Long ago as a youth I got a copy of Chrono Trigger included in my "Final Fantasy Chronicles" PS1 Collection. At the time I knew nothing about the game, and ended up getting stuck on the Mountain of Woe boss and moving on to other things. Though I would pick the game up again on various emulators over the years, I'd never get past the first trip to 600AD due to short attention span. Eventually the number of times I'd started the game became it's own barrier to entry, as I dreaded replaying the beginning again.
It's one of those weird things -- one of the most beloved pixel art JRPGs of all time, yet I couldn't bring myself to even start it anymore, let alone finish it. However, recently Chrono Cross got a re-release, and a new indie game, "Sea of Stars" came out flaunting Chrono Trigger inspirations. I felt like I owed it to myself to beat the original game to prepare my pallette for these other titles and finally took down my trophy DS copy of the game down from its pedestal, booted up my much-loved 3DS, and beat one of the best JRPGs of all time.
-The very first thing I noticed about Chrono Trigger was how it respected my time. Unlike other JRPGs of the SNES era, your party isn't continuously inundated with random battles -- instead, enemies exist in pre-defined locations and are often seen interacting with the environment they're in. Many can be completely avoided, even!
This isn't always the case, but it was enough that I rarely had to worry about taking a wrong turn in a dungeon and being forced to fight my way though piles of monsters both ways.
The game is also very generous with its save points and healing opportunities, meaning I rarely had to re-play long portions of the game in the chance I failed to defeat a boss. This didn't happen often as the game's experience pacing kept me fairly comfortably leveled throughout without much grinding.
Between these considerations and the relatively small world, there wasn't much that felt like filler (except some of the DS bonus content), and almost all of the play time was engaging.
The battles themselves were a mixed bag -- while I loved the monster designs, the average battle didn't require much thought; a couple of double-techs usually wiped out all the baddies on the screen even without effort into levelling.
On the other hand, there's a whole bunch of places where the game gives you hints on ways to better fight certain enemies! In one location you can learn from NPCs how to burn away some enemies' hammers (they drop their weapon!), while in another location you find out dinosaurs get a defense de-buff when hit with lightning. I loved this, and wish it was used more throughout the game or had more complex or layered "gimmicks" happening in a single area to spice things up a little more. I had a lot of interesting abilities that went unused pretty much the whole game, and some more variety in enemies could have made party-switching more important during dungeons.
The bosses were usually fun battle-wise and occasionally challenging. There wasn't anything too unheard of battle-wise -- you've got your elemental affinities, your gotta-destroy-the-parts-in-certain-orders fights, the crazy-counter-attack-but-weak-to-magic fights -- the usual fare. I can't criticize the game for lacking innovation here as it's one of the OGs, so many things it tried to do were likely pretty fresh at the time.
I do want to tip my hat to how fun some of the boss battles and areas were. The developers mixed in a lot of humor and I really think Chrono Trigger is at its best when it's being playful.
That playfulness is something I've noted in other famous older JRPGs, and I really think Chrono Trigger managed to perfect it. I found myself falling in love with the cast of characters (even some side characters) because of their emotes or hijinks that occur in the cutscenes. The fun bits also extend into gameplay segments -- things like the Millennial Fair, Ozzie's Castle, some of the items you get to steal all had me grinning stupidly as I played.
The story also had a sprinkling of dread, some (fairly flat) serious bits, and some genuinely touching portions -- but the silly parts that had me grinning were always the most memorable, and are the bits I'll likely remember years from now.
I don't think I ever felt bored playing Chrono Trigger, and rarely felt frustrated with the gameplay. The story was just OK, but it was told in a super fun way that takes you to lots of interesting locations that tickle your sense of wonder. The characters got barely any development (Frog and Magus being exceptions), but you still love them because they're with you, they're good*, and they interact with the world and one another in ways that feel right and often put a smile on your face.
As I play through and review my notes from all these beloved JRPGs from my childhood, I have begun to find that none of them are as "deep" as I remember. What I've recalled as profound and compelling plotlines have always just been entertaining kid's games with threadbare stories held together by lovable characters and fun gameplay. They're the Naruto or Dragonball Z of the gaming world -- and I think that's OK, as these games are fantastically entertaining even if they aren't the wells of excellent storytelling child-me remembers them as.
And so Chrono Trigger, I think, deserves its spot as one of the greatest JRPGs of all time. In a way it's a perfect, concentrated example of what made JRPGs from the era so good, and why the genre gained so much popularity. A world you can get lost in, battles that do interesting things, music you'll never forget, and a cast of lovable characters to explore the world with you through memorable moments that tickle your emotions. The story's just there as an excuse to keep the ball rolling, but that's really all it needs to be. Just like so many of it's peers, it isn't the story that sticks with you long-term in Chrono Trigger -- its the unique villains, the side-quests, the funny moments and cutscenes that happen in-between, the wild moments in battle with ridiculous enemies and overpowered equipment and moves. It's the random bucket at the end of time that takes you straight to the final boss. It's the love and care put into all of these things by the developers and artists while leaving enough room for the player to come in and feel like they're part of it.