CHRONO TRIGGER®

One of my favorite games of all time. To think I played this 1995 game in the 2020s and still loved it so much. The story is incredible and comes with the old-school story feel. Loved the art and character interactions. The gameplay itself is strategic whilst also having some measure of timing, which is a nice innovation on the tried and true method of JRPGs. I will absolutely play this again in the future, start to finish, I want to be in that world again. It has made me a fan for life, and even now, despite it being a couple of years after I finished it, I am hunting for some cool merch of the game
Beautiful

This and FF6 are goats of both all classic RPG's and RPG's in general. I'd recommend this over FF6 to most gamers because it's a bit more user-friendly to people that aren't used to classic JRPGs and has an overall better pacing. Excellent story, excellent cast. It made me care about a boxy pixel robot named Robo and an silly looking anthropomorphic frog named Frog. Probably the best classic JRPG to start with or play if you're only gonna play one. Also one of the best time travel stories I know of in any medium. This port wasn't without it's pips when I played it but still so worth it.

Terrible port. Crashes a lot, graphics issues, lots of minor bugs. I lost the pleasure of playing this amazing game.

I've not collected all of the endings, but, I am 30 hours in. I love the graphics. I find the move pools on the playable characters somewhat limited, especially for healing, but healing items are plentiful enough. I don't love this port, for the record. I had the original in a system dustier than the Sahara and it crashed less than this. Still, I'm glad Chrono Trigger on Steam is a thing. A sketchy Chrono Trigger port is still playing Chrono Trigger.

Even though combat looses a bit of it's charm at the second half, it's still an amazing rpg and game! Felt lot's of emotions during my time playing it. Awesome soundtrack and graphics for SNES standarts. There is definetly a reason ehy some call it the best Jrpg of all time.

Chrono Trigger is an absolute masterpiece that stands the test of time. Developed by Squaresoft, this classic RPG from the 90s is an unparalleled blend of captivating storytelling, innovative gameplay, and beautiful art. Let’s dive into why this gem is still beloved by gamers of all generations:

1. Engaging Storyline:
The narrative of Chrono Trigger is nothing short of extraordinary. You embark on a time-traveling adventure with a group of unforgettable characters. Each era you visit is richly detailed and meticulously crafted, from the prehistoric age to a dystopian future. The story weaves themes of friendship, destiny, and sacrifice, keeping you hooked until the very end. The multiple endings based on your choices add immense replayability, making each playthrough feel unique.

2. Memorable Characters:
The characters in Chrono Trigger are deeply developed and endearing. From the courageous and kind-hearted Crono to the enigmatic Magus, every character has a compelling backstory and personality that shine through. The interactions and bonds formed between them add emotional depth to the journey, making players genuinely care about their fate.

3. Timeless Music:
Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu’s musical score for Chrono Trigger is nothing short of legendary. The melodies are hauntingly beautiful and perfectly complement the game's atmosphere. Tracks like "Corridors of Time" and "Frog's Theme" evoke strong emotions and remain etched in players' minds long after the game is over.

4. Innovative Gameplay:
The gameplay mechanics of Chrono Trigger were groundbreaking at the time and remain enjoyable today. The Active Time Battle (ATB) system keeps combat exciting and dynamic. The ability to combine characters' abilities for powerful Tech attacks adds a layer of strategy and fun. The lack of random encounters and the seamless transition between exploration and battle create a smooth and immersive experience.

5. Gorgeous Art Style:
Akira Toriyama’s character designs and the vibrant pixel art bring the world of Chrono Trigger to life. The attention to detail in each environment, from lush forests to futuristic cities, is stunning. The game's visuals have aged gracefully, retaining their charm and appeal over the years.

6. Thought-Provoking Themes:
Chrono Trigger tackles profound themes such as the impact of time, the consequences of actions, and the fight against fate. It encourages players to reflect on their choices and their ripple effects throughout history. The philosophical undertones add depth to the narrative, making it more than just a simple adventure.

