Wrath of the White Witch? Wrath of the Boss Battle Difficulty Spikes, more like. This game's sequel remains one of my favourite JRPGs, and games in general, of all-time (and I'm fully aware that's a hot-take or whatever). So it took me some time to mentally prepare myself for the original, considering that the battle system is completely different. What I got was an incredibly polished, beautifully rich and abundantly cute Pokemon-like JRPG powered by the illustrious imagination and gorgeous animation of Studio Ghibli. Seriously, the typical "end of a world" story mixed in which with alternate realities where souls are linked and its inhabitants remain heart-broken is deceptively simple. But the characters are charming, the world is colourful and the wild familiars roaming the expansive map are incredibly varied.

Errands, bounties, hidden treasures, alchemy crafting, multiple characters, hundred of familiars, casino minigames, an arena (known as the Solosseum), spells that alter the overworld, ingredient collecting...the list goes on. The game is huge, as to be expected. Beating the story alone on "normal" difficulty (I'll get to that in a minute) takes hours upon hours of exploration, grinding and collecting. And yet whenever the game got challenging - and believe me, it did - grinding never felt boring.

And that's because of the combat system. Very peculiar in a refreshing way. You control one character at a time with their unique abilities, such as casting spells or using trickshots from a gun. Then, each character can summon one of three familiars attached to them, each with their own moves and elemental types. The catch though is that the familiars' souls are linked to the caster, so if the familiar takes damage...so does the caster. It certainly produces moments of strategy, and while the combat generally is brisk and entertaining, it's definitely flawed. The fellow characters controlled by AI frequently ignore your tactics and really just do their own thing. That's the only big downside, and it's noticeable during the multi-phase boss battles which turn the challenge up to an astronomical amount. "Normal" mode? Seriously! That three-phase final boss battle - not the only three-phase boss battle by the way... - tested my limits to an extreme amount.

It's typical of JRPGs to have tough bosses to suggest to the player that they need to grind to level up, but sometimes Ni no Kuni really pushes your patience on that. And yet, for the forty-plus hours, I had an absolute blast. The charm of its colourful refinement and extensive amount of content really sets this game up for the more streamlined albeit just as expansive sequel.

The best game I've ever played!

Chrono Trigger is a classic, a completely timeless game. There is nothing, NOTHING bad in this game. Remarkable story, incredible and charismatic characters, difficulty at the right point... everything is incredible! I can't put my love for this game into enough words, it helped me through some of my worst moments.

If you haven't played it, PLAY it, especially if you're a fan of JRPGs. It's a classic that's well worth trying out. It's no wonder that it's in the Top 1 RPGs for a lot of people out there!

Solid game with good mechanics, but I've been spoiled by the sheer variety of Isaac, Gungeon, & Dead Cells, so runs kind of felt too similar despite the vastly different weapons available.

For the record, I have beaten a number of runs with different weapons, but I did not feel any desire to keep playing with increased "heat" to make the game more difficult for more content. And, may be anathema to say, but I was not very engaged with the story, but that's just a me thing. Still a good game tho

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.

When you play through this game you keep getting surprised by how many QoL features are present despite the games age. Dragonball artstyle is fkn great. The best use of time travel in any piece of media. My largest issue is that the difficulty is way too low. There was a single challenging fight in the entire game that required a different strategy than alternating between healing and attacking. Without the game providing a challenge nor any sort of tension when you're always given a save point directly before a boss fight it makes the experience less rewarding.

This would normally come off as a pretty simple and boring game, if I saw it from a distance. However, it's made by Drinkbox and I love them. They carry over their distinct art style from Guacamelee in to a game that is totally different and unrelated. I love it.

It's a generally simple touch-based hack and slash dungeon crawler. It's short. Yet somehow, it's a joy to play. I found it hard to put down from start to finish. They quickly give you new things to do, and it's a fun little world to explore. One of the most memorable experiences on Vita, for me. Probably the last one, really - it came out in 2016.