THE ULTIMATE DEBATE: Final Fantasy VI vs. Chrono Trigger

[Forsaken Lover]

Which is the true king of SNES JRPGs? I will finally be embarking on my Chrono campaign starting next month thanks to PSN and in the meantime I figured I'd see which of these two much beloved titles is more popular on this forum.

But hold! Seldom are things so simple as A is totally better than B. Let us examine different categories and see which game is better.

Better Story?

Better Characters?

Better Gameplay?

Better Soundtrack?

Better World/Towns?

I soon hope to be able to offer up opinions on all this once I have finally beaten CT.

(SPOILER)Saying that EartHBound is the true king of SNES JRPGs is an acceptable answer.

[VeloZer0]

I'll get to this in the morning, but Earthbound is completely overrated and anyone who says it is amazing is only doing so because revering an obscure title makes them feel special.

[Wolf Kanno]

Chrono Trigger is better, I'll get back to why later cause I'm mentally exhausted at the moment and don't feel like posting a wall of text.

[Pumpkin]

As someone who recently enough finished CT, I would say its hard to compare because they both just "feel" different to me, if that even makes sense. but I shall try

Better Story?
Ahh this is a hard one. I like both of their stories but I have to say I found VI to be more... interesting to me

Better Characters?
Going to have to go with VI for this one too. I didn't mind most of the CT characters but there were more characters I cared about in VI

Better Gameplay?
I think I preferred playing CT to VI. It was easier and I didn't have to input stupid button combos (Sabin )

Better Soundtrack?
No idea hahaha

Better World/Towns?
I preferred CT's towns. They were 'lighter' for lack of a better term and there were some pretty ones.

So a tie I guess, yaaaay

[Bright Shield]

Chrono Trigger, but it's extremely close.

[VeloZer0]

Now that I think about it, my answer in each category is just about the same. FF6 as more involved and deeper, but at the same time a lot broader. CT used it's more limited scope to deliver a lot tighter experience. If I was to break it down by each element then FF6 would probably win the balance of the categories, but CT did a better job of putting all it's elements together and hence had a better overall gameplay experience.

Which is why I don't like thinking about the different elements of a game in isolation.

[NeoCracker]

Story
As for the over all plot... I'm giving this one to FF VI. Including atmosphere in this, the story of FF VI holds a lot more consistent weight and gravity then Chrono Trigger, though at it's high points Chrono does rise above it, such as Zeal. This was a really close call.

Characters
This one goes to Trigger. Chrono stands as my third favorite silent Protaganist next to Ryu of the Breath of fire games (BoF II and III's both win out). The history and story between Frog and Magus is wonderful, and really the rest of the cast, Marle being the exception, is fantastic. As great as teh FF VI playable cast is, trigger wins it for PC's.

As far as NPC's go, Trigger lags behind FF VI, though really neither one are great in this regard.

Villains goes to FF VI. As great as Lavos is as this force of nature the characters fight against, I just didn't feel the same urgency in that fight as I did against Kefka. And Ghestal was great for that first half of the game. Trigger comes close with some amazing arcs with Zeal and the Reptites.

Gameplay

This one has to go to Trigger. It's gameplay was not only better at the time, but has aged extremely well in comparison.

Soundtrack
...Chrono Trigger. FF VI may have the single best track, Dancing Mad, though triggers High points are just to many, my personal favorites being Frog and Magus's themes.

World/Towns
I think FF VI had the better world. Again, Zeal being the exception to Trigger, there were just so many unique and interesting parts of the FF VI world, a couple of the best examples being the Village of the Magi and the underground castle you find in the WoR.

On a whole, I give this one to Trigger. FF VI wasn't really far ahead in terms of plot and world, and while Trigger was slightly ahead in characters (Aside from Villains), the absolutely fantastic game play wins it. Were gameplay on par with FF VI, I feel it wouldn't have won out.

[Del Murder]

Final Fantasy VI is better. I'll describe why later because [excuse]

[Wolf Kanno]

Now that I think about it, my answer in each category is just about the same. FF6 as more involved and deeper, but at the same time a lot broader. CT used it's more limited scope to deliver a lot tighter experience. If I was to break it down by each element then FF6 would probably win the balance of the categories, but CT did a better job of putting all it's elements together and hence had a better overall gameplay experience.

