* * * * * Chrono Trigger - Week 5 * * * * *

(Plain English: Scroll down to the bottom of the "OP" if you're lagging behind for previous weeks)


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue:
i Okami Club
ii Fire Emblem Club

Epic Center:
01 Ogre Battle
24 Secret of Mana
39 Phantasy Star IV (cont'd)
67 Earthbound (cont'd)
99 Breath of Fire II (cont'd)
110 Paper Mario (cont'd)
123 Golden Sun (cont'd)
136 Chrono Trigger

(ALL VINTAGE EC GAMES ARE CONTINUED IN THEIR OFFICIAL DISCUSSION THREADS!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Hello, true believers! Welcome to Negative World's newest RPG-centric Club Hub, springing off the heels of the Fire Emblem Club. Way back when, Nintendo Power introduced a monthly walkthrough / in depth Role Play Game section (right around the beefiest SNES RPG era), but since they aren't around anymore to use it, Negative World will bring it out of the ashes, dust it off, and roll with it (two things of note: #1, this is not in reaction to Nintendo Force Magazine at all -- I know that because I thought of it in the shower this morning, so THERE; and #2, I just looked up "Epic Center RPG" on Yahoo, and there is apparently another RPG-based site that has that, ugh. I guess we're looking at a "Ghostbusters" / "Real Ghostbusters" thing now... Whatever..).

For anyone who grew playing SNES RPGs, and were a fan of them, they surely resonated to the point where they still hold office as some of your favorite games of your entire videogame life, systems, generations, and decades later. The NW Epic Center (run primarily by myself, with the aid of some special friends occasionally) will help to expose some of those games that didn't quite get the recognition they deserved, and also to relive some of the greatest games EVER as we play through them again -- together -- and open up a whole new dialogue on these lost treasures.


Next up..



Chrono Trigger is held by many (myself included) as The Greatest RPG of All Time, pun not intended. It is a benchmark title in the genre, and even after 20 years the game is discussed daily and held in high regard, even in the face of juiced-up, HD "masterpieces." Is simpler sometimes better? Sure, but we're not talking "Dragon Warrior" simple here; we're talking 16-bit perfection at its finest. I'm personally a bit worried about pursuing this game once more; it's been a long time since my last jog through it, and I'm afraid I might have the rosiest pair of glasses that any shot of nostalgia could ever produce. We find out later this month, for better or for worse. (C'mon, it's gonna be fine -- we're talking Chrono Trigger here!! THE BEST, JERRY, THE BEST!!)

Sunday, August 30th marks the start of Week 1 (if you prefer to start your own quest AFTER Sunday, like Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, thats fine!). Golden Sun ran 6 Weeks. GameDadGrant will be our DUNGEON MASTER for this one, and we figure the playthrough to run about the same length. Less than two months. I'm told the total quest should last you between 20 and 30 hours.


See ya soon!!


CHRONO TRIGGER

Dungeon Master: GameDadGrant

You Did It! Chrono Trigger Complete:
VofEscaflowne
Scrawnton
Mop it up
Ludist210


Week 4 Complete:
GameDadGrant
mrbiggsly
DapperDave

Week 3 Complete:
Mr_Mustache (and Mrs_Mustache!)

Week 2 Complete:
Smerd
Dark weres
warerare
sirmastersephiroth

Week 1 Complete:
Anand

Triggermen:
HammerLord
Koovaps

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

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@Mr_Mustache

I'm not going back to the Wii VC. It's Wii U or bust for me.

I already completed Last Story. I'm not feeling buying a new game right now.

@TheOldManFromZelda

Wanna run Mario RPG again? I don't know if I ever fully completed that one.

@Mr_Mustache

I've never played the original.

@TheOldManFromZelda

Eeeeeek. It's pretty good..

Is it available on the Wii U VC?

@TheOldManFromZelda

Again, I'm not sure. I don't understand how the whole thing works. The only VC stuff I've got on the Wii U was Earthbound. Going to Nintendo.com.. it says "download from the Nintendo eShop," which isn't what its called on the Wii, sooo...

Maybe you play it in Wii mode? I really have NO idea. The Wii is still an active player on my roster.

EDIT- There is also this stuff from Wikipedia. I guess it IS available through Wii mode? I'm sure someone knows far more about this than I do.

I, too, have just finished Week 5.

--Lou, if you got that House 6 dude (Daiye?, I think?), he sells Bait right there. You can drop anyone's HP to 1 and Barose will like that very much. 60 bucks! Missile is pretty awesome.. (All of that Monster Island stuff had yieled me 110K in the bank. Oh, if videogames were real life...)

