I’ve watched some jrpgs as letsplays and it really seems the genre likes massive number of random encounters and grinding these encounters in hopes of exp or rare items. …and tbh it looks so tedious.
How much, if any, does this game have? Optional or not.
It’s not grindy at all. There are no random encounters and if you just get through the encounters you can not skip, you should still be appropriately powerful to defeat the bosses.
One of the biggest reasons why Chrono Trigger has been so influential is because it had no random encounters. Instead, it has a large set of encounters that fire when the player reaches them in the dungeons. A lot of these are skippable if desired, some require a degree of pathfinding to avoid, and some aren’t avoidable. The gameplay flows around this, and being among the first to do it, there are a couple of slow areas.
A player that knows what they are doing can proceed through the dungeons without having to stop and grind, although there are some difficulty spikes along the way (especially if you swap out to a character you haven’t been using). The endgame sidequests are technically optional, though you’ll probably want the xp/tech points/loot.
I finally played it for the first time a couple of years ago when the initial covid lockdowns granted me large chunks of free time. I was playing for a while, but never found myself intentionally grinding. Unlike a lot of games of that genre/era, it varies up the environments/enemies and progresses the story enough to grant enough xp while going the things you need/want to do anyway.
For a bit of context, just before Chrono Trigger, I tried playing through Phantasy Star II, a Genesis game from a few years earlier in the same genre/era...and I got maybe 15-20% through the game before realizing it was too grindy and just uninstalling it. I'm not coming into this with infinite patience or anything.
It’s really not that grindy. There are multiple different endings, and if you want what most consider to be the best/must complete ending you’ll be playing for a while, but then then you don’t really need to spend any time xp milling
tal@lemmy.today 1 year ago
It’s a JRPG that originally came out for the Super Nintendo; it was generally considered one of the best games on that platform.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Trigger
For example, this top-25 list has it at #2:
www.gamesradar.com/best-snes-games-all-time/
This has it at #3:
nintendolife.com/…/50-best-super-nintendo-snes-ga…
This has it at #2:
www.ign.com/lists/top-100-snes-games/91
This has it at #3:
www.denofgeek.com/games/best-snes-games/
Ashtear@lemm.ee 1 year ago
It’s also still generally considered the top JRPG among genre fans.
The game has a knack for being both accessible to newcomers and still being revered by experienced players.
Malix@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
As an outsider to the genre, how grindy is it?
I’ve watched some jrpgs as letsplays and it really seems the genre likes massive number of random encounters and grinding these encounters in hopes of exp or rare items. …and tbh it looks so tedious.
How much, if any, does this game have? Optional or not.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 1 year ago
It’s not grindy at all. There are no random encounters and if you just get through the encounters you can not skip, you should still be appropriately powerful to defeat the bosses.
Ashtear@lemm.ee 1 year ago
One of the biggest reasons why Chrono Trigger has been so influential is because it had no random encounters. Instead, it has a large set of encounters that fire when the player reaches them in the dungeons. A lot of these are skippable if desired, some require a degree of pathfinding to avoid, and some aren’t avoidable. The gameplay flows around this, and being among the first to do it, there are a couple of slow areas.
A player that knows what they are doing can proceed through the dungeons without having to stop and grind, although there are some difficulty spikes along the way (especially if you swap out to a character you haven’t been using). The endgame sidequests are technically optional, though you’ll probably want the xp/tech points/loot.
quirzle@kbin.social 1 year ago
I finally played it for the first time a couple of years ago when the initial covid lockdowns granted me large chunks of free time. I was playing for a while, but never found myself intentionally grinding. Unlike a lot of games of that genre/era, it varies up the environments/enemies and progresses the story enough to grant enough xp while going the things you need/want to do anyway.
For a bit of context, just before Chrono Trigger, I tried playing through Phantasy Star II, a Genesis game from a few years earlier in the same genre/era...and I got maybe 15-20% through the game before realizing it was too grindy and just uninstalling it. I'm not coming into this with infinite patience or anything.
Throbbing_Banjo@midwest.social 1 year ago
It’s really not that grindy. There are multiple different endings, and if you want what most consider to be the best/must complete ending you’ll be playing for a while, but then then you don’t really need to spend any time xp milling