Opinion: Chrono Trigger Isn’t The Only Great Time-Travel RPG On DS

No less than an hour into Radiant Historia, Stocke – a special agent in Astiel’s Special Intelligence Unit and the game’s main protagonist – is on the brink of death. His mission to rescue a spy who has infiltrated the Granorg army has failed, and his subordinates Raynie and Marco have been killed.

But it’s not over. On the brink of death, Stocke is transported to some kind of M. C. Escher-like world: Historia. There, he is told about the power of the White Chronicle, a book he was given by his boss before the mission. He can use it to go back in time and fix events in his past. The special agent decides to use that power to save his new friends, and succeeds.

Stocke becomes the wielder of the White Chronicle, and in turn, the fate of the world is in his hands. While he can go back and alter events that he’s experienced, his ultimate goal is to find the ‘true’ timeline to prevent the world from being destroyed. But even with the world at stake, Radiant Historia’s time-hopping narrative never abandons that emotive, personal core that the game’s first “decision” hinges on…

There aren’t that many good time-travel stories out there, and in terms of video games, one in particular stands head and shoulders above the rest: Chrono Trigger. And for good reason. That game’s unimpeachable, in my eyes. But Radiant Historia often gets left behind in the conversation about good time-travel narratives, and sometimes even DS RPGs. It’s a fantastic console for the genre, and Atlus in particular had an extremely good run. Etrian Odyssey, Devil Survivor, and Strange Journey all started life on DS, and all are loved by fans.

But Radiant Historia is unlike anything else Atlus has ever made; it feels like a 16-bit classic in its looks, sound, and the foundations of its story. And I could wax on about the way the game twists turn-based gameplay into a 3×3 grid-based system, and how space manipulation is key. But what elevates Radiant Historia is that everything is anchored by time travel as both an emotive narrative device and an engaging gameplay mechanic.

Pretty early on, Stocke has to choose whether or not to join the Rosch Brigade, led by one of his allies. If he joins, this kicks off the Alternate History; if he stays under his current boss, Heiss, he stays in the Standard History. With the White Chronicle, Stocke can jump between these two timelines at will, experiencing different events and meeting multiple characters.

You’re told at the beginning that the collapse of the world is not how time is meant to end, and knowing that puts an incredible amount of weight on Stocke’s shoulders. He now has to ‘correct’ the events, but doing so means sacrificing those he cares about. Sometimes, he can save people – like he did with Raynie and Marco at the beginning. Other times, no matter which timeline, he simply cannot. Stocke may even have to kill people he knows and respects.

Every single event is mapped out on a timeline on the bottom screen of the DS, with each node representing a moment in time. And every node has a brief description outlining the event, acting not just as a codex for Stocke, but also as a (sometimes grim) reminder of what actually happened. From the two main paths, multiple smaller branches will emerge depending on side quests and decisions – some will lead to revelations that will help you progress elsewhere, while others will sometimes lead to the ‘desertification” of Vainqueur.

The correct path is never far out of reach, so when I made mistakes like letting Marco watch over the fire at camp or not being a decoy when going to assassinate Eruca, the princess of Granorg, I went back to the blue node and chose the ‘correct’ option or path.

We all make mistakes, it’s part of life – but when you know the survival of the world hinges on one small error, that can be a burden. And Stocke is the perfect protagonist for this. He’s initially a quiet, stoic character, who cares deeply for his subordinates and allies. Over time, he softens even more, and as he learns the truth about who he really is, he has to shoulder even more burdens.

And that’s where Radiant Historia diverges most from its time-travelling RPG companion. Chrono Trigger, in most of its 13 endings, ends on a happy note. And while there’s certainly a degree of optimism in Radiant Historia’s ‘True Ending’ (and Perfect Chronology, the 3DS rerelease, gives the game and all of its characters a very definitive happy end), overall endings don’t put a neat little ribbon on everything. It acknowledges that healing and rebuilding will take time, and that time travel isn’t a fix-all solution.

What both Chrono Trigger and Radiant Historia share is simplicity, albeit from two different perspectives. Chrono Trigger’s millennia-hopping adventure feels so big because you’re travelling back and forth between thousands and millions of years, but the world you’re visiting, no matter the timeline, is the same world. It just feels big, but when you start to recognise places, references, and locations, it’s magical.

Radiant Historia follows that same simple premise but on a much smaller scale. Even with the events in the background (the war, the fate of the world, the manipulation of time), you only ever see the continent of Vainqueur during one snippet of time – besides that desert-laden opening. Plus, the stakes are very personal throughout, with Stocke at the centre of everything. He can only affect what he has touched, what he has seen, while Crono can go back (or forward) millions of years.

I wish more people talked about Radiant Historia — though it probably doesn’t help that the game didn’t come to Europe until that 3DS re-release. It’s got an old-school charm about it that I absolutely love, with a few modern twists to those classic RPG tropes. It’s one of the best DS RPGs in an incredibly strong line-up.

With Atlus recently revisiting the fantasy RPG setting with Metaphor: ReFantazio, I hope this unique little adventure will get a new lease of life on another Nintendo console. I have asked before!

Have you played Radiant Historia? Would you like to see another port? Let us know in the comments.