Quote Originally Posted by Jennestia View Post
It has flashier particle effects, not graphics. Even XI (a 2001 PS2 game) has better particle effects and continues to. In essense the magic/ability effects suffer from what the rest of the game suffered from -- rushed release. A lot of it literally screams placeholder if you've ever done particle design before.
It would be nice if it was all placeholders. My suspicion is that they had to do 2D spell effects because of their tangled up engine. If you look around at Chrono Cross there not just particle effects but polygonal battle effects as well, unifying nicely under the umbrella term graphics.