LogFAQs > #950504043

22. Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995)

My favorite Squaresoft RPG, and the only one I've actually beaten! Chrono Trigger is gonna be on a lot of these lists, and probably most of them have played it more recently than when I plowed through it back in 2005. So I'll leave this one pretty short instead of trying to dig out a ton of details from the depths of my memory. Chrono Trigger follows the time-traveling exploits of our silent lead, Crono, who accidentally ends up backwards in time after a demonstration of a time machine at the fair zaps him and his friends to the past. From there, you slowly uncover a story through a boatload of different timelines, encountering a wide range of new party members and foes - standard RPG stuff but in a novel setting.
And that's kind of the thing with Chrono Trigger - I don't think any of its individual parts are particularly mind-blowingly good, but everything is so solid and executed perfectly; it's something I think is true of a lot of SNES classics, really. Combat is excellent; there are a lot of varied options and each party member feels distinct, but it's not needlessly complex. Random battles are all triggered from visible encounters on the world map, allowing you to dodge battles when you don't want them and to handle enemies methodically when you explore a new area. The story is compelling and charming, and the characters are very appealing, but nothing's made more complicated than it needs to be - it doesn't want to overwhelm the player with complexity, letting its beautiful areas and set pieces stand out that much more. And I need to add a cursory mention of the game's soundtrack, which (also like a lot of SNES classics) holds up outstandingly well, and has a number of all-time great tunes.
I think Nee was the one who, in his writeup, talked about how Chrono Trigger is outstanding at its pacing. And especially for an SNES-era RPG, pace is a huge deal - so many games of the time didn't really navigate difficulty well and forced you to grind like mad or were far too easy after a point. Chrono Trigger moves the plot forward expertly, and very rarely demands any degree of level grinding. Even the game's many alternate endings and side quests are a good example of this, too - the game tailors its experience of what you want from it to how much you're even interested in doing, and doesn't hide any of its most important details around this.
Chrono Trigger's just a solid game, perhaps the most solid at just nailing all its core concepts and their details so well that the package can't help but be a thoroughly enjoyable experience. If I was more keen on JRPGs in general, or had some grand childhood story about it (I actually didn't play CT until I got a copy of the PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles compilation in 2005), it'd probably be a Top 20 finisher. Sorry, Nick, it's still a great game!
Top 5 Characters: Ayla - Robo - Magus - Crono - Lucca

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it's an underwater adventure ride