7. High Replay Value:
With its numerous endings, side quests, and hidden secrets, Chrono Trigger offers immense replay value. Players can experiment with different party compositions, uncover new storylines, and strive for the perfect ending, ensuring that the game never feels repetitive.

Conclusion:
Chrono Trigger is a timeless classic that exemplifies the pinnacle of RPG design. Its engaging story, memorable characters, beautiful music, innovative gameplay, and thought-provoking themes make it a must-play for any gamer. Whether you’re experiencing it for the first time or revisiting it years later, Chrono Trigger is a journey you’ll cherish forever. 🌟

One of the greatest Role playing games of all time. With one of the greatest original sound tracks, remarkable game and worth every second put into it.

I so desperately wanted to finish playing this game, this is such an amazing game with beautiful pixel art, amazing music, and interesting combat that is unique to Chronotrigger, HOWEVER. DO NOT GET THIS GAME ON STEAM. This port is TERRIBLE, it crashed constantly, almost non-stop, everytime a cutscene played it would crash. I got about halfway through before getting to a section that kept crashing. I have a good computer, I tried all of the solutions online, and none of them worked. This is an amazing game but one of the worst ports. I'll revisit this game in a couple years but it will be on an emulator instead of on steam. If you're thinking about playing this game, play the SNES version on an emulator. It is absolutely unacceptable that an almost THIRTY year old game would have such a terrible port. I wanted to thug it out but it got to a point I personally couldn't ignore, and so I have given up on the steam port.

It's a good story, and the battles are engaging.

This is a great game, during the ending credits slide i was already feeling nostalgic and missing these sprites.

This release of the game has received some negative feedback for its technical issues. After logging in over 40 hours and 100 percenting the game, I'll admit that I personally never ran into any of the problems often cited by players. With that being said, even with the game running flawlessly this is still not the best version of the game. Chrono Trigger is arguably the greatest JRPG of all time, and all my gripes mainly stem from its additional content post-1995. I won't waste my time gushing about what the game does right--mainly because you can easily find someone far more eloquent than myself to explain it in better detail--but also because I believe its newer problems are often glossed over.

From SNES to PS1 to DS to IOS and now to PC, the problem this port suffers from is FAT. For all the great it does, I find the original's greatest strength to be its pacing. At no point in the main story is there a slog: no sections that require grinding, no confusing or improperly explained story beats that require hours of wandering the hub world, no RNG cheese and random encounters, etc. Even side quests are fun, usually requiring common sense and a unique usage of the time travel mechanic to complete. The game is just fun to play from start to finish.

And that's where the later ports start to screw up. With Chrono Cross releasing on the PS1 Square decided to port Trigger to the console as well. This resulted in abysmal load times and a staple of the time: FMVs. To put it bluntly, this game's FMVs suck. In the late 90's they were mainly used to showcase the system's capabilities and the game's graphics... two things not needed for a 16-bit re-release. Their placement is jarring and will oftentimes just take you out of the story. A few egregious occasions will have the video play before a special moment (animated in an over-the-top anime style) only to then cut back to the main game where the sprites will do what was just shown in the FMV: often in a much less dramatic fashion. I can't imagine how lame it'd feel for a first-time player. And the worst part is... YOU CAN'T TURN THEM OFF! LET ME TURN THEM OFF! Animation-wise they're quite good but look like they belong in a pachinko machine; nice to stumble upon on youtube but a net negative when added to the game.

This leaves the content added in the DS version: the 'Dimensional Vortex' and 'Lost Sanctum' dungeons. They're useless padding at best and story killers at worst. Recycled assets, bland design (putting it VERY mildly), and zero incentive to complete because the only way they can be done is near the end of the game... when the stat buffs and new equipment are useless.

The Lost Sanctum is a hodgepodge of fetch quests that are just a chore to go through. Usually needing to be done in a specific order which requires you to jump back and forth in time and run through the same handful of floors to complete. FUCK MU.

