Why I enjoy talking to Nova about Chrono Cross summed up in one string of messages

Spoiler: Spit coffee now

DEAD. DEFEATED. ON THE FLOOR.

 

i'm on nova's side here

 

dis me

 

THE WORD OF THE DAY IS STILL FAMILIAR

 

So they put more creativity and effort into Chrono Cross.

 

Creativity? Maybe, if lol so randum counts for creativity now
Effort? Not a chance

 

But Chrono Trigger had lol so randum characters too. Like Ayla and Robo, who really didn't contribute much other than party diversity.

 

they're not lol so randum though, they each have a key story function, they fill out a quota for a party member from each era, and unlike Chrono Cross, their personality traits don't begin and end with "they talk with a funny accent"

 

We must have played different games, both Ayla and Robo are only relevant to the plot for five minutes each. If they are going to add characters that barely matter to the story, they might as well add a ton like in Cross. Otherwise it's best to keep the number small and have every party member be highly relevant to most of the story.

 

Ayla's probably the least plot significant, probably because she can't talk and doesn't have any particularly unique abilities. Robo has that mission in the future, that side quest where you save the trees, and factors into the plot of Cross
I mean, I'm not so deluded as to think that the characters on Chrono Trigger are fantastically developed or anything, but they have infinite shades of complexity compared to most of Cross' cast

 

And that's what I'm saying. Both games have some characters that get sidelined. It's just that in Cross, there's more party members as a whole, so it feels like a smaller issue.

 

Compare the sidelined characters though. Random scarecrow thing... a dog. Because of Chrono Cross' choice system a lot of characters don't feel important anyways, since there are often three different characters that fulfill ultimately the exact same purpose

 

That's the thing though, Cross doesn't even try to hide that their characters aren't important, where as Trigger certainly did.

 

they were important, they're just classically important, where their actions are the more significant part of who they are. With Cross it basically becomes Serge and Whoever We Could Get All-Stars Racing Transformed

 

But still, why have those characters at all? Ayla's purpose is to be fan service for the dudes and Robo's is to be fan service for the chicks.

 

wait what

 

Which what?

 

I can kinda get Ayla, but Robo? Are we working on the Girls Love Robots train of logic here

 

That's chicks dig giant robots, thank you very much.

 

Girls Love Robots is an indie puzzle game where you have to place girls robots and nerds in a pattern that satisfies all parties
EDIT: Pardon me, it's actually "Girls Like robots"