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Warning: anyone who has not played Chrono Trigger, I'm free and easy with the spoilers here. Then again, anyone who hasn't played it probably won't care much about anything I'm writing here. Neophytes to the title, consider yourselves warned.
Aside from a Final Fantasy Chronicles re-release, Square Enix hasn't paid Chrono Trigger nearly as much attention as some other titles in its library. A portable Chrono Trigger would hardly strain either the DS or the PSP and would be welcomed. I would most welcome a DS version thanks to my owning that hardware, but the PSP would receive a great boost if it received such a coveted title. Yet such an occasion could also be used to slightly enhance the game. No, the graphics and music and battle system are all fine - no need to tamper with a superb title in any of those respects. All I have in mind is expanding the game's length a bit; because what's wrong with having one of the best RPGs ever get a little additional content?
First of all, an extra Tech or two for every character could hardly be spurned. Especially if the extra areas I'm thinking of are implemented, an incentive to fight more would be needed. And give Magus something else in the triple (or double) Tech realm. Particularly since most of the material I have in mind would happen when Magus can be a member of the party, giving him some more Techs to work with ought to be worthwhile. Oh, and include the two unused pieces of music from the game's
score: a second regular battle theme and a piece that might have been intended for Death Mountain.
Now for the additional areas I have in mind. First off, there is so little to do in 65 million BC during the endgame (getting Ruby Armor isn't enough) that something needs to be done. Lavos's arrival tore up the continent a fair amount - perhaps something living within the earth was disturbed and is now a grave danger to the people. I'm picturing a nest of gigantic ants and/or termites, but that can be reworked. Something additional for the prehistoric era based upon Lavos's arrival definitely would be a good idea though.
How about the Frog King, star of a brief moment in Frog's flashback when Cyrus defeated the amphibian? I picture the thing deciding that after ten years it's time to take revenge upon the King, and being foiled. As to whether the battle is a challenge or a joke - I haven't decided. Further study is needed.
It always seemed to me that the turnaround of the Mystics following Ozzie's defeat in the Middle Ages was a little too complete. Clearly Ozzie II existed if Ozzie VIII still exists in the present, so Ozzie's line was not undone by his death. Certainly the majority of the Mystics may have decided to live alongside humans, but I picture an underground movement to further
the martyred Ozzie's plans. First it must be ferreted out by the player and then destroyed. Possibly with a worthy boss fight against a machine being developed in secret to conquer the unsuspecting humans, since only a machine would be able to surmount the surfeit of manpower.
A notion of mine has the Chancellor in the present being far more determined to stop Crono and Marle. While never admitting anything until the end, in order to keep his little game of estranging Marle and her father going, he would have hired a bounty hunter to make sure the group never returned alive. The bounty hunter would first pop up after defeating Heckran, the next time the party has to be in the present. There's a long stretch before the party has to return to the present, so either he gets
forgotten for awhile or kidnaps someone in the present to force a quick return - say, Crono's mother? Then he pops up again as the search for a Crono clone draws everyone to the Millenial Fair. As for a final settling of accounts, that would have to wait for the Chancellor's involvement to be proven after Yakra XIII dies and the dealing with the bounty hunter is one other optional quest.
Then there's the Dark Ages. True, the Black Omen is there - but it's also in subsequent epochs. For something else to do here why not have Dalton somehow emerge from the Golem dimension on the ruins of the Blackbird, which is big enough to not be completely submerged? Perhaps Dalton has gained the powers of a Golem; perhaps he's still a wimp. Either way, taking him on, which might require a trip into the Golem dimension, ought to be interesting.
And of course the single biggest leftover issue of Chrono Trigger - Schala. What happened to her after she sent everyone to safety from the depths of the Ocean Palace? This would most likely take place in the Dark Ages as well, and exactly how it would go is open to debate. I once envisioned having to fight a Schala temporarily insane from all she's been put through, with her possessing nasty non-elemental magic. Having to fight Schala, however, doesn't really feel right. Her story is worth telling under any circumstance however.
There are other things that could be done: a hard mode, something else in the Future, or more endings. But I think I've laid out quite enough. Chrono Trigger is a superb title, and what I've listed here is mostly intended to prolong the experience of a game I always enjoy playing. An overhaul of the game's fundamentals is not only unnecessary but would be stupid of Square Enix to attempt when the game already works so well.
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