One...two...three...
NECROMANCY.
I discovered the series in early 2005 but I didn't actually play the game until 2007. One of my friends had a SNES emulator and said he wanted to show me
Chrono Trigger, which was a game he had loved when he was a kid. I watched him up until Manoria Cathedral, where he got stuck. XD Apparently he didn't know you had to hit all of the skulls to open the secret passage?? (I should also let you know that, while this was a game he loved as a kid, he never finished it.)
Despite only seeing a wee bit of the game, I was captivated. It was the opening sequence that did it. Even before the game started, I was blown away. Of course, I had no idea what anything meant, but I wanted to find out really badly. The song was epic, the scenes were enchanting, and there was just the right mixture of "Wow, that looks awesome!" ("Floating continents!" "Holy shit, that is the most badass castle ever!") and "WTF??!!" ("Was that a rainbow FROG that just jumped on the enemies???")
I never got a chance to play it after my friend showed me the game, but I did download the theme song when I got my own computer a year later. Uh...I mean...I totally and completely legally bought the song.
My next Chrono dosage was two years after I first became aware of CT, in January 2007. A friend had installed ZSNES on my computer so that I could play my beloved LttP (and other SNES games) whenever I wanted to. I had just started dating this handsome gentleman named D, who (upon learning that I had ZSNES) asked if I had ever played his favourite game of all time--
Chrono Trigger. I told him I knew about the game but hadn't played it and he was shocked. He first played it when he was 12 in 1998 and had beaten it multiple times.
He then proceeded to play through the entire game for me. One of my favourite things to do in the entire world is watch people play video games. I've seen D play through so many. It's one of my "awesome date" scenarios. I know I'm the ideal gamer girlfriend. XD XD XD
I know the screen is blurry as all hell, but that's D livin' it up in 2300 AD on my clunky old computer. Beginning of true love right there! And um, that's...silver Sharpie on my keyboard.
And the rest is history. If you thought I was hooked simply watching the opening, well then...you have no idea how giddy I was watching D play through the game. He didn't give me any spoilers, so there was many a "WHAAAT ARE THEY SERIOUS AHHH" moment.
Although...he DID set me up to like Magus. Very early on I asked him who his favourite character was, and he said it was someone you recruited later in the game who used a different kind of magic than anyone else and who was a complete badass. Upon deciding whether or not to kill Magus, I practically shouted "NO DON'T KILL HIM!" I've always had a soft spot for him. His castle has always been my favourite part of the game. The creepy music is awesome.
D finished the game, and then I started playing right away. I didn't play Cross until this summer, using a New Game + from a finished game of D's from waaaaay back when. It's been almost three years after he first urged me to play the game and we're still a giggling pair of Chrono nerds. I love it.
So you can thank Magus' Castle, Frog Squash, and D for my presence here.