- Music, graphics, characters = A+ RPGAwesome game, if you like RPGs. It has very little to do with it's predecessor, Chrono Trigger, but it's a great game on it's own.
The graphics are excellent, and even hold up to todays standards. The cutscenes are incredible. And the music is so good you'll want to download a number of the songs. The story is interesting enough to keep you going through the fantasy world. Character developement is minimal because it's spread out among dozens and dozens of characters, and therefore focuses on just a few of them. Exploring the world is a lot of fun, there are various colorful & detailed locations with new foes to vanquish, items to find and new characters to recruit to your side.
The shortcoming is that the game is focused on combat, which gets very monotonous. The combat system does introduce a new style that is creative with flashy effects (and takes some getting used to), you just go through it so often over the course of the game, it becomes a nuisance. Thankfully you can avoid the encounters most of the time if you're not in the mood for it. Also, some might find it annoying that the main character does not speak at all - he has no lines of dialog. Another potential hang up for people could be that to advance the plot, you have to figure out puzzles sometimes. These range from barely challenging to "pull your hair out and scream". At least there are walkthroughs available online in case you get stumped as to where to go and what to do.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this game, there are some very memorable scenes and distinctive characters, especially the antagonist (fancy word for 'bad guy'). The cutscenes are a joy to behold and the music is beautiful and bold. It's just that whacking enemies with your weapon and casting the same old spells umpteen thousand times gets tiring. Small complaint about an excellent game though, Squaresoft (now SquareEnix) lives up to it's reputation.
