Veredito: A comida deliciosa e perfeita da vovó.

Minha avó paterna foi a melhor mestre-cuca de todas as galáxias. Ela não cozinhava nada extraordinário, nada que você veria num restaurante chique. Era feijão, arroz, bife, salada e purê de batata, tudo bem básico. Mas puta que pariu, NINGUÉM faz um feijão com arroz tão delicioso quanto o dela!

Chrono Trigger é o feijão com arroz dos JRPGs. Quase tudo nele já foi feito mil vezes em outros jogos: batalhas em turno, protagonistas adolescentes, fantasia medieval, magitecnologia, enredo de salvar o mundo. Mesmo os tropos dele que não são sempre associados a JRPGs, como viagens no tempo e parasitas malignos, são clichês de alguma forma.

Mas nenhum, NENHUM jogo faz o básico tão bem feito quanto ele. Cada mínimo detalhe foi projetado e executado com tal maestria que hoje, quase 30 anos depois, ele ainda reina como o melhor do gênero.

Tem nem competição.

História? A mais emocionante, bem amarrada e com melhor ritmo que um jogo do tipo já teve.

Sistema de batalha? Impecável, e te mantém engajado da primeira luta até o chefão final.

Personagens? Todos são excelentes, nas batalhas e nos diálogos. Porra, até a maioria dos NPCs parecem mais reais e desenvolvidos que muito protagonista por aí.

Sidequests? Todas são de alguma forma importantes pra trama e pro desenvolvimento interpessoal da equipe.

Não tem muito o que eu falar dele que já não tenha sido dito e repetido ao infinito na internet afora. Do mesmo jeito que nunca vou conseguir falar nada de novo sobre um bife. Um bife pode ser mega suculento, bem temperado, macio, delicioso, mas ainda é só o bom e velho bife.

Chrono Trigger ainda é um jogo super básico. Mas assim como o bife que vó Lourdes fazia, ninguém nunca conseguiu criar um JRPG tão perfeito quanto ele.
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PS: joguei a versão de DS, mas registrei aqui no site como a versão de Super Nintendo por burrice, hahaha! XD

I started this game 4 years ago when I first started getting back into playing single player games. My friend and I were playing it simultaneously, we got about 5 hours in and then we never continued it even though we both enjoyed it at the time. Fast forward to March 1, 2024 when the legend Akira Toriyama passed away, the sole reason I got into anime which eventually led to JRPG's. After the news I felt like I had to experience this game rather sooner than later so I hopped in the stu and started it from the beginning.

Chrono Trigger is a masterpiece that still holds up to this day. I can't believe that something of this caliber came out two months before I was even born, just crazy to think about lol. There's so many awesome details whether it be related to the story, the lovely sprites or even the gameplay itself. Obviously with a story about time traveling, things will be different in the future if you change the past but I love the way it's utilized here. It is best showcased during everyone's side quests during The Fated Hour, in my opinion. Minor spoiler and this is just an example but there is a certain part where you're trying to get an item but this person won't give it to you. So you go into the past and give their ancestor something they wanted for free, they in return won't forget about our good deed and then teach their children all about kindness. We now go back into the future, now this person with the item is very kind and gives it to us instead. So freaking cool and this was a pretty minor event from a damn side quest.

My favorite part about the game was the combat and by that I mean figuring out each and every boss. These encounters were all so different, with unique mechanics and gimmicks. It felt really satisfying figuring out their weaknesses as well as timing your turns to heal yourself after devastating attacks. Gotta love the fact that the combo moves are indeed literally combined moves, like how Frog's Slurp and Ayla's kiss becomes Slurp Kiss. Also can't forget that water is so good that they made water 2, that's crazy..

I love all the characters, especially Frog and Ayla for carrying me throughout the game. Everyone else... please forgive me. They all had their moments though and I teared up when I saw them in the animated cutscene during the credits. Just peak.

The soundtrack is phenomenal, every single piece is a banger and I definitely can not pick a favorite because there's just too many mighty fine tracks.

Very glad that I gave Chrono Trigger another shot after 4 years, I've always wanted to beat it ever since I started my little JRPG journey and now I have!

Rest in peace, Akira Toriyama. Thank you for everything.

The Fullmetal Alchemist of JRPG's

Now, what exactly does this mean? This isn't some attack at Chrono Trigger or anything meant negatively towards the game. But rather an analogy I accidentally created. Do keep in mind that I absolutely love this game. Over the course of the past week and then some, my time playing games has mostly been dedicated towards playing this game.

My analogy to Fullmetal Alchemist comes rather as an overall reflection of the game. It's nearly flawless but, as a result it lacks in any areas where it really shines. This is not to say that the gameplay, story, music, etc are bad, but rather that they're all at such a level in which none of them stand out in any special sense. Far from average in fact. The game features a really good story, ost, (debatable) gameplay, and they all are amazing. Given the large 4-5 star reception of the game, I believe that comparing it to something like Fullmetal Alchemist is a fair and easily digestible comparison.

This game manages to perfectly sew together all aspects of what makes a video game good. While not being profound, it's perfect. The culmination of numerous JRPG developer minds at the time, those behind Xenogears, Final Fantasy, and more. Chrono Trigger also had so many new and quite honestly insane ideas at the time which now can be found all across gaming. New Game+ or even multiple endings (even crazier, they're all based on the players moral compass). This game rightfully sits atop many top 10 videogames lists because of how flawless it is.

My only real complaint with this game is that the bosses are just ass, for every good boss there's like 4 or 5 shitty stupid bosses which are just an absolute chore to beat and FUCK the Golem Twins I hate those absolute shitters. Stupid ass boss.

Analysis video that I think is worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiaMl3yN5io 23 minutes (spoilers)

When I was young and foolish, I abandoned Chrono Trigger immediately after the first boss. I can explain — I was hoping to play it with my brother, since we'd long ago shared several Mario RPG experiences, but, despite Frog's best efforts, it succeeded only in boring him to apathetic tears. So mired was my mind in the stigma surrounding the Japanese Role-Playing genre that I submitted to his appraisal. It went back on the shelf. When I did finally progress beyond Yakra about a year later, flanked by a revolving door of spectators at a library, I resolved never to trust my brother's tears ever again. It spoke to me so strongly that, in the year post-Chrono Trigger, I went about chasing its tail.

