Chrono Trigger

[Don]

I went back to play Chrono Trigger again, and I don't know if it was intended, but the game had a lot of subtle things that they got right and is worth discussing even now.

1. Schala says basically nothing.

I don't know if they just never thought of what she is supposed to say, but the fact that Schala very rarely says anything of importance helps to preserve the character's mystique (Schala's theme helped too). You can infer she's generally a good person but you actually have no idea what she really thinks about everyone. Every time in the newer games/remakes where she has to talk more, her mystique and intelligence drops by 50% each time. By the time you get to the DS remake where you fought The Devourer of Dreams apparently Schala was dropped on the floor a lot as a child and just wanted everyone to die or something. It's kind of like the sprite version of FF13 which actually seems to have a decent story because the characters don't say enough to let you realize how dumb they are. At the end of Chrono Trigger we don't even know if the events in the Chrono Trigger happened because of Schala, or not, or whether she'd ever be found, and that's pretty much the basis for Radical Dreamers and eventually Chrono Cross, and all that for a character we pretty much know nothing about.

2. The good guys don't always win, and not everything that could happen has to happen

In a game where you can use time travel to fix everything from saving kingdom to forests in the middle of a desert to making a stingy guy into a generous guy, you never came close to saving Schala. In fact, it's pretty ironic that you need the Masamune to defeat Magus which is a weapon tainted by Lavos's power which is why it can actually hurt him. Marle is, in fact, not actually related to Zeal in anyway (the Nu tells you that her pendant is not Schala's pendant). Well, the whole Guardia got torched to the ground in the aftermath is kind of overkill, but I like the general mood of Chrono Trigger. It's obviously a very positive place, but not every possible thing that can be good has to happen.

3. Pretty darn good battle system

There are many area of effect attacks that will hit a line or an area that hits two of your guys, but not all 3. Now, of course we know you can't actually move any of your characters in Chrono Trigger, but this is one of the better ways I've seen to create the illusion of spatial awareness. If you actually make the system free flowing you'd just always spread your guys out a certain way to avoid getting hit by area effect attacks, and that'd just be a pointless layer of complication. Lavos is challenging without needing to spam attacks like Grandstone and Dreamless over and over.

[Julius Seeker]

The encounter system in Chrono Trigger was also fantastic. Scripted and seemless.

The ability to move characters around in battle, I have found, is fairly intrusive the way it's done in a lot of games. I find it is excellent in games like Fire Emblem which actually have a strong strategic focus, but it became much less fun over time in games like Lunar, and FFT when getting into side quests - Chrono Trigger's battles were fun all the way through. Skies of Arcadia used a similar system, but the Dreamcast version suffered from long animations and high encounter rates - Skies of Arcadia could definitely be improved just by swapping in a Chrono Trigger style scripted encounter system when inside locations, and an adjustable random encounter system outside - which exists to an extent in the Gamecube version through accessories you gain throughout. Of course scripted encounters take a lot more work than randoms, but Chrono Trigger is strong evidence of the value of it.

[Don]

In a system where your positioning mattered like say, Shining Force, it just means your guys always moved in exactly the same way to avoid certain AEs that hit multiple tiles. After all, it's not like there's actually an advantage to be near your friends.

Skies of Arcadia also has the illusion of spacing where your characters have different attack animation depending on how close the enemy is even though that made no difference on the outcome of the battle whatsoever, though it does seem kind of pointless. In Chrono Trigger the best example I can think of is Slash with his line attacks that usually hits two guys that are lined up together. It really does a good job of making it seems like standing in the right place matters (to avoid the third person getting hit) even though it does not since you can't actually move anyone. In essence CT has attacks that hits exactly 2 guys, which most RPG do not have at all.

[Eric]

I think FFXIII is an example of awful positioning combat, either the enemy is grouped up, or they've wandered 2 feet away from each other and you miss. I also loved fighting bombs, and praying that whatever char was my lead at the time wouldn't get blown up 5 seconds into a fight. You basically had to exploit the system by casting spells that would make you step 2 feet backwards in order to not get cleaved with your party.

[Don]

Grandia 3 was like that too, where spells hit a certain area but you can't move your party without using the defend command which is generally pretty wasteful so you need to rely on certain attacks that put you in a certain spot to avoid getting cleaved.

The positioning of enemy in Chrono Trigger lets you take advantage of the various line/proximity/area effects, though you can always just use Lightning 2 or Flare instead. I think that's a pretty good tradeoff. Positioning on your guys is obviously irrelevent most of the time (anything that hits 2 guys is always meant to hit 2 guys even if you could move your guys) but is occasionally useful for hitting enemy. Max cyclone does a ton of damage but you've to make sure all the enemies are near Robo when you use that combo tech, and if not, you can always use Flare or Dark Matter instead.

[Zeus]

I think FFXIII is an example of awful

You can pretty much stop there :-)