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LTTP: Chrono Trigger - A blast from the past, and the future!

As someone who never had Nintendo consoles when growing up, I missed out on Chrono Trigger when it first came out. Granted, I was also only 4 when it came out, but still. And despite being a huge Square and Final Fantasy fan, I never bothered to pick up any of the re-releases or ports.

So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to play the original SNES version of the game, because why not play the proper version of the game as it was originally meant to be.

And my overall impressions? Holy FUCK, this is one of my favourite games now!

First off, the game looks incredible. All of the characters are unique, interesting looking and memorable. Characters that would suffer from generic design choices under a different artist stand out as a result of Toriyama's work. I never thought a frog and a robot could be two extremely well designed and individualised characters, but they were!

The environments look great too, especially when you visit the same areas over different times, you can instantly pick up on the differences whilst still knowing where you are. They're not exactly the same and just colour swapped either, the environments actually change depending on what era you are in, but they dont change entirely, just enough so that you know something has occurred in the years that pass.

The sprite work in this game is fantastic as well. Replaying older games in this style is always a treat as the artwork ages amazingly well. Sprite art will always retain its quality in a way that older 3D games simply cannot. You go back and play a game like FF7 and the 3D models look awful now. Granted at the time, they were revolutionary, but it just doesnt hold up well. Whereas a game like this will always look great, regardless of how long passes.

The music in this game is beyond comparison. An absolutely stellar soundtrack by two of the best composers of all time, Mitsuda and Uematsu. I would love for a remake of this game to happen simply to see how some of these tracks would sound with a full orchestra (and yes, I know there are some live performances, but studio work always sounds different). Some stand out tracks to me were Memories of Green, Frog's Theme and Corridors of Time amongst many others!

I could gush all day about how good the story is, but I feel most people already know that. One thing I will say, is how well the story made me actually care about the characters. Each and every one was given a detailed and touching backstory and it was something that you actually played through and experienced. Something that a fair few games nowadays don't do well enough. It wasn't just forced upon me with 20 minutes of dialogue, screaming "DO YOU SEE NOW? THIS IS WHY YOU CARE!" You get to know who characters like Marle are by playing the game, not by being told to like her just because!.

Also, I should talk about the game's design. It's perfect! There was not one point in the game where I needed to grind out levels, which is one of my most HATED things to do. The design philosophy is simple, fight the enemies you come across and then you will be at adequate strength to fight the boss! Simple! Now that's not to say that the game isn't challenging in certain areas, Giga Gaia gave me quite a headache for example, but it's more down to actually using a strategy in battles as opposed to just being overpowered. The fights actually make you think about how to approach them as opposed to just being subject to dominant strategy.

Although speaking of dominant strategy, the skills system in this game is pretty great. Each character gets their own set of skills they can use individually, nothing new there, but where the game shines is in the use of dual and triple techs. You see every combination of characters has their own unique team up skills that you can use if you level them up enough. And while this can lead to you using one party most of the time, it actually rewards and gives you incentive to try out different combinations, to see what new skills you can acquire.

All in all, I love this game. There are very few things that I can find fault with in it (enemy design mainly, nothing really stood out and the final boss looked kinda dumb). I think I clocked in at just under 20 hours for a first playthrough, and that is doing all the end side-quests in order to get the perfect ending. I genuinely cannot recommend it enough if you like JRPGs, or hell, even just good games in general, I would pick this game up any way you can because it was such an experience playing through it for the first time.

Now, when's Chrono Resurrection HD?
 

t_wilson01

Member
Chrono Trigger is a masterpiece that I'm glad I was able to experience when it was released. In my book it's one of the greatest games ever made. It has a deceitfully complex and engaging story,... and that music.
 
"To Far Away Time" is so good that Mitsuda literally cried when he saw the ending for the first time, even though he composed it in the first place. The melody for that track came to him in a dream while he was sleeping.
 

Galdius

Member
A few years ago I bought a CIB copy for the SNES but it was just last week that I started to play it for the first time. I'm only 7h30 in but I'm finding the story to be better than what I was expecting. The gameplay is also incredible. I'm really enjoying it.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I was LTTP with this when it came out on PSX, and even with the long load times it blew me away. Everything about this game is phenomenal but it does a few major things right that really cement it as one of the greatest games of all time:

-Excellent pacing, never a dull moment
-Simple story that keeps you hooked from start to finish
-Colorful cast of characters, each entirely unique from one another in combat, and just the right number to not feel like a bloated cast
-No random encounters; every encounter seems strategically placed on the map
-Airtight battle system that makes your character choice feel meaningful with double and triple techs
-A constantly changing setting, each time period with its own unique feel and aesthetic
-A great soundtrack

I always wished there was a way to lift Frog's curse and play as his human form somehow, as I felt he actually had the coolest character design among the whole cast, outshining even Crono.

Human_Glenn_Sprites.png
attachment-6995.jpg


Now have these awesome remixes.
 

Peltz

Member
No game could ever really outshine Chrono Trigger. It will always be one of the best games of the medium.
 

jb1234

Member
It's brilliant. I wish I could go back to when I was 15 and playing it for the first time right at release.
 
I always wished there was a way to lift Frog's curse and play as his human form somehow, as I felt he actually had the coolest character design among the whole cast, outshining even Crono.

Human_Glenn_Sprites.png
attachment-6995.jpg

I wonder what his portrait by Toriyama would look like.

Kind of like Zarbon from Dragon Ball Z maybe?
CHROizx.png
 

Osiris397

Banned
I never played this game, but have heard about it so many times before it's release and after. I wonder what you that have played think it would look like/resemble if it were remade today using toon and non-toon styled graphics?
 

Celine

Member
When Anihawk is going to do the voting thread for the 4th gen, Chrono Trigger is sure to get a spot in my top 10.
It's really a timeless masterpiece.

@OP
There are alot of great RPG (Dragon Quest V, Final Fantasy VI, Terranigma, Earthbound) for SNES, be sure to check them out when you are done with CT.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I never experienced CT until the DS release. It's such an amazingly great game
The DS version is amazing. Its retranslation is so much better (and more accurate to the original script, particularly with Frog's manner of speech) than the one used in the SNES/PSX releases, and the extra content even manages to tie the game into Chrono Cross. It also touches on a plot point name dropped in Cross that's never expanded upon again,
The Fall of Guardia
 

kronose

Banned
So glad to have another fan to add to the pile of this amazing game. I never get tired of hearing from people who just now plays it. The game is 20 years old and yet still is the best of all time, at least in RPGs and contending with SMB3
 

Itachi87

Member
I still remember NG++++++ this game to get rainbow equipment for everyone and getting max stats for all my characters on the SNES. Masterpiece.
 
There's never going to be anything like it again. The talent involved was off the scale, all of them coming together to make a game.
 

Lynx_7

Member
The only game I've beaten over 10 times and still keeps me coming back even to this day. The last time I replayed it was earlier this year and it actually holds up better than I remembered (specially doing a low level run and having to take advantage of the battle system's intricacies).
 
Is this true?
I cry every time I hear and watch the ending, never has gotten old.

Yup.


I also recall an interview in which Mitsuda said that "To Far Away Times" has even more meaning to him than for players because he was thinking about a girl he personally knew when he wrote that track, but I can't find the link right now.
 

Peltz

Member
Yup.





I also recall an interview in which Mitsuda said that "To Far Away Times" has even more meaning to him than for players because he was thinking about a girl he personally knew when he wrote that track, but I can't find the link right now.

Listening to it now as I read this.

Damn... the feels.
 
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