After Patch #5: Should You Buy Chrono Trigger On Steam?
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2018
- Since Chrono Trigger's release on Steam in February it has been lambasted by fans. For months Square-Enix has put out 5 patches to address these concerns. Now that the last of the planned patches has been released, is the Steam version of Chrono Trigger worth buying now?
Chrono Trigger Review: • Chrono Trigger - Revie...
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BIG UPDATE: They just fixed the save bug problem, so the game is worth buying now.
still many missing features :)
aroh Hopefully the modding community will deliver.
it's almost as if they watched this video! Now I can actually start playing it
Dark Pixel Gaming is it?
Do they ds ending on there too?
Square Enix pretending to be Squaresoft.
They can't even port a game from 1995
So you blame Enix, the guys who gave us Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma?!
+野島デンジ Yes because today they are bad.
The Enix half of the company is doing a good job lately with the well made 3DS remasters of Dragon Quest 7 and 8 and with Dragon Quest 11's positive critical reception. The Square half of the company is the part that's screwing up in recent years
They been releasing the same Chrono trigger game forever make something new already an in between trigger and cross interlude so we can see how things officially ended up as they did.
pc master race can't make good ports.
They could have uploaded a ROM with no emulator and done a better job.. this is like a amateur fan hack that went wrong.
amen
I wish they gave us the option to have the SNES UI
Great break down. It's mind boggling how Square Enix has so many resources and they treat one of their best IPs(if not the best) with such disdain. This should be the end all versions of CT, and they are just almost getting it playable. SMH
I have zero nostalgia for this game and still think original Steam release was a travesty.
You don't need to feel anything for the game to be able to look at it and scream internally.
The average IQ is less than 100. Square knows this. They have no interest in delivering quality products anymore.
I played the game 1st time on Steam and could feel it was an awful port, it would crash at times. That should say a lot.
I love it when ports of old games have actual enhancements or even reworked engines. Like, video filters should NOT be considered "new features". 16:9 supports, rearranged UI, gameplay tweaks, etc. is always pretty cool. I'm glad they kept extra content from the DS version instead of just going the Capcom route and keeping the most barebones version.
It still blows my mind that they're spending more effort fixing their crappy mobile port than they would've spent just making a single screen version of the DS game in the first place. It's a game from 1995, and the two best versions are still the SNES original (for it's sound quality) and the decade old DS port. Like is it really that hard for such a big company to port an SNES game to modern computers?
Man, they're so close to making this buyable. If this is the last patch I'm gonna be pissed. They need to add the rest of the DS content, get rid of those useless bars under the characters and fix the save point bugs. After that I'll definitely be buying it. EXCELLENT video, BTW.
Hey I like those useless bars underneath the characters they are helpful
I own a DS and played it for the First time 2 years ago, must have gone through It 5 times already, indeed one of the best games I've ever played.
wow, 5 patches for an old snes rom. yikes!
And it's still far worse than the SNES version.
Not just any rom. Chrono Trigger.
they are patching their own stupidity
Well that has become the norm these days. Release a broken, buggy mess to rush it out for money. Then maybe patch it.
@@David-ob2gn so would you recommend to just use an emulator?
I dont want to pay money for a bad emulation on steam!
Good analysis. I guess I'm sticking with the DS version.
David There is an option to turn off cutscenes in the DS version.
This post triggered Fandom Tribal to the point that they're using an army of alt accounts to like-spam comments in this thread and do their best to troll with alt account comments further down in this thread. As of this edit, other comments' likes have been going up like clockwork for the past couple minutes. Not at all stealthy.
original post: Or, even better, play the SNES version, which is the definitive version of Chrono Trigger. The NDS version is a major downgrade from the SNES version in most all ways:
- the NDS version's translation is clunky, sterile, and awkward compared to the SNES version's translation: steamcommunity.com/app/613830/discussions/0/1744468917519536501/
- the NDS version has a lower resolution than the SNES version (256 x 224 on the SNES version, and 256 × 192 on the NDS version)
- the NDS version has music looping issues that aren't in the SNES version due to RAM limitations on the NDS cartridge
- the NDS version has significantly lower sound and music quality than the SNES version also due to ram limitations on the NDS cartridge
- the NDS version has a worse font than the SNES version
- the NDS version has a worse and uglier UI than the SNES version
- the NDS version has worse colouring than the SNES version and looks like there's a pea soup-coloured filter over everything: imgur.com/eAfZ8wq
Also, the NDS version's "bonus" content is of much lower quality than the original game's content, and is very grindey while the original game is not. The NDS' bonus content doesn't interact with the main game or its sub-archs, and so it feels tacked-on because it is.
I also don't like that the NDS version has the PS1 cutscenes, as those cutscenes are jarring and disruptive and what they show is contradictory to what actually happens in the game. I guess the gameplay is canon while the alt-version telling of events in the aftermarket cutscenes are non-canon.
So, unless the Steam version of CT receives some major updates to address a host of issues still present with it, the SNES version will remain the best, the definitive, and the most polished version of CT.
