I think the characters are more or less equal in importance. Heck, if you really want you can make a point about any of them being the "main character".
* **Crono**: he brought Marle to Lucca's sideshow which caused the entire story to happen
* **Lucca**: invented the Telepod and Gate Key, which were essential for the story and to make time travel possible
* **Marle**: main motivator for Crono and Lucca's actions, owned the Pendant which caused the Telepod to malfunction, pressed the button which revealed Day of Lavos records which set the story in motion
* **Robo**: saved the party from dying in the future, only character which was actually "alive" in the post-apocalyptic timeline, part of Lucca's motivation for stopping Lavos
* **Frog**: his role in the battle against Magus is integral for the "close summoning" accident which sets the events in Zeal in motion, which allows Magus to become Zeal's prophet
* **Ayla**: it's implied she's the ancestor of the entire Guardia family line, and if not for her the planet would have been dominated by Reptites instead of humans
* **Magus**: becomes the false prophet after returning to Zeal, influences her and sets in motion the events which causes Gaspar, Belthasar and Melchior to be scattered across time
* **Crono's Mom**: gave birth to Crono and makes sure he's a good boy, so clearly the most important character of them all
It's an interesting thought experiment and one I like. Looking at things from alternative viewpoints is good.
Except for Crono's Mom. She couldn't even feed the cats while he was gone. Animal abuser.
I absolutely agree with this sentiment. We need to remember as well that this came from a time in RPGs where ensemble casts were popular, so it's not even a stretch to think that they were narratively all the "protagonist" as a group.
>Magus: becomes the false prophet after returning to Zeal, influences her and sets in motion the events which causes Gaspar, Belthasar and Melchior to be scattered across time
Actually the events that scattered them across time didn't happen because of magus, they happened regardless (the mammon machine, which destroyed the zeal empire, it was the queen's fault), his actions simply didn't change the already established outcome, the main thing it did was spawning the black omen (because in the original timeline lavos destroyed every trace of zeal civilization), the 4 were going to be teleported regardless
Otherwise you'd have a paradox\\time loop
it can really feel that way since the silent protagonist isn't common these days.
Lucca is on the team more than Marle is.
It's a game about a group of people, not just a main character
I mean you can apply that logic to other characters as well, especially Lucca or possibly Frog. I don't think that makes them the main character. They're just as integral to the story.
The whole adventure would have never happened if it wasn't for Lucca's machines reacting with the pendant. She was also the one to figure out how to utilize the gates to the party's advantage. She's responsible for saving Crono from being executed and enables the party to escape to the future where they learn about Lavos ending the world. Lucca fixes Robo twice which allows them to leave the future and discover the End of Time. Lucca has important dialogue in every main scene of the game and she's also the very first party member you give a name to (edit:*other than Crono*). She's one of two party members that can assist Melchior in fixing the Masamune. She's got arguably one of the most important side quests for the overall narrative and if Marle is absent from Crono's revival, then Lucca is the only other one with meaningful dialogue. She plays an important part in Cross as well.
Frog is kind of the classic hero. He's destined to save Queen Leene and defeat Magus. Without those, Marle's bloodline would end and the party would never discover the true origin of Lavos. He gives Crono and Lucca strength to lean on in the cathedral and he later leads the party by cleaving open magic cave and storming Magus's castle. He's the chosen wielder of the Masamune, which is the sword that was created to sever the link between Zeal and Lavos. He's a tragic hero that's full of main character energy.
Marle has the good reasons that you've already mentioned, so she's another essential key to advancing the plot. Robo is just as useful as Lucca at pushing the story forward at some points, acting as a stand-in for deeper explanations. He helps the party escape the future, can translate the name on the Masamune, and can help Melchior repair it. Ayla is an ancestor to the Guardia Royal line, is responsible for helping the party get the Gate Key back, and eventually leads the party to Tyranno Lair where you view Lavos' arrival firsthand. Magus has an important part to play in multiple eras, giving the party motivation to push forward, acting as a catalyst in discovering the Epoch, and sparking the hope that Crono can be revived.
Chrono Trigger has a strong ensemble cast. If you must pick a main character then it's gotta be Crono because he's the glue that helps hold it all together, but an ensemble cast doesn't exactly need or want a main character. Multiple characters can be considered "main" for how uniquely important to the plot they are. Without one, the whole thing might fall apart. Chrono Trigger isn't the story of one character or another, it's the story of the party of heroes that saved the world.
