We were hoping that Digital Foundry would take a look at Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, because as we explained in our damning review of the new PlayStation 4 remaster, the performance issues that plague this re-release simply aren't acceptable.
In its latest video analysis, Digital Foundry pretty much echoes what we found during the aforementioned review process. The game's frame rate is generally quite shocking — dynamically dipping all over the place both while exploring and in combat. Chrono Cross remains a really good PS1 JRPG — but the fact that it somehow runs worse than it did back in 1999 is a disgrace, unable to hit even 30fps a majority of the time.
Digital Foundry's Tom Morgan goes as far to call it "one of the worst performing games I've ever seen on PS4", which is astounding when you consider the fact that this is essentially an emulated PS1 title.
To make matters even worse, there's a fair amount of stuttering that takes place on top of the already woeful frame rate. These stutters tend to appear during battle, and — again, as mentioned in our review — can lead to noticeable input delay.
So yeah, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is just really poorly optimised — and it's the same story on Nintendo Switch as well as PC. We're holding out hope that Square Enix patches these problems up — at least to some extent — but the total lack of communication on the topic doesn't exactly inspire confidence. It's also worth noting that the remaster didn't have any kind of day one update, either.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 61
I thought I was going insane when almost every other review of this remaster didn't even mention performance, but thankfully Digital Foundry's taken a look at it and come to the same conclusion.
Hopefully the next article we write about Chrono Cross is with regards to a patch that fixes the frame rate.
I don't know I just couldn't get into Chrono Cross like I did Trigger. The magic system was a bit odd and the story was just confusing. I wish they would have done a Chrono Collection and included Chrono Trigger as well.
Sounds like a standard Square pc release. They’ll probably patch it after enough people complain, but they will take their sweet time doing so.
They are talking about how bad the upscaling is forever, I’m watching the video thinking it looks pretty good 😂
@ShogunRok What's baffling to me is the way people over at Nintendo Life are praising it yet these same people complain about buggy games.
@ShogunRok That is frustrating and funny at the same time, and thank you for your honesty and excellent reviews.
We can hope, as I never played the original and was looking forward to playing this especially for the soundtrack.
Glad square enix has been exposed they tarnish their legacy with these half-assed ports
Oh so suddenly 20 year old games running on infinitely more powerful hardware should run better?
Absolutely majestic
Not much else to say other than that is very strange and frankly unacceptable. Hope they patch it up sooner rather than later.
And this is why I hate lazy ports and remasters, hopefully chrono trigger doesn't suffer the same fate and instead gets a full on remake
@sonicmeerkat If this was the ps1 game running on an emulator on ps5 then sure I could understand but if it is a port and/or remaster you're releasing of a game at least make sure it works properly.
They over here making Grove Street Games look like professionals.
@RubyCarbuncle They're used to poorly optimised games on that device.
Square Enix just really can't stop screwing up can they? From Marvel's Avengers to Babylon's Fall and to messing up a remaster. How are they still in business?
@RubyCarbuncle it's because Nintendo's hardwares crap so most games perform like crap on the switch anyway
The frame rate is so noticeable. Wish SE gave this masterpiece the treatment it needed!
What the heck are people at squareenix doing, how can they botch a psone remaster this badly.
It's an utterly abysmal effort from Square, this game is ridiculously easy to emulate for everyone except them it seems
This is another example of why to wait for technical reviews before purchasing a video game. Can you imagine paying to view a movie and the audio cuts out sometimes, the frame rates are slow and go slide show at times, and characters fall through floors or sidewalks? Then after viewing the movie, or walking out midway, you are given a ticket for a free viewing after the movie is patched.
It’s also been censored, so yet another way it’s not as good as the original…avoid this like covid.
Why does this title have a metacritic rating of 76 on PS4, taken from 29 reviews? Are the majority of reviewers being disingenuous, or do they simply not care about the obvious issues?
@NeoTokyo404 Maybe 76 is the combined IQ of all the reviewers of the game. 😁
I feel sorry for the fans that were really looking forward to this.
Shoddy for sure, but of course this will get the square Enix hate train going full steam again. They should patch it, learn from their mistake and continue making (mostly) great games.
