In the closing part
of Metal Gear Solid 2, one character reveals to another the true nature of an
evil plan called The S3 Project. Although it’s explained in a huge amount of
detail in the game (taking about 20 minutes of screen time) in summary, it’s an
automated system of editing the digital media created by society. The idea
being that unless robots choose what's important and erase the rest, what’s
truly ground breaking will get lost in a sea of celebrity gossip, pointless
blogs about boxed video games and photos of cats on Facebook. It's a complex idea certainly, but there is a
degree of truth in it. Digital self publishing means more and more people are
able to get their ideas out into the world. This is good in that it gives a
greater cross section of opinion but it also makes it harder for anyone trying
to find a specific thing on Google. The more that's put out on the Internet the
more there is to wade through. I'm very aware that as I'm writing these very
words I’m contributing to the problem. In each blog post I make I try to write
something fresh and original on a game or topic. I'm very aware that there are
many writers out there who know much more about a topic and have a more elegant
writing style. If what I'm writing doesn't contribute to what's already out
there is there much point in me publishing it?
What I bring to the
table needs to be more than just a quick history or description of a game as
that's been done before. It needs to offer a new insight or a new approach to
the subject matter. This all sounds massively pretentious; I'm not even that
good a blogger or that original a thinker. But it does explain why it's taken
months for me to write about what was before Ni No Kuni my favourite JRPG. It's
not through a lack of trying; in fact I've started this post several times and
abandoned it. I found it intimidating trying to write words about Chrono
Trigger when so many others had written about every facet of the game. A
detailed description if the games mechanics has been covered. Astudy of its legacy and influence, done.
Even interesting detailed studies of the sublime soundtrack exist. For a
game that's so loved and so well known all I can hope is that my view on it
encourages others to question or reaffirm theirs.
I know that it's
almost sacrilegious to say that my favourite ever Japanese Role Playing game,
Ni No Kuni is a better JRPG. Chrono Trigger is universally adored and well
received commercially and critically. Before I mention the teeny tiny weaker aspects
of Chrono Trigger (and cause a mass exodus of readers from my blog) please do
keep in mind that I love the game. It's wonderful and I've taken to playing it
almost yearly just because I enjoy it so much. I have an orchestral version of
the soundtrack on my iPod, used Robo as an avatar on forums for a while and get
excited teary eyes when I see people recreate the introduction in glorious HD.
Yes Chrono Trigger is superb, but no it's not perfect.
Like everyone in Europe that had a Snes and a taste for RPGs I knew about
Chrono Trigger but had never played it till recently. A lack of European
release made that impossible. My first dabbles with it was on an emulated PSOne
copy and then later when the DS release made it finally possible to buy the
game new in a British shop. I first played it therefore a long time after it
was made, approaching it after playing the games it inspired first. Returning
to a sprite based JRPG after playing polygon adventures was a little like a
visual home coming. The 16bit aesthetic may typify the nineties but that doesn't make it look bad
or dated. I have often written of my love of pixel art and Chrono Trigger
is yet another example of a time when dotty characters looked their best. A
rich detailed world demands a rich detailed central protagonist, but sadly this
is the first instance where the game (for me!) falls short. Even after numerous
playthroughs and after unlocking many of the games endings I have no idea who
Crono actually is. It may be a trait of modern games, but considering you’re
expected to invest at least 30 hours playing with him there is just not enough
back story to the main titular character. This isn't true of everyone in the
game of course. Frog/Glenn, Marle, Lucca and Magus are all fleshed out, it's
just the fella you spent most of your time with who isn't. He never speaks, and
now seems painfully generic in his design. I appreciate that there is a blank
canvas logic to keeping the details of the main character vague, so the player
injects themselves into the avatar. The same thing is done in early Zelda
games, when you knew next to nothing about Link. However I prefer to be told a
story, rather than have to fill in the blanks myself, much like in the modern
Zelda games when you know almost too much about Link.
Even with a shallow main protagonist, Chrono Trigger's story is one of the best
in the 16bit era. Super Play at the time may have said it was 'a paperback
compared to the complex tales of the Final Fantasy games' but I much preferred
it. Quite an achievement
considering translator Ted Woolsey made his best
attempts to sabotage the game with his obsession with puns, olde English frogs
and slang talking enemies. The time travel mechanic is fantastic, giving the
game a huge sense of scale and occasion. Alongside Marle's coming of age story
& Frog's tale of revenge is a narrative depicting the whole life cycle of a
world. The subtle changes between the different playable eras give texture, a
real feeling of living breathing evolving growing planet. A game not afraid to
pull narrative punches; where heroic characters can die or fail, where even
slight seemingly insignificant actions have consequence. A world spanning a time
period so large that it allows Gods to turn evil and yet find redemption, but
also a world with the intimacy to deal with domestic family problems and a lonely
robot's self sacrifice. The last third of the game is home to many if these
best stories, a collection of side quests dealing with multiple time periods
and characters. How many of these you choose to take on is up to you and the extent
you need to level up, but
you'd miss out on many of the best narrative points
if you skip past them. I've played through the game from start to finish now
many times yet still find bits that surprise me. On the latest adventure for
example I discovered that it’s possible to save Lucca's Mum from an accident
that costs her legs- something I'd either missed or failed at before. Yes, this
has no bearing on Crono and his world saving fight against Lavos but this tiny
plot detail was more moving, showing the care put into the game by creators so
storied that they were labelled the 'dream team'.
