-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
I can't enjoy Chrono Trigger as much as I think I should.
- Thread starter Leo
- Start date
I'm sorry to hear the game doesn't click with you, but that doesn't mean you can't appreciate it. It's a good-ass JRPG for sure, but its biggest strengths to me lie in the characters, the story, and the music. And you don't have to play the game to enjoy most of those parts.
Don't force yourself to play something you're not having fun with, that'll just leave you resenting the thing you want to like.
Don't force yourself to play something you're not having fun with, that'll just leave you resenting the thing you want to like.
I kinda agree on point #2. I played this back in the late 90s right after Final Fantasy III and it felt like a huge step back - less characters, only three at a time in combat, no real customization outside of the seeds, etc. Visually the battle animation is kinda weird and jerky (I hate the way it freezes when someone attacks), and the main battle theme is not very good. And most battles are kinda dull outside of the boss fights, though that's typical of a lot of JRPGs.
Game's still fantastic but in order to really enjoy it you just have to accept that its strengths lie elsewhere. At least there's no real random encounters so it's not like you're getting dragged into them constantly.
Game's still fantastic but in order to really enjoy it you just have to accept that its strengths lie elsewhere. At least there's no real random encounters so it's not like you're getting dragged into them constantly.
The fact that the OP wasn't written as two, two sentence paragraphs demonstrates to me that this isn't a hot take at all.
It's OK, OP. I love the game. Multiple copies on SNES and DS.
But it's OK that you don't. Nothing is amazing for everyone, and that's probably a good thing. If you do come around to enjoying it, that's OK too. Either way, your opinions on it are valid.
It's OK, OP. I love the game. Multiple copies on SNES and DS.
But it's OK that you don't. Nothing is amazing for everyone, and that's probably a good thing. If you do come around to enjoying it, that's OK too. Either way, your opinions on it are valid.
OP
OP
Don't know what you mean by that. I meant I won't dislike a game because it doesn't have modern features, I can understand the context where it was made and I enjoy playing old stuff (I was born in 90, btw). I played stuff like Dragon Quest 1 in the 2010s and you can't get more dated than that as far as JRPGs go and I was able to enjoy it for what it is and I definitely see the importance it had at the time. Don't know how I'm supposed to play CT differently (and it's not the first time I've played it, either).
I liked changing things in the past that changed things in the future, and all the different endings
There are plenty of best ofs that I don't enjoy, it's cool that you don't care for Chrono Trigger. Your criticisms are yours and they're valid.
I have tried FFVI probably a half dozen times now and I just can't get into it. It's fine that I don't like it, it doesn't take away anything from the game. I'm just not a massive JRPG fan, far from it in fact. Dragon Warrior and Chrono Trigger are the only JRPGs I've ever finished, it that's likely to never change. I'm okay with that.
I have tried FFVI probably a half dozen times now and I just can't get into it. It's fine that I don't like it, it doesn't take away anything from the game. I'm just not a massive JRPG fan, far from it in fact. Dragon Warrior and Chrono Trigger are the only JRPGs I've ever finished, it that's likely to never change. I'm okay with that.
Maybe you just like games with Akira Toriyama characters in them? Hah.
Ooooh man, Eternal Blue is such a great game but good god was the overworld traversal in that one a trial. I think the biggest reason I love Phantasy Star IV and Pokemon so much is that both have tech that operates, well, like the Dig and Fly moves.
It's a decades-old game. I love it to death, but I played it when it was new. I don't think there's anything surprising or controversial about someone coming to it in 2020 not being quite as impressed. I mean you're talking about the game not having adequate fast-travel as if that's a concept that even existed in a SNES JRPG in 1995. Not that your complaints aren't valid, but it's not surprising in context.
Don't trust him. Just look at his avatar. :P
But yeah, the game is one of my GOAT's along with FFVI. I was a massive Squaresoft fan though. And while it's still fun for me to play today, I can definitely understand new players thinking it drags.
All-time great soundtrack though, with a fun main story, and side stories that sometimes hits you in the feels.
And yes that shit was expensive back in the day! I bought that and FFVI for like $90 each for the SNES. Two most expensive games I've ever bought outside of collectors editions.
Arg, I still have to play Eternal Blue on the original Sega CD. I have The Silver Star and the remakes, but Eternal Blue is my holy grail to find.
for me its actually the opposite. played it in december last year for the first time and was impressed at how much better than all the current crop of rpgs i think it is. same with grandia which iam now playing for the first time and is imo the single one best adventure in a game i have ever experienced. totally blown away.
modern games have lost something along the way, but i can't quite put it into words what it is exactly
Last edited:
OP
OP
I've discussed in the thread, I don't know where that notion comes from. Many RPGs of the time had some form of fast travel, be it vehicles, items or spells and CT has none until the very end. DQ had Zoom (Return) in 86.
