Author Topic: Chrono Cross: the 'Xenogears Disc 2' syndrome?  (Read 719 times)

Chrono'99

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Chrono Cross: the 'Xenogears Disc 2' syndrome?
« on: September 21, 2007, 03:14:16 pm »
As we know, there is about Chrono Cross a whole important chunk of the Arbiter backstory that didn't make it into the final version of the game, at least according to the Ultimania Guide. The Guide gives no reason for why this Arbiter backstory didn't make it. In any case, I suppose that if it had been included into the game, it would have been revealed near the end of the game rather than early.

Some people claim that the quality of the game's plot dwindle a bit near the end. They claim for instance that while the Dragon God cutscene at Chronopolis is good, what follows it is anti-climactic as the pace of the game suddenly drops (Terra Tower = dull dungeon; stuff with the Chrono Cross key item = not explicite enough).

Incidentally, Terra Tower is one of the rare place in which the Arbiter lost backstory seems to be hinted at, with Belthasar's comment about the Arbiter binding with the Time Devourer.

And after beating Terra Tower, the only thing the party has to do to complete the game is to go to Opassa Beach, where the ghost children dump them what remains to be explained in the plot, and there's the fight against the Time Devourer and that's the end.

Thus, we know for a fact (well, an Ultimania fact, for what it's worth) that there's a part of the plot that the developers designed but did not incorporate into the game. We also know that the ghost children at Opassa basically serve as plot-dumpers for what hasn't been explained during the rest of the game.

Could it be that the developers were running out of time or fund after the Chronopolis events? They would have been forced to rush things, making a dull dungeon for Terra Tower, perhaps even scrapping a Playable Character imprisoned in it, and resorting to placing long, literary explanations of the plot's backstory at Opassa instead of making the player learn the plot naturally through other dungeons and scenes and events. They would even have cut the Arbiter backstory short because this may have been too much to explain at Opassa for the ghost children to talk and the player to digest.

Basically: the same thing that supposedly happened to Xenogears for the events of its second disc. In Xenogears' case, the plot dumps are all along the disc with the characters sitting on chairs and narrating the game, instead of ghost children standing on a beach narrating the past. The developers never admitted it for Xenogears though, so we may never know for sure for either game. But what's your opinion? Could it be possible that there were intended to be more events after Chronopolis, or at least a better presentation of things?
« Last Edit: September 21, 2007, 03:16:19 pm by Chrono'99 »

Kyronea

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Re: Chrono Cross: the 'Xenogears Disc 2' syndrome?
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2007, 03:57:15 pm »
I personally find that quite likely. It's sad, really, what happened at the end of Chrono Cross with all of the sudden complete stop in the plot. It made no sense, and your explanation suggests a very likely possibility.

ZeaLitY

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Re: Chrono Cross: the 'Xenogears Disc 2' syndrome?
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2007, 04:04:17 pm »
It makes me wonder whether more backstory for Porre / Guardia was going to be included as well. Or whether Kato wanted the Arbiter thing to turn up in Break since he didn't get his chance in Cross...