When I first put in the cartridge for this game and powered on my Super Nintendo I knew I was in for a great game as the music started playing and you got to see many of the adventures you would soon be having. Sure enough, this game had me hooked and I enjoyed every minute of it. I wish I still had my cartridge of this game; however, I lent it to someone who failed to return it so now I am really hesitant to lend anything to anyone and I am stuck having to revisit this fine game on the Playstation on a two disc set called, "Final Fantasy: Chronicles". Strange inclusion as this game is not a Final Fantasy game, just made by the same company. The game still holds up rather well, a few things surprised me on my latest play through of the game and I am sure some of my disappointment came from being stuck playing this on the Playstation rather than the Super Nintendo. However, the graphics still look good, sure they are not super realistic by today's standards, but they still have a charm to them. Games back before the high resolution graphics of today were almost more of an art form while today it is more like a movie. The music is great in it too, even by today's standards as too many games these days seem to simply use popular music or simply have virtually none.
The story has a young man named Crono going to the town he lives in, Millennial Fair. It is there he is joined by Marla, a young woman that seems to be hiding something. They partake in some of the festivities before going to see a friend of Crono's, Lucca's latest invention. A couple of pods that one can teleport from one to the other in. Well, Marla volunteers, but something goes wrong and she vanishes. Crono follows her and soon finds himself back in the same area, only it is in the past! Soon he, Marla and Lucca will be joined by a knight frog, a prehistoric woman named Ayala and a robot from the future called Robo. You can also be joined by a foe turned somewhat friend, but he is purely optional. Together, they try to find a way to destroy a strange being called Lavos as it will emerge at some point in the future and spell disaster for mankind! Along the way they will also have to help the people in the future survive, defeat a magician and ensure a kingdom's survival, help the humans of the past battle dinosaurs and figure out the mysteries of a strange kingdom in the sky!
Amazing game as it does some things differently than a lot of role playing games of the era. No random encounters where you are walking and you hit an invisible enemy. Here you see them, though some do pop out of nowhere. The towns are on the map and you do not enter an entire town, but houses in it. Basically, what you see is what you get as far as towns. The game also featured multiple endings. Which is good, because the game is on the short side. One of the things that surprised me on this play through was how short it was. I was at like 14 hours and I had already completed the bulk of the game and only a few of the side quests remained. Had it won in just over 20 hours. Final Fantasy VI takes nearly 30 and even part IV, while not long, lasted longer than this one. My main complaint this time has little to do with the actual game itself, but rather the format I was playing it on, the Playstation. I am not sure how they transferred this game, but it just doesn't work well as there is a lag, especially when you encounter enemies as it takes a minute for the battle to begin. Made it almost a chore at times getting through it. So, definitely play it on a cartridge! Or may the DS version as I would think it would not have this problem either. The only thing I will say is that they incorporated the extra cinematic cut scenes in this one better than FF IV, V and VI, but it really adds nothing to the game and I would just assume play it without them on the Super Nintendo so the battles more quickly.
So yes, after all these years this is still my favorite time travel video game. It sure was not going to be Final Fantasy XIII-2. There haven't been too many time traveling games I have played though, but still this one is the best, even beating Ocarina of Time as the time traveling here just offers more variety. You get five different eras that you can explore and there are two other eras present as well. One a staging area known as the end of time and one where Lavos emerges. The characters in this game are fun, the game is fun, pretty much everything about this game is fun. It would spawn a sequel on the Super Nintendo called either Radical Dreamers or Rainbow Dreamers; however, it was never released in the U.S. I've tried downloading it to no avail, all that will play is like a title screen on any version I download of it. Then there is Chrono Cross which was for the Playstation and has wonderful music, but the story is a bit muddled and there are a few too many characters in it. One of the reasons I want to play the Super Nintendo sequel is that I would like to see if it clears up a few of the plot holes in Cross. So, despite not having a super awesome sequel, Chrono Trigger itself is at least an awesome time traveling epic game!
The story has a young man named Crono going to the town he lives in, Millennial Fair. It is there he is joined by Marla, a young woman that seems to be hiding something. They partake in some of the festivities before going to see a friend of Crono's, Lucca's latest invention. A couple of pods that one can teleport from one to the other in. Well, Marla volunteers, but something goes wrong and she vanishes. Crono follows her and soon finds himself back in the same area, only it is in the past! Soon he, Marla and Lucca will be joined by a knight frog, a prehistoric woman named Ayala and a robot from the future called Robo. You can also be joined by a foe turned somewhat friend, but he is purely optional. Together, they try to find a way to destroy a strange being called Lavos as it will emerge at some point in the future and spell disaster for mankind! Along the way they will also have to help the people in the future survive, defeat a magician and ensure a kingdom's survival, help the humans of the past battle dinosaurs and figure out the mysteries of a strange kingdom in the sky!
Amazing game as it does some things differently than a lot of role playing games of the era. No random encounters where you are walking and you hit an invisible enemy. Here you see them, though some do pop out of nowhere. The towns are on the map and you do not enter an entire town, but houses in it. Basically, what you see is what you get as far as towns. The game also featured multiple endings. Which is good, because the game is on the short side. One of the things that surprised me on this play through was how short it was. I was at like 14 hours and I had already completed the bulk of the game and only a few of the side quests remained. Had it won in just over 20 hours. Final Fantasy VI takes nearly 30 and even part IV, while not long, lasted longer than this one. My main complaint this time has little to do with the actual game itself, but rather the format I was playing it on, the Playstation. I am not sure how they transferred this game, but it just doesn't work well as there is a lag, especially when you encounter enemies as it takes a minute for the battle to begin. Made it almost a chore at times getting through it. So, definitely play it on a cartridge! Or may the DS version as I would think it would not have this problem either. The only thing I will say is that they incorporated the extra cinematic cut scenes in this one better than FF IV, V and VI, but it really adds nothing to the game and I would just assume play it without them on the Super Nintendo so the battles more quickly.
So yes, after all these years this is still my favorite time travel video game. It sure was not going to be Final Fantasy XIII-2. There haven't been too many time traveling games I have played though, but still this one is the best, even beating Ocarina of Time as the time traveling here just offers more variety. You get five different eras that you can explore and there are two other eras present as well. One a staging area known as the end of time and one where Lavos emerges. The characters in this game are fun, the game is fun, pretty much everything about this game is fun. It would spawn a sequel on the Super Nintendo called either Radical Dreamers or Rainbow Dreamers; however, it was never released in the U.S. I've tried downloading it to no avail, all that will play is like a title screen on any version I download of it. Then there is Chrono Cross which was for the Playstation and has wonderful music, but the story is a bit muddled and there are a few too many characters in it. One of the reasons I want to play the Super Nintendo sequel is that I would like to see if it clears up a few of the plot holes in Cross. So, despite not having a super awesome sequel, Chrono Trigger itself is at least an awesome time traveling epic game!