Chrono Trigger: Difference between revisions

''Chrono Trigger'' features standard RPG gameplay with several innovations. The player controls the protagonist and his companions in the game's 2D fictional world, consisting of various forests, cities, and dungeons. Navigation occurs via an overworld map, depicting the landscape from a scaled down overhead view. Areas such as forests, cities, and similar places are depicted as more realistic scaled down maps, in which players can converse with locals to procure items and services, solve puzzles and challenges, or encounter enemies. ''Chrono Trigger'''s gameplay deviates from that of traditional RPGs in that, rather than appearing in random encounters, many enemies are openly visible on field maps or lie in wait to ambush the party. Contact with enemies on a field map initiates a battle that occurs directly on the map rather than on a separate battle screen.

''Chrono Trigger'' uses an Active Time Battle system named "Active Time Battle 2.0". Each character can take action in battle once a personal timer dependent on the character's speed statistic counts to zero. Magic and special physical techniques are handled through a system called "[[Tech]]s". Techs deplete a character's [[MP|magic points]], and often have special areas of effect; some spells damage huddled monsters, while others can harm enemies spread in a line. Enemies often change positions during battle, creating opportunities for tactical Tech use. A unique feature of ''Chrono Trigger''s Tech system is that numerous cooperative techniques exist. Each character receives eight personal Techs which can be used in conjunction with others' to create Double and Triple Techs for greater effect. When characters with compatible Techs have enough magic points available to perform their techniques, the game automatically displays the combo as an option.

{{Spoiler|CT's plot}}

===Setting===

===Characters===

{{see also|Timeline of Chrono Trigger}}

After meeting and repairing Robo, Crono and his friends begin to travel through time, assisted by [[Gaspar]], an old [[Guru|sage]] at the End of Time, to collect more allies, items, and information and face Lavos. Their party expands to include Ayla and Frog. They come to learn that Lavos was an alien being that descended upon the planet millions of years in the past and began to absorb DNA and energy from every creature on it, eventually having enough power to rise and raze the planet's surface in 1999 A.D. However, Lavos' presence had been discovered by [[Queen Zeal]] in 12,000 B.C. The Queen believed she could summon Lavos and harness its power to achieve immortality, and caused the her son, Janus, and the three Gurus, Gaspar, [[Melchior]], and [[Balthasar]], to be spread throughout time, preventing them from collaborating and stopping Lavos' return.

''Chrono Trigger'' was produced by [[Kazuhiko Aoki]] while director credits were attributed to [[Akihiko Matsui]], [[Yoshinori Kitase]] and [[Takashi Tokita]]. Supervisors included [[Hironobu Sakaguchi]], producer and creator of the Final Fantasy series, and [[Yūji Horii]], director and creator of the Dragon Quest series. The game was originally developed without involvement from Tokita and Kitase, the latter being busy directing Final Fantasy VII.

''Chrono Trigger'' used a 32-megabit cartridge with battery-backed RAM for saved games, lacking special on-cartridge coprocessors. The Japanese release of ''Chrono Trigger'' included art for the game's ending and running counts of items in the player's status menu. Developers created the North American version before adding these features to the original build, inadvertently leaving in vestiges of ''Chrono Trigger'' 's early development such as the song "Singing Mountain".  Hironobu Sakaguchi asked translator [[Ted Woolsey]] to localize ''Chrono Trigger'' for English audiences and gave him roughly thirty days to work. Lacking the help of a modern translation team, he memorized scenarios and looked at drafts of commercial player's guides to put dialogue in context. Woolsey later reflected that he would have preferred two-and-a-half months, and blames his rushed schedule on the prevailing attitude in Japan that games were child's toys rather than serious works. Some of his work was cut due to space constraints, though he still considered the game "one of the most satisfying games I ever worked on or played." Nintendo of America censored certain dialogue, including references to breastfeeding, consumption of alcohol, and religion. Square shipped the game with two world maps, and Japanese buyers who pre-ordered received holographic foil cards.