I discovered that Final Fantasy IV had grandfathered Chrono Trigger's narrative pacing, Dragon Quest V's premise was at least as solid and perhaps even more beautiful, Final Fantasy VII succeeded its cinematic ambition to colossal effect, Dragon Quest III established the thematic foundation that courses through its veins, and Final Fantasy VI pioneered the core of its act structure. And yet, with each new drop of reverence gained for the JRPG and the visionaries that drove it forward, Chrono Trigger's lingering expectation hovered above, doing its step-siblings no favors.

Not to bemoan those relatives, which range from good to As Good As Chrono Trigger (I promise), but playing them more wholly reveals what it was that Yuji Horii and Hironobu Sakaguchi were trying to escape. In a genre derided for slow-going and number-crunching (both great, it turns out), here was a game that could move with enough genuine grace to make Super Metroid blush. Its meticulous staging and seamless battle transitions firmly ground its ever-breathing characters in the setting and drama of the moment. More so than even the dialogue, party members express themselves and their relationships through clean, action-inflected combat mechanics and colorful animations. Its many, tiny opportunities for narrative decisions add up alongside a multi-layered yet coherent story, and amount to a game that feels almost as directed by you, the player, as its creators. It's never afraid to end, whenever you may choose to end it.

Chrono Trigger is the nexus point at the center of its genre, the moment its progenitors decided to put aside their differences Just This Once and build something without any of the baggage of their respective series. It's almost heartbreaking to imagine them going their separate ways, returning home with lessons they couldn't keep. It was a glimpse into a possible future for videogames, but the die had already been cast, and the future refused to change.

i think there's a lot of credence to the idea that chrono trigger is the greatest jrpg ever made. it's a collaboration between the two most important guys in the genre's golden years, it's got a bangin' yasunori mitsuda soundtrack, and the pacing and cinematics are really top-notch. seriously, this game does so much to streamline the process of playing and absorbing it to the point that a single session feels like you've made serious progress each and every time.

chrono trigger is the peak of what the first major wave of jrpgs was seeking to do; it's got those fantasy and early sci-fi/steampunk aesthetics that dominated square's output through the mid-90s, a cast of zany and colorful characters, and some great little story beats to keep things interesting. i absolutely see why this game resonates with so many people, especially if you sank a ton of time into it growing up.

as for me, i played this game pretty early into my adventures with jrpgs and enjoyed myself, and since then i've played it to completion probably like three or four times - started it up or completed another random ending maybe a dozen more. it's entertaining and engaging, which to a genre outsider i could see very few jrpgs being.

i think where trigger and i sort of shake hands and don't really find intimate ground is just based on the fact that it doesn't really touch me emotionally the way other jrpgs have, but that's largely due to what interests me in games and stories. it's a streamlined and air-tight package but i'm not moved or blown away by anything it shows me. even moments and sequences from its genre contemporaries like final fantasy vi, or terranigma, or dragon quest v, or earthbound - admittedly less perfectly clean-cut games, but more daring, outspoken, and therefore more personally significant titles for me - leave chrono trigger's narrative and drama feeling... admittedly somewhat unremarkable in comparison.

don't get me wrong, chrono trigger is about as tight and precise as jrpgs come, and a genuine joy to play, but those are the things i admire most about it - largely leaning into its entertainment value more than its artistic dominance over me. it's why i admit to liking and resonating with chrono cross on a far more personal and powerful level than this game. but by all means, if you haven't played chrono trigger, play chrono trigger, it's probably the best place to start with jrpgs and it tops endless charts for a reason.

I have always felt that Chrono Trigger earns its acclaim by what it doesn’t do. Really, the game feels downright barebones when comparing it to other RPGs of the time. Think about a massive game like Final Fantasy 6. What doesn’t that epic have? With dungeons within dungeons, two massive worlds to explore, and a titanic number of characters, a game like Chrono Trigger should not compete with Final Fantasy’s epic scale. Yet it does. So, how is it that Chrono Trigger can stand toe-to-toe with a game of that magnitude, maybe even surpass it?

By all accounts, Chrono Trigger should make people angry with its simplicity and restrictive gameplay. Up until the 11th hour, the story rides the rails. The five worlds you travel to are just window dressing to the next story event. When the game does open and allow you a bit of time travel freedom, it comes in the form of a handful of side quests. Most of these quests are small. Pick a quest, travel to a time period, kill a boss, get loot, the end. Lesser games would be criticized for the lack of content, but not Chrono Trigger. Why? The answer is intent.

Chrono Trigger has a very specific gameplan. It wants things to matter. No fluff. No roaming the world for collectables. No super boss exists just for the sake of the challenge. Every event, boss, and special item serves the story in some way. The rainbow shell side quest serves as a great example. You fight powerful bosses to get the most powerful gear, but the quest also uncovers a plot to usurp the throne. And this isn’t a plot tossed in out from left field either. It has specific connections to story events from way back at the beginning of the game, and it provides the Chancellor with motivations for his actions.

Each scene or location is planned out and has a purpose. At the Millennial Fair, you meet Marle. Together you take part in seemingly mindless tasks before meeting Lucca and starting the story proper. But these seemingly mindless tasks resurface at Crono’s trial and have story implications. When the time portal whisks away Marle to parts unknown, Lucca doesn’t take a day to gameplan with you or have a crisis of conscious about her machine. Nope. Crono gets on that tele-pad and off you go. When the game risks becoming monotonous, it throws in a race through the future wastelands. That is Chrono Trigger’s efficiency.

Character moments are quick, but impactful. Frog needs only a single scene to show us why he fights Magus but doubts his abilities. We don’t need more than that. No need to monologue or tell the player over and over about his motives. The game doesn’t even give him time to do so, because when he gets the Hero’s Medal and regains his confidence, its off to Magus’ castle. We barely need to hear about Magus’ reasons when he joins. His whole story was interlaced within the plot.

