First playing Chrono Trigger, the biggest thing that amazed me early on in the game was the quality of the 8-bit animations of the characters. The reason being is because some of my earliest and memorable 8-bit games that I played in my childhood were Pokémon titles, and for a game that came out in 1995 to be comparable to my favorite Pokémon title Pokémon Platinum that came out in 2009 tells me how much effort the makers of Chrono Trigger put into graphics. The encounter early on a game that I’m referring to is at the festival where if you explore well enough, you may stumble across a group of NPC’s dancing on a stage with music playing in the background. The mind-blowing part was that I could make out that the characters were pulling off dance moves. In the 90s, I would expect 8-bit characters just to be hopping around with no animation from the limbs of their body. Early on, Chrono Trigger gives the player a friendly, soothing vibe to start with, but in my experience of gaming, I can assume that Chrono Trigger will take a dark turn real soon as starting that way did not mean good for the main character and their friends. This was similar to my experience playing Kingdom Hearts One. I am at the point where Chrono gets arrested. For some, they may feel that’s the worst that things can get. However, I feel like it will get super dark based on my past experiences

I am going to be honest about my Chrono Trigger playing experience so far-

….. This game is hard!

Well, it’s at least too hard for me.

I am very used to playing first-person-shooter (FPS) games, not top-down, RPG games. It was so nerve-wracking and hard to defeat even the little goblin/troll-looking enemies when you travel back in time to save Marle, but only for a short while before I got the hang of it.

I believe Chrono Trigger provides a very unique gaming experience for video game players. For a game that was published in 1995, some of the graphics, such as the portal that opens after Marle gets sucked back in time amidst the 8-bit art style around it.

It does still feel like an old game since I am not able to move left and down or right and up at the same time as in newer games, but I believe it still holds its own. I’m not too surprised by the game mechanics and motions for the time period, since Mortal Kombat 3 (a game I have played before) came out the same year, and these two games feel just as slow as one another.

Actually, I think Crono walks a bit faster than the characters in Mortal Kombat 3 do if I remember correctly…..

Anyways, story-wise, I feel like I have no idea what is going to happen next. I have a semi-high expectation that the game will throw me a curveball plot twist in the next hour or so of me playing, even though I’ve only put a few hours in so far. Most of my playing experience has just been defeating Emps and ugly goblin enemies, more than the story.

However, I have been talking to as many NPCs as I can to pick up on the history and politics of what is going on in their country at that moment in time. I hope that the more I play, the more I will be able to collect more of the story from the main characters and the side characters.

Chrono Trigger has been a pleasant experience so far. One of the first things I found myself forced to do is remember that this game was made in 1995. From what I’ve heard, this game was way ahead of its time in its game mechanics, storytelling, and many other aspects in the game. However, from someone who was born 7 years after this game was created, and grew up playing video games that were far more developed than Chrono trigger, it is hard to appreciate all the things that Chrono Trigger did that was “before its time”, because I have played games that did this three times over. So in order to understand and truly appreciate Chrono Trigger, I had to play the game looking through a specific lens in order to level the playing field.

In order to create this “lense”, I had to find some other games that were created around this time in order to have something to compare it to. Comparing it to games that I have played growing up is almost unfair because of how far technology and video games have developed since 1995. So some games that I kept in mind while playing were: the original Pokemon, Mario brothers, and Donkey Kong. All games that came out about relatively the same time and that I have played, or have a general idea about. Now with these things in mind, I was able to play the game from a different perspective and appreciate it a little more. 

As far as the storyline of the game, I feel as if the plot is very detailed and has some depth, which is also my favorite aspect of this JRPG so far. After only playing the first quarter of the game, there have been plenty of plot twists and “what in the world” moments for me. When talking about the mechanics of the game, this is where I still feel a little iffy about. While I am able to appreciate how advanced they are compared to other games during its time, I almost find the battles to be a bit repetitive and lackluster. Maybe this is until I reach a boss fight that I fail miserably at, so I still do have some hope that I’ll be able to find some enjoyment in that aspect of the game.

Besides that, I have really enjoyed Chrono Trigger thus far, and am looking forward to what else it has in store. 

