I don’t know how well it’s aged for a new player, but I found it very notable at the time for being dark, if not outright macabre, at times. We had very little of that in the 16-bit era.

Drawing from real-world locales and cultures was interesting, too. Ys is another series that does that to good effect.

It helps to understand that Chrono Trigger’s story was the result of a bit of a struggle between Yuji Horii (aka the Dragon Quest guy) and Masato Kato, who would later write and direct Chrono Cross. Horii’s end was light-hearted, which makes sense given his pedigree, while Kato liked darker stuff. That’s why Zeal in particular is a shift in tone from the rest of Trigger.

One of the core themes of Cross is that actions have consequences, and I personally loved how the game pulled no punches on that topic with respect to Trigger’s cast. The idea of repercussions is only hinted at in the first game, but it’s there, and the revelations on the beach are heavily foreshadowed within Cross’s story itself. It’s a grown-up narrative from an era when players were starting to demand grown-up narratives. Its reception reflects that, as well; it earned some of the highest review scores among JRPGs of its era, and it sold well enough to require reprints. This was a game that was well-received in 2000, aside from the grumblings of a few upset Trigger fans. Cross hasn’t endured simply because it was very much a game of its time, and it hasn’t aged as gracefully as Trigger (especially its visuals).

I consider Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross to be an excellent cause-and-effect pairing, and Cross’s connections to Trigger serve to enhance both games. I love the way Cross can reframe Trigger; I think it adds weight to the actions of a bunch of kids who stumble upon time portals and start messing with things. Time travel raises questions, and Cross’s story is why I mull on those questions in my head whenever I replay Trigger.

Not that I’ve come across, unfortunately. Big part of why I keep trying roguelites. I know a lot of people like Slay the Spire for roguelite card battlers but I didn’t get super into it.

My least favorite fight in the game. On my last honor mode run, Isobel started her turn by triggering Attacks of Opportunity from both Marcus and one of the undead. The second one paralyzed her, of course. She’s lucky I happened to have a cleric in that party that could Sanctuary right after, otherwise she would have been gone.

Yeah, delightful stuff. Scratched that FTL itch I’ve had for a while but also enjoyably lighthearted in its own way. Riggs is so fun.

The script was a little rough at times for sure, like plenty of the other localized games of its era, but I don’t remember it being especially bad. Terranigma was definitely worse, though, possibly due to not getting a North America release. Would love to see a project tackle that one.

I played the demo for Metaphor: ReFantazio (my thoughts are in the demo thread, in short, I think it could be a big hit) and finished Atelier Ayesha. Ayesha has my favorite story of the Atelier games so far–I’ve only played the Arland games otherwise–but I wasn’t big on either the alchemy or the combat. Felt like I barely was required to spend any time in front of the cauldron. This was also the tightest time limit for me so far although I did still have a few months to spare. I’m ready to leave the timers behind, but I’m probably not jumping to Escha & Logy and beyond for a little bit yet.

Instead, the plan for October is more Metaphor, and maybe giving Unicorn Overlord another shot since it’s our game of the month in my JRPG Discord. Beyond that, not sure. Maybe I’ll try to get a little farther in Ys IX: Monstrum Nox since Ys X is coming out this month.

“AAAA” isn’t a thing. That was just Guillemot being an idiot and flailing on an investor call.

They really leaned into the Chrono Trigger vibe with this one.

I like their marketing approach here by making a big splash at TGS. Sea of Stars also had a broader marketing approach. I’m not entirely sure how possible grassroots marketing is with this kind of thing anymore, at least in English-speaking communities. Chrono Trigger is a sacred cow in the JRPG community, and Sea of Stars got a surprising amount of backlash for not living up to those lofty expectations (yes, ridiculous ones considering CT was lightning in a bottle even among a dream team of developers and producers).

Same. I had my eye on this because anything that remotely looks like the next Pharaoh or Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom always catches my eye. There was also so. much. micro. I’d rather be shuffling citizens or buildings around than manually selecting what plants to harvest. Plus I hate the name, lol.

I’ll probably check it out again after 1.0.