I was talking with a co-worker today about Chrono Trigger and he said something like "that is considered to be the best RPG ever right?" I thought well... probably? But I think Final Fantasy VI could give it a run for its money? Both are in our top 10 Nintendo games of all-time list. I then said to him that it would be a pretty interesting battle on my site.

So then I thought... why not find out? I suspect Chrono Trigger will still win by a decent amount, but it could be close.

Which do YOU prefer?

PS. I know a lot of people probably have other RPGs that they would consider the best ever, but for the most part when it comes to Nintendo fans, these two seem to be the top dogs.

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Chrono Trigger, easily. Not even a contest IMO.

Final Fantasy III, but only by the slightest margin. Both are on my all-time top ten list.

Tough call. To me, the primary difference between the two is that Chrono Trigger is a much tighter experience, while Final Fantasy III isn't afraid to sprawl more like a traditional JRPG. It makes FF3 tougher to get through for a number of reasons, but its high points are higher than CT's.

I've played through Chrono Trigger once (on DS) and have had two attempts at FF3 but never finished (SNES save battery died after about 40 hours, made it back to the Floating Contintent on GBA and just sort of lost interest). Part of me wants to finally finish FF3, if only to get it on "the list." But it's hard to commit to a third attempt when the first two didn't pan out.

They're both alright. Chrono Trigger has more interesting/better feeling combat and a story that's more interesting to me, along with cooler sidequests and better art and one of the best soundtracks ever, so... Chrono Trigger.

Actually, Chrono Trigger is pretty good. Better than alright.

I don't know if I can answer this one, it's like asking to choose between pizza and hamburgers. Both have different merits that make them amazing.

Final Fantasy VI (III for me as I played it on SNES, have it for GBA also hope to get to it sometime) has the better story and characters, as well as better customisation options and such.

Chrono Trigger has better presentation with its detailed graphics and beautiful soundtrack, as well as the nostalgia factor (it was one of our first SNES games whereas I didn't play FF III until 2006 maybe, and didn't really fully appreciate what it did until another go round years later). It has a more streamlined battle system, though one with far less options.

Yeah, don't make me choose! But I guess I don't need to, since I have both. :D

That said, my fave SNES RPG is Earthbound.

These are my top two games. I have Chrono Trigger rated higher..but I feel as though Final Fantasy III has better replay value. Gosh, I don't know. I'm afraid to play Chrono Trigger again, really..

@Mr_Mustache
Does this mean you haven't played through Chrono Trigger more than once, or that you're afraid to go back to it? It would be a shame if you had missed out on all the different endings.

@r_hjort

I rented it when I was younger, and the last time I played it I went all the way through it and got the best ending, I think. Definitely haven't done multiple endings.

I suppose it IS a shame. I think we'll get it in in the Epic Center..you know....someday.

@Mr_Mustache
Ah, I see! Then you've still got tons of Chrono Trigger goodness to experience! Not sure how many endings the game has exactly, but I think it's more than ten.

@r_hjort

I've got less time than that! HYRULE WARRIORRRRS.

@r_hjort

You don't have to play the game through a dozen times to get them all though, do you?

I'm fairly certain you can save at certain points and just go off in different directions from there?

@Shadowlink
Yeah, but some of those points are closer to the end than others, from what I remember. And there are some endings you can get really, really early on too. But sure, if you use a couple of the save files you could work your way through them quite effectively without having to replay everything.

@Shadowlink

You have to play through the game at least once since the rest of the endings don't become available until you get a New Game+, but after that, you can just save at opportune times and not have to replay the whole game. One of the endings in NG+ is available right at the beginning, but it's not recommended unless you have a very strong party (since only Crono and Marle can fight Lavos).

@ludist210

Really? Good thing I didn't try for any alternate endings the first time around then. I assumed that you could access the others whenever even on your first playthrough- As long as you were strong enough of course (lots of grinding). I know NG+ obviously helps with that because of the massive headstart in levels you get, but I thought you could still do stuff like leave Chrono for dead and beat the game on your first playthrough...

@Shadowlink
I'm pretty sure there are several endings that you can get without NG+, since they mainly rely on what you do during certain events, or when you decide to try to beat it.

@r_hjort

Yeah, that's what I thought?

I dunno. Game was ahead of it's time.

@Shadowlink

Yeah, like @r_hjort said, you can get one of a few endings on your first playthrough, but not all of them are available from the get-go since you need to have Marle's Pendant in order to trigger certain endings, which you keep after you start a New Game+.

I heard you can get the developer's room ending if you've leveled yourself up enough, and beat Lavos when you first meet up with him at the Mammon Machine during the Dark Ages. I don't know who has that much time to grind to get to that level by that scenario, though.

That could just be a false rumor though, I dunno.

It was a pretty close one, but looks like Chrono jumped ahead in the end! As expected.

I've been thinking about the reasons why these games are so great, and I think one such reason is their lack of pointless filler. One big problem with modern games, especially RPGs of all kinds, is that there is often so much padding just to up the completion time for games, as if it adds value. Neither of these two games have any points in them that feel like they were tossed in just to stretch them out, no endless fetch quests, no redundant parts, no reused areas, no forced grinding, etc. Something that seems to be lost on games these days is replay value; it's better to be left wanting more, then I'll play it again. Much as I liked Xenoblade, when I was at the end of the game, I was done with it and ready for it to be over. I'll probably never play it again because it's just too lengthy. Despite being much "shorter," I've probably put more time into FF VI and CT.