Chrono Cross Good Ending Speedrun F.A.Q.

Chrono Cross Good Ending Speedrun F.A.Q.

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: I am trying to complete Chrono Cross as fast as possible

Q: What is your best time?
A: My best time is 7:23:45

Q: What is the World Record?
A: The World Record time is 6:36:57 by ConnorCordell

Q: Where can you save time?
A: I've only completed one run, so I can save time pretty much everywhere. The sections that I lost the most time on are: Lynx 1, Ghost Ship, Fire Dragon 1, Three Devas, Garai, Dario, El Nido Triangle, and Terra Tower

Q: Why is the category called Good Ending?
A: There are a few different endings in Chrono Cross, and the ones that are available outside of New Game+ depend on how you play the final fight. You can either brute force kill the boss (Bad Ending), or perform certain requirements in fight to use the Chrono Cross element (Good Ending). Bad Ending is traditionally used in Japanese, but Good Ending is the main English category

Q: Do stats and grinding levels matter?
A: Yes to stats, no to grinding. Rather than a traditional leveling system that a lot of RPGs have, Chrono Cross gives you "star levels" whenever you beat a boss. These levels apply to the whole cast of Characters, and count as a "level". You don't gain star levels from normal fights, so it makes (almost) all optional encounters useless

After every fight, you gain some stat points typically. After a normal encounter, it's usually just HP that you gain, and for star level fights, there's a chance for some of your other stats to grow. What stats grow, and how much, is determined by the Character using a weighted-random system. This means that physical Characters, like Serge, will gain more Strength than magic... typically. It's still random, and you can still get bad stat ups, which makes some fights very challenging

Q: What stats are the most important?
A: Serge/Lynx's Strength is by far the most important stat, and you'll hear me reference it a lot. In addition, Glenn's Strength is pretty important, as are Leena and Marcy's Magic

Q: What Characters are used in the run?
A: The game has 40+ Characters, however we only use a handful of them. Sometimes, the Characters we use influence our choices in the run as well:
- Serge/Lynx: Main character so we have to use him. He's the main damage dealer throughout the run
- Kid: We have to use her through a small section of the game
- Poshul: Not a required Character, but for the very short (1 fight) section we use them, they're the next best damage dealer after Serge
- Pierre: Mostly used because his path into Viper Manor is the fastest. Absolutely useless Character
- Glenn: Big physical damage dealer for the end game, but can be very useful earlier on as well. Only obtainable if you choose not the Save Kid
- Leena: Decent Magic stat, which is nice for Mt. Pyre and Fort Dragonia, but the main utility here is her Blue Innate, allowing us to use *FrogPrince
- Sprigg: Kind of gimmicky, but her Dopplegang tech allows us to gain access to WightKnight: a very powerful physical attacker
- Harle: Decent Magic user. Mainly used because of the lack of Characters we have access to at the start of the Lynx section
- Karsh: Madatory for the fight on Isle of the Damned against Solt & Peppor
- Riddel: Mandatory for the fight against Dario
- Marcy: Okay Magic user that is Blue Innate so she can use *FrogPrince
- Fargo: Decently powerful Character that is Blue Innate so he can use Vigora
- Starky: Doesn't actually ever attack, but is used for one fight since they're required to get to Terra Tower

Q: What are the hard fights?
A: I'm not exactly the most equipped to answer this yet as I don't have a ton of experience with the game, but this is my initial take on the question (in order of appearance):
- Lynx 1: Not terribly difficult, but Lynx has a tendency to attack a LOT which can be dangerous depending on who he attacks
- Fire Dragon 1: Awkward fight usually, and while you can run away from this (and every fight) to heal, he doesn't let you menu so you have to run away multiple times if someone died
- Three Devas: Not an awful fight, but it can go downhill fast if you don't KO one of them quickly
- Taurusoid: Very important to follow the script to get the *FrogPrince off without interruption
- Garai: Low AP means this fight can be tough if you start missing your attacks
- Miguel: One of the hardest fights in the game from a casual standpoint. The speedrun uses a cool strategy, but it's always dangerous
- Dario: Optional fight, but the reward is so good that we do the whole sidequest to get it. This fight is gimmick-able with how his AI works, but again if something goes wrong it can be very dangerous
- Fire Dragon 2: One of the only ways you can truly gameover (without playing risky) is through AOE attacks. Fire Dragon 2 has one that HURTS
- Fate: Not too hard, but has a very important opening that you need to get off
- Dragon God: The "final" boss has 8 phases, and if everything goes right, you won't get attacked after the first one. It's very important that your stats are good to make it through this as well

Q: What is your goal time?
A: Sub 7 for now. I don't know how much I'll like grinding the game, but I think 7 hours is a good milestone to strive for!