Upon booting Chrono Trigger for the first time, and being greeted by the pocket watch swinging, I was not entirely enthusiastic to say the least. The intro already made me think, “Yeah, this game is old old.” Upon jumping in and navigating between objectives I could see how no objective journal or markers got annoying. As impatient as I am, I noticed how much games nowadays hold our hands in making sure players do not get lost. This mechanic (or lack of) really makes you listen actively to the NPC’s rather than spamming the next button.

I am impatient but I do like turn-based combat for the most part. I have played games like Divinity Original Sin 2, Civilization games, and of course Pokemon when I was younger. But this type of turn-based combat is very different from all the games I have played. It still is turn based but opponents can still attack you while choosing your attack method. The combo attacks are also a nice addition into effectively managing your character’s resources.

I do have to say that the game is enjoyable thus far. I am more interested in the story than the mechanics though but I find going back into the past and future really is what made me interested in the story. I also just now learned that to use Shelters you need to stand on top of the green save spot (would have saved me so much time). Lastly, I noticed that the art work (like the one above) reminds me of the Dragon Ball artwork, so I assume Akira Toriyama had designed these characters.

Having played about 5 hours of Chrono Trigger, I can say I’ve enjoyed the game WAY more than I thought I would. I’ve never played a game like this before and I’m playing on the computer, which is a first for me since I play all of my games on console, so this has definitely been a unique experience compared to what I’m used to. That being said, it took a little while to get the controls down and get used to the gameplay, but after that I was just rolling along.

For a 1995 game, most of my expectations have been met, but were exceeded in one case which I will talk about later. For the most part though, the graphics and gameplay were what I expected. For the time it was probably fast-paced and smooth, but it felt a little clunky and slow to me. In cases where I want to interact with something, sometimes it wouldn’t work unless Crono was in a specific spot looking directly at the character or chest. Besides that though, the game is what I expected considering its age.

In terms of the story, the game so far has met my expectations. I have not gotten to any plot twists or huge character moments yet, so this may be why the story is fairly basic so far which was my expectation going in. It is hard to say where I think the story will go since it is so early, but obviously time travel plays a huge part, even going so far as to put a pendulum on the main menu. I do think the backstory of the world will play a big role though.

The gameplay was simple and easy to get used to. I really like the leveling system and how items can be used and equipped. The fights have started to become tedious though, only due to their repetitiveness.

The one aspect of this game that truly exceeded my expectations was the trial scene. I was not expecting this style of game to feature a moment where all of my small, and seemingly insignificant actions would be judged. I really enjoyed this part and it has been my favorite moment in the game so far. I hope there are more sections of the game like this.

Overall, while not my cup of tea in terms of what I’m used to and what I enjoy playing, Chrono Trigger has been surprisingly enjoyable considering its age and genre. While not something I would go off and play in my free time, I appreciate what it brings to the table and am excited to see how the story plays out.

Chrono Trigger is an RPG wonderland, and honestly, it is one of the better-looking and playing games of 1995. I was unfortunately not born when it came out, but playing it now I can understand why it was so popular in the RPG community and still is to this day.

Typically, RPGs are not my favorite genre because they seem to move slowly and it’s a lot more reading than I prefer when playing video games. I actually do not mind it on this game however and think it brings a lot more immersion. Something I have found quite interesting about the game so far is the fact that there are no quest bars or maps to help you. You sort of have to navigate on your own and find what you are looking for solely based on what the characters tell you. I am not used to this type of game mechanic, but I think it works very well because it forces you to explore all the areas until you find what you are looking for.

For a game that was released in 1995, I must say it is exceeding my expectations. Although the art style is still 8-bit, it is very high quality for its time and the colors are very vibrant. I have also been enjoying the soundtracks that are played in the background. It definitely adds an element to the game and the compositions are very well made for their time. I have also had lots of fun interacting with different characters and objects, such as in the cathedral when you play the organ, it opens up doors or retracts spikes that you could not previously get to before.

As for the story, though I am not too far in, I can predict where the story may possibly be going. We started off with a random girl at the fair, but then she gets teleported to another world and becomes a queen. Apparently, she was a descendant of a previous queen and so it is your goal to find the girl and figure out what happened to the queen before. You have to make sure the queen does not die in that timeline so that the girl may stay alive. I think that you will most likely have to travel through lots of different timelines and find out the different situations of what happened in the past and piece them together. I am unsure where the story will go but this is just a prediction I have based on what I have seen and played so far. I can’t wait to continue through and see what happens next.

My progress so far: