Title - "Chrono Trigger"
Alternative title(s) - N/A
Genre(s) - Role playing
Platform(s) - Super Famicom and Play Station
"Chrono Trigger" is a 1995 game brought to you by the teams of "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest" (or "Dragon Warrior" to those outside of Japan): Square and Enix. You start off as Crono (and from here on, I will use the romanized version of each name because people all over have been used to them). Your friend Lucca comes over and shows you her latest invention. As the story progresses, you meet up with other characters like Marle, a princess, and in order to save various stuff like the world obviously, you have to travel to various parts of time.
This game was brought to the Play Station in 1999. Other than added anime scenes, not much has changed. Of course, there are the loading times, but oh well.
I am not going to bother with the Japanese and non-Japanese versions comparison. As for people wondering what in the world is a "chrono trigger", that's easy. "Chrono" is short for "chronicles" or time and as for the "trigger" part, the machine you use to travel to various parts of time is your trigger. There's supposed to be a fan-made sequel, but don't ask me about its state up to this point.
Fun - 10
I'll start with the battles. You are allowed to have only three characters at a time in battle. Battles are not random, but rather, you run into enemies to have them, making the feel more realistic. Speaking of realism, the positions of your characters make the battles feel real and there is no "row" option here as you see in other role playing games.
Each character has various techniques and some involve magic. What's so spiffy is that when 2 or all three of the time bars are full, you can launch a team attack. These are very damaging.
Oh geez! What can I say? Getting magic spells over time, launching team attacks, this is pure slickness indeed!
Of course, there has to be a flaw or two. While the idea of having each character being associated with a certain element seems like a swell idea, that idea will limit you in some cases and it can be frustrating if that character you need is either not in your party or that character has fallen. Other than that, there's not much else to complain about.
Life - 10
The multiple endings and side games make this game better.
Story - 10
It's your usual "save the world" theme, but that element to time travel makes it spiffy.
Control - 10
Wee! You can move diagonally in towns and various places! Of course, you can't do so if you are traveling from place to place in the world, but that's okay. As for the fundamentals, refer back to the Fun section.
Audio - 10
Mitsuda Yasunori-san is behind the music, while Uematsu Nobuo-san helps out a bit as well as the rest of the crew. Once again, you hear music that is well, awesome. The battle theme is average, but at times, it doesn't feel like a battle theme. The boss themes are good though. The sound effects are fine. So, there's not much to worry about here.
Art - 10
What's ironic is that the person who did the character designs here is Toriyama Akira-sensei, the creator of the "Dragonball" sagas and "Dr. Slump" and even though I'm not that fond of his art, I found it to work here. Well, regardless of what I said, the graphics here look great. The sprites look remarkable and the surroundings take your breath away. You'll notice that there is a lot more animation here than majority of its peers of the past. The spells look spiffy as well. Oh and as for the battles, I said them already.
Overall - 10
"Chrono Trigger" is definitely one of best role playing games ever. So, is this the better world-wide mid-1990's role playing game for the Super Famicom or "Final Fantasy VI"? Both are wonderful classics, but honestly, I don't know and maybe I'll never know. Still, go out and play this game if you haven't done so by now.
+
The realism, the spiffy techniques, the enjoyment, this is that good of a classic.
-
Other than the elements associations being a blessing and a bother, there's not much else I can complain about.
Date of creation - 12/14/03
Last update - 8/11/04