joshuanovalis's review
When my oldest brother left for college, he left at home his SNES and a small collection of games for it. Super Metroid. Donkey Kong Country. Mario Kart. Super Mario World. And, of course, Chrono Trigger. While all of these games certainly got their share of attention, nothing captured 6-year-old me so completely as the latter.
Looking at my life trajectory since then, I can honestly say Chrono Trigger played an irreplaceable role in making me the person I am today. It ignited and stoked the fires of my imagination, priming me for many more years of science fiction and fantasy, time travel, airships, JRPGs, character-driven stories, and an unhealthy obsession with the musical artistry of Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, and others. This game wasn’t just a part of my childhood; it was my childhood, purified and distilled into one cultural artifact.
All that to say: there’s no way I could give this book a fair review, without my love for the game spilling over at every moment. Nevertheless, I can comfortably say that Michael P. Williams did a commendable job of capturing so many of the reasons Chrono Trigger is an enduring classic to this day. Williams covers the many joys experienced upon discovering the game and diving into its world. Chapters on the difficulties of translating the game into English, the various genre-bending worlds found within the game, the inherent paradoxes of time travel stories, as well as others, are fun to read and well-researched, and clearly come from someone who loves the game as much as I do.
If I had one complaint, it would be that some chapters felt rather unstructured and aimless. The chapter on representations of gender and race in the game was a fantastic idea, but it felt unclear in its thesis or direction, opting instead to work through each woman in the game one-by-one and decide if it was a fair and healthy representation of a female character. I would have loved to see a piece of criticism more grounded in the narrative thrust of the game.
However, for any fan of Chrono Trigger, it’s a worthy trip through the many beautiful aspects of the game they know and love. Greatly recommended!
Looking at my life trajectory since then, I can honestly say Chrono Trigger played an irreplaceable role in making me the person I am today. It ignited and stoked the fires of my imagination, priming me for many more years of science fiction and fantasy, time travel, airships, JRPGs, character-driven stories, and an unhealthy obsession with the musical artistry of Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, and others. This game wasn’t just a part of my childhood; it was my childhood, purified and distilled into one cultural artifact.
All that to say: there’s no way I could give this book a fair review, without my love for the game spilling over at every moment. Nevertheless, I can comfortably say that Michael P. Williams did a commendable job of capturing so many of the reasons Chrono Trigger is an enduring classic to this day. Williams covers the many joys experienced upon discovering the game and diving into its world. Chapters on the difficulties of translating the game into English, the various genre-bending worlds found within the game, the inherent paradoxes of time travel stories, as well as others, are fun to read and well-researched, and clearly come from someone who loves the game as much as I do.
If I had one complaint, it would be that some chapters felt rather unstructured and aimless. The chapter on representations of gender and race in the game was a fantastic idea, but it felt unclear in its thesis or direction, opting instead to work through each woman in the game one-by-one and decide if it was a fair and healthy representation of a female character. I would have loved to see a piece of criticism more grounded in the narrative thrust of the game.
However, for any fan of Chrono Trigger, it’s a worthy trip through the many beautiful aspects of the game they know and love. Greatly recommended!
thirtytwobirds's review
3.0
Nothing ground breaking here, but the nostalgia will overwhelm you if you grew up with CT like I did.
esop's review
3.0
An alright look at the game. My favorite chapter was the one on its translation, interviewing the two main English translators the game has had, and their process in doing so. Would have liked to see more critical analysis of the game's design and themes and information about its creation.
djotaku's review
5.0
This book is exactly what I hoped it would be. It is a deconstruction and reconstruction of the plot; it is an examination of what made the game so special. And it is a chunk of the author's autobiography.
Unlike the author, and perhaps unlike most Chrono Trigger players, this was my first Square RPG. My brothers and I saw it in a used game sale bin at our local game rental shop. Attracted by Toriyama's art more than anything else, we bought it for about $20 by combining all our allowances. It is no over exaggeration to say that purchase changed our lives. We had no idea such a game could exist.
This book also has a great chapter with an interview with the two translators. It was amazing, but also sad because it revealed that many of the references I loved like the names of the wise men were added by Woolsley.
If you played Chrono Trigger in the 90s you must buy this book.
Unlike the author, and perhaps unlike most Chrono Trigger players, this was my first Square RPG. My brothers and I saw it in a used game sale bin at our local game rental shop. Attracted by Toriyama's art more than anything else, we bought it for about $20 by combining all our allowances. It is no over exaggeration to say that purchase changed our lives. We had no idea such a game could exist.
This book also has a great chapter with an interview with the two translators. It was amazing, but also sad because it revealed that many of the references I loved like the names of the wise men were added by Woolsley.
If you played Chrono Trigger in the 90s you must buy this book.
kgagne's review
4.0
This book isn't just better than its intolerably terrible predecessor, [b:EarthBound|19386071|EarthBound (Boss Fight Books, #1)|Ken Baumann|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1386814390s/19386071.jpg|27457432], but is a satisfying read in its own right. The author dissects the Super NES and DS classic Chrono Trigger: the ethnic and religious identities of the game's characters, the synergy of their magics, the logic of the game's time travel, and the challenges of translation (as represented by original interviews with Ted Woolsey and Tom Slattery). Williams relates the game to his own life, but only when necessary and relevant, keeping this from being a dull memoir. Since the book is written first and foremost by a gamer, not an academic, the text is accessible, though it sometimes leads to superficial observations: counting the number of humans in Crono's world is an interesting mental exercise, but I don't know that it leads to any significant findings about the population. Still, I enjoyed reading about a game I haven't played in nearly twenty years; it left me wanting to dust off my original cartridge and become a time traveller once again.
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