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Chrono Cross vs. Vagrant Story - Which is the best?

S

SteeloDMZ

Banned
I've been thinking about starting one of those two PS1 classics recently, specially after the $10 gift from Sony. Thing is, I don't know which should I spend the money and time on, so help a brother out.

Back when I played Chrono Trigger for the first time in 2010, I fell in love with the game so much I immediately started doing research about it and found about its infamous sequel: "Cross". However, people seemed to have a lot of mixed opinions about the game: some thought it was an excellent game on its own rights (probably even better than Chrono Trigger), while others thought it destroys the memories of the past game. Anyway, I didn't have how to plat the game back then, but now I can easily do it on my Vita.

As for Vagrant Story, I don't know much about it, other than it is supposed to be a pretty great RPG.

So, which one would you recommend to play? I'm looking for a good story that's easy to follow, a good combat system, good cast of characters, etc. When you pick one, please explain why.
 
Chrono Cross is liked for many things but a good cast of characters is not one of them. Play Chrono Cross for the awesome music. Play Vagrant Story for everything else. Especially Sydney Losstarot.
 
elohel said:
Two totally different games do both
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First post is victorious once again. Don't be silly, OP. Buy some PSN currency and get both.

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CC is more friendly to play through. Systems are not difficult to figure out and the progression is rather obvious.

Vagrant has fantastic presentation and a more interesting premise, but the systems can be clunky and confusing to figure through. Many of the mechanics don't mesh as well as you hope, and the late game contains some really irritating backtracking. It's a game that invites multiple playthtough's, but it's one that demands hefty dedication and attention to comprehend properly.
 
I absolutely love both titles, but if it comes down to one or the other it's gotta be Vagrant Story. Better characters, story, DIALOGUE, combat, atmosphere, dat weapons crafting... Damn, I wish Matsuno would give us another one.
 
I tried to replay CC and had a hard time going back to the weird (but fun) battle system and blurry pixelated graphics.

Missed out on Vagrant Story....
 
Vagrant Story's gameplay systems always really intimidated me as interesting as it looked. I'd probably play it (I own it) if I could find a guide that really held my hand.

I can't imagine that helped, but it's my contribution!
 
Apples and oranges really. But I would say Chrono Cross. Vagrant Story just felt really clunky and convoluted in it's gameplay systems. Can't say I had much fun with it even though I did end up beating it once. Chrono Cross is one of the best JRPGs for the PS1. The pre-rendered backgrounds and music are still fantastic to this day. The story goes...places. Seriously crazy shit happens in that game and I loved every moment of it. Also, the combat system in CC is still really fun to play.
 
Having just played both these games last month for the first time.

Chrono Cross.

Vagrant Story does not hold up as well. It's kind of like a loot game, but you have a very limited inventory cap. So you have to use storage chests to keep track of everything, saving every time you use one (and saving isn't quick). Considering how often you need to upgrade equipment and use the chests, I found myself spending hours in the workshops, and it's quite tedious. The battle system its actually really simple, and I found that there are 2 basic strategies that beat most bosses. Use it's elemental weakness against it, or spam limit breaks. It does have an interesting story however. I didn't really appreciate it until the very end, when everything all comes together. Also the dialogue is FANTASTIC. It is a relatively short game. I beat it under 30 hours.

Chrono Cross is a lot longer and I feel it holds up better. You get a TON of characters to choose from, I ended up just picking 4 (out of like 40) and sticking with them. You are given free reign on where to go relatively early on, you can visit locations on the map before you are needed to go there and explore. The skill system it pretty unique and allows for some interesting battle set ups. The game is kind of easy though. Also has a phenomenal soundtrack. There are a lot of characters though, so none are super interesting.

Both games are worth playing.
 
Vagrant Story is amazing, especially if you appreciate Yasumi Matsuno's other works (Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, FFXII until he walked away from Square). Some people find his games too cumbersome or that the stories are too dry/political, but as someone who has fallen out of love with JRPGs due to the increasing animeification and decreasing difficulty, his works are a breath of fresh air in the genre.

