On November 15 2011 23:36 flowSthead wrote: I think most people that hate on FFX just hate it because of the really awful voice acting. The dialogue and plot isn't actually horrible, it just has the worse voice acting in the history of the video games (I think it's also one of the first voice acted games) so at times the dialogue seems clunky and unnatural, even though it isn't. I replayed the game when I was older and I noticed the bag voice acting, but you can eventually just ignore it and focus on the actual dialogue, which is pretty good. When you compare it to FF12, a weaker game in terms of plot and characterization, FF12 seems like a smoother game because of the better voice acting.
Also, I am surprised the guy above me is the first person to mention FF Tactics, since that is probably the game I consider the best in the JRPG genere, but I guess that is not a popular opinion.
This is a really big hit though. We go from legendary main chars like Celes/Terra/Locke, Cloud, Squall, hell even Zidane, and then the first time our main character speaks he is...the biggest whiner/crybaby seen in the history of video games up to that time. The fact that he and Jecht has one of the most touching scenes doesn't change the fact that you endure his voice acting for 40+ hours to get there.
As for FFT - I'm guessing most people don't classify it as a RPG. The storyline for that thing is insane though...I'd say even comparable to Planescape: Torment (in a different way, but still good).
Implying that Cloud and Squall (who is the single worst MC in a video game ever) are better than Zidane? Really? IDK why FF9 gets the hate it does. ...Whatever.
Whoa calm down, FF9 is my favorite FF game, but Cloud and Squall generally gets more fanfare. I personally thought Zidane was awesome. Squall's story was cute albeit cheesy, but it was the other characters that made that group annoying, not Squall. Squall (and Cloud) develops from his lone wolf attitude to be able to work as a group throughout the game, and his progress is noticeable.
With all four of them (Cloud, Squall, Zidane, Tidus) you understand as you play the games why they have the attitudes they do, but only one (Tidus) makes you want to wear earplugs as you do it.
If anything, CHRONO is a really lame main character, but you hardly notice the fact because CT is so freaking good, and you think "Wow Chrono is badass!" despite him not actually doing anything. Everything he says and does is implied, and you supplement with your imagination. In other words - a minimalistic main char is much easier to tolerate than an overly expressive (and poorly voice-acted) one.
Calm down? I didn't think I was getting upset or anything, just amazed at how someone could think that a character like Squall is "legendary" (unless you actually meant that in a bad way with Squall), while a character like Zidane is just mentioned off-handedly. And the "...whatever" part was mocking Squall, since that is literally all he said the entire game.
You can't be rational when you're talking about games with magic, dragons, goblins etc. Any "rational" thinking throws these sorts of ideas out of the window, meaning any sort of video game would be a reflection of real life. Doesn't sound fun to me.
On November 15 2011 23:36 flowSthead wrote: I think most people that hate on FFX just hate it because of the really awful voice acting. The dialogue and plot isn't actually horrible, it just has the worse voice acting in the history of the video games (I think it's also one of the first voice acted games) so at times the dialogue seems clunky and unnatural, even though it isn't. I replayed the game when I was older and I noticed the bag voice acting, but you can eventually just ignore it and focus on the actual dialogue, which is pretty good. When you compare it to FF12, a weaker game in terms of plot and characterization, FF12 seems like a smoother game because of the better voice acting.
Also, I am surprised the guy above me is the first person to mention FF Tactics, since that is probably the game I consider the best in the JRPG genere, but I guess that is not a popular opinion.
This is a really big hit though. We go from legendary main chars like Celes/Terra/Locke, Cloud, Squall, hell even Zidane, and then the first time our main character speaks he is...the biggest whiner/crybaby seen in the history of video games up to that time. The fact that he and Jecht has one of the most touching scenes doesn't change the fact that you endure his voice acting for 40+ hours to get there.
As for FFT - I'm guessing most people don't classify it as a RPG. The storyline for that thing is insane though...I'd say even comparable to Planescape: Torment (in a different way, but still good).
Implying that Cloud and Squall (who is the single worst MC in a video game ever) are better than Zidane? Really? IDK why FF9 gets the hate it does. ...Whatever.
Whoa calm down, FF9 is my favorite FF game, but Cloud and Squall generally gets more fanfare. I personally thought Zidane was awesome. Squall's story was cute albeit cheesy, but it was the other characters that made that group annoying, not Squall. Squall (and Cloud) develops from his lone wolf attitude to be able to work as a group throughout the game, and his progress is noticeable.
