Chrono Trigger 25TH ANNIVERSARY Review and Retrospective SNES

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] with a time travel storyline that spans vast lands in over 65 million years an eclectic cast of characters a beautifully animated battle system packed with more than a hundred attack combinations and a score that resonates long after the game is over everything about chrono trigger is epic in this review and retrospective i'll examine the development characters and gameplay mechanics of this timeless game and i'll reveal secrets that even the most devoted fans may have never known by the time you finish this video you'll be convinced if you aren't already that chrono trigger is one of the greatest video games of all time [Music] by the summer of 1995 squaresoft had enjoyed massive successes with secret of mana and the final fantasy series the role-playing genre had become so popular that an entire monthly section called epic center was devoted to it in nintendo power magazine when issue 73 arrived that june many gamers got their first look at chrono trigger with images of a mechanical dragon a futuristic ship a gigantic colorful frog and an imposing castle silhouetted by the moon the hype mounted writers ramped up the excitement reporting that after the japanese released that march 2 million copies had sold in only two months issue 74 added to the hype saying once you begin playing chrono trigger you'll wonder how you were ever happy with anything less expectations were high but with the dream creative team of hironobu sakaguchi final fantasy creator and then executive vice president of squaresoft yujiori creator of enix's beloved dragon quest franchise and akira toriyama creator and illustrator behind the worldwide phenomenon dragon ball high expectations were understandable in 1992 while on a trip to research computer graphics these three creative giants began to casually discuss making an rpg together at the time their only goal was to do something no one had done before within a year this discussion had evolved into a team masato kato is story planner behind the ninja gaiden series as well as a host of talented programmers and graphic designers were brought on and soon the production staff numbered over 50 twice the size of a typical squaresoft team the first year of development was spent discussing design structure and brainstorming ideas sometimes with the entire team time travel was initially met with skepticism kato feared repetitive gameplay and ori wanted to avoid monotonous errand running but ultimately the concept was too tantalizing to ignore while a few studios had dabbled with time travel no one had done so on the scale they had imagined early plans were to release the project tentatively titled maru island for nintendo's upcoming cd system as part of the mana franchise but after nintendo cancelled the system it was reimagined for cartridges and renamed chrono trigger as development progressed the team pushed far beyond the castles and magical themes of typical rpgs creating settings ranging from floating cities to futuristic biodomes weapons as diverse as dinosaur tails and laser spins and a cast of characters including a feral woman a robot and a frog while toriyama wasn't too active in the day-to-day development his role cannot be underestimated after receiving preliminary character sketches from story planner masato kato toriyama reworked them with his playfully unique style and even replaced the monster man design with something of his own but he didn't just draw character illustrations in concept art he created the inspirational backbone for the entire game sprite designers and background graphics programmers constantly referenced his illustrations and the story group used his work for writing the scenarios that would unfold in the game [Music] with so many settings time periods characters and character abilities not to mention the complexities of a branching time travel storyline everything about it was epic ambitious in a way that could have easily devolved into an unmanageable disaster to keep such an ambitious project organized sakaguchi maintained a strict schedule of daily status report meetings at one point time stamps on the chrono trigger files inexplicably changed to 1960 became unreadable and the entire project was almost lost producer kazuhiko aoki joked that the files had done some time traveling of their own finally in 1995 after two and a half years of development chrono trigger was released japan's commercial was straightforward and impactful [Music] but what about north america in september 1995 a threat appeared on google groups describing a late night chrono trigger ad on mtv posters noted it was voiced entirely in japanese and used bizarre subtitles unrelated to the narration some thought it had been lost forever but thankfully retroware tv tracked it down and like most ads from the 90s it's weird [Music] [Applause] [Music] finally this legendary rpg masterpiece was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world reviews were glowing and in spite of an 80 price tag it flew from the shelves what had started as a simple discussion among friends had somehow been planned programmed and ultimately completed the dream project had become a reality [Music] [Applause] characters are the heart of a story the plot unfolds through their conflicts and resolutions and we react with them and relate to them along the way and while we'd all agree a character has more to do with personality than pronunciation a debate