Chrono Trigger

"Makes me wish for a direct sequel EVEN MORE."

Ah, Chrono Trigger. Squaresoft back before it decided it was going to make so many Final Fantasies that you'd have a hard time calling them "final" without snickering a little. I personally have very few friends that have no experience with this game, partially because whenever I found out that they hadn't played this game (or even heard of it), I practically strapped them to a chair and rammed it down their throat. I suppose you could call this review a way of me "introducing" Chrono Trigger to anyone out there who still hasn't touched this game yet.

That's right, all twelve of you. I'm going to turn over the rock you're living under and expose you to the blinding sunlight, whether you like it or not. Just for you, I'm going to TRY to not spoil anything.

STORY:

This is possibly one of Square's (Square Enix, whatever, they were still Square at the time) finest achievements in story writing. When I picked this game up for the very first time, I wasn't particularly enthusiastic, since I was ready for a game that would likely be imitating a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. My attention span/motivation has rarely been long enough to allow me to finish a Final Fantasy game, so I was figured I was going to make it through about three bosses and then completely lose interest.

Boy was I ever wrong. Instead of beating up some dude named Garland or finding some legendary crystals or something and becoming powerful enough to save the fate of the world, this game started out at a carnival. I knew something was up the instant I laid eyes on Gato, the singin' robot (don't understimate him, he's got METAL JOINTS).

I stuck by the side of my spikey-haired hero Crono and his band of merry time-spanning men/women/critter/robot for the hours upon hours I poured into this game. The characters of this game all have their own way of seeing things, and as the story progresses, you find yourself growing quite attached to them. It's hard to give an example of just HOW attached to them you'll get without totally blowing a major plot point though, so I'll let you fnd out for yourself! You'll cheer for the heroes, you'll hate the villains, and you'll honestly care about what happens to Crono's world by the time you've got the power to decide its fate. Rarely have I played a game that has done this for me: while I was fighting the final boss of this game, I was thinking about saving the world instead of thinking about how pissed I would be if I lost for the third freakin' time in a row (he's a bit difficult if you're not ready for him, just so you know).

This baby's storyline spans eons, and it does it DYNAMICALLY: there's all kinds of stuff you can do in the past to change the future, all on your quest to save the world from a horrible monster that ruined it entirely. That's right, you'll even be spending some quality time in the world AFTER the apocalypse, and even at the End of Time itself! Say "hi" to Spekkio for me.

Of course, what's a good story without a good script? This game's script was masterful the first time around: if there was a translation mistake or two, I either overlooked it or didn't notice it. Everything was done with style, and since they've had some time to sit and think on things, Square Enix's remake of the script is every bit as good, if not better (SPOILER: The paper in the prison regarding the Dragon Tank is a prime example, fellow veterans!)

SOUND:

Masterpieces, all around. I've heard complaints that the music gets a bit repetetive, complaints which I answer with "Thanks for missing the point entirely!" Every second of this game has music coordinated to it to make you feel the moment even more intensely than the environment does. You'll be creeped out as you roam through a dark castle in the Middle Ages. You'll hear the prehistoric critters as you venture through jungles in the age of dinosaurs. And, when it's absolutely appropriate, you'll even hear...nothing. This game does it all, and does it so well that even the most picky of critics has to admit that someone in the music department knew what they were doing this whole time.

Sound effects were pulled off well, too. They're used in the appropriate place, and although characters don't have sounds for speech or footsteps (thank goodness, because you're going to be doing a lot of running around), many characters, monsters, and NPCs have their own sound effects and command them with great finesse.

GRAPHICS:

Chrono Trigger was originally a Super Nintendo game. Thus, the port of Chrono Trigger looks like a Super Nintendo game. This is NOT A BAD THING. I'm much happier to see Chrono Trigger looking the same as it did thirteen years ago than I would be if I were to play this game and discover a rendered 3D environment. It would be the equivalent of your best friend getting a botched facelift. Nevertheless, you'll probably still hear a complaint here and there about how "underwhelming" the graphics are (probably from the same stooge who said that the music was "repetitive"). The graphics may be Super Nintendo caliber, but you'll still enjoy them, since they were very well-done for a Super Nintendo game. The characters, locales, and everything else are so crisp and perfectly presented that if you can complain about them, you're just doing it for the sake of being disagreeable and annoying.

GAMEPLAY:

I'm going to cut to the chase here: please don't attempt to play this game in the new DS control scheme. One of the only weak points of this port is that this game would've been awesome if it had been ported to, say, the Game Boy Advance. Two screens is one screen too many for Chrono Trigger, and while you're playing the game, you'll eventually feel inclined to agree. Trying to play Active-style battles while looking at two screens at once gets a little tiring, and if you're playing Wait-style ones, the bottom screen is just sort of hanging around, like that one creepy guy at the party who sits in the corner on his own and stares gloomily at everybody.

