Chrono Trigger DS Review

Chrono Trigger was a game originally released on the SNES way back in 1995.  It was re-released as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles, with Final Fantasy IV.  The re-release featured several new endings, but suffered greatly from enormous load times.  Now, it has been re-re-released on the DS, but is this re-retread worth your $40?

The Good:

• The same amazing game
• New ending
• Two new dungeons

The Bad:

• Occasionally frustrating
• New arena is worthless
• Backtracking

Let’s just get this out of the way before this review starts: Chrono Trigger is one of the best games ever created.  That being said, it has a few minor irks (some less “minor” than others).

The story is as expertly written as can be.  It literally takes place across millions of years, as you travel back and forth through time to hopefully change the future and save the world.  The pacing is absolutely excellent all of the dialog sounds natural and flows well (thanks to a new, revised translation).  However, no matter how expertly written the story is, it can’t avoid the paradoxes created by traveling through time.  If they see that the world is going to end, then stop it, wouldn’t they have never seen it in the first place since it technically never happens?  All those semantics aside, the story is the definition of top-notch.

The graphical department is a mixed bag.  In terms of what is there, you have some crisp, bright 2 dimensional graphics that really pop on the DS.  All of the animations are great (even if they are repeated ad nauseam) and the environments are appropriately (and proportionally) realistic and whimsical.  On the other side, they are still 2D.  Square themselves proved that a fully 3 dimensional RPG could work on the DS when they released the Final Fantasy III remake.  Even though the 2D graphics are great fan service, there’s absolutely no reason they couldn’t have attempted to update them, whether it be a full 3D overhaul or redrawn the areas and sprites.

Sprinkled throughout the game are various anime cutscenes from the Playstation version.  These are very well animated and look very high quality on the DS screen.  My only complaint about these is their lack of voice acting.  If they ever had an opportunity to add some voice acting without greatly sacrificing valuable memory, these cutscenes where them.  What you have instead is some music and occasionally a generic laugh or grunt.

The score still stands the test of time.  All of the music is well orchestrated and appropriate for the locations and events they are presented in.  The sound effects are acceptable (if not immensely repetitive), seeing as you’ll hear them every single battle for the entire game.

The battle system works similarly to other Square RPGs of the decades.  It’s a basic active time battle system, but instead of just waiting for a bar to fill up, your attacks actually have areas of effect and damage enemies based on their location on the battle field.  Enemy encounters are not random, rather they are caused by running into an enemy in the field.  This allows you to chose which battles you want to undertake.

The main problem with this is that some battles simply are not avoidable.  Early on in the game in order to warp between different time periods you have to go to predetermined locations and use “Gates”.  Along the path to a few of these are unavoidable enemy encounters which simply cause you to waste your time fighting easy enemies in unnecessary battles.  After a dozen times through trying to find out what to do, it can get annoying.

That brings up the largest problem with the game.  Occasionally, you will get an objective that you have no idea how to accomplish.  While the story sequences generally tell you where to go, getting there can require multiple travels through various other areas before even getting to the area you are looking for.  Thus, you have no idea where to start looking.  Another problem is being given an objective, such as “get me this” and just being left to find it with little or no help.  While these issues are quite few and far between, they really drag down the experience until you check a walkthrough or get a clue as to what to do.

The game’s time system is utterly left out in the cold, other than as a device of the story.  Instead of using it as creatively as it is capable of being used, you simply see some geographic changes and a change in color palette.  Where are the cool uses, like planting a tree to use to climb, or even using the geographic changes to place items where you need them in the future?

Another slight problem is the near-absence of side quests.  Sure there are a few in the game (less than 10), but they are relatively short and don’t advance, explain, or flesh out the story in any meaningful way.  They usually involve somebody wanting something that “they heard about in a story from their [insert old relative]“, so you go back, conveniently find it, and return it.

Those issues are minor compared to the large gameplay problem that is nearly constant throughout the game.  It is way to easy.  Not once did I even feel mildly challenged.  I only died once because I forgot I was playing and kept pounding “A” while watching a very interesting episode of “House.”  Compounding this is the fact that you get ridiculously overpowered weapons, armor, and permanent stat boosts from the new DS-specific endgame dungeons.

As for the DS specific items, in addition to the two aforementioned dungeons is a new monster training arena.  While the idea is novel, a combination of Dragon Quest Monsters and Pokémon, it is an utterly useless waste of time that only provides a money sink and a waste of time.  It has no meaningful purpose and even the multi-cart battles with other CT DS owners can’t save the boring waste of time.

The new dungeons are a mixed bag.  The first one accessible starts out fun, allowing you to take quests from individuals, occasionally making you to switch back and forth between time to pick up an item or two.

However, near the end, it almost becomes ridiculous.  You will get a quest, pick up an item from this time period, travel through time, pick up another item, use them in the first time period and repeat until you are literally switching back and forth through time every three minutes.  This means you have to leave the area, go back through the village, get in your ship, change time periods, and get what you need, and repeat.  The amount of backtracking required literally outranks any game I have had the (mis)fortune of playing thus far.  One mission near the end requires you to climb a mountain a dozen times before it’s conclusion!

The other dungeons (only accessible after beating the game once) recycle a couple of old dungeon screens, causing you to trudge through those again, then continue through a more fun new dungeon before taking on a clone of a character, after the battle, that character gets a permanent stat boost.  Compound this with the phenomenally overpowered equipment you get from the first dungeon, and by the time you are done with both of the dungeon sets, you have characters that can literally beat the final boss with less than a dozen or so hits.  Heck, even the new “mega-boss” in the DS version was ridiculously easy after I had completed the dungeons (which are necessary to unlock him).

Also included is some absolutely amazing fan service.  You can watch the anime cutscenes after unlocking them, view concept art, listen to the music, and look at the techs from in-game.  There’s also a comprehensive bestiary, item encyclopedia, an ending log for the endings you have unlocked, and a “treasure atlas,” which allows you to look at every map in the game and see where the treasures are.

The length on my first playthrough, after all side quests, beating the game’s normal ending, then going back and playing through the endgame dungeons and beating the new end boss was about 22 hours.  Yours would probably be slightly higher, since I used a walkthrough for the last half of the first new dungeon (I had no clue what to do).  The price tag is $40, as opposed to most games’ $30, but it is more than worth it.

So it all comes down to this:  if you are an RPG fan, even if you have played the game before an another system, pick this game up and do yourself a great service.  It’s absolutely amazing and more than worth the money.  The new features are at least worth a look for those who have played or completed a game on other systems.  If you are a little precarious, rent it or borrow it from a friend, but don’t skip over this game or you may regret it forever when it’s going for $90 on eBay.

Graphics:       22

Sound:            13

Story:              18

Gameplay:     33

Total:  86

Solid Snake Award