Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition Reviews
Parts of Chrono Cross really haven't aged well, but it's still a charming, characterful JRPG that evokes feelings of the genre's golden age on PS1. It's a game that deserves better than The Radical Dreamers Edition, which, at least at launch, is a dreadfully poor remaster. Crippled by frame rate issues, it beggars belief that a title from 1999 could run this badly on modern hardware. Unless you're desperate for the nostalgia, we strongly recommend waiting to see whether Square Enix releases a patch to improve the package on PS4 and PS5 before buying.
Despite being a masterpiece of split universes and the often futile attempts to fight fate, we're living in the timeline where the original source code for Chrono Cross was lost to the scars of time and the remaster that exists in this age wasn't given the focus that one of the greatest JRPGs of all time deserves.
The acclaimed Playstation classic is finally on PC and it also comes with classic neglect by Square Enix as a bonus. With the current subpar performance, I can only recommend it to the hardcore fans.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition represents two examples of game preservation with varying results. The sharper, more accessible, but poorer-performing Chrono Cross is both a blessing and a curse. But the debut of an official English translation of Radical Dreamers is a moment to celebrate as a Chrono and video game history fan.
Enjoy the timeless adventure of Chrono Cross but with only a slight amount of upgrades to the game and with an AI upscaler that makes the game play like your PlayStation is on Death's row. Great game but a sad remaster.
I had a lot of fun playing Chrono Cross again; the unique spin on turn-based combat, colourful locales, and dimension-hopping narrative was a joy to re-experience all these years later. However, through a critical eye, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition leaves a lot to be desired. Glaring issues with performance, improvements, and graphical inconsistencies take away from the truly great source material. This lack of care and attention to detail flies in the face of some of Square Enix’s other remaster works, and is a disappointing black-eye on what could have been a truly great remaster package of a still phenomenal classic JRPG.
It's a shame that, with the release of Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, we likely won't see a comprehensive remaster or even a full remake of this underrated gem for a long while, leaving us with a somewhat underwhelming version on Switch that isn't much beyond a port. Regardless, the portability of the Nintendo's console and the inclusion of Radical Dreamers still makes this the best and most convenient way for fans and newcomers alike to play the 22-year-old classic and its pseudo-prequel. It's a good game and having easy access to it is a boon - just don't go in with more than modest expectations when it comes to the remaster effort.
Chrono Cross is an incredible game that has been deserving a remaster for far too long. It's a shame that, after all these years, it had to arrive in such a sorry state. The Radical Dreamers Edition does some minor work in improving and upgrading the experience, but with such poor optimisation, it's a headache to enjoy the experience. Longtime fans might be able to forgive the issues and savour the incredible visual novel side-story Radical Dreamers, but a game as iconic as this deserves better.
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a collection of two unmissable titles for fans of RPGs and good storytelling. Unfortunately, the edition has a number of technical issues, making it difficult to recommend it to general players. Even with its problems, however, it is a worthwhile experience. I hope the company corrects the current situation so that Chrono Cross can shine.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, while far from a flawless remaster, delivers one of the most adored games to current platforms, but it is at best a monkey paw type of wish fulfillment. Even the game's poor performance cannot disguise this brilliance.
If you've never played Chrono Cross, you should, and there's little reason not to take advantage of the upgrades available in The Radical Dreamers Edition. If you already have access to the original edition, whether it's worth the double-dip comes down to how determined you are to play Radical Dreamers; I'd wager it isn't worth the price of admission. But regardless, however you do it, you should play Chrono Cross. It's just a shame this remaster isn't all it could have been.
I wouldn’t place Chrono Cross in the rare tier of games I’d recommend to positively anyone, but if you’re someone with a deep affinity for the RPG genre, it’s a risk-taking riff on a classic that’s still got surprises to spare.
It remains for me to write about Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition something that I have already written many times in relation to similar projects - the average remaster of a great game.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Chrono Cross was and remains a great JRPG that has its place in the pantheon of great classics. It's well worth playing especially for fans of the Chrono series who maybe had only ever experienced Chrono Trigger before. This is perhaps not quite as cohesive an experience as its predecessor was, because it plays in a way that's more experimental and not quite as refined, and its plot is a bit harder to follow. However, because of its plot ties to the great original and how it connects to it, it is essential to play for fans of the latter, and despite minor shortcomings that hold it back from being as big a classic, it's still well worth experiencing today. With that in mind, Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition, as a new release of this classic, is not all that it could or should have been on any platforms, including Nintendo Switch, due to a poor level of performance that's just inexcusable, given that other PS1 games just as demanding as this one made the transition so much better, at least performance-wise.
Here we enter a particularly difficult case to judge: is it worth playing Chrono Cross these days? Absolutely. Is this faulty port worth buying at its launch price? It depends. It's a shame the remaster turned out this way, but Chrono Cross is still a gem even after all these years.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Shedding light on one of the legends of Japanese RPG games is a successful step and a good opportunity for RPG fans to give the game a chance, whether for the first time or re-visit its beautiful world, even though it did not do enough to attract the attention of a larger segment of the audience due to minor improvements and technical problems. This is the first step in the revival of the Chrono series.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Radical Dreamers is as good as it possibly could be, but the remastering of Chrono Cross leaves a lot to be desired. The latter especially is a 10/10 RPG, but in our Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition review, it disappoints due to the lack of care. The technical limitations were excusable on the first PlayStation, but on PlayStation 5, it is embarrassing that it runs worse.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers edition brings a classic JRPG to the PAL region for the first time. The port may not be exceptional, but the game itself deserves to be experienced.
The Radical Dreamers Edition brings back two classics for the first time since their debut, but the Switch version leaves a lot to be desired.