@NoFaceBigFoot oh, calling out on low IQs again I see 🤣🤣🤣
I actually opted to buy this on PC because I saw the reviews of this… the Moogles & Mods discord will fix everything and have it running good in a matter of weeks
@NoCode23 this is what they should have done with Tenent
Not surprised at all, shame on Square-Enix for such a lazy half hearted remaster/port.
it's a shame s-e didn't put any effort to stabilize the framerate at 30fps. it also appears that they used an AI application to upscale the background assets but didn't do any QA on the output. it's as if nobody even inspected the files to ensure that they were presentable. the backgrounds look awful — as if someone threw them into photoshop and used the smudge tool and some cheap, stock filter to remove the pixelation. also, i cannot believe that the minimum pc requirements to run the game is a GTX750. since when do 23 year old games require such high specs? clearly this is a poorly optimized game in more ways than one.
this is a release that i would only play on pc for one simple reason: it is going to require saving by the moding community! do not buy the ps versions if you want to actually see this game remastered correctly because s-e sure as hell is not going to put out an official patch to remedy these issues.
@WadeIsInsane
Admittedly I didn’t know her age, but then the question becomes why Sony are thinking about it in a sexualised way at all.
That, however, was not the only thing they changed. Also parts of the script have been changed from the original. Apparently asking a female to become more of a lady is offensive now 🤷♂️
@thefourfoldroot you are absolutely insane, seek help
@theMEGAniggle
For not liking censorship in principle? Ok. Would advise not insulting people needlessly.
Anyway, I was just informing people it was censored, no need for a long conversation about it derailing the topic.
And Square Enix chokes again.
All the people here trashing Nintendo fans for praising Chrono Cross despite performance issues clearly didn't get to the part of the Digital Foundry video where they explain the Remaster actually looks and runs better in handheld on Switch than it does on PS5 😂
It's a turn based RPG and a bloody good one at that. FPS is nearly irrelevant. And it does work like the PS1 version. The difference is unnoticeable. On top of that, it looks better than it always has.
Its funny because i get better frame rate and graphics running the original game through an emulator. Sony is really lazy
@BansheeNorn Sony didn't make it :/
@tabris95 I swear they said it runs equally bad?
I was never able to get into this game when I originally bought it. But thankfully I still have my PS1 disc, so might as well try it again one of these days when I dust off my PS3.
@theMEGAniggle In docked mode yeah it's exactly the same as PS5, but in handheld, probably because the resolution drops to 720p, it manages to run with less frame drops. The lower resolution also helps to make the A I smudging in the upscaling look more natural. They preferred it in handheld overall. Pretty Interesting stuff honestly
@tabris95 not surprising a low res game would be favourable on handheld tbh; smaller screen, less computing resources from a more than capable gpu etc.
But this is shameless from square. How can a 20+ year old game run like this. It’s crazy to me
@theMEGAniggle Oh for sure. The problem is people keep buying these remasters so Square Enix has no reason to put out a better product
@thefourfoldroot
Censored? That is the first time I have heard about it. Disappointing to hear. What did they censor?
@BansheeNorn
You jumped the gun and exposed your bias. It is a SE game and not Sony's or it would not be available on the Switch.
@OneWingedAngel
Put some big bloomers on a character instead of knickers (to be fair I hear this collection of polygons is canonically 9, but I doubt any weirdos are going to be getting their rocks off to this game!, plus, you know, fictional characters); they also changed some text to cater for those who consider the term “ladylike” to be offensive.
https://archive.ph/qcQZ1
@tabris95 facts, they need to be stopped
The best part about this is that SE will say that the project did not meet sales expectations and the franchise's future is in an indefinite hold.
@thefourfoldroot because sexualising children in any way has effects on some people... and so is completely not needed and undesirable.. If you are changing an assett anyway, make it better and more fitting...surely tge point of any remaster.
Whats more disturbing are people like you calling them out for doing the right thing, as if looking at kids knickers was your 'right'.
@Titntin
It’s not sexual and not necessary, nor is her age (which I didn’t know) in the slightest bit relevant because Sony do this irrespective of a characters age. If you think this isn’t done with characters of any “age” then you haven’t been paying attention. It’s common knowledge and has led to the mutilation or non release of many games on Sony systems these last 4 years.
Sony have admitted themselves that anything considered an “upskirt” or anything “anti-feminist” is simply not allowed in the wake of the @metoo movement. Of course, they consider what is anti-feminist centrally now, and don’t take into account different cultures.
@thefourfoldroot I don't think it was 'Ladylike' that was the problem but "Could you, like, break her in a little". That 100% needed to be updated.
@themightyant
Why? Representing a character’s thoughts is not the same as supporting or endorsing those thoughts.
Also, it’s clear that the ladylike bit was removed also.