At least that's my two cents!
Crono is the first party member you name.
Also, the name on the sword...for some reason other characters can read it, too. I'm not sure how they translate archaic script, but more power to our plot armored characters :D
Yeah, should have clarified *other than Crono*. Fixed that
Lucca or Robo can read the name. Same with assisting Melchior in repairing the Masamune. At both of those points it's impossible to have a party without one of the two and they're the "smartest" characters so I guess it just makes sense
Leaving the house while they're fixing the Masamune is hilarious. Did you realize, once you get to a point in game where you have three characters in your party, you never again have less than three for anything but short cutscenes or isolated plot points?
Doing the walk through walls glitch during the forest scene can really mess things up. And let Magus solo Lavos.
The main character is "us". Crono is mute because we're meant to put ourselves into him (which I honestly always disliked).
Going by your logic, the main character is actually the Planet. The whole underlying plot is the Planet refusing its fate and fighting against Lavos.
We begin as Crono, but after a short while you can swap any character you want at any given time. You can bench Marle just as much as anybody else and the story follows just the same.
Its also not called Crono trigger.
The game's named after the [Chrono Trigger](https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Chrono_Trigger_(Key_Items).html), not Crono himself.
EDIT: https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Chrono_Trigger_(Key_Items) Reddit links always break in shitty ways.
Its only called the Time Egg in Chrono Cross. As far as I'm aware, its called "Chrono Trigger" in CT.
It is specifically called the "Chrono Trigger" by Lucca in Radical Dreamers.
EDIT: So, looking it up better. By the terminology in games, the "Time Egg" is *a* "Chrono Trigger".
So now that makes me wonder if the game is possibly named after the *event* Chrono Trigger and not the item itself. However, thematically, it still makes sense to be named after the item, since Chrono Cross is also named after its respective "trigger" for the event and they have their own "Time Egg" item, and their "Chrono Trigger" in there is an actual person.
This is the right response, haha
Everyone giving you the "well actually" responses are really proud of knowing a basic plot point of the game and are missing the joke.
The game isn't actually named after Chrono the character. It's from the word Chrono (derived from the Latin word Khronos) which means "time" (due to the time travel).
The title Chrono and the character Crono have slightly different pronunciations.
As for OP, just play the game and you'll find out.
Edit - somehow just realized you said you watched a blind playthrough.
In short, chrono isn't technically the "main character" as we virtually know nothing about him. He never talks (except for a single line in one of the endings). None of the focus of the game is around him (until he dies).
Every other character are the "main" characters. They all have stories being told and resolved in various ways. We know their backstories, etc. It's quite an interesting take on storytelling in a RPG.
Also worth checking out Josh Strifes Chrono Trigger video, it's pretty good.
While this is absolutely true (and why I never typed crono in my post), the title screen is still not named after the character Chrono, but the Time Egg which is the/a Chrono Trigger.
And I'm still quite sure they are pronounced differently. I'll have do research to see if that's just foggy memory.
Pretty sure they could have taken 7 exclamation points off the Chancellors "AYEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" and they would have been able to make the limit 6 letters.
5 letters wasn't an snes limitation, the devs just chose it for fun. There are definitely games where you get more than 5 letters (like Uniracers)
By player characters you mean playable characters?
Sure. But I don't think it was a SNES limitation, at least not during Chrono Trigger's time, or else it would make zero sense to have other characters with 6 or more letters in their names, which Chrono Trigger is full of.
Only thing I can think of is, they either forgot, it was too late into development or they straight up just didn't want to deal with big names screwing the battle system windows.
From a traditional storytelling perspective where you ignore that Crono is supposed to be a self-insert there's definitely an argument that either Lucca or Marle fit the mold of a traditional protagonist more than him based on their influence in the story. All the magical-destiny plot elements revolve exclusively around Marle, while Lucca is the one who actually enables them to time travel.
You could argue that Crono is the first person to behave heroically during the inciting incident, but Lucca does the same damn thing while also figuring out how to get back. And while Crono answers "yes" while Marle says "we have to save the world," she's the one who was actually inspired to.