With all four of them (Cloud, Squall, Zidane, Tidus) you understand as you play the games why they have the attitudes they do, but only one (Tidus) makes you want to wear earplugs as you do it.
If anything, CHRONO is a really lame main character, but you hardly notice the fact because CT is so freaking good, and you think "Wow Chrono is badass!" despite him not actually doing anything. Everything he says and does is implied, and you supplement with your imagination. In other words - a minimalistic main char is much easier to tolerate than an overly expressive (and poorly voice-acted) one.
Calm down? I didn't think I was getting upset or anything, just amazed at how someone could think that a character like Squall is "legendary" (unless you actually meant that in a bad way with Squall), while a character like Zidane is just mentioned off-handedly. And the "...whatever" part was mocking Squall, since that is literally all he said the entire game.
Think about it this way, if I mention:
FF6, most people think of Celes/Locke/Kefka FF7, most think Cloud/Sephiroth FF8, most think Squall/Seifer FF9, ??
I'd say Vivi is at least tied with Zidane the most popular character, or "go to character" in the game. Zidane doesn't dominate his game the way his predecessors did. This is not to say he's a bad char, but rather, that the other chars in the game are so good that they actually match the main char in how well received they are. The game spends so much time developing each character that you end up attached to all of them, and not just the main character, which is why I liked the game so much.
I never actually finished Chrono Trigger rofl..... I first played it when it came bundled with FFIV in FF Chronicles for the PS1. They fucked up the loading times big time for it, was pretty bad, annoyed me alot. Eventually got stuck on the Golem twins and ragequitted it. I bought for the DS awhile back though but have yet to touch it. I just need to set aside a weekend and get it done.
I will say that the music is fantastic though, especially the orchestrated versions.
No matter how much I've grown since I first played through this game, had starcraft not existed, I would have sayed for sure this is my favorite game of all-time.
since starcraft exists I'll just skip the question
I don't really care what people say about nostalgia or rose-tinted goggles or whatever. This game was the best I have ever played. Ever. And I am perfectly ok with the possibility of it not standing up to tests of time or whatever. It was the only game I played that ever had me enthralled by the story. It was the only game that I played that I listen to at least one part of the soundtrack at once a week without fail. It's the only soundtrack that I can remember from a game in a way that I can also tell you what scenes were happening during each song.
I remembered back in the day when people were just starting to discuss online if video games were now becoming an art because of Final Fantasy 7... I wondered if any of them had played Chrono Trigger.
I had never been so affected by a video game before or since and so for me, despite any criticisms or hipsterish flack thrown my way, Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time.
After reading this I went back and reloaded an old save, beat Lavos again, and watched the classic ending... Why is the screen blurring? Please, robo, frog, don't go, don't fuc- go, plea- :'''(
As someone who possess' exceptionally strong feelings towards Chrono Trigger and by extension Chrono Cross and the fantastic catalog of Yasunori Mitsuda, I'd love to throw in my two cents. As Day[9] says 'There is nothing cooler than being passionate about something you love.' Hope I quoted that right, too lazy to get Daily 100 up or reach the StarCraft Bible.
Chrono Trigger is beloved, exceptional, and widely revered and heralded as arguably one of the best if not the absolute best SNES games. It is a contender for best game. ever. period. It's up there with Chess, Poker, Magic, Brood War, etc etc, etc, everyone has their own. It was a passion project that almost didn't see the light of day, it was something that the team who worked on poured themselves into, a team that has yet to truly reunite and may never do so again. What is more, the previously mentioned Mitsuda-sama crafted some of the best VGM ever, and I highly recommend to any Liquidian to get the Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross soundtracks. They absolutely transcend any preconceived notions of 'chiptunes' 'OST' and 'VGM'. Lets not forget the addition of Akira Toriyama, of Dragonball and Dr. Slump fame, designing memorable, loveable, characters and a world that is wholly unique and evocative, if not familiar and intimate at once. As stated, Chrono is a mute. No better testament to sublime character design than the immense bond developed with him despite him remaining relatively ambiguous. This is also an elegant tool for immersion and injection for the player into Chrono's place and vice versa.
The game itself was deep, emotional, far spanning, humanizing, hilarious, and genuinely touching. There is a ten year old in me who will never let go of this world, who can never let go. I still, at 26, play Chrono Trigger often, own multiple copies on SNES and PS1 and have bought it as a gift, allegedly one of the most heartfelt gifts I feel I can give, for those close to me. To say I have bonded with this game, its characters, story, and world would be an understatement. It is a part of me.
