Fans of the Chrono series have clamored for a sequel for years, ever since the 2000 release of Chrono Cross posed even more questions about the Square RPG's universe. And while the March release of the Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition was just a remaster, not a new entry, it did contain a hidden snippet of new content from the original creator himself: Masato Kato.
Spoilers Ahead for the Ending of Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition! Read at your own risk if you have not finished both Chrono Cross and the packed-in text-based adventure Radical Dreamers:
The new content is small, subtle, and may not be an obvious find for most players. To access it, you need to first complete both Chrono Cross and the text-based adventure Radical Dreamers, obtaining at least one ending for both.
Once you do, you'll need to go to the main menu of the Radical Dreamers Edition (where you select which of the two games you want to play) and choose to watch the credits. Watch them through to the end, and you stumble upon the following text over a black background, without imagery, music, or animation:
The time was near — the final battle awaited. There alone in the shadows, the man lingered. His partners, a young man and a young woman, had already made their preparations, and were waiting for him at the place they had agreed upon.
Their foe was a fearsome opponent indeed. Would the three of them be able to defeat him? There was only one way to find out. All the better--what fun is a battle whose outcome is all but certain?
The man reached a hand to his mask — silver and unembellished, save for a few subtle details. It had been many long years since he last revealed his face.
Did he wear the mask to hide himself from others? Or did he wear it to hide from himself? Enough time had passed that not even he was sure anymore.
But it didn't matter now. The end was coming — an end to everything. Soon, his long days of wandering would be over. So too would the girl's ill-fated, fleeting existence.
How many years had passed? How many centuries? How much love and prayer, how much hatred and rancor, how much despair and resignation, had slowly and silently fallen over him, piling up like snow?
On that fated day, long, long ago... everything that he was had vanished... faded away into nothingness, without so much as a whimper... There was nothing he could have done to stop it...
But one memory stayed with him, even after everything else fell away. One unforgettable image. That kingdom of winds, forever lost... Those blessed days in a paradise above the clouds... And that face... Her gentle, bitter-sweet smile.
Perhaps his time behind the mask was coming to an end... His icy gaze seemed to thaw for a moment — and then he sprang to action.
The moonlight flashed across the mask's surface. His silvery hair flowed behind him, reaching out like the tail of a comet.
"The time has come, o fated star — the king has returned." And with that...he vanished into the darkness.
Though a life may end, a story lives on. Not forever, perhaps, but... What's eternity...compared to this moment in time? fin.
That's a lot of text, sure, but what does it mean? IGN reached out to Square Enix for comment, and while the publisher declined to comment on the meaning or context behind this addition, it did confirm that it was written by the original Chrono Cross creator: Masato Kato.
The clear takeaway from this extra content seems to confirm the identity of one of the protagonists of Radical Dreamers: Magil, the mysterious magician. Though it's largely been accepted by the fan community over the years that Magil is in fact the once-antagonist and late party member of Chrono Trigger, Magus, this section of text seems to fully canonize that theory, by giving us a look at Magil's perspective of the final battle in Radical Dreamers and tying it to memories that would only have been experienced by Magus.
As a refresher, Magus is the secondary villain of a large portion of Chrono Trigger. Once the young prince of the magical kingdom of Zeal, his mother's attempt to gain power through the space parasite Lavos sends him hurtling through time into the middle ages, separating him from his sister Schala. He then makes it his mission to kill Lavos and find Schala, ultimately gathering an army in the middle ages and facing off against the protagonist Crono and his friends. When they spare his life, he joins the party and ultimately fights Lavos with them, but neither Chrono Trigger nor Chrono Cross sees him reunited with Schala despite her rescue from a Lavos offshoot at the end of Chrono Cross.
Another possible read of this text is that it's either a hint toward future Chrono content or, alternatively, a final farewell to the Chrono franchise from Kato himself. Magus' lines seem to suggest the coming of a new battle, but the final line cryptically implies that while individual moments and stories may eventually end, the memories of those moments live on as their legacy.
Whatever the true meaning is, it's incredible that Kato stepped in to create new content, however secretive, over two decades after the Chrono franchise was shelved. We loved the original Chrono Cross and recommend people take this opportunity to play the strange artifact that is Radical Dreamers now that it's more widely available. Hopefully we get a chance to see more of Kato's work in the near future.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
Continue reading...