The Dimensional Vortex was marketed as an "epilogue" to the main story. Even getting to that end is a hassle as 90% of the dungeon in all three time periods has you running through previous levels. There's no reason to even engage in combat as well because:
A. You're already a high enough level, or
B. The levels you're sent to are from the beginning of the game and the enemies are too low-level to be worth getting XP from
Which leaves you sprinting the whole way through the dungeon until you get to the boss. Rinse and repeat three times and you'll finally get to see an ending that can only be described as an ugly stain on a previously beautiful tapestry.

Not to say that this version doesn't have improvements: a more accurate translation, toggle sprint, new equipment, and higher resolution options, but If you want the definitive version of the game play the SNES version. And if the Woolsey translation is a problem for you just use a patch.

A very faithful to the original version. Added in some of Akira Toriyama's video scenes and an autobattle that can be turned on and off to speed up fighting animation. Or simply skip doing fights(Boo).
Just remember the controller set up and passwords are using nintendo's button configuration, so if you have a logitech controller like me you'll need to figure out the real button combinations. ABXY = YXAB
It was good enough to make me give up my new game plus rom Ive been moving from computer to computer for 10 years.

A SNES classic with wonderful characters, great story, fantastic soundtrack and great gameplay with the active battle system. This version also gives you two extra dungeons that were not a part of the original (the Lost Sanctum and the Dimensional Vortex) which offer a good post game challenge.

Great story and characters, interesting time mechanics, satisfying length.
Makes me wish the cutscenes were from a full blown anime.
Only thing i can say against it really is the Lost Sanctuary and Mt. Emerald section is just really annoying, not for any difficulty just really really repetitive, i suspect it's pretty optional though so will probably skip that out on ng+.

Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest games of all time - unfortunately, this port still has game breaking errors - hard crashes (zoning into Fiona's house and back out), and glitches (textures in Guardia castle failing to load/render).

I honestly don't see how this is even possible, when it's been in emu form for 30 years without issues, and this is a first party port.

I have recently replayed Chrono Trigger. My last playthrough was well over 20 years ago.

Like many before me have stated and many after me will keep stating Chrono Trigger is a timeless JRPG Masterpiece.

It is a classic and a must play for everyone who has some interest into the genre.
Chrono Trigger is easy to pick up and every element of this game holds up after all these years:

The music, the pixel art, the quality but simplicity of the gameplay (Anyone can play this game).
Even the characters, the story and the pacing is of timeless quality.

The game never overstays its welcome and frankly enough any JRPG being made today can still learn a lot from this game.
It's also a great play on the Steam Deck.

My #1 favorite game, all the way back from the 90's, Its a really good story about survival and friendship. Anywhere it comes out I purchase it. I love it that much.

If you like Dragon Ball and Final Fantasy and SNES jrpg's this is a no brainer. One of the best studio collabs ever.

This CT version is the updated english text version with the additional dungeon area.

Sadly, I cannot recommend this favourite SNES game of mine. It crashed a few times exploring the first town and then my saves soft locked itself in the Mayor's Manor tutorial sequence (after a crash). I could restart and push on but I do not like the idea of a save file always risking corruption.

Perhaps if the game gets stable again, I will buy it again and change my review... however as of now, this is not a good port of a great game.

Might have found a fix/tweak - still pending further tests - but Running the game as Administrator in Windows 8 compatibility mode have let me play a full hour...
However, this is not what I feel a 2024 game should require to properly run.

This is the best RPG of all time, I am 47 and played it the week it was released. I've even got it on my phone. Still the best characters, story, and SOUNDTRACK of all time. If you are a fan of gaming history, this should be in your collection.

For a game that is 30 years old it feels like it hasn't aged one bit. This is the first time I played the game and I enjoyed it from start to finish. The story is great, the characters are all very likeable and the combat feels great once you get used to it. I think the combat is the biggest hurdle of this game but you get used to it after the first hour of playing and then it just get better and better.

