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83 of 95 found the following review helpful:
 Misleading title, must-have game.May 03, 2002
By Ryk E. Spoor
"Author, Gamer, Geek God"
This is actually two old-school console RPGs in one set of packaging. Why the collection is called "Final Fantasy Chronicles" instead of "Chrono Fantasy" or something like that, I don't know, but the important point is:One of the two games included is Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger remains the greatest console RPG ever made. The version on this new CD compilation is identical in play to the original, but includes several animated cutscenes (done by Bird Studios, producers of Dragonball/DBZ and owned/operated by Akira Toriyama, who did the character designs for Chrono Trigger as well) which are themselves worth the price. (In point of fact, the price itself is interesting; the compilation of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 4 costs less than either of them did separately when first released.) Chrono Trigger centers around the adventures of Crono (yes, that's the correct spelling), a young man whose only apparent unusual feature is skill with a sword; otherwise, he lives a rather ordinary life, getting his allowance from his mom, taking care of his pet cat, and, as the story begins, looking forward to the Millennial Fair. At the Fair, he meets with a pretty blonde girl, Marle, who wears an interesting pendant, and who as a stranger to his town asks him if he'd be nice enough to show her around a bit. Things get strange when they visit the exhibit area of one of Crono's friends, Lucca, who's an eccentric inventor. Her invention mysteriously reacts to the presence of Marle's pendant, and Marle vanishes, leaving the glowing pendant behind. When Crono decides to follow her wherever she's gone and bring her back, he's catapulted into a time-spanning adventure which will take him from the present to 65 million years in the past, and thousands of years in the future, and eventually to confront a world-destroying monster which may, at the same time, have been responsible for the creation of Crono's own civilization. Along the way he will learn secrets of his world's history, gain new powers, and gather allies, ranging from the super-strong cavegirl Ayla to the technologically advanced machine-man Robo. Chrono Trigger's greatest claim to fame was, and is, that it boasts many possible endings, all quite different, based on what decisions you make during the game. They're not all easily predictable, either, and at least one or two are rather creepy. It's also interesting in that, after a certain point, you no longer have to keep Crono in your party (most games have a set viewpoint character that you have to keep around). It's quite possible to finish the game with *ANY* combination of available characters. Gameplay is, in my opinion, superior to that of any of the Final Fantasy games. For one thing, it avoids the "eternally wandering monster" phenomenon which makes overland travel in the FF series so damnably frustrating, while still allowing you to wander freely across the land and visit places, looking for clues, new things to buy, and new friends and allies. For another, the combat sequences are much more active than those of other RPGs of its same era, and include special techniques -- both for individuals AND ones combining the techniques of two or three characters at once. Once you beat the game, you have the option of using "new game+", which allows you to start with the same power, and most of the items, that you'd gained along the way the first time. This is useful for those trying to play through again, since it allows you to zip through combats which, the first time, took many minutes to complete. (it does, however, introduce a bit of cognitive dissonance, especially in the early parts of the game: "How the heck are they throwing ME in jail?! I have enough power to level this entire CASTLE by myself!") The soundtrack of Chrono Trigger is unbelieveably good. Somehow, through the miracle of MIDI, the original game had 3 full CDs worth of music crammed on it, and the skill with which the MIDI was composed and produced made it sound, at the time, very nearly orchestral. Even today the sound isn't bad, and the re-done, fully orchestral version is amazing. Each major character has its own theme, and they're all excellent. Chrono Trigger's soundtrack still rates as one of my absolute favorites. If you like console RPGs at all, this is one that you absolutely MUST buy, and keep enshrined somewhere.
22 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 Bad port of an exceptional gameJun 29, 2007
By Jacob A. Manalan
Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV are reviewed and re-reviewed several times over. Both games are exceptionally story rich, with enjoyable character interactions and interesting plot lines. The graphics are what you would expect from the time, and don't detract from the game play or enjoyment at all.
However, I think it's important to note some of the issues in porting this cartridge game over to a Playstation disk. Cartridges, like the original one designed for the SNES have very fast data reads. This keeps the pacing of the game brisk and enjoyable. Unfortunately, when porting this game to a playstation disc, they did not take into account the amount of time it takes to seek data off a CD. As a result, the game has a series of small 10 to 15 second delays between various screens, interactions, and other events. This becomes a bit tedious, especially in the early game, when much of the game is developing the story stage. The game is still quite playable and enjoyable, but it does detract from the overall gaming experience.
15 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Two epic RPG's in one package!Oct 25, 2005
By Adam Sims
Two RPG masterpieces, Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger, have been
re-released in this great package with some nice additions. I'll be reviewing the two games.
