GAME LENGTH: IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE YOUR GAME TOO LONG?

I'm just going to fast-forward to the end of 2300 AD because up until then the game isn't long enough for anything to have really gone wrong pacing-wise unless you're just SUPER terrible at gam mak. That's five dungeons in (Cathedral, Guardia Prison, Lab 16, Arris Dome, Factory) plus a couple small zones with like three battles each.

Heckran's Cave: Six dungeons in, the game introduces magic and party-swapping at the same time. At the same time, to make the magic more meaningful, it has this entire dungeon full of physical-immune enemies. This dungeon is actually pretty boring and lame; the physical immune enemies force you to use the new spells, but don't do a good job of really introducing you to the difference between physical and magical skills, since you can still only see one of the two. The boss is also the first boss that forces you to wait; this changes the dynamic of how useful dual techs are. But since only one dual tech is useful anyway, the player again doesn't really feel it yet. Overall there are a lot of new concepts introduced, but not fleshed out.

After Heckran's Cave: You can now travel through time non-linearly for the first time in the game. Whee! Exploration! Where to go next isn't obvious, so if you're playing for the first time, you'll probably spend quite a while exploring before getting to Zenan Bridge.

Zenan Bridge: This is a gauntlet of battles, not a dungeon. There are no new gameplay ideas here, but the lack of exploration and the short duration are a nice change from previous areas.

The Masamune: There's a bit of a puzzle to solve on the southern continent, collecting the Masamune Hilt and the Hero's Medal. It doesn't take long to figure out where to go, but it rewards the player for doing stuff other than fighting monsters and equipping new armor. You will also end up walking in and out of Frog's hovel in the forest multiple times - the player is rewarded here for weaving between the enemies and can potentially get through the whole zone without a battle with some practice. This is actually the first time in the game that dodging the same room full of enemies is something you learn over multiple attempts; there are avoidable enemies in earlier repeatable zones, but they don't move, you can just walk around them.

Denadoro Mountain: New concepts introduced: Enemies that undergo major changes after being hit with specific elements. Enemies that attack you outside of battle. Enemies that summon more enemies if left alive. The boss is really boring, sadly; all it does is a countdown attack, and it's not the first boss to do one, and you don't actually have any defensive skills so I don't know why Chrono Trigger has countdown attacks at all.

Forest Maze: Heading to 65 Million BC gives you a new party member who works very differently from your other four. She doesn't use weapons, she has a totally new set of abilities, and once you gain a few levels she can steal from enemies (which will happen about halfway through the dungeon). The second half of this dungeon is very unique in how it's explored (you have to let monsters dig holes, and then fall down them). The way dinosaurs respond to lightning attacks is also a new mechanic here. Aside from that, you're also suddenly locked out of time travel for the first time since 2300 AD, and you're given a new type of optional dungeon where you can collect items to trade for gear. Tons of new ideas in this section.

Magus's Castle: A party member returns, far more powerful than when he left. He quickly learns several new skills as well, and is forced onto your team. However, the main thing that's notable about Magus's Castle is the variety of enemy strategies - there are like fifteen or twenty brand new strategies used by enemies in this dungeon, both in and out of battle, and you have to figure them all out. There are a bunch of traps throughout the castle, set by Ozzie. It's also got four different bosses, and the last one is an extremely climactic boss battle, one of the most memorable battles in any video game. This is all very good, because this is a ridiculously, absurdly long dungeon.

Dactyl Nest: After Magus's Castle the game gives you a breather. You get to walk around a familiar area and talk to people you've met before. The next dungeon is also very short and very simple. There are no branching paths, it's just one straight line from start to finish, and the enemies are very simple. There's no boss, either. This sounds boring, but after Magus's Castle, it's exactly what the player wants. Sometimes you have to give the player a break. You probably don't even remember this dungeon, because you were still winding down from defeating Magus.

