Still quite an awesome game to this day, though looking back it still isn't the best.
That day I picked up Chrono Trigger for the (now completely insane) price of 69.99 US dollars. Wow, that's a alot. But it's all worth it.
In basic terms, this is an RPG collaboration between the greatest RPG makers known to man. It's a story about time travel, but also a great plot about the concequences of one's actions, a deep moral tale that never becomes judgmental or too heavy handed for its own good. Lavos remains an omnipresent threat to all mankind, and it's your job to slay him. Yet, unlike in other RPG, Lavos isn't your main villain per say. The world of Chrono Trigger has an unbelievable mythology that pans all eras of time; the great part of the game is that all the different time lines don't feel like they are disconnected when it comes to the story. Though you discover Lavos pretty early, you don't discover his real origins until later, where there is a huge conspiracy spanning the history of the world. This is no Back to the Future, my friends.
On the gameplay front, it does just fine. Taking a page from the Final Fantasy book of gameplay, you have your basic attacks and magic. What makes the battle system wholly unique, however, is the Tech system. Depending on which members of the party you have currently, you can use a huge assortement of different attacks that involve 2 or all three members of the party in a dervish of destruction. This adds a huge amount of depth to the gameplay, and you can really define the way you want to play in the fashion. For example, Frog the swordsman is great with weapons, and combining him with our main man Crono produces the X-Strike, which is a greatly damaging physical attack. There's quite a few, with all different attriubutes. Some of the Tech attacks are really hidden deep within the game, requiring special relics even to obtain. There aren't alot of random battles; you can see enemies on the map before you get attacked, which is a nice and realistic touch. Considering the amount of time you are going to spend on battles, the fact you get to pick them (most of the time; there are some instances where it is unavoidable) when you want helps to break with the tedium.
My gosh, the bosses are inventive. Each really requires some strategy, especially the later ones. What I love about old school RPGs is that sense of dread fighting bosses; it really used to require skill and, in reality, some luck that the computer would do something stupid. Each one is pretty memorable, especially later in the game with multi-tiered boss battles. It's pretty insane.
The soundtrack was very memorable, featuring some excellent work by Nobuo Uematsu and others. It has that epic feel that RPGs should, and really enhance the game experience. It made games cinematic before there were cinematics
Although it's got everything you want, I look back at it and say "This was sorta frustrating". I will admit it was NOT an easy game by any means. You will get frustrated and stuck if you don't prepare. The puzzle sections are especially annoying; finding out where to go and when is sometimes a hassle. Also, while the graphical appeal looked great back in the day, it isn't as timeless a look as, say, Final Fantasy IV. That RPG was pretty iconic, and I can still remember the ways the characters looked. Not so with Chrono Trigger. It just reminds me of DBZ a little too much. Granted, they are pretty great graphics for the system and hold up well, but it isn't as awesome as some reviews may lead you to believe.
Also, the game is fairly linear to a fault; you aren't going to be doing many side quests (there are all of 12, for goodness sake) and not even until the end of the game. Also, I see no reason to replay the game (unless you want to see the other endings). The alternate endings don't really give one much to observe and aren't all that awesome. Closure, is what they're lacking. Is it really worth fighting Lavos 12 times? Not really.
It a good game, but overhyped I believe. Final Fantasy, while not looking as good on this system generation, still had a much deeper story (and a talking protagonist; thank you Square!). Obviously I recommend it, but the flaws are pretty big and could be a bit much for gamers not weaned on the old school.