@ Eden Moto
It sounds like you aren't familiar with the SNES version, because the SNES version's UI isn't present except when in battle. So, there's absolutely nothing stopping the player from seeing the game's beautiful graphics. Instead, those beautiful graphics will appear more beautiful on the SNES version because they are on a larger screen, with a larger resolution, and they have the correct colouring in the SNES version whereas the NDS version's colouring is off. It's also possible to more enjoy the atmosphere in the SNES version because the NDS version's sound and music quality is significantly lower than the SNES version's.
The NDS version's bonus content is regularly criticized for being grindy and not a good addition to the game. Also, the NDS' translation is clunky and awkward compared to the SNES version's translation.
Also, the SNES version is further better than the NDS version because it doesn't have an ugly UI or map open while you're exploring the world - which the NDS version does, on the lower screen. The SNES version is cleaner, with no screen clutter, and nothing obstructive the view or distracting the player's eye while exploring the beautiful environments.
Eden, a lot of what you wrote is simply not actual:
- The NDS version has a pea soup-green filter over it that makes all the colouring appear off. I doubt you even know what the colour difference between the SNES and NDS versions is before I show it to you: imgur.com/eAfZ8wq
So, a pea soup-green filter over everything is a bit better than the natural colouring, to you? Certainly not to me and I think to most people.
- What's wrong with the map is that it's like a mini cheat-sheet that isn't needed, and the lower NDS screen in CT is filled with ugly UI elements that are distracting and pointless. In the SNES version, just press the 'X' button to get all that info (other than the minimap, which isn't needed anywhere)
- The anime cutscenes literally contradict what happens in the game, as the game and the cutscenes show events as transpiring in totally distinct ways. The cutscenes do not tell the game's story, and the game doesn't tell the cutscenes story. You don't have magic cutscenes in your NDS copy of CT that nobody else has.
- Your comment about the music in the NDS version is just nonsensical. There aren't different instruments in the SNES and NDS versions. The only difference is that the NDS version's music and sound effects are rendered at a much lower bitrate, and so the NDS music and sound is of lower audio fidelity. But they use the same instruments as the SNES version.
- What UI improvements in the NDS version? In the NDS version the UI is just repositioned, with some ugly icons added, and some redundant information. Oh, and there's the minimap which is entirely not necessary and for someone like me isn't wanted.
It can be objectively said that the NDS version is a major downgrade over the SNES version in a lot of ways:
the NDS version has a lower resolution than the SNES version
- the NDS version has music cycling issues that aren't in the SNES version
- the NDS version has lower sound and music quality than the SNES version
- the NDS version has a worse font than the SNES version
- the NDS version has a worse UI than the SNES version
- the NDS version has worse colouring than the SNES version
- the NDS version has a clunkier, awkward, emotion-lacking translation compared to the SNES version: steamcommunity.com/app/613830/discussions/0/1744468917519536501/
The SNES version is the most refined and polished presentation of CT there is. Other than the bonus content (which is of low quality and it criticized for being grindey and fatiguing), the NDS is a downgrade from the SNES version.
Eden Moto
I prefer the NDS version too, I had always been under the impression that the retro community had a near consensus that the NDS version was the definitive version... in fact it's one of the only "classic" JRPGs where that is generally been the case, or at least that's the impression I've always been under.
Still not the best version, but definitely more presentable and in line with what we were expecting. The 4:3 on non-scrolling screens is something i can get over, but the atb bars mid-battle is the biggest hurdle, speaking as a graphic-designer.
Katze it's not as bad as others make it out to be. But I do agree it was pointless and the original format was better
I don't have a problem with the bar being where it is, but it's intrusive and doesn't match the rest of the graphics, which is jarring. The bar should be only a few pixels wide at most.
The game is at least worth owning now. I always prefer to play a legit copy over emulation whenever it's viable and I really don't want to always have to dig out my SNES or my DS from storage to play Chrono Trigger. I haven't bought this version yet (was burned by FFV and VI on Steam, wasn't going to get burned again) but I actually will get this now, at least at some point.
It's minor issues anyway, any version of chrono trigger is still miles ahead in quality compared to other games of that genre and era. I'm replaying Breath of fire II right now and it really hasn't aged well at all, chrono still blows me away, visually, musically, and thematically.
There are other games of comparable quality on SNES, but most never got out of Japan.
They're also all mostly somewhat flawed.
Tales of Phantasia is a technical marvel, and probably the best JRPG on the snes on a technical level (but falls flat on gameplay).
Seiken Densetsu 3 (which would've been Secret of Mana 2 if ever released in the west), is gorgeous, and it's story structure is really interesting. Plus the music is... Well, Secret of mana but better so yeah. But, gameplay is very grindy, and it got annoying towards the end because of it.
Then there's Terranigma. - this one actually has an English release officially (and German). Basically, it's arguable either way whether Chrono Trigger or Terranigma is the best, but either way it's ONE of those two.
The gameplay in Terranigma is somewhat different, and possibly it's weakest point. (though not tedious in the way Seiken Densetsu becomes), but the story... It's just something else... Seriously, it's just... Hard to put into words how a game can pull off something like that...
So, really, what happened back in the day is Japan got all this stuff, then the US got Chrono Trigger, and Europe got Terranigma.
Unfortunately, Terranigma doesn't get the respect Chrono Trigger does;
You don't get anyone talking about re-releasing Terranigma, even in as bad a form as this.
