Chrono Trigger is hard to tell you about without spoiling anything. You have this dude named Crono who goes to like a fair to see his friend Lucca, and he meets this young lady. Eventually he and the young lady, Marle, go see Lucca who is showing off one of her new inventions, when suddenly Marle disappears and Lucca and Crono have to go after her and wind up in a strange place. One thing leads to another and then they have to save the world.
This is an RPG. You get in to fights and once your bar fills up for a character, you'll be able to select a command like attack or item. Each character has individual skills called techs as well that are largely dictated by their element. This game also allows for combo attacks between two to three party members. There are 7 playable characters, one of whom is missable, and 3 usable in battle at a time. This game also has multiple potential endings.
General impressions:
I played this game just last year I believe for the first time. I'd always heard good things about it, although I was fortunate enough to never have had anything spoiled for me. Well I'm pleased to say that I can tell why this game gets so much praise! It's a lot of fun and pretty much what someone like me is looking for in an RPG. Good story, good characters, fun gameplay. The game was a bit too much on the difficult side but not impossible and it was pretty short, but I guess it is meant to be replayed. Other than that it was great.
Story:
The story was excellent. Exactly the kind of fantastical adventure I want when I play this type of game. It had some wonderfully touching moments, it was well paced and well-told, it had some great moments of suspense. I loved traveling through time and how certain things would have consequences later on in the game. There were some tears during some scenes, not gonna lie. The game really does make you feel invested in what's going on. It could be a bit campy at times but I'd say overall it was pretty epic.
Gameplay:
It was pretty good fun. It was easy to get in to, intuitive, and straightforward. It was a little bit on the hard side and there could sometimes be a bit too many encounters for my taste. But I did really like the combo attacks, I thought that was great and it rewarded you for using different parties. I also really liked how characters had different elements, I'm always a fan of that type of thing.
World:
Overall excellent. There's a lot of diversity, which is to be expected when you're traveling through time. There were so many areas that I loved exploring. The one place I hated was the future because it was so brown and grey and drab and ugly, but I guess it was supposed to be. I really liked Zeal because pretty and I also really liked the snowy area beneath it as well. Great world.
Characters:
Pretty strong cast. I didn't really like a lot of the more popular characters but I could appreciate what they did and their development. The only one I didn't really like was Marle because I felt like they were trying to tell me she was a certain way when her actions made her seem another way and she just didn't really connect for me. But I'd say it's a strong cast with interesting stories and fun to use.
Favourite character: Robo dhRABDP.jpg
Honourable mention: Ayla vVKNeUu.gif
I wasn't expecting to like these characters because well Robo isn't that cute and I'm not super in to robots and I was expecting Ayla to be a miss fanservice. She's a cave woman and she's somehow perfectly waxed and coiffed are you kidding me? But Robo was just precious and I love love love when he's doing the farming with the bandana on his head. And he was pretty cute in the game and had such touching and sweet and sad moments. Ayla turned out to just be this awesome, fun, confident and intelligent (in her own way) woman and it was just like a party having her around. She always gave me a mood boost.
Overall this is a great game with an epic story, a great world to explore, and some awesome characters that really make you care about them. I can see why it became such a classic.
Also, Frog is in it.