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Feature

Is Square Enix Teasing A Spiritual Successor To Chrono Trigger?

by Daniel Tack on Jul 04, 2015 at 12:00 PM

At E3 2015, there was a small blip during the Square Enix press conference that went largely unnoticed because there weren’t that many details to divulge. The newly formed internal studio, Tokyo RPG Factory, is working on something called Project Setsuna, a throwback to the “good old days” of JRPGs.

Classic JRPGS could mean a lot of things, obviously, but there are other clues in place that work alongside that core JRPG concept that give an inkling that this could very well be a Chrono Trigger inspired title. The key art that was shown was interesting, but one image in particular (featured in this article) gives off a strong Chrono Trigger vibe - an image that clearly includes some hints of time/dimensional travel or some strange, possibly post-apocalyptic future in the face of other images that feature more traditional and beautiful fantasy RPG roots. Some folks even think that thing in the pic looks like a clock (I don't though).

Here’s something else that’s easily overlooked – when the Square Enix press conference was being hyped, their trailer featured a classic Chrono Trigger tune. It might mean nothing. Maybe.

Even though Project Setsuna is a completely new series and "not a spinoff or remake," my detective skills are screaming that it finds its inspiration in Chrono Trigger in some form Chrono Cross was a sort of weird independent sequel, and while I think this will be even further removed, I'm betting we see many of the core systems and themes that made us fall in love with the classic JRPG so many years ago. Maybe I’m just being hopeful. Maybe I'm reaching. But maybe we’re actually getting an awesome old-school JRPG.