Which is why I don't like thinking about the different elements of a game in isolation.

Now that I have had more time to dwell on this, this statement is pretty much where I am heading on this. I felt VI was more innovated and emotionally raw but CT kind of took what VI was doing and refined it into something really solid. The open ended final act in both games were a novelty only they really shared and frankly CT did a better job weaving it into a strong narrative for instance. VI is more of an experimental auteur type of game whereas CT was a more refined experience incorporating several of the same game design and story themes.

Trying to break the games elements down to categories and doing a comparison I often find that they come out pretty even in most regards and it largely comes down to which element you value more. For instance VI probably has more well written and emotionally driven characters but CT's full cast is actually very well developed all around whereas VI has a few people who could have used more screen time or better justification. Both games bring new elements to combat with VI focusing on making each character feel distinct from each other and incorporating experimental customization and interactive gameplay, whereas CT experimented with a system that focused on seamless transitions from dungeon, story, and gameplay with its novel encounter system and a combat system with heavy focus on party configuration and orientation in the battlefield. Both have their positive and negative factors so it really comes down to preference.

In terms of plot, I feel CT is better about consistency with a narrative that stays throughout the game whereas many people complain that VI's plot flounders once you reach the ruined world but to be fair to VI, it was always more of a character drama with the plot serving as an excuse to get them all involved whereas CT is both plot and character driven and imho well executed in this regard which is something Square and especially SE has been unable to recreate since. Still VI's story is more raw and doesn't shy away against brutality and mature themes whereas CT tries to stay a bit more family friendly even though the implications of the story are often fridge horror. So do you want raw passion or a refined subtle execution?

OST is much harder, on the one hand each game features my personal favorite track from each composer, VI is probably my favorite OST from Nobuo while CT is my second favorite from Mitsuda but both game pretty much do their jobs excellently so I can't really pick one over the other.

As I said it really comes down to what you want out of a game.

[Colonel Angus]

Super Mario RPG

[Bolivar]

One of the big reasons why FFVI never stood out to me is because I made the mistake of playing it after finishing Chrono Trigger. CT is a superior game in almost all of those categories, although the all-Nobuo soundtrack of VI might win out in the music department and I thought FFVI had superb customization and dungeon design, so it might also win out on the gameplay front.

You should know the King of SNES RPGs is Dragon Quest V, though, FL Or Tactics Ogre...

[metagloria]

Chrono Trigger, and it's not close. I never played either in their heyday, so I'm judging both on equal terms from a later perspective.

[The Man]

Better Story? FFVI, and it's not close.

Better Characters? FFVI, though this is close.

Better Gameplay? Chrono Trigger. This isn't close either.

Better Soundtrack? FFVI, though this is also close. However, the three best songs either game features are all in FFVI (Dancing Mad, the opera, the ending theme).

Better World/Towns? FFVI, though some of CT's individual locations (Zeal) are arguably better than anything in FFVI.

I never played either in their heyday either.

[Forsaken Lover]

One of the big reasons why FFVI never stood out to me is because I made the mistake of playing it after finishing Chrono Trigger. CT is a superior game in almost all of those categories, although the all-Nobuo soundtrack of VI might win out in the music department and I thought FFVI had superb customization and dungeon design, so it might also win out on the gameplay front.

You should know the King of SNES RPGs is Dragon Quest V, though, FL Or Tactics Ogre...

I know the DQ games have been going on for a while but nobody ever recommends them. I always assumed they were bare-bones RPGs with little plot or characters worth remembering and I'm primarily interested in JRPGs for plot/characters.

[The Man]

Dragon Quest V and VI actually have some pretty strong customisation options, though they're probably not as customisable as FFVI. They remind me of the job system, actually. Furthermore, the plot and characters of both games are pretty strong. I regard FFVI and CT as a step up from DQV and VI, but they're still worth playing and DQV is in my top five SNES RPGs.