FINAL FANTASY IV
INTRO: In 1991, FFIV was originally released in America for the SNES under the name, "Final Fantasy II." But the SNES version was pretty flawed. For one thing, they censored the script and and it was horribly translated. Another thing is that they took out a few things, such as the Developer's Room. Also, they toned down the difficulty. Now the game has been re-released for the PS1 with the complete, uncut script, Developer's Room, and a harder difficulty.
GAMEPLAY: This was the first FF game to have more than the number of characters in your party. (you can have up to five characters in your party. Sweet!) The game has lots of secrets, spells, weapons, and summons. It's a really addicting RPG with a great challenge.
GRAPHICS: Meh. It was made in 1991, so of course the graphics look outdated. But they were good for the time.
SOUND: Not much to say about the sound. It's your standard SNES sound.
MUSIC: I love the music in this game. Even 14 years later, the music still packs a punch. I especially love the boss music. It's very catchy.
STORY: This game has a great story. I won't spoil it for you, but the story is very original, filled with plot twists.
ADDED EXTRAS: Besides having the complete, uncut game, not much. Just an FMV scene.
CHRONO TRIGGER
INTRO: Ten years ago, CT was released for the SNES. Even now, it's still one of the most loved and popular RPG's ever. Now it's been re-released with a ton of extras.
GAMEPLAY: CT is an RPG. However, there are things that are special about this game. For one thing the battle system is unique. You can use moves that combine different characters. It's a bit hard to explain.
Another thing that makes this game unique is the fact that you can time travel. You can alter the past, and have fun. Plus, more eras mean more sidequests.
GRAPHICS: Very ahead of its time. CT's graphics were beautiful, from the colorful 2D textures, to the forests, the graphics were topnotch.
MUSIC: Like most RPG's, CT has an epic musical score.
SOUND: Pretty good for 1995.
STORY: The story, I believe, is solid. It isn't the best RPG story ever, but it is easy to understand and very entertaining.
REPLAY VALUE: Most RPG's don't really have a replay value, but this does. Once you beat the game, you can do a New Game+, which allows you to start the game over with everything you had on the first game. Plus, there are many, [and I mean MANY!] endings to unlock.
ADDED EXTRAS: Awesome anime cutscenes, and much more!
OVERALL: Two epic RPG's in one package. A must have.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
The games that started it allJun 28, 2001
By William Lindsey
In essence, it was Final Fantasy 2 that hooked a lot of people into the the craze of the series b/c most didn't know of the first one. For those who did were ... over the 32-bit power of this enhanced game. It started most of the concepts that exist in today's recent Final Fantasy's. With this reproduction of this classic w/ new FMV's, it sure to draw back all the old fans as well as some new ones who are curious too see how much the series as evolved over time. If you can stand to revert graphics wise then you can really enjoy this game. After all, superior graphics cannot beat the power of a solid story line. Chrono Trigger, like most things, beats it's sequel Chrono Cross. After Final Fantasy 3 came out as well as Secret of Mana, squaresoft realized that alot of people loved final fantasy but liked Secret of Mana's fighting system where you can see the enemy before you get into a fight and can be prepared vs. just running into them by surprise. Squaresoft decided to combine the best of these 2 games and created Chrono Trigger and made it the best game for the SNES system, as far as RPG's were concerned. Some people may have noticed as I did that Chrono, the main character, looks a lot like Goku from Dragon Ball Z. The reason for this is b/c Akira Toriyama did the art work for it and has now done the anime cut scenes that have been put into the game which is something that I look foward to seeing. This is among my favorite RPGs, at least w/in the top 3. It still beats even a lot of new ones on the PS1. I recommend buying this even by the simple fact if you like RPGs, you are getting 2 for the price of one, and if you pre-ordered it from ..., then your saving even more money on 2 classic games that for me, started the fever for Role Playing Games that hasn't stopped yet.
14 of 16 found the following review helpful:
You will be impressedJul 03, 2001
By J. Copperthite
"JRC"
Even though I am a member of the "played them already" club, these games still never fail to disappoint. Chrono Trigger is a timeless (no pun intended) classic that will entertain you each and every time through. And FF IV is the pioneering FF for North America, and now is probably the most challenging FF out there (the Japanese FF III is probably the toughest of all 9 Final Fantasy games). Those of you who have played the FF Anthology know how horrible the loading times were in each game - fear not. The loading time in FF IV is non-existant. The only parts that take a while is when you are saving and loading your game, which is expected with memory cards. Chrono Trigger is slow at times - most notably when you start/finish a battle and access the menu screen. Most of it is negligable in my opinion. Even if you own both original cartridges, it's worth it to play FF IV again, as it is like a completely new game, with a new translation and it's UNCENSORED!!! That's right, what Japan got originally we now have. Get it right now.
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