No it's quite different in gameplay and story is only loosely linked to the original, the game never released in EU.

Oh no. 

It is closely linked to original. 

If you cut off the last two-three hours, there would be no connection other than colourful art and Mitsuda. It didn’t add anything To Chrono Trigger except a convoluted an unsatisfying story with character cameos which did not at all resemble their original selves. It’s like taking teenage Bart Simpson and giving him the personality of Dawson Creek, while Lisa Simpson also has the personality of Dawson Creek, and Maggie does too - and, unlike Simpsons depictions, she is voiced rather than mute.

They had all of this discussion of time travel effects and alternate futures causing time to reverse and such that made absolutely no sense in the framework of the original game. Vague hints at some reptile civilization in a lost timeline that allowed the evolution of dragons; and they somehow broke into the human timeline (I am not even sure if Reptites are even mentioned). It is all really forced feeling, like they spent 2-3 minutes racking on some connective tissue; they could be as easily linked to the dragons of Breath of Fire.

In my book, Chrono Cross is far too much of a stretch to belong to the Chrono Trigger canon. It’s like a story written by some fan fiction writer who had only vague knowledge of the topic. It is a totally different game that had things tacked on to force it into something that could be branded as a sequel to Chrono Trigger.

If you cut off the last two-three hours, there would be no connection other than colourful art and Mitsuda. It didn’t add anything To Chrono Trigger except a convoluted an unsatisfying story with character cameos which did not at all resemble their original selves. It’s like taking teenage Bart Simpson and giving him the personality of Dawson Creek, while Lisa Simpson also has the personality of Dawson Creek, and Maggie does too - and, unlike Simpsons depictions, she is voiced rather than mute.

They had all of this discussion of time travel effects and alternate futures causing time to reverse and such that made absolutely no sense in the framework of the original game. Vague hints at some reptile civilization in a lost timeline that allowed the evolution of dragons; and they somehow broke into the human timeline (I am not even sure if Reptites are even mentioned). It is all really forced feeling, like they spent 2-3 minutes racking on some connective tissue; they could be as easily linked to the dragons of Breath of Fire.

In my book, Chrono Cross is far too much of a stretch to belong to the Chrono Trigger canon. It’s like a story written by some fan fiction writer who had only vague knowledge of the topic. It is a totally different game that had things tacked on to force it into something that could be branded as a sequel to Chrono Trigger.

If you cut off the last two-three hours, there would be no connection other than colourful art and Mitsuda. It didn’t add anything To Chrono Trigger except a convoluted an unsatisfying story with character cameos which did not at all resemble their original selves. It’s like taking teenage Bart Simpson and giving him the personality of Dawson Creek, while Lisa Simpson also has the personality of Dawson Creek, and Maggie does too - and, unlike Simpsons depictions, she is voiced rather than mute.

They had all of this discussion of time travel effects and alternate futures causing time to reverse and such that made absolutely no sense in the framework of the original game. Vague hints at some reptile civilization in a lost timeline that allowed the evolution of dragons; and they somehow broke into the human timeline (I am not even sure if Reptites are even mentioned). It is all really forced feeling, like they spent 2-3 minutes racking on some connective tissue; they could be as easily linked to the dragons of Breath of Fire.

In my book, Chrono Cross is far too much of a stretch to belong to the Chrono Trigger canon. It’s like a story written by some fan fiction writer who had only vague knowledge of the topic. It is a totally different game that had things tacked on to force it into something that could be branded as a sequel to Chrono Trigger.

Does Chrono Cross have similar gameplay and follow the story to Trigger?  I never played Cross but I knew it existed, just didn't think it was similar to it.