Chrono Trigger

How the review system works:

• Everything is out of 5
• Nothing will ever get a perfect from me
• What I choose to rate is arbitrary and usually corresponds to the game I'm reviewing
• I only put this review system up for people who like numbers to reassure their decisions

Chrono Trigger: Overall: 4

Gameplay: 3

Story: 3.5 

Setting/world: 4.5 

Micro narratives: 5 

Synopsis: A boy named Chrono accompanies his genius friend and a tom boy princess through the realms of time, creating a rag tag group to prevent the future destruction of the Earth. 

           Chrono Trigger is a classic in the RPG department and has probably been reviewed by every aspiring game reviewer. I know this because before writing this piece I went around snooping through all the reviews previously written about Chrono Trigger. After scrounging the RPG forums for opinions, I've found two point of views to be prevalent when it came to the time travel based RPG. People either hate Chrono Trigger or love Chrono Trigger. I can understand where both parties are coming from because from what I found when Chrono Trigger was good, it was amazing and when it was bad, you were waiting for it become good again. 

          Chrono trigger doesn't have an amazing story. When one takes a step back and actually thinks about the story being unfolded it's hard to not find it to be incredibly cliche. I know many will snipe about its "novelty" and how that makes its cliche themes in fact original, but I got bad news for fan boys, literature has been using these themes for hundreds of years.But amidst all of my crankiness towards the cliche tendencies of the story, I really didn't mind it and that's because the story wasn't meant to be original. In fact the cliche laden story of Chrono Trigger was incredibly appropriate when one realizes what Chrono Trigger was actually setting out to do. This cliche story has allowed the developers to place colorful characters in a story the player finds comfortable.

         Which brings me to why micro narrative is rated. The narratives being told via the player in Chrono Trigger is superb. There are moments in the game where the reigns of the world are directly handed to the player, allowing the player to shape the world in the whatever way they find fit. These choices will speak to how someone deals with situations and what their sense of morals are. These moments in the game make it so that the player experiences the anguish and success of Chrono and the gang.  I'm going to give a more indepth look into these micro narratives in another post so please wait patiently for some details to back my claim. 

         Finally, Chrono Trigger is one of the first games to introduce different endings (12 of them apparently). These endings range from a "just girls" chat, rating the guy characters of the game in regards to datability and the more traditional "yay, you beat the game!" ending. There's even an ending where you meet the team that made chrono trigger. So the bottom line is, if you are a game enthusiast, you probably should or have already played this game. If you're looking for a fun rpg that has compelling narratives, Chrono Trigger is definitely down your alley. But if you're looking for a unique combat system and some tough bosses, pass on Chrono Trigger.