Chrono Trigger

100 reviews, baby!  Let's do something special.

A highly acclaimed game from Squaresoft with an action anime bent, as well as the game which arguably sparked much of their popularity that persists to this day.  But is Chrono Trigger a game that stands the tests of time, or this just a piece of history and little else?

Chrono Trigger is a game that needs no introduction; in fact, doing a review of it at all almost seems redundant.  Almost everyone with a remote interest in RPGs has probably played it at some point, and acclaim for it from those who have is virtually unanimous.  Not only did it provide a highly polished and fun experience for both die-hard RPG fans and more casual gamers, but its presentation was nothing short of fantastic, feeling more like an interactive cartoon than a video game - no mean feat considering the limitations of the platform it was released on.

Visually, the game was a treat to behold, with intricately detailed, imaginative backdrops and environments by Tetsuya Takahashi (who would later make a name for himself with games like Xenogears and Xenosaga) and character designs and animations by Akira Toriyama of Dragonball fame.  The latter's energetic style lent very fast-paced, actiony feel to the game on the whole, but particularly its action scenes - characters would actually unleash flashy sword combinations, throw projectiles, or perform elaborate tag-team moves on opponents, and it was all fully animated, which was quite a step away from other RPGs of the time that featured static sprites for most of the enemies, and even the protagonists in most cases.

The gameplay lent itself to this feel as well, essentially being a somewhat simplified, but faster-paced, Final Fantasy title at its core.  Encounters were no longer random, which was a substantial leap for RPGs of the time - instead, enemies were visible on the game's various maps, and many could be avoided by simply outmaneuvering them as they moved about, cutting down on the tedium of the game.  Running from combat, while a roll of the dice in most earlier RPGs (and seemingly always failing at the worst of times), was now a much simpler affair, allowing the player to hold the shoulder buttons for a few seconds until they escaped the battle (and not causing them to waste valuable turns in fights where it wasn't possible).

While characters generally had a much smaller selection of skills and spells to utilize individually, Chrono Trigger was also one of the earliest examples of a game to utilize collaborative attacks between characters.  Two or even three characters, equipped with the proper skills, could combine their attacks together into a Dual or Triple tech that played a fresh new animation and usually had a much greater effect than the two skills would separately.  For example, Crono and Frog could combine their Slurp Cut and Cyclone skills to perform "X Strike" and deal heavy damage to a single target, while Robo and Frog could combine their respective healing skills together to fully heal the party.  It's a clever mechanic that, while done in some earlier games, was arguably first taken to its full potential here, adding much to the actiony feel of the game.

Chrono Trigger was also an early example of an RPG which utilized mnigames not just as a means to add variety to the gameplay, but to serve some elements of the story.  Many of these are largely optional and mostly just included for fun; little surprise, as the player's introduction to most of them is at the Millennial Fair only minutes into the game, where they can win Silver Points to trade in for various prizes.  Others do serve a bit more of a purpose, however, such as the racing minigame in the future (slightly reminiscent of the F-Zero games with its Mode-7 graphics) or the hunting minigame in 65,000,000 BC, where various items can be collected from enemies and traded for useful equipment.  While ultimately nothing outstanding, these helped to set the game apart from its contemporaries and helped to blur the line between "video game" and "cinematic experience" in the RPG genre.

Further helping with that was the game's fantastic audio design.  The sound effects and general feel of combat are punctuated by its sounds, with everything from gunshots to sword slashes to heaving waves of flame actually sounding the part and lending themselves to the game's hard-hitting action bent.  But more than that, the soundtrack in Chrono Trigger is utterly fantastic.  Headed by Yasunori Mitsuda, who would go on to become one of the most prominent names in video gaming music, Chrono Trigger certainly does not disappoint in any respect.  From the foreboding ambience of Magus's Castle to the peppy Millennial Fair theme to the high-stakes boss battles, every track perfectly fits the mood and draws the player into the game's world.  Few games before this one had made me forget that I was playing a video game so effectively as this one, with the audio design in particular really helping to draw me into its world.