Unfortunately with
the game being so open ended in the final section, direction and goals also
quickly become vague. Hours can be lost figuring out what to do, with the
player adrift aimlessly wondering through both space and time. Many may like
the thrill of exploration but it made me feel confused and slightly bored. I've
become used to games forcing me down a narrative tunnel or having world maps
with waypoints and progression markers. There's a temptation just to give up
and head in the one direction that is clear - taking on Lavos and ending the
game. Doing so too prematurely though is suicide. The player then has a choice;
a huge amount of grinding in the games
last hours or gaining the powerful equipment procured in the aforementioned
directionless side quests. I generally don't have a problem with grinding, I
actually find it quite rewarding. The process of levelling up in Chrono Trigger
is actually quite natural and invisible. I never really felt too over or under
powered in a normal play through.
Story aside, balance
of grinding against progression and battle system are what decide if I stick
with a JRPG. Random encounters and being forced to fight difficult foes before
your ready are big turn offs for me. This is why I've never got too far in
early Final Fantasy games; I should only fail through poor decision making not
because the games unavoidably thrust a duel on me before I've had a chance to
heal or gain enough XP. Pleasingly Chrono Trigger dodges these pitfalls with
aplomb. With few exceptions you know who will attack you before they do. It’s a
'If you don't like what you see, run away before it sees you' logic. It's a
great system that also is used in Ni No Kuni, although in this modern game it's
taken a step further as weak enemies will also flee from you. If you choose to
fight, there's a huge variety of attacks in Chrono Trigger, with a great
flexibility offered by the partnering and tech systems. But this can at times
feel intimidating, meaning that if you're at all like me you'll stick to the
same tried and tested methods. Running away and being predictable, in my
adventure these are the two characteristics of a mute time travelling hero.
Much is made of the
12 endings, but to be honest this
is a bit of a lie. Chrono
Trigger had essentially one main ending with four significant variations
depending on if you kill Magus and if you used the Epoch to battle Lavos or
approached it a different way. The majority of the other endings have no
bearing on the story whatsoever and are often silly, ruining the mood of the
game and not justifying the effort required to get them. Yes, yes at least
these are better than Ni No Kuni’s pathetic two minute denouement but
considering many people cite the multiple endings of Chrono Trigger as such a
strength its disappointing. Unless you’re a completionist, you would have felt
short changed spending 10 hours playing on New Game + to simply see characters
after a sprite swap, or a jokey scene involving cats.
It seems harsh to highlight such minor imperfections in what is clearly an
astonishing
game. The fact that it’s taken 20 years from the creation of Chrono
Trigger for it to be bettered by The Ghibli opus is testament to how forward
thinking and simply magical it was. A genre redefining Grade A classic, that no
self respecting SNES hoarder should be without. It may be hilariously expensive
to buy, even unboxed, on eBay, but the amount of hours I've sunk into it over
the years (and no doubt will every year till I lose the ability to see)
justifies that cost ten-fold.
It may now be my second favourite JRPG of all time but it will always fondly
cherished. The fact that this view is echoed by the Internet may mean my words
on the game are trite and predictable, but it also means they are not
revolutionary. Confirmation therefore that Chrono Trigger is a
masterpiece.
Just
one that's not as good as Ni No Kuni.
How did I get this?
A boxed complete Chrono Trigger is expensive - upwards of £80 expensive. I haven't spent
that much, but know that one day I will. I do however own a mint Super Famicom version
sold to me by a great seller on eBay. Having played through the game so
many times I thought I'd be able to play from start to finish without being able
to read the text - I was wrong. About 3 or 4 hours in I abandoned my play
through and reverted back to my well worn DS copy. With a set of level 99
characters and all the best weapons a 'new game+' doesn't take too long. All
enemies pose no challenge and as such I could focus on the story to a greater
extent. I can't say I enjoyed it as much without any risk of failing, with
certain bits just feeling like I was going through the motions. But even this
play through was much more enjoyable than the majority of games I've played
recently. I always forget just how good the soundtrack is and listened to it
while not paying. I can finally tick 'listen to Gato's theme while on the
tube" off my bucket list.
When you consider these requirements there were a number of options but I settled upon treating myself to 'Seiken Densetsu 3'; once known as 'Secret of Mana 2' but now officially Christened 'Trails of Mana'. Despite the critical acclaim and fan love for the first 'Secret of Mana' game its sequel, for a number of reasons, was never initially released outside of Japan. As such the game is something of an enigma to even some of the biggest fans of Japanese Role Playing games. 
In many ways it's the perfect continuation of the series: lovingly-crafted, beautiful, storybook aesthetics; twice as many playable characters; and a versatile, non-linear story. It's a cliched thing to say but it's a tragedy that this game has been a secret for so long, treasured only by a few when it should be played by anyone who has ever enjoyed a SNES RPG."
Issue 2 can be purchased here. 
