I’m gonna guess your fatigue was low from running. Paying attention to your fatigue (and some kind of melee weapon as a major skill) makes the game much less of a drag in the first few levels.
Something I often find myself explaining to my friends who I game with is just how much objectively terrible shit you can get gamers to not only tolerate, but support as long as you promise to “get rid of cheaters”… which is a hopeless goal. It took a lot of explaining to get them to accept my argument of “I would literally prefer cheaters over a new root kit for every game”
I’m kinda surprised how few people have mentioned Chrono Cross. It’s not the same game, but it has a lot of cross over, and might help scratch that itch for “more chronotrigger”.
I’m gonna guess your fatigue was low from running. Paying attention to your fatigue (and some kind of melee weapon as a major skill) makes the game much less of a drag in the first few levels.