More Thoughts From Me #116: Chrono Trigger

The first time I played Chrono Trigger…I didn’t like it. This was back during the SNES days and I didn’t like rpgs back then, with the expectation of Earthbound. It wasn’t until I played Final Fantasy 7 that I got addicted to rpgs and after that, I got a chance to play Chrono Trigger on the Playstation 1 and I loved it. Now Chrono Trigger is one of my all-time favorite games. If you’ve played the game, I hope you like today’s More Thoughts. If you’ve never played it, I hope this column gets you to play it.

Chrono Trigger is a great game for so many reasons. I think first and formost, the time traveling storyline is what I think about the most when I look back at Chrono Trigger. The story is very timey whimey (as another time traveler would say) and above all else, its just plain fun.

The characters and story of Chrono Trigger never takes themselves too seriously. Chrono Trigger is all about fun. From the present day, to the wastlelands of tomorrow, to the distant past and beyond, the characters of Chrono Trigger go over all time. The story is freewheeling, pretty open, full of humor, and fantastic characters. Of course, you can’t just have a good story in a rpg! You have to have good gameplay too and Chrono Trigger has that in spades.

The battle system in Chrono Trigger is turn-based but the change from field exploration to battle is really quick. The player will just be walking around, run into an enemy, and a menu pops up and you’re into the battle. I love how Chrono Trigger actually shows the enemies walking around and so you can sometimes avoid them. Everywhere you visit in Chrono Trigger is full of enemies, things to find, and/or people to talk to.

There is so much to do in Chrono Trigger. Each area you visit packs in a lot of gameplay and story. And best of all, the game has multiple endings! So you’ll want to keep time traveling around to find them all. The new game plus feature comes into handy for tracking down all the endings to Chrono Trigger.

Also it should noted that while Chrono Triggers graphics may same old school now, back in the day this game was one of the best looking games on SNES. I still think that Chrono Trigger has a very good art style.

Oh and one more thing: don’t let anyone tell you that Chrono Trigger’s sequel, Chrono Cross, isn’t worth playing. The Playstation 1 sequel is just as great as the original in my opinion. Both games have radically different stories (though equally as fun in my opinion) but both feature excellent battle systems, wonderful graphics, and multiple endings to find. You absolutely should play Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross!

I wish there was a third Chrono game to talk about here. Square Enix has pretty much abandoned the Chrono franchise. Its such a shame because both worlds introduced in the Chorno series are fantastic to explore. I could easily see a third game that would bridge the gap between the two games!

In any case, if you want to play Chrono Trigger, you can play it on the SNES, Playstation 1, DS, and more recently: the PC! I’m holding my breath for a Nintendo Switch release.

Have you played Chrono Trigger? What do you think of it?

Next week: LittleBigPlanet for the PSP. I’m getting this game today. It’ll be the first time I’ve ever played this game. What do I think of it? Whats it like playing a LittleBigPlanet game again?

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. I feel like playing Chrono Trigger again!