The gameplay also embraces this feeling of focus. Enemies move about visibly onscreen and most of the time can be avoided. Chrono Trigger basically asks you what you want to focus on in the moment. Need XP? Go fight. If not, then you move on. It simply does not have the time to surprise you with random battles every 5 seconds. Though some fights are scripted, they are the exception, not the rule.

I could go about the career defining music by Mitsuda, or the beautiful art by Toriyama, but I’ll let the countless other reviews handle that. To me, the success of Chrono Trigger lies in is design philosophy – a simplicity rarely found in modern games and especially the JRPG genre.

Chrono Trigger is the pinnacle of a golden age of video games, the Super Nintendo and 16-bit era. It exceeds quality in all its aspects, from its writing, pacing, balancing, a gameplay driven under simple bases, but extremely engaging and satisfying, and a sublime soundtrack and artwork.

A year before this game had already been released Final Fantasy VI, a game that in my opinion had already reached the pinnacle of what an RPG could do on a Super Nintendo, but Chrono Trigger tries to go further and manages to surpass it. For starters, unlike many RPGs of the time, all battles occur in the scenario itself, as if it were a Zelda-style adventure game. There are no random battles, as the enemies are in plain sight (or sometimes are hidden in the environment) making them feel naturally integrated into the scenario, while maintaining the turn-based combat system... or well, a hybrid between turn-based combat and active combat. This game retakes the popular ATB combat system of the FF series, and gives it a much more simplistic approach, because as for the commands you have there are only 3, the attack, the objects and techniques. I love how you can change characters and select the action of each one in a simple and agile way, as the command panel of the 3 characters is active at the same time on a single screen, but the best part is that the active combat system is used to present a great team skill mechanic (technically FFIV had done it with Porom and Palom, but it wasn't as highlighted and expanded as here). Every possible combination of characters in your party will always have unique and amazing abilities, which encourages experimenting with all possible combinations, and it's something that never gets annoying as all members of your party receive experience even if they don't participate in combat, and swapping between them is as easy as pressing square/Y anywhere on the map.

Usually the position of your allies and enemies is something important during battles, as there are some techniques that benefit from having enemies united in a group, or that on the other hand, can only be executed when you have the enemy close enough. This, complemented with Dual/Triple-Techs, makes the ATB system shine in a way it never did before, especially when the active mode is enabled, since it makes waiting for the ATB meter of your allies to fill up a fundamental part of your strategies if you want to execute a team attack, or if on the other hand, you want to wait for the enemies to change their position a little to perform more effective attacks.

Each boss battle is usually a good challenge that tests your ability to choose commands quickly, or to adapt and improvise strategies sometimes. Without a doubt, this was one of my favorite aspects of the game, because despite being a very simple game made for even beginners to play, it still offers enough depth to satisfy anyone. I didn't expect to see boss battles so well done. I really liked the final battle in particular.

The dungeon and map design is very good, which makes this game never feel boring. You can tell that they really put effort into making each location memorable and fun to explore. Proof of this is that each dungeon has its own theme, and although they are not really a big deal as they are often just traditional dungeons and that's it, it is something that continues to prove the quality of this game by having many unrepeatable or unrecycled locations and excellent balancing and pacing.

The art of Chrono Trigger is one of the most charismatic and charming I've seen in a pixel art video game, but especially in a SNES game, all thanks to the brilliant and iconic art style of Akira Toriyama, which by the hand of the Square team was brought to life in a masterful way to the pixelated, but expressive sprites of each character / enemy, coupled with very well done animations. It's impressive how even here they decided to take a step forward, because normally in RPGs of this era the sprites for enemy battles were static, meaning they had no movement and were literally just a drawing, but in this game, every enemy has animations and movement, which gives every creature a lot of charm. I think you have to be blind not to notice that Chrono Trigger is one of the games with the best visuals for the system, sometimes even approaching the quality of a 2D game on a 32-bit console. The use of colors and detailed pixel art even surpasses that of games like FF6 or DQ6, which were already games with a phenomenal look. And finally, a novelty of the PlayStation version (which was the one I played) and that elevated a lot the emotion I felt when experiencing this story were the great animated cinematics that are included for some of the important moments of the story. If you like Akira Toriyama's art style you will enjoy every single one of them for sure... (Thinking about it now, why Dragon Quest never had any of these 😭, it would have been great).

The musical work of this game has been the work of the, by then, new talent Yasunori Mitsuda, and with the help of master Nobuo Uematsu, they were able to create one of the most mythical soundtracks belonging to the SNES era. Just listen to the main theme of the game to realize the quality of the compositions, this song is one of the most epic and legendary pieces in the world of video games, I think I'll never get tired of listening to such a perfect melody.

Even though it was Yasunori Mitsuda's first soundtrack, his compositions are on par with any other legendary composer of the time (be it Koichi Sugiyama, Nobuo Umatsu, Koji Kondo, etc). I really like the tone that the music sets to this game. For example, I'll talk about the castle theme, in a Dragon Quest game, a castle theme usually conveys elegance and the feeling of being in an important place, while in a Final Fantasy game they convey a feeling of nobility and power, well, Chrono Trigger's castle theme on the other hand conveys optimism and vigor, while at the same time perfectly maintains that feeling of being in an elegant and noble place, I just love it. And there are a bunch more songs that I love, it's not uncommon to find myself doing nothing in the game as long as I can listen to the music and just that. Although FFVI had a soundtrack that was excellent because of how well it used the SNES sound chip and how full of emotion many of its melodies were, in this game on the other hand they stand out for the brilliance of its composition. It's a soundtrack that has a mystical aura to say the least.

As a small note, since I mentioned Nobuo Uematsu, he also composed some songs for this game, something I noticed from the moment I heard the theme of the caves. His style is simply unmistakable.