Tyrano Fort: The game briefly gives the player the ability to fly, but it's a trick. You can only fly one place you haven't been before. The game then does something that is a little exasperating: it gives you another humongous dungeon, and this time it's kind of a maze. And this one is a lot less interesting than Magus's Castle - there are no guillotine conveyor-belt traps, and only a few types of enemies. The enemies are utterly uninteresting and very repetitive. No new concepts are introduced at all, except that Ayla is forced back onto your team. There are only two bosses, and one of them is just a stronger version of a boss you've fought before. You can kind of tell that the game designers were as exhausted from Magus's Castle as the player was. By the end of this dungeon, the player is totally and completely exhausted with dungeons, and is ready to turn the game off as soon as the next one starts.

12000 BC: The player heads to a new era, and visits an icy town. Then he gets on a warp pad and goes to a flying continent, where he can explore another town full of interesting plot. And then another town. And then another town. There are a bunch of cut scenes in each one, and a bunch of hidden stuff to find, and at the end are some pretty neat cut scenes. You fight only one battle in the entire era... and you're allowed, but not required, to lose it. And then at the end of it all, probably over an hour later if you've never played the game before, the player is sent back to the End of Time. And starts sidequesting through time. This isn't accidental. This is a very meaningful shift from the chain of megadungeons that the player's just been subjected to, and it works beautifully.

The Epoch: On the way to getting the time machine, the player gets to roflstomp the 2300 AD Sewers, which are a solid 20 levels below him by this point. It's hilariously easy, and possibly empty if you beat it earlier in the game. Then you get the Epoch and can warp freely to any time period. Tons of exploration is unlocked. The player eventually heads back to 12000 AD, having STILL not entered a real dungeon, or even fought a single real battle, since the Tyrano Fort.

Mt. Woe: First, a short interlude in the caves against a few enemies and a miniboss. It's only three battles plus a boss; just right to ease the player back in. Then, immediately afterwards, another proper dungeon. We're pretty far into the game to be introducing new major battle concepts, but they keep showing up anyway. Enemies here give several times more tech points than earlier enemies, and if you've used one party for most of the game, your party will come very close to learning every single available skill. The high level skills that start to unlock at this point have new targeting methods, giving the player far more combat options. These replace the boring Element2 magic spells that just hit all enemies. This is also around the time when the player will get his first triple techs. Enemies here also use a couple new strategies: confuse status, and battles that give huge rewards if you win fast enough. These are only two things, but but they both massively change how the player fights.

Ocean Palace: The enemies in Ocean Palace use a huge variety of new complex strategies, including dual techs, elemental shields, element-matching counterattacks, guarding each-other, stealing HP from each-other, and more. This dungeon nevertheless drags on a bit, mostly because the enemies don't give as good of rewards as the ones in the previous dungeon. The player is anxious to get through, which is unfortunate, considering what happens at the end

Death Peak: The enemies in Death Peak aren't terribly noteworthy - they use tricks the player has seen before like Demi and timed counterattacks. They're far better at these tricks than earlier enemies were, though, so the player really has to respond correctly and can't just bumble through it as easily. The main difference here is the removal of the main character from the team, for the first time in the game. This alone is a massive paradigm shift that singlehandedly freshens up battles.

Sidequests: The end game sidequests in Chrono Trigger are so well done that I would be here the rest of my life if I started talking about them. Suffice to say that the game creates a sort of puzzle of deciding what order to do things in, and that the way this part of the game builds on what happened earlier in the game creates some very satisfying gameplay moments. A lot of loose plot threads come together here, but in the same way, so do a lot of loose gameplay threads. You get to use characters you had been ignoring, you get to open sealed chests and doors you saw 20 hours ago, you finally get to enter one of those damn blue pyramids, and so forth. It all feels very good.

Black Omen: Chrono Trigger does its final dungeon right, but so does almost every RPG, honestly. If you can't make a final dungeon feel interesting, you're a terrible person and should punch yourself until you get a concussion. At this point you don't need new concepts. You don't need any more paradigm shifts. The only things the player is unlocking here are things he would have unlocked earlier if he'd played differently - like unlocking Robo's final abilities here because he only used Robo in three dungeons before this. The game is testing for mastery.