Some reviewers were less enthusiastic in regards to the game's cast of characters. USGamer's Jeremy Parish, in his "Chrono Cross" retrospective, felt that the creators were needlessly harsh in their treatment and uncertain fates of returning "Chrono Trigger" characters, a sentiment also echoed by Tieryas. Furthermore, Parish criticized the size and quality of the cast, comparing it to a failed attempt to mimic "Pokémon" or "Suikoden"'s large casts. He concluded that too many of the characters didn't impact the game enough, stating, "The characters are the definition of slight – most of them have little personality outside of a hokey accent – but the core cast has purpose, while everyone else is there in case you want to have a giant voodoo doll, mushroom man, or baby alien in your party for some reason. Simon Seamann of RPGamer also criticized the difficulty in switching characters and transferring equipment between them, which he felt discouraged players from experiencing the full-breadth of the varied cast. Lack of character development outside of the core, required cast of characters was also cited as a problem.