rages on how to pronounce the names in chrono trigger is it chrono or chrono marley or marl is it frog or frog whatever sounds you use the characters of chrono trigger are fantastic [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the main protagonist is chrono a young yet absolutely fearless swordsman enlightening magic user developers fiercely debated whether he should have a voice or remain silent and serve as an extension of the player in the end eugeori won out making chrono the blank slate through which we experience everything early in the game chrono literally bumps in tomorrow though she's disguised as the commoner she's actually princess nadia of guardia her desire for adventure outside the castle shows a rebellious side that strains her relationship with her father but at heart she's compassionate willing to do anything for those she loves fittingly she demonstrates this compassion with healing magic and uses a crossbow and ice spells to attack crono's best friend is the science nerd mechanic luka constantly tinkering with teleportation devices robots and time gates she's indispensable to the time traveling party her confidence mixed with eccentricity gives her an amusing almost comical side in combat she uses gun weapons and her fire magic is quite powerful in each era this initial trio visits an unusual new character joins the party in 600 a.d they encounter frog in battle he usually wields the legendary sword masamune and in frog like fashion uses water magic he was once a guardian knight but was beaten by dark magic and changed into an amphibian behind the slippery skin and leap in his step he's still a chivalrous man but is haunted by regret and a sense of failure in 2300 a.d the party finds r-66y laying lifeless in the ruins of the protodome luca repairs him and he takes on the name robo throughout the adventure he struggles over the purpose of his existence was he programmed to assist humans or eradicate them in spite of this uncertainty he remains loyal to the party using robotic arm weapons and beam-based texts to help save the planet when the group goes to 65 million bc they meet isla she confidently leads the people of ioka village against the tyrannical reptiles isla is wild decisive yet impulsive as if every word or action springs from thoughtless instinct everything about her design emphasizes her primal nature running on all fours her animal skin attire and the revision that made her straight hair wild even her attacks use bare fists and ferocious animalistic texts when we first learn of magus he's revered as a powerful magician and spiritual leader by an anti-human group called the mystics but his story goes much deeper pale skin and sunken eyes visibly reflect his tragic life he's moody ever brooding over personal losses and fixated on lavos eventually he can join the party and if he does he wields a scythe and casts dark shadow magic of course there are many interesting side characters in the game like the scheming yet constantly amazed chancellor johnny the jet bike racer and the magician princess shala torn between family and conscience magus henchmen ozzy flee and slash are an odd trio their names are derived from famous rock musicians but in japan they were named after condiments the three wise gurus from zeal balthazar melchior and gaspar were named after the traditional wise men that brought gifts at jesus birth interestingly gaspar was originally intended to be a playable staff-wielding party member but ultimately became the guru of time the party's guide there are no throwaway characters in chrono trigger and of the seven party members each one is genuinely likable with a meaningful story arc clever dialogue delightful animations and desirable texts for battle when you care about them all it's difficult to decide who to leave behind chrono trigger's battle system is much more action oriented than classic rpgs in some ways it's simpler than its contemporaries but it has a subtle depth that isn't immediately apparent unlike many rpgs players aren't pulled out of the action into random battles with unseen monsters or forced to fight on separate combat screens when your party encounters an enemy you can sometimes avoid it but often a battle will begin exactly where you met it on the main field this is much less jarring than traditional rpgs and blends gameplay story elements and battles into one seamless experience each character has a battle gauge that fills up according to that character's speed stat when it's full they can attack with their weapon execute attack ability use an item or attempt to run away by pressing lnr simultaneously since enemies can move during these battles interesting tactical choices must be made do you simply target the biggest threat or do you wait until monsters move close to each other and unleash an attack that hits them all at once characters begin with only basic weapons but as they win battles they acquire money to buy upgraded equipment experience for leveling up stats and tech points that progressively unlock new abilities these tech animations are beautiful and when the party wins an encounter they beam with joyous delight developers enjoyed these moments so much that they were inspired to create the double and triple tech battle system in large part because they themselves were curious to see these characters work together gradually unlocking combos keeps battles fresh and encourages players to experiment with every character and combination and there are a lot eight single texts for each playable