This game has HOW many endings!?!

As I mentioned a few days ago, I recently finished Chrono Trigger. I learned shortly afterward that I had just witnessed ending #1... of 13! Oh, and that doesn't even count the variations that can occur inside of a single ending. Excuse my language here, but that's absolutely crazy-go-nuts.

Anyway, here are my final thoughts for the game:

Loved

• Premise. I REALLY liked the whole time travel idea. It was really cool to go to 600 AD, leave Robo to plant tree, then warp to 1000 AD and see a forest and a Robo shrine. The game used the mechanic very well and it was hands down what made the game as good as it was. If a game was made that was similar to this in length, weapons, features, etc and set in a semi-bland fantasy setting, the game wouldn't be half as good as Chrono Trigger.
  
• Variety. This game was exceptionally varied. There were tons of different weapons and armor pieces, a fair number of unique techs, dungeons that seldom felt like a copy of another one, and even the party members were quite different from each other. Very rarely as I was playing the game did I feel like I was doing something I had already done before, even when the game sent me back to the same area but in a different time. I'll definitely give kudos to Squeenix for putting so much stuff in this game, especially when you consider the original SNES version is 14 years old!
• Fun. Regardless of my criticisms of the game (and I have a fair number of them), I enjoyed myself. At the end of the day, I think there is a lot to be said for that.
• Volume of Content. There is a metric crapload of stuff to do in this game... even if you do basically nothing other than the main story you are still going to play for 10-15 hours. If you do EVERYTHING you could possibly do, you could probably play for 2 to 3 times that.
  

Hated

• Techs. I think techs were supposed to be the big selling point of this game, but I felt like they fell short. I already talked about it quite a bit, but the 2 and 3 player tech combos were extremely lackluster. For how hard they were to earn and pull off, they really should have been devastating, but they just... weren't. Additionally, there were a fair number of throwaway techs in the game, i.e. I hardly ever used the very first techs that I earned with each character late in the game. I always feel like every skill/spell I earn in an RPG should have some value even later on.
• Unmemorable Equipment. As I mentioned above, the game had a LOT of equipment... and I mean a LOT. I was so constantly upgrading everything, that nothing ever really stuck out as being good or interesting. I had to pull up the stats of everything to see if it was an upgrade or not. When you actually do get a memorable piece of equipment, Masamune the legendary sword, it actually stops being competitive before the end of the game. While there is a quest to upgrade it (I didn't do it), it still felt kind of lame to unequip Masamune for a rusty spell sword (or something... like I said most of it wasn't memorable). Furthermore, by the end of the game I had amassed so many "trinkets" (little items like a ring, etc that boost a single stat) that I had a hard time sorting through them or even finding new ones I had picked up in my inventory. I definitely think they should have toned down the equipment a bit and provided fewer, more memorable items.
• Endings. Chrono Trigger basically allows you to go and fight the end boss at any time you choose, and, depending on when you do it, the ending changes. While I'll freely admit that that I only saw the first, most basic ending, from what I've read you usually need to replay the game to see the other endings (you keep your equipment from the previous playthrough). Perhaps if I was REALLY bored or a 14-year-old kid with a limited gaming budget I would do that, but as it is I just don't have any desire. One ending (with some variations) was definitely good enough for me.
• Linear to Open Transition. Another one I already mentioned, they really should have done this different... probably providing more openness from the beginning. Not sure, but I didn't like it.
  

I could probably come up with more on both sides, but these lists are pretty good. It's definitely one of games where as I played it I could see why some people are so fanatical about it (*cough* Shums *cough*), but it just didn't quite do it for me. I don't regret playing it or anything, and I did enjoy the fact it was on the DS, but at the end of the day it just didn't impress me. If you have a DS and even a passing interest in jRPGs, play it; you won't regret it... just don't expect perfection.