VS itself is probably his best work narratively speaking. It has the most thematic depth, each environment tells a subtle story about the world, and the whole arc of Ashley Riot as he descends into a haunted dead underground city in pursuit of answers to a lot of big questions is really fascinating and emotionally gripping.

The gameplay is pretty darn challenging, and the weapon crafting system is pretty deep but a bit obtuse by todays standards (an FAQ is recommended).

That said, if you want to play an RPG medieval Silent Hill with tough timing based gameplay, it's absolutely worth the money.
 
Ceebs said:
Both are better than all the other widely acclaimed PS1 JRPGs (Such as FF7, Xenoblade and the like).
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One of these days I need to try other PS1 RPGs. My experience is basically limited to FF7, Xenogears, and Grandia. I only beat FF7, too.

Xenogears seems heavily overrated though.
 
Vagrant Story is not that hard once you start to analyze enemies, almost every enemy has a weakness or even more than one and once you create a varied number of weapons is just come down to use the best suited for every situation.

Even if creating weapons isn't the most straightfoward process it just come down to a bit of experimentation and the OP has a SMT avatar, so is not really that different from creating demons in SMT.

After that the combat system is quite easy to grasp.
 
Both are certainly worth playing, but Vagrant Story is the better of the two IMO. It's such a unique, engaging, and beautifully executed game. There's nothing else like it, really.
 
I played cross before trigger(I'm actually playing it now, almost finished too) and I thought it was a great game. Mind you I was pretty young when I played it. Vagrant story was ok, I kind of felt like I was forcing myself to like it. That whole attacking body parts thing never really felt right to me.
 
Rash said:
One of these days I need to try other PS1 RPGs. My experience is basically limited to FF7, Xenogears, and Grandia. I only beat FF7, too.

Xenogears seems heavily overrated though.
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No way xenogears was amazing, probably too long for its own good. I wish I could burn that second disc from my memory though.
 
Vagrant Story, for it is Yasumi Matsuno & Co's magnum opus.

There are far too many games' cinematics talked up as "great" and "evolved" that pale in comparison to this, a now 13 year old game.

Meaningful, purposeful complexity with a ton of playstyles capable of being viable, but also with the brilliance of having neat, tidy, simple ways to character-build and battle if the more arcane facets of combat (of which there are 20+) proves too minutae-soaked (Edged/Blunt/Pierce > * for example).

On a shortlist of "best looking PS1 games", which is an era not exactly aging well.

Top-shelf dialogue and a good-for-video-games plot with that same overarching clever wisdom of Matsuno's that characterizes his work.

Hitoshi Sakimoto's finest OST, which is truly saying something, and certainly the best "cinematic film score for video games" I've ever heard.

Chrono Cross is much more erratic. I'd certainly say playing it with "SEQUEL TO TRIGGER" in your mind will poison you with its slip-ups, but it is a fine game in and of itself. It's another of the finest-looking PS1 games, has an interesting combat thing going on, and also has the finest video gaming soundtrack ever crafted, is being crafted, or ever will be crafted.
 
Couldn't finish Chrono Cross, just wasn't into it. Vagrant Story was amazing when it came out. Vagrant Story has an awesome look and I wish JRPG's today didn't devolve into what they have become (spikey haired emo 14 year old girly boys).
 
mm chrono cross?
op the game is solid in everything save the character cast..
WAY too many, hence the story is too little involved with the characters save the mains :/
pity because ost was great, graphic was quite good for the time and combat/magic/levelling system was godlike :)
 
IMO Vagrant Story without a doubt. I enjoyed both games when I played them but after so many years I can't recall a thing about CC's plot (and 99% of the cast too), besides its awesome OST and the rather easy battles (I also found the element system to be quite flawed). Chrono Trigger by the way is among my top 5 jrpgs, CC is no way near it (IMO I repeat).

Vagrant Story is unique as others have said too. It's like a one of a kind game and the battle system is also unique (some will argue that it technically takes the Parasite Eve formula 1 step further, but actually it takes it like 1000 steps further). The OST isn't as memorable as CC's although it's good nonetheless, but the depth of the gameplay as well as the fantastic storyline will be more than enough to make it a classic jrpg that belongs in the elite of the genre.
There are a few times when the game might get frustrating but this will probably be the point when you will have to really understand the battle system.
 
