Chrono Trigger

Written by Tom Clare in SNES Game Reviews, Thursday 30 December, 2004

If Final Fantasy had a long-lost cousin...

Prior to the release of Final Fantasy VII in 1997, the RPG genre was seen as a somewhat niche market in Europe. Probably as many as 90% of the role-playing games developed in Japan never saw the light of day over here, though as gaming is as popular now as it has ever been, companies have been taking the opportunity to unearth a host of classic titles (numerous Final Fantasy's, Zelda's and Breath of Fire's to name but a few) dating back as far as the mid-nineties. The golden oldies are dusted down, polished up and introduced to a whole new generation of players.

Chrono Trigger, developed by industry-giants Squaresoft, was held in very high regards in its native Japan when released in 1995. Some hailed it as the greatest role-playing game ever released in the 16-bit era, and that it was more than a match for its high-profile sister-series, Final Fantasy. Considering the critical acclaim that surrounded Chrono Trigger, it is very surprising to me that to this day, it has never appeared in Europe on any home console.

Released in the mid-nineties on the ageing Super Nintendo (SNES) console, Chrono Trigger was one of Squaresoft's final developments on the format. In many ways it could be viewed as a spin-off from the Final Fantasy series, as though it sports many of its own innovations, the look and feel of the game will be instantly familiar to fans of the legendary saga. So could Chrono Trigger upstage its predecessors?

The adventure centres around Chrono (hence the title) - a young man with the now-customary spiky hairstyle apparent in almost all of Squaresoft's games of the last decade. Chrono starts his adventure by travelling to the Millennial Fair, which is being held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the humans defeating the Magus. At the fair, the hero meets the boy-ish Princess Nadia, who is eager for some adventuring and determined not to be tied down by her royal status. After a quick browse around the attractions, they come across the invention-mad father and daughter duo - Taban and Lucca, who claim to have developed a time machine. Being the easy-going fellow that he is, Chrono decides to give it a go to please the pair. The surprising thing is; it actually works…

Chrono and Nadia (shortly to be joined by Lucca) are catapulted back in time some 400 years. Through much exploration, your party of characters discover that sending more than three people through a warp at any one time leads to a place known simply as 'The End Of Time'. This becomes the hub of your adventuring, and a direct link to a number of time lines: Pre-historic (65,000,000 B.C), Dark Ages (12,000 B.C), Middle Ages (600 A.D), Present (1,000 A.D), 'The Day of Lavos'/Apocalypse (1999 A.D) and Future (2,300 A.D). Chrono and company learn that to prevent the post-apocalyptic future and the imminent extinction of the human race, they must destroy the mysterious entity Lavos, who pops up and causes trouble in several time frames.

Chrono Trigger combines traditional role-playing ideas with some exceptionally clever, technically-brilliant ideas; many of which still impress to this day. Exploration is still key to making progress; talking to people, duelling with a wide range of beasties and searching for treasure all play predictably large parts in the gaming experience, alongside some highly ambitious ideas that Squaresoft deserve great credit for.

One of the highlights of the early part of the game is when Chrono must go on trial - accused of 'brainwashing' Princess Nadia. The clever part is that whether he will be found guilty or innocent is entirely dependant of what you did/didn't do earlier on in the quest. Little things such as eating a mans dinner (to replenish health) and failing to return a girl's missing cat can be used against Chrono, as well as the way you treat and look after the Princess. The trial was a wonderful surprise to me, and represents the constant theme of changing events/split paths that is a recurring feature throughout the game.

Though the battle system works in a similar way to Final Fantasy's, the way in which fights come about is quite different. Many will be happy to hear that they don't occur randomly here - enemies will attack from pre-determined places in the field of play, and to a certain degree, you have a say in whether you wish to fight or not.

Initially, the battles seem a little shallow, though extended play reveals that the added accessibility of Chrono Trigger's fights has not lead to the sacrificing of any magic/skill options that your characters can learn. Indeed, depending on the particular members that you are using, two or even three characters can team up to perform specialised combination attacks. On the whole, this rather complex idea of character-specific abilities has been implemented very successfully.

I can't complain about the visual side of Chrono Trigger either - given the technology, it is astoundingly pretty. Sprites are large and colourful, plus they feature a number of amusing animations (Robo the robots 'dancing' is always a highlight for me). The background detail and scenery in general is stunning too - well-judged colour schemes, lighting-effects and admirable variety mean Chrono Trigger is one of the most visually-impressive games of its era and it's clear that a lot of work has gone into it.

The soundtrack is nice, as though few of the tunes are particularly memorable; they avoid becoming repetitive, even after long sessions of play. It is not on an audio par with stable-mate Final Fantasy VI, but features lots of well-crafted jingles nonetheless.

What starts as a great game ends as a good game sadly. For all the wonderful design and effort that has gone into the gameplay mechanics, Chrono Trigger is ultimately let down by its characters and storyline, which is very uncharacteristic of a Squaresoft-developed game. Like all RPG's, at some point or other, you need to find a specific person to speak with to move the story forward - and with the plot involving the use of five different time-lines, it essentially means that you may need to search through five different worlds to find who you are looking for; 'needle in a haystack' springs to mind… With the action chopping and changing between different time-frames, the plot becomes hopelessly tricky to follow at times, and the characters seem rather unendearing and bland next to those who populate the Final Fantasy's. It probably would have helped if the main character, Chrono, had lead by example in some way. But he doesn't say a single word in the entire adventure.

Whilst the prospect of seeing the world in several different stages of existence is very appealing, the storyline is utterly forgettable at times, and consequently many peoples motivation to persevere will be tested. It's not a massive game compared with others in its field, though twenty-five hours or so should provide decent enough value for those would love their role-playing games.

There is no way of knowing if Chrono Trigger carries a certificate/age-rating as it has never been released over on these shores, but I couldn't imagine that it would - its content is similar to that of the Final Fantasy's, and in my opinion can be classed as suitable for all. A good learning-curve means youngsters and beginners alike should be able to make progress without too much hassle in the early stages.

Ultimately, Chrono Trigger is a decent, well-crafted role-playing game that is gorgeously presented and features all the style and value that gamers have come to expect from Squaresoft. Its downfall is caused by a plot that gets a little to clever for its own good, and characters that despite their varied appearances, seem strangely indifferent.

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