Chrono Trigger

The Short


Pros
- One of the most definitive JRPGs ever made
- Combines the talents of industry greats: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and artist Akira Toriyama
- Beautiful graphics with a realized art style
- Excellent music throughout full of memorable tracks
- Unique gameplay system mixes the ATB system from Final Fantasy with combo tech attacks
- Charming and interesting story with some genuinely clever reveals
- Fourteen endings; introduced the New Game + system to tackle them all (DS version has seventeen endings)

Cons
- First playthrough is short; only 15-20 hours
- Game is exceptionally easy
- Adventure is linear until the very, very end
- Getting an original cartridge on the SNES can be a bit pricey
- Frog doesn't talk like a weird old English gentleman in the DS re-release. What the heck, guys?

You said it, Lucca

The Long

There is nothing I could say about Chrono Trigger that hasn't already been said, so I won't even try. Chrono Trigger is widely considered to be the definitive JRPG, and I am inclined to agree with that. Five out of five stars, review over. 

...in all seriousness, odds are if you are reading this review you've played or at least heard of Chrono Trigger. If you haven't, then you really need to get on the ball and play this game RIGHT NOW. There's a good reason why it's so revered by fans even to this day. Chrono Trigger is an absolutely incredible experience from beginning to end, and also serves as perhaps the best entry point for anyone into JRPGS. The only downside I could see with that plan is that if this is the first JRPG you ever played, it would be hard for anything else to even compare.

But enough of me rambling vaguely; let's get into gritty specifics. 

Rude, dude. 

Chrono Trigger's story is one part whimsy, one part post-apocalyptic, and one part AWESOME. Ok, I don't know how "awesome" could be a part, but the point still stands: Chrono Trigger has an excellent story. While you could argue it doesn't exactly reach the emotional depths of games like Final Fantasy VI, it's such a cleverly written tale you can't help but love it, and the fact it literally exhumes charm probably doesn't hurt either.

It starts out simple: while attending a millennial fair, you (the mute protagonist "Chrono" [or "Brono" if you are GiantBomb]) mess up your sciency friend Lucca's teleporter and TRAVEL BACK IN TIME! After screwing up the timeline in a plot somewhat similar to Back to the Future (except with less mother/son creepy incest stuff) you have to set things right, only for things to go wrong again. Eventually you discover a rather shocking truth: in the year 1999, a creature called Lavos emerges from within the bowels of the planet and essentially blows everything up. It's up to you and your time-travelling pals from throughout history to find the truth behind Lavos, his origins, and how to stop him before he blows up the world. Pretty good stuff, eh?

My name is Gato/I have metal joints/Beat me up/And earn fifteen silver points! 

As a whole, the overarching story is reasonably compelling, but where Chrono Trigger shines is in its little, character driven moments. Your cast of characters is as diverse as as it weird: you have three "normal" people from your time, but you also pick up a robot, a cavewoman, an anthropomorphic frog, and even an optional bad guy turned good. What makes Chrono Trigger fascinating is the fact that each of these characters have deep and interesting backstories, which are often explained as you time travel around the world. I don't want to spoil anything in particular (though seriously...everybody's played this game) but visiting one particular villain as a child and realizing exactly why he's such a jerk was one of the most rewarding and incredible twists in the game. Because of the time-travel element, you can actually visit moments from character's pasts, finally seeing things the characters allude to throughout the whole story.

And don't even get me started on Lucca's optional visit to her past. That's "Cyan and the Phantom Train" levels of emotional insides-pulling. 

Oh bugger.

If there's only one real complaint I can lobby against the story, its that the protagonist (Chrono) is woefully underdeveloped. They went for the "silent protagonist" route here, which is a cheap trick used to have the player project themselves onto the character, and it works out...ok here. I mean, Chrono has a nice mom, I have a nice mom. Chrono has a cat, I had a cat. I'm feelin' it. But when compared to the other characters, who feel exceptionally fleshed out and interesting (with maybe the exception of Magus, though you do get a large chunk of his past revealed), Chrono is completely stale.

Not to mention a rather large twist at about the 3/4 mark involving Chrono completely shatters the idea of self projection onto the character and makes me wonder exactly what they were thinking with him. I mean, I liked the twist. It was shocking and there was no way I saw it coming. But in terms of blending narrative, gameplay, and player experience...it felt a bit out of place.

All this aside, I will say this final bit about the story: it does the little things right. Frog talking in old English even though nobody else in his time period does, and even he didn't talk in old English before he came a frog is a hilarious touch that might have not been intentional, but I don't care. Having Ozzie, the comical villain who looks more than a little bit like Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z, be defeated by a cat. Leaving Robo, because he's a robot, four hundred years in the past and then simply zipping forward and picking him up after his centuries-long task is complete. There are just too many fantastic, little things about Chrono Trigger that make it charming, heartbreaking, and captivating to mention. It isn't really some sweeping, broad melodrama, but it doesn't have to be. It's more like if Final Fantasy had a baby with Mario RPG, and I love it.

Oh Spekkio, you have beaten me far too many times. 