And yeah, that Nina part was terrible. She kept getting overpowered and when they get down to a certain HP (as I'm sure you've seen), their Shaman jerks head for the hills. I had her bonded with Sana-Spoo for a STR+VIG bonus, and that is lost once she gets down around 40 HP. Pantsbarrels.

In any event, Royal Rumble '96 has concluded (Undertaker is PISSED at Diesel), and so has my BoF for the week.

Bumpdate:

Gonna try to polish this thing off in 2 more weeks, two more volleys of 3 bullet points.


I very much hope you guys playing with us are able to get into the groove, boy, you gotta prove your love to meeee, ye-eaaah. What the-- Anywho, we'll polish this thing off, and then maybe do something more mainstream; Super Mario RPG sounds like a good nomination there. I don't want to DM it (if we do it), and I'd still need some confirmation if we can even download it on the Wii U. I don't know how it works.

Little help?


Week 6 will be up tonight, should run about the same as the others. Looks kinda meaty.

Still waiting for week 6 tasks.

WEEK 6 - Return to Gate

Two weeks left, lets get meaty! (6.2 is Huge Beef, 6.3 not so much -- And you donated 2000 to Namanda last week, right? If not, there is still tiiime!)


-6.1 Now that you've got that wicked bird (Hit Y on the map, might need Nina?), head to that HUGE island that you passed on the way to Monster Island. This is where Evrai is. Infiltrate and inspect, talk to everyone!
-After you've escaped Evrai (and done some side stuff -- help below!), with Katt in your group, fly to Cot Land (south of FarmTown.)
-Now you're pointed towards ThievesTomb, which you may've seen before. It is south of HighFort. Collect the Evidence, and return to Cot Land!

-6.2 (Help below), Bando will be your next destination when prompted. It is south of Cot Land.
-After clearing out Bando, head to HomeTown for a nice donation.. 2000 bucks (100c x 20) will get you a sweet St. Eva bible, and perhaps a little insight (check it out in your Special Items).
-Aftwerwards, meet up with Katt and Tiga back at Claris' house in Evrai. With Bible in hand, proceed! And into the Church!
-Some huge happenings in the Church here (extensive help below), and a fight that factors into the Ending you get, too (as the civilians in the Well factored into that part way back in Capitan). Check below (6.2 Fight 2)!
-When back at TownShip, head into the Well (did you already get the EmpireSD? I hope so..) for something huge-ah..

-Sidequest Warp back to Farm Town, and Bando for two more Shamans (preferably in this order?) More in depth below.
-6.3 When you're done with that action, get to Gate (you've seen it, that island with all the dead trees!), and swing by the Wise Tree with Spar. Afterwards, head on in to Gate (be sure it's during the DAY. Night won't work for some reason.)
-You might notice that this is kind of like a surprise party, since nobody is around..but it probably isn't a surprise party. Head up to BushLand (top 'o the town), you've been here before..but that was..a long time ago.
-The crap hits the fan (SURPRISE!!), head in the West door beneath the dragon (now that it's open for the final Shaman in the game (more help below).

Thats the week!


More: 6.1, After you talk to everyone, when you try to leave town, you'll find out that you can't. Talk to the "Let Us Praise St. Eva.." lady again, and she'll show you a secret exit. 6.1 Jack Door NO TREASURE DOWN HERE, easiest way to go is a) an opening to the right to you which will b) have you fall down into a hole, c) a few floors, d) and then continue north, e) to some staircases before exiting up a bronze one.
6.1 Shrine, Be sure to get the best Fishing Rod in the game here, upstairs in a dresser. This is integral in getting the best Sword in the game! (As it must be Fished out.) When you're done with the Shrine, fly towards TownShip, and land on a little peninsula east of there in a small area. Walk around fighting weak, weak enemies until the fishing spot pops up, and yank out that treasure chest! (You can fish out other chests, too, that you may've seen before. This is one of those things that you HAVE TO DO before you finish 6.2. You should go do this now..) 6.1 ThievesTomb, Nina's Angel will work wonders down here, wiping a lot of guys out in one hit. With the weird looking floor, try not to have a battle on any of the bad spots, haha, purple being some of the worst.