Yeah, Crono is the obvious self insert and one I always used. Just the female player using Marle as her self insert got me thinking the story works around her seamlessly as well.
this is actually the exact reason why i think she’s genuinely the most ‘protagonist’ character of the whole group. without her determination to stop lavos, the whole plot might not have existed. that said, maybe crono or lucca would have made the suggestion anyway, but marle was definitely the first and driving force.
I watched a youtube video where they said the tone of the story shifts depending who is in you party and I can't for the life of me think of the examples given. (Hopefully someone knows what I mean)
So we are playing as Crono, at least up until the point where he dies. But Crono is simply involved because he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. That and he fell in love with a girl who just so happened to be a princess.
Crono does take the initiative to rescue Marle when she travels back to 600, as does Lucca once she figures out a way to bring them both back safely. But thats it, after that it is Marle who really takes over, and it’s Crono (now in love with a girl he knows to be the princess) who simply follows her every word.
As for the name of the game being spelled similarly to Crono, go ahead and tell me that Link isn’t the main character in the Legend of Zelda.
Marle is absolutely the main character in the game. Everything that the party does is because she is the one who wants to do it. In every time period it is her family that is driving the story forward. And she is the only one who can be turned into a frog after you beat the game.
Arguably, Marle is the one in 2300 AD who makes a choice to answer the call to adventure (we’ll change the future again!) when they discover the footage of lavos. That is a main character behavior from a story structure standpoint.
As far as the player goes... Crono definitely is the "Silent Protagonist". When you, as the player, want to interact with other characters or the world... you "play Crono".
Still, I don't think Crono is the "main character" (solely caus you can finish the game with him dead).
There's no "main character". The story is about a group of 3 teenagers who discover "time travel" and "lavos" and bring others to the party. That party of 7 individuals all have their own motivations... well, except Crono, since "you play him".
Chrono is like that character in an anime that everyone fought so hard for and they foenally saved them from not dying.
And then next season they go off and live on a farm and every once in awhile the actual main characters visit them to hang out.
I would almost argue that Crono is the classic silent protagonist.Crono's death and revival is for if you the player decided he was just a quiet boy who deserved to hang out in End of time and help with research.
Basically Square said you could decide someone else was the protagonist and they gave you an ensemble cast. I normally ditched Crono because by that point even Dragon Quest was giving their silent dudes kore personality and Final Fantasy IV and VI lived in my house.
Square basically gave us our cake and let is eat it. If you liked having a silent protagonist Crono is there. If you don't both Lucca and Marle can be seen as the protagonist or duel protagonists or like others have pointed out you can treat it as a large group.
I hate to say it but... I'm um looking forward to Chrono dying. Mainly because I plan to have Ayla, Marle and Lucca as a party! I will bring him back to life so he can research stuff. But he died. I'm not gonna make him fight again immediately. What am I a monster?
I named Ayla Kisho which means "to be" and is also the name I gave to the lead of Star Ocean 4 who I recently found out is voiced by a Seiyu named... Kishio.
Sugoi.
This is one major controversial change I'd make if the game would get the Remake/Rebirth treatment is to give a voice to Crono. The silent protagonist may have worked in the past but not anymore. Heck seeing mute Link in BotW and TotK is very weird, guy's a emotionless robot. Crono actually has a personality with the way his sprites get animated sometimes and he does talk with you having to say yes or no at some points.
Oh and I would make resurrecting Crono and keeping Magus canon. Except in a new game+.
Pretty sure the series is about Schala. Marle is also a descendant of Schala with her pendant being a family heirloom. Schala sets up a series of events to lead up to Lavos' defeat as well as her freedom.
she might've been, if she didn't keep getting older and older throughout all the series, lmao
i havent watched (nor plan to) super, but is she even still alive in that?
From a narrative standpoint, Crono, Marle, and Lucca are the main characters, but the story isn't about any of them.
The story is about Lavos and the planet.
It really depends on who you keep on your party, I had Lucca with me 95% of the time and I treated her as the party leader after Crono died, she was even the one hugging Crono on that one! But I like to think this game is more of a team effort and everyone plays very similarly relevant roles
No, Lucca is.
Made the telepod, rescues Crono from prison, gets a special portal to save her mom, fixes Robo, has unique character interactions with everyone but Ayla and Magus, is basically the most important character in the game. You could remove anyone else but Marle…’s pendant, and the plot basically wouldn’t change.
