The original Chrono Cross remains a landmark RPG from Square Enix. It is a critical and commercial dynamo that broke from the groundwork of its predecessor and forged its own unique path to become a masterpiece of the genre. This year’s remaster of the beloved title, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition has given the original a new lease on life, bringing in new characters, portraits, and models, as well as updated visuals and presentation.
The revamped version has afforded many newcomers the chance to engage with the world of the Chrono franchise for the first time. As the remaster’s changes are predominantly cosmetic rather than narrative, playtimes haven’t been vastly affected by the move to a new generation of consoles. For those looking to revisit the series or are coming to the franchise for the first time, here’s how long Chrono Cross takes to beat for everyone from casual gamers to dedicated completionists.
How Long Does It Take To Beat Chrono Cross?
Chrono Cross‘ main story is broken into a series of Parts, with players able to keep track of their progress by how many they have completed. There are 29 Parts in total, packed with battles as well as a variety of errands and side-quests to complete. Making sure one explores every facet of these respective stages will give players the best chance of achieving full completion.
According to HowLongtoBeat, the average player will finish the main story in around 37 hours, with faster players managing to get things done in around 28 1/2 hours. Those looking to take a more leisurely approach tend to do so in approximately 53 1/2 hours. Players seeking to complete the main story plus extras like additional quests can expect to spend on average of around 44 hours with Chrono Cross, while faster operators can bring this down to around 30 hours.
These playtimes are, of course, coming from a variety of playthroughs and from a wide scope of consoles and platforms. These range from emulated copies to PlayStation 2 and PS Vita versions. Whatever the case, Chrono Cross will take a significant portion of time to beat regardless of one’s platform or playstyle.
How Long Does It Take To Complete Everything In Chrono Cross?
Beating Chrono Cross‘ story once won’t provide the full picture, though. The game has 12 total endings, though only two are available in the first playthrough; the other 10 require players to restart the game in New Game+. On top of that, the game has loads of playable characters, not all of which can be recruited in the same file. Because of this, completing everything Chrono Cross has to offer will have to play the full game at least twice, possibly using seperate save files to avoid too much backtracking.
According to Howlongtobeat, the average completionist time comes is 68 hours, while rushed players can get this down to 52 hours. Those taking their time can easily spend around 107 hours with Chrono Cross as they complete every main and side-quest, collect every key item and element, and obtain all final tech trees for each character. On top of that, completionists will need to find all the various unique techs the game has to offer, such as Flight of the Swallow, Call of the Void, and Lucca’s Legacy.
The world of Chrono Cross is extremely detailed. For a game originally released in 1999, Square Enix’s revolutionary title has so much to do and collect that one can easily lose hours in the company of its heroes. While the updated and ported remaster may be drawing criticism for its performance issues, fans of the JRPG genre have little excuse for not seeking out Chrono Cross in whichever form they can find it.
