Goodness! I sit out on the news for a few days and this drops.
I am solidly in the camp of going the FF7R route. As sergecross says, they have ported the game many times. A simple remaster isn't going to garner much attention. With the release of the Chrono Cross Radical Dreamers edition, the original canon is essentially preserved in the most complete form we are going to get. Going back to that with no appreciable alterations or additions serves no purpose. It's too late to "finish" the original planned trilogy. The foundation is just too shaky to build a part three that makes any kind of narrative sense, seeing how Cross turned out.
The fact that Kitase is even talking about this publicly suggest he thinks the time is ripe to revisit Chrono and remake the saga from the ground up. If treated as one grand story, they would approach the complex narrative of Chrono Cross in pre-production before most of the work on Trigger was even begun. This way would avoid the contradictions of their previous piecemeal approach. The developers would know exactly what happens between the events of Trigger and Cross, it would just be a question of when they reveal this knowledge to the player, or whether there is any foreshadowing of future events.
To remake the events of Trigger using modern production values in a single game I think is unrealistic. Not if they want to do it right. And Square-Enix will soon be in a position where they need a production that can generate some real buzz. Once the final part of the FF7R saga drops, what does the company have? Most of their post-legacy projects (which I define as coming after Final Fantasy 12) have either fallen short of commercial goals or crashed and burned out of the gate. The company can't afford to take another risk on something that is unproven in a major production. Plus, Square-Enix isn't looking for a single game, they're looking for a franchise. Something that can sustain the company for years. Chrono could be that new flagship franchise.
The key would be in how a remade Chrono saga would be divided. From my own story work, I have a fairly good grasp on where the divides should be. Part one would cover all of the events between the Millennial Fair and the moment where Frog claims the reforged Masamune, including also the scene where Lavos crashes into the earth during the prehistoric era (which happens at a later time in the original game). That means four distinctive time-periods to explore; a meaty amount of content for a part one. Part two would cover the final battles of the Mystic War, the confrontation with Magus, the return to a now ice-aged prehistoric era, and a much expanded Zeal arc - which solidifies Crono's and Marle's mutual affections into open love. Part two would conclude following the failed confrontation with Samale and the "death" of Crono. The remaining party members will find themselves divided into two groups, with each believing the other dead. Marle, Robo, and Ayla are captured by Dalton and held prisoner on the Blackbird, while a listless Lucca wanders the snowscape until she discovers and confronts Magus over the events in Zeal. Having lost her ability to control magic after an earlier accident involving the young Janus Zeal (who she tried to tutor in magic at Schala's request), Lucca lashes out in ineffective grief, and Magus forcibly enters a dream-link with her, sharing the truth of his identity and his hardships in the middle-ages. Frog intervenes out of nowhere while Magus is distracted and overpowers him, vowing to avenge his sworn brother Cyrus, but Lucca restrains him at the last, refusing to let her former pupil die even at the hands of a friend. Confused by Lucca's actions, Magus relates that the Guru of Time, Gaspar, might know of a way to prevent Crono's death. The three uneasy companions are then shown entering a time gate, while a distraught Marle laments the loss of her friends as Dalton's prisoner. Thus ends part two.
Part three is where things most deviate from the original game, introducing two new time-periods, with Lucca and Marle sharing the protagonist role from the respective eras they find themselves in. This is a very involved story that builds the foundation of the events that will transpire in Chrono Cross (the remade version of it), as well as planting a seed for the untold Chrono Break story. At its core, part three encompasses the entire Crono resurrection arc, and it will end with the iconic Death Peak scene, with both Marle and Lucca embracing him in tears. I'll relate some of the details of part 3 in a PM to interested parties later, as I'm not comfortable spoiling a story that I very much want to see translated into a new game or film project by Square-Enix.
Part four finds the group at a crossroads of decisions, beginning a few weeks after the Death Peak event. Crono is returned to the living, but he finds himself diminished due to the way his life was saved. Physical feats that once came easily to him are now difficult, and he relentlessly trains his body to regain his lost skills with Frog's help. Marle takes exception to Crono's overtraining, and states that the group now has enough freedom that there is no need to rush matters. Lucca also finds herself changed, but for a very different reason. Though she has regained the use of magic, thanks to a technique Magus copied from Schala by memory, the disturbing dreams Lucca experienced in the 1990's have not relented. She is increasingly convinced that the lifelike dreams are a warning of a possible future, but doesn't know if that future can be, or should be, prevented. This foreshadows the climatic confrontation with Lavos, but would victory in this impossible conflict solve everyone's problems, or would it just lead to a world that had no future at all? Part four essentially finishes the tale of Chrono Trigger while at the same time resolving the entire saga by allowing the earlier planted Chrono Break seed to blossom. (Chrono Cross still happens, but in a prior timeline that is rendered moot by the events of this story. Through this, Kid is finally able to keep her promise to Serge, even though Serge himself can have no memory of it. The remade Chrono Cross would thus be a prequel story rather than a follow-up, allowing the saga to come full-circle.)
If a Square-Enix dev happens to be reading this wall of text, please consider the ideas I was willing to share here. I've been working on this for a long time, and most of the Trigger portions have at least been outlined to some extent. It pays homage to the original games, but also opens the door to a more complete narrative. If there is any company interest, I would be happy to share things in a more confidential setting.