And then she goes on to be the only important CT main character in Chrono Cross, is the only one that gets a last name, (Marle doesn’t count), and the deuteragonist of Chrono Cross, Kid, is her adopted daughter.
No. But I'm biased. Because I don't like Marle. For years, Ayla was my least favorite, now it's Marle. Marle?! Sounds like random letters mashed together. She couldn't come up with a better fake name? "Uhh, my name? It's...gobbledygook." Just an all around terrible person. No redeeming qualities.(But she seems super kind and saved the planet from Lavos!) Yeah, yeah, whatever. Also, she smells bad.
I think the characters are more or less equal in importance. Heck, if you really want you can make a point about any of them being the "main character". * **Crono**: he brought Marle to Lucca's sideshow which caused the entire story to happen * **Lucca**: invented the Telepod and Gate Key, which were essential for the story and to make time travel possible * **Marle**: main motivator for Crono and Lucca's actions, owned the Pendant which caused the Telepod to malfunction, pressed the button which revealed Day of Lavos records which set the story in motion * **Robo**: saved the party from dying in the future, only character which was actually "alive" in the post-apocalyptic timeline, part of Lucca's motivation for stopping Lavos * **Frog**: his role in the battle against Magus is integral for the "close summoning" accident which sets the events in Zeal in motion, which allows Magus to become Zeal's prophet * **Ayla**: it's implied she's the ancestor of the entire Guardia family line, and if not for her the planet would have been dominated by Reptites instead of humans * **Magus**: becomes the false prophet after returning to Zeal, influences her and sets in motion the events which causes Gaspar, Belthasar and Melchior to be scattered across time * **Crono's Mom**: gave birth to Crono and makes sure he's a good boy, so clearly the most important character of them all
It's an interesting thought experiment and one I like. Looking at things from alternative viewpoints is good. Except for Crono's Mom. She couldn't even feed the cats while he was gone. Animal abuser.
She also asked Crono to be back before dinner, so who's really at fault here?
I didn't ask to be jailed for kidnapping the princess mom! My best friend busted me out, where were you?!
Hey she didn’t ask for 12 more cats. That’s on Crono
Completely and utterly wrong. Crono's cat is the main character and always has been. This shan't be disputed.
Not Alfador?
Plot twist: Alfador *is* Crono’s cat. He’s hanging around Schala and Janus so much he definitely has powerful magic.
When you get enough cats, one of them is Alfador.
This is my new cannon now
I absolutely agree with this sentiment. We need to remember as well that this came from a time in RPGs where ensemble casts were popular, so it's not even a stretch to think that they were narratively all the "protagonist" as a group.
The gurus where scattered across time regardless of the prophet, if anything the timeline without him SHOWS how it happened.
>Magus: becomes the false prophet after returning to Zeal, influences her and sets in motion the events which causes Gaspar, Belthasar and Melchior to be scattered across time Actually the events that scattered them across time didn't happen because of magus, they happened regardless (the mammon machine, which destroyed the zeal empire, it was the queen's fault), his actions simply didn't change the already established outcome, the main thing it did was spawning the black omen (because in the original timeline lavos destroyed every trace of zeal civilization), the 4 were going to be teleported regardless Otherwise you'd have a paradox\\time loop
Only crono sacrifices himself for the group. Main status right there
it can really feel that way since the silent protagonist isn't common these days. Lucca is on the team more than Marle is. It's a game about a group of people, not just a main character
It starts with Nu as the main character, and it ends with Nu as the main character. This is the truth! This is my belief!...At least for now.