It's Chrono Trigger...There's a reason it's considered one of the greatest games of all time. Time travel, compelling characters, beautiful art and music, and an incredible story with branching endings! Sure, turn-based RPGs are outdated by today's standards, but get over that. Play this game, and your life will be better for it!

I recommend, but with reservations, there was a lack of kindness and care for old players, one example is that you don't have the possibility to load in real time when you are dying, you have to wait to be killed or close and open the game to be able to load. Why is it not possible to return to the main menu within the game? Other configurations are also missing, such as configuring modern mice that have many buttons, in short, many bugs and crashes within the game, all of this could improve gameplay on the PC much more, but it does not seem to be a concern for the developers, respecting those who really like the game game.. lots of other things to talk about, it seems like they didn't even play the game to know the game's needs, anyway,
text is already long..

One of the best classics from the best era of gaming, old man bias aside. Chrono Trigger is and always will be a phenomenal game and this port is a great way to experience again just like its PSOne counter part did for the original remaster.

A masterpiece. I have a deep respect for this game after playing it. The gameplay holds up well, though it is a bit easy until the mid-late game. Characters are based on archetypes but they are well executed, I care for the party members a lot. Particular highlights for me are Frog and Robo. The plot genuinely surprises and subverts expectations in such smart ways, and it's only a 25 hour game! This game makes great use of all of its mechanics, the story is well told and inspiring, and the charm is off the charts with the art style and interactions.

Play it, you won't regret it.

Faithful to the SNES with a neat Resume feature that continues gameplay after unexpected Steam software closure. Nintendo Switch Pro controller works wonderfully with this one!

i'm refunding this because I can't get past the launch screen. Pirate a different version of this game that actually works.

This game is AMAZING but it was crashing constantly for me. It even crashed as I beat Lavos' final form, lol, so yeah maybe try to play this another way if you're hesitant about stability. Game itself is 10/10 though

This game may be the OBJECTIVELY perfect JRPG. At no point does the game ever feel like it’s going too slow or too fast, and every single moment moves the plot forward. The main characters are all incredibly compelling and Yasunori Mitsuda’s score is one of the best and most memorable in gaming. If there is a quintessential must play JRPG, THIS is it.

Are you wanting to relive a part of your childhood, going back for a piece of childhood you missed, or a new generation wondering what all the hype is on this old game?

Sitting as King on IGN's top 100 RPGs of all time, developed by Squares dream team, Chrono Trigger is a short (20-30hrs), historic, and classic jrpg romp.

From the minds of:
Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Square's Final Fantasy series
Yuji Horii, creator of Enix's Dragon Quest series
AND the late great
Akira Toriyama, character designer of Dragon Quest and author of the Dragon Ball series!

First game with a complete NG+ (New Game plus)!
13 endings!
Cutscenes where originally there was none!

Excellent classic game that still holds up well. I am glad they made an option for the original graphics style, the pixel graphics hold up so much better to upscaling than the weird smoothed out garbage they had going before. Also, the quality of life for the auto-battle toggle is useful for when you know you'll win a fight. If it's on sale, I definitely recommend grabbing it!

Friendship, betrayal, time travel, lasers, dinosaurs, magic, adventure & more. Predating Square Enix and the Final Fantasy titles, this JRPG offers so much.

I've beaten Chrono Trigger once every year since 1998, around christmas times. It's been the one constant in my life through ups and downs, and saying this game means alot to me is an understatement.
Obviously, I can highly recommend the game itself, its one of my favorites. If you like JRPGs at all, you owe it to yourself to play this classic. It holds up well, and isn't too long, around 20-25 hours for new players and 10-15 if you know your way around. Plus an additional 5-10 for the new (and luckily optional) post game stuff.
Replay value is HIGH.

As for the Steam version? Its quite good. Original graphics and Japanese language can be turned on. I only encountered one odd glitch where item names some times don't appear when I open chests, also something weird with gold not displaying in stores.
The anime cutscenes also felt a bit odd to me, but I liked them.