No, it's doomed to just be forgotten entirely it seems.
And it's a shame, because it's amazing and it deserves better.
I mean, it didn't even make it on the the Virtual console on the Wii.
Neither did it's predecessor, (illusion of Gaia/Time), even though Nintendo themselves ended up publishing that one...
Egh...
I'm so disappointed.
All the more so knowing that I can't get a legal copy of the English release of Terranigma for anything even remotely resembling a reasonable price. (last listing I saw was $350, and that wasn't even a boxed copy, just a loose cartridge)
Now, the Japanese version can be had for less than $20...
But that means knowing Japanese...
(incidentally a Japanese copy of chrono trigger on SNES costs about $5. It's not valuable in the slightest, but the US version of it costs a fortune.)
The world map sprites are an improvement. XD SNES version is literally my favorite game ever, but the world-traveling sprites were so fat and derpy.
An area we disagree in is the UI. To me the Snes UI was far superior to the DS one. Especially when it came to changing equipment.
Totally. I mean, the NDS' UI is OK as far as the stuff on the first screen goes, and how the battle UI can be moved to the 2nd NDS screen. However, when not in battle the NDS version for some reason thinks that it has to fill up the 2nd screen with unnecessary information and a cheat-sheet minimap that, for me, takes away from the immersion and the experience of exploring and discovering everything without having a quest marker or guide down there pointing stuff out.
Wow that Save Point Bug.
You gotta be shitting me lol
I can't fucking believe it... it's gotta be a joke
Arsch Dee It almost feels like they do this kind of crap on purpose sometimes, doesn't it?
They fixed it, luckily.
Awesome video. Answered EXACTLY the question I wanted to know, in great detail. Super relevant over a year later and I think I'll stick around for more content! Cheers!
Now... I wonder what they'll do for an eventual Switch port...
You know, Square shits the bed with every classic RPG brought to Steam. FF7 came with MIDI music of the original, like space was a problem on computers. They eventually fixed it, but they really need to not be idiots when porting things
4
It's mainly since back in the day when they finished games they would just delete all the files and code. It seems like they're aware how bad so many of the ports were and are trying to get things better.
Square didn’t even port it to pc it eidos square couldn’t provide them with a finished build of the game as for the music this was back in 98 so people likely didn’t have the PlayStation sound font on their computers, quality of sound depended on the card so to be universal across eligible PCs they used midi arrangements instead.
@@brianjong8945 Imagine thinking they would still use midis when porting it to computers that can do more.
I've been emulating SNES games since 2002 and they've always worked just fine, even then. It's seriously surreal that a big company can't even properly port a single SNES game in 2018 when a few hobbyists working in their proverbial garages managed to solve all of these problems nearly two decades ago. What's even more surreal is that people would even consider for a second buying a 20+ year old game they could easily download for most of that time. How is this even a thing?
I can't wait for Nintendo to release "Mario Legacy Collection 1" with the original NES games. It'll cost $29.99 and somehow take up 10 GB of hard drive space and have frame rate issues.
I would much rather play on an emulator. I would love to have games like this in my Steam library, but the fact that they manage to fuck up such an old game is quite embarassing.
Mas, Guilherme... Tu não acha que depois de todos os patchs lançados, o jogo não está bom? Eu ouvi que haviam algumas cut scenes faltando e algumas quedas de FPS de vez em quando, mas fora isso, o jogo parece estar redondinho. Tem mais algum problema?
@@pedro2205pl Cara, é que eu penso o seguinte. Esse é um jogo 16 bits lançado nos anos 90. Não tem desculpa pra essa não ser a versão definitiva do jogo, com a melhor performance e não ter todas as features das anteriores. E se não fosse o protesto da galera, nós teríamos uma versão muito pior. A partir do momento que eles aproximarem um projeto com a intenção de ser o melhor possível logo de cara, aí sim eles vão ter meu apoio.
Good to know that they fixed the font, button sizes, and "hi-res" filter. Those were the issues that made it feel like a no effort cash grab port to me, which is not something a game of this caliber should be subject to.
So, yeah. I can now recommend the Steam version to friends and strangers on the internet, and that makes me happy.
I like the video. It's nice that someone who had played multiple versions of older games is give info to people who maybe haven't played the game ever and are looking to see what they are missing
Such a weird thing that part of square has people who grew up with these games and have such reverence for this genre and style (see bravely default and octopath) and another part of square just craps out these terrible steam ports by people who seemingly don’t even understand why anyone would want to replay these games (see ffv and ffvi steam)
Oh man don't get me started. I'd love nothing more than the team behind Bravely/Octopath to create lovingly-crafted TRUE definitive editions of these classics, but on the other hand that would cut into time spent making all new excellent games when we all have ways to enjoy the classics well enough as it is...
There are very few things I want more than a port/remastering of FFVI in the style of Octopath.
Even the new FFVI sprites are by the original artist, so you've got to ask who's really to blame? She did a piss-poor job on the new sprites. Good HD sprites are a very doable thing, but the artist (Kazuko Shibuya) clearly couldn't be bothered doing justice to the game that she in part crafted. So I wouldn't blame Square-Enix collectively for this. I don't know what the hell happened to Kazuko. She probably now has Parkinson's or something.
