* * * * * 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 think that if we wait a month, a lot of people who are interested in playing Paper Mario will lose interest or forget about playing with EC entirely. I also want to get this started before there are games like the new Donkey Kong, Bravely Default, and the new professor Layton around to distract people. And doesn't the new Yoshi game come out in March? Right now is a relatively calm period for releases. Yeah, those games will be released durng Paper Mario's run, but those who are participating in EC will be more likely to finish if those games come out during their playthrough, rather than before.

If you don't mind me asking, what made you consider waiting until March?

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Good thing on my end is my intention to hold off on Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze till later this year (again with the budgeting) so I wont have that to distract me personally. Others might though so I agree with your assessment. How many weeks is this supposed to be?

I got the Cube and the N64 version so i'm happy with either. Cube version is better however but 64 ain't bad.

@DrFinkelstein

Probably 8.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

It was just an arbitrary 'one month delay.' Had this ended a month later, I would have said April. We can start on February 1st/2nd, its fine.

Any news on any front? Progress? Paper Mario excitement? grumble grumble

WEEK 7 - The End

Final week, up 10 days late. Whatever.


-6.1 Lets find Patty! She probably won't be where she's supposed to be. Follow the breadcrumbs.. (Help below)
-With her, head to Gate, up to BushLand, and prepare for wild fight.
-After the fight, you are faced with a heavy question; do you want to proceed, or allow the dragon to protect the mountain? (Help below..very important question..)

-6.2 Sidequests(Help below), Time to get a secret character! Ride Grandpa (or Fly Township) to the beach south of ThievesTomb, and in the desert there should be a spot that looks kinda like a whirlpool. Enter it.
-It is suggested that you build levels (up around 40s-50 for Ryu) and get more equipment on "Nightrider Island," which has palm trees and is South of Evrai, only reachable via flight.
-Back in Town, Baretta shoudl be selling some solid stuff, too (ie: DeathBW is Bow's best Bow). You can find the BEST ARMOR in the game, however, in a fishing spot near Gate.
-And if you picked up Hanz and Daiye (and the Cook Carpenter), you can boost your stats quite a bunch here, with money your only obstacle. Ingredients below.

-6.3 Here we go:Long Dungeon with LOTS of stuff to pick up, if you care about that. 11 floors deep, good luck.
-When you reach the bottom, you'll wind up in Dologany; talk to everyone, especially an old man in orange clothing.
-After a trip down memory lane, you are returned to "the real game," and continue down Infinity. More important question help below..
-You'll eventually wind up at the bottom of this thing, fight a few fights (Ryu, Bow, Rand, and Bleu are the suggested 4; but use what works), and watch the credits. Yowza!

Thats the game! Which ending did you get?


More: 6.1, Patty, first look in Cot Land, and you'll be told that she went somewhere else. Proceed to Wild Cat Restaurant, Thieves Tomb, TownShip (NOT HOMETOWN), and she should be on the 2nd floor of your "dorms" area, middle of the 3 doors.
6.1 Question, Defeat, or Wait? If you choose to Wait, your game is over and you'll get the worst ending..just like that. Defeat to continue the game, and make sure you reinforce with "Yes." 6.1-6.2 Sidequest, After the whirlpool, you'll want to warp to HomeTown's Magic School to find Bleu.

6.2, More Side Stuff: Cooking Here we go: STR (PwrFood = 2 Medicates), STAMINA (Stamina = 1 Frizbee + 2 Tuna), AGI (Dinker = 2 Frizbees), WIS (MisoSoup = 2 F.Spices), LUCK (LuckCndy = F.Spice + ShaveIce), GUTS (GutsBL = 2 ShaveIces). You can get Biscuits (2 Dinkers) and WiseBL (1 Stamina + 2 Tunas) for use in Battle. You're suggested to have about 18 WB and 12 B for the final battle... Maybe he's just being cautious, I don't know. You won't need money after this, so run yourself dry powering yourself up. If you need more money, you can buy 3 Cond.Up from Hanz, cook all 3, and get a GoldBar, which can be sold for 6000, a 3000 profit..

6.3 Infinity II Anfini Questions you'll have to talk to a bunch of party members, and then choose which one to sacrifice for the power of Anfini. Maybe you really hate Spar, but the "right thing to do" here is to sacrifice yourself. Fight against everything that feels so wrong, and keep saying NO when Other Ryu tries to talk you out of it. Have faith! 6.3 Fights Barubary is back from the beginning of the game, and at one point he'll challenge Ryu to fight him alone. It CAN be done, but only if you're in good shape with WiseBLs. This is NOT the final fight in the game, so don't run yourself dry. You'll basically want to cast G.Dragon, WiseBL, repeat. Not very exciting in terms of variety. The allure of fighting with Ryu only besides mountains of adoration, is that Barubary will tell you where a secret treasure chest is. You can get it without him telling you though, too. (Afterwards, put Katt and Sten in your party; pitchblack room, 3 steps south, face right, whack something invisible with Katt, head eeeeast, and then sooouth, then east until you can't. Put Sten in the lead, use his long arms, and that should trigger the switch to get this chest. The LifeBR is an Etc. item which will block the Death Spell from working on you. Ryu should equip it. Afterwards.. Evan is there, yes, St. Eva himself! After he paralyzes Ryu, wiggle out of it with your control pad, and watch Ryu unleash the beast. In the battle with Deathevn, open up with Anfini (no longer grayed out), or you will NEVER win this fight. After Ryu's friends come back, the fight seems winnable, just work on keeping your buds alive as it could come back to bite you in the butt.


