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

[Toan]

I really think that giving Serge his own dialogue would add far more to the game than it would take away.

I agree. Cross is just one of those games where you just have to have EVERYONE speaking, even Serge, the "Silent Protagonist."

Last time I remember playing Cross, I recall that in the Temporal Vortex(The strange place with Sprigg and Harle), doesn't Serge appear and begin to speak? I think that that portion of the game had Serge speak a little.

[Dark Serge]

That was probably not Serge himself but just some kind of mirror image. But if he was going to be unmuted, that's the way he should talk.

[mav]

Righto, but people don't complain over FF cause they know they're not sequels or related to each other all that much, but people see Chrono Cross and occasionally have a hard time connecting the two. They're in the same universe and continuity, but you're basically following a new story. It could have easily not been a Chrono game, but I don't think it did badly as such. I gotta say though, I liked all your other suggestions--basically in that same order.

[mikeb123]

Fewer playable characters. I'm sure there are some people that'll be mad at me, but yes, I do believe all the useless characters made it to hard to impliment Magus into the game. If not, it certainly didn't help.

[V_Translanka]

It wouldn't be anything major at all except changing some text, removing the kids from the game, and change Schala to Serge from the other world...

While I agree that most of the other references can be changed without much difference taking place...The main impact of CC was in what happened to Schala...If it just turns out to be Serge from a different dimension or something else completely unrelated to anything, then who cares? Schala is the core of what makes Cross Chrono Cross...

Oh, and according to the Special Event Polling forum, the most popular characters at least in CC were (in alphabetical order...! A- & B-grade characters only) Fargo, Glenn, Guile, Grobyc, Harle, Karsh, Leena, Kid, Mojo (he was iffy...more of a C-grade character, really), Nikki, Norris, Orlha, Pierre, Pip, Radius, Riddel (kind of iffy, inbetween B & C), Serge (der), Sprigg, Turnip (another iffy, actually more of a C-grade), Viper (aka General Whats-His-Name) & Zappa...That would cut the cast significantly while still having a good number for Element variety...

[HyperNerd]

Why turn him it to RD Serge, am I alone in not like him? He was just too goofy and childish. Plus he looked like he was wearing pajamas.

Actually, I thought he looked like Geno from Super Mario RPG, kind of.
But I digress. Having JUST started playing Cross, I already like it, and I am a Diehard Trigger fan. Frankly, I don't care if it isn't a direct sequel. It IS related to Trigger, even if it sometimes seems like a random Cameo, implimenting Trigger charecters into a completely different Ordeal. But I can say for a fact, If Cross was never made, the fanbase would be much smaller, and the Story altogether would of been much, MUCH shorter.

This remaking Cross thing seems like a wonderful idea, I would like to see Serge having diolouge, Less charecters/More charecter devolopment, no accents, shortening the charecters to a Team again, like in Trigger, more use of CT charecters, more double/Triple techs, and a mix of CT/CC battle elements. I love the fast paced battles, and like someone mentioned, take out the end of battle screen/music. I don't see why it can't just tell us "Serge's strength went up by 1!" and "would you like to use remaining elements to heal? Yes-No" in a style simalar to Trigger. Note this is not hate for Cross, I just think that more elements from Trigger should have been used.

[cald]

I voted to go back to the Active Time Battle System but I have another, admittedly more superficial change I'd make if I could.

I can't stand Cross's art style.  I found the drastic change from Toriyama's character designs to what I see as very bland ugly characters jarring and off-putting.  Of course I realize this is just my opinion, but it was a pretty big issue for me.  The Toriyama designs had a very distinct feel, and seemed to me to have more personality to them, while the cross designs looked very generic and kind of dead inside.  I honestly probably wouldn't have bothered with Cross at all if it weren't for it's connection to Trigger.  When I first saw it on store shelves it looked like "Just Another RPG" to me.

I've toyed with the idea of doing Toriyama style revisions of some of the Cross characters for a while now, and I just might.  If someone were interested, I could potentially do Toriyama style portraits for a hack, but I have a feeling I'm mostly alone on this one.  I think I did a passable job of emulating his style with my female Magus pic http://chronocompendium.com/Term/Image:Maggirlfinal.jpg.html.  Not trying to derail the thread with posts of my artwork, I just thought I'd put that out there in case someone really is interested in Toriyama-ing Chrono Cross.

Again, I realize this is all just my opinion, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone were to claim that the art style "doesn't really matter", but it does to me.

[mav]

I can't stand Cross's art style.  I found the drastic change from Toriyama's character designs to what I see as very bland ugly characters jarring and off-putting.  Of course I realize this is just my opinion, but it was a pretty big issue for me. 

Interesting, interesting...I've always been a fan of Cross's art style, personally, I thought it looked a little more mature and realistic. But I can totally understand where you're coming from though.

I've toyed with the idea of doing Toriyama style revisions of some of the Cross characters for a while now, and I just might.  If someone were interested, I could potentially do Toriyama style portraits for a hack, but I have a feeling I'm mostly alone on this one.  I think I did a passable job of emulating his style with my female Magus pic http://chronocompendium.com/Term/Image:Maggirlfinal.jpg.html.  Not trying to derail the thread with posts of my artwork, I just thought I'd put that out there in case someone really is interested in Toriyama-ing Chrono Cross.

First off, that's some phenomenal art! Second off, I'd love to see your interpretation of Cross characters in a CT style, I think it'd be a neat re-visualization.

[V_Translanka]

I wasn't much of a fan of the art either...While some of them like Serge, Leena & Glenn look like they belong within the world they populate, a lot of them just don't seem like they could be adventurers (everyone in CT fits, but then again, with a small cast, it's harder to have someone who stands out as not belonging)...I guess it's ok for some warriors to have colorful outfits since they're in a tropical locale, but with all the freaks in the CC cast, there's a lot of douchey looking losers. For every Glenn or Leena, there's two or three NeoFio or Funguy...

[mav]

Oh definitely. Funguy was just plain fucked up, but some of the other characters, like Zappa, looked perfect, in my opinion. Then again others, like Karsh, wore some seriously ridiculous clothing...

Anyhow, Toriyama's art has a very nostalgic appeal to it, so seeing that applied to Cross might just be the greatest fan art ever.

[utunnels]

Funguy...his name is funny.
Yeah, he's not cured after all, and still a mushroom monster...but he said he like his new looking...what the...

[FaustWolf]

I absolutely loved Yuuki's portrait of Belthasar, but thought Toriyama fared better as a character designer -- the one to come up with the clothing and basic body structure. I'd love to see Toriyama and Yuuki teamed up on the same art team, with Yuuki applying his style to Toriyama's designs.

[Shadow D. Darkman]

That would be like that painting in that castle in one of Edgar Allan Poe's stories. If I ever remember the title, I'll edit this post.

[mav]

I absolutely loved Yuuki's portrait of Belthasar, but thought Toriyama fared better as a character designer -- the one to come up with the clothing and basic body structure. I'd love to see Toriyama and Yuuki teamed up on the same art team, with Yuuki applying his style to Toriyama's designs.

That'd be brilliant. Yuuki's art had a very artistic feel to it, and there was a breadth of realism in it as well. I'd love to see what he'd have done with Melchior or Gaspar...

[V_Translanka]

I'd rather see Yoshitaka Amano's renditions of Crono & Co...Mainly Magus...but his take on Robo & Frog would have to be pretty bitchin as well...