People also are saying that it's not necessary because the game world isn't very vast, but I don't remember many other popular RPGs from the time that make you go through the same area 50 times like CT does. I don't know why CT couldn't have a way to, at least, teleport to the End of Time from anywhere.
I said it in the OP, the farthest I have got was the Black Omen, but didn't do the side quests. I have played it other times too and dropped it in different parts.
Last edited:
The first Grandia game is absolutely unmatched when it comes to instilling a sense of adventure in RPGs.
Old rpgs had world maps, exploring these were more fun and less time consuming
old rpgs didn't have hundreds of side quests that were fetch quests that are used to just increase the games length. they only had a few side quests that were much more meaningful, one example in Chrono trigger is changing the desert to a forest, or in ff6 finding out what happened to Cyrus family
old rpgs were more challenging for the most part and had secrets that were actually worth finding
there's other things but those are the main ones for me
I have a strange relationship with that game. I played it late, on the Vita, and thought it was kind of boring. I really, thoroughly enjoyed Grandia II though.
Then a few years later, I replayed them both on Switch, and while I like Grandia II as much as ever, I was surprised that my opinion of the original had improved a lot. The characters are really charming. I think maybe I just thought the idea of a giant wall being too hard to climb was too unrealistic to me the first time around? Ha ha.
Chrono Trigger's battle design is definitely not one of its strong points. You aren't constantly managing buffs and enemy groups like in DQ, and you don't have the sheer breadth of options the FFs of the time offered through jobs and gearing. Positional attacks could've been great for adding depth, but as you said, the game doesn't really take advantage of the concept and what little relevance it had it falls off entirely once you get all-target skills.
I need to explore this connection.
It's the grind that gets me on the old school JRPGs. I'm a good bit of the way in to FFVII on Switch and I'm enjoying the story, but using the battle assist and speed up.
Chrono Trigger is a great game with many issues that people are brushing off to make it sound like it is the perfect entity that that cannot ever be challenged.
You can like it however you want, Chrono Trigger is as great as it is flawed. The gameplay is too standard and devoid of personality outside of the techs. The sidequests involves too much backtracking, many characters are hardly developed, the lack of random encounters are welcome but are introduced with a set of trap encounters that you cannot predict or avoid and the characters does not differentiate themselves a lot in combat.
Trigger's greatest strength is that it ends before it outstays its welcome. Had the game ended at the length of JRPGs of its time it would have not been able to stand tall
You can like it however you want, Chrono Trigger is as great as it is flawed. The gameplay is too standard and devoid of personality outside of the techs. The sidequests involves too much backtracking, many characters are hardly developed, the lack of random encounters are welcome but are introduced with a set of trap encounters that you cannot predict or avoid and the characters does not differentiate themselves a lot in combat.
Trigger's greatest strength is that it ends before it outstays its welcome. Had the game ended at the length of JRPGs of its time it would have not been able to stand tall
You mean you enjoy the Grind? Because that is like 90% of what the Dragon Warrior series has been :P
Some of my gripes with the game.
But I don't hate CT. There is still so much to like. The sidequests for example.
Side quests are actually interesting, they bring you to a whole new dungeon and get you some good bits of story.
I thought the time travel and ripple effect mechanic is pretty neat. Cross takes this part further.
- Game is a brisk, that by the end I thought. "That's it?" I like my JRPGs on the 40-50 hours range.
- Game is easy, just like most JRPGs, but the lack of customization makes it feel like just going through motion.
- Just like DQ, I wish the MC has more personality. Chrono is a blank slate, a husk for the player.
- For me, the game doesn't quite strike the balance between the lightheartedness of DQ and seriousness of FF, or rather I just prefer for it to be on one or the other end of the spectrum.
But I don't hate CT. There is still so much to like. The sidequests for example.
Side quests are actually interesting, they bring you to a whole new dungeon and get you some good bits of story.
I thought the time travel and ripple effect mechanic is pretty neat. Cross takes this part further.
