zackeriah's Full Review: Chrono Trigger for PlayStation 1
Although there were many great SNES RPGs (Final Fantasy 6, Super Mario RPG, etc.), I had to choose just one for this write-off. And considering Chrono Trigger is really the only one that Epinions has a listing for, I decided I would write about it. Good thing, because it's probably my favorite of the batch.
Chrono Trigger begins in 1000 AD. Crono awakes from his bed to find that a millennial celebration is happening in Leene's Square, which is close by where he lives. While snooping around, Crono runs into a mysterious girl (Marle), who then decides to stick around with Crono. A little while later, Crono catches up with another friend, Lucca, who has on display a 'matter transporter', which transports objects from one place to another. Marle volunteers to be the guinea pig for the device, but something strange happens when a pendant she's wearing starts glowing and doing other strange things. Marle disappears, but doesn't come back. Crono then goes in after her.
However, Crono does indeed reappear, but not where he though he would. No, it appears that good old machine of Lucca's can also send people to different points in time because Crono is now in 600 AD. So he begins searching for Marle, and stumbles upon a castle. Thankfully, you find Marle who they seem to be mistaking as their Queen. You then learn that Marle is a princess in 1000 AD, and she bares a striking resemblance you her ancestor who lived 400 years ago. Then she suddenly disappears, but why?
Okay, here's where things get a bit complicated, so try and understand. You see, the real Queen back in 600 AD was kidnapped, and instead of her, they found Marle. Therefore, because Marle's ancestor was never found, then Marle could never exist. So it's up to Crono to find the real Queen and return her to the castle.
Of course, Crono is successful, and so after some strange events, Crono and gang wind up in 2300 AD, where everything's a desolate wasteland, and the few human survivors have little or no hope. Confused as to why everything is gone, Crono and his friends find some sort of data storage computer with information on the history of the world. The computer shows that in 1999 AD (huh? Oh, whew, we already passed that date.), an enormous being by the name of Lavos, that has been gaining energy under earth's crust for thousands of years, suddenly arises and showers the earth with fire. Now that our heroes know about the end of the world, do you think they're going to just forget about it and go home? Not a chance. Now the real struggle begins, and the fate of the world and humanity rest on just a few individuals. And as you continue your journey, you will meet several other allies.
And time travel here isn't just a gimmick. Things you do in the past can indeed affect the future. For example, in 600 AD there is an evil ruler named Magus, and in 1000 AD there is a shrine of him that monsters pray to. However, after you defeat Magus in 600 AD, the shrine in 1000 AD changes into Magus' right hand man (sorry, I forgot his name). There are several other examples, but I don't want to spoil them.
Eventually you come to a point in the game where you can travel to several different points in time whenever you want. This is absolutely necessary to not only complete various side-quests, but also to keep the story moving as well. My only complaint about this is that sometimes I had no clue as to where to go next. This only happened once or twice though, so it's no big deal.
Battling is pretty much done in the typical fashion. You can attack, use magic and other special moves. However, the innovation here is that two or all three players in a battle can perform exceptionally strong attacks by combining their powers. All you have to do is fight with three particular characters that you want to learn combining moves with, and battle with them until you learn the attacks, it's as easy as that. Character organization will also feel similar to other RPGs. You buy and equip armor, weapons, accessories, etc. And, of course, some accessories give you special abilities.
While the story is excellent, the characters aren't all that great. Crono's your typical hero, Lucca has zero character development with the exception of one cool part in the game, but Marle is a really good character. She isn't helpless like most princesses in RPGs, and she's actually very strong-willed and humorous. You'll also meet other good characters like a big dumb robot, and a Frog you'll feel sympathy for. Still, as good as these characters are, a terrible character you meet offsets them. That character is an annoying Cave Woman who speaks in a tone that really gets on your nerves, almost to the point of madness. To top it off, she has no personality, no good traits, absolutely nothing redeemable about her. She is truly an absolute waste of a character. Luckily, she isn't in the game much.
Unlike the Final Fantasy series, you can see monsters (like Grandia) and (sometimes) avoid them. This is good because I really think random battles have worn out their welcome. Also, no more battling at all on the World Map, which is a very good thing simply because I hate trying to get from one place to another with very little life, and keep getting attacked.
In terms of difficulty, Chrono Trigger is easy on everybody. You should be able to get past most bosses on the first or second try, and you will have no problems taking out common enemies. Chrono Trigger isn't all easy though, because Lavos, the final boss, is one of the most difficult last bosses I have ever played in any game. Combining your attacks with certain characters is absolutely necessary to defeat him. Now, this is just going by the level you probably are at once you reach Lavos, which will be about level 47. If you choose to level up more before you fight him, I'm sure it will be an easier match. All in all, a very tough battle, but not near as difficult as the last battle with Deus in Xenogears.
Another drawing point of Chrono Trigger is the amount of endings. I believe there are 15 different ones, but I'm not sure. The ending you get is decided on two factors: 1) How many of the sidequests did you complete? And most importantly 2) when did you defeat Lavos? You can actually go and fight Lavos any time after you reach The End of Time (where you can learn new magic techniques and travel to different time periods). Endings rage from good (if you beat all the sidequests and do everything else in the game), to bad (if you don't do any of the sidequests), to just plain wacky where everybody in the future is turned into lizards. I honestly don't know how to get that ending, but it is possible.
It is near impossible to get the endings that require you to fight Lavos soon though. I mean, it's hard enough to beat the big bad final boss at the end, let alone right in the middle of the game. Thankfully, Square included a New Game+ mode that is unlocked after you defeat Lavos the first time. What this does is let you start a new game over with all your levels, items, and weapons from your previous game. This makes things a lot easier.
Graphically, this game is a beauty. The colors are lush, the character look good and move smoothly, and special effects were top notch for its' time. In fact, I prefer these graphics to, say, Final Fantasy 8. Why? Well, I like fantastic 2D graphics more than ugly 3D graphics. Just look at Square's recent 2D offerings: Legend of Mana and SaGa Frontier 2. If you think their PlayStation 3D games look better than those, you need to lay off the crack.
The music here is perfect. Honestly, not a single bad tune can be heard. Whether it be the mystical forest music, or the amazing world map theme, everything here is top-notch. Really, there isn't much more to be said.
Chrono Trigger is a very rare find indeed. These suckers go for about $80-$100 on eBay, so it's at about the demand as another Square classic, Final Fantasy Tactics. CT was re-released in Japan on PlayStation, but it's looking more and more like it will never make it over to here in the States.
Honestly, I can't find any flaws here that actually get in the way of enjoying the game. There was never a moment when I was bored, or felt it was tedious, which is more than I can even say for my favorite RPG of all time, Xenogears. This is a real RPG, not the overrated tripe of today like Suikoden and Vagrant Story. Go ahead and search down a copy of Chrono Trigger, you will not regret it.
Please read the other contributions to the Five Star RPG Write-Off from these members: 311bud, brandon2001, chris_billings, goldentoe, horhay, mskills, sephiroth2000, and, of course, zackeriah.
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