Chrono Trigger and FF6: very, very overrated

Post Reply New Topic

As a fan of both Chrono Trigger and FF6, I agree with some points and disagree with others. True, the games seem simplistic to us modern gamers, because now we have complicated and engaging games like Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Dragon Warrior 8, Deus Ex, System Shock, Fallout and Mass Effect to play, and Chrono Trigger and FF6 are very primitive next to them,and they are. But you need to see them in the context of the time they were released. The videogame community of 1995 wasn't as sophisticated as it is now, the type of games that were popular were platformers like Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario,Kirby, Metroid,Castlevania, and arcade games like the many different street fighters and many different shooters. Not knocking those games, there great and challenging games, but they are really kinda simple. No story, no complicated gameplay mechanics, just pure gameplay.

Role Playing games were very unpopular and viewed as inaccessible to the average gamer, most of the Japan-based ones were never released in the US and the ones that were made in America were only made for computers and completely insular to the console gaming community. Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger( and Super Mario RPG, but it's irrelevant to the subject) changed all of that. They were the first RPGs to gain some popularity in the US and make releasing RPGs for console viable,and the reason FF6 and Chrono Trigger were successful was because of the things the OP complained about.

Both games were simple and accessible enough to the average gamer,but different enough from what was popular at the time to be seen as original. The gameplay was very challenging at the time to gamers raised on twitch gameplay, because it demanded you to stop and think and be patient. At the same time the gameplay was faster than most RPGs thanks to the time meter that forced you to think on the fly. The leveling up was also very simply compared to the dungeon and dragon inspired computer RPGs of the day, there were no classes, no skill points to allocate, the characters come prepared and willing to fight, no need for preparation.

But the thing that made both these games popular was the stories. While they might seem cliched and melodramatic to modern gamers, to old-school gamers the fact that they even had stories was incredible. Made the games seem big and important, that you were apart of a epic tale, that you were ROLE PLAYING. It was a big deal back then to a generation raised on expecting games to be gameplay and nothing else.

Both these games have had a big effect on the videogame industry. They marked a move were cinematics became important, as well as story and presentation. Of course, this marked Square's move toward story over gameplay, and so if this is a good thing or a bad thing is up toward your interpretation, but you still can't deny the effect these two games had on the industry.

ff4 is perfect, that is lost on me the story was predictable, i still wonder to this day how in the world cecil was ever a ruthless killer, he attitude was submissive and like he never had what it took to ever murder people, everyone says he's so deep i had him read like a book with in the first few minutes.

as far as difficulty i played the ds version first and first playthrough was grueling and unfair. there were many places i was going through an area would survive by shear luck. the psp version though was easy compared to the ds i kept killing bosses left and right long before i even realized they were getting low on health like they had 50% less health. heck the cpu didn't kill me the first round, heck on the ds the cpu nearly killed me right at the start of the battle on the third playthrough.

the psp version needs some tweaks though like being able to cast protect, shell, haste, blink, etc.. on the whole party, i fought zeromus with no buffs due to i wasn't wasting the time to buff everyone one by one. besides he was easy anyway ds was harder. lso a limited carry weight on the psp version is pathetic, i know it's a remake but the psp is not the nes it has alot more power and capacity then nes. there is no excuse for limiting a console that clearly doesn't need it, the nes was not as high tech and couldn't store as much data so it had to be nerfed somewhere.

and level up stat nerfs is the worst game element in an rpg espeashily when they are random, i could have rosa cure and use magic like white mage should at still get a magic stat nerf when she leveled. wtf...

it's a decent game but no where near perfect.

FFVI a and Chrono Trigger will always be on the top of my favorite RPGs. Yes, I played each in the year they were released. My experience with RPGs prior to those games were Dragon Warrior I-IV and Crystalis. I remember first playing FFVI and not being able to get past the Whelk, and I almost gave up. I just causally changed my tactics, and I beat him. I was amazed that they put such a not straightforward boss right at the beginning of the game, and it really piqued my interest once again. Then there was the challenge of fending off the Empire from Terra using Locke and the Moogles, using multiple parties. The weapons and spells were awesome because they were animated, unlike the Dragon Warrior series where the only way you know you attack was successful was if the enemy blinked or not. The party fighting system something that I had seen before, but again, so early in the game! An then in Narshe, the detail of the town and the machines working, very nice. I hadn't seen that great of detail before. On top of that, the soundtrack seemed to have a quality that I had never heard before in a game.

I became obsessed with the game as much as a kid that didn't have any frame of reference of the game outside their self. Chrono Trigger was pretty good as well, but it was FFVI that opened my eyes to the potential RPGs can have depending on the advancement of the system it was played on. If I played Chrono Trigger and FFVI before I played the DW series, I can see not really thinking too much about them, and I say that to relate to the kids that didn't grow up in the time FFVI and Chrono Trigger first came out. But I do think the more modern RPGs are losing touch with it's audience. I quit playing the FF series in the middle of X, it just couldn't hold my interest anymore. I have since moved away from the FF series.