6.2, Tiga fight is optional, there is no way to win it. The next morning, Katt will be gone so you'll only have 3 members in your party. Return to TownShip to grab a 4th before Bando.. 6.2 Bando , this IS a dungeon, so be prepared. In the area with the arrows, you have to step on the right one 4 times to expose a staircase. You do NOT need to speak with the people who are locked up (but stepping on it the first time will expose a Weapon for Katt). 6.2 Evrai if you couldn't figure it out, the answer to the question will be "Evans," which is what the HomeTown Bible said. 6.2 St. Eva Church a bunch of chests to snake in here later on, and some pretty big happenings, too. When prompted to make a party, the suggested group is Ryu, Rand, and Katt, Spar; or your 2 other best people. Also make sure that Katt has been equipped with her new weapon found in Bando! 6.2 Fight Fight Fight w/ Ray, just have Ryu keep attacking until Ray does a special 140+ HP reducing move. When that happens, Ryu learns a new Spell, G.Dragon; unleash the beast! 6.2 Afterwards, Daisy will tell Rand about a weak wall; break it with Rand's special power (with Y!) And quit following Habaraku (tell him "yes," or whatever the non "no" option is) when he asks you soon after.. When you get to a floor w/ arrows, to get the Chest, go from the start, step right, up, right, right, down, up, and down. You'll have to fall down after getting the chest, but the reward is well worth it (some great armor). To get to the stairs going down, from the start, go right, up, right, right, down, and then up. 6.2 Fight 2, yeah, don't kill the old guy. (if you brought Bow with an AutoBW, I think that automatically attacks everyone??) Each one of the guardeyes has elemental weaknesses, keep track of who is who by what they case, and attack with a SINGLE-ENEMY focused spell, never do an ALL spell. Do not attack the old man!

6.3 Sidequest to start, pick up the Earth Shaman in the field you plowed in Farm Town (assuming you donated 2000), and get the Holy Shaman in Bando's church, somewhat more complicated. After the secret passageway beneath the statue, head north to the next stairway going down. Enter the doorway to your right, and she'll reluctantly join you. Back at the ranch, you'll probably want to see what these new girls can do! Fool around with 'em a bit, but highlights include Rand+Solo, Rand+Solo+another, Nina+Spoor+Seny, Jean+Seny, and Spar+Solo. These are new forms you've never before seen, wow! 6.3 BushLand head into the West door to find Shin, the Devil Shaman. She is the final Shaman, and Katt can FINALLY bond with somebody. Nasty! Other highlights include Bow+Seny+Shin, Spar+Sana+Shin, and Spar+Shin. Everything else yields a form you've already seen, and some other combinations also yield the same ones you've seen, so fool around with it a bit!

This is pretty exciting for me personally, because even playing this game as a wee lad, I don't believe I ever got all of the Shamans, and even moreso, I think I usually ended the game just having 3 (which is probably why I liked Sten so much, because he is one of the guys who changes his form DRASTICALLY with Seso+Sana. And I always hated Spar. HEY, GRASS MAN!).


Thats Week 6, just one more left. And we start with a FETCHO. YOU LOVE FETCH QUESTS. You've been warned..

Alright, I JUST started playing and I found some stuff that Walkthrough guy didn't mention. "Hut" (outside of Evrai) is where you come out, so you can get the CharmRod BEFORE you even do any of that stuff. Furthermore, flying east from there brings us to Nightrider Island, which features some really good equipment. Most of them are in the range of 8,000 to 12,000, but if you spent a lot of time on Monster Island, your pockets are OVERFLOWING.

I'm probably gonna suit up here BEFORE Week 6 gets going. Nice.

EDIT- I'm in the ThvsTomd (*sigh*) right now, and in the "Face" room, I just won a battle on the Orange/Bronze "Smile" spot, and it gave me a shortcut out of the room. AWESOME.

EDIT2- Finished up Bando, played through the NFC game (and what a game!), so I guess about 3 hours? (I walked around and did some house stuff in that time, too.) Done now for the day, gonna pick it up with the St. Eva Ch stuff next run.

Alright, Week 6 complete. Those last few Shaman really mix things up. Wild combos, can't wait to break 'em out into real action next week! (Nina's Seny+Spoor combo has a massive AP boost -- she's 333 for me!).

Oh, and be careful with the OldMan. I was fighting guys around him, and I had one targeted, but I killed it and I still had a turn left. Instead of hitting another actual enemy, stupid Rand hit him. I did a "SSSSS!" inhale, and THANKFULLY only hit for like 55 damage. Cripes. Rand has been lowering the boom recently, too. So yeah, everything worked out!