Talking about the premise of the title, something that Chrono Trigger did in its time to not be just another RPG of the bunch was to make that instead of being about exploring a gigantic world with many towns, dungeons and content, instead it opted to be a game about time travel, where we will visit a small planet, but seen through different eras, such as prehistory, medieval times and the future. All this under the proposition of stopping an entity that threatens to end the peaceful and colorful planet where we live. It is a story that shines because it makes us visit all kinds of different places and meet all kinds of interesting characters and live unforgettable moments. Something that I love is that Chrono Trigger, even though it sometimes does it in a meticulous way, really reflects that some of your actions and decisions do have an impact on the timeline or in general.

The characters in this game at first glance might seem like simple teenagers with no problems in life, or simple archetypes of characters that are just shells to represent that they belong to a certain era, but no, not at all, once you know their stories and everything that happens in the game, they will easily steal your heart. Characters like Frog or Robo are undoubtedly my favorites because of their personalities and their stories (and also combat skills, of course), or even Lucca, once I knew her past... but Marle and Ayla were not left behind, because their charisma and personalities so cheerful and energetic sometimes was the only thing needed.

Conclusion
Chrono Trigger is, of course, masterful. It's a game that feels calibrated almost from the tiniest detail to give you a premium quality experience. This is ultimately reflected in the hours of gameplay and content it has to offer, as it is a game that can be finished in approximately 20 hours, so Chrono Trigger offers quality over quantity.

It is simply impressive to me that a game like this ever existed. Everyone already knows this, but the fact that the creator of Final Fantasy, the creator of Dragon Quest, and the author of Dragon Ball (also artist of DQ) have joined forces to create this game, is something legendary that will never be repeated in history, Sakaguchi's participation can be noticed from the ambition of the title, while Horii's from the personality and tone of the game (silly monsters and friendly with humans) and small details such as the silent protagonist.

And what else can I say, it's a game that I don't consider as a masterpiece, but as a perfect game.

A time machine? Look, time travel, the kinda of time travel that you're thinking of, is a scientific impossibility.
It would violate the second law of thermodynamics.
You're talking about regrets, so if you want to ask about regrets, just ask about regrets, and leave all this time-travelling no sense out of it.

- Walter White to Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul S06E13 "Saul Gone"

Chrono Trigger is often considered one of the best games ever made, at least this is what I heard years ago. So I decided to give it a shot and... from the moment I noticed the characters going into a dance animation in the optional side roadof the festival, I knew I was in for a ride.

For a game from 1995, it's incredible how many things this masterpiece achieves: it's presentation is immaculate, able to convey a gorgeous spritework with incredible environments, set pieces and designs. A literal work of art that lives one to this day. Akira's Toriyama's characters are able to remain both simple and incredibly memorable, also because of the incredible characterization that makes you care for them so much (seriously stories and some bits about like Robo and Frog are just... tear-dropping).

The story is also impressivily realized: it's not easy to make a narrative based on time-travel can result so easy to follow, but also enthrilling and full of incredible settings and twists, ableto convey fun, fear and even sadder feelings.

Compared to other jrgps, Final Fantasy especially, it can result less deeper in mechanics, but the amount of combos between allies and the overall presentation makes it stand out even more.

I feel like that final section of the game, which is less linear, can drag a bit, especially because the requirements to get the "Best ending" can be kinda tedious to discover without a guide.

But overall Chrono Trigger is amazing. One of the best jrpgs of all time, and a title that deserves all the praises it gets!

This is, quite possibly, the most timeless JRPG ever made. From its gorgeous 2D backgrounds, expressive spritework, tight pacing, and gameplay mechanics that were ahead of its time in terms of the convenience they offered, this game holds up in just about every regard as a true classic of the genre.
While I'm sure that much of this has been said countless times, as it is true, I can't help but look at it somewhat differently as a longtime fan of the JRPG genre and all that it has to offer. Chrono Trigger to me represents a turning point in the genre's history: when they started becoming more accessible, more thematically complex, and more anime inspired. It's a game still rooted in many conventions of the past yet not mired down by them, while also being one that showed glimpses of what was to come without the pace being dragged down or the story too complicated.
I think it's this particular point where its design philosophy falls that allows the game to be beloved even outside of JRPG circles, because just about every complaint from people who don't normally like turn based RPGs is either absent or remedied to an extent. The cost of this is that the game feels simple to someone like me who LOVES the mechanical and narrative complexity of many recent JRPGs, and while I could complain more about what this game isn't, I find what it is to still be rather impressive even when separated from the gaming landscape of its era. The truth is that there's often charm in simplicity, and when all of the pieces fit together just right like they do here, it's hard not to appreciate it. The story beats flow from one to another without staying in one location for too long, the combat is snappy and offers a sense of progression that encourages switching out your party members regularly, the bosses feel varied and the set pieces for these fights make each one stand out, the characters each have strong standout moments to make up for having relatively little dialogue throughout the story (or none in Crono's case), and the soundtrack does a great job of elevating all of these moments.
With these factors in mind I can't help but think that this game is perfect for people just getting into JRPGs, as it's not too difficult and sets up the expectations for what the genre is all about and capable of. It almost makes me disappointed that I didn't play this earlier, but in a way I feel that my perspective has given me a different kind of appreciation for it, so I will always value what this game was and still is. No matter how many games I think handle certain aspects of their design or storytelling better, there's never going to be another game that captures quite the same near-flawless experience that is Chrono Trigger.

The ultimate and legendary all rounder

It's almost blasphemy to call myself a fan of JRPGs without playing Chrono Trigger especially at this point in my life. It was sort of hard to find the motivation to start it because I feel like I wouldn't like as much as and it never really appealed to me at a conceptual level. The dream team of Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy fame, Yuji Horii of Dragon Quest fame and Akira Toriyama has and had all the makings of making Chrono Trigger to be one of the best JRPGs and I feel like it definitely does a great job in nailing all of the important aspects of making the odyssey through time worth it. It's actually impressive from a design standpoint and I can see why people recommend this game for first time players of the genre albeit with one big caveat.

