Radical Dreamers is the little-known sequel to the popular and critically acclaimed Chrono Trigger. Unlike Chrono Trigger and the other games in the Chrono series, Radical Dreamers is a menu-driven text adventure/visual novel, with sparse visuals and atmospheric music. The game was released only in Japan for the Super Famicom's Satellaview satellite radio service. In this game, three thieves - Kid, a young girl famous for her age, Magil, a mysterious wizard with an unknown past, and Serge, a rather cowardly young man - head to Lord Lynx's manor to steal the Frozen Flame, a legendary jewel. But Kid's not just there for the jewel - she has a personal vendetta against Lynx. Many elements from this game were carried over to Chrono Cross, including characters, music, and parts of the story. In fact, Chrono Cross implies Radical Dreamers takes place in one of many alternate versions of the main game world. The game was later localized and bundled in the remaster Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, under the newly localized title of "Radical Dreamers: Le Trésor Interdit".
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Radical Dreamers is a visual novel set in the Chrono Trigger universe. It is a pseudo-sequel to Chrono Trigger itself, and is commonly referred to as the game that inspired Chrono Cross. This is true to a very great extent, but if you're expecting CC on the SNES or anything even vaguely similar to CC, then you're going to be sorely disappointed.
RD plays very much like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Text is displayed for a while, and eventually you will be prompted to make a choice based on the text. You navigate the mansion that way, you fight battles that way, and in fact, you do -everything- that way. So if reading isn't your thing, then you're not going to get much enjoyment out of the game. If you like to read, however, you're in for a treat.
At the core of any novel - whether it's pushed as a paperback or hardcover book, a PDF file on some website, or a game like this one - is its story and its writing. Demi's team has gone through great pains to ensure that the writing is second to none; in fact, you could probably pass this off as a major literary work. I can't imagine how many pages it would be if it were printed in book form.
The story is a good one as well, one that Cross fans will be familiar with. It follows Serge, Kid, and Magil through Viper Manor in their quest for the Frozen Flame. They go through a number of interesting rooms, encounter a number of fearsome beasts, and meet a number of interesting people. There's the development of a relationship between Serge and Kid, there's the mysterious past that Kid wants to get revenge for, there's the ever-driving hunt for gold, gold, and more gold. On the whole, it's quite a good read.
Combat, as I mentioned, is text based like the rest of the game. Serge does have “health” and you can “die”, and the results of your actions won't always go the same way each time. Each time you get hurt by anything, the game lowers Serge's health a little, and eventually the text accompanying his state of being will alter as well to give you an idea of how badly injured he is. The whole system is nothing really groundbreaking, but it can work against you if you have incredibly bad luck. The game isn't very long though, so hopefully, health won't be an issue.
Graphically and aurally, the game ranges from decent to good. There are a few truly beautifully done areas in the game (most notably the study) but while most of the graphics aren't really anything groundbreaking, they certainly suffice and get the point across. The sound and music fare about the same. Many of the tunes in Radical Dreamers were remixed for use in Cross, so some of them may be familiar while others probably won't. Again, my favorite theme has to be the one that plays in the study.
All in all, if you like reading and you're a Chrono fan, give Radical Dreamers a whirl. It'll fill up an afternoon, anyway, and even if you've managed to get all three endings to the main scenario, there are still six or seven other sub-scenarios that you can read through once you've gone through the main for the first time. I haven't played any of them, though, so I can't say much about them, but I thoroughly enjoyed the main chapter.
Chrono Cross foi meu primeiro jrpg e continua sendo um dos meus favoritos e assim como o jogo base,essa VN continua com uma ost muito boa.
A historia tbm é legalzinha,uma coisa q fica clara nessa Vn é o tanto q o Serge é apaixonado pela Kid,maluco fica ate bobo quando ver a loirinha de olho azul.
A gameplay é aquela tipica de vn's,vc tem opções de onde ir e quando tem algum combate vc tem q escolher rapido alguma opção.
Eu peguei o primeiro final,é q o final bom,mas nao pretendo ir atras dos outros.
Storytelling is very straightforward and simple.
The narration includes pictures, some animations and some tracks. This is done to make the experience more engaging than reading a book. It's extremely short and can be cleared in less than two hours.
Nowadays this type of interactive experience has evolved in every aspect possible. This is the reason why Radical Dreamers: Le Trésor Interdit feels dated. It is a good product in view of the context it was released in, but it definitely lacks the features of a cult classic.
I rank it higher due to its contribution to the 'Chrono' series. It expands the lore in a fascinating way and gives familiar characters more spotlight.