Chrono Cross: Difference between revisions

* [[Dual-Wielding]]: Glenn uses the legendary sword [[Gratuitous German|Einlanzer]] for his ultimate weapon... and can also retrieve its alternate-timeline counterpart and use them ''both at once''.

* [[Dual World Gameplay]]: One goes between parallel worlds although there was only one point at which you could travel between them, and you didn't receive the ability to do so until late in the game. Despite being parallel worlds, one side could affect the other e.g. cooling scorched ground on an island in one world allows plant life to grow in the other world.

* [[Easing Into the Adventure]]: Serge's bossy girlfriend wants him to make her a scale necklace.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The Time Devourer.

* [[Expy]]: More than a few, as may be expected of a game with [[Loads and Loads of Characters]].

** Glenn, a young greenish-grey-haired knight named for and modeled after the human form of Frog from ''[[Chrono Trigger]]''. Like his namesake, he emerges from obscurity, claims a legendary sword, and generally kicks ass and takes names. He can even initiate Frog's ''X-Strike'' [[Combination Attack|Dual Tech]] with Serge.

** Leah is also an Expy of Ayla. Beating the game with Leah in your party implies {{spoiler|that she is actually Ayla's ''mother''}}. Yay for time travel?

* [[Extranormal Institute]]: Chronopolis fits the bill.

* [[Gainax Ending]]: No surprise here, as Masato Kato ''did'' work for Gainax previously. The game's final [[Cutscene]] shows {{spoiler|the Time Devourer is defeated, you merged the worlds together again, and... now there's a girl running around Tokyo}}? Yea, good luck figuring ''that'' out. One of the developers has since explained that this ending is intended to make players "think about the reality of their own world", and that part of the ending is to make the player think that there might be a Kid in their world. Presumably a reference to the game's themes of alternate dimensions and such.

* [[Gambit Pileup]]: There's at least half a dozen plans working at cross purposes throughout the game. In rough order of [[Unwitting Pawn]]-ness: the Arcadia Dragoons and Porre are trying to [[Out Gambit]] one another via Lynx, who is actually trying to {{spoiler|break the restrictions on FATE}}, while the dragon gods manipulate {{spoiler|Serge, so that he'll free them by killing FATE}}, ''all'' of which was part of a plan by {{spoiler|the Prophet of Time}} meant to result in the final defeat of the Time Devourer.

* [[Ghost Ship]]: Subverted then played straight. While sailing through dense fog, the party runs across a ship rumored to be a ghost ship, but turns out to be a pirate vessel using the legend to its advantage. The pirates are then attacked by an ''[[Crying Wolf|actual]]'' ghost ship.

* [[Giant Wall of Watery Doom]]: The Dead Sea was in the middle of getting pummeled by these when it froze.

* [[Joined Your Party]]: Those messages are personalized for each character's accent/verbal tic/gimmick. "Marcy, like, joined your party!" (has some [[Valley Girl]] speech patterns), "ZOAH JOINED YOUR PARTY." (speaks in [[No Indoor Voice|ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME]]), and "Greco tagged into your party!" (is a [[Masked Luchador]]) come to mind.

* [[Justified Save Point]]: People pray to the Records of Fate for good luck. {{spoiler|It's a machine devised by FATE to experiment on her progeny}} and prevent them from interacting with {{spoiler|the outside world}}.

* [[Lethal Joke Character]]: Poshul and Pierre, two rather pathetic characters, get significantly powered up when equipped with the proper key items. Poshul only needs one, but Pierre needs ''three''

* [[Let's Play]]: [[The Dark Id]]'s [http://lparchive.org/Chrono-Cross/ playthrough] is as hilarious as it is informative, managing to be both critical and celebratory at the same time. Serge becomes a slacker who quickly becomes the [[Only Sane Man]] when confronted with transdimensional weirdness, Kid and Leena get along like a house on fire, the villains' nebulous objectives are repeatedly mocked, the [[Anvilicious]] [[Green Aesop|green aesops]] and "[[Humans Are Bastards]]" messages are soundly refuted, AND ZOAH BECOMES A FAN FAVORITE.

* [[Mass Teleportation]]: {{spoiler|Chronopolis}} semi-accidentally did this to itself, creating both {{spoiler|the Sea of Eden and the Dead Sea}}.

* [[Mecha-Mooks]]: There are some in the Dead Sea, but Chronopolis crawls with them.

* [[Mind Screw]]: And ''how!''

* [[Musical Nod]]: The soundtrack contains numerous references to both ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' and ''[[Radical Dreamers]]'', some more subtle than others:

* [[Perfect Poison]]: Lynx has poison-laced throwing daggers. One slice will knock you flat.

* [[Post Modernism]]: Throughout the game the distinction between Serge and the player is repeatedly blurred, until in the good ending it is demolished entirely.

* [[Punny Name]]: Some of the monsters suffer from this. Many of the names fall into [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] territory as well. (A red-elemental canine monster named HotDoggity, anyone?)

* [[Recurring Boss]]: Lynx, who is fought five times: twice as Lynx and once each as {{spoiler|Serge (in Fort Dragonia), Dark Serge, and finally in his true form as FATE}}.

* [[Ripple Effect Indicator]]: The Dead Sea replaces Chronopolis in Home World. As {{spoiler|Crono didn't stop Lavos}} in that timeline, Chronopolis likewise was never built; the sea changed to reflect that status.

* [[Sad Battle Music]]: "Prisoners of Fate" plays during the climax of the game's [[Wham! Episode]] in the Dead Sea. It culminates in a showdown against someone who ''really'' does not want to fight you, but will kick your ass seven ways to Sunday regardless. The same theme plays while fighting [[Bonus Boss]] Dario.