@thefourfoldroot The wording needed to change. "break her in" simply isn't an acceptable thing to say about any woman, especially a 9 year old girl. Not that it matters but it's a Teen rated game too.
How you can't see that is beyond me frankly. The port may be awful but 100% with @Titntin on this one, it was the right thing to do.
Instead you seem to be complaining about the change like you've lost something vital to the game. I don't usually like censorship either but it's important to realise not all censorship or changes are a bad idea. Even if they are done poorly, as they are here. I agree the new translation of that line isn't great and could be done better, but that doesn't change the fact that the line needed to change.
@themightyant
I really didn’t want to derail the thread with a censorship debate, so I’ll simply give my opinion on what you said and leave it there:
No, I don’t think it needed to change. It is a character’s personality, not a philosophical treatise by the writers. What you are reading into it is also not what a child would read into it, so your comment about it being teen rated is not particularly relevant.
I know people don’t treat videogames as art, but Its the same as if someone changed lines spoken by a character in a respected literary work simply because they thought such ideas should not be expressed…not good.
Masters of lazynesss,SQEEUNIX
@thefourfoldroot
Art adapts and changes all the time to stay relevant to the current gen.
The whole games art assets have been changed, why is that allowed whilst a few word changes will spoil the original art? Your viewpoint is inconsistent with a remaster.
If Shakespeare were alive he would revel in the adaotations with modern language and same sex casts etc... he would not want his work to only exist in a time capsule, only relevent to its time and no more.
@Titntin
It’s true art is changed all the time to meet the arrogant demands of modern or dominant voices; this doesn’t mean it is a good thing, nor does it mean the original art is destroyed, only new adaptions and interpretations added. These new adaptions have always been allowed to be critiqued. Unfortunately it seems that non compliant voices and opinions are no longer allowed, or are just shut down as being out of touch or (dramatically and pompously) immoral and unacceptable for “right thinking” peoples.
@thefourfoldroot if its arrogant, pompous or dramatic to call out those who think sexulising 9 year olds and 'breaking them in' are out of order, then im happy to for you to think of me that way.
Only a peado could actively campaign for their inclusion, and I have no desire to interact with someone who doesnt see that.
@Titntin
Lol, ok mate. If you want to look at a 9 year old and sexualise her, then get her to change her outfit because you don’t think it’s appropriate, that’s you. If you want to read the line “break her in to be more ladylike” in a sexual way that’s also up to you. Neither of these things are presented in a sexual context in the game.
But, again, this has nothing to do with a fictional character’s age, this is a Sony policy that they have stated is due to the @metoo movement, and applies to characters of all ages in multiple games now.
So, are you saying that you too believe it is wrong for Sony to change such things when the polygons are labelled as adults? Because if it was only a couple of isolated incidents when the fictional characters are meant to be younger this would impact hardly any games and so it really wouldn’t matter to me either. Then we can agree, rather than having one of us throwing insults…
I would actually be interested in your answer to that question.
@thefourfoldroot
Im saying if square wish to change their titles a bit to make it more relevant for a current remastered release, they are perfectly entitled to do so.
They can change what they like, for any reason they like. In this case, they made inconsequential changes to fit in with a modern viewpoint. I disgreed with your view that they should be boycotted as a result.
In a game like ff7, they changed so much more, and again, thats their perrogative as its their story and they can do as they wish.
Whilst I share your concerns on the reach of cancel culture and the ability of some groups to almost change history, I dont think this title with its small acceptable changes is the title to make a stance over?
Most people will see that the changes made are supperficial and dont badly affect the game whilst being a little more inclusive.
I dont think your valid concerns are best expressed with this title as an example.
If someone is boycotting this game, it should be because of the minimul effort expanded on it to getting it running and looking good.
I think we've worn this out. I do not wish to insult, but your previous post suggesting this change was made due to 'arrogant pompous demands' seemed to be taking it that way, when in fact its a change made by square with no demands at all.
Thank you for taking the time to reply in a civilised way. I dont think we are as diametrically oppossed as maybe we first thought., have a great day.
@Titntin
Totally agree. I don’t remember telling anyone to boycott the game at all, but if I did my annoyance simply got the better of me.
I’m not so much lamenting these (somewhat) inconsequential changes, as railing against the very consequential policy of which this is a part.
This is very much due to demands of various interest groups as Sony have stated very explicitly and without the need for any interpretation. These groups are extremely self important, which to me is synonymous with arrogant and pompous.
But yes, this is a good place to leave it I think 👍
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