He recalled being struck by the way dialogue could be combined and layered with gameplay, something he hadn’t seen before. That melding of narrative and mechanics, he said, felt like a fresh step forward in design.
Another often-overlooked strength, according to Adler, is Chrono Trigger’s pacing. Even decades later, it’s praised for moving players through its main story without the excessive grinding that characterizes many genre peers.
“The pacing is remarkable,” Adler observed. “It’s one of the few JRPGs where you can simply play through the experience without getting bogged down in level grinding.”
As a longtime JRPG fan myself, I can relate to the frustration of having to reload saves just to grind through impasses — which is why pacing matters so much. It shapes how accessible and enjoyable these games feel, and for me it’s part of why certain entries stand out above the rest.
The Outer Worlds 2 director doesn’t want games to be “preachy,” but the RPG’s capitalist satire strikes a nerve “because this thing happens all the damn time, and we’re just seeing it over and over on a loop”
Source: gamesradar.com
