My Favorite Video Games Part 5 - Chrono Trigger

I was gonna hold off on writing about this game until the last one of these but eff it, y’all. I can’t hold back anymore.

WE TALKIN’ ABOUT CHRONO TRIGGER!!!!

Do you want time travel? Action? Suspense? Love? Tough decisions? Don’t watch Back to the Future or Avengers: Endgame. Don’t read Outlander. All you need to do is download an emulator and the Chrono Trigger ROM and enjoy.

Let’s hop in the Epoch together and travel back to 1995.

MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for a 29-year-old game.

Setting the Stage

Ring. Ring. Ring.

It’s 1000 A.D.

Leene’s Bell wakes you for the day—the Millennium Fair beckons. You leave bed, stretch, and learn from your mom that Lucca and her father are already setting up their new invention at the fair.

You get a couple of bucks from your mom for food, drinks, and treats and head off to the fair. Once you get there, you head toward the open area where Lucca’s set up her invention. Before you get there, a beautiful young woman runs into you, knocking you both over. Her necklace falls to the ground, too.

You stand up, dust yourself off, and reach for the necklace. You bring it to the young woman (who looks very familiar…), and she thanks you. She asks your name and introduces herself as Marle.

She asks if you’ll show her around the fair and you take her to watch Lucca’s event. Lucca and her father have invented a transporter, and you volunteer to be the first person sent between their two pads.

SUCCESS!

Marle wants to go next…wait, something’s wrong…her necklace is reacting to the machine…

Marle disappears, but her necklace stays behind.

You don’t hesitate: you pick up the necklace and tell Lucca to turn on her machine again, sending you after Marle.

When you reappear in the world, things look familiar but also different.

It’s now 600 A.D., and the adventure has just begun!

Why I Love It

There is so much to love about Chrono Trigger. First, it subverts three video tropes that I hate:

1. The damsel in distress — Yes, Chrono Trigger’s inciting incident is Marle being pulled into the time portal. Once you rescue her, however, she’s a member of the party and never in danger again (unless you fail to level her up). No women are under threat from a BBEG. Everyone is in danger because Lavos threatens the world.
2. Fetch quests — Lawd, I loath fetch quests. Especially fetch quests that amount to nothing but a crappy item you’ll never use and can’t sell. Chrono Trigger is technically full of fetch quests, but they matter. You must fetch a piece of dreamstone to repair the Masamune sword for Frog. You must search the Blackbird to find your gear after it’s stolen and your party is taken prisoner. You have to get a doll that looks like a party member to…well, I’ll keep that spoiler secret.
3. Bloated party roster — I said in my Final Fantasy 3 review: “Out of the fourteen characters, I love half of them.” Bloated rosters hurt RPGs. Too many characters to keep track of and level up, and many get lackluster backstories. They’re just flat characters. Chrono Trigger has six mandatory party members and one optional party member. Seven is a manageable number of party members, and you must use them all.

Second, the game art is stunning. Squaresoft partnered with Akira Toriyama, Dragonball Z creator, to help design the game. You can tell from some character designs, drawing heavy inspiration from DBZ.

Third, I love the Tech abilities. Each character in the game can use physical or magical skills they learn as they level up. Below, you can see Chrono using his “Cyclone” tech.

As you use party members together, they can Double and Triple techs that only work when you’re using that particular configuration. This makes it critical to use every party member to learn the Double and Triple Techs.

Speaking of the party members, let’s get to know them.

Characters

Chrono

Goku, is that you? Nope, it’s just Chrono, our silent protagonist. As I type this bio, I realize how little we ever learn about Chrono. He lives with his mom. He has a cat. His best friend is Lucca, the inventor. He’s good with a sword. His innate magical affinity is Lightning.

And that’s all we need to know because we become immersed in the plot and other characters.

Marle

When he enters the Millennium Fair, Chrono runs into Marle (literally and figuratively). This video game meet-cute kick-starts Chrono Trigger’s action.

Marle’s innate magical affinity is Water.

Lucca

Lucca? She’s the brains of this whole operation! (H/T The Dark Knight).

Lucca and her father are inventors, and their machine sends Marle back in time at the start of the game.

Lucca’s innate magical affinity is Fire.

Frog

Frog is what happens when you leave a video game character in the Shakespeare setting. He’s an excellent swordsman and sworn protector of the royal family in 600 A.D.

Frog’s innate magical affinity is Water.

Robo

You find Robo in 2300 A.D. The land is bleak, food is scarce, and Robo is broken down and needs repair.

Robo’s innate magical ability is Shadow.

Ayla

Don’t let her broken speech fool you. Ayla kicks significant ass as a party member and as a character. She is the leader of her tribe and, if you couldn’t tell by the blonde hair, Marle’s ancestor.

Ayla doesn’t have any magical abilities. The game explains that she was born before magic was discovered and practiced.

Magus

All hail the emo king of Chrono Trigger.

The party spends the first half of the game hunting Magus. They believe the mage is responsible for creating Lavos and want to stop him before that happens.

Magus has the best boss battle music.

Magus’ innate magical affinity is Shadow.

Rating

Perfect 5 out of 5 stars.

Let’s get into the pros and cons of the game.

Pros

This game is highly replayable. Once you beat the BBEG, you can start the adventure again with New Game+ mode.

This is great for many reasons:

1. Chrono Trigger has thirteen different endings
2. Except for “Speed,” every stat maxes at 99 when it becomes a “double star.” Speed maxes at 16 for its “double star.” Speed is the only stat you can potentially max out in a single run
3. There are several optional Techs you can find in the world, and you might need a few run-throughs to search them out
4. Since Magus is an optional character, you can choose a fate for him in your second run as you did the first. See what the endgame is like with or without Magus in your party
5. Puwexil did a cool speedrun of Chrono Trigger at Summer Games Done Quick 2019

Cons

Okay, I’m biased and think this game is perfect. But there is something that’s bothered me for years.

Most of the time travel moments make sense, and everything the party does in one time has understandable effects on future times you travel to. The development team did an excellent job of ensuring it all came together.

But, near the end of the game, after the party has wrapped up all of the side quests related to each party member, Lucca awakens from her sleep to find a unique time portal. She enters the portal and is taken back to the moment her mother is severely injured by a machine and lost use of her legs. You control older Lucca; if you do everything right, you can save her mother from injury.

Except when the party meets Lucca’s mother in 1000 A.D., she cannot use her legs. So, the injury is canon to the timeline. Lucca going back in time and changing the outcome of the accident should’ve changed everything that happened in the game.

But it doesn’t. You gather the party and head off to kill Lavos.

It’s a minor “con,” but it does short-circuit the story for a moment.

Final Thoughts

Play this game. You can purchase it on Steam.

Watch Puwexil’s speedrun.

Just get more Chrono Trigger in your life.