They should just do what they did with Final Fantasy 4 and it's DS version. Take the old version, put in it 3D, (make it a lot less blocky this time though) add a few things here and there, but otherwise keep it exactly the same as before.
immortalfrieza From what I heard, they originally were planning to remake 5 and 6 on the DS in the same vein as 4. I guess they just ended up cancelled, assuming that was true in the first place, but I'm not sure why.
Speaking of cancelled remakes, I REALLY find it a shame that the Wonderswan version of FF3 never got made (and thus failed to get a PS1 or GBA port). ALL of the first 6 games could've been consistently playable with 16/32-bit graphics. Instead, the only options for 3 are either the original 8-bit (which is itself rare due to only being available in Japanese and, if you're looking for something somewhat current, Nintendo's WiiU or 3DS Virtual Consoles), or a full-on 3D remake, which kinda clashes with the styles available for the rest of the original six (with the exception of 4, the only other entry to get a 3D remake). What really bugs me is that Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 4 each got about 10 different ports and remakes all to themselves, which really makes it feel like 3's been consistently screwed over (as well as 5 and 6, albeit for different reasons).
Though, I guess some of it was simply the result of bad timing: 1 and 2 would obviously come first in line for getting remakes, and by the time 3 was supposed to get one, the Wonderswan was already dead, and then the PS1 was on its last legs as well. Meanwhile, I guess 4 just happened to be easy to port to systems like the WS and GBA, which could handle 16-bit graphics (graphics which could pass for portable games of the time without looking too outdated, unlike 8-bit graphics). By the time 3 finally could get a remake on the DS, they probably just decided to forego a 16-bit makeover in favor of taking advantage of the new portable's 3D capabilities (and then do the same thing with 4 afterwards, with 5 and 6 supposedly following). However, I'm not sure how to explain the PSP remakes..... 1 and 2 get another 2D makeover for the 20th anniversary version. Makes sense. Then 3 just had the DS version ported over, seems simple enough...... but then 4, rather than having its DS version ported, ends up getting ANOTHER 2D makeover along with The After Years. Why? If it was about including The After Years, it's not like they couldn't have done a 3D version of that (as the Steam and mobile ports prove).
Bring this game to the Switch
I was a kid when this came out and I when I played it... man, it rocked my world. One of the best games I've ever played.
The flow is smooth and well tempo'd, the plot is good with good twists and turns in it, the characters were well-developed and designed with good depth and stories to each, and the world was well-crafted. The mechanics were good, the time travel-element well-used, and the game just all around fun to play.
It's rare to find an RPG that works this well, and is definitely worth taking a look at.
I wish there was a PC port that is just the original but widescreen and also the addition of mouse interaction on menus. That would be OP
Thank you for keeping Chrono Trigger relevant! I can't express my love, nostalgia, and appreciation for this game. You're awesome, thank you, one day 3d remake
I'm so mad. All Square Enix seems to be able to do these days is re-release games from its glory days. When are we going to get the next big, open-world time-traveling RPG? I miss it so much. They could have done ten more of them, all with original stories and characters, and I'd buy them. But instead all we're getting are re-releases.
We ain't got no one but ourselves to blame.. We kept buying their shit when they were going downhill and we all knew it. If we voted with our dollar, we could've had three new chrono trigger releases that all performed excellently to our expectations.
Solomon Kane Oh hell no I don't keep buying their shit. I just lament that they keep making crap not worth buying.
uhhhh... they made Octopath traveler...
which kinda sucks honestly
Yes it does.
Another stellar video! I wish I could be up to par with you! Dream job it would be to work with ya! I could learn so much
When devs are modernizing 16-bit stuff, I really don't understand why they never have an option to have high-res backgrounds, but keep the filters off the characters. From the beginning, I've actually thought this is one of the less offensive examples; CT looks great compared to what they did to FF6. The filtered outlines on characters is just never going to look right, though. I'd really like to have those nice, clean lines on the tiles in Leene's square without those jarring, muddy character sprites.
I want to give Square money, but they still haven't gotten this right.
Square hasn't got anything 'right' in about a decade.
Except perhaps the MMOs I don't play those so can't say either way.
Will people quit whining? For the first time in ages they've actually gone out of their way to address complaints and greatly improve a game. If they keep this up maybe we'll see FFV and FFVI patches. But so long as whiners keep crying, it'll discourage them a little from doing so.
...silence is about the dumbest thing possible Mantis. If nobody "whines" (read: gives valid fucking criticism) then SE will think their hack job ports of mobile versions is perfectly fine and continue to let them go through. SE has been a fucking horrible company since the merger. The Enix side of things has mostly survived okay but JFC everything out of the Square side has been a complete shitshow. They're totally being held together by the western devs though bought out and publishing deals with smaller devs behind games like Octopath Traveler and the Bravely Default games.
FF13 trilogy was a disaster, FF14 was so awful they had to fire everyone and rebuild it, FF15 wasn't terrible but wasn't what gamers deserved after a nine year wait. Nearly every other franchise SE owns outside of FF and Dragon Quest has been driven into the dirt. Mana has been an unmitigated shitfest lately, Kingdom Hearts has become a fucking meme at this point with how long the third main entry is taking and how idiotic the story has gotten. Let's not even mention that SE stuck their dick so far into Eidos that they've killed the Deus Ex reboot series after messing with it too much.
