Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition released today, and fans want to know what differences there are between this and the original release. Surely, Square Enix must have some fantastic treats in store, given that Chrono Cross debuted over 20 years ago, right? We’ll take a look at the changes below.
What’s new in Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition?
There are a few big changes that have been introduced in the remaster of Chrono Cross. The Radical Dreamers Edition is far from a remake, though, so users shouldn’t expect anything… radical.
New Models (With new textures)
Square Enix has created new models for each character and redrawn the textures for them all. They’re meant to look much better in HD, and they’re more detailed for sure. Fortunately for purists, the original models are available as well.
HD text and character portraits
The text and text backgrounds are now in HD, which makes it easier to read. The character portraits have been redrawn as well. These can also be reverted to the original versions if players wish.
Upscaled Backgrounds
Each of the pre-rendered backgrounds has been upscaled. Unfortunately, Square Enix did a horrible job with this, and the results are hard on the eyes. Some backgrounds don’t look too bad, but a lot of the fine detail has been lost. Expect to see a lot of blurs and blobs where the AI upscaler didn’t know what to do. These all needed to be hand-retouched after being upscaled, but it seems like the devs just ran it through waifu2x or something and called it a day. There are fan renders out there that do a much better job, and I hope that decent backgrounds will eventually be modded into the PC version.
Reorchestrated music
The MIDI music of the original has been rerecorded. It sounds okay. Unfortunately, though you can use the original models and backgrounds, you’re stuck with the new music.
Radical Dreamers
The former Satellaview exclusive has received its first official English translation. It’s neat for fans of the series, but there’s not much game here. It’s a visual novel that tells what Kid was doing before the start of Chrono Cross. However, parts of it are non-canon, and its relatively slow and austere presentation will turn many players off.
Script changes
While it wasn’t an announced feature, players have found that at least one character has had their script changed in the remaster. Mojo/Mojoy, the cursed voodoo doll, used to have a speech tic where he’d say “-om” after some words. This has been completely removed in the remaster, and he now speaks normally. Unfortunately, there’s been no official word as to why Square Enix did this. Hopefully, the devs will fix it in a future patch.