The Heroes of Time and The Impending Doom (Story/Characters)
The story definitely is pretty interesting albeit nothing that makes my jaw drop in disbelief other than one specific moment but honestly still great in a sense especially in the final quarter. The characters are surprisingly full of expression and they each have their own time in the spotlight. No character is the same and they each have their own motivations and personality along with their own woes and problems which get expanded in their own sidequests which do an excellent job of fleshing out these circumstances with Robo and Frog being my favorites that I took with me for most of my journey. I think the pacing is probably one of the strongest points Chrono Trigger has going for it. JRPGs can usually suffer from hours of nothing happening but in Chrono Trigger, something is always happening before you get bored with the combat which helps the combat feel fun as well. The things that happen might not be the most exciting thing until later but it does a great job of keeping your attention and making the runtime feel really dense in my opinion.

The Art of Teamwork and Techniques (Gameplay)
The battle system relies on Active Time Battle which consists of a bar filling up as time goes on until it is one of your party member's turn. You can either have the game on Active which lets time flow even while you are menuing or have it on Wait and time will stop while you're searching for the right technique, I went with Active for this playthrough. The bread and butter of the game are Techs each character learns throughout the game. Each character has their own unique set and given with the right party members, can combine their turns to do even more powerful duo and trio techs for better effect. Some techs also have an area of effect but this feels more like an afterthought as there is no way to really plan for this or move enemies around in your favor and more just doing an area of effect tech when the rare chance it all lines up for you. I will say the overall game difficulty falls into the easier side which I think benefits newcomers but still manages to be a simple and fun system all of its own. There is really one huge wall in the end though if you've been coasting along the game until this point where you might need to do the sidequests and gain some levels but fortunately this is all easy too as the game really incentivizes you to actually prepare before doing the final boss and the content itself isn't egregiously long either.

The Sounds of Time (Soundtrack)
It's hard to deny that Yasunori Mitsuda can make a great soundtrack and it shows in spades here. Incredible use of the piano and synth/midi gives the whole soundtrack a surprisingly ethereal feeling at certain moments. I did not expect to like the soundtrack this much considering how much I've heard Corridors of Time from external sources at this point. Final boss themes don't disappoint either just making this an excellent soundtrack in general.

The End of Time (Conclusion)
The ultimate irony is that despite Chrono Trigger being one of the shorter JRPGs I've played, it took me a little over two weeks to beat. Chrono Trigger is what I feel to be a jack of all trades but a master of none. It manages to nail everything at an intermediate degree but never really the heights of the genre personally with music and the overall concept being close. I can see why people recommend this for first time players of the genre: Easy to learn combat, The dungeons and locations not being extremely labyrinthe in design and hard to get lost in, the shorter than usual runtime allowing it to not overstay its welcome accompanied by wonderful characters and an excellent soundtrack.

How can you save the future when you keep dwelling on the past?

Its got great pacing, art, and music, but the combat is really shallow with little moment to moment choice, the fixed encounters make exploration a huge chore, and the story and characters are a little too stock to find personality in. It's got heart in a lot of places, but like the most polished, studio-made work, despite being so handcrafted, it's kind of a vapid blockbuster. Not trite, but vapid. You could say it was too many cooks. Too many hands building towards a really general, mass appeal vision.

I often hear this game lauded as the best of both worlds with regards to the creators of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy coming together, but it would honestly feel like the weakest entry in either series if put side by side to them. I don't like this frame of looking at it.

Dragon quest games use simple plotlines to convey often extremely subtle and sometimes very complex themes. They feel timeless because of that. The combat systems are made from really simply conveyed choices that feel really weighty; even simple attacks feel intentional, and have the ability to perform unexpectedly to lots of random factors like enemy stat variations, class stats, and flat fractional critical rates. Its combat is like a wizardry 2.0. The best dragon quests have a random encounter rate just low enough to make the player think they can get away with peering just around the corner, while dreading every step in case they run into something truly devastating. Every treasure nets a huge boon, but each one may be your last, with penalties for death being very real. Exploration is the method, and adventure is the dream. To reiterate, complex themes, simple plots, simplified combat terms, devestating and exciting blows with real choice that furthers the desire for more exploration and adventure.

Final fantasy has often really complex plots that have simple themes guiding them. They feel personal and grandiose at the same time. The characters are often commentaries on the tropes they wear on their sleeves, with a lot of hidden depth and backstories to chew at for miles. Exploration is there, but it's in favor of highly scripted and exciting setpieces. Like those setpieces, the combat favors theatricality and performance that heightens the player-character relationship, and the product of that relationship guides the player to navigate the often complex character-building systems of those games. The combat then has complex terms and systems although streamlined for a mass audience to operate on a base level, and play the entire game that way if they so choose. Rather than having a combat around survival and risk/reward, between loot/exploration/death, final fantasy combat is about giving the player a language to understand the world and personality of its inhabitants. It is communication serving the themes of the story (DQ does this too, but in very different ways). To reiterate, complex systems made feasible guided by complex characters, in a complex plot guided by simple themes.

Chrono trigger has simple characters, a pretty simple plot, simple themes, and a simple combat system.

You don't have much say over how you build the characters, the combat doesn't serve as a language, its a bit too easy with penalties too light to serve a vehicle for adventure, not to mention most battles playing out the same way, with a generally unchanging player psychology (tactics are simple, rules generally stay the same, even the introduction of magic mostly keeps characters fighting the same way as before). It's just kinda alright. I play it when I want a simple linear game. (But tbh even ff4 is kinda better at that)

What is there even to say about Chrono Trigger that hasn't already been said before? It's the quintessential JRPG; not only did it have all the makings of a great game, with its vibrant pixel art and jaw-droppingly beautiful soundtrack, a tightly constructed narrative (somehow with no gaping plotholes alongside extremely clever time travel mechanics) and phenomenal worldbuilding through realized settings and a colorful cast, and a rich combat system through combining turn based and real time combat mechanics, it also set the standards for JRPGs to this day and popularized classic mechanics such as New Game + and multiple endings. The bar was raised so high that even today, every JRPG gets compared to Chrono Trigger in some fashion; the Phantom of the Opera of its generation, Chrono Trigger is, for lack of better words, timeless. It's not my favorite video game or even my favorite JRPG, but it remains a staple of video game history and I'm glad to say that if anything, it's only gotten better with age even after 27 years have passed. Everyone should experience Chrono Trigger; it's just one of those games that is practically perfect, and probably always will be.

