, it will be at its
natural power. However, if you want to be able to cast that spell more
quickly, you can knock it down to a Level 1 slot; but, you will lose some
of that Element's power, which will be denoted by a negative number after
the spell's name (i.e., Tornado-2). On the other hand, you can crank up an
Element's power by dropping it into a higher level slot - so taking a Level
One spell like Cure to a Level 5 slot will yield Cure+4. Additionally,
there are non-Elemental items you can equip, such as curative tablets and
capsules. The possibilities are sickeningly immense.
As a small aside, casting Elemental attacks requires 7 Stamina points. So
if your Stamina meter is low, using an Element will knock it into a
negative number, forcing you to sit out a portion of the battle until your
Stamina builds back up.
-- 3. FIELD EFFECT & SUMMONS -------------
As you fight, you will probably notice a little series of concentric
circles in the upper right-hand corner labelled "Field Effect." The Field
Effect Meter is affected by the natural terrain in which a battle
transpires and also by the Elements used during combat.
Field Effect is the key to using Summons in the game - for instance,
Salamander can only be summoned when the Field Effect meter is all red
(i.e., three consecutive fire attacks have been used). This is more easily
said than done; if an enemy uses an Element of a type other than what
you're trying to build on the meter, it can screw up your efforts. And if
you're being beaten down mercilessly and have to heal, the Elements or
Items you use for healing will register on the Field Effect meter as well.
Therefore, expect Summoning to be a difficult and challenging affair,
requiring a bit of luck and a lot of good planning.
-- 4. COMBINATION ATTACKS ----------------
And of course, the combination attacks are back. These seem to combine
character's unique skills to enable attacks that are vastly more powerful
than a lone attack would be (unlike in Chrono Trigger, where combo attacks
wre often less effective than solo attacks).
Combinations require two characters with compatible skills to have built
both Stamina and Element Levels to an appropriate degree. For example,
Serge and Glenn share a combination attack in the demo called X-Strike
(hey, just like Crono and Frog! Err... forget I said anything). For
X-Strike to be enabled, both Serge and Glenn need to build their Element
Meter to Level 3 so each can use their respective skills that form the
X-Strike combo. Additionally, they need to have at least 1 Stamina point.
When these prerequisites are fulfilled, either one of them can activate the
X-Strike by choosing his respective skill. You can see when they're ready,
because the name of the skill will change to X-Strike.
When using combos, switching between characters during a round is extremely
useful to help minimize Stamina depletion.
Undoubtedly, there will be many more combos to discover; hopefully more
than one per character.
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
PART III: WALKTHROUGH
Pending. You may refer to my walkthrough for the Chrono Cross demo for
general details on the opening events of the game. However, until I've
played it, I don't want to provide any potentially erroneous info.
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
PART IV: CHARTS
Mostly pending... there's not much for me to go on, yet.
A1. MAGIC --------------------------------
Magic is divided into classes, just like in Chrono Trigger. Some of the
spells are similar to Final Fantasy standbys, but are categorized
differently (i.e., Holy is Spirit magic in Final Fantasy, but in Chrono
Cross it's Light/Lightning). So don't rely on your encyclopedic knowledge
of Final Fantasy to get you safely through Chrono Cross, my young
apprentice.
This chart is taken from the demo, where Elements were handed out after
battle like Halloween candy. Hopefully it'll be a little harder to acquire
in the final game, as it was possible to turn Serge and co. into a party of
brutal death-dealers in about an hour's time in the demo.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPELL NAME ELEMENT POWER LEVEL EFFECT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air Sousa Wind 2 Attack-Single
Aqua Ball Water 3 Attack-Single
Aqua Beam Water 1 Attack-Single
Bomber Fire 2 Attack-Single
Burning Fire 3 Attack-All
Comet Light 4 Attack-All
Cure Water 1 Heal-Single
Cure-ra Water 3 Heal-Single
Dash Attack (1) Light 3 Attack-Single
Fear Arrow Earth ??? Boost Power-Single
Fireball Fire 1 Attack-Single
Flood Water 4 Attack-All
Freeze Water 4 Attack-Single
Hard Hit (2) Water 3 Attack-Single
Heat Fire 5 Attack-All
Heavy Earth ??? Slow-Single
Hell Laser Shadow ??? Attack-Single
Holy Light 5 Attack-All
Iceburg Water 6 Attack-All
Ice Lance Water 2 Attack-Single
Laser Light 1 Attack-Single
Leaf Wind 1 Attack-Single
Meltstone Fire 4 Attack-Single
Photon Light 3 Attack-Single
Revive Light 1 Heal-Single
Shooting Star Light 2 Attack-Single
Tornado Wind 6 Attack-All
Uplift Earth 1 Attack-Single
Volcano Fire 6 Attack-All
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES:
