Cross has its good points, but being better than Trigger ain't one of 'em.

There's an absolutely devastating number of characters in Cross that just serves to detract from any possibility of good character development (I only count Kid & Harle among the 40+ characters as having a good amount). I also wish that they had been able to show SOME emotion from Serge (perhaps just a few different character portraits even) because he was such an emotionless husk (c'mon, at least Crono had an effing surprised sprite!). The battle system was a lot of flashy junk piled on to what could have been something really interesting if any of it actually mattered. While I enjoyed the soundtrack, I mostly enjoyed a couple specific tracks & I also think Trigger wins out with more variety. One important redeeming quality for Cross is its interesting, deep story. I like Cross, but I wouldn't say it was as good as Radical Dreamers, much less Chrono Trigger.

Trigger is a legend that's hard to live up to.