Of Time Travel and Talking Frogs
I have something I need to get off my chest, guys. I'd never played Chrono Trigger until last month. Square Enix's 1995 Role Playing Game is widely considered one of the best ever, and as an avid RPG player, there's no legitimate reason for me not to have played it -- save the $250 price tag that comes with the Super Nintendo version, now a days. After years and years of patience, Square finally helped me out. They ported they're ill-forgotten classic to the Nintendo DS. Back in '95 Chrono Trigger showcased innovative narrative elements, along with simple refined gameplay. Time-travel forward to 2009 and "CT" still holds up with an epic story chalked full of charisma, pitch-perfect music, and beautiful graphics. And while the DS outing is only a slight update over the original SNES version, it has shown me that the game is as brilliant now as it was back when it first came out.
As per standard in games of its genre, Chrono Trigger DS wastes no time jumping into the "hero saves world" plotline. In 1000 AD, a young man named Chrono has awoken to a fair commemorating the millennium anniversary of his home land. After meeting a girl named Marlee at the fair, Chrono and his new acquaintance agree to help out his inventor friend, Lucca, with her newly created machine. A pendant that Marlee is wearing interferes with the device, creating a portal to another time period. One time-traveling escapade leads to another, and the trio is set off to save the world.
It doesn't sound particularly groundbreaking on paper, but Chrono Trigger DS's tale is actually quite complex. Time traveling is a major tool in driving the story, always bringing you new and interesting things to do. There are cavemen, queens and kings, an apocalyptic future, and all sorts of other fun areas to explore. The storytelling is wonderfully done and the writing is tremendous thanks to great translation, plus the characters are mostly interesting and unique. Chrono Trigger DS makes a point of carefully observing your actions throughout the story. Seemingly minor actions are revisited, and changing things to better your outcome adds loads of replayability. The 15 endings, including a DS exclusive one, don't exactly hurt replayability, either.
Chrono Trigger’s gameplay is some of the best found in any RPG -- Square Enix developed or otherwise -- making use of an Active Time Battle (ATB) system, similar to that found in Final Fantasy. In short, characters have to wait for a bar to fill up before they can attack. Unique to Chrono Trigger DS is that characters can combine techniques to create devastating double and triple team attacks. Chrono Trigger also innovates with its random battles: there aren’t any. Enemies are shown as part of the game world and, if you're careful to avoid contact with them, you can skip battles altogether. Occasional ambushes are unavoidable, but never frustrating. It might be nice if there was an option for true turn-based game play, but really, the ATB works very well. The game is also easy enough to get by with zero grind -- only boss battles providing any serious challenge. Even what could be called shortcomings for Chrono Trigger aren’t so much “flaws” as much as they are “design choices”.
The touch screen is put to good use in Chrono Trigger, with things like an over-world map and stats easily displayed. In fact, the pause button doesn't even have a menu -- everything you need is accessed using the touch screen, be it saving or viewing monsters you've defeated. Fighting can be controlled entirely via stylus, but there is always the option of going back to the old SNES interface. So many of the DS features are optional that the game can be played entirely in its original state, which will be appreciated by the select few who haven’t played the game before (me).
Chrono Trigger's graphics, however technically limited they may be, have proven timeless. There hasn't been any radical change since the SNES, but they still hold their own against modern DS titles. The DS graphics may actually look better than other "Chrono" games, due to the DS’s screen forcing shrunken resolutions. Animations aren't quite up to snuff, but the attention to detail put into every screen is astounding. It's a tad disappointing that there weren't any updates (touching up the sprites a bit isn't too much to ask, is it?), but it's hard to complain considering how good Chrono Trigger still looks.
And then there's the lovingly re-created music. Ostensibly, Square hasn’t touched the soundtrack, and rightfully so. Chrono Trigger DS's music is sublime throughout, despite having only digital recordings. The song for the post-apocalyptic world, entitled "Those Without the Will to Live", stands out in particular as fantastic.
Along with including the anime cut scenes and other Playstation rerelease extras, there are a good number of DS only extras as well. There's a monster arena in which you can train and battle Nu monsters versus bots or online via the game's Wi-Fi capabilities. In addition, there's a pretty in depth bestiary for enemies, items, and etcetera. Also cool is the theatre; which allows you to watch any of the cinemas you've witnessed thus far from the main quest, and you're also given the option of listening to any of the in-game music. For just a port, there's a good amount of brand new stuff included, rounding off an already fantastic package.
Bottom Line: Chrono Trigger DS is absolutely the definitive version of Square Enix’s masterpiece. I certainly can't imagine how either the SNES or the PSX versions are any better than this. Chrono Trigger DS's extras only further the experience, rather than mess with it. Mostly, Chrono Trigger DS proves just how little was wrong with the original.
Recommendation: If, like me, you missed it back in '95, this is a no brainer. Buy it. And even if you've already beaten it, I imagine now is a great time to re-play it on the DS.
