CT doesn’t feel quite as wacky as Woolsey’s earlier scripts–the lighter tone of the game helps with that–and most of the problem with the original stems from Nintendo of America’s censorship and a handful of localization choices that won’t land with everyone (for example, a main character speaks like Cyan).

Unless you hated the FF6 revision in the GBA games or later, I’d say the DS or PC versions of Chrono Trigger do what you’re looking for by revising but not completely rewriting the original.

It’s tough because I’m sure people that grew up playing games with map markers could certainly get lost in it, but at the same time Chrono Trigger is one of the most straight-forward games of its era/genre. There are JRPGs that came out two generations later that had a real rough time with the “find the NPC to advance the story” problem.

Depending on the version you’re playing, the post game content isn’t quite as sharp as the original stuff (it was added years later by a different team). The New Game+ mode, on the other hand, was in the original and is good stuff.

At this point it’s one of those things that comes down to taste rather than authenticity. Pixel-art games have continued on and had their own development arc between indie gaming and the remastering trend, and they’ve all had different approaches to it. Even people like me that grew up with CRT displays have had their tastes shaped by years of gaming on different tech.

I haven’t gotten my hands on a CRT since I left my last one behind 15-ish years ago, but I do get a bit of a nostalgia buzz from the CRT-Royale package on a 4K display. When that’s not available I tend to use one of the scalers because I really don’t like aliasing, and high resolution displays really bring out the blockiness. That sort of thing is sacrilege to some people. Everyone’s a little different.