This is one of the reasons Chrono Crusade should have been its own series and not a sequel to Trigger.
I presume you mean Chrono Cross?
And the problem with that argument is that Cross is basically one of those fanfictions-made-canon where a giant convoluted mess of a story is made to try to explain some tiny plot holes nobody besides the most obsessive of fanboys cares about, and even they would excuse, anyway. (See here for the whole rundown of what kind of problems time travel creates.) This is why there's a whole movie (which for some reason isn't the smash hit at box offices that the real main story movies are) existing to explaining why "the ship that completed the Kessel Run in only 12 parsecs" wasn't a mistake just because it's a measure of distance instead of time. Chrono Cross is a giant labyrinth of radically reinterpreted versions of Trigger, but it's still far too integrally linked to Trigger to separate, and there woulnd't have been a point if they had to recreate Trigger just to start explaining why there were reptites that turned into dragons that now rule another dimension because evil robot future didn't take over the past "first" in the other dimension.
Not to mention that Cross was greatly at odds with the spirit of Trigger. It's a fun rockin' adventure through time. It plays fast and loose with the rules, but keeps things simple and consistent enough.
"Dark" sequels in a series only work if you're putting an established cast of characters through the ringer, so as to deepen the relationship they have with the audience. Wordlessly killing off the previous cast of characters so a new group of jerks can take over just because "it's their time" or some nonsense doesn't work.
Not to mention that Cross was greatly at odds with the spirit of Trigger. It's a fun rockin' adventure through time. It plays fast and loose with the rules, but keeps things simple and consistent enough.
"Dark" sequels in a series only work if you're putting an established cast of characters through the ringer, so as to deepen the relationship they have with the audience. Wordlessly killing off the previous cast of characters so a new group of jerks can take over just because "it's their time" or some nonsense doesn't work.
Especially when the new characters get significantly less characterization and plot to endear them to the audience than the cast you killed off.
Especially when the new characters get significantly less characterization and plot to endear them to the audience than the cast you killed off.
Let's not forget that they made a re-release of Trigger just to add a bonus boss version of Lavos where you are forced to lose just to justify Chrono Cross and piss all over the people who liked Trigger better (read: anyone who played the series).
That, more than anything, is probably what makes Cross so much more hated. Cross is a convoluted mess whose extremely complex plot does make some sense on paper, and sorting it out, I like some of the background ideas, but it is presented in the worst way imaginable, making it more confusing than it already would have been. Worse, it makes the only thing that fans of the original game really get out of it being that their favorite characters died for no discernible good reason.
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