Mystified by the Cult of Chrono Trigger
Did you hear? Did you? Chrono Trigger is coming out for the Nintendo DS. Chrono Trigger!
Of course, anyone who has witnessed Square Enix’s recent track record when it comes to re-releasing their old RPGs and still happens to be surprised by this isn’t really paying attention. Chrono Trigger, which gained the majority of its notoriety as a classic RPG for the Super Nintendo, has already been re-released once, as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles for the original PlayStation, complete with a few bonus cutscenes created for the purpose of giving the included games a reason to live on the PlayStation.
Like a lot of kids who were just getting in to the whole “video games” thing in a big way during the time of the SNES, I simply didn’t notice Chrono Trigger amidst a sea of Final Fantasy games; my time with the SNES was limited as I didn’t own one, and the only RPGs that I ever played at my friends’ houses were variations on the Final Fantasy name (II/IV, III/VI, Secret of Mana and so on). Phantasy Star was my drug of choice, RPG-wise, and Chrono Trigger barely registered a tick on my still developing hype meter.
As such, despite the fact that Square Enix might just be releasing another port for the sake of a quick buck at the hands of a ravenous fan base (most recently exemplified by The Brainy Gamer’s assembly of his RPG class syllabus and the drooling posts from some of the major blogs), I’m pretty excited about this, as it’s the first time I’m seeing Chrono Trigger during a time in which I’m actually likely to care (the PlayStation re-release came and went while I was transitioning from Nintendo 64 to PS2, unfortunately).
My question, then, is this: What makes Chrono Trigger better than, say, Final Fantasy IV? Or VII, for that matter? Why should I play Chrono Trigger ahead of more advanced fare developed specifically for the DS, like the Pokémon games or Atlus’ Rondo of Swords? It’s obviously an influential and beloved game, but why? Or would it be better, at this point, to be surprised?
Comments
I would argue that Chrono Trigger is one leanest RPGs ever made. It cuts away nearly all of the boring fat commonly associated with RPGs and polishes what is left to perfection.
For instance, there are no pointless characters in the vein of Umaro, Gogo or Cait Sith in Chrono Trigger. The main characters, enemies and important NPCs are all well developed, with proper backstories and relationships. I wouldn’t call any of them exceptionally deep, but there are no throwaways.
The same goes for the main plotline and all optional subquests. From my memory (it’s been a while) there are no time-wasting fetch quests, disconnected dungeon crawls or mandatory mini-games. Everything fits into themes and ideas presented in the main storyline, and the plot has a real feeling of consistency.
Finally, Chrono Trigger is a gloriously creative game. The different eras are unique and interesting, and present the same world under vastly different conditions. There are also many lateral-thinking time-travel based puzzles; going back into the past to change the present.
Modern RPGs pile on the features and end up with way too much noise. Chrono Trigger did simple and elegant better than any other RPG of the SNES era, in my opinion.
Comment by Matthew Gallant from Montreal, QC — July 3, 2008 @ 10:35 am
Matthew - Thanks for the fantastic comment, which does say a lot for why the game would garner so much respect despite the fact that it’s not often cited as “groundbreaking”, “influential”, or even “popular”. Actually, it sounds like an ideal, pure RPG experience.
Consider my anticipation heightened.
Comment by Mike Schiller — July 7, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
Chrono Trigger is a solid classic RPG, but I think if you play it for the first time now, you’ll be missing out on a lot of what made it special. These days a lot of the things Chrono Trigger was special for have already been done time and time again.
It holds such a hallowed position because it was responsible for setting a lot of new trends off in the Japanese RPG community. It was also the last big super group game. At that time the creative team behind it was just stellar and widely known (at least in Japan.)
So yeah, you’d probably enjoy it, but find yourself feeling you missed something because you didn’t experience it at the time it came out.
And for the record, it still is one of my fav RPGs, so don’t jump on my case for being a hater or some such. Just stating the facts.
Comment by GeorgeR from North Eastern US — July 8, 2008 @ 7:23 pm
Excellent write up, very interesting read!
Comment by Japan — July 18, 2008 @ 2:08 am
I have heard very good things about this game, and I notice that the music is awesome, I am so happy that we can get it soon and enjoy it because the people say that this game is the best game of all the times so I have to get it!
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Comment by mini free games — September 13, 2008 @ 7:52 am
Like a lot of kids who were just getting in to the whole “video games” thing in a big way during the time of the SNES, I simply didn’t notice Chrono Trigger amidst a sea of Final Fantasy games.
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Comment by free mobile games — September 13, 2008 @ 7:53 am
The thing that stands out in Chrono Trigger, and as well in Chrono Cross, the sequel, is the sheer quality of production values. Character and level design, the fight system, and especially the music were all done in a superb way, and I think together made the game feel like less of a “grind” than its Final Fantasy brethren.
Comment by Evan from British Columbia — November 20, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
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Comment by Mark — January 2, 2009 @ 8:31 am
Great point. Thanks a lot for spreading this out.
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