Only further helping with that was that this was one of the earliest RPGs I'd played where your choices actually have a tangible effect on the game's outcome.  While this does play out to a degree in the game's time travel element (being able to change events in the past to affect the future), this was also an early example of a game with multiple endings.  Depending on the player's choices throughout the game, the events of the main ending would change significantly.  A number of alternate endings are also available, primarily determined by the time in the narrative the player chooses to confront and defeat the final boss.  Many of these are rather jokey in tone (such as seeing a future where the primitive Reptite race eventually rises to become the planet's dominant species), though some reveal interesting alternate outcomes for the game's storyline.  This, paired with it being one of the earliest games I can think of to implement a "New Game Plus" option (carrying over the player's levels, items and stats to a fresh playthrough of the game) lent Chrono Trigger substantial replay value and longevity compared to most RPGs of the time.  It was also somewhat interesting to see Chrono Cross actually adapt many of these alternate endings into its storyline, though as I mentioned in that review, its actual execution of that concept left much to be desired.

So, does Chrono Trigger really deserve all the acclaim it got in its day and continues to get in the modern era?  Well, you're certainly not going to hear me argue against it.  Its excellent presentation, simplified but enjoyable gameplay built on the Final Fantasy model and open-ended design that lent itself to heavy replayability made it a landmark title in the 90s, and it remains a highly enjoyable one today, holding up astonishingly well to the test of time.  It's not a flawless experience, of course - an overall low difficulty level and occasionally unclear objectives being its two main faults - but it's arguably the closest to perfection that Square has ever gotten.  I'm honestly a bit surprised that this hasn't become as much a pillar of Square Enix's business as the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts franchises have.

Developer: Square
Publisher: Square
Platform: Super Nintendo, Playstation, Nintendo DS, Wii Virtual Console, iOS, Android, Windows
Released: 1995, 1999, 2008, 2011, 2018
Recommended version: In all honesty, the Super Nintendo version of the game remains its definitive release in my opinion.  While later ports added in some content such as FMVs for key story scenes or added levels to tie it in better to Chrono Cross, they also brought their own problems along.  The Playstation port in particular suffers from terrible loading times between fights, while the Nintendo DS and later versions have a redone translation that removes a lot of the character and charm that the Super Nintendo version brought.  The IOS, Android and Windows ports also feature a redone interface that I find unappealing, ill-advised attempts to add filters to the game's graphics to update it to "modern" standards, as well as introducing several new bugs.

Chrono Cross

The highly anticipated sequel to what was arguably Square's crowning achievement on the SNES.  But was Chrono Cross worth the five year wait, or is this one sequel that strayed too far from what made its predecessor a smash hit?

Chrono Trigger is a game that needs no introduction - any RPG fan worth their salt can tell you that it's one of the finest games in the genre, if not the best ever made, and carries with it not only well-polished gameplay and a solid storyline, but a genuine sense of fun in its fast-paced design, well-written characters and overall sense of humor.  This is probably in no small part thanks to possessing art design by Akira Toriyama, whose quirky humor and propensity for over-the-top action is on display in almost everything he creates, and of course the stellar writing of Masato Kato, visual direction by Tetsuya Takahashi and an amazing soundtrack Yasunori Mitsuda only added to its appeal.

Naturally, with as much of a hit as it was, the sequels were inevitable.  First was a text adventure styled game released for the Bandai Satellaview in 1996 called "Radical Dreamers", which followed three new protagonists as aspiring thieves seeking a jewel within a well-guarded manor and confronting a villain named "Lynx".  While Masato Kato was ultimately unhappy with the quality of this work (even denying it a release alongside later re-releases of Chrono Trigger), this would later serve as a basis for the full-fledged sequel released in 2000, Chrono Cross.  Indeed, the main characters of Dreamers - Serge and Kid - became that game's main protagonists, Lynx became its primary antagonist, and Viper Manor is a key setting in the early stages of the game.