Beyond the story, the gameplay mechanics in Chrono Trigger are a blast. The first thing you'll notice when engaging in a battle is that it doesn't fade out into some side battle screen; when you see enemies while running around, touching them engages in a battle then and there. Enemies wander around during the battles, and their positions relative to each other affect certain area-of-effect moves your characters can pull off. While this isn't exactly novel now in a world where western action RPGs are the norm, for JRPGs past and present this concept of a hybrid battle system is unique. 

The system plays a lot like the SNES and PS1 Final Fantasy games: you have a bar that gradually fills (based on your Speed stat), and when it maxes out that character can take his or her turn. The enemies also have bars (which you don't see), so executing commands quickly and skillfully is key. The trick here is that while in most Final Fantasy games you have to order commands one at a time for each character, taking turns. Not so in Chrono Trigger! The other unique twist is the idea of Duel- and Triple-Techs. Essentially combining magic moves, as characters level up and learn new abilities they also learn ways to combine these abilities with those of other characters. For example, while Chrono and Frog will both learn moves involving slashes, having both characters ready to go at the same time will allow a combined X-Slash for much more damage. Things really get crazy with Triple-Techs, where all three party members unleash devastating magics/skills at the same time. Pretty cool.

Arial robot strike!

Perhaps my only complaint regarding the battles are that they tend to be too easy. If you aren't a MP hog and know how to ration it out (and use items to decrease costs), you can easily breeze through this game with your powerful abilities. I only died once during my playthrough, and that was against an optional boss that I hadn't bothered leveling for (or even equipping the right party members). While for the JRPG newbie it might provide a little difficulty, any vet of the genre will easily breeze through Chrono Trigger.

Another complaint one might lobby is the fact that Chrono Trigger is incredibly linear the first playthrough. Now, I'm not saying you don't have freedom. Yes, you technically can warp around time and do some weird stuff, but in truth the game is designed to send you down a straight path all the way until you get the flying time machine ship...thing. Once you hit that point there's a limited selection of side quests you can do right before the final dungeon. It actually reminded me a lot of how Final Fantasy X is set up, with the game nudging you along the right path until you get to the end and saying "Oh, right...nonlinear. Here, have some sidequests."

I'd normally complain about this (especially because Final Fantasy XIII does it poorly and it drives me crazy), but I really...can't. This is because Chrono Trigger is such a tightly designed system around its linear(esque) pathway. Story beats hit at exactly the right moment, the pacing such that you feel rewarded at exactly the right intervals with a big plot reveal or event. It's immaculately timed from beginning to end, fusing it's solid (if easy) gameplay with story elements to keep things rewarding. I really can't hate on it at all, because as an experience it's solid. And if a game is linear but the experience solid, then it worked. Chrono Trigger works. 

And oh man...the soundtrack...

Graphically, Chrono Trigger is delightful. Akira Toriyama (the artist behind Dragon Ball Z and the Dragon Quest games) is at his best here, with wacky and charming character designs that are translated perfectly into their 16-bit sprites. The game has a warm color pallet, even in the darker areas, and everything blends together exceptionally well. And while it does use some Mode-7 trickery, it never looks corny or forced (even the "space-car race"). It's rare that sprites can have both a wide range of emotions and look unique and great doing it, but Chrono Trigger is a cut above the rest in that department. 

If I only have one complaint it's that Ayla's character design looks a little stupid, but she's a cavewoman so...I guess I'll survive. Besides, Frog's general awesomeness makes up for it.

More music!

The soundtrack is exceptional, to say the very least. Many consider it the best video game soundtrack ever; I personally put it just inches behind Final Fantasy VI, but that is hardly an insult. Every song on the soundtrack is memorable, which is something you can rarely say for any album, video game or otherwise. What I especially enjoy is the shift in tones between time periods. In the prehistoric period the music is more chaotic and drum reliant, while as you travel forward in time it fits the unique themes of where you are, all the way up to the funky kickin' rock beats of the future. I just...can't describe it any more. Go find a playlist on youtube and listen to them all. Seriously. It's incredible. 

Yes, more. Get over it. 

Chrono Trigger is a bonified masterpiece. There's just no question about it. Even today, where JRPGs are a dime a dozen, Chrono Trigger still stands out amongst the throng as the definitive JRPG experience. I replayed it on my original Super Nintendo cart a few months ago in preparation for a review, just to see if it really held up when compared to modern games. Guess what? It absolutely does. There's a reason they can keep re-releasing this game on the DS and PS3 and Wii Virtual Console and even the freaking iPhone without making any changes: Chrono Trigger is solid to this day. And not just solid, fantastic.

As I said before, if you haven't played Chrono Trigger and you are reading this blog...what is wrong with you? Clearly you love video games, how on earth did you miss this game?! Run (don't walk) to your local gaming store, or to your PS3 or Wii or iPhone or whatever the heck you own and get this game. Seriously. You will not regret it. 

I already gave a star score, but what the heck...here it is again: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS. 

I liked it so much I made this awesome perler bead creation for my wall. See more at my wife's blog. 

Bonus: The most badass scene in the game.