A juggernaut of groundbreaking ideas encapsulated into distilled magic. Yes, Chrono Trigger is always referenced as the end-all-be-all masterpiece JRPG, and as someone who prefers to view products before my time as products of their time, it's almost too easy to say the mass opinion is correct in its case.

Interpolating Chrono Trigger's multilayered time-travelling narrative masterstrokes is a combat system that combines the best of Final Fantasy's synonymous ATB system and Dragon Quest's malleable magic formatting. In addition to removing separate battle scenes entirely in favor of battles playing out in the top-down overworlds is Chrono Trigger's mechanical coup de grâce, a "Tech" system of combining magic abilities between party members. Planning and unleashing Tech gambits that vary in not only elemental effectiveness but within its positions adds an element of actual strategy, one I got so delighted with tinkering and abusing I don't think I ever pressed the standard Attack button during the entire second and third acts. What compliments this system best of all is Chrono Trigger's keen sense of enemy variety, where being constantly faced with groups of enemies of varying resistances and weaknesses, usually simultaneously, only asks of you to think harder about your battle strategy. As someone who loves JRPGs but tends to fry their brain mashing "A" through lategame encounters, handling nearly every enemy encounter using the same parts of my brain I reserve for, say, turn-based strategy games, completely enroached me.

Going back to the past where I mentioned Chrono Trigger's narrative; where Final Fantasy features usually more character-driven stories of intrigue that durate with increasing complexity, and where Dragon Quest concerns itself more with telling simple stories of heroism, leaving its heavier themes within subtext, Chrono Trigger decides to use a bit of both and lies as a blend of the two, a definite decision helmed by the collaboration of Yuji Horii and Hironobu Sakaguchi. I like the stories of the first five Final Fantasy titles though it wasn't until the sixth where its text-based story and pixel vision really moved me beyond what it was showing me, and Chrono Trigger is a progression of that narrative evolution. Its underlying plot can be described in a single sentence, much like most Dragon Quest titles of its day, but its worldbuilding and character writing effortlessly leap out of its pixellated restraints. Not only does every moment of Chrono Trigger pace itself perfectly, but it does so characters-first. My favorite moments in every JRPG are those third act shackle breakers, where you're free to do whatever it is you'd like to prepare yourself for the final battle. The usual fare for its era was some optional dungeons and a try for some "ultimate" weapons, and this is, again, where Chrono Trigger excelled, building off of Final Fantasy VI's groundbreaking third act structure just a year after it. Its breaking off point consists of multiple sidequests, each one narratively focusing a member of your party, granting you your ultimate endgame gear while also closing off their character arcs. Optional as they all were, I was pulled into every single one, my passionate efforts culminating in a fantastic finale and memorable final fight. It makes the difference between taking on the final boss with your gathered party, or venturing forth with a group of close friends, together, at the end of time.

For all its unique mechanical approaches to its format, I think Chrono Trigger's distinction for close-to-the-heart character writing and monumental scale, both narratively and content-wise, is what really had it blitz through time unfazed. Even as it still persists nearly 30 years later as a landmark JRPG and a personal favorite amongst countless people, Chrono Trigger will still awe those who played it for the first time in 1995, people like me who played it for the first time in the current year, and those who will play it 30 years into the future, a simulacrum to that which lasts through time.

I've never played a JRPG, and will never plan to.

See, I don't know if you know the stigma that surrounds JRPG fans, but I felt like they were horny weebs with superiority complexes who constantly criticize and bash others for playing the same 60-hour JRPG with oversexualized women who are 200 years old but look about 12. And despite the fact that you should never judge a book by its cover, I bet you I avoided anything of the sort for years, out of fear that I would become a snobbish narcisistic prick. However one day I was lurking the Avg. Rating, looking at the game descriptions and comments when one particular title caught my eye. There, sitting at a nice 4.4, was Chrono Trigger.

However, one specific review caught my eye (and I hope they dont mind me quoting them:

"Chrono trigger has simple characters, a pretty simple plot, simple themes, and a simple combat system."

After reading that review I did the next obvious thing and downloaded Chrono Trigger. I loaded up RetroArch, and hit play. And after nearly 23 hours on my savefile, and completing the game and getting The Main Ending, I can sagely say that a JRPG is one of my favourite games of all time. So let's talk about it. Why is Crono Trigger such a great game?

The answer is simple. Literally. The main reason that I probably enjoy this game so much as it's so easy to understand and get into that most people can really like its game, especially with shorter lengths compared to other titles in the genre. The SNES pixel art will always age like wine, and there's a reason why people talk about this soundtrack being the best there ever is in gaming. The plot is very straightforward however flows together and the pacing. Is. AMAZING. The characters arent that complex in retrospect however are very loveable and relatable in their motives and challenges they overcome. The theme in of itself is many that people overlook or dont seem to pick up on, and I find that unfair.

You don't have to accept the world as how it is, and the dreams of your own those around you matter and have the power to change the world.

This theme continues to prove itself as for most of the game you don't even change much. You don't change anything that happens throughout history, and without spoiling you tend to not get the results you wanted. However it is with the perseverance and dreams of those around us that push us to achieve something greater. Despite seeing what the world was before and what it will become, Chrono and our heroes refuse to accept this fate and continue to grow and become stronger as people.

Combat is easy to get a hang on as well. Look, I get why people complain about this game being too easy and how the magic system is sort of bland. But it's so simple that it just clicks with you, and it feels so satisfying finding a weakness or using a Triple move. People dont need these complex systems if the gameplay flows very well. If I ever come around to playing another JRPG I'll probably go back on what I said however I argue nontheless.

There is also so much to do during New Game+. I havent exactly dabbled myself into it yet however if youre into 13+ endings that are all intresting (and like, extremely funny?? Yeah, the game's like very funny and nobody talks about that) then definitely try out the tons and tons of post game content for you to explore.