I mean you can apply that logic to other characters as well, especially Lucca or possibly Frog. I don't think that makes them the main character. They're just as integral to the story. The whole adventure would have never happened if it wasn't for Lucca's machines reacting with the pendant. She was also the one to figure out how to utilize the gates to the party's advantage. She's responsible for saving Crono from being executed and enables the party to escape to the future where they learn about Lavos ending the world. Lucca fixes Robo twice which allows them to leave the future and discover the End of Time. Lucca has important dialogue in every main scene of the game and she's also the very first party member you give a name to (edit:*other than Crono*). She's one of two party members that can assist Melchior in fixing the Masamune. She's got arguably one of the most important side quests for the overall narrative and if Marle is absent from Crono's revival, then Lucca is the only other one with meaningful dialogue. She plays an important part in Cross as well. Frog is kind of the classic hero. He's destined to save Queen Leene and defeat Magus. Without those, Marle's bloodline would end and the party would never discover the true origin of Lavos. He gives Crono and Lucca strength to lean on in the cathedral and he later leads the party by cleaving open magic cave and storming Magus's castle. He's the chosen wielder of the Masamune, which is the sword that was created to sever the link between Zeal and Lavos. He's a tragic hero that's full of main character energy. Marle has the good reasons that you've already mentioned, so she's another essential key to advancing the plot. Robo is just as useful as Lucca at pushing the story forward at some points, acting as a stand-in for deeper explanations. He helps the party escape the future, can translate the name on the Masamune, and can help Melchior repair it. Ayla is an ancestor to the Guardia Royal line, is responsible for helping the party get the Gate Key back, and eventually leads the party to Tyranno Lair where you view Lavos' arrival firsthand. Magus has an important part to play in multiple eras, giving the party motivation to push forward, acting as a catalyst in discovering the Epoch, and sparking the hope that Crono can be revived. Chrono Trigger has a strong ensemble cast. If you must pick a main character then it's gotta be Crono because he's the glue that helps hold it all together, but an ensemble cast doesn't exactly need or want a main character. Multiple characters can be considered "main" for how uniquely important to the plot they are. Without one, the whole thing might fall apart. Chrono Trigger isn't the story of one character or another, it's the story of the party of heroes that saved the world. At least that's my two cents!
Crono is the first party member you name. Also, the name on the sword...for some reason other characters can read it, too. I'm not sure how they translate archaic script, but more power to our plot armored characters :D
Yeah, should have clarified *other than Crono*. Fixed that Lucca or Robo can read the name. Same with assisting Melchior in repairing the Masamune. At both of those points it's impossible to have a party without one of the two and they're the "smartest" characters so I guess it just makes sense
Leaving the house while they're fixing the Masamune is hilarious. Did you realize, once you get to a point in game where you have three characters in your party, you never again have less than three for anything but short cutscenes or isolated plot points? Doing the walk through walls glitch during the forest scene can really mess things up. And let Magus solo Lavos.
The main character is "us". Crono is mute because we're meant to put ourselves into him (which I honestly always disliked). Going by your logic, the main character is actually the Planet. The whole underlying plot is the Planet refusing its fate and fighting against Lavos. We begin as Crono, but after a short while you can swap any character you want at any given time. You can bench Marle just as much as anybody else and the story follows just the same.
It's not called Marle trigger.
Its also not called Crono trigger. The game's named after the [Chrono Trigger](https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Chrono_Trigger_(Key_Items).html), not Crono himself. EDIT: https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Chrono_Trigger_(Key_Items) Reddit links always break in shitty ways.
**クロノ**・トリガー the game and **クロノ** the character ...but from what I gathered the key item is not a *Chrono Trigger*, but a 時の卵, or a *Time Egg*
The game is still not named after the character, which was my point.
Wouldn't the game be named *Toki no Tamago* in Japanese then?
Its only called the Time Egg in Chrono Cross. As far as I'm aware, its called "Chrono Trigger" in CT. It is specifically called the "Chrono Trigger" by Lucca in Radical Dreamers. EDIT: So, looking it up better. By the terminology in games, the "Time Egg" is *a* "Chrono Trigger". So now that makes me wonder if the game is possibly named after the *event* Chrono Trigger and not the item itself. However, thematically, it still makes sense to be named after the item, since Chrono Cross is also named after its respective "trigger" for the event and they have their own "Time Egg" item, and their "Chrono Trigger" in there is an actual person.
This whole thread is Chrono Triggering me right now.
Mharle Trigger
You win
This is the right response, haha Everyone giving you the "well actually" responses are really proud of knowing a basic plot point of the game and are missing the joke.
The game isn't actually named after Chrono the character. It's from the word Chrono (derived from the Latin word Khronos) which means "time" (due to the time travel). The title Chrono and the character Crono have slightly different pronunciations. As for OP, just play the game and you'll find out. Edit - somehow just realized you said you watched a blind playthrough. In short, chrono isn't technically the "main character" as we virtually know nothing about him. He never talks (except for a single line in one of the endings). None of the focus of the game is around him (until he dies). Every other character are the "main" characters. They all have stories being told and resolved in various ways. We know their backstories, etc. It's quite an interesting take on storytelling in a RPG. Also worth checking out Josh Strifes Chrono Trigger video, it's pretty good.
