Chrono Trigger

[FFnut]

Possibly the greatest non-FF game developed by Square. I'm serious.

The Basic Story: Crono, the main character, wakes up and goes to the Millenial Fair - this is the year 1000 AD and a festival is being held for both the year and the 400th anniversary of the kingdom's defeat of a wizard named Magus. Crono's best friend, Lucca, is an inventor and she and her father have built a new machine that they're showing off at the fair. At the fair, Crono bumps into a girl named Marle who asks him to show her around the fair. They go to Lucca's area and Crono tests out the teleporter. Marle then decides to try, but the teleporter reacts oddly with her pendant and she vanishes. Crono picks up the pendant and Lucca activates the machine again, sending him wherever Marle is - or, rather WHENever. Crono ends up in the year 600 AD, during the war with Magus, and goes to search for Marle. During the adventure, he also meets Frog, an honorable knight who was cursed by Magus to turn into a frog; Robo, a robot from the bleak future of 2300 AD; Ayla, a woman from 65,000,000 BC; and even Magus himself. Crono's team defeats a creature of unimaginable power, Lavos, when it attempts to destroy the world in 1999 AD, thereby saving the future.

Characters:

Crono: A boy from the year 1000 AD. Crono is best friends with Lucca, an inventor. Upon Marle's disappearance into 600 AD, Crono's adventure through time begins...
Lucca: Crono's best friend, and an inventor. She builds the telepod and later invents time travel. Her skills with machinery are often required by the team.
Marle: A girl whom Crono meets at the Millenial Fair. The telepod reacts with her pendant and catapults her into 600 AD. Marle has a good heart and wants to keep everyone happy, even if they're from a different time period than she.
Frog: Once a young man named Glenn, Magus cursed him to become a frog. As far as I can tell, the spell only half worked - he still retained his humanoid shape and ability to speak, but his physical appearance became that of a frog's.
Robo: When the team arrives in 2300 AD, they come across a broken-down robot called R-66Y. After renaming him "Robo" the robot joins the team in hopes of saving his time.
Ayla: A woman from prehistoric times, Ayla is very strong. She is unable to use magic, because she comes from a time before magic was invented, but she leads her people in battle against the Reptites, humanoid dinosaurs who want to rule the world and wipe out the "apes."
Magus: A dark wizard from 600 AD, Magus is believed to be the creator of Lavos, the creature that would destroy the world 1399 years later. His army battles against the kingdom of Guardia.

All in all, a pretty good game if you ignore all the time paradoxes, but it's also got 12 different endings depending on how or when you beat the game.