Thanks to the folks over at Game Informer and Sony’s own Playstation Blog” we’ve gotten word of a new promotion due this Holiday season by role playing Developing Gods: Square Enix. Dubbed the “Winter of RPG’s”, Sony and Square Enix will be releasing a trio of HIGHLY anticipated re-releases of classic PS1 games.
Beginning on November 8th with the PSN release of Chrono Cross (!!!???!!!) – and YES folks, that IS only FIVE DAYS FROM NOW!! And well it wouldn’t really be a “Winter of RPGs” with only one – albeit HUGE title – hitting digital release, so again PSN and SE teams up to release Final Fantasy V a few weeks later on November 22nd. Oh and just to throw it out there like anyone actually cares – December 6th will see the PSN release of some game called Final Fantasy VI. Some of you may remember it being released here in the states under the innocent title “Final Fantasy III” or A.K.A. the GREATEST CARTRIDGE BASED ROLE PLAYING GAME EVER MADE BY MAN.
So not only to we see one of the best sequels ever made in Chrono Cross (and don’t forget the original Chrono Trigger was ALSO just released last month on the service), we also get what is arguably the best Final Fantasy game ever (and YES I’d put it above FF VII in a heartbeat) – ALL before the year is out.
And while neither Square Enix nor Sony put a price point on these titles – similar titles in the past have gone for aprox. $9.99 USD. And I see no reason for these to follow a different course.
Yes, Chrono Cross!
I'd also buy FFVI...but it's the PS version of the game, which had some wonky load times, if not as bad as Chrono Trigger. Given that the PSN version of Chrono Trigger didn't fix those load times, I'll wait and see about that version of FFVI.
(I'd get the Wii version, but then I couldn't play it on the go)
I have this very odd feeling that when I finally turn on my PS3 to play Uncharted 3 I'll be making a slight detour into the Sony store to pick up Chrono Trigger.... in preparation for Chrono Cross. Of course with ALL the huge Triple AAA NEW titles I'll be playing in the next few weeks - it may be a good long while until I actually tackle these monsters of RPGs once more.... and yeah - that will include FF 6 as well, just so I don't have to go digging around trying to find my discs.
I'm mshocked that FFVI hasn't been out on the PSN Store sooner. Hasn't Nintendo had it forever on their shop (not willing to check)? Different ports but still...
Never played Chrono Cross. Why do I always hear mixed impressions?
Yeah FFVI has been on Wii VC for a while, and it's a better version than the psone version.
But whatever. higher availability for these classic games without artificially inflated prices. Options are good.
Still - I flat out LOVED Chrono Cross - moreso than I liked Trigger. And if it weren't for FF9, Cross may have been my all time favorite PSOne RPG. Still - it isn't the easiest game to get into, especially if you were expecting it to be more like Trigger, and there ARE some convoluted plot points and some interesting battle choices that turned some people off of it. Like I said - you'll either love it or hate it. And unfortunately PSN doesn't allow "demos" of their games so you can't just try it out to see which camp you'd fall into.
I never played chrono trigger because it was like a hundred dollars and I was a kid when it came out. I didn't really like chrono cross very much because the story was dumb and there were a billion who-gives-a-shit characters, but I did enjoy the battle and leveling up systems.
Chrono Cross is awesome. The battle system is clever and allows the player to do more than just "take yer turn and wait" while still being an entirely turn-based system. The cast is very large, and there isn't focused character progression like you might expect from a PS1 Square RPG, but it's a beautiful game (dated as it is, the color pallette and art design stand out) with a stunning soundtrack. It's just FUN in a way many RPGs aren't.
The knocks against it are that the ending is a bit of a trick, and the game plays funny on an HDTV. I don't know if Square Enix has addressed this or not, but I've played CC on my HDTV recently, and the menu screen is a higher resolution than the rest of the game, so the TV goes black for a second to change over.
My PS2 and Wii are probably what will keep my standard 4:3 SDTV around for years to come.
Crim I've NOTICED that you TYPE A LOT OF WORDS in all CAPS. You DON'T think we're all DEAF, do YOU?
marlin ain't YOU know crim IS a fan of comic BOOKS
well technically I think comic books are lettered in allcaps
but they are also famous for bolding words seemingly at random (like not even words you would stress in a normal speech pattern)