Chrono Trigger

"Great Aspects To It, But Not Amazing"

Chrono Trigger is one of those "cult classic" games that carries a legacy of popularity and class that people adore over modern games that may as well be superior, but that superiority is excused for sympathy of the aforementioned cult classic being old and thus more of a landmark than a past endeavor. In the case of Chrono Trigger, the title of "cult classic" fits it well, as it's greatly appreciated for what it was, and rather not what it is. Nevertheless, it is still a great game in both eras.

As with any game, the graphics are the initial lure or offset that a game emanates, and with Chrono Trigger, it's quite a lure. Sporting great looking backdrops and vibrant, colorful environments all throughout the game, it's going to at least be something you can look at with leisure as you play it. Trees are given vivid detail by the leaf and augmented in glamor by the fluctuating effects of the light, while the water beneath the forest canopies glimmer with well-done light shimmers on the surface, and the nooks and crannies of the caves are brought to light by the varying hues of shadows. Of course, as you can tell, the light has a lot to do with the essence of the visuals, and as such, Chrono Trigger gives deep insight into that and applies them to the environments and even the character sprites. Now, the character sprites are less of a wonder than the graphical prowess of everything else in the game, but they do look very nice, and while the light of the environment does not affect them - thus detrimentally affecting a smoother look to the game - , they still look very nice and personify the character's respective portraits well. Even while these sprites look incredibly odd on the game's world maps, the environments still remain mostly unscathed in their beauty, and so nothing is really altered for worse. As such, the game does conjure a great visual mantra of good lighting and good-looking characters, who are actually animated very nicely as well.

Chrono Trigger's sounds and score are a mixed bag, given that the score is rather a brilliant piece of work for even modern video games, while the sounds are sometimes good, and yet other times outlandish and unfitting. Playing through the game, I had wondered why some monsters made odd squealing noises, and others bellowed menacing growls, despite their size, such as the Imps and the Rolys. The great idiosyncrasies of it are when the giant apes and even the Black Tyrano scream like little kids. Moreover, when gearing up for battle, and the monsters are getting in position to contend, it is sometimes apparent that they simply emit these obstreperous screeches that are at best very annoying to listen to, especially when you see monsters making the same noises in Magus's Castle (and the annoyance isn't helped by the necessity of having to kill the 100 monsters that are in there). However, in terms of the score, it's simply an elegant set of tracks that are perfectly fitted to their respective environments and moments within the game, and is actually one of the key elements that makes this game so amazing, in that the music can elucidate the very mood of the moment and the overall bleakness or zeal of any given place. This especially applies to the game's episodes involving the Zeal Kingdom and the Ocean Palace, in which they are not only great pieces of music, but they communicate both the terror and the sadness of the lust for power, which is rather a complex concept that the game enlightens to you as you play toward it's conclusion.

The game's story is rather a mixed bag as well. It definitely deserves its props for a great concept and pretty good story writing and pacing for the plot, but what really tends to make that a bland blessing is that many of the characters are never developed very well, or they simply don't have much to build off of during the game's timespan (which is ironic, since it technically spans over 65,002,300 years). One of the characters without much to build off of is Ayla, as she is the leader of a struggling tribe fighting against the Reptites in pre-historic times. She had the potential to be a great character, in that her husband (presumably), Kino, could have died, and thus she would have to endure the aftermath of sadness in a life of simplicity such as hers. More or less, she was the game's antithesis of the Zeal Kingdom's longevity, as she favored pride. However, since more dramatic concepts weren't covered for her beyond her naming Lavos, she wasn't a very strong character. A character that just isn't developed very well, however, is actually Crono. Crono is my biggest gripe with this game, simply because he does not talk and goes gently by throughout the story without much feeling to him because you're not sure who he is. I never quite understood what the benefit of a silent hero was beyond communicating an unspoken sense of innocence in the character, but since Crono has dreams and thoughts of love and life in the game, not seeing him speak his words and express his true character is a real detriment to those scenes in the game, as they have little meaning because he character is made weak, simply because he chooses not to talk. Then again, there is Marle, who is unfortunately the somewhat shallow character who is Crono's love interest. The reason she's not very good is because she mainly talks to Crono, and because you never see Crono talk, you don't know how he reacts to her, and thus Marle feels like an incomplete character, because she's tied to Crono, but Crono is not a very sturdy character to hold on to. As such, you're left viewing Marle as the incorrigible princess that she was at the beginning of the game. Now, Marle is not a bad character...she's rather incomplete. However, among all the game's characters, Magus and Frog has reasonably elongated stories of their own, and given Magus' many dynamics from a prophet to a disheartened hero, he's a deep character that's worth paying attention to, which is very nice, since he's introduced as a boss battle near the midpoint of the game. Frog, on the other hand, is a rather modest, but valiant character that you get to know very well, particularly because he feared he bore too much cowardice in his heart, which is something you feel to sympathize with him for, because he's a well-developed character. Of course, to enlighten anything more of his character would be a spoiler, especially given that he's a very good video game persona...All in all, Chrono Trigger's story is great by the concept with intricate placement of events and how they are affected by the past, but some characters are too weak to make certain aspects work, and some others were unfortunately never given the best of story arcs. There are also ways of getting new endings by beating the final boss at certain points in the game a second time around, but most of them are brief and sometimes just not worth it, but certain ones are good to see in order to tie up certain ends in the plot, even if the characters involved aren't strong enough to warrant appreciating their conclusive value. However, some characters are actually very good and very interesting, especially given a certain character's personal odyssey through time. Moreover, nothing about the game's story is terrible or anything, it's more so that it's a shame that it wasn't better to make an amazing story as opposed to the great one that it is.

