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.