Chrono Trigger Recollections

[ZeaLitY]

I need to flesh out this idea. Basically, for the 10th birthday, we'll have:

-My big birthday bash page showcasing our best content
-The Crimson Echoes demo (priority 1)
-Other stuff
-A feature where I give a speech on Trigger

And, to supplement the last item, I want to host a recollections page where I feature a well-written, concise (pithy in nature; lot of good stuff in a small frame) paragraph documenting how they got started with the game, and why they like it. It's going to be community wide. However, I do want a Compendium forumer or two to join in, so if you can write a paragraph on how Chrono Trigger has touched you, or how you got started with it and the fun you've had, it might be featured. Good luck!

[SilentMartyr]

I did one over at CTNP, I won't repeat it here.

[Radical_Dreamer]

I remember first reading about Chrono Trigger in an issue of Nintendo Power when I was a kid. It seemed so grand, and the article promised 100 hours of game play. Unfathomable! So when the game came out, I eagerly started playing. I was not disapointed. Everything about the game is perfection. The graphics, top notch for their time, beautifully painted the once-doomed world for us; it's heroes, and it's villains. To accompany this imagery was perhaps the greatest score of the 16 bit era, with songs that actually conveyed the emotion of the scene. I still can't help but feel a rush whenever Frog's theme begins to play. It always forshadows great things for the amphibian. Speaking of which, the characters were likable and well developed, and their motivations undestandable. I still insist that there are no true villains in Chrono Trigger, as the intricate plot forces each character to strive for survival.

Amongst all of this, the defining moment of the game for me was when I first arrived in Zeal. There it was, paradise, sitting on the screen. With it's haunting melodies and beautiful visuals, Zeal is the crown jewel on this king of games. I use the map of Zeal as the background image on my computer, and sometimes I just stop and look at it, and remember the wonder from when I first arrived there. So happy 10th birthday, Chrono Trigger! I'll still be playing on your 20th!

[Crystal Zeal]

My older brother was the RPG nerd far before I ever was.  It was because of him that I was able to get into Chrono Trigger.  He had awesome SNES games -- CT, FFIV, FFVI, SMRPG, Super Mario World, Mario Paint... I started with FFIV, and I was pretty young at the time.  It always took me so long, though, because I couldn't read all that well -- hence why I prefered simpler games like CT and FFIV.  I never managed to beat FFIV the first time I played it, and instead picked up CT.  I fell in love with the game quite quickly.  I especially fell in love with Magus, which started a fan obsession that would last me quite a while.  I stil love 'im, though I can assure you much of my enthusiasm has ebbed.  I was also quite a Lucca fan, though I never became quite as hooked on her as I was on Magus (and Schala, too).  CT was the first game that I beat, and I was damn proud of myself.  As time went on and I played the game more, my knowledge of the internet grew and with it my knowledge of the game as well as my appreciation for it.  I checked out fan sites and read fanfiction and looked at fanart.  I even tried doing some fanart of my own.  The climax of my CT obsession was probably in middle school, when I was still getting the hang of RPGs, which I loved but found kind of difficult, if only because I didn't like battling a lot.  CT really helped lead me into my RPG love, with it's cool graphics, awesome story, wonderful music, and characters.  It remains one of my all-time favorite games today.

Hopefully that wasn't too scattered.  >>;  I also figured that I should do this over here instead of at Icy's.

[teh Schala]

I had seen part 1 of a two-part walkthrough feature about Chrono Trigger in Game Informer...  That issue and the ones immediately before and after it were riddled with Chrono Trigger ads throughout.  I thought it looked "stupid," though I liked the look of Marle's concept art.  So I fell for Marle before I even got the game.  (You'd never have guessed that I'd end up as a Schala fan...)  By the way, even then, there were already "What happened to Schala" questions in the magazines.

I forgot about Chrono Trigger, until one day at Blockbuster when everything else I wanted was out of stock.  I looked through the shelves for something to get, and of course, I ended up with Chrono Trigger.  I was blown away.  I rented it over and over and over, retaining much of my saved data each time.  One moron who rented it finally overwrote my save data and I was hacked off when I got the game back.

After I figured I'd gotten EVERY ending (and I had!), I quit renting it and let it fade away like any other game...but every now and then, I'd still dream of Zeal (which left me sitting in awe when I first arrived), and still wonder about the fate of Schala.  Later I got interested in it again, and almost as if on cue with my returning interest, Square announced Chrono Cross.

And the peasants rejoiced. ^_^

[V_Translanka]

Unless you count those first early Zelda games on the old 8-Bit Nintendo, my first RPG experience was FFVI (then known to me as FFIII). I was immediately hooked and eventually I beat it on Christmas. On my birthday (Sept. 13) of the following year, which would have made me around ten, I got a used SNES cart from my parents. The game? None other than Chrono Trigger. When I first put it in, I was a little turned off by the graphics. It was so different from the one and only RPG I had really ever seen that it took me a while to realize that the graphics were actually better. I played it, fell in love with the characters, fell in love with the plot, beat it, and played it again and again. Never have I played a game so many times after beating it.

