Chrono Trigger

"One of the greatest RPGs and video games of all time!!"

Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite RPGs ever next to Final Fantasy VI and VII. Its definitely one of the greatest RPGs of all time and its a damn shame that the Chrono series in general has yet to get a 3rd game when Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest get future games all the time. I guess its because the game is just that good that making a sequel that wouldn't disappoint is very difficult thing to do. It did receive a sequel, Chrono Cross which if you haven't played I heavily advise you to since in its own right its one of the best RPGs for the PS1. However, even Chrono Cross which was initially praised and got a 10/10 on Gamespot.com and many other sites it has received a lot of hate. I don't think CC is better than CT since CT is just timeless but its great in its own way and I would love to see SE release another Chrono game. This is the third time that Chrono Trigger has been released in the US with the 1st being the Super NES original and the second being the PSX Final Fantasy Chronicles re-release. This game was made by the "Dream Team" which had some of the best developers in the industry, including Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy), Akira Toriyama (Dragonball Z/Dragon Quest), Yuuji Horii (Dragon Quest), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy Composer) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Series Composer) to name just a few. It was a "once in a lifetime" thing where all these amazing people came together to make what is arguably the greatest video game of all time.

Gameplay 10/10: Ok this is what makes this game so great to begin with. In 1995 Chrono Trigger was way ahead of its time in a lot of areas. No more was there the random encounters system where you would go out in a field or a dungeon and walk in circles till a random battle would occur. No all the enemies including bosses were all on the screen and many enemies were avoidable if you didn't want to fight them. This was at a time when most RPGs had random encounters so this was a very innovative system at the time. Other innovations were New Game+ which allowed you to keep all your stats, items, weapons, armor and levels for you to play through a new game after you finished the game once.

Also time travel had a big thing to do with this game since you could warp to 5 different time periods with different areas in each. Other RPGs have taken from Chrono Trigger but no RPG has done what Trigger did better in my opinion. The game plays like most RPGs in the sense that you have a party, you have to make your way through dungeons and save the world. Its just the way that CT does it that makes it so much better than a typical RPG. The battle system is awesome in this game and although it may use the tried and true ATB system like most Final Fantasy games have, it mixed it up a bit. For one you had special abilities/techniques called "Techs." With these techs you could combine multiple members of your party to unleash "double" and "triple techs" which would do a ton of damage. The battle system has so much depth over most RPGs and no RPG has topped CT's. The game is damn near perfect and the only bad side of the whole game is the extra dungeons that were put in this version. The horrible loading times however from the PSX version of Trigger are gone and battles and everything happen instantly making this the best version of the game to date.

Added Content 8/10: I have certainly seen worse bonus content put in games before but CT's is good. Basically your getting all the PS1 content including the Full Motion Videos. You get a "13th" ending that is an extra ending once you beat the Dimensional Vortex that tries to tie up loose ends between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. The ending was good but it could've been done up a tad bit better than they did but it cleared up a few things in the game but it also left more unanswered questions between the two games. A lot of the extra equipment is pretty neat that you can obtain from the dungeons but the dungeons themselves are reptitive and annoying. In this version of CT you have the Dimensional Vortex and the Lost Sanctum. The latter being a horribly tedious dungeon filled with stupid fetch quests.

The only reason to do either of these dungeons is for mainly the equipment and the 13th ending and once you do them once you probably won't want to go through them again and are the weakest part of the package. Touch Screen Control has been implemented but it could've been done a little better but it works great once you get used to it. If you don't want the touch controls you have the Classic SNES control scheme for battles. The DS control keeps the top screen clutter free but if you played this game on SNES your gonna do what I did and use the Classic at least the first time through. There is even a multiplayer Battle Arena that allows you to train monsters and fight against a friend which is kinda stupid. The only reason to play the multiplayer is to get some rare items. Unfortunately no Nintendo Wifi for this game, only local wifi which is lousy if your like me and have no friend who owns a DS or even Chrono Trigger.