I appreciate your attempt to strip away the 'nostalgia goggles' and revisit this monolith of gaming, this genre and era defining icon, with some level of objectivity via relative maturity from when you've experienced it before. Its great to see your write up evolve as you encounter and experience the game from a wholly different perspective from the one you and most would when playing it at first, casually, or completely enraptured by it. It is rich and ripe for analysis indeed.
Great work.
It looks like just about everything I am saying has been said by either yourself or other comments but I must vocalize my issue. I have only one major bone to pick. It is an exceptionally blunt and broad brush to paint all Final Fantasies, particularly those post Seven, as being not much more than teenagers save the world, and a comparison to Chrono Trigger seems a little inept as well. Beyond simply citing that Chrono and his allies are not necessarily described as teens and are left vague enough to be near adult to elementary aged, is the game really about Chrono and some kids saving the world? While that may be the plot, and I would argue there is enough strong similarity at superficial analysis to suggest that indeed most Square RPG's are 'kids save world', there is much more under the surface. Also, kids like to play video games and feel important, saving the world is a natural fantasy to fulfill this notion. The coolest phase to a kid either younger than or in teenage years is being a teen, this is simply catering to demographics before the overarching ball game of videogame audience changed. Old folks like to rekindle childhood wonder (old meaning older than 20 here) so there are simple reasons as to why the archetype was and still is so prevalent.
I would just like to inject that Chrono Trigger, at least to me, is about the bonds you form with people, memories, your home, and learning who you are as a person, coming to terms with others as they do the same, loss, and reverence. I think if you were to meditate on these themes as you look back at your own article and playthrough you will see what I am driving at. I am wholly willing to accept that you do not see it this way either, as I started with, I have an almost abnormal attachment with this game, it is very important to me. Also, please do not mistake my point as one that is exclusive, I think the idea of 'kids save world' and 'emotionally and ideological forge of identity, purpose, significance, and legacy' are absolutely both alive in the narrative. Id just like to shed light on some of the more subtle features of CT that I hold so dear. Id go on but this is your post, not mine.
Thank you for shedding light on one of the best experiences of my childhood, one of the most impacting factors in the formation of my life, and one of the things I truly hold near and dear to me. Look forward to your next post. Kudos!
Oh, and I must say, Final Fantasy has absolutely evolved beyond 7. While 7 is still fantastic, please if you have not give 8-13 and soon 13-II an honest try. I myself have left the notion of staunchly waving the '7 is best FF' flag behind after 12 gave me something wholly original in terms of engine, story, and so much more. Not trying to join the which FF is better war, I accept that is a very personal question, like best game ever, just saying you seem wonderful and deserving of finding yourself enraptured with some of the later FF titles. Now that you have gotten deeper into Chrono Trigger, do go back and examine FF6 (3 here in the states, for the SNES. It is a strong contender for best JRPG and best FF as well.)
You bring up a topic and I gots me too too much to say. Thanks!
I've already played through Crono Triggerfour times and I still can't see what's so fucking great about it. Ok, it is a fucking good game, but I still prefer Final Fantasy Tactics or 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12. Best part of the game, (besides beating Lavos while World Revolution is playing) imo is the combat system and the OST. The characters don't interact much and that kinda bothers me, my favorite character design part of the game it is the whole Frog x Magus. And the fact that there is no talking villain really sucks imo. The fact that it looks like DBZ don't help it either. I'd give the game 8,5/10.
Want really good storytelling? Play Final Fantasy Tactics, Shakespeare + Video Games = Awesome.
On November 16 2011 10:04 r2ddrew wrote: As someone who possess' exceptionally strong feelings towards Chrono Trigger and by extension Chrono Cross and the fantastic catalog of Yasunori Mitsuda, I'd love to throw in my two cents. As Day[9] says 'There is nothing cooler than being passionate about something you love.' Hope I quoted that right, too lazy to get Daily 100 up or reach the StarCraft Bible.
