As the game starts you are asked to pick a name for the main character and pick weather to have the battle system on active or wait. If it's your first time playing a RPG you should pick wait but otherwise it is an easy game and you should be able to handle it on active. As for the name I will call him Crono in this guide, but you can name him whatever you want.
In the first scene a speech window pops up and you hear someone calling Crono's name. When you wake up you realize it's your mom. She tells you that theres a fair today and that you were invited to see "your friends" invention. As you walk down the stairs you see your mom and when you talk to her she can't remember "your friends" name which gives you a chance to name her. I'm going to call her Lucca in the guide. Now you can leave the house but before you do talk to your mom and she will give you your allowance (200g). Now exit the house and you will be on the world map.
There are a lot of places on the world map you can go to but most are useless. If you go south of Crono's house you can find the Mayor's Manor which is the begginer's hall. It teaches you how to play the game. There are also a few items you can find, one in a box downstairs (a tonic) and two upstairs, one in a box (300g) and some moey by talking to the guy inbetween the beds and answering saying that you want to hear mroe the whole time (100g).
Now exit back onto the world map and head north to the millenia fair. there are a few things you have to do in the fair before going to see Lucca. In the fair you can gain silver points by playing one of four games. You can ring the bell for 1 every time, You can guess the winner of the race (which for the first couple of races the guy standing behind the fence in the bottom right corner will predict right) for 20 points, you can drink soda pops for 8 points which is incredibly hard to do unless you have really fast fingers, or you can fight the robot Gato (who is incredibly easy) for 15 points. There isn't any need for silver points right now but you will need them at the very end of the game.
Alright, now back to what you need to do. When you enter the fair and after your done playing the games in the first area, head north into the next area. A girl will be walking around near the bell, but if you come close to her you will knock into her and you will both fall down. DON'T PICK UP THE JEWEL THAT FALLS FROM HER. First go and talk to her to make sure she is alright. Next pick up the jewel and take it to her. Give it back to her without any trouble. She will want to walk around the fair with you, agree and you will name her. I'll call her Marle. Now that you ahve Marle you can go to see Lucca after talkign to one person, but before you do if you go to the left of were you found marle and follow the path until you're almost at gato there should be a cat sitting there. talk to the cat once and it will follow you. walk slowly with the cat following you until you reach a girl on the opposite side of were you found the cat and talk to her. She will say "thank you for finding my kitty". This will help you later in the game. Now go back to the first area and talk to a kid sitting on the fountain in the middle of the fair. He will say that Lucca's invention is ready and he hopes it doens't blow up like all the others :D (a comforting thought). Next head straight north as far as you can go, but when you try to go in the final area Marle says she wants some candy. You two will be pulled off to the side and she doesn't seem to do anything. Just wait 10 seconds or so and she will start talking. Now you can go and see Lucca.
In the enxt area you see Lucca's invention, The Telepod. Knowone wants to try the telepod because they know a lot of Lucca's inventions blow up. Lucca asks Crono to try it out. Step on the left pod and press the confirm button to be transported to the right pod. Now when you tlak to Marle she says that she wants to try and jumps on the left pod, but something goes horribly, horribly wrong. Marle's pendant reacts to the telepod and instead of being transported to the other telepod she ends up inbetween them in a black portal right before she disappears. Her pendant is still in the left pod, so after Lucca and Taban (Lucca's dad) shoo everyone away step into the left pod. A big heroic scene will start with Lucca saying how she doens't know where it will take you and that she'll follow you when she finds out what went wrong.
The Queen Returns
You reappear in a place called Truce Canyon. You can exit the area at the left but as you try to leave three blue imps attack you. This could be your first battle and if it is then you should notice that your weapon's strength and battle gauge's speed are really weak and slow, but blue imps are the easiest enemies in the game and shouldn't be very hard to beat. after your done continue following the path adn as you cross the bridge two more blue imps will attack you. Now you should easily be able to see two treasure chests. They contain a power glove and a tonic. Continue on and if you want to fight the next group of enemies you can, but if you don't then after climbing down the ladder head straight down to the bottom of the screen and creep along the bottom to avoid the battle. exit onto the world map. The map looks a lot like the old one. In the town there isn't anything to do, so go towards the forest infront of the castle and enter it. This is Guardia forest. Go up and take the east path to get the items. If you continue heading east you will see a bright sparkling thing on the ground which is the bait for a trap. There is another sparkle in this area that is easy to see. Pick it up to get a power tab. Now head north, avoiding the battles if you want to. You should come across a bush that shakes. There are two in the forest so it can be easy to get them mixed up. The one that is further north has a monster inside it that drops a shelter if you shake the bush. You can do this everytime you pass through the forest to get more shelters when you're running low. Continue following the path. You will have to go west a bit and then north again but the exit is easy to find.
As you enter the castle the guards stop you and ask to see your stamp collection, (what the hell are they talking about) but as they send you on your way the queen (who looks a lot like Marle) comes and says your a friend of hers. Now that you can walk anywhere in the castle head east from the entrance following the hallway until you find some stairs. Go down and you will be in the kitchen. There is a box at the bottom of the screen which contains an ether. Now go back to the entrance and head north into the throne room. Go to the left of the thrones and up the stairs in one fo the rooms well climbing the stairs you can find an item in one of the rooms and a bronze mail behind the chair at the top in the kings room. Equip the bronzemail. Go to the opposite place your at right now collecting more items as you go (note:there is a black box that can't be opened yet in one room). When you get to The queen's room, she's waiting for you.She tells you that she's Marle not the queen and that shw was mistaken for the queen when some people found her at Truce Canyon, but suddenly something happens and she disappears. Head back down the stairs and when you walk out Lucca shows up and explains what hapenned to Marle. It seems that Marle is the princess in the year 1000a.d. and the real queen was captured by a monster in this time period, but when the guards found Marle they called off the search, and history was changed so that instead of the real queen being rescued, she was killed, and Marle was never born. It's up to you to save the real queen and to save Marle.
The Queen Is Gone
Now head out of the castle and back though Guardia Forest. You should but any new equipment from the market if you have the money. When your ready head west to the Cathedral. Inside there is four nuns who talk wierdly. Head up to the alter and there will be a glowing spot on the floor. press the A or O button depending on what version your using and you will pick up Queen Leene's hairpin. The nuns will walk up and transform into four nagettes. This battle can be annyoing because the nagettes cast slow but is still quite easy. After the battle when you think all the danger is gone, one more nagette appears behind Lucca. Luckily a frog person jumps down and saves Lucca. I named the frog "Frog" but you can name him whatever you want. When your done play the organ and a secret door will appear. Go through it and you'll be in your first dungeon. Head to the left, fighting the diablos as you go until you see a box containing a tonic