Story 10/10: The storyline is awesome in its own little way. It has "EPIC" written all over it, some may disagree with that but I feel Chrono Trigger has an extremely memorable cast of characters with interesting backgrounds. The game is about a boy named Crono who has to travel back in time to help save a friend who was the victim of a teleportation device failure. You end up traveling back in time to save your friend and as you go through the game more and more friends join your cause from all eras of time. Eventually you find out that the world is in danger and that like most RPGs, you have to save the day!!. However you have to travel to different eras of time from 65,000,000 BC, 12,000 BC, 600 BC, 1000 AD and 2300 AD. All time eras are different and contain different story elements that all tie in at the end of the game. The storyline really doesn't leave any rock unturned unlike its sequel Chrono Cross (which can be a confusing mess). This game's storyline is amazing and just as memorable as Final Fantasy VI or VII and it fits the game so well. Nothing in the storyline really feels out of place or like it really shouldn't be there and everything comes together real well at the end of the game.

Graphics 10/10: Now I know people are gonna cry foul that I am giving CT a perfect score on graphics since the DS is capable of more than 2D sprites. I am not reviewing this as a DS game in this category cause if I did the game would get like 4 or a 5. I am rating this on Super NES graphics and as a 2D game and honestly there are few games that can stand up to Chrono Trigger's art. Akira Toriyama's art design has passed the test of time and it can be seen on how beautiful this game can be for a 2D game with the vibrant colors and detailed worlds. Now in 1995 this was state of the art for 2D graphics and the only game that can compete with its graphics on SNES is Final Fantasy VI.

However, I think its the art direction that beats out most SNES games since Chrono Trigger on the surface has a very "Simple" look to it at times but if you look at more than just the inital surface you will see the work that went into it. Its a beautiful game and its art style just never seems to "age." Me saying that take in mind this is a game made from 1995, it has been ported faithfully to the DS and there has been areas that have been touched up a tad but its very minor. Although they aren't in game I really did like the added FMVs from the PS1 port eventhough they look ripped right out of a DBZ cartoon. It just gave the game more personality overall but if you don't like the Videos you can turn them off in the options menu.

Sound 10/10: Yasunori Mitsuda mainly worked on Chrono Trigger as its composer. He also worked on Chrono Cross's and CC's is amazing as well. He complained to Squaresoft at the time to either fire him or give him a game to compose and when he got his break he took full advantage of it. He worked so hard on this game's soundtrack he made himself litterally sick from it to where legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu had to finish up the rest of the soundtrack. They both have great songs in this game and Mitsuda's contributions to the game show how hard he truly worked on making this game's soundtrack amazing. Its one of the best video game soundtracks ever and I personally feel is on par and may even rival some of Nobuo Uematsu's masterpieces.The sound effects are typical "sword slash" and "ping" type sounds but they are great and sound fine to the ears with a variety of them in the game. This version even includes the "Singing Mountain" song that was featured on the original Chrono Trigger soundtrack but never released in the game till now as an added extra in an area in the Dimensional Vortex.

Replay Value 10/10: This game has some of the best replay value in it than most games ever have. Not only is the game a pure RPG masterpiece it has 13 endings. It also features the New Game+ feature that allows you to go through the game with all your previous levels and equipment. This version includes all the PS1 extras like the Art Gallery, Movie Theater, Bestiary, Music Box, Dojo, etc. Theres the Dimensional Vortex and Lost Sanctum dungeons if you want to kill some time and then the multiplayer Battle Arena if you really want to kill some time. There is a ton to do in Chrono Trigger and many reasons to keep coming back to it.

Rent or Buy: Definitely buy this game if you have any interest in any RPGs. Its easily one of the greatest and now its been price dropped to $20. This game used to cost $40 not too long ago and now its only $20? This game was and still does go for outrageous prices on ebay at $35 on average for the old used SNES cartridge. $20 is a steal not to mention the DS version is the definitive version of Trigger with optional added content and all the optional content can be either skipped or turned off. It will also send a clear message to SE that we want more Chrono games made since there has been rumors floating around that the original team might want to get back together to make a new game. Not to mention that Square-Enix has pretty much stated that if we want more Chrono games we need to buy more since the sales are what drives sequels. So if you like RPGs BUY THIS GAME!!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/15/09

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