I hope one day, as I try another JRPG, I enjoy it as much as this one, and unfortunately tranform into a weeaboo goblin before arguing about the golden era and FFVI. But for now, I reminisce about the amazing time that I had with Chrono Trigger, and I hope that sone of you out there who haven't tried this genre yet play this game too. Only this one, and afterwards break every console you know and never game ever again.

Tento sempre desafiar internamente a noção de que jogos “envelhecem mal” - muitas das minhas experiências favoritas estão em jogos mais antigos até do que a minha infância, em tempos em que videogames de alto orçamento eram uma coisa muito mais arriscada e experimental do que as produções gigantescas - e, obrigatoriamente, financeiramente e artisticamente seguras - que temos hoje em dia. Chrono Trigger me intrigava porque era o contrário: um jogo mais velho do que eu, com a fama de não ter envelhecido um dia. E disso não posso discordar - consigo ver como ele foi monumental e revolucionário em basicamente todos os pilares dos RPGs modernos: ambiciosa e detalhista narrativa que se ramifica em vários galhos; um sistema de combate tão liso em sua execução que flui melhor do que muitas iterações atuais de JRPGs; um valor de produção monumental com ilustrações, músicas e gráficos icônicos e um punhado de conteúdo opcional bem escondido para quem tiver o afinco de procurar.

Porém, nada disso importa para mim se o que o jogo me apresenta não me cativa. Sinto que em sua aventura pelos globos e tempos o jogo não se dá tempo de respirar: cada personagem tem pouquíssimo tempo e conectividade com o grupo para brilhar, sempre uma nova batalha ou dungeon épica esperando o próximo momento de um trem-bala narrativo, e com o pouco tempo que tem, entregam menos ainda - o diálogo é constantemente insosso, punhadinho de tropes e frases de efeito que entram num ouvido e saem no outro, uma fachada de caráter moldado, mas não preenchida. Porque me importaria com Chrono, Marle e Lucca? Ainda mais: porque me importaria com a amizade do grupo, se sequer os vejo interagindo, se sequer entendo quem são como individuos? Nunca acreditei na amizade deles, porque o jogo não dá razão para o mesmo. Não sinto a dor deles, pois o próprio jogo não deixa com que sua aventura seja respirada e sentido: em um momento perto do final, uma das personagens descobre que sua mãe morreu tragicamente durante sua ausência; a reação dela pode ser resumida em um “oh não!”, e, se o jogador não quiser comprar um bifinho para começar a sidequest, não se fala mais nisso - o fato do jogo insistir que a personagem mais sem graça (Marle) é a companheira mais importante também é outro ponto que me deixou lelé. Até mesmo um dos pontos em que a história sim se dá o espaço para crescer, na morte de Crono, ela a faz de forma absolutamente bizarra: os stakes emocionais do retorno de Crono são totalmente minados pela quest bizarra que envolve ganhar um boneco aleatório na feira para ressuscitá-lo. Uma trilha sonora com algumas faixas melancólicas muito bonitas não conseguiu me fazer importar nem nos climaxes do jogo, ainda que o espetáculo do final (de Lavos até o adeus de Robo) tenha sido sim um dos pontos mais fortes.

Continuar descascando o jogo seria um exercício fútil diante da conclusão: eu não senti do que Chrono Trigger se trata, e não acho que o jogo fez um trabalho minimamente bom em me envolver. É uma aventura estilo sessão da tarde sobre derrotar o mal? É uma mensagem sobre a futilidade da vida e o passar do tempo, e como devemos aproveitar o que temos diante dessa inexorabilidade, assim como Robo indica no final? Não acho que o jogo tem que ser uma MENSAGEM para ser uma obra de arte que aprecio. O que espero é uma voz artística que ressoa, que me faça entender o que as pessoas por trás da criação de Chrono Trigger estavam sentindo ao fazê-lo, e o que queriam compartilhar comigo deste trabalho monumental que é produzir um jogo. Negar que há paixão no jogo seria um absurdo, e um desrespeito com o trabalho dos desenvolvedores. A triste revelação é que o jogo não me cativou. Respeito o seu legado monumental, e me dei toda chance o possível para tirar alguma pepita da alegria e emoção aqui contidos que tanto toca a quem joga; infelizmente saio de mãos abanando.

compositionally excellent game that i cannot stomach because of the battle system. i don't like how slow and on-rails the fights feel, and i despise the puzzle-like design of the later boss battles. the game overwhelms you with too many destination options once you can start time-traveling around with the epoch and it made my brain shut off because every sidequest I tried to do felt like a dead end and i was just running in circles. if this were just a traditional rpg battle system instead of active time battle i would actually have the patience to finish it but nnnnnnah

i promise i'm not an rpg hater

I was led to believe that the praise this game had was due to Nostalgia. I was glad to find it wasn't the case.
What I instead found was a deeply charming and inspired adventure. The spritework is flawless, the time sensitive combat avoids the player from falling into the "Best posible move" dilemma, rewarding quick thinking. The final boss had me mashing buttons and crying of joy when my heal triggered a split second before the massive AoE.
The OST was just wonderful, I even had times where (much like a child) I went AFK in certain areas just to hear the tune of that zone a little bit longer.
The game feels like a story you played in your head as kid during a boring class, or a long summer trip; And I love every second of it.
The fact that this is originally an SNES game blows my mind and if you read this far, I hope it blows yours too. It's a game about time, and it's time you play it as well.

In case you didn’t notice it from my username, I love Chrono Trigger. It’s one of the most memorable games from my childhood, a standout RPG that left such a powerful impression on me that playing it nowadays still brings me chills.

This review contains spoilers for the first few hours of the game.

Originally released for the SNES in 1995, Chrono Trigger is an RPG developed by Squaresoft, way before its merger with Enix created Square-Enix. The game’s production was kickstarted by a trio dubbed the “Dream Team”, consisting of Final Fantasy’s Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama.

