I played the 1st Civilization back in the early 1990's. They should have made that game part of history class maybe I would of stayed awoke. I may fire up Chrono Trigger, I've heard great reviews on it.
I actually started with the Civ series with Civilization Revolution on the console then moved to Civ V on the PC. Civ VI is now available on every platform imaginable.
Chrono Trigger was ahead of its time (no pun intended). Decisions made in the game truly mattered, side quests, alternate endings, the ability to combine character's abilities to create synergistic attacks. The music was very well done too.