1. Physical attack, possessed exclusively by Serge.
2. Physical attack, possessed exclusively by Glenn.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A2. SUMMONS CHART ------------------------
Summons are like elements, except that instead of attacking enemies with
lightsourced polygons, you call a monster to dish out the special effects
for you. Summons are limited in use and difficult to activate, sort of the
opposite of Final Fantasy VIII's Guardian Forces.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMON NAME ELEMENT POWER LEVEL FIELD EFFECT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salamander Fire 8 Red/Red/Red
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. COMBINATION ATTACKS -------------------
Just like in Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross offers its share of combination
attacks. With 40-ish characters in the game, expect there to be a LOT of
possibliities. The combos seem a bit less obvious than the regimented Tech
system in Chrono Trigger, meaning you can probably expect to unlock more
abilities as you earn and discover new skills throughout the game.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMBO NAME ATTACKS LINKED CHARACTERS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
X-Strike Dash Attack Serge
Hard Hit Glen
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. WEAPONS -------------------------------
Details pending.
D. ARMOR ---------------------------------
Details pending.
E. ACCESSORIES ---------------------------
Details pending.
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
PART V: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, ETC.
A. REVISION HISTORY ----------------------
Rev. 0.1: Nov. 18, 1999
Pre-release information
B. LINKS ---------------------------------
ToastyFrog Jump!
http://www.toastyfrog.com/
A shameless plug. Yet a valid one, for I have much Chrono Cross media and
information at my site. Huzzah!
The Lucky Dan Fan Club
http://www.toastyfrog.com/docs/ro/luckydan/
Dan! Dan! Join the cult!
Chrono Cross coverage at GIA
http://www.gaming-intelligence.com/psx/cc/cc.shtmll
Comprehensive information from my close, personal friends at GIA. Go and
click their banners a few times - they deserve your love. Tell 'em
ToastyFrog sent ya and receive 10% off your first order!
Square Soft
http://www.squaresoft.com/
Makers of Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy, and the most absolutely annoying
webpages to try and navigate.
Chrono Cross Translation at The Litterbox
http://home.sprynet.com/~fland/chrono.shtml
The coolest human being on earth, GameCat, is in the process of
translating the Chrono Cross demo. As if that weren't enough to make him
truly k-rad, he also has a rare picture of a wild ToastyFrog. Go, learn,
be edified. The high-contrast background is a bit eye-blistering, but
the content is all good.
Game Music Online
http://www.gamemusic.com
They'll be selling the Chrono Cross soundtrack when it's available in
December - in the meantime, I recommend the Xenogears OST, also composed
by Mitsuda-san.
C. MUCHAS GRACIAS ------------------------
Chrono Cross is the property of Squaresoft, Inc. and will be licensed by
Square Electronic Arts LLC in the USA. Everything detailed and described
here is theirs. The names and logos and suchlike described in this FAQ
(c) and (tm) 1995-1999, Squaresoft, Inc.
Big thanks to Tronix (www.tronixweb.com) for getting this game to me
quickly and at a fair price. If you're looking to buy it for yourself,
Tronix carries my unsolicited recommendation.
Credits:
- BWA for help deciphering the combo system.
- Brian Glick of Gaming Intelligence (www.thegia.com) for help
deciphering the combo system.
- tennin for pointing out the Stamina drain caused by Element attacks.
- Zane and Nokusu for help with the Field Effect System
- GameCat for translation advice. A winner is he! Visit his page!
If you have any information that I've missed or written up incorrectly,
please drop me a line at tfrog@camalott.com. You can ask me any
questions you might have about the game as well, but I can't guarantee
answers.
This FAQ is written by Jeremy Parish, who holds the copyright for this
text. It may not be distributed for profit, although you're welcome to
distribute it freely so long as the entire FAQ remains intact and I
receive my due props. Please do not modify or edit this FAQ in any way,
even if you think the lame asides are really annoying. Tiresome as they
may be, it makes plagiarism a bit easier to spot (it happens, sad to say).
And again, for posterity: a clearly-illustrated (and fully up-to-date)
version of this FAQ is avilable for perusal at http://www.toastyfrog.com.
Pictures can make a big difference, since my words sometimes fail.
