Chrono Trigger Was Supposed to Be an Ongoing Series, says Final Fantasy Creator

The time-travelling, 16-bit adventure that many people consider the greatest RPG of all time, Chrono Trigger, was originally intended to spawn its own series of games, according to its lead designer.

Polygon reports that Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series, admitted that his team intended Chrono Trigger to grow into an ongoing series. Sakaguchi, the lead designer of Chrono Trigger, explained his intentions during a panel yesterday at PAX Prime. During a panel titled "Hironobu Sakaguchi Reflection: Past, Present, Future of RPGs," Sakaguchi (via translator) mentioned that Chrono Trigger was supposed to have a lot more after it than its misinterpreted follow-up, Chrono Cross, which Sakaguchi was pulled from and never got to work on.

"We wanted to continue it as a series," Sakaguchi said. "... But — and I think the statute of limitations has passed and expired so I think I'm okay saying this — but we just didn't see eye-to-eye with management, and so I went and fought for it, and I officially lost the battle."

Sakaguchi being pulled from Chrono Cross could be the reason why many of its original designs were scrapped or altered to help differ Cross and sever many of its ties to Chrono Trigger, such as Cross' Guile character actually being Magus from Chrono Trigger.

Of course, the corporate bigwigs at Square, who are most likely the same people who won't greenlight a modern remake of Final Fantasy VII (yet want two sequels to the substandard FFXIII), decided not to continue one of the greatest RPG experiences ever made. Sakaguchi also said that there are no plans to continue his other previous projects, such as Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and The Last Story.

"All of those IPs, there isn't a continuation or a series," Sakaguchi added. "Nothing's confirmed. But again, it would be nice to be able to work on a continuation of my old creations."

We pray to the gods of gaming that one day we'll get to see a modern remake or continuation of Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger or FFVII with both Sakaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase at the wheel, but with Sakaguchi gone from Square Enix, we may never see it. For those who don't know, Kitase was the director of Final Fantasy VI through X and Chrono Trigger. He also wrote various parts of each game and is responsible for FFVI's opera and suicide scenes, as well as writing both Sephiroth and Kefka's unforgettable villainy.

You know why the Chrono series didn't pick up? Because Crono could never wake up on time.