With as big of an impact as Chrono Trigger's visuals and music had, it was inevitable that its sequels would try to follow them.  Chrono Cross certainly succeeds there, delivering amazingly detailed, vividly colored, fluidly animated 3D models that, in many cases, don't even look like they should be possible on the limited hardware of the Playstation.  Yasunori Mitsuda returns to provide music as direction as well, and his soundtrack here is absolutely stellar, with many even regarding it as the best soundtrack ever composed for a video game.  While I don't completely agree with that sentiment, there is no denying that Chrono Cross' soundtrack is a master-class of design; each and every track lends tremendous atmosphere to its environment (my personal favorite being Shadow's End Forest) and helps the player truly get immersed in the game's world.

But while the game's visuals and audio presentation are undeniably extremely high in quality, it doesn't take long for returning players to realize that Chrono Cross bears very little resemblance to its predecessor, either aesthetically or in terms of gameplay.  Akira Toriyama's distinct art style is nowhere to be found here, and the gameplay, rather than being fast-paced active time battles, is now a turn based system that takes a few cues from Xenogears, letting the player mix weak, medium and strong attacks together in various combinations.  Weaker attacks have a higher chance to hit, while stronger ones have a much higher chance to miss and cost more time units, but as one lands more successive hits in a turn, the hit chance of stronger attacks will rise, lending to an overall strategy of leading with some weaker hits and working up to stronger ones to inflict maximum damage.

The game's magic system is also significantly overhauled.  While Chrono Trigger used a traditional MP system and most spells in the game were themed around one of four elements (Fire, Ice/Water, Lightning and Shadow), Chrono Cross now uses six - Fire, Water, Air/Nature, Earth/Lightning, Shadow and Light, each of which has a defined opposite.  All spells in the game fit into one of these elements, and each character comes with a spell grid where elements can be equipped and cast once per battle (divided into seven tiers of power).  Each area the player ventures through is themed around one of these elements as well, which determines the starting "field effect" in the corner of the battle screen.   Each time a spell is cast, one of the three spaces on the field effect will change to that color, and the more of that color there is on the field, the more effective spells of that element will become (and the less effective the opposing element will be).  Thus, controlling the field's element plays heavily into the strategy of many battles, particularly later in the game.  This also plays into the collection element of many Square games; some particularly powerful spells can only be acquired by setting "traps" to capture them and add them to one's own repertoire.

Another element that sets it apart from Chrono Trigger is that the game does not only feature multiple endings (many of which can only be accessed after a first playthrough), but even numerous paths through the main story.  While the overall plot remains the same regardless, the player has the option to take a different route at several points in the story, which often leads them to an alternate dungeon or a new area with a different set of characters to recruit.  While ultimately nothing spectacular, it was a pretty unique feature for the time, and does lend the game at least a bit of replay value.  Also coming in handy is that, after being cleared once, the game unlocks a feature that allows the player to slow down the game with the L1 button (in order to appreciate the elaborate combat animations) or roughly double the game's speed with R1 (to get through dungeons and mundane battles quicker).

A new crafting system plays a prominent role in the gameplay now too.  While some can simply be purchased, the majority of weapons, armor and accessories in the game now also require the player to collect a number of components from enemies and chests, and turn those over at shops to create new equipment.  These start off relatively easy to find (Copper, Iron, monster fangs and feathers, et cetera), but late game it proves more troublesome, with most of the best weapons and armors requiring rare Rainbow Shells and six types of "Shiny" components, the latter of which can only be earned by defeating enemies of a specific element with a summon.  It's easy enough to make one's way through the game focusing on only a few characters, but if you wish to fully deck out the entire cast, well, you'd best be prepared to spend a lot of time farming materials.  Thankfully, this isn't as grindy as you'd expect - most every item is found in a logical place (furs, bones, humour from monsters, screws from robotic enemies, et cetera) and you'll win them frequently as prizes in battles.  Shiny items are a bit trickier, requiring you to defeat normal enemies with Summon elements (which in turn can only be cast when all three field elements are the same color as the summon), but these are also relatively easy to set up, particularly late-game when you get elements that turn the entire field element a solid color.