EDIT- OH! I forgot to mention (and I don't think I posted it before), but if you're having some issues with your folks being underpowered, and you've filled out your 6 houses per suggestions, you should've picked up Hanz and Daiye, and got the Cooking Carpenter. IF SO:

Item Effect Recipe
==== ====== ======
PwrFood +Str. 2 Medicates
Stamina +Stmna 1 F.Spice + 2 Tunas
Dinker +Agil. 2 Frizbees
MisoSoup +Wisdom 2 F.Spices
LuckCndy +Luck 1 F.Spice + 1 ShaceIce
GutsBL +Guts 2 ShaveIces

Biscuit +HP (All) 2 Dinkers
WiseBL +100 AP 1 Stamina + 2 Tunas
Herb +HP 2 Charcoals

The top ones are PERMANENT, the bottom 3 are normal In Battle items. Each of these deals can be found from Hanz / Daiye / Sold in Guntz's Item Shop. Haha; Guntz.

I'm not playing Super Mario RPG again...but I'm done with week 3 now.

EDIT: As for that other game I'm working on, my goal of finishing my first Star Ocean: The Last Hope International playthrough is coming closer. Only two more to go after this (but both subsequent playthroughs should go much faster).

I found an experience (and fol too, but that's less important right now) exploit in the first postgame dungeon. Metal Scumbags (think Metal Smile from Dragon Quest) give absurd amounts of experience, but they're really hard to find and even harder to kill...only one definite spawn point, they have a lot of hit points. The caveat: Scumbag Slayer is a terrible weapon overall, but it has a 20% chance of killing any Scumbag instantly each time it hits. So Bacchus (big robot) + Scumbag Slayer + Black Hole Sphere (pulls in and hits all enemies constantly) = finished battles with three of them in about ten seconds. Without EXP boosts or bonus board tiles, I'm still gaining 1-3 levels per battle. Then I can just use a battle skill to bring them right back and repeat. I gained 40 levels with one of my characters in about 15 minutes.

So my goal tonight or whenever I play again is to get Edge and Arumat to level 255 and the rest of my crew to 200 (until they get their level caps removed too, then I'll repeat the process). Then I'll finish the Cave of the Seven Star, then I'll tackle the Wandering Dungeon...and beat each super boss five times for what I need from them.

Here's a suggestion for choosing the next game. Mr. Mustache can pick a handful that he wants to do since he's running the show. Then everyone can kind of vote on which they want to play. But the votes of those who completed the previous epic center game are worth two.

If it informs where the club is going, Super Mario RPG is not available on the Wii U VC. I'm not sure if you can get away with just buying a game on the Wii Shop Channel (as opposed to having to get 1000 points), so I think people would then be stuck with $2 on the Wii Shop. I wish they'd just start cutting ties with the Wii Shop Channel by now...it's been over a year since Wii U launched.

@ludist210

That game sounds bonkers. Way too many levels being thrown around!

@DapperDave

I dont' NEED to run the show though, I just made the thread. I was the "Dungeon Master" for a few games, but I was completely blind on Phantasy Star IV and Earthbound. I'd VERY MUCH like to put my feet up for the next one, and just be a "player" again. Ideally, we'd like to get someone who knows a game inside and out, so much so that it PLEASES them to help people out.

And as far as voting and having stuff count double; it doesn't really motivate anyone. In fact, a lot of people play on a case-by-case basis ("Earthbound? Yeah, I'm IN!" "Ogre Battle? I'm gonna sit this one out.."), not so much "I'm totally in for Epic Center, and I'll play whatever comes my way," as I do.

Medium story short: I don't care WHAT we play (and available on Wii or Wii U), but I'm ready!

@PogueSquadron

So we CAN'T download it on the Wii U at all (not a problem for me, but a problem for others..which is a problem)? I guess...we look elsewhere then, eh? Since we've got just another Week here, we'd be looking to start a new one on Feb 2nd weekend / week (with a few weeks of catchup / rest). I think that's the Super Bowl, so we'd be starting after that (or during it for you folks who hate awesome things).

Any unfinished Wii games floating around anywhere? What other RPGs are on the Wii U VC?

@Mr_Mustache

You'd like it. Tri-Ace (the developer) split from Namco during the development of Tales of Phantasia. So it's essentially the same as the Tales of... games. It sounds complicated, but it's not really.

And yes, Super Mario RPG is, at the moment, locked on the Wii Virtual Console. That may change in the future, but Nintendo is releasing VC games at a snail's pace for whatever reason...

@ludist210

Is there anything that YOU want to play? You're generally active around here, and SMRPG was the only game I had for Lou, and it sounded like he was biting on it..so I don't know what to pick now.

Just to be clear, I'm not playing anything that needs to be played in Wii mode. That has to be factored in.

@TheOldManFromZelda

Ooh, that really narrows you down then! Are you not playing any Wii Discs then either?