Interesting to see how the original poster not just loves the game, but feels totally immersed in the game world. That's the problem I have with Japanese style RPGs.... I find them so far removed from reality, and to be honest - overly simplified, a little child-like even, that I can never take them wholly seriously. The characters and conversations tend to be simplistic one dimensional tools to move on the story rather than something deeper. Plus their incessant number of battles grates too. I tend to see games like Chrono Trigger more as adventure games with strategy bits bolted on rather than an RPG per say. You're following a very strict plot where you have countless battles to play. It's a journey, where you're the passenger. Fortunately, I think the journey is quite good with Chrono Trigger. I'll never love it like something like Ultima 7 (also more of an adventure game with RPG bits, where the characters and game world draws parallels to our own), but after a while, and the sheer number of hours you invest in the game, it does have a certain charm. I never completed it though. I'm not sure if I gave up after another difficult boss battle, or the PC packed up first. Probably the latter.


On a side note, are there actually any Japanese style RPGs that are gritty and dark and don't feature heroes with ridiculous 'just came out a salon' hair styles? The hair styles seems to be a trademark of Japanese RPGs, much like in Western RPGs where every dwarf must have a Scottish accent.