I started replaying Chrono Trigger recently for the first time in over 10 years. I’d purchased the Steam edition months before and putting it off for some reason. Procrastination is a hell of a drug. Since I’ve been working on a JRPG combat system prototype, I was excited to revisit one of the games that most inspired me to try my own hand at the genre with its fluid, streamlined gameplay.

It’s been a lot of fun, naturally. I haven’t made time to dig into a long narrative-focused game like this in a while, actually. The combat and exploration mechanics are as stellar as I remember, and avoiding skippable encounters only adds to the satisfying challenge of the bosses, which are normally a little too easy if you’ve been grinding. Double techs, especially the more flashy elemental+physical combos, are still a joy. Picking my own names for the characters has been a pleasant surprise too; I never used to do that when I was younger, but I’ve had a good time replacing each party member’s identifier with a phonetically similar Unix command. I’m particularly proud of christening Frog fsck, although I’m regretting calling Ayla alias instead of kill.

The writing has held up well, too. Chrono Trigger doesn’t have a particularly deep or nuanced story, but it’s able to tap into the central theme and each character’s emotional throughline well enough that it usually doesn’t matter. We care about averting destiny to save the world, about Glenn’s guilt and shame, and that’s enough. It’s not Undertale, but it still hits those story beats where it counts. In particular, then as now, Robo’s backstory really resonated with me. Feeling alienated from your family/creator, who fail to understand you and sometimes intentionally cause you harm, is something I think we all can relate to. Something I can relate to, at least.

Time has changed my perspective on some things, though. The heteronormativity of Marle’s relationship with Crono and the presumption of default maleness implicit in his role as the indefatigable silent protagonist feel more viscerally odd now. When I first played through the game and had the opportunity to pick someone else as party leader, I’m not sure who I chose; I think I cycled through several different characters in order to be balanced. This time, though, I switched straight to Lucca. Chrono Trigger isn’t amazing when it comes to women’s representation (of the 3 playable female characters, 2 are the stereotypical fragile mage girl and the last is instead all brawn and no brains), but Lucca is probably the most nuanced of the bunch. Given my life experience, I definitely identify with her the most out of all the party members. It feels good to recognize that now, instead of feeling vaguely dissatisfied with the default party leader but not being sure whose role I would prefer to be playing.

I’m still uncertain if there was a point I was trying to get at in writing this piece; it feels like I’ve just been rambling. Perhaps I just wanted to take a stroll down memory lane after revisiting an old friend of sorts. I hope you enjoyed this brief detour. It’s been a strange journey, but I’m feeling better about where I’m at now than where I was then. Here’s hoping the next decade will treat me well.