And then there is the non-stop joke that is the FF7 remake; changing the story around, removing beloved elements, converting combat into hack-n-slash garbage and then splitting the title into at least 3 parts. I loved Square. I fucking despise Square-Enix.
Mantis: Mega Outlaw Star Fan actually....no. if we stay quiet then that means they get away with it. Squeaky wheel gets the oil.
You dont get anything if you dknt say something
The criticism was indeed very valid, but now Squeenix has vastly improved the port to the point of-in my opinion anyway-completion, maybe except a couple of very minor things like inserting a couple of FMVs. The DS extras aren't that important to me. They've done a great job on Chrono Trigger, so my reasoning is that we should accept and appreciate that this time they've gone the extra mile and just encourage them to work on FFV/FFVI instead. To put it better, you're whining about the wrong thing. It _was worth_ whining about Chrono Trigger, yes. I'm not a fan of SE in the slightest (Final Fantasy sucked after Squaresoft) but I enjoy ports when they're decent. CT is very decent now.
Is the Steam version worth playing now?
Thanks for this update and for the video!
It was such a rollercoaster when it released, incredible excitement followed by such disappointment when I started reading reviews about it.
I'm so glad they've at least put in the effort to fix a lot of the major complaints, now with the saving fixed I think I'll get it while it's on sale, I still want Chrono Cross after this after all. Hopefully they'll have at least learned something from this and release a more polished product in the future, one can only hope.
What I find kinda weird is that Square jumped to fix Chrono Trigger super quick, but NieR Automata on steam still haven’t received a single tucking patch, over a year later.
These are some strange priorities.
I have it uploaded on my SNES Classic! Now I can play it on an HD TV.
Nice review. I was looking for thise since noticing the game went on sale.
Everyone seems to be forgetting the PSX version, which was the first to include the cutscenes. Thats a good one to have too, though I wouldn't mind playing the DS version for all it's added features as well.
The PSX version is mega trash. Because bad programming that game has massive slowdowns. Bascially every time you enter combat.
Personally I think they should port this game to the Switch. Feels like a no brainer personally.
Waiting for this to buy
There are rumors of a possible Chrono Trigger Remake going on. Fingers crossed.
Why, so they can fuck up that port, too?
@@darksuns7384 no. So they could do it right ff
Pretty bad when the best option I have for playing this game on PC is a decades old snes rom.
SNES9x will continue to be my method of choice for this game then. Still own the cartridge, my SNES has long since given up the ghost.
So happy I still have my DS version with the poster, case and all!
That's great, I've beat this game 5+ times and thinking about buying the Steam version but... those obnoxious bars really make me rethink about doing it.
Yeah those bars under the characters is a horrid desicion. Whoever was in charge of porting this game to Steam should really find another line of work.
Deal breaker. Looks like shit
Yeah, out of all the shit mentioned, the ATB bars were oddly the most annoying thing, haha! Tons of blank space in and around the Name/HP/MP area for it.
I honestly hate the bars as well. But you know what's hilarious to me? That OPs comment is worded perfectly to be also taken sarcastically
That new user interface looks pretty great compared to the original, well apart from the health bar thing but the menus looks great.
Interpolating visual features have been in ZSNES for ages. The "high res" option just uses something like 2xSAI. I dont think it looks bad. Back when I played this game as a kid, it was on a CRT television, which basically had an innate form of anti aliasing, due to the composition of RGB slits. Bleeding and scanlines due to a a non digital resolution were normal, and all of a sudden playing the game on a real digital monitor/TV makes it look way more pixelated than it ever looked in its original form. I don't think the interpolation from this version is bad, really. I usually used interpolation of some sort for most all my SNES games that I emulated. I'm actually more upset at the fact that the "high-res" option is nothing more than a simple interpolating filter, rather than them putting actual effort into redoing all the sprites in HD. Oh well.
In all honesty, SNES Emulators had all the filters since the 90s. And this megacorp is too incompetent to integrate a Filter List? Thats just shameful.
Not to mention the people who believe porting the lowest version, a Mobile Port is a good thing. The people responsible must be sniffing fumes that shoots their brains out. There simply is no other explanation than pure incompetence and stupidity.
ive buyed on the launch, but i didnt downloaded yet because i was waiting for those fixes, now i can download and enjoy this beautiful game, one more time, thanks for this video 👍 greetings from Chile
This review was really helpful. I'd been wondering how much of a difference the patches made!
Why didn't they port the DS version? Seemed like a much better and easier solution.
>deep breath< Going from two screens to one. DS code being less portable than Android code. Android version already covering a wide range of screen sizes/shapes where the DS version only needs to handle 2 sizes. The DS port having been handled by a third-party company, so the mobile version's source being more available to/understood by the team doing the Steam version...
'k. That makes sense.
They kinda did with the ffiv. The pc version is the same as the DS. Thats what I think.
A better question is, why didn't they port the original SNES version? SNES version of Chrono Trigger > NDS version of Chrono Trigger. The NDS version marks the start of where CT started to be made worse.
