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Did anyone here actually beat Chrono Trigger... without a guide?

Metanoia Prime

Metanoia Prime

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,153
California
I will admit that I was a late comer to CT. I didn't own it as a kid, so I only played it as a young adult. Nonetheless, I almost immediately picked up a guide to get through it. There are some things and actions you have to do that I don't think I'd pick up on by relying strictly on contextual or narrative clues (some of the specific time travel stuff, obviously, comes to mind).

I'm left wondering how any kids might have beat this game without a guide. I can't really see how, but maybe I'm missing something. Did you all beat this game without a guide? If so, please teach me your ways.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
No because I played on emulator (CT SNES never came out in Europe) and there's a part in the future where you have to press 3 buttons at the same time to open a door, and I got stuck on that part because I didn't realize my keyboard couldn't register 3 key presses at the same time. Finally I read a guide that told me to configure the emulator to map the 3 buttons to one keyboard key to pass that part.
 
Jolkien

Jolkien

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,758
Anchorage/Alaska
I beat it when I was around 10 years old. I needed a guide for some sidequest and all the different ending. The part I had the most trouble with was the robot factory in the future.
 
rAndom

rAndom

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,866
Yeah. I beat it and got just about every ending path without any guides.
 
DRock

DRock

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,165
I did, while I was home for a week after getting my wisdom teeth out.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,438
Yup. It's not that complicated of a game unless you're going for the super-specific Day of Lavos endings.
 
BasilZero

BasilZero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
36,342
Omni
Yes but I didn't get all of the rainbow shell weapons, some of the side stories done or all the endings though
 
steviestar3

steviestar3

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jul 3, 2018
4,427
Outside of some sidequest dickery at the end (getting locked out of the Fiona's Forest quest comes to mind) the game is pretty straightforward.
 
Hecht

Hecht

Too damn tired
Administrator
Oct 24, 2017
9,730
PlanetSmasher said:
Yup. It's not that complicated of a game unless you're going for the super-specific Day of Lavos endings.
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Yeah. Those definitely need a guide or else it's just trial and error.
Hell, even the final gamut of sidequests are explicitly told to you by Gaspar, so it's not hard to find them. The only one of them I could see being remotely confusing is repairing the Choras Ruins, but if you've been paying attention to the fact that time travel is the core mechanic of the game it's pretty simple.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
Of course we beat it without a guide.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,120
i had the nintendo power guide but i don't recall ever "using" it

i don't recall ever getting stuck in jrpgs of that era. i just used the guides for equipment stats, pointers on tougher bosses ect
 
ProtomanNeo

ProtomanNeo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,190
Beat it without a guide. Compared to some of the old Sierra adventure games on PC it wasn't mentally too taxing to my young mind.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
Hecht said:
Yeah. Those definitely need a guide or else it's just trial and error.
Hell, even the final gamut of sidequests are explicitly told to you by Gaspar, so it's not hard to find them. The only one of them I could see being remotely confusing is repairing the Choras Ruins, but if you've been paying attention to the fact that time travel is the core mechanic of the game it's pretty simple.
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Gaspar also has the infamous "One among you is close to someone who needs help, find this person, fast" line that confused so many players lol
 
Abaddonn

Abaddonn

Member
Dec 4, 2018
265
I don't understand this question, why would most people who played this game not have beaten it without a guide? Its not a very hard game to beat even without any guides
 

Jerrod

Member
Dec 24, 2017
193
As a kid most of my games came from pawn shops so usually no boxes/manuals/guides. Made some games very frustrating, Earthbound I had a lot of trouble around the part with the trout yogurt because the sequence of events to trigger it aren't very clear.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
I think modern gaming has weakened people. Starting in the NES era and working my way through the years has made me God at beating games without guides.
 

firstseeker

Member
Dec 4, 2019
266
Abaddonn said:
I don't understand this question, why would most people who played this game not have beaten it without a guide? Its not a very hard game to beat even without any guides
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Yeah, it's a weird question. I didn't know chrono trigger was considered a hard game.

Honestly, playing rpgs as a kid, they were the easiest games for me to beat.
 
Wein Cruz

Wein Cruz

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,772
Yes multiple times. I never bought guides and didn't start checking gamefaqs until 98 or 99. Even then I only used a guide when I was completely stuck.
 
Discontent

Discontent

Member
May 25, 2018
4,232
Yes, the world was not that big even if you include all the timelines so it's hard to get stuck imo.
 
jett

jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,652
I beat this game in 1996. I'm not sure why would you need a guide.
 
Zultima

Zultima

Member
Mar 4, 2020
600
There was one part that was kind of tricky that I'd get stuck on when a kid (when you re-recruit frog and have to find the cave to magus castle)
 
aett

aett

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,027
Northern California
VyechnayaSlava said:
Yep. As a kid we didn't exactly have guides or the internet.
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hikarutilmitt said:
What? Guided absolutely existed haha.
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My family admittedly had it a little earlier than the average home, but we had internet access for at least 2-3 years before I played CT in 1996. That said, I don't recall having any trouble completing it, but I distinctly remember downloading midi files of the soundtrack. I might have looked up secrets online later, but just to finish everything. The next year I became friends with a guy who had the official guide and was obsessed with the game, so I probably learned anything else from him.
 

firstseeker

Member
Dec 4, 2019
266
brokeastronaut said:
I think modern gaming has weakened people. Starting in the NES era and working my way through the years has made me God at beating games without guides.
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LOL, so true!