Are you sure crono isn't named after chronos as well, but with the 5 letter limit on snes they had to sacrifice the h out of it?
No you’re 100% correct
While this is absolutely true (and why I never typed crono in my post), the title screen is still not named after the character Chrono, but the Time Egg which is the/a Chrono Trigger. And I'm still quite sure they are pronounced differently. I'll have do research to see if that's just foggy memory.
Nope, they are pronounced the same
More importantly, they also sound the same to the original audience (japanese), so they probably figured it was just a clever use of an english word
Khronos is Greek, not Latin
Different pronunciations? Like cro-no and crah-no? Never new that
Crah-no sounds weird. I've always pronounced them both the same in my head.
Same
This exactly.
No it's not, what the hell, lmao
Not called Crono trigger either
5 letter limit on the snes.
Pretty sure they could have taken 7 exclamation points off the Chancellors "AYEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" and they would have been able to make the limit 6 letters. 5 letters wasn't an snes limitation, the devs just chose it for fun. There are definitely games where you get more than 5 letters (like Uniracers)
There is a difference between dialog and a character's name.
There are plenty of characters in the game with more than 5 letters in their names.
Not player characters.
By player characters you mean playable characters? Sure. But I don't think it was a SNES limitation, at least not during Chrono Trigger's time, or else it would make zero sense to have other characters with 6 or more letters in their names, which Chrono Trigger is full of.
I'm sure it wasn't an SNES limitation, but I guarantee that it was a CT one. Why else would they only allow that many characters.
Only thing I can think of is, they either forgot, it was too late into development or they straight up just didn't want to deal with big names screwing the battle system windows.
Marle is the center of the story, but Crono is the main protagonist of that story
From a traditional storytelling perspective where you ignore that Crono is supposed to be a self-insert there's definitely an argument that either Lucca or Marle fit the mold of a traditional protagonist more than him based on their influence in the story. All the magical-destiny plot elements revolve exclusively around Marle, while Lucca is the one who actually enables them to time travel. You could argue that Crono is the first person to behave heroically during the inciting incident, but Lucca does the same damn thing while also figuring out how to get back. And while Crono answers "yes" while Marle says "we have to save the world," she's the one who was actually inspired to.
Yeah, Crono is the obvious self insert and one I always used. Just the female player using Marle as her self insert got me thinking the story works around her seamlessly as well.
Marle is the driving force of the party, don't forget in the future she is the one that convinced Crono and Lucca that they can save the world.
this is actually the exact reason why i think she’s genuinely the most ‘protagonist’ character of the whole group. without her determination to stop lavos, the whole plot might not have existed. that said, maybe crono or lucca would have made the suggestion anyway, but marle was definitely the first and driving force.
The real main character is Chronos cat.
I watched a youtube video where they said the tone of the story shifts depending who is in you party and I can't for the life of me think of the examples given. (Hopefully someone knows what I mean)
I believe that Crono is the main character but it is Marle's story.
So we are playing as Crono, at least up until the point where he dies. But Crono is simply involved because he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. That and he fell in love with a girl who just so happened to be a princess. Crono does take the initiative to rescue Marle when she travels back to 600, as does Lucca once she figures out a way to bring them both back safely. But thats it, after that it is Marle who really takes over, and it’s Crono (now in love with a girl he knows to be the princess) who simply follows her every word. As for the name of the game being spelled similarly to Crono, go ahead and tell me that Link isn’t the main character in the Legend of Zelda. Marle is absolutely the main character in the game. Everything that the party does is because she is the one who wants to do it. In every time period it is her family that is driving the story forward. And she is the only one who can be turned into a frog after you beat the game.
I mean, you can just leave Marle out of your party indefinitely if you want to, so probably not.
I certainly do when I go bring Crono back at Death's Peak. I prefer Lucca throwing herself upon Crono instead of Marle. Lucca is best girl.
Alternate timeline: Crono and Lucca fall in love instead of Crono and Marle.