Eventually, four or five years later, I went out and got Chrono Cross when it came out (again, on my birthday). I was amazed by how it looked and how it played. To know that the Chrono saga was not over was something that filled me with a real sense of joy. When Radical Dreamers was translated, I realized that the potential for the series was just as, if not greater than, that of Final Fantasy.

When PlayOnline had their forums, I was constantly in the Chrono forum talking about the series and helping people out. I didn't care how bad the forums looked and how you didn't have an avatar or anything, since it really was like my first forum (it was even more plain than GameFAQs!). Eventually this ended w/PlayOnline liquidating their forum section. Then I went to GameFAQs and went into their Chrono forums.

Then, as always happens w/me and GameFAQs, I grew tired of the boring conversations and endless blather about GameFAQs' newest poll...So I searched for other forums and came across FFInsider and SquareInsider, both of which I've been w/ever since. FFI went through many variations and eventually got rid of their Chrono forum (which I think is rediculous when they made a RagnarockOnline forum & KingdomHearts forum in its place...At least SI kept theirs, which kept me happy...for a while...

The Chrono community in SI was limited. FFI & SI are basically sister-sites and the main community for both are FF fans. I wanted a CHRONO forum for Chrono fans. So I went to IcyBrian, and found that they don't like reviving dead threads even if you have something intelligent to add...

I actually don't remember, it was probably through another stint in GameFAQs, but I found my way into the Chrono Compendium after everyone had just set up after cutting off from the OCR thread. I've been enjoying coming and discussing the series immensely. The people here are some of the most intelligent I've ever e-known.

Here's to another ten years and another ten games!

[ZeaLitY]

Thanks everyone. As it stands, V Translanka will close this feature. Works so well.

[SolidSnake_8608]

I never really got into RPG's until the day i played CT, i never really even played an RPG up until that point, but as soon as i popped the cartridge in, i don't think i stopped playing it until i completely beat the game over and over again.  I remember i had borrowed it from a friend, so when he wanted it back, i had to pay like 80 bucks to Gamestop for a copy, then, like an idiot, i sold it a year later and had to track it down a few years agofor like 70 bucks.  Luckily i kept it, and now i own the psx version as well. I will never forget the impact that Chrono Trigger had on my views as a gamer, it really opened me to RPG's, and the art style of Akira Toriyama helped me to persue my own art career. Now i am currently majoring in illustration, and CT really motivated me to see if i could ever create something so great as that game.

[SolidSnake_8608]

Has anyone ever played any CT games that have been  edited through roms or anything?

[eternal_magus]

The Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes demo has been released recently, that is a ROMhack made with Temporal Flux. It's pretty good although there are quite a few bugs...

The only other ones that I know of is the Temporal Flux romhack to show off the programs features and some of the text hacks to make the characters say stupid things.

Also, please try to stay on topic?

[Kazuki]

I never really got into RPG's until the day i played CT, i never really even played an RPG up until that point, but as soon as i popped the cartridge in, i don't think i stopped playing it until i completely beat the game over and over again.  I remember i had borrowed it from a friend, so when he wanted it back, i had to pay like 80 bucks to Gamestop for a copy, then, like an idiot, i sold it a year later and had to track it down a few years agofor like 70 bucks.  Luckily i kept it, and now i own the psx version as well. I will never forget the impact that Chrono Trigger had on my views as a gamer, it really opened me to RPG's, and the art style of Akira Toriyama helped me to persue my own art career. Now i am currently majoring in illustration, and CT really motivated me to see if i could ever create something so great as that game.

The entries into the recollections are closed, as it occured 8/22 and has been complete for nearly a month.

Also, double posting = bad. Use the edit button instead.

[PrincessNadia]

I was never really into video games until about the time CT came out. My son (in his late teens at the time) got hold of it, and I found I enjoyed watching him play it. The story sucked me in, and I wanted to give it a try. My son said I'd never be able to figure it out(he didn't mean it in a bad way, just that I had no experience with videogames), so I decided to give it a try. I've been hooked ever since!

[Big_Mac]

Unfortunately for me, my experience for Chrono Trigger has started in the past few years. I remember reading an issue of EGM and it was listed as one of the 150 greatest games. So I downloaded it as a rom and began playing it. I had mostly been into the Final Fantasy's and Chrono Trigger was a new experience for me. Needless to say, I am now a hooked fan and I graciously await a re-release onto the GBA, if that happens.

[justin3009]

My love for Chrono Trigger started when I was 7.  i remember playing it for a bit then had to return it =( Damn renting, but then when I was 10, I refound the ROM and played it like mad.  And my obsession for CT is still growing evermore even when i'm 16 now...Just shows how great of a game this was.