The long awaited sequel to the SNES RPG Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross puts you in the shoes of Serge, an unwitting hero on a time-traveling quest to save the world from destruction. The game features dozens of playable characters along with a turn-based battle system reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII’s materia system mixed with Chrono Trigger’s tech system and Final Fantasy VIII’s weapons upgrade system. Like materia, various “elements” must be found or captured from monsters throughout the game, which are then inserted into slots on your characters’ element grid to cast spells. Unlike FF7, elements cannot be chained or directly linked to weapons or armor, but the strategy comes in with your characters’ innate element color – not limited to simply the four elements present in most Square RPG’s, elements can be a variety of colors, and each character will be more or less powerful with and against certain elements depending on their innate color. Characters also have intrinsic color-based tech abilities, some of which must be “unlocked” later in the game – eschewing the traditional experience points of most RPG’s, Chrono Cross uses “growth levels” that raise your stats and abilities according to your performance in major battles. Chrono Cross contains a few innovations while blending successful elements (no pun intended) of past role playing games into one of the most technically advanced games on the PlayStation platform.