Chrono Trigger is beloved, exceptional, and widely revered and heralded as arguably one of the best if not the absolute best SNES games. It is a contender for best game. ever. period. It's up there with Chess, Poker, Magic, Brood War, etc etc, etc, everyone has their own. It was a passion project that almost didn't see the light of day, it was something that the team who worked on poured themselves into, a team that has yet to truly reunite and may never do so again. What is more, the previously mentioned Mitsuda-sama crafted some of the best VGM ever, and I highly recommend to any Liquidian to get the Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross soundtracks. They absolutely transcend any preconceived notions of 'chiptunes' 'OST' and 'VGM'. Lets not forget the addition of Akira Toriyama, of Dragonball and Dr. Slump fame, designing memorable, loveable, characters and a world that is wholly unique and evocative, if not familiar and intimate at once. As stated, Chrono is a mute. No better testament to sublime character design than the immense bond developed with him despite him remaining relatively ambiguous. This is also an elegant tool for immersion and injection for the player into Chrono's place and vice versa.
The game itself was deep, emotional, far spanning, humanizing, hilarious, and genuinely touching. There is a ten year old in me who will never let go of this world, who can never let go. I still, at 26, play Chrono Trigger often, own multiple copies on SNES and PS1 and have bought it as a gift, allegedly one of the most heartfelt gifts I feel I can give, for those close to me. To say I have bonded with this game, its characters, story, and world would be an understatement. It is a part of me.
I appreciate your attempt to strip away the 'nostalgia goggles' and revisit this monolith of gaming, this genre and era defining icon, with some level of objectivity via relative maturity from when you've experienced it before. Its great to see your write up evolve as you encounter and experience the game from a wholly different perspective from the one you and most would when playing it at first, casually, or completely enraptured by it. It is rich and ripe for analysis indeed.
Great work.
It looks like just about everything I am saying has been said by either yourself or other comments but I must vocalize my issue. I have only one major bone to pick. It is an exceptionally blunt and broad brush to paint all Final Fantasies, particularly those post Seven, as being not much more than teenagers save the world, and a comparison to Chrono Trigger seems a little inept as well. Beyond simply citing that Chrono and his allies are not necessarily described as teens and are left vague enough to be near adult to elementary aged, is the game really about Chrono and some kids saving the world? While that may be the plot, and I would argue there is enough strong similarity at superficial analysis to suggest that indeed most Square RPG's are 'kids save world', there is much more under the surface. Also, kids like to play video games and feel important, saving the world is a natural fantasy to fulfill this notion. The coolest phase to a kid either younger than or in teenage years is being a teen, this is simply catering to demographics before the overarching ball game of videogame audience changed. Old folks like to rekindle childhood wonder (old meaning older than 20 here) so there are simple reasons as to why the archetype was and still is so prevalent.
I would just like to inject that Chrono Trigger, at least to me, is about the bonds you form with people, memories, your home, and learning who you are as a person, coming to terms with others as they do the same, loss, and reverence. I think if you were to meditate on these themes as you look back at your own article and playthrough you will see what I am driving at. I am wholly willing to accept that you do not see it this way either, as I started with, I have an almost abnormal attachment with this game, it is very important to me. Also, please do not mistake my point as one that is exclusive, I think the idea of 'kids save world' and 'emotionally and ideological forge of identity, purpose, significance, and legacy' are absolutely both alive in the narrative. Id just like to shed light on some of the more subtle features of CT that I hold so dear. Id go on but this is your post, not mine.
Thank you for shedding light on one of the best experiences of my childhood, one of the most impacting factors in the formation of my life, and one of the things I truly hold near and dear to me. Look forward to your next post. Kudos!
Oh, and I must say, Final Fantasy has absolutely evolved beyond 7. While 7 is still fantastic, please if you have not give 8-13 and soon 13-II an honest try. I myself have left the notion of staunchly waving the '7 is best FF' flag behind after 12 gave me something wholly original in terms of engine, story, and so much more. Not trying to join the which FF is better war, I accept that is a very personal question, like best game ever, just saying you seem wonderful and deserving of finding yourself enraptured with some of the later FF titles. Now that you have gotten deeper into Chrono Trigger, do go back and examine FF6 (3 here in the states, for the SNES. It is a strong contender for best JRPG and best FF as well.) You bring up a topic and I gots me too too much to say. Thanks!
On November 16 2011 09:06 ShootingStars wrote: Tidus is more realistic than any other FF character lol... <3 Zidane was pretty real too
He might have been more realistic but he was so intolerable.
The fact that there's people that actually liked him is mind blowing to me. I seriously had to force myself to continue playing that game to the point where I got attached to the other characters. If they hadn't fleshed out the other characters and left you to connect with Tidus and no one else, there would be no way in hell I would finish it.
Thank you so much for this blog. I've been one of the forgotten kids of the 1990's RPG generation. Sometimes I feel like nobody really understands just how good old school RPG's were, and are. Chrono Trigger always was mentioned in my favourite games ever, and still is today.
