FYI, you cannot marry a videogame.
Believe me, when Chrono Trigger DS came out, I tried.
Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite games ever, possibly my absolute favorite ever (although that usually largely depends on what I’m playing). Every aspect of it has always stood out as the pinnacle of what I love about games: a fun and creative battle system, an intensely well-written story (even after going through the translation process), likeable and identifiable characters, philosophical undertones about the nature of God, time, the planet, and the motivations of mankind without trying to smack you in the face with its big, floppy, Nietzsche-loving cock (like Xenogears did), and some of the best graphics ever seen in the second dimension, not to mention an amazing soundtrack. I’m very particular about things I love. Some might say I’m very passionate about them. Others, my wife for instance, might say that I’m a borderline alcoholic who snaps like a twig and goes ballistic at the slightest hint of something not going my way. So, naturally, it was extremely important to me that every one of these elements was executed perfectly.
Thankfully, despite the bad rap they’re getting concerning their newer games, Square-Enix still knows how to treat their old franchises. To illustrate this point, here’s a fun fact: I’ve bought Final Fantasy 2/4 4 times. Every single time it was a special experience. If another new version comes out, I’ll probably buy it too. The game just never gets old to me. I don’t feel bad about buying them, either. You can say whatever you want about a company releasing their old games over and over, but (and this is especially true of Chrono Trigger) it gives people a chance to play a game they may have heard about many times but never gotten to play, and in the case of people like me, gives people a chance to play a game they’ve played many times and have fond memories of in new ways. The biggest problem I have with the complaints of companies (especially Square and Nintendo) shovelling remakes out the door is that they seem to always ignore the positive aspects of these releases. They allow companies an opportunity to make a good profit on a product that has been proven to be considered good and which gamers actually want that more often than not goes directly into the development of other new games. It’s similar to how I feel about World of Warcraft. I don’t care for it personally, and I mock it at every junction, but I’d never suggest it shouldn’t exist, because with the nigh-infinite funds Blizzard receives from it, they’re able to produce games like Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2.
So anyway, Chrono Trigger. It’s exactly as good as I remember it (from when I beat it last a few months ago), but with some added features I like a lot. I really enjoy the addition of the ending counter, which will actually tell you when you’ve finished all the games endings, something I’ve never been able to do because of my tendency to try to squeeze all the life out of the game I can get, which means I always beat Lavos by going through the Black Omen at the end, the longest possible route through. I would have loved the music box option if I didn’t already have the soundtrack, and the addition of the videos from the Playstation version were a nice bonus I wasn’t expecting.
The most important addition, of course, are the new map areas. Most of the reviews I’ve read tend to concur that they’re repetitive. I, personally, enjoyed them quite a bit. Then again, I’m not the most objective person to review them, because I’m going to love them either way. New maps = more Chrono Trigger. Honestly, I thought the Dimensional Vortex areas were decently laid out but focused too much on battles instead of exploration, and suffered a bit as a result. After completing the areas, the new boss, the Dream Devourer, pops up. This battle is very, very hard. However, the strategy involved makes it extremely fun as well, and the new ending ties the game to its sequel (Radical Dreamers, a Japan-only visual novel, not Chrono Cross) in a way it never did before (that is, directly).
Overall, I solidly recommend Chrono Trigger DS to everybody. As a kid, Chrono Trigger is the game that was most responsible for the development of my concept of a narrative. It tells its story so well that it redefined the way I looked not only at games but at art and storytelling in general. If I were Sultan of America, I would make it a legal requirement to own and complete it, punishible by exploding. Of course, if I were Sultan, I would also ban the use of umbrellas and make it a capital offense to be Shaq, so maybe I’m not the best to judge.