Spoilers Ahead for the Ending of Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition! Read at your own risk if you have not finished both Chrono Cross and the packed-in text-based adventure Radical Dreamers:
The new content is small, subtle, and may not be an obvious find for most players. To access it, you need to first complete both Chrono Cross and the text-based adventure Radical Dreamers, obtaining at least one ending for both.
Once you do, you'll need to go to the main menu of the Radical Dreamers Edition (where you select which of the two games you want to play) and choose to watch the credits. Watch them through to the end, and you stumble upon the following text over a black background, without imagery, music, or animation:
The time was near — the final battle awaited. There alone in the shadows, the man lingered. His partners, a young man and a young woman, had already made their preparations, and were waiting for him at the place they had agreed upon.
Their foe was a fearsome opponent indeed. Would the three of them be able to defeat him? There was only one way to find out. All the better--what fun is a battle whose outcome is all but certain?
The man reached a hand to his mask — silver and unembellished, save for a few subtle details. It had been many long years since he last revealed his face.
Did he wear the mask to hide himself from others? Or did he wear it to hide from himself? Enough time had passed that not even he was sure anymore.
But it didn't matter now. The end was coming — an end to everything. Soon, his long days of wandering would be over. So too would the girl's ill-fated, fleeting existence.
How many years had passed? How many centuries? How much love and prayer, how much hatred and rancor, how much despair and resignation, had slowly and silently fallen over him, piling up like snow?
On that fated day, long, long ago... everything that he was had vanished... faded away into nothingness, without so much as a whimper... There was nothing he could have done to stop it...
But one memory stayed with him, even after everything else fell away. One unforgettable image. That kingdom of winds, forever lost... Those blessed days in a paradise above the clouds... And that face... Her gentle, bitter-sweet smile.
Perhaps his time behind the mask was coming to an end... His icy gaze seemed to thaw for a moment — and then he sprang to action.
The moonlight flashed across the mask's surface. His silvery hair flowed behind him, reaching out like the tail of a comet.
"The time has come, o fated star — the king has returned." And with that...he vanished into the darkness.
Though a life may end, a story lives on. Not forever, perhaps, but... What's eternity...compared to this moment in time? fin.
That's a lot of text, sure, but what does it mean? IGN reached out to Square Enix for comment, and while the publisher declined to comment on the meaning or context behind this addition, it did confirm that it was written by the original Chrono Cross creator: Masato Kato.
The clear takeaway from this extra content seems to confirm the identity of one of the protagonists of Radical Dreamers: Magil, the mysterious magician. Though it's largely been accepted by the fan community over the years that Magil is in fact the once-antagonist and late party member of Chrono Trigger, Magus, this section of text seems to fully canonize that theory, by giving us a look at Magil's perspective of the final battle in Radical Dreamers and tying it to memories that would only have been experienced by Magus.
As a refresher, Magus is the secondary villain of a large portion of Chrono Trigger. Once the young prince of the magical kingdom of Zeal, his mother's attempt to gain power through the space parasite Lavos sends him hurtling through time into the middle ages, separating him from his sister Schala. He then makes it his mission to kill Lavos and find Schala, ultimately gathering an army in the middle ages and facing off against the protagonist Crono and his friends. When they spare his life, he joins the party and ultimately fights Lavos with them, but neither Chrono Trigger nor Chrono Cross sees him reunited with Schala despite her rescue from a Lavos offshoot at the end of Chrono Cross.
Another possible read of this text is that it's either a hint toward future Chrono content or, alternatively, a final farewell to the Chrono franchise from Kato himself. Magus' lines seem to suggest the coming of a new battle, but the final line cryptically implies that while individual moments and stories may eventually end, the memories of those moments live on as their legacy.
Whatever the true meaning is, it's incredible that Kato stepped in to create new content, however secretive, over two decades after the Chrono franchise was shelved. We loved the original Chrono Cross and recommend people take this opportunity to play the strange artifact that is Radical Dreamers now that it's more widely available. Hopefully we get a chance to see more of Kato's work in the near future.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
Continue reading...
