“A peaceful world is a boring world” : a study in narrative structure and mythological elements in Squaresoft‟s Chrono Trigger

Abstract: The focuses of this paper are narrative structures and mythological elements in the video game Chrono Trigger. A qualitative method was used to code the game world's seven eras into themes of symbolism, quest-themes, and, characters. These themes were compared with Northrop Frye's archetypal myth theory from Anatomy of Criticism. The results show that each age relates to a season and moves due to the player's influence according to a cyclical pattern. Six out of seven epochs show high correlation to Frye's archetypal model whereas options such as to discard the main hero illustrates the player's control. The seventh era pictures a more female symbolism than the male dominant template proposed by Frye. A hypothesis is presented with the concept of a fluent surface which argues that the player manipulates the basic story to build a personal narrative. Furthermore, the hypothesis emphasizes that the specific game mechanics stimulates the player's sensitivity to the narrative elements when constructing an individual ideal story.