Chrono Trigger DS

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Posted 4 years ago By - Marko Djordjevic

When it comes to Role-Playing Games there are essentially two groups: those who have played Chrono Trigger and those who haven’t. If you were one of the unfortunate ones who missed out the original back in 1995 and then didn’t bother to pick up the PSOne port in 2001, now is your chance experience a piece of gaming history.


Gameplay

Like most RPGs, Chrono Trigger’s storyline is your standard affair. A young, silent boy gets caught up with his friends against evil forces. In typical fashion, the evil people are trying to control the world but end up unleashing something so powerful that it threatens the existence of life itself. Yes, it’s like so many RPGs, but back in 1995, this was still new to most gamers.

Chrono Trigger has you taking control of Crono, who heads out one day to his town’s annual festival and befriends a spunky girl eager to experience the festivities. As the two spend time together, they partake in a demonstration which ‘accidentally’ sends the girl to a different time period. You quickly follow after her and discover she is actually a princess and by traveling back in time, you’ve changed the future. Now the adventure truly begins and you need to fix everything in order to prevent the end of the world.

The game’s story begins off slow, but as you progress it begins to really expand and becomes quite engaging. Unlike most RPGs, Chrono Trigger doesn’t just span across one giant world, but rather one giant world in more than five different time frames, each significantly different from the last. You’ll travel back to prehistoric times and even to a bleak future trying to uncover just how you managed to do the time shifting and what is the reason behind the cause of the future and hopefully try to stop it. The story is magnificent with plenty of interesting characters, both good and bad. Your party contains members from different time periods who are all wiling to aid you in trying to save the future.


Chrono Trigger’s gameplay was done very differently than RPGs back in the day. Those who hate random battles will be glad that none exist here. You will encounter some hidden enemies that suddenly appear, but never at points that you wouldn’t expect them to. Also, most enemies appear on screen so if you want to avoid a conflict, if you move properly you can do so. It’s not always the case, but there will be enough times where you can by-pass an attack if you so wish.

When in combat, the system is fairly straight forward but absolutely incredible. You have your basic attack and items but Chrono Trigger uses a unique Tech system which combines magic and abilities into one category. You gain Tech points as you fight and the further you progress, the more powerful attacks you learn. There are three types of Tech Combos: your single combos are done by the character alone, while the Double and Triple Techs take two or all three party members and attack with one vicious strike. The fighting system is defaulted to an Active Battle System in which the characters bars fill up but enemies can attack at any time. With this, you will have to act quickly in order to get more attacks on your enemies. You can change this back to the classic turn-based system, but it’s not that rewarding and the game is meant to be played with the Active System turned on.

In terms of differences between the DS version and the two previous versions is strictly based on utilizing the capabilities of the handheld. The top screen is where all your action takes place while the bottom screen shows off the map, your characters statuses and access to the menu options. You can also use the touch pad to move your characters if you so wish. During attacks it can be used to select specifically which characters you want to attack or heal without having to scroll through them. The addition of the touch screen will make travelling and dungeon crawling a bit easier as you’ll see the map unveiled for you. The only problem with the touch pad is the sensitivity depending on the size of your fingers. You might have problems pressing certain menu buttons as they are pretty small and along the side of the touch screen. It’s not a big deal but those with fat fingers might have some problems from time to time. The game can still be played the old-fashioned way, but again with the capabilities of the DS, you should play it the new way.

There are some problems in the game where straight-forward directions are not always given to you, so you might spend time walking around aimlessly. The answer is almost always there, but you may get frustrated at times if you’re not sure where you need to go exactly. This might pose a problem to younger gamers or those unfamiliar with RPGs, but fans of the genre won’t have a problem. The game can also be quite difficult at times since you will sometimes need specific party members to easily progress through certain stages. Those new to the game should save often and use their multiple save slots.


Graphics and Sound

Unlike previous SquareEnix remakes, Chrono Trigger did not get a new coat of paint for this edition. This can be viewed as both a blessing and a curse. Those who loved the original will be glad that nothing was ruined but those hoping for some added detail in certain areas will be a bit disappointed. Still, for a DS game, it looks really good. Animations are incredible, the color palette is deep and the environments are very detailed. The game also includes the animated scenes from the PlayStation version, which run a lot better thanks in part to not having to load from a CD. These can be toggled off if you wish to keep the game more like the original, but they look really good and should not be missed.


The games soundtrack is also something that hasn’t been messed with and the same opinion occur here. The game’s soundtrack was praised back in 1995 and it still sounds great now. There is plenty of variety in the music and nothing sounds out of place or becomes annoying. It might have been nice to have some minor improvements from the original midi versions, but again, it doesn’t ruin the game in any way.

Value

Chrono Trigger is a very deep and long experience. If you’ve never played Chrono Trigger, you will be playing for a while. The games main story should take about 20-30 hours, but unlike other role-playing games, Chrono Trigger contains multiple endings which can be experienced when you play the game over again via the New Game+ feature. At a pivotal point in the game when you are introduced to a new area, you can essentially fight against the final boss at anytime if you so wish. If you try this during your first run-though, you will die. Depending on when you end up fighting the last boss, will determine which of the over twelve endings you get to see.

As for added content for the DS version, those come in a dungeon area and Arena battles. The new DS dungeon is unlocked late in the game and is not easily accessed without actually hunting for it. Once you get there, it’s fairly straight forward, opens up a few more side quests and some really nice rewards along the way. The other addition is the inclusion of Arena battles. Here, your party obtains a monster that you train which then can be used in battles against other players wirelessly or the computer. If you actually take the time to train your monster and get the opportunity to fight against friends, it’s not bad. Ultimately though, it’s more or less just a Pokemon rip-off and won’t be played much.

For those who have already played and completed either of the two past versions, the added content won’t suffice a new purchase unless you are Chrono Lover. It might be worth a look, but it there isn’t enough of a difference other than a significantly better translation that you will notice.


Conclusion

You absolutely have no excuse now when someone asks you ‘Why haven’t you played Chrono Trigger?’ You don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars for a US SNES version on eBay, import a Super Famicom and game from Japan or play the weaker PSOne version. This game is not only one of the best games ever made, but one of the best DS games available right now that every DS and RPG fan should have in their collection. Experience what all the hype was about 13 years ago because it’s worth every moment of your time.

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