If you could change Chrono Cross, how would you do it?

[ZeaLitY]

If you could change Chrono Cross, how would you do it? It's a poll from the Chrono Cross hacking team you've seen in action in Kajar Laboratories! Make the wishlist now!

[Kebrel]

*Better explain the underlying story using Compendium theory, and in a way that isn't so esoteric and cramped into the last minutes of the game.
*Eliminate all the funny accents.
*Give Zoah some clothes.
All three were kinda tide for me but these three seem to go together well, as in one large hack including them all.

[brifye19]

I would 16-bit it! Oh, and remove all the accents,lol

[Radical_Dreamer]

I voted for story revisions using Compendium theory, but if the number of playable characters can be reduced to, say, the characters that really had good or important reasons for joining you, that would be an interesting streamlining as well. And if that happened to free up some data for other interesting hacks...

[BROJ]

I would 16-bit it! Oh, and remove all the accents,lol

Reinsert Magus back into the storyline as a major event and not just as a side story, add some scenes of Belthasar working in Chronopolis and playing a larger role on the whole, as well as incorporating Compendium theory into the game.

[V_Translanka]

Take out the accents except for Kid's...maybe Grobyc's...I forget how he talked in the Japanese version...

Fewer playable characters if you can then actually ADD Character Development to those who aren't.

Other - I think that there should be more UNIQUE dialog when the 2nd party member or whoever pipes up and adds something. I don't think they all have to say the same thing just w/a different accent. It just screamed LAZY PROGRAMMING to me...Maybe just MORE dialog between party members as well.

Turn CC Serge into RD Serge...i.e. give him dialog. He absolutely sucks w/o it. I know it's a cute little throwback to Crono, but he was a HUNDRED times better in RD with a freakin personality. I mean, C'MON! You just traveled through dimensions into a place where you're DEAD!! Give us a reaction you sick bastard!!!

OR as an alternative...! How about some reactionary 3D model movements? The equivalent of that surprised sprite I always bitch about Crono having over Serge? THAT would help TREMENDOUSLY, I think.

[Julford]

Less characters, with more development each.

Maybe two/three characters of each element are available per playthrough (Without counting Serge/Lynx)? ie:

White: Serge, Riddel
Black: Lynx, Harle, Grobyc, Guile
Blue: Pierre/Nikki, Fargo
Red: Kid, (Who else was important? I can't remember any other red with plot significance. Then again, there's always Macha )
Green: Radius, Glenn/Razzly (Depending on save/leave Kid), Karsh
Yellow: Norris, Viper, Poshul (If for nothing else, just making the opening segment easier; maybe permanently leaves party after Opassa Beach?)

I know I'm likely forgetting some important character or another, but at least it's a basic list of characters. Zoah/Marcy never join the party, but we get Viper/Fargo anyway, so we don't need them. The only concern I can think with the list as a whole is not having any Red characters besides Kid, though I suppose adding Zappa might work.

The biggest "problem" I see is the lack of early-game characters by removing Leena, Mojo, and (Likely) Poshul; that leaves you with Serge and Kid until Termina, and then those two plus your guide for Viper Manor. Then you'd have Serge/Guide/(Glenn/Razzly) until Ft. Dragonia, and then get about ten characters in the span of twenty minutes after becoming Lynx.

I dunno, that's my two cents being written up at seven in the morning, so I imagine there's some glaring error on my part >.>

EDIT: On second thought, Grobyc and Viper could probably be removed without incident; Viper isn't important to the plot after recruiting him (Or past Ft. Dragonia, really), and Grobyc is relevent never. Maybe we could leave Poshul in, then? Hardly a plot-heavy character, but without Viper we need another Yellow, and Poshul offers potential variety for early-game parties.

Also, I forgot Sprigg, which means we'd have four green characters per run, five total. Still, with this list we're looking at about 16-17 characters as opposed to forty-something (44 I beleive, but I don't know if that counts Serge/Lynx as one or two characters), which is a nice start.

[FaustWolf]

Wow, excellent feedback so far from everyone! I totally forgot to add an option for Serge having a personality -- yes, this is a must!

[Molotov]

I've said this before, but increased difficulty gets my vote. I'm also the only one to vote for that change so far (by that, I mean in the poll itself). Whee!

[Romana]

Less characters in the playable/usable roster. I'm really picky when it comes to character development... Well, to be specific, I just really like seeing a character getting a backstory and some purpose given to their role in a story. Chrono Cross was lacking in these.

I wholeheartedly agree on the Serge personality point. Having played RD before CC, it was pretty weird to see Serge as little more than a walking puppet (I guess that's irony with his role in about 90% of the story). Giving him some personality and lines to express himself would really be an improvement.

OR as an alternative...! How about some reactionary 3D model movements? The equivalent of that surprised sprite I always bitch about Crono having over Serge? THAT would help TREMENDOUSLY, I think.

I like this. While playing, I rarely ever got the impression that characters were even reacting at all to what was happening around them, so I'd love to see some actual emotion.

[Kebrel]

OR as an alternative...! How about some reactionary 3D model movements? The equivalent of that surprised sprite I always bitch about Crono having over Serge? THAT would help TREMENDOUSLY, I think.

Ditto I personally would prefer this then adding lines for Serge. Less room to screw up. I personally didn't like the RD Serge as much sure he had character, but is bad character better then little to no character

[Kid_Serge_Love]

i would want an actual "what happens" to serge and kid.  or a wedding like in chrono trigger ^-^

[FaustWolf]

Yes, resolution is an important consideration as well. Should it be happy to counterbalance the doleful tone of Cross, left the same, or be ominous like the ending of Terminator 2? Chrono Trigger PSX ingeniously combined celebration wtih sorrow, juxtaposing the wedding against the invasion.

Let us also enter into a debate on the nature of Serge's character in RD, and what kind of person Serge could/should be in an overhauled Chrono Cross.

On the plus side in my opinion, Serge in RD seemed introspective, but this is a required trait for someone who's narrating an entire adventure. On the negative, IMO, he came off as such a run-of-the-mill, hormone-driven teen; What are Kid's measurements?, my foot! But on balance, Serge is essentially what the player makes of him in RD, because he has a multitude of choices on things to say and do.

There is grand potential for Serge's character in Chrono Cross. He finds out he's dead in another dimension, he's got the universe's fate in his hands, and his dad tried to drown him when he was 10. He's got to react to these things, but as Kebrel points out, there is significant risk of ruining the opportunity to write his character. He has much weighing upon his mind, but if he ends up "emo" like Cloud or Squall, the writing will have failed. Or would it? Discuss.

[V_Translanka]

Yeah, I strike my suggestion for adding character to him actually now that I think about it...Even if you just try to mold CC Serge from RD Serge, there's just so much more happening to CC Serge that whoever writes him would have to be adding too much to his personality...and that, I think, is taking a bit TOO MUCH out of the hands of Kato...give him a hilarious surprised sprite-like thing like Crono had, maybe a laughing sprite (although I'm not sure if he'd be able to use one in CC...>_>)...I mean, I can imagine a Crono-like, arms & legs outspread, wide-eyed, surprised look for Serge when he reads his own gravestone! It'd be PRICELESS!

[Kebrel]

I am not saying its impossible but just difficult, lots of work, and can go wrong. Maybe Cryokinetic or Clovis could do it? They did a good job with Chrono.