Growing up during the 8 bit Era we played all kind of tough games as kids. The variety of genres definitely improved my hand eye coordination and timing.

I remember myself and many other kids played rbi baseball, various platformers, contra, tmnt, racing games, Sims like conflict/nobunaga ambition/archon and so on. We would rent a game for the day or the weekend for $1. Always trying out new things.

Now, it's seems like most gamers just stick to 1 or 2 genres.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
Hecht said:
It's been a while but isn't that just the last thing he says after telling you the sidequests?
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Yeah it's a mistranslation, the original line was meant to be something like "EACH of you is close to someone who needs help". But because of the mistranslation everyone thought it was a clue to reviving Schala or something lol
 
OnePointZero

OnePointZero

Member
Oct 27, 2017
134
I beat it without a guide on 1996 (quite an expensive import, and not in my native language), but didn't know it had multiple endings until I got internet at home the next year and landed on some fansite... I was shocked! Got to it ipso facto.
 
TheAggroCraig

TheAggroCraig

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 6, 2017
5,903
I mean I might have used Gamefaqs at some point with it but don't really remember, with the side quests for the best weapons if anything.
 
Undeniablybiased

Undeniablybiased

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,528
I didn't play it when it came out as a kid. Played it in high school. Some time around 2007 maybe? But I don't remember needing a guide. I remember it being very straightforward. One of the least confusing or annoying rpgs of its era.
 
Thug Larz

Thug Larz

Designer @ Bungie
Verified
Oct 29, 2017
568
Yeah I beat it without a guide. During that time, if you wanted a walkthrough, you could usually buy an official book. That was extra cash though, and most people would get through it on their own, call a tip line, or ask their friends.
 
N64Controller

N64Controller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
8,322
Metanoia Prime said:
Nonetheless, I almost immediately picked up a guide to get through it.
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There lies the issue, instead of taking the time to try to understand, you followed a guide the second you didn't exactly know what to do next. If your requirement for needing a guide is "I have to read or figure out stuff by myself" you're pretty much going to need a guide for any game that doesn't have objectives always tracked and a marker to tell you where to go.

The only things you have to know the exact timings for in CT that can be somewhat arbitrary is how to get all endings, but even that you can still try out some by yourself without reading any guide. For anything that relates to the main story or the side-quests for the characters, you can do it without a guide just by exploring, talking, and reading.

I'm in no way diminishing your experience btw, if you like doing it via guides it's your prerogative. I just think in the long run you'd gain a lot more appreciation for some games if you just played them as opposed to searching for what to do the second you are a bit confused. Or at least try a bit before going the guide route. In the case of Chrono Trigger, I'm pretty sure most of the times you were stuck and needed the guide it's because you didn't pay attention to what was going on, or didn't take the time to take everything into account/think for yourself.
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
11,569
firstseeker said:
LOL, so true!

Growing up during the 8 bit Era we played all kind of tough games as kids. The variety of genres definitely improved my hand eye coordination and timing.

I remember myself and many other kids played rbi baseball, various platformers, contra, tmnt, racing games, Sims like conflict/nobunaga ambition/archon and so on. We would rent a game for the day or the weekend for $1. Always trying out new things.

Now, it's seems like most gamers just stick to 1 or 2 genres.
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Interesting point. Now that I think of it, my friends would play a wider variety of games in the 8-bit C64/NES/SMS days than now. I don't know if people just generally played more genres back then or if it was because we were young and still figuring out what we like most.
 
DragonKeeper

DragonKeeper

Member
Nov 14, 2017
1,586
Yes, easily. I did use a guide to find all of the extra stuff though. If you needed to use a guide just to beat this game, then maybe you're just overly impatient. It's not a challenge to figure out how to proceed and all of the info you need can be gotten just by exploring and talking to NPCs, and the game world isn't very big, so exploration is easy. Maybe don't be so quick to grab a guide?

Edit: Question for the "guides didn't exist people". Guides existed as printed guide books. What are ya'll on?
 
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ManNR

ManNR

Member
Feb 13, 2019
2,956
Chrono Trigger was the first RPG I finished before my dad.

No guides back then.
 

firstseeker

Member
Dec 4, 2019
266
Thug Larz said:
Yeah I beat it without a guide. During that time, if you wanted a walkthrough, you could usually buy an official book. That was extra cash though, and most people would get through it on their own, call a tip line, or ask their friends.
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Calling a 1 (900) number would mean an ass whoopin' for me lol.
 
N64Controller

N64Controller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
8,322
I feel that the "there were no guides back then" posts are either people who never lived in the 90s, or people who will one day tell their child about the dark ages of the 90s and how electricity was just discovered and everyone was struggling to get a TV
 
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