Some may argue that menu navigation is great when you only have to point and touch, but since you could just push like four buttons and get the same thing done, I'll take the buttons, please and thank you. It's not like it's really THAT much effort.

Shortcomings aside, gameplay is great: no control hangups (none that can't be bypassed anyway), easy-to-use menus, the works.

Battles in Chrono Trigger are NOT RANDOM. Aside from bosses and ambushes, you can actually maneuver around quite a number of them. However, as anyone with a decent number of brain cells will tell you, you're going to have to pick a fight or two to stand up to a boss. Especially THESE bosses: they're not insanely hard, but they certainly will make you use your mind a bit, and constructing the ideal party for a boss fight will take a little time.

Rather than hurl out special attacks learned simply by leveling up, your characters will gain Tech Points, which will help them learn newer skills. This means that if you've gone and sat one character in the corner for the entire game, REFUSING to use them, you're not going to like it if you're ever forced to pick them up. They'll gain ORDINARY experience, sure, but you'll be stuck with a high-leveled scarecrow with no special attacks to their name. This isn't going to help you against bosses that are especially vulnerable to magic. I know. I've tried.

Character techs are great fun to use and watch, and since they carry various attributes and ranges, using the right tech at the right time is extremely important to your battle strategy. They require just enough planning to be a lot of fun to use, but not so much that you get tired of them being so hard to time correctly.

Characters can also sync up their tech attacks with another character's, performing outstanding Dual and Triple techs, which range from furiously painful-looking (Omega Flare) to quite humorous (Bubble Snap). Almost all of them are devastating, however, and knowing the right way to use them will give you a feeling of immense satisfaction as you utterly annihilate your foes AND LOOK AWESOME DOING IT!

Throughout the game, you'll run into fully animated cutscenes done by your favorite and mine, Akira Toriyama (Dragonball series, for those of you who aren't familiar with his work)! They're quite a lot of fun to watch, and they're completely optional, so you can turn them off if you're a real purist. Whether you leave them on or off, they don't interrupt the plot any, so I reccommend just leaving them on. They're real treats!

Few RPGs have the kind of replay value of Chrono Trigger. The original had 12 different endings, at least three different ways to take on the final boss, and a plethora of side quests that you could do, just so you can make the world the greatest place it could possibly be. All the fun of time travel, without the complecated headaches of having to worry about running into yourself or mucking up the timeline (mostly because you're changing the future ON PURPOSE)! Now, there's an all-new ending, as well as a couple of new dungeons, so there's even more to love!

Some of the added content feels a little shakey. The whole "monster-training" and "battle arena" felt to me like they were better ideas in concept than in execution. Some folks out there will probably still enjoy them though, and since the main plot doesn't focus on them, having them there doesn't subtract from the overall gameplay as a whole.

The game comes with two new dungeons, so now there's even MORE to do! One of the two new dungeons, the Dimensional Vortex, even contains some randomly-generated content, so you'll have all kinds of things to keep you occupied once you've found your way there. You'll find some of the best equipment in the game there, but honstely, did you think Square Enix was just going to GIVE that incredible suit of armor to you? Hope you're ready to FIGHT for it!

OVERALL:

Chrono Trigger has stood up to the test of time, and it has done so with flying colors. Perhaps the experience has stood up a little TOO well: Square Enix's attempts to make the game touch-compatable really don't serve to help it at all. Since you can turn the newfangled touch-control scheme off entirely, I'm happy to say that this game has managed to make it through its thirteen years with incredible style. Superb story, incredible cast of characters, wonderful music, great graphics, and a whole load of stuff to do for the completion jockeys due to the addition of the Extras menu after you pick which file to load. Heck, all the extra bonuses aside, portability alone is a good enough reason to invest in this game: the only thing better than a Chrono Trigger port is a Chrono Trigger port that you can take with you and play during long waits, road trips, and airplane rides!

SHOULD YOU BUY THIS GAME?

Well, that depends. Would you enjoy incredible story writing, an RPG with so much replay value that people rave about it 13 years after its creation, has remained in the "top ten" of all the consoles that it was ever released for, and was so incredible and ahead of its time that many people STILL refer to it as the greatest RPG of all time? If you answered "no" to any of these questions, ha ha, very funny. If you HONESTLY answered "no" to any of these questions, well...I'm sorry, I'll put your rock down now so you can go back to living under it.

...For those out there who aren't terribly good at identifying sarcasm, I'm telling you that this game is now, was, and always WILL be, worth your money. If you've got the cash and the system, then I can honestly see no reason why you wouldn't want Chrono Trigger, especially now that you can TAKE IT WITH YOU EVERYWHERE. This game came out THIRTEEN YEAR AGO and THREE GENERATIONS BACK, so if people still talk about it this way, it HAS to be good!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/08

Game Release: Chrono Trigger (US, 11/25/08)