The mobile version is ported from the DS version, and then heavily modified for mobiles. Then the DS-based mobile version was ported to PC.
Thank you for this Video!
I wonder how the save point bugs affect the save point puzzle in Magus' castle. Could be a place you get stuck at if you can't access those "save points" that teleport your forward.
About the ATB bar: They could have just done it like they did with the SNES version......
I absolutely deride recent SE's *regional pricing* on Steam.
Game cost *TWICE* the regional price (in Indian rupee) for what is asked for $15.
I love Chrono Trigger, but I will never support SE for such prices.
And the worst part is, since this is a local issue (ie not affecting their overall consumerbase), SE will never listen to us. SE absolutely hates players from Asia that are not Japanese.
Never buy into corporate bull$hit! Most of the time, there are other... better ways for the consumer.
Oh man. I really feel for you there. That sucks.
I'm really sorry to hear that.
PREACH man. I'm Indian too, and I still have to rely on emulation to play this masterpiece.
I'll stick to the SNES version and wait for a sale. I love Chrono Trigger but I really don't want to fork 899 for this version.
wanting to play this game now makes me regret taking my DS for granted. It was just a megaman legacy collection and MH4 device when I bought it. Like, 2 carts. Now I don't know if I'm gonna find a DS version of this in stores, they might be discontinued.
Even with the save spot fix, I can see a reason to choose this over the emulated version.
Which is a very sad, very typical, very familiar story for beloved videogame favorites.
People should just not bother with the PC version, its a dirty version thats way too expensive for the amount of disrespect.
Its the lowest effort version, right after the Mobile Port. Either play the DS version if you want more content and videos. Or stick to the original SNES version. Even a abacus can emulate it these days...
The UI still looks pretty unpolished. The different resolutions for different UI elements clash, e.g. the ATB bars are higher res than the pixelated graphics. The save point issue is also just inexcusable...
I was wondering if the “Upgraded” iOS version is worth the price. I know the previous mobile versions were absolute crap but apparently they’ve upgraded and fixed some of the issues. Is better than the Steam version atm or just as bad?
Awesome video. Everything you talked about: It should have been a no-brainer to include all of this in the initial release of the game. Any development team who cares about the quality of their work would have done all of these things before the game was even visible to the public.
I think several companies became less likely to verify the integrity of their work before they released a game since the ability to patch and update became possible. The play testing phase is less thorough because it's easy to use customers as the feedback mechanism to inform further development. At the end of the day, they can still have a good product - but it's lazy, unethical, and disrespectful to players, and it damages the reputation of the company, which ultimately affects the bottom line. For instance, I've been averse to purchasing the last few Square titles on Steam specifically because of the sub-par ports of games they put out. Chrono Trigger was no exception, especially when I paid half the price to have the superior version on my Wii's virtual console.
Is there a mod to remove the health bars from under the characters? Those health bars are a deal breaker for me.
Just buy the ds version. It has all the content,no loading times and it's portable. No downsides there.
Thiago Rosario, Only downside is you can't play it on a TV.
Problem is, most people won't buy the DS version, but pirate it. Even if they bought the cart it wouldn't really be supporting Square. So they'll just go back to putting out things players won't pirate.
The best game ever made...and they still can't port it to PC in a semi-decent way! That is just sad...
I couldn't believe how bad the port was when it first released.
It's amazing that they ported it so poorly onto a PC when it's been ported onto the PSX and DS successfully (minus the shitty translations). Oh well, stick to the OG systems!
@Tuho if you buy it on steam it does.i however will wait for the summer sail than buy it
I don't know why people obsess over pixels. Retro games didn't even look like that when played on a CRT. I personally love retro handhelds and I always apply a nice anti-aliasing shader on my games. I think the filter on this version looks better than the non-filtered look, though I agree the option should always be there.
Thanks for the video, very helpful. Its just sad, such a incredible game be release with many problems.
Yeah.. I'll just stick to my virtual console and DS versions.. and SNES rom when I feel like playing it on PC...
A sub-par port just isn't worth my money when I already have several other better ways of playing it...
Wow, I can’t believe that five patches later, it still looks and plays worse than the SNES, PS1, and DS versions. It goes to show that fixing things after the fact is much harder than making it right the first time.
I mean considering how the game is almost 25+ years old it's damn near impossible to fuck it up but they still did...
Tony hawk pro skater 5 anyone?
No. It just shows how incompetent SquareEnix is
Not making something right the first time is it’s own form of incompetence.
But they did fix the save glitch, so now it’s just ugly.
S March or just want grab money.
The best I have ever played and I am playing it again... I play video games since NES and still today this game moves me so much. It is brilhant.. perfect.
What really bothers me is that SE president was pissed that people said they loved the game but wouldn't show it in sales... Certainly people is the problem, SE, not your bullshit.
Been thinking about trying this...nice to see there have been patches and stuff since I hate those damn IOS ports!!!
Could have renamed this to "Should you buy Square Enix games on Steam" with the answer being NO
Yeah basically.
xBox360BENUTZER, Well, some stuff they are only the publisher for, like the Tomb Raider reboot are just fine.
xBox360BENUTZER FFXII and FFXV's PC ports are pretty good. It's just the mobile ports that are bad.