character three double texts for each pair of characters and one triple tech for every triplet combination altogether there are an astounding 116 distinct tech attacks all of them uniquely animated and appropriately themed to each character chrono's text for example often involves spinning and slashing meanwhile frog slurps and leaps and many of marl's texts assists the party when these three combine they execute the arc impulse triple tech shown on the box these triple techs are a sight to behold and unleash devastation of epic proportions overall developers paced the combat perfectly with increasing enemy difficulty and matching party strength it never feels too easy and grinding is never required that said battles aren't simple button mashers either enemies have strengths and weaknesses to certain physical attacks or types of elemental magic this encourages players to cycle their party members to exploit monster weaknesses and makes characters more appealing when they have the chance to shine [Music] [Applause] [Music] at its core chrono trigger is the story of a planet revealed bit by bit and out of sequence but by the time it's over the entire history of this world is stretched out before us we see the continents drift from age to age and we witness events that permanently alter the landscape we watch the inhabitants rise from primitive conditions and make discoveries only to see them suffer setbacks and fight bitter wars they celebrate victories mourn their losses and ultimately face a tragic dispassionate end on the brink of extinction and everything that happens in the game revolves around the most defining event in this planet's history when an alien object catastrophically slammed into the ancient world and began to feed on its core the prehistoric people named this object lavos meaning fire big but they had no idea it was alive that it would play a continuing role in their unfolding history or that it would ultimately destroy their world however since chrono trigger is a game about time travel this destiny isn't set in stone after a seemingly insignificant malfunction in 1000 ad chrono and marl are sent 400 years into the past this sets events in motion that disrupt lavos plan and opens the game to paradoxical story lines and many playful time travelly moments as the game progresses your party will use time gates and eventually a time machine called the epoch to journey between several historically important time periods prehistoric 65 million bc the divided world of 12 000 bc the middle ages in 600 1000 a.d where the story begins 1999 the day of lavos the dystopian future of 2300 a.d and the end of time which lies outside the timeline serving as a nexus linking all the time periods together and a place to seek guidance for your adventure this is particularly helpful because unlike games that simply span a territory chrono trigger spans territory and time leading to possible confusion as to where and when to go next to organize this potential chaos the game is structured into an episodic narrative of main storyline chapters followed by optional quests the initial chapters allow players to learn character backstories and experience key historical events the remaining side quests while optional tell deeper emotional stories about each character and contains some of the most memorable moments in the game also more than anywhere else it's in these quests that chrono trigger plays with the possibilities of time travel changing family histories character personalities and the course of history itself [Music] one small example occurs by fiona's house in 600 a.d the nearby forest is shrinking due to monsters in the sunken desert after defeating them robo volunteers to stay in the past and help fiona revive it the rest of the party can immediately travel to 1000 ad where a lush forest now surrounds a shrine inside robo lies dormant and covered in moss inactive for the better part of 400 years he rejoins the party and for the rest of the game anytime you visit 600 a.d you see him laboring away in the field while the main ending of this unforgettable story is resonant enough to stand on its own the potential story branches associated with time travel made multiple endings a necessity fortunately they don't require you to complete the entire 20-plus hour adventure each time thanks to chrono trigger's innovative new game plus feature you can start again with all stats and inventory intact making subsequent playthroughs much faster and freeing you up to explore different branches of the timeline there are between 12 and 15 endings depending on how certain variants are counted and dozens of other minor differences all hinging on when you defeat lavos and the story beats you've experienced when you do for example if you defeat him before facing the reptiles in 65 million bc it'll alter the course of evolution and the future will belong to the reptiles altogether there are over 90 minutes of potential ending scenes some are emotional focusing on character and plot and others are funny thought-provoking or downright weird in the slideshow ending marl and luca gossip about the male characters as they parade by in the dream ending you can interact with sprite forms of the dream team scattered across key locations from the game but multiple endings aren't the only reason to play it again with character interactions and dialogue specific to each character the events of the story will take on different nuances depending on the party in play if frog and magus are in your party