The gameplay is well-done and easy to learn, as it is with most RPGs. The main alteration from this as opposed to other RPGs is that the game doesn't care to utterly surprise you with random battles all the time, as you can see the enemies on the screen, and thus you know that you'll be in a battle when it comes to you. You can only avoid, say, 10% of the battles in the game, but the lack of the surprise element is a nice break from typical RPG annoyances. Fighting is easy to learn and easy to do, with standard physical attacking options, and the use of Techs, which are basically enhanced skills for physical battle, as well as magic of different kinds for their respective characters, such as Crono learning Lightning attacks and Lucca learning Fire attacks. What's really cool about the Tech system is that multiple characters can use Dual and Triple Techs to destroy enemies in some really fun ways. The problem is that even as diverse as the Techs come, the enemies in the game aren't quite as various to warrant using all of them, but most are good for amusement, but sadly not for much use, some of them. Moreover, Chrono Trigger deserves a reasonable contrast to Final Fantasy VI, in that the equipment system in Chrono Trigger isn't as quintessential to battling effectively as it is in Final Fantasy VI. This isn't a bad thing, but it leaves Chrono Trigger's battle system rather dry, as enemies are very easy to beat most of the time, unless bosses like Nizbel and the Golems come along, requiring certain spells and strategy to kill them effectively. However, what makes the battles so simple is actually the ability to switch out party members. Since there is no guarantee that you will always have Marle for Ice magic or Lucca for Fire magic, bosses and enemies can't be tailored to fit the needs of either of those spells, or anything else for that matter except for Lightning spells, because Crono is the only character that's always in the party. Subsequently, if you need magic in a battle, using Lightning will pretty much always work, which makes strategy mostly an absent concept in terms of battle in the game. Thus, unlike Final Fantasy VI again, Chrono Trigger doesn't have the versatility of allowing all characters to learn all the different types of spells in the game, which takes away from the enhanced strategy aspect that could have been present. On top of that, levels come very easily, as you have to fight about 80% or 90% of the battles that come to you in the game. This makes a lot of the game less challenging, but it's one of those nice breaks from regular RPGs, in most of which levels eventually take very long to come by. Nevertheless, Chrono Trigger has eventual battles that are a great challenge above that of the norm, and the difficulty of which will come out of nowhere sometimes, but they're a good challenge to keep you on your toes sometimes, such as battling Magus, Slash, and the Golems. The game also has an option to play through it in "New Game+" once you beat it, which allows you to keep the levels you beat the game previously in, which allows you to beat the final boss at different times in order to get all the 13 different endings that I mentioned previously. It's a fun thing to go through, but sometimes the endings just aren't worth it. As far as gameplay goes for the game, though, it's very easy to learn and easy to apply at all times, and can be challenging at some times, even if they may seem erratic. However, despite minor flaws and lack of diversity of other games such as Final Fantasy VI, the game's lack of such complexity actually strikes a good casual balance that makes it easy to enjoy and use with ease.

Generally, Chrono Trigger is a very good game. It's a good, enjoyable RPG that's easy to learn and thus easy to play through. Moreover, the time travel concept is intricate and applied to the story very well, and paired with beautiful graphics, it makes exploring the 5 different eras quite an experience. Even as most of the characters may not have been developed well, they're still good in concept, and the game's ending is actually satisfying, despite some of the shallow aspects to the characters. Don't allow anything I say to discount your interest that you may have in this game. To sound and look great with a good original plot is a true blessing among the standard of generic shooters, generic platformers, and recycled franchises that we see nowadays. And as an RPG, it's definitely a role model that we ought to see emulated more often nowadays. I love it, but after observing it closely, I have personally found these flaws. Nevertheless, it's definitely something you should play, and definitely something I recommend.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/08

Game Release: Chrono Trigger (US, 09/27/95)