I recently decided to start playing FF7 again after an 11 year hiatus and I can't help but notice that this game is basically just Chrono Trigger repackaged. I actually feel like I just got kicked in the nuts. Both are great games, but Squaresoft just ripped themselves off, used the exact same elements and switched a few things around to make it something new.

-Jenova and Lavos are both aliens which feed off of the planet.

-FF7 involves saving the planet from Sephiroth (though he's not really to blame) and Jenova. Chrono Trigger involves saving the world from Lavos and later, Magus (though he's not really to blame).

-The Shinra excavated Jenova and saw that it was a great source of power. They use Jenova to create super soldiers, especially Sephiroth. It backfires on them. The Kingdom of Zeal creates a machine to extract the power of Lavos. Its citizens are powerful and long- lived (or would have been), especially Janus (Magus). It backfires on them.

-Sephiroth was a good guy at one point, but appears to be evil. He was injected with the cells of Jenova and is essentially possessed later on. It's really not his fault that he's evil. He's misunderstood. Magus (Janus) was living in Zeal with his mother and sister. His mother is corrupted or possessed by Lavos and his sister is taken from him. He isn't evil, he just does what he has to do in an attempt to destroy Lavos and get his sister back. It's not his fault that he's evil. He's misunderstood.

-FF7 talks about the lifestream and another consciousness/ Cetra/ Ancients. In Chrono Trigger, they repeatedly discuss that they feel another entity is part of their ordeal and at the end of the game, they feel that the entity is at peace. At the end of FF7, the planet is essentially renewed and in Chrono Trigger, Lavos is stopped before he can destroy the planet.

-FF7 has a big toy for a character: Cait Sith. Chrono Trigger has a big toy for a character: Robo

-The main sword wielding guy, who needs to have his arm twisted to get anything out of him: Cloud/ Chrono

-The childhood friend that deeply cares for the main character: Tifa/ Lucca

-The newcomer who wants the main guy's shit: Aeris/ Marle

-The tough, honorable one with a lost friend in their past and has a female to look after and protect: Barrett, Dyne and Marlene/ Frog, Cyrus and Queen Leene

-The character who's there and established, but not very interesting and doesn't contribute much to the group or game: Red XIII/ Ayla

-The big fiesta!: The Gold Saucer/ The Millenial Fair

I'm only on Disc 1, so I'll add more as it comes to me, but I can't help feeling that it's the same damn elements only repackaged.

Firstly, welcome to the Shrine! :D

I'm afraid I have to disagree with your statement that 'FFVII is just Chrono Trigger rehashed' - they are two totally different games with completely different storylines. Yes, they may reuse certain ideas or elements, but it's not like FFVII is the first game to do that (let's face it, every RPG essentially uses the same battle system and ideas of Dungeons and Dragons, with levels, exp, classes etc).

In fact, to clarify a few of your points further:


-Jenova and Lavos are both aliens which feed off of the planet.

Stock story idea - it's been done in other games as well, and before Chrono Trigger too.


-FF7 involves saving the planet from Sephiroth (though he's not really to blame) and Jenova. Chrono Trigger involves saving the world from Lavos and later, Magus (though he's not really to blame).

Again, this has been done before in many RPGs, including many earlier FF titles as well (FFIV cough cough). It's again a standard RPG story idea.


-The Shinra excavated Jenova and saw that it was a great source of power. They use Jenova to create super soldiers, especially Sephiroth. It backfires on them. The Kingdom of Zeal creates a machine to extract the power of Lavos. Its citizens are powerful and long- lived (or would have been), especially Janus (Magus). It backfires on them.

That's not entirely correct. Jenova was originally excavated by the Shinra not as a 'great source of power' as you put it, but simply because Professor Gast mistook it for a Cetra originally, whom the Shinra believed would lead them to the Promised Land (the whole point of the Jenova Project). Their goal wasn't to create 'super soldiers', but simply people with the knowledge of the Ancients to hopefully reveal the location of the Promised Land.

It was only after they started injecting Jenova's cells into humans as part of the Jenova Project did they discover that it could greatly enhance the abilities and strength of humans, hence, SOLDIER was formed.

In any event, when Gast encountered a real surviving member of the Ancients (Ilfana) did the horrible truth finally dawn on him that he had made a terrible mistake. In any event, again, 'weird monster exploited as a power source/weapon/slave' is a common theme in RPGs.


-Sephiroth was a good guy at one point, but appears to be evil. He was injected with the cells of Jenova and is essentially possessed later on. It's really not his fault that he's evil. He's misunderstood. Magus (Janus) was living in Zeal with his mother and sister. His mother is corrupted or possessed by Lavos and his sister is taken from him. He isn't evil, he just does what he has to do in an attempt to destroy Lavos and get his sister back. It's not his fault that he's evil. He's misunderstood.