As someone who looked at Chrono Trigger a lot to get the look down for a game I made, yeah, the combat is a lot more shallow than my teenage self remembered. There is some depth in how different moves have different AoE (single, line, circle, etc.), how different enemy positioning encourages you to mix things up, and when to use multi-character techniques but you only have 3 characters and moves are really just damage or healing with not a lot of interesting stuff. And though it speeds things up some by not having a separate battle screen, the individual turn resolution speed is really slow compared to your average modern Atlus RPG like the Etrian Odyssey games or Persona 5. Character customization is practically non-existent besides just picking your party and the difficulty level is on the easy side.
Soundtrack is fantastic, the characters have fun designs, the general plot is entertaining, the non-combat pacing is really brisk, and it has really nice 2D graphics though.
Soundtrack is fantastic, the characters have fun designs, the general plot is entertaining, the non-combat pacing is really brisk, and it has really nice 2D graphics though.
I thought CT was one of the games ever too until I replayed it a couple years back and realized that literally most of your party will miss being on the adventure as they are stuck at the edge of time with that old man lmao.
I didn't play it until end of 3DS time, on DS, and I thought the pacing was really good. Didn't waste my time which I appreciate it. Surprisingly easy JRPG compared to its era, or unless the DS version made it so.
I played DQV and this back-to-back, both for the first time.
I absolutely adored DQV and it instantly became one of my favourite games ever, not just RPG's but games period.
Next up came Chrono which struggled to maintain my interest after the mid-point, I gave up before finishing it.
In summary, don't worry.
Just go play Dragon Quest V.
I absolutely adored DQV and it instantly became one of my favourite games ever, not just RPG's but games period.
Next up came Chrono which struggled to maintain my interest after the mid-point, I gave up before finishing it.
In summary, don't worry.
Just go play Dragon Quest V.
OP
OP
I'm glad to see many people chiming in agreeing with my points, so I'm not crazy lol Also nice that we could keep the conversation interesting and civil between those who disagreed.
There's one thing I didn't mention about the game, I think it does a great job at being an entry level RPG for people who have never played them before, and even for people who aren't even into gaming. In highschool I had a friend couple who got really into it out of nowhere, they had never been interested in RPGs or even games before, and suddenly they were addicted to playing CT on an emulator. I think all the streamlining goes a long way with teaching the basics and engaging more inexperienced people without overwhelming them. I suppose it was trying to be as universally appealing as possible.
In the end, I got excited seeing my friends being into gaming for the first time, so I promptly recommended FF6 after they finished CT so they could experiment other similar games and maybe become gamers too. They hated it lol They said it looked too gritty, was too complicated, and the story and characters didn't look any fun. So yeah, there's definitely an X factor going on for CT, despite its flaws.
Oh, I have played it. DQ is my favorite RPG franchise. V is glorious.
There's one thing I didn't mention about the game, I think it does a great job at being an entry level RPG for people who have never played them before, and even for people who aren't even into gaming. In highschool I had a friend couple who got really into it out of nowhere, they had never been interested in RPGs or even games before, and suddenly they were addicted to playing CT on an emulator. I think all the streamlining goes a long way with teaching the basics and engaging more inexperienced people without overwhelming them. I suppose it was trying to be as universally appealing as possible.
In the end, I got excited seeing my friends being into gaming for the first time, so I promptly recommended FF6 after they finished CT so they could experiment other similar games and maybe become gamers too. They hated it lol They said it looked too gritty, was too complicated, and the story and characters didn't look any fun. So yeah, there's definitely an X factor going on for CT, despite its flaws.
Oh, I have played it. DQ is my favorite RPG franchise. V is glorious.
I'm with you, OP. Currently in the middle of a playthrough after trying to play this game dozens of times over the years. I just find it very boring and too basic for my liking. I really don't understand how this is the greatest RPG of all time but to each their own. I did love the fuck out of Chrono Cross though.
I was going to say the same thing. Three distinct times I've tried to play it a across the last 15 years and I just always drop it out of boredom. Maybe it gets better, but it's just felt pretty standard as far as I've ever got.
Tried it 4 times over the years and haven't been able to finish it. It's one of the most overrated games of all time. It probably would have been much better when it released, but it's thoroughly forgettable now outside the nostalgia factor.
Chrono Trigger has always been sort of an acquired taste, (Though not as much as Chrono Cross, whoo boy!). It got lauded by Square fans as their last SNES masterpiece and is definitely a good game, but I don't think it is for everyone. I enjoyed it, but then again I am generally attracted to the peculiar. I found the characters and humor to be more of a draw than the plot.
I know one issue I had was the amount of backtracking necessary to complete.
The best thing about the game was the multiple endings based on when you defeat Lavos and a few other factors. The fact that the boss can be defeated whenever you want is basically the same thing BOTW was lauded for. I recall seeing every ending though I think I will need a refresher soon.