I like supreme commander 2
FFIV's Steam version is now my preferred way of playing the game. The other Final Fantasy games seem fine, as well. Though, many people complain about FFV and VI's new character sprites.
People are saying to just use the emulator and honestly it's real easy to do so however I would prefer everything be digital and stored in the same place or be able to access it on any future computer I build. It's not a bad port now since they fixed the save bug, sure it's missing some FMV's from the DS but if you're over 30 like me and, never played the PSX/DS version having been around for the launch of this game on the SNES than go ahead and buy the Steam version. It's a great nostalgia trip and will forever be my favorite game of all time.
yeah but unfiltered graphics are ugly as well. the snes emulator gives a much better experience graphicwise. A big difference here and I shut down the game when i've seen the ugly sprites on my screen. It was all foggy and not clean at all. Just horrible
4 years later, they've "fixed" the save points, but I tend to have to press the button over and over to actually interact with it, as though it's a tiny spot somewhere inside the save point. Usable, but it breaks immersion every time.
how is it possible to put so low amount of effort into something?
im genuinely impressed
So instead of just hastily putting out ports of old games on every available outlet to sell, and only fixing issues caused by their laziness when it starts effecting sales, how about Square Enix does a full remake of Chrono Trigger? Or maybe even a sequel that isn't Chrono Cross?
It would be awesome if they created an HD Remix. Like truly taking the time to build the game from the ground up more. That or create a sequel that fans would love more than their Official Sequel.
Considering that a Rom of the SNES version has been out for decades, and still runs perfectly fine on modern hardware....really goes to show just how fucking incompetent they are.
I would like true 2D version from them. Not 3D version. Just 2D with very high graphic style that makes you go wow
I beat Chrono trigger on PC before the updates and that bug from the save points is new from the last update, I don't know what they did to screw that up but like I said it wasn't there before, I remember saving specifically on those two save points you mentioned
They still haven't fixed the tiling issues on things like forests on the overworld or any repeating tiles in area maps that weren't just one tile over and over. You can see this at the video's start and 2:39 for overworld and the trees around 5:10
Such a beautiful game ruined by laziness the age of dlc and online updates have made developers lazy
Very much so. Just look at the garbage that is Breath of Fire 6. Meanwhile, the old games were exce, with 3 being an underrated gem. Where is the HD port of those games ?
I'll stick to my SNES mini version by the sound of that.
By hacking? cuz its not on mine
yeah, just hack it
Spit Dragon LOLLLLL
Worth 0$ to collectors? You mean the millions of people who already own the mini systems? It's not rare and never will be rare..
Also why not be able to play all the games you like including NES, Gameboy, GBC, GBA and so on
I sure have a lot more fun playing in front of the TV with my friends then playing on my pc
Nintendo seems to have intentionally allowed for the adding of games to the SNES and the NES Classic. There is a lot of additional storage space in those systems, and adding games to them is pretty simple (thanks to community efforts). Nintendo was fully aware that people were adding games to the NES Classic when they released the SNES Classic, and I think I recall reading that there's even a nod-and-wink comment suggestively about adding games in a text file on the SNES Classic, only possible to be found after people have accesses the files of their SNES Classic device.
Honestly, the extra space is probably because they couldn'y find a smaller hard drive.
I got it 50% on a steam sale yesterday....... so I went ahead and bit the bullet even though I agree with all your grips in the video. The save point thing... damn that is kind of sad.
With the fixes now improved (July 2023), apparently this became the second best version of the game to play. Nice.
So basically, they took the list of issues people had with the game, corrected them to save face and didn't bother correcting bugs. Seriously, that Save point issue is unacceptable for me, that's just jarring. I'll stick to the Chronicles Version for now...
The Chrono Pat
It's fixed now
we fixed bois
Yeah, I saw the update. Great thing they listen!
Wouldn't have minded the ZSNES style HQ filter options though. I love the sleak non-pixelated look
This is probably just me, but I generally run any emulated SNES games with a filter similar to the one included with this. I just find it's easier on my eyes to have the pixellation softened, especially since I'm playing on a much higher resolution on a modern LCD screen rather than a CRT (I'm not a fan of CRT-type filters though, they don't look real enough for me). I'm old enough that I played CT when it first came out (wish I still had my cart, or knew what ever happened to it :( ). I totally understand the desire to at least have the option to play it without the filter, though.
bilinear option should've been included. all emulators have it and 2D looks just even better. Such a pitty
Hi all. With the square sale in 2020, is this version now on par with the ds?
I've played this game on the SNES and emulated. What's the benefit of buying it again over 20 years later? Bugs? And that weird mish-mash of low-res pixelated bit-art, mixed in with high-res meters on screen showing the HP and ATB. As designers, do they not understand why that looks cheap? Why it looks bad? People are getting PAID to do this? lol.
I would say that there's no benefit to buying the PC version of the game. It was never fixed, it's still a mess and is ugly and is lacking the SNES translation even as an option. If you have an emulator, or an SNES Classic, that's the way to play the game. I have the PC version, but there's no reason for me to play it when I also have it on my SNES Classic.
gunna emulate the ds version.
Which is the superior version.