Shwew! TONS of Treasure Chests in Infinity, I can't bear to type them all out. Something like 25 chests. 25!
I guess that is it though. I haven't taken the plunge myself yet (despite what I may say sometimes, I don't really want to play these games alone ), but plan to do so either late late tonight or Wednesday night. Hopefully you dudes will catch up soon, and we can a) get ready for Paper Mario or b) take a nice break (on a person by person basis).

Typing done, playing to come.

I'm so excited for Paper Mario. Looking at guides and thinking about my past experiences of the game has brought back memories of so many fun times. This is going to be great.

@Mr_Mustache It looks like I'm the only one who was interested in the GCN game, so it looks like it's Paper Mario N64.

@Mop it up

I thought I already made it clear that that's what we're playing. If I didn't, I'm sorry. If you want Epic Center to play Thousand Year Door after this, you have my vote. If nobody else wanted to, I might DM that game too. That is, assuming that people would want to play it.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Back to back Paper Marios might be a lot of paper mario at once. But I'd be interested in revisiting it down the line. I'm pretty psyched to play Paper Mario 64 again.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule Oh, no, it was clear. I was answering an old question that didn't seem to receive a direct answer.

So yep, a week off of Paper Mario. Pretty cool.


Dare I ask, anybody else even TRYING to finish Breath of Fire II? I gotta admit, my wind has left my sails, and not due to any of the game at all. I feel (felt?) like I was just typing up a tutorial for myself or something, especially after Lou threw the game on hiatus. Just a bummer is all. I'll knock the game off tonight, HOPEFULLY. If not tonight, definitely tomorrow afternoon.

Would be some of the coolest beans around if somebody else brought it home, too.

Alrighty, Paper Mario starts tomorrow.

Who is playing? I've no idea.



Hero of Hyrule, you can put Week 1 up later tonight, or you can just put it up tomorrow.

@Mr_Mustache
I'm playing! I'll haul out the 64 tonight and dust off my copy of Paper Mario.

I shoulda started this today. I never did pull out my N64... I don't have a ton of space for another console on my desk, but I guess even though I want to play with my new N64 controller I nabbed this summer, I might as well just re-buy the game on my Wii.

I'll start it tonight. I'll also play it to the very end too, since I really, really like this game.

Hello and welcome to the Paper Mario edition of Epic Center. Thank you for taking the time to join in. This is going to be a lot of fun. There’s something about Paper Mario that makes it so special to me. Is it the simplified, yet enjoyable RPG combat; the charming characters and story; or the varied and interesting locales? Probably all three of those, among other things. If you’ve never played Paper Mario before, you’re in for a treat. If you have played it before, hopefully this return brings back some fond memories and gives you a new appreciation of the game.

Before we dive into the fun, there are a few things I want to go over. As previous guest hosts of Epic Center have done, I’ve put a bit of my own spin on the Epic Center formula. Aside from the goal, which tells you what the week’s objective and stopping point is, some weeks will have an “important notes” section. These notes will give you important advice that can save you a lot of headache down the road. While you don’t have to pay attention to that section, it is advised. Especially when items called Magical Seeds are involved. Finally, there’s the “optional” objectives. While Paper Mario doesn’t have sidequests that adhere to the typical definition of the word, there are some little things you can do on the side that are easily missed but can add to your enjoyment of the game. Some have rewards, while others don’t. Either way, they’re good fun and shouldn’t be missed. And if you have any questions or run into any hardships, I’m here to help.

But enough talking! Let’s get started!

Paper Mario Epic Center
Week 1
Goal:
Rescue the first Star Spirit. Select “Save and Quit” afterwards.

Optional:
Find and return the peach doll to Goombaria
In the Koopa village, there will be a radio inside one of the houses. Tune the radio into the Golden Oldies station and enjoy the music.

Cool beans! I hope to get going on this tomorrow (later today). And I'll be playing on the 64. I think I've only ever played a tiny bit of this before, so it's mostly a first time for me. Should be fun!

@Mr_Mustache

Sorry man, December I wasn't feeling all that well for the most part and it just sucked the energy out of me to play an RPG as slow paced as BoFII, that and MAGFest put me off for a month and I just couldn't get back into it.

I'm going to try to do this one though.