I disagree on the gameplay though, Chrono Trigger's I found pretty fun to play and less grindy than others of the generation.
Oh, and I also really dug the tunes.
I know one issue I had was the amount of backtracking necessary to complete.
The best thing about the game was the multiple endings based on when you defeat Lavos and a few other factors. The fact that the boss can be defeated whenever you want is basically the same thing BOTW was lauded for. I recall seeing every ending though I think I will need a refresher soon.
I disagree on the gameplay though, Chrono Trigger's I found pretty fun to play and less grindy than others of the generation.
Oh, and I also really dug the tunes.
Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time. That said:
Don't worry about how much you "should" or "shouldn't" enjoy a game. If Chrono Trigger isn't for you, it isn't for you and that's okay. While I disagree with your criticism of the battle system, I absolutely agree with you that having to re-tread areas like Guardia Forest and Truce Canyon to get to the same Time Gates over and over again represents one of the game's very few/possibly its only genuine flaw (other than Crono being a mostly silent protagonist, but that's a style/taste thing).
The thing is, while CT may not be perfect, it doesn't have to be to be considered one of the greatest games of all time, because the straight truth is that whatever flaws it may have (and I think you hit on the only real one with at-times inconvenient traversal), everything else about the game is so immensely, tremendously, uncommonly spectacular that such flaws are just dwarfed in comparison.
Also, while I respect your opinion and don't think any game is above criticism, you didn't mention CT's soundtrack -- literally one of the greatest of all time, and not just in video games -- even once in your entire post, so it's hard for me to put too much stock into the rest of it. ;)
Don't worry about how much you "should" or "shouldn't" enjoy a game. If Chrono Trigger isn't for you, it isn't for you and that's okay. While I disagree with your criticism of the battle system, I absolutely agree with you that having to re-tread areas like Guardia Forest and Truce Canyon to get to the same Time Gates over and over again represents one of the game's very few/possibly its only genuine flaw (other than Crono being a mostly silent protagonist, but that's a style/taste thing).
The thing is, while CT may not be perfect, it doesn't have to be to be considered one of the greatest games of all time, because the straight truth is that whatever flaws it may have (and I think you hit on the only real one with at-times inconvenient traversal), everything else about the game is so immensely, tremendously, uncommonly spectacular that such flaws are just dwarfed in comparison.
Also, while I respect your opinion and don't think any game is above criticism, you didn't mention CT's soundtrack -- literally one of the greatest of all time, and not just in video games -- even once in your entire post, so it's hard for me to put too much stock into the rest of it. ;)
Kidding on that last part... kinda. :P
OP
OP
I did mention it! Very briefly, though, haha. When I was taking about the strong points of the game, I said that it sounds amazing. Of course that doesn't do justice to how incredible the soundtrack is, but there isn't much left to be said, it's just really great. My point with that paragraph was that the game probably had a high budget and that was definitely conveyed into lots of love and care for the game, but the quality of a soundtrack isn't as strictly related to how much money is put into it, so Mitsuda just did a stellar job regardless of anything.
Glad you agree with me about the transversal, a lot of people replied like they didn't know what I was talking about and I was starting to wonder if we had played the same game and they did not cross Truce Canyon a billion times.
While I think it's kind of easy, I really do appreciate its overall design, the "dream team" of people that worked on it, its OST, and the pacing of it. It's also one of the earliest examples of NG+ done in a really novel/varied way. It's certainly one of my all-time favorite RPGs.
Ah yeah, I caught that bit about the production values in general, I just think the soundtrack deserves to be highlighted specifically for how tremendously good and timeless (ha!) it is. ;)
But no, you're definitely onto something super valid with having to traverse certain early-game areas way too many times. I don't think Guardia Forest is quite as bad because you can avoid all the enemy encounters, but Truce Canyon forces the same low-level fights on you every single time you go through it and it's a real drag.
The initial Time Gate's location in 65,000,000 BC is also irritating because you have to get through that starting canyon area every time you want to get to the world map or back to the Time Gate, and you're forced to fight there at least once.
Not sure how you couldn't fall in love with the cast, as they are easily one of the most memorable RPG parties in the genre. Story is short and sweet with multiple endings. Combat isn't overly complex but not too simple either and the group attacks are a treat. Chrono Trigger shaped my taste in games, and remains my holy grail after all these years. Only Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Witcher 3 have really come close in besting this for me.
I really don't think it's great either. It's interesting, it's charming, but it's incredibly forgettable to me. Plain jane. But everyone is different.