It can be said that we all have choices to make in our lives, and, for better or worse, have to take responsibility for our actions. Sure, Sephiroth was a pretty nice guy originally, and yes, it wasn't his fault he was made like he was, but the fact is, it was his choice to destroy Nibelheim. It was his choice to summon the Meteor etc etc. He basically lost himself in his own delusions of megalomania, regardless of what happened to take him to that point.

It wasn't as if he didn't know that he wasn't an Ancient, his main excuse for his actions (as he absorbed the knowledge of the Lifestream, he would have discovered this early on). So yeah, this point you raise is irrelevant. And again, it's a standard plot line in RPGs.


-FF7 talks about the lifestream and another consciousness/ Cetra/ Ancients. In Chrono Trigger, they repeatedly discuss that they feel another entity is part of their ordeal and at the end of the game, they feel that the entity is at peace. At the end of FF7, the planet is essentially renewed and in Chrono Trigger, Lavos is stopped before he can destroy the planet.

The concept of the Lifestream was just one example of Hironobu Sakaguichi's beliefs of life after death (influenced by the death of his mother in the early 1990s). A number of other FF games also feature similar themes (FFVI with the Phantom Train, FFIX with the Crystal of Life, FFX with Spira's spiral of death etc). As Sakaguichi oversaw Chrono Trigger's development, such similarities would have been deliberate.


-FF7 has a big toy for a character: Cait Sith. Chrono Trigger has a big toy for a character: Robo

That's a pretty vague connection - lots of RPGs have inhuman or robotic characters in the player's party (Phantasy Star springs to mind). This point is irrelevant.


-The main sword wielding guy, who needs to have his arm twisted to get anything out of him: Cloud/ Chrono

Once again, another stock character in RPGs. The cold, reluctant hero who wields a sword. A lot of RPGs have this kind of character.


-The childhood friend that deeply cares for the main character: Tifa/ Lucca

Yet again, another stock character type.


-The newcomer who wants the main guy's shit: Aeris/ Marle

I fear I'm repeating myself here - this is just yet another stock character type. Besides, Aeris is much more than just 'a newcomer who wants the main character' - she has a much deeper connection to the story after all, as does Marle in CT.


-The tough, honorable one with a lost friend in their past and has a female to look after and protect: Barrett, Dyne and Marlene/ Frog, Cyrus and Queen Leene

Another common character type. It occurs frequently in not just RPGs but other games and media as well. This connection is irrelvant.


-The character who's there and established, but not very interesting and doesn't contribute much to the group or game: Red XIII/ Ayla

Yet another common RPG tradition. More often than not that character is there simply to add extra padding to the storyline and party, and little else. And again, it's not like CT was the first to do that either (FFVI had a whole heap of them).


-The big fiesta!: The Gold Saucer/ The Millenial Fair

Gold Saucer is a giant amusement park/casino in the sky. The Millenial Fair is a once-in-a-lifetime event that happens for a specific reason. Hence, there is little connection other than being a place to play mini-games. This is irrelevant.

I's sorry if it seemed like I was having a go at you, but I just wanted to point out that FFVII, while it might share certain simillar ideas with Chrono Trigger, such ideas are commonly found in other RPGs too, so it's not like CT had exclusive ownership over them.

There are similarities between the two for good reason. Both games were being worked on at the same time and ideas were being traded between the two development teams.

During early development, Final Fantasy VII was supposed to be on the Super Nintendo and set in New York in 1999 with your character on a mission to blow up the city of Midgar while being followed by a hot-blooded detective named Joe. A sorceress named Edea was also somehow involved. However, everything changed when part of the staff was re-assigned to help with the completion of Chrono Trigger.

After that staff came back, Square turned their interest to 3D games. They separated ways from Nintendo, struck a deal with Sony for a CD-based game, and assembled a staff of 120 people under a $30 million budget to begin the Final Fantasy VII we now know. Not surprising that they took many of the concepts from Chrono Trigger along with them. You create a great game, you might be tempted to repeat yourself to some degree.

However, as Enkidoh is pointing out, many of the concepts are based on archetypes and stock ideas for these kinds of stories. I've played Final Fantasy VII a few times and Chrono Trigger many more than that, and I've never thought, "Man, these two games are noticeably, distractingly similar." Because they're not. The aesthetics, plotting, music, character design, locations, narrative rules, and themes are all different.

I would like to say I disagree and then give the motivation to why.
But Enki and Arthur already did that perfectly!

So yeah, Chrono Trigger and FFVII are two very different games.
Not to be compared in any way, especially not in those you posted.
Since if you're gonna compare games on those points, almost every single game looks alike in one way or another..
And that doesn't only work for games but movies, books, plays etc as well.