throughout the game it'll feel like a tale of sadness and revenge but if chrono and marl are always together it'll play out more like a love story there are so many experiences to be had in chrono trigger the sheer magnitude of the story the quirks of time travel and the desire to play it again slightly different to see what could have been will continually draw you back the lead composer was the legendary yasunori mitsura but when he started at squaresoft his talents were hardly recognized for two years he worked as a sound effects designer laboring in obscurity on titles such as final fantasy v and secret of mana fearful square would never let him compose he went to sakaguchi's office with an ultimatum saying if you're not going to let me create music then i'm going to quit to a surprise sakaguchi almost nonchalantly offered him a shot at their new project chrono trigger mitsuda didn't take this opportunity lightly and poured everything into the score he selected suitable compositions from a backlog of songs he had secretly amassed and worked crazy hours to write new ones often falling asleep at his desk his mind was so obsessed with the game that some melodies such as to far away times came to him in dreams while some songs were written with great difficulty others like the opening theme were completed in a single sitting [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] with a powerful melody militaristic rhythms and hints of sadness the chrono trigger theme completely captures the adventure and emotion of the game meets the used short phrases from it as a uniting thread woven throughout the score [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] before composing a song he'd often review story notes with his close friend and story planner masato kato striving to perfectly convey the setting and underlying emotion of the scene graphics programmers would then use his compositions as they created the visuals for the middle ages theme titled wind scene he imagined rolling fields with a lone windmill and crafted the song with the intent that players could picture that setting even if they weren't looking at the screen [Music] mitsuda said the song to faraway times was an attempt to capture three complex and conflicting feelings at the end of the story coming back from a long journey happiness over saving the planet's future and sadness about saying goodbye to friends [Music] [Applause] [Music] as the final deadline approached the stress mounted writing a soundtrack that could adequately complement environments time periods character personalities and precise emotions was a monumental task he spent many grueling days and sleepless nights agonizing with writer's block regularly visited the hospital for stomach ulcers and lost nearly 40 songs when his hard drive failed he poured everything into it and it took everything out of him thankfully final fantasy composer nobuo uematsu came alongside him and contributed 10 tracks to supplement the score when it was completed it contained an astounding 64 tracks and exceeded expectations in every way of all the games i've researched for this series so far nothing compares in scope or depth to chrono trigger less than a year after its debut square released a text-based side story called radical dreamers for the citeleview peripheral unhappy with the final game the concept was completely reimagined and released three years later as chronocross for the sony playstation it's generally considered a solid game but its connection to chrono trigger is tenuous at best as lead writer masato kato clearly stated cross is cross not trigger 2 and in spite of overwhelming interest from fans and even members of the original team a proper sequel has never been made but perhaps it's fitting for a genre overflowing with sequels that chrono trigger would stand alone because there's nothing quite like it with over ten thousand video games in existence what makes this one so beloved why is it continuously revered among the greatest games of all time i think it's because every aspect of the game screams ambition refinement and heart every pixel was carefully placed every set meticulously dressed each character was perfectly crafted in design dialogue and beautiful animation every unforgettable plot twist was cleverly executed and every note of the score plays on our emotions i think back to 1992 as three creative legends lightheartedly discussed doing a game together they had no idea how ambitious it would become the challenges their team would face or the legendary game they would ultimately create as the decades pass passion for chrono trigger only seems to grow they said they wanted to make something no one had done before they did and in the process they created an epic rpg time travel masterpiece that is fittingly stood the test of time [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

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Keywords: NESComplex, NES, Complex, NES games, NES Review, Nintendo games, Nintendo Review, Is it fun?, Chrono Trigger Review, Chrono Trigger Retrospective, Chrono, Trigger, SNES, SNES Review, SNES Reviews, Super Nintendo, Super Nintendo review, super nintendo reviews, history of Chrono Trigger, Chrono Trigger 25th Anniversary, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Akira Toriyama, Masato Kato, generation gap gaming, pixel game squad, video game retrospectives, retro games, Yuji Horii

Id: nTFprLPJ02U

Length: 27min 31sec (1651 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 23 2020