The SNES version is even better than the NDS version:
- the NDS version's translation is clunky, sterile, and awkward compared to the SNES version's translation: steamcommunity.com/app/613830/discussions/0/1744468917519536501/
- the NDS version has a lower resolution than the SNES version (256 x 224 on the SNES version, and 256 × 192 on the NDS version)
- the NDS version has music looping issues that aren't in the SNES version due to RAM limitations on the NDS cartridge
- the NDS version has significantly lower sound and music quality than the SNES version also due to ram limitations on the NDS cartridge
- the NDS version has a worse font than the SNES version
- the NDS version has a worse and uglier UI than the SNES version
- the NDS version has worse colouring than the SNES version and looks like there's a pea soup-coloured filter over everything: imgur.com/eAfZ8wq
it's annoying having 2 screens emulated. Snes for me :P
Alucard8319 there are ingame settings to turn off the 2nd screen and most ds emulators have the option to move to only 1 screen.
David the PlayStation version translate the snes version on point
This port with the right mod setup seems alright enough for me. Even after this patch the UI and other aspects of the menus and battle UI were bad or needed improving. Not to mention some kind souls released a Ted Woolsey translation patch so you can enjoy the SNES script if you're like me and care about that sort of thing when you play this game.
have they fixed the random crashes? i bought the game with high hopes a year ago but 1 hour in and game kept crashing and it drove me off. i really wanna play CT but crashes need to be fixed seriously
DS version is great and it took me awhile to complete the bestiary, made it a fun scavenger hunt
Why would I buy it when I still have my original cart?
They've released a patch for the save points. Haven't had a chance to try it yet though, as my save files now load to a black screen. I'm assuming my save files are no longer compatible.
The hp bar and stamina bar was underneath characters in the Ds version which I found better you could just turn it off or on! Thought I just add that info.
Can you turn that off in the Steam release?
Thats the thing, these fcking bars need to be optional. Problem solved. Uh, that was easy. Almost the first thing that comes to mind...
It's almost like Square is self-aware of the limitations of current re-release policy, and you see that on PSN. The two old FF games that have been released: FFVII on PS4 features a beefier version of the original PC re-release (that got also released on cell-phones) that had to undergo a bunch of revisions when released on Steam (specifically it's piss-poor music) and FFIX. Which never had a PC release back in the day but instead got a port, of it's cell-phone port, to PC and eventually PS4. And that original cell-phone port clearly was made with the focus of emulating the original Playstation game on the same level a PC emulator does versus whatever the end-goal of Chrono was for Steam. And Chrono is just the tip of the iceberg. FFV and FFVI have the same exact problems of being based on incredibly janky cell-phone ports, and I can easily imagine people at Square who probably want to release "definitive" versions on the Playstation platform looking at those ports and scratching their heads wondering what the fuck they're going to do. It's such a dumb way to go about these re-releases, and it's weirdly enough probably the main reason we haven't gotten a FFVIII PSN release. Yeah, there's been a PC version of it since 2000, but nobody has done a cell-phone port of it yet.
oh god, yes re: music. FFIX's music somehow sounds sooooo tinny like a bad digitization (half-assed resampling, to be exact). i don't even know how they pulled that off (i don't THINK they're MP3s/other lossy format as the game is so small)
Just Emulate the DS version if you REALLY want to play it on PC
I didn't even know it was released on Steam. I gotta pick this up! Is it the original version or does it have the bonus content from PlayStation + DS versions?
After playing through the DS version I do prefer the DS version, the steam version last year had an update and added more saves which is nice. But it’s still missing some stuff from the DS version.
I’m always gonna stick with the DS Version.
ATB and health bars under characters instead of at the bottom? No, i'm sorry, that's not acceptable.
Yep, was happy until this. Still not buying.
You know, i could deal with the save spot bugginess. The two spots that you can't reach are really early into the game and honestly not really needed. But the ATB/Health bars under the characters instead of at the bottom? Nope, can't deal with that.
No matter if it is "almost" as good as the DS version. There's absolutely no excuse for this port ever being so bad
Did they think they could launch the game without hiring a development team or something? Is there no one in the team even capable of programming? What are they charging for on Steam??
That's the sort of disrespect to the consumers that convinced me to never even consider buying this game again, no matter how many patches they do.
If i want to play this again, I'll just emulate a DS version, since I don't have my DS anymore.
That being said........ This is the first time I've seen that a PIRATED version is unmistakably better than the OFFICIAL RELEASE on the same device!!! How stupid is that?
They even added two strips of foliage to widen the screen to make it less conspicuous
Great review of this version however the atb and health bar under characters was an option in the ds version
Chrono Trigger IS LIFE
8-bit DragonBalls
Will forever be in my top 5. It's placement depends on when last I played it.
Breath of fire 3 too
ill stick to my SNES version of this.
I think this version is, at the moment, actually better than the DS version. The latter, while great, had the badly emulated sounds of the PS version. For example, the sword attack sounded like Crono was slashing through water.
To be honest its very debatable on whether its better with or without the Filter.
I personally believe the Pixelated Graphics is meant more for its use with CRTs since they have Scanlines and a slight blur that makes the game look perfect or damn near it.
Looking at it without the CRT just shows the Harsh Edges but thats why both options are there. For people that like either.