I’ve recently been on an old school RPG kick and picked up Chrono Trigger which is a phenomenal game. Any other suggestions on similar games?
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Chrono Trigger is so far ahead of its time, it’s insane. Enemies visible on the field map, battles taking place directly on the field map, character positioning mattering immensely, multi-character attacks, incredible music that holds up today, a compelling story with something like 15 total endings (granted, it’s not like they’re ENTIRELY different from one another, there are a few major branches with a few variations each)… Most of these things would all but vanish from games for twenty-plus years. I remember when Final Fantasy 12 came out, it was lauded for having the enemies shown on the map and battles taking place on the map as well.
@PrinceHabib72 Chrono Trigger also had New Game+, which basically created the term for RPGs. I played another JRPG long before Chrono Trigger, where enemies was visible on the playfield in dungeons: the infamous Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (fantastic soundtrack BTW).
One of the best games ever made.
You’re goddamn right, it is.
One of the best RPGs ever made. I’d jump to either the Breath of Fire series, Wild Arms, or Suikoden. All are solid, though none quite as brilliant.
I wish Wild Arms had an official mobile port. Such a great series with no modern IP usage to take advantage of its cult status.
Best you can do for now is buy it on PlayStation store
Anbernic RG35XX or similar… Should run flawlessly
Gonna have to +1 Wild Arms and Breath of Fire 3
Wild Arms was so good
I played Wild Arms back in the day and I don’t remember too much about them although I did enjoy them all. Might be worth picking up again. Also, isn’t Suikoden getting a remake soon?
Yes it is! The first 2 games. It’s kind of an odd situation where the 2nd game is kind of a remake-ish retelling of the first game, sort of like Final Fantasy or Zelda, where it is different characters but same themes. I just thought of 2 more I could recommend! Grandia and Live a Live. Both fit nicely in Chrono Trigger’s orbit, though none are quite as good. Live a Live just got a low up and re-release recently too.
Director of Chrono Trigger, Takashi Tokita, directed Live a Live the year prior. Definitely a throughline there.
Holy hell, Tokita is a titan among devs. I had no idea that he was part of so many important games.
I almost bought Live A Live at the last Steam sale but opted to pick up the Trails in the Sky series. I was a little hesitant since you don’t play with all characters.
+1 for jumping to Suikoden II. If you love it you can check III and I
EDIT: I tried the BoF and Wild Arms sagas years ago too. The one that stood the most to me was BoF4
I should really play this someday.
But for recommendations: have you played Golden Sun perhaps?
Replayed this game so many times as a kid.
I was walking around the Iowa State Fair for an hour last summer before I realized I was whistling the theme to the Millennial Fair.
And for those who don’t know, Yasunori Mitsuda worked himself so relentlessly on the soundtrack that he ended up developing stomach ulcers that required hospitalization. You know the soundtrack is good if the composer would rather be shitting blood than let his work be less than perfect.
highly recommend chrono symphonic as an interpretation of the incredible original.
My favorite was always Frog’s theme, alternating between the triumphant knightly and the devastatingly tragic (which perfectly fit the character). Ah, what a perfect game with a soundtrack to match!
Chrono Trigger, Earthbound/Mother 2, and Seiken Densetsu 3 were the trifecta of awesome.
Nothing is exactly like Chrono Trigger, it’s in a league of its own as one of the best games of all time.
Final Fantasy 6 was released around the same time on SNES, and many people debate whether Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 6 are better, because they’re both great. 4, 5, and 6 are all really good. The Lufia series is also great.
From the same era but with much different gameplay is Terranigma, and there’s also the Legend of Mana series.
More modern examples of games that want to invoke Chrono Trigger are Septerra Core and Anachronox. Both are PC games, but they’re old enough that any reasonably modern PC can likely play them at full speed.
Terranigma, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Mana 2 are my favourite games.
I find the game play in Terranigma reminded me a bit of Zelda. I loved it.
FF6 is such a great game. I saved up and bought both of these games as a kid, lots of late nights irrigating fields and killing rattlesnakes to get those titles. Both titles were great in their own way and I can’t imagine my childhood without them. Another great game was Secret of Evermore.
I think Xenogears [same team] is absolutely in the same league and IMO a whole different bracket of excellence.
I played through disk 1 on a rental back in the day and it was amazing. I’ve heard that the ending is disappointing though.
Oh, I forgot Legend of Dragoon, that was a really cool game too.
The ending is absolutely mind blowing. The final FMV isn’t the greatest but you’ve already got the ending by the time you fight the final boss.
I know there’s all the controversy over disc 2 being rushed, but I never minded at all. It actually felt kinda refreshing after the way that most rpgs went at the time. It was all about seeing the characters change and grow over time that was really satisfying for me
There’s nothing quite like Chrono Trigger.
Dragon Quest IV/Dragon Warrior IV was a strong influence on Chrono Trigger’s medieval era. If you wanted an entire game about the Hero, DQ4 is the closest you’re ever likely to get. (Does that make Recettear a sister game to Chrono Trigger?)
Phantasy Star IV has a similarly fast-moving and cinematic plot, but the graphics and gameplay are more archaic as befits a 1993 game. Strongly recommended if you want to play older JRPGs like DQ4.
Final Fantasy VI (released as “Final Fantasy III”) is similar in quality and difficulty, but much longer and more complex.
Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross continue the story, but they have a much darker tone.
Earthbound/Mother 2 came out the same year and is another of the greats, but that’s where most of the similarities end. Earthbound might be the only 16-bit classic whose tone is “all of them”. Earthbound can be quite hard early on, so don’t get discouraged.
Play Terranigma.
Game soundtrack is bop!
I just started playing this the other night. Was one of those games as a kid I wanted to buy but for whatever reason I never did. Amazing so far.
I would really recommend Chrono Cross for the PS1. It’s set in the same world as Chrono Trigger but isn’t a direct sequel. It has some really great elements to it. I played it when I was a kid and I still revisit it every few years.
@Phyzaks For anyone not aware, there is a re-release of Chrono Cross last year! It’s available on Steam and consoles: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1133760/CHRONO_CROSS_THE_RADICAL_DREAMERS_EDITION/ (even Steam Deck verified) The graphics and art is upscaled, partly with AI, and the results got mixed receptions. And “Radical Dreamers” is included as well, according to the Steam page. Just wanted to point this out, in case emulation is complicated for some.
I played through Chrono Trigger multiple times as a teenager. It’s a fantastic game for sure.