One slightly frustrating change comes with the reworked gameplay, however, namely that the player's growth is capped at any given stage of the game.  Defeating bosses earns the player "stars" that allow them to increase their characters' stats through subsequent battles, but once they've hit a certain plateau, their growth will stop dead until they defeat the next boss in the chain and earn another star. This can be a bit frustrating one's first time through the game, particularly if a player inadvertently picks the harder path at a fork and is stuck there, trying different combinations of elements and characters and refighting the same boss over and over until they eventually manage to win out.  The game itself is seemingly aware of this as well, allowing the player to run from any battle they encounter (even bosses) in order to speed things up or abort a failed attempt at a boss.

While Chrono Trigger had a relatively small cast of playable characters (seven in all), each was separate and distinct enough to give the player plenty of options for each fight, and all contributed to the overarching plot in their own way, making them all feel like an indispensable part of the larger narrative.  Chrono Cross, on the other hand, has a significantly larger playable cast (45 characters in all), which is just a touch excessive; virtually every character in the game with a portrait, sans the main villains, can be recruited in some way or another.  However, most are given little to do in the overall story (if anything at all) and have little in the way of personality outside of a few unique attack animations and possibly a unique accent (applied to character-neutral bits of dialog during key scenes).  In a game like Suikoden, a large cast was more in line with the overall theme of the game (building an army, staffing a castle and ultimately taking the fight to an evil empire; and even if a particular character had little relevance to the main narrative, they at least felt like they were serving a purpose in the grand scheme), but here it just feels like a flimsy excuse to show off more flashy animations than anything.  Confusingly, several of these characters also bear strong resemblances to the playable cast of Chrono Trigger, but have absolutely no confirmable link to them, as if they were just repurposed remnants from earlier drafts of the script (Guile, for example, was famously supposed to be the first game's Magus, but this was dropped in a later revision).  In this case, making Serge a silent protagonist is a pretty big detriment to the story - Crono could get away with it in the original game because he was mostly a stand-in for the player, having little overall impact on the events that unfold but taking the journey alongside the rest of the cast as they grow and learn.  Here, Serge is very much a central character to the plot and his entire arc is about his unexpected role in the past and in events to come; leaving out any real development or personality for him is a pretty big and noticeable absence.  Moreso when this same company recently produced Final Fantasy VII - a game which wouldn't have been half of what it was without making Cloud an interesting, multifaceted and very flawed protagonist.

The titular mechanic of time travel - Chrono Trigger's most well-known and famous plot element - is also conspicuously absent in its sequel.  Instead, much of the game is centered on a theme of parallel worlds, most prominently featuring the character's home world and an alternate one where his counterpart died as a child.  Later on other realities also begin creeping in; some of which even draw cues from some of Chrono Trigger's endings (such as the potential future where the Reptites become the planet's dominant species).  This definitely lends itself to some interesting moments, but sadly feels underutilized overall, only really coming into play in the last quarter or so of the game as an afterthought.  A lot of disparate ideas that never quite come together to create something grandiose, which is a pretty apt description of the game in general, really.