That’s just for starters, as many people who had or would make a name for themselves within Square were also designated to work on the game, including legendary composers Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda. This team was able to create an RPG that was considered revolutionary for its time, and to this day is still widely considered one of the best of its genre. It’s hard not to see why. Anywhere you look in Chrono Trigger, there’s something to behold.

Take its storytelling, for example: one could look at the story superficially and state that this is a game about time-travelling teenagers saving the world, and in a sense, they’d be right, but it understates how brilliantly the story is told. For the first few hours, you won’t even realize there is an antagonist, as the characters are pretty much going about their own business. There’s a fair going on, which childhood friends Crono and Lucca are attending. On the way, Crono meets a new girl called Marle, and as the trio test Lucca’s new technological invention, they get thrown four hundred years into the past and have to work their way back home.

There’s a dramatic shift in mood whenever time travel happens, with each era having a defined sound and visual identity that tells part of its story. The Present is expressed in bright tones and a peaceful melody, while the past is somewhat darker and eerier – stepping into it for the first time evokes feelings of mystery, isolation; of being away from home, thrown in the unknown. The Prehistory uses palettes of mostly warm colors, accompanied by simple percussion music; the Antiquity uses sound to contrast between the harmony of the sky cities and the misery on the Earth’s surface; the End of Time looks disjointed and out of place… but no time period hits as hard as in the Future, when the game finally shows its hand and reveals the antagonist.

About two entire quest lines after the fair, both of which are memorable in their own right, the trio stumbles upon the Future. It's terrifying -- the atmosphere is filled with a silent dread, and no matter where you go, it feels desolate and miserable. The ruins of what were once great buildings are filled with bizarre monsters, and whatever’s left of any human settlement has everyone starving. This motivates the heroes to try and find out where – or rather, when – they are and why it looks that way, and sure enough, they find their answer: in an abandoned dome, they learn of the events of the year 1999 A.D. and first hear the name Lavos. The stage is now set for the rest of the adventure.

Lavos is, in itself, a fascinating antagonist. Unlike many other games, where we’re chasing a Bad Guy around as he does Evil Things, the heroes of Chrono Trigger are out to prevent something that has already happened in its entirety, but they don’t know how, thus making the game into more of a quest for knowledge, of understanding a foe before one can even stand up to it. As such, Lavos doesn’t need to make appearances to keep itself relevant: the horrifying suggestion that, if they fail, everyone dies, is always there, hanging over the party's heads.

Chrono Trigger’s plot is masterfully paced. The game presents a series of intertwined storylines taking place in different eras, and whenever the player completes a quest in a certain time period, they get moved to another one where there’s new things to do. This back and forth travelling is not only exciting, but it also paints a fascinating picture of the world’s history in the player’s mind: it's impossible to call any of the game’s historical events pointless or contrived, as everything that happens throughout the eras is not only relevant, it’s a natural consequence of some other event that preceded it.

There’s little in the sense of filler, which explains the game's shorter (and sweeter) runtime compared to its genre peers: even if it's not immediately apparent, each section of the game either inches the player ever forward to its conclusion, or advances a character’s arc. On the latter case, CT further explores the character-driven approach that Final Fantasy VI tried before it: each party member in Chrono Trigger has a defined arc, a journey of their own, that ties seamlessly to the game’s quests, developing and resolving over the course of the game. All of these arcs conclude in the end game with quests entirely dedicated to each character, all of which pack a punch.

Speaking of Final Fantasy, though, Chrono Trigger features an important twist from the typical Final Fantasy battle system: there is no battle screen. As you stumble upon a monster, the party draws their weapons, moves into formation, and begins the fight on the field itself. This means, depending on the enemies and the space available, the positioning of each actor will vary. Naturally, the design of the game took this into account: several battles in the game might look daunting at first, but can be made easy if the player understands the skills in their arsenal and how they work against different groups of foes.

More than that, Chrono Trigger wants you to understand its enemies as well. Many enemies have reactions to your attacks, like counterattacks, stat drops, or even interactions with other foes that the player must take into consideration. When you get to bosses, they feature even more quirks, like multiple parts, defensive stances, temporary vulnerabilities that need to be triggered by specific attacks and even more elaborate counterattacks.

This is not endgame mechanics, mind you: the very first enemy in the game, Gato, has a twist to his patterns: his strongest attack is, by far, his counterattack. After getting hammered in the face a couple of times, you’ll notice that this attack is only performed if Gato is close to a character when he’s hit, thus, if you let him walk away before attacking, the battle is then made much easier. From that moment, the game shows the player how they’ll need to learn these quirks and exploit them: just mashing A will quickly get you killed.

Another beloved element of CT’s combat is the skills performed by multiple party members, which the game calls Dual Techs and Triple Techs. Battles run on ATB gauges, and whenever you have two or more characters ready to act, with specific techs learned, combination techs might become available. Mind you, that’s a lot of extra abilities for you to consider: three for each combination of two characters, plus a bunch of others for each possible party combination. It’s no wonder not many games do this.

It certainly paid off here, however, as it added an extra dimension to party building and battle strategies. They’re also extremely satisfying to use, as the sprite design and animation in Chrono Trigger are works of art: every time a character swings a sword or uses a tech, it feels like they’re truly putting their strength into that attack. When they jump in for a critical, from the animation and the sound, you feel the impact of the blow as well.

But of course, you can’t expect that magic to last forever, and indeed, the game is over before it gets stale. Just like the story has no filler, neither do the dungeons. There are no random battles, and neither are there pointless long treks through a bunch of identical rooms. And if you do happen to get stuck, just talk to Gaspar at The End of Time, and he’ll give you a hint as to where to go next. This design decision is known to have been done for the sake of not having the player wander around aimlessly, like it would often happen in other RPGs at the time.

Chrono Trigger was truly ahead of its time, a masterpiece that’s easy to understand why it is so well remembered. I adore it to bits. There’s so many RPGs from that time that I once held dear but feel underwhelming to play nowadays, but Chrono Trigger stands strong as the one game that I can always look back on, twenty years after first trying it, and never be disappointed.