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xenogears or chrono cross

What's the better game, Xenogears or Chrono Cross?

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C

cafemomo

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sony gave me some psn bux and I need a new jrpg to play. So Xenogears or Chrono Cross?

I enjoyed my time with Trigger, so does Cross hold up somewhat to it's predecessor?

As for xenogears, I heard that disc 2 is basically like a poormans episode of Eva, does it really go downhill from disc one? I don't really mind a convoluted story, but from what I gather a lot of people were turned off by disc 2.

More importantly, which out of the two has the superior OST and battle system?
 
xenogears is superior in almost every way
even with the downhill turn on disc 2
i mean, if you're into the story, you still will be on disc 2. its just that big parts of the gameplay are just described to you, instead of playing them haha
 
Mmmh... Extremely difficult question if you ask me. Personally I enjoyed Cross more, since Trigger is my favorite game of all time. But you can't be wrong with either of them.

Oh, and before they arrive, here's a piece of advice: Ignore all the "Cross ruins Trigger's plot" people, because that's not true at all.

suppadoopa said:
More importantly, which out of the two has the superior OST and battle system?
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Best battle system: Xenogears.
Best OST: Chrono Cross.
 
Xenogears.

Chrono Cross is some of the most rank filth you will ever encounter in a JRPG (outside of its excellent soundtrack). It does not have half the value of Chrono Trigger. Even considered by itself, it has a horrendous plot, dull combat, awful characters, and generally does everything wrong in terms of RPG goodness.
 
The real problem with disc 2 is the fact that you're stuck reading most of the story by that point than playing through it, as a result of running out of time and money. The story is no more convoluted than the rest of the game by that point. At the same time, its story still has better pacing and development than the one in Chrono Cross, and a far less bloated cast. Beautiful art direction in Chrono Cross, though, and I quite enjoyed the contrast between nature and tech in Xenogears (Xenoblade had a comparable schizo tech thing going for it, too).

combat: Xenogears
OST: Chrono Cross, but not by much (both are some of Mitsuda's best work)

Go with Xenogears now, Chrono Cross later.
 
suppadoopa said:
As for xenogears, I heard that disc 2 is basically like a poormans episode of Eva
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The story is excellent throughout Gears, its just the presentation that suffers.

The notion of comparing it to pig slop like Eva is sickening.

That being said, Chrono Cross is a better game.
 
Karsticles said:
Chrono Cross is some of the most rank filth you will ever encounter in a JRPG (outside of its excellent soundtrack). It does not have half the value of Chrono Trigger. Even considered by itself, it has a horrendous plot, dull combat, awful characters, and generally does everything wrong in terms of RPG goodness.
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I disagree with everything except the characters bit. Awesome music, graphics, setting, battle system, plot, and pacing.
 
Xenogears all day, erry day. Chrono is good, but no where NEAR the level of cool that XG is.compelling story, great characters, TOP-TIER combat, and amazing lore.

Dont worry about the second disc. It does lose some steam gameplay wise for the first half of the disc, but it doesn't lose it's impact.

An amazing example of the golden standard that SquareSoft set in that era.
 
xenogears because you can join in the Xenoblade Chronicles X hype train. I know they aren't related other than by Developer but there's enough similarities to be excited for it.
 
Disc 2 is where it starts going uphill with mindblowing twist after twist all the way until the end. Definitely Xenogears over Chrono Cross if story and atmosphere are anything you enjoy in a game.
 
Feep said:
I disagree with everything except the characters bit. Awesome music, graphics, setting, battle system, plot, and pacing.
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The pacing is really bad in Cross. The meat of the plot doesn't come in till towards the end of the game. Before then it's just going from place to place to place without much going on.

The battle system isn't that great either. At least it has no random battles.

I want to get Xenogears but I'm worried that the battle system and frequent random encounters will grate.
 
Both games are going to take you 50+ hours to play.


Skip both, buy a Wii and play Xenoblade Chronicles. Better than both of these. Or spend your PSN credit on a good JRPG like Persona 4.
 
Adam Prime said:
Both games are going to take you 50+ hours to play.


Skip both, buy a Wii and play Xenoblade Chronicles. Better than both of these. Or spend your PSN credit on a good JRPG like Persona 4.
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OP, no matter which you decide, this is the absolute worst advice you will probably find in the thread.
 
Adam Prime said:
Both games are going to take you 50+ hours to play.


Skip both, buy a Wii and play Xenoblade Chronicles. Better than both of these. Or spend your PSN credit on a good JRPG like Persona 4.
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I saw that stealth edit. Xenogears probably has one of the strongest plots in JRPG gaming while Xenoblade was an unmitigated disappointment coming from Takahashi. Plot was absolutely boring in comparison.
 