As for the extra content from the DS version (that appears in gateways on the map at two points through the game), I did not really enjoy those and would highly suggest skipping at least the Lost Sanctum(green portals)
Dimensional Vortex(purple portals) might be worth checking out because it doesn't take too long and wraps things up a little more around certain characters.

Not sure what else to say. Gonna keep playing this version the next couple of years until I get that perfect save and unlock all endings again.

All those people that have been hyping this game up as one of the greatest RPGs of all time aren't lying. cool combat system(ABS, which I'm already familiar with from playing FF XII back in the day), sidequest that are there to progress you further into the endgame, no unnecessary grinding, Frog and Magus are cool AF. story? saving the world-trope but they put so many cool little details and twists here and there to make it interesting. playing The Trial chapter alone should convince everyone that this game deserved all the attention it got. one thing I hate is the random encounter, but that's JRPG for u. also the steam port is trash, there was an occasional crash when you were loading from each area. 9.5/10

This game is complex, nostalgic, melodic, intriguing, depressing, existential-crisis-giving, and /literally/ ahead of its time.
I think the game is very flexible (doesn't have a linear way of playing it, the player basically have free will), though it's also why I sometime need to look up guidance.
The game/story feels like the world is advancing and slipping through your fingers, yet you (the main character) is still the same (the main character has few back stories /especially the main lead, crono, duh/, it's very focused on the world progression, hence reading the NPC dialogue from time to time is surprisingly fun).
The story made me dread about my existence in the wee hours. And at the same time, it made me felt hopeful —did a philosopher made this game?

Is the ending satisfactory & rewarding? Yes of course, until I realized there are other 10-something endings. Overall, fun game.
Quoting my favorite dialogue from an NPC of this game:
"Something tells me I'm as happy now as I'll ever be"

On the bad side, the additional story (the lost sanctum) is so tiresome !
And the 'remastered' graphic is -should i say- awful.... thank god, there is an option to stick with the original graphic style.

Never thought i would care this much about a bunch of little character sprites.

One of the best RPGs of the 2D era, if not the best.

It does time travel well and its combat system is a breath of fresh air compared to its peers. No random battles, and interesting AOE mechanics based on enemy positioning.

However, this version of the game can delete all of your saves if the game crashes. I lost dozens of hours of progress thanks to this bug. This has been a known issue for at least 6 years, and Square has not fixed it.

DO NOT buy this version of the game unless you intend on backing up your saves yourself.

One of the best JRPG's of all time, I love all the characters so much. Cannot recommend this game enough. I wish I could have played it on SNES, but this version is just as great <3

Was fun, I got lost alot, never knew where to go. How kids beat this on the snes is beyond me.

Plainly and utterly simple... Playing this title restored my ability to enjoy life at a time full, chock full, unfortunately, of confusion, depression and doubt. At this time in my journey, I'm incredibly excited and enthusiastic about playing through it again, which I am anticipating to be a brand new experience, as I myself have grown considerably since the last time I attempted to save existence from... Lavos, Devourer of Worlds... Or... something like that. Should be good...!

The best RPG from the SNES period. If you like Final Fantasy and other similar RPG games from that time, it's a must play.

this is an amazing storyline, fun and creative, lots of interest and options for sidequests. truely a classic..

"This can't be... this is our future..."

Throwback to the SNES days for those of us who were around then and the amount of time invested in games like this always seemed well spent. The battle system is the same with the improvement of the auto feature that makes grinding a lot easier thankfully. It keeps track of the endings you obtain which is nice, and it still has many of the original puzzles and content, including a new dungeon. The only thing that is bad about this version is that its a port of the mobile/release on the Playstation as a result if you stream it, the game will crash and the short videos won't display on the stream for the viewers.

The OG RPG game!! Must play game for the RPG die-hards

The port worked fine enough for me. Also the game is great, but you already knew that.

this port is no good. it's an amazing game. i dont know why it crashed so damn much with me and i do meet the reqs.

you should play it because it's a masterpiece.. just be sure to save a lot.