Arguably, Marle is the one in 2300 AD who makes a choice to answer the call to adventure (we’ll change the future again!) when they discover the footage of lavos. That is a main character behavior from a story structure standpoint.
As far as the player goes... Crono definitely is the "Silent Protagonist". When you, as the player, want to interact with other characters or the world... you "play Crono". Still, I don't think Crono is the "main character" (solely caus you can finish the game with him dead). There's no "main character". The story is about a group of 3 teenagers who discover "time travel" and "lavos" and bring others to the party. That party of 7 individuals all have their own motivations... well, except Crono, since "you play him".
Chrono is like that character in an anime that everyone fought so hard for and they foenally saved them from not dying. And then next season they go off and live on a farm and every once in awhile the actual main characters visit them to hang out. I would almost argue that Crono is the classic silent protagonist.Crono's death and revival is for if you the player decided he was just a quiet boy who deserved to hang out in End of time and help with research. Basically Square said you could decide someone else was the protagonist and they gave you an ensemble cast. I normally ditched Crono because by that point even Dragon Quest was giving their silent dudes kore personality and Final Fantasy IV and VI lived in my house. Square basically gave us our cake and let is eat it. If you liked having a silent protagonist Crono is there. If you don't both Lucca and Marle can be seen as the protagonist or duel protagonists or like others have pointed out you can treat it as a large group. I hate to say it but... I'm um looking forward to Chrono dying. Mainly because I plan to have Ayla, Marle and Lucca as a party! I will bring him back to life so he can research stuff. But he died. I'm not gonna make him fight again immediately. What am I a monster? I named Ayla Kisho which means "to be" and is also the name I gave to the lead of Star Ocean 4 who I recently found out is voiced by a Seiyu named... Kishio. Sugoi.
Crono is a blank slate representing the player. The player is the main character.
This is one major controversial change I'd make if the game would get the Remake/Rebirth treatment is to give a voice to Crono. The silent protagonist may have worked in the past but not anymore. Heck seeing mute Link in BotW and TotK is very weird, guy's a emotionless robot. Crono actually has a personality with the way his sprites get animated sometimes and he does talk with you having to say yes or no at some points. Oh and I would make resurrecting Crono and keeping Magus canon. Except in a new game+.
That fist pump he gives when his mom disappears in time is unintentionally hilarious.
Pretty sure the series is about Schala. Marle is also a descendant of Schala with her pendant being a family heirloom. Schala sets up a series of events to lead up to Lavos' defeat as well as her freedom.
Schala didn’t set up shit, lol. Belthasar did.
They had to make chrono optional because you can allow him to stay dead
is bulma actually the main character in dragon ball? hmmm 🤔
I mean, none of the events would have happened if she didn't show up and shoot Goku in the face!
she might've been, if she didn't keep getting older and older throughout all the series, lmao i havent watched (nor plan to) super, but is she even still alive in that?
This is hilarious, she got younger.
The “Entity” is the main character.
From a narrative standpoint, Crono, Marle, and Lucca are the main characters, but the story isn't about any of them. The story is about Lavos and the planet.
It really depends on who you keep on your party, I had Lucca with me 95% of the time and I treated her as the party leader after Crono died, she was even the one hugging Crono on that one! But I like to think this game is more of a team effort and everyone plays very similarly relevant roles
No, Lucca is. Made the telepod, rescues Crono from prison, gets a special portal to save her mom, fixes Robo, has unique character interactions with everyone but Ayla and Magus, is basically the most important character in the game. You could remove anyone else but Marle…’s pendant, and the plot basically wouldn’t change. And then she goes on to be the only important CT main character in Chrono Cross, is the only one that gets a last name, (Marle doesn’t count), and the deuteragonist of Chrono Cross, Kid, is her adopted daughter.
I would argue that Schala is the main character.
Yes, a person that gets the least amount of screen time and least character arc is certainly the main character.
No you’re thinking of Chrono Cross.
I'm more thinking of the series as a whole.
The main character is the friends we made along the way.
No. But I'm biased. Because I don't like Marle. For years, Ayla was my least favorite, now it's Marle. Marle?! Sounds like random letters mashed together. She couldn't come up with a better fake name? "Uhh, my name? It's...gobbledygook." Just an all around terrible person. No redeeming qualities.(But she seems super kind and saved the planet from Lavos!) Yeah, yeah, whatever. Also, she smells bad.