Gunstar Green wrote:I can respect where he's coming from. It really isn't a game that makes you sweat and if that's what you like out of your RPGs you're not going to find it here.
For me though, an RPG needs a good story and an interesting world to experience in order to keep me hooked and Chrono Trigger is overflowing with that and a truckload of charm.
IMO the point is that the game is well balanced so you don't have to grind (that is a plus in my opinion, and if someone likes "grind" in their RPGs that isn't to blame on the particular well designed RPG who doesn't require it - tastes are different I guess).
As you don't have to grind, you are pretty much always prepared to win any encounter, provided you don't do stuff that is, to put it a bit bluntly, stupid (or at least risky, but there is no real incentive to play risky anyway). I don't remember it that well in this aspect but I believe there will be some boss encounters at least where you may need to retry once or twice even if you haven't made some relatively obvious mistake.
I'm not saying it is impossible to make an enjoyable RPG of this style where the gameplay is challenging, but when each battle doesn't really have that many choices it is hard to keep things fair without also being easy (usually the strategy is just which opponent to "focus fire" on, and heal up with items or skills when the HP of one of your dudes gets low).
If you want challenging battles that are also fair you probably want a battle system that has more depth, like a Tactical RPG. Which is why I second Bone here: if you like this type of RPG I'm surprised if you don't like Chrono Trigger. CT has a veneer of complexity layered on the combat system to make it more interesting (and it works to keep it fresh) but it isn't in the end much more than choosing who to focus fire on and healing up when your HP gets dangerously low.