Old Classic. Can't praise this game enough, it's just so great. The game play is pretty unique and still holds up to this day. The combat is a bit placement based, a bunch of your skills hit in a certain area (like in a line, in a cross, etc) and the enemies are randomly placed. That makes the fights a lot more interesting (though this thing pretty much becomes irrelevant near the end once you start getting skills that target the entire battlefield). You also have these combos that combine the skills of multiple characters to make a giga powerful new skill, which is something I've never seen before in game. The story is great, but also really deceiving. You'd think its your average generic hero story for the first couple of hours or so, but then you start to realise its not as simple as that. There are a few inconsistencies in the plot because of the time travel stuff, but I'll give the game a pass on that front since it's very hard to make time travel stories make complete sense. All of the party members are really likeable and interesting, but unfortunately, you can only carry 3 of them at a time, which really sucks. The soundtrack is fucking amazing, and the game, despite being a pixel-based game, has really good animations. It even has animated cut-scenes for some of the important story moments. The final boss fight is also insanely cool. It has a great soundtrack, is a bit challenging and has a pretty interesting mechanic.

The game has multiple endings, but they are implemented in a really shitty way. To get them, you just have to beat the final boss at specific intervals in the story. I heard they had plans to do something better with it, but ran out of time, but that doesn't change the fact that it is really lame.

The original game is insanely good, but sadly none of the ports are nice. The DS port (whose contents are included in this version) introduced two new dungeons, which are awful. Copy paste areas, enemies, music, item fetch side quests, just tedious and un-fun overall. The only saving graces are that the equipment you get from those areas is among the strongest, and one of them has a fairly hard super-boss. The steam version only introduced a shitty blurry filter which makes the game look 100 times worse, and oh yeah, a bunch of crashes.

Overall 10/10. Omega Flare is broken.

I will always recommend for anyone to play this game. It's one of, if not the best RPGs of all time, and I don't say that lightly. HOWEVER... THIS PORT of it is done pretty poorly. The graphics kind of look funny. Everything seems a little off. When riding dactyls in 65,000,000 B.C. their sprites are standing on top of the dinosaurs... I mean come on. A little more effort would be nice.

The sound also has issues. It cuts out when too much is going on, or it gets staticky (I know that's not a word). This is really irritating in several parts, especially in the future with the robots as I ended up having to mute my computer to give my eardrums a break.

The biggest issue of all are all the random crashes. I've played many games on this PC and never had a single crash. On this playthrough alone I'm already up to 6 or 7. The ONLY saving grace is the bookmark feature. It saves your progress as you enter new screens. Had this not been included, I probably would have asked for a refund. I can't dedicate time to something I have no idea if I'll end up wasting my effort and time on.

So yeah... Buyer beware. This is not the cleanest version of the game out there. The game is the best. The port is pretty mid.

One of the best RPGs of all time. If not the best.

However, just play the NDS version because it is superior to this one in every aspect.

If this is your first time playing: when you get to a place called "Lost Sanctum" and a NPC asks you for help, say "no". Don't worry, it is completely irrelevant to the sorry and it is by far the most boring piece of content in the game.

...It's Chrono Trigger. It is, for people of a certain age and generation, *the* platonic ideal of a classical jRPG (japanese-style RPG, a term somewhat outdated as the distinctions between western-style and japanese-style RPGs have become much more diffuse in recent decades), and even though overshadowed by Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in market penetration, it is still (to my mind) worthy of the crown of 'best jRPG of all time'. The sprites and graphics still feel alive, the soundtrack is still top-notch, and it's still the same charming, optimistic and easy-to-understand story of time-travelling heroes fighting to save their world's literal future.

Is the PC port ideal? Well, no. There are some graphical glitches, the sound sometimes fades in and out a bit too fast, a couple of options (like the style and colour of your text boxes) are missing and it's not using the classic Woolsey SNES translation any more (for good or ill), but yes indeed, it's still Chrono Trigger for all that. Recommended.

Greatest VIdeo Game Story Ever..... (FF6/7 are close seconds but kind of boring compared to this style of play)