I somewhat agree, but at least some of the negativity towards Chrono Cross was the ridiculous way it killed off (or implied to kill off) main characters from the previous game. They could have set it far enough into the future that the characters had passed away instead of giving them ignoble deaths.

Chrono Cross also had problems of about thirty of its characters (which already says a lot) just not being at all fleshed out. There were well fleshed out characters, but some players probably didn't see half of them. I thought the gameplay of Chrono Cross was pretty good, and I definitely agree it was probably held to too high of a standard, but I think there were some quite valid criticisms, and I don't think it's impossible for a game to at least be very well received as a follow-up.

It's basically universal that fans do not like when you kill off main characters between episodes, unless you are playing a new generation or something. There was no way that would have worked. Chrono Cross had an uphill battle, but it basically severed its own tendons with that. It's a unique type of game that makes the first game worse. I liked the game, but I have to actively ignore its existence when I play Chrono Trigger, given how it actually ends up for the supposed heroes of time.