But the most significant difference of all is the game's tone.  While Trigger had pervading themes of adventure, family ties and camaraderie in spite of its dark themes and occasionally grim moments, Cross attempts to take a more philosophical approach, with very underwhelming results.  Several prominent characters frequently quote Nietzsche, many riddles are spoken and much of the dialog comes off as overly flowery and more than a bit pretentious.  A theme that gets floated a couple times is humanity's forced evolution by Lavos causing them to conflict with the natural order (something also hinted at in the first game), but it chickens out of doing anything with the idea other than injecting some cheap fantasy racism, and it doesn't even feel like it's being said in earnest when the ones saying it are either manipulating you for their own gain or calling you evil in the midst of a literal genocide against another nonhuman race.  The whole script reads like Masato Kato wanted to make his own Xenogears after he and Tetsuya Takahashi found some success with that game and its pervading use of Biblical, Jungian and Freudian themes, but he completely missed the strong characterizations and subtle use of said themes that allowed them to work within Xenogears' overarching storyline.  Instead, Cross's philosophical elements push themselves to the forefront, seemingly trying to distract the player from all its lackluster characters and underdeveloped ideas.  It's desperately trying to look smart by using big words and heavy themes while never actually doing anything interesting or subversive with them, and the act ain't fooling anyone.

At the end of the day, Chrono Cross, despite being billed as a sequel to Chrono Trigger, bears almost no resemblance to its predecessor.  Its gameplay is entirely reworked, there are very few returning characters or themes from the original (and what few there are only get a pittance in terms of screen time) and many of the decisions made within are more than a bit baffling. It's in the same boat as Final Fantasy VI for me, feeling like a large mish-mash of ideas that are often good individually, but which never quite come together into a cohesive whole. The fact that they actually had to retcon many elements into the DS rerelease of Chrono Trigger so that Cross's plot would make some semblance of sense speaks to this, as does the fact that Cross throws in so many characters, gameplay elements and plot threads for the sake of content, but gives so few of them any satisfying arc or payoff.  In fact, every time a new plot point is introduced, there's about a 50/50 chance it'll be immediately dropped and never mentioned again; at best it comes back later in the game to give that character something of an arc, but with the story trying to divide up time and gameplay between a cast of 40+ playable characters it rarely feels satisfying when they do.  By contrast Chrono Trigger had a much smaller central cast, but all of them were given distinct personalities, satisfying arcs and plenty of unique gameplay traits, making it a perfect example of quality over quantity.  Chrono Cross is still an entertaining game with moments of inspired design, fun-enough gameplay and a top-notch presentation, but it proves to be a very uneven experience overall, especially for those who still regard the Chrono series' inaugural game as one of the most tightly designed, brilliantly executed RPGs ever made. By comparison Chrono Cross barely lives up to its potential, and is barely spared from mediocrity by a handful of interesting (if undercooked) ideas, a few good story scenes and a top-tier presentation capped by a fantastic soundtrack.

Developer: Squaresoft
Publisher: Squaresoft
Platform: Playstation 1, Playstation Network, Playstation 4, PC, Switch, XBox One/Series
Released:  2000, 2011, 2022
Recommended version:  Honestly, they're all about on-level with each other (with the PSN version of course being an emulated port).  The "Radical Dreamers Edition" is a rather strange remaster, though, as there are only the barest-minimum of improvements made over the original.  There are redrawn portraits for the characters (which look quite good), but the "high-resolution" backdrops just look like they were ran through an online upscaling tool, complete with awkward-looking smoothed edges that don't blend quite right.  The 3D models look almost identical to the originals, though with cleaner edges owing to the antialiasing; they even still have that PS1 "jitter" even when characters are standing still.  The FMVs still have the familiar graininess and artifacting that was present in their PS1 counterparts, so no real change there either.  Strangest of all, the framerate isn't improved at all from the PS1, with a lot of noticeable slowdown and frame-skipping during the bigger, flashier moves, and even fluctuating as you move around the maps.  Basically, it feels like you're just running the original version in a third-party emulator with some upscaling options on; the only notable difference being the few token enhancements common to other modern Square ports (like the ability to toggle encounters and autosaves).  You also start the game with the Time Shifter (a New Game + feature in the original), which lets you slow down or speed up the gameplay with the shoulder buttons.  On the upside, this version does include the "original draft" of Chrono Cross (Radical Dreamers, formerly exclusive to the Satellaview), so it's nice to own for that if nothing else.