Chrono cross is just 10% of what Chrono trigger was. Not a true sequel with all those removed features. So I don't suggest it.
 
Also, regarding OST, I would say the are both on almost equal footage, with Xenogears taking the edge. They are BOTH remarkable.

Xenogears:
Steel Giant
Leftovers from the dreams of the strong
Stage of Death (Battle Theme) And it's amazing.
Knight of Fire (Boss Theme)Still awesome.
I feel like posting anymore would ruin it's impact, because the rest are simply amazing, and works BEAUTIFULLY with the game, and how the OST grabs you.

Chrono:
Fields of Time 「Home World」
[URL="On the Beach of Dreams 「Another World」"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRxmApO9gFg&index=7&list=PL2F0F9693D744A5B8[/URL]
Lost Fragment Possibly my favorite.
Victory 「A Gift of Spring」 (One of the coolest fanfares ever
Gale (Battle theme)
Garden of God awesome
Not as good IMO, but it does have some pretty remarkable tracks.
 
perorist said:
I saw that stealth edit. Xenogears probably has one of the strongest plots in JRPG gaming while Xenoblade was an unmitigated disappointment coming from Takahashi. Plot was absolutely boring in comparison.
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Agreed. As a huge Xeno (Gears and Saga) fan, Xenoblade's plot was just dumb and boring in comparison. Gameplay was good, though.
 
Honestly, for combat and ost, I'd say go with Chrono Cross.

Xenogears has a fun story and neat mechanics, but the battle system has some issues and the game craps out for most of the second disc.
 
legacyzero said:
Versus Chrono Cross' pace being all over the place. I would take the greater story with the slower pace, over the confusing story with fluctuating pace, IMO.
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I dunno. The problem with Xenogear's pace isn't that it is slow.

It full on stops for a while and just has you watch slideshows of exposition, with occasional auto trips to dungeons.
 
SDCowboy said:
Guess I'm in the minority. I loved CC but could not get into Xenogears.
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Xenogears certainly hasn't aged well in terms of gameplay, I have trouble whenever I try to replay it today.

It's definitely a game that you need to complete to get the most out of though because the story is told in layers and everything comes together at the end (like 999). I can absolutely sympathize with anyone who quit halfway and doesn't like the game.
 
Xenogears is definetly my favorite of those 2. CC is a good game, but far from being the sequel to Chrono Trigger that I was expecting.
 
I remember more of the story and characters from Xeno than CC. At several points both show the scars of incomplete/cut content but Xenogears keeps it together for longer while CC begins to sag under the weight of a production team that refused to compromise on scope. The combat is much more palatable in Xenogears.
 
Xenogears has a witless combat system that will have you constantly question whether a key element is missing considering how tactless it all amounts to. Given how long the game is and how often you engage with enemies, it can feel real tedious if you are the type of player looking for a hint of depth in the battle system.

If not? Xenogears is a bit more engaging than Chrono Cross from a story angle. It's a mindfuck of a narrative that has several moments of complete nonsensical prattle fashionably ripped from anime/sci fi tropes. It at least fully embraces its own internal madness and with the right motivation and attention span, can certainly engage. Oh but definitely be wary of the sluggish text crawl.

Chrono Cross is largely a superior game in almost all respects. Combat, exploration, progression structure, there is actual vision here. It's the story that can really rub most people. Chrono Trigger connections are fascinating in a sense, but are revealed deep in the game amidst layers of random mini-adventures of varying levels of quality.

A small army of characters join your team and serve no real individual purpose beyond giving aesthetic variety to your 3-man team and little else. You'll regularly wish for more focused direction given to the vignettes and party members, but it can feel really disjointed.

Both games have phenomenal music, some of the best from the era and genre. Whichever you choose, your ears will be the most pleased.
 
Xenogears by a mile. It's incredibly unique and is a gargantuan experience. Chrono Cross is just kind of stupid and bland, save for a few instances.
 
Don't be cheap OP, you needs to get both. Both are classic. Play Chrono Cross first and save the best (Xenogears) for last.
 
Adam Prime said:
Skip both, buy a Wii and play Xenoblade Chronicles. Better than both of these. Or spend your PSN credit on a good JRPG like Persona 4.
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I've played both games.

Also I must be in the small minority when saying this, but I think I prefer saga over bade imo. (I've only played 1+2 on the DS + 1 on the PS2, haven't played III)
 
Overall, I think Xenogears is the better game and while its OST isn't as good as Chrono Cross it is still damn good.
 
Xenogears aged like absolute crap by the way. No one can deny thqat.

Honestly, if you go with Chrono Cross then I'm sure you'll love it. Try Xenogears if it doesn't click like 10 hours in. I liked both but Cross was something else.
 
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