A classic showing its age
Finished: 2026/02/22
I started playing Chrono Trigger with high expectations as it is often listed as the best RPG of all time. Unfortunately, I got disappointed. The combat is usually about understanding a gimmick and then executing it. The characters are not very developed and often lack agency (it feels like the story happens to them rather than being driven by them). And the concept of changing the past is barely explored after its introduction with Marle.
Despite it all, I had fun playing the game! Characters feel unique (if underdeveloped), each era feels different, music is great and animation looks good even to this day. Most importantly, the game does not overstay its welcome and is relatively short without large grind sections, which is surprising considering what I would expect from an RPG of its time.
All things considered, the game still holds up in spite of its age. It is not the greatest game of all time but was a worthwhile experience.
Highlights:
- Robo staying in the past to recover the forest is a great moment that explores the time-traveling aspect well.
- Frog is such a great character: I wish other characters were as developed as he is.
- The cutscene of him splitting the mountain is fantastic.
- This is unintentional, but seeing NPCs complaining about Magus while he is in the party always had me smiling.
- Auto-battle and dodging encounters are very nice to reduce the toil.
Lowlights:
- The end game basically mandates status protection gear.
- Come on, give me an item that allows to revive with more than 50 HP.
- Magus’s actions and motivations are so disconnected that it feels like a retcon.
- The game opens up to both more side quests and character development only in the final act. It is a shame this happens so late.
- The Steam version crashed sometimes; this was manageable but frustrating anyway.