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Chrono Trigger

 
Back in the SNES days, RPG fans were blessed with Chrono Trigger. This game was considered a masterpiece and some say that its the greatest RPG of all time.

Story: 6/10
This is the only part of the game that is somewhat lacking. Just about every character has little to no back story to them. You dont know who they are.

The game starts out with you playing a young boy named Chrono whos just getting out of bed. He suddenly rushes to a fair thats in town and bumps into a girl named Marle. They instantly become friends and they start exploring around the fair. They later come upon a demonstration of a warp machine being shown there. The presenters of the machine are looking for someone who wants to help demonstrate the machine in action. Chrono is suddenly volunteered and he tries it out. It's a success. Then Marle wants to try it out for herself. As soon as she steps on the warp pad, something goes wrong. A time portal is created and Marle is flung into it. Chrono decides to go after her. He jumps into the time portal and ends up in the past. The story has many plot twists, but you could find better story in a game elsewhere.

Control: 9/10
The game controls amazingly. Whether during battle, or just running around in a field, you have full control over everything. In towns, you are able to run or walk in all of the 8 directions. But in the over world, where you go from place to place, youre limited by only going in 4 directions. Theres nothing wrong with that, but being able to move diagonally would've been nice.

Graphics: 10/10
Wow, just wow. These are among the best graphics that youll ever see on the SNES. With great detail like the characters hair blowing in the wind. It's all so smooth and its executed perfectly. All of the attacks in the game look beautiful. Especially the big magic attacks that are big and flashy. They all just blend in perfectly with the characters and the surroundings in the game.

Sound: 10/10
Excellent. Between the magic and sword sound effects, to the many different music tunes in the game, there's nothing to complain about. Theyre all very catchy and youll enjoy listening to them. The sound effects are done to perfection like when Chrono slashes someone with a sword, you hear the sound of the sword slicing into something at the exact moment that it hits. Some people may not like that every single battle, besides boss battles, have the same exact tune to them. I found the tune very catchy and I really didnt mind hearing it a couple hundred times during the game.

Gameplay: 10/10
Yet again, another category that really excels in this game. The battles are quick and you need to choose your attacks fast. If you just sit there wondering what youre going to do, the enemy is just going to keep attacking you. This may be a turn based RPG, but only to an extent. There are also no random battles in the game. You see enemies wonder around the place and its up to you if you want to fight them or not. These enemies can either stand still or move around very fast so some fights are easier to dodge then others.

Lasting Appeal: 8/10
This game will have you playing for awhile. It's not the longest game in the world, but it does have a lot of reasons for you to replay it. There are many side quests in here thatll take some time to complete. Most end in getting powerful weapons for each character. Some side quests are very challenging, not because theyre actually hard, but its really hard to find out what to do next. Almost to the point of frustration.

There are also 13 different endings. Most are nearly impossible to obtain unless you have a source telling you how to get them. I've seen them all and I have to say that some are better than others. Some seem to have been just thrown together in about 5 seconds.

Another good part in the game is that when you finish it, you're given a choice to start the game over with all of the same items and experience that you ended your last game with. That means that youre at the same level as the when you beat the final boss. This does make the game very easy, but you do get the satisfaction of going back to earlier bosses that may have caused you trouble and beating the living hell out of them. Going back in the game makes getting the extra endings a lot easier because most of the endings are acquired in throughout the progress of the game, and at the end of it.

So overall, you should find good reason to keep playing the game even after beating it. Many will probably pass on getting the endings though, its very hard to find them.

Overall: 9.4/10
This is a great RPG that any RPG fan that owns an SNES should definitely acquire. If you dont have your SNES anymore, I suggest getting an emulator and playing this. Its still great despite the fact that it came out 9 years ago. Some may find it challenging, but its well worth keeping at it and playing it to the very end. Even if you're not too big into RPGs, this is still worth a look. You may be surprised when you get hooked on it. This is old school games at it's almost finest.

Story: 6/10
Control: 9/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Lasting Appeal: 8/10

Overall: 9.4/10

-Ryan Bond (Wariobetheman)