I'm 29, I've been playing RPGs since I first played FF1 on NES when I was 6 years old. I got to experience, as a child, the RPG revolution first hand, and man was it epic. Over the next 10 years, I would complete nearly 50 of these games, but was always thirsty for more. You can imagine my sadness as the world seemed to shift, and no longer were these amazing games being produced. After FF7 it was all down hill from there. RPG's once the 3D era hit, we're for all intents and purposes, dead.
I read now all the time positive reviews for games which are so terrible, I honestly go through the roof. FF12 and 13, are you kidding me? Have people all forgotten I wondered? Does nobody get it?
Even gamers from that time, that played those games, don't get it. There is a pecking order of greatness for RPGs, and games. The OP gets it. I get it. Chrono Trigger is possibly the greatest game ever made.
5/5. Hey, OP, you're not alone. Plenty of us recollect playing those old RPGs and being drawn in as a kid (or a big kid). Excuse my corniness, but it was magical!
You're attacks on ♥♥♥THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP♥♥♥ make me laugh though. Reminds me of LittleKuriboh's Yu-Gi-Oh parodies:
I wouldn't worry about nostalgia goggles coloring your opinion of these games too much. Everyone should go ahead and revisit these. The gameplay wasn't exactly uber spectacular back then either, but it was good enough to keep you going and not annoying to be a chore to play through. The real draw of these games were their epic stories and that's easily timeless.
Of course compared to nowadays, where game design is refined into a freaking science, the age shows a bit more. I played through FFVI again a year ago on the GBA version and I kept wishing that someone would update the gameplay with a remake because I kept noting to myself "oh cool a another useless ability". Still enjoyed it all the way through though.
I find it funny people keep saying things go downhill after FF7 because FF8 killed my inner child. I WANTED to like that game. Oh well, I stilled enjoyed plenty of PS1 RPGs though.
Oh right I forgot 1 more thing:
On November 16 2011 09:30 N1ghtshade wrote: After reading this I went back and reloaded an old save, beat Lavos again, and watched the classic ending... Why is the screen blurring? Please, robo, frog, don't go, don't fuc- go, plea- :'''(
LOL you need to keep your time machine intact to turn the sad ending into the best ending. Same ending, just with the characters going OH RIGHT WE STILL HAVE THAT THING because we we didn't wreck it to skip the first phase of the Lavos fight.
No picture of spekkio the furby? I watched my brother play this game when I was like 8, and even though my 3rd grade brain was not good enough to understand everything in the plot, i knew it was just fuckin awesome and that's all that really mattered. Got quite attached to the story line. oh memories <3
Spekkio's kind of getting a bad rap, seeing how he becomes quite powerful looking when your characters are high level, plus he's basically the hardest enemy in the game. I agree though that Chrono Trigger is awesome, yet playing it again all these years later, it's kind of like, "wth this is so cheesy" or cliche at times. Day[9] gave a shout out to the epic frog music several dailies ago--was cute.
The FF war really saddens me since Xenogears is quietly the greatest of them all, or at least should have been if it was given the proper financial backing by its creator. It's still the best for a fanatic like myself though. If you wanna talk about an emotional scene that had no trace of cliche or "typical JRPGness"--just great story--play through Xenogears until Elly tries to save Kislev from the ship bomb Hecht. There may be some poorly done translation dialogue preceding that (by "may" I mean "is"), yet Fei's reaction is so unexpectedly and completely moving. Even now I'm itching to get a Wii just for Xenoblade--it got insane reviews and I have a ton of faith in Takahashi.
I really enjoyed some of the humor of the article, in spite of my personal mission to get Xenogears more recognition and remade one day, and as I said, I loved Chrono Trigger too. Sadly, it was always one of those "games my friend with the SNES had," while I had a Genesis and non rpg/jrpg games (altered beast was pretty friggin' cool when you're 9 and just graduated from NES though).
@ShootingStars. I agree on Tidus. Gosh he actually wasn't just "dark, brooding, uber powerful!" There must be something wrong. He actually behaved like a real 18 year old, at least much more so than Cloud or Squall. Tidus was enjoyable though, especially when he was making Steiner mad. That said, FF7 was "the one" for me, just as SC1 was "the game that brought me online." And sc1 lings are like the funnest thing ever.
EPT
I WANTED to like that game. Oh well, I stilled enjoyed plenty of PS1 RPGs though. 