Vagrant Story

don't know on what planet Chrono Cross is even comparable

I'm not a big JRPG head though. In tend to only really like the entries that are far removed from the typical formula of the games. (Two favorite PS1 JRPGs are Vagrant Story and Valkyrie Profile)
 
Vagrant Story is one of the best games of all time while Chrono Cross is one of the worst sequels of all time (eventhough its a decent game)
 
I haven't played either but I will say Vagrant Story simply because it's not trying to pass itself off as a sequel to Chrono Trigger.
 
I like Chrono Cross a lot; it gets more hate than it deserves. Game has excellent music for the most part and very pretty visuals.

But Vagrant Story wins this one pretty easily. It blows away CC in characters, plot, style and gameplay. VS is one of the top 10-15 JRPGs ever made.
 
Sothpaw said:
Couldn't finish Chrono Cross, just wasn't into it. Vagrant Story was amazing when it came out. Vagrant Story has an awesome look and I wish JRPG's today didn't devolve into what they have become (spikey haired emo 14 year old girly boys).
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Or the perspective of them, at least.
 
Vagrant Story was very different from most of the stuff Square put out. The story is really good. It's definitely step above what is considered good in regards to game's stories. I really like the battle system which allowed to target different body parts of the enemy. And has a great OST to boot.

If you can, I'd recommend playing on a non HD set or a monitor if you can. The graphics haven't aged all that well.
 
GravityMan said:
I like Chrono Cross a lot; it gets more hate than it deserves. Game has excellent music for the most part and very pretty visuals.

But Vagrant Story wins this one pretty easily. It blows away CC in characters, plot, style and gameplay. VS is one of the top 10-15 JRPGs ever made.
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this. not really a contest. be aware that VS is very challenging though and your balls will be broken.

cc and most other jrpgs are a cakewalk.
 
I still haven't finished either but i can tell you the following. CC's characters and story leave a lot to be desired, though it has a killer ost and a strange yet addictive battle system. VS, has a great story that is somewhat ""complex"" because it's treated a bit differently than what was available at the time; it has a unique battle system that bears a resemblance to Parasite Eve's which takes a bit of getting used to, but it's a nice refresher over the usual (but unnecesarrily frustrating at times); and the ost ,while good, it's inferior to that of CC. Take that as you will.
 
Played Vagrant Story back in the days, but that was nothing for me. Back then (and still to this day) I chased the open worlds, and Vagrant Story to me was a dungeon crawler. Someone may well correct me on this, but that's what I remember anyway. I probably gave up after 4 hours of gaming or so.

It had a VERY interesting combat system though.

As for Chrono Cross. I missed out on this totally. Don't really know why. Maybe I had started to look towards the PS2? Should maybe think of giving it a go! The soundtrack seems amazing.
 
Honestly, I thought CC was a bit boring. It also didn't make sense in its relationship with CT - they just felt like they existed in completely different universes. Had it not had CT in its pedigree I'd probably feel differently.

VS is pure orgasm. While the gameplay might be different, I've always felt Demon's and Dark Souls were its spiritual successor.
 
They are both great. I fell in love with gaming when I got my PS2 with Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy IX, and then that love was just reinforced by Vagrant Story. The PS2 version of Madden languished on the sidelines as it watched me fall in love with games of a previous generation.


Vagrant Story still has the best sense of atmosphere and mood of any JRPG I've ever played.
 
Xilium said:
I personally prefer Chrono Cross but I'm probably in the minority here on GAF.
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I like it too. And frankly I think the characters are pretty great too. There is a lot of world building and most of them have a place there. Lots of them do have nice little arc too. There are a lot of throwaway characters true, but they are all established in the world. People swear they are randomly generated henchmen.

Chrono Cross is one of those games I wish more JRPGs had learned from. Multiple ending routes (not just ending scenes), branching paths, some actually decision making on the players end, tons and tons of secrets that do relate to the story and endgame.
 
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