I haven't forgotten the DW series either. Right now, I'm playing DWVII, and I'm 40 hours into it, and it looks like I'm not even halfway through it

I wonder why there has been a Chrono Trigger sequel out recently.

People should really stop using the term "overrated" to mean "I didn't like something popular".

RPGs aren't usually considered good because of the difficulty, especially since difficult in an RPG usually means grinding a lot to level up. Story and characters are what I think of when I think of why an RPG is good, and I'd have a hard time seeing how anyone would think that FF6's weren't excellent.

I am not really a big fan of Square's games but FF6 is overrated? The honor should go to FF7 right? FF6 has easily one of the best story in the series with a villain that destroyed the world unlike a certain emo who did nothing except kill someone I practically didn't cared for
I would said that FF6 is underrated thanks to 7
And I think that you are being a troll by saying that the glory of video game is over
Hello? Skyrim, Mass Effect ,Witcher, Deus Ex,Dragon Age Origins, Kingdoms of Amular,Fallout just for RPG alone (I admit that the glory days of JRPG is over)
People keep saying that graphics has ruined gameplay but I said that because of the rise of technology, it is now possible to have great graphics and great gameplay A perfect marriage

Even though I prefer western RPGs now, no other game will ever impact me as much as Suikoden 2 (Fans will know why)

What about Phantasy Star

I really can't agree. You seem to be basing them on difficulty and strategy alone. I find FF6 extremely tough and it pretty much forces you to grind(still stuck very early on at this supposed decisive battle), but maybe I'm just bad at RPGs. On the other hand, I find Chrono Trigger very easy aside from some of its boss battles. Difficulty alone, though, does not make a game good or bad. I'd rather be challenged than not(and then it has to be fair, too), but there are things like story, characters, music, sidequests, pacing, art design and graphics, etc., all to take into account. I can't speak much for FF6 as I have not gotten very far, but Chrrono Trigger has got to be one of my favorite games for such a nice blend of all these different aspects, difficult or no.

Ever considered that people enjoy Final Fantasy games primarily for the immersion/story line? Play an eSport for a challenge. FF was always about relaxation and the story for me...

I wouldn't call FF6 or CT "masterpieces," but they were unmistakable classics and fitting representations of the genre. They also represented the time in my youth where I spent many hours playing and cursing at an SNES.

But what do I know... I still play VOGONS in DOSBox and have fun doing it.

No, I don't think they're overrated. You can't go back to games that are over a decade old and assess their worth in comparison to modern games. For the time they were fantastic games. Whilst they pale next to the output of western RPG studios like Bioware and Bethesda, they're still in many ways on par or superior to numerous RPGs that have come out of Japan this generation.

The Japanese market doesn't seem to have had much adaptability to the longer, more expensive development cycles that this generation of console hardware has brought. Their best output has been either on portables, or have been games with smaller budgets or target audiences. The lower costs involved and thus the increased ability to justify creative risks may well be the reason for this.

The absolutely stellar Demon's/Dark Souls series has been the best JRPG franchise to come from this generation on console releases. They were developed by a relatively small studio with a limited budget and despite being very niche titles, they've apparently sold well. Sony has publicly lamented not choosing to publish Demon's Souls, due to their initial view that it was a terrible game.

Valkyria Chronicles was an excellent tactical RPG that was as immense a critical success as it was a commercial flop. Despite being very Japanese with anime inspired graphics and teenage protagonists, the gameplay was lifted more from Western titles such as Jagged Alliance and Silent Storm. The franchise has since continued, but has migrated to the PSP where development costs are much lower and has since gone on to have greater commercial success.

I've heard very good things about Xenoblade Chronicles, though I don't own a Wii and can't attest to that. Owing to it being developed for the comparatively underpowered Wii, it would have been developed with a much smaller budget than if it had been developed for either the PS3 or Xbox360. It is known for developing the ideas in Final Fantasy XII's battle system further, a system that was derided as much it was liked, by many who said that it was overcomplicated and that mastery of the system caused the game to play itself. It's telling that Square-Enix, the developer that created FFXII, with its enormous budgets and extremely long development cycles chose not to revisit this system in later games and instead chose to simplify its gameplay in its next franchise installment to focus more on its graphics. (For example, the developers chose to make the game extremely linear and not incorporate towns because doing so would require them to scale back their graphics).

JRPGs, at least those divorced from more popular genres such as action adventures are for the most part niche titles. In the future I'm guessing that the most successful titles will continue the trend started this generation of being the smaller scale, less expensive products that can afford to take greater creative risks.