* * * * * 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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@PogueSquadron

I seemed to be about 1 square too far. Its just a Nut, I haven't used any. I'll see about getting it on the way back.

Oh! Apparently I'm done with Week 4.

I'm using Reveal EVERYWHERE now, often to no avail (of course!).

Went back and got that Doggy Bone Bell Djinn. I've got 15 now (3 of which are Red). Does that sound right?
Any other places we could/should be using Reveal from before?

I'm trying to remember some Lift areas, too. I know there is stuff back in Vale, but I assume that was for later?
Is it not? Should I / Can I go back and do that now? Whats the scoop, Poguester?

Sure, head back there now. Make sure to use your new Psynergies on whatever you can.

Also don't forget to experiment with mixing and matching Djinn. You might find yourself with something you can use on the field. I don't think you need to know that too much for Vale but I think it's helpful near Silk Road or something.

@PogueSquadron

Are you talking about the Grow command? Yeah, I had that one (by "accident") a while back. I've already used it a few times, woo!

How do your Djinn shake out? I've just got my guys as they came right now. Initially I had 'em swapped onto other people (Wind on Isaac, Earth on Garet, Fire on Ivan). Also, can we PERMANENTLY raise the Djinn levels on anyone? I'm like, Lv9 on Venus Djinn for Isaac, but thats only because I've got 4 on him. Lv0 for the other dudes. I was HOPING that if you kept other guys equipped on them for a while that it'd stick, but that didn't seem the case.

Also, the "unleashing" of the Djinn, and then using the Summon command is pretty cool. For the Shrine and Desert fights, I was able to use Lv2 Fire and Earth respectively. Neat!

I know I'm running late but I'll have Week 5 at some point. Trying to figure out where to cut it off.

And yeah, for bosses I've had trouble on, I just have my Summons ready to go at the beginning. It'll cut your stats after summoning, but you do such massive damage.

I'll have a Djinn checklist soon too. Lately I've been doing a lot of mixing and matching, and it's fun to get spells like Mad Blast and things like that going. I *think* they do something cool with this in the next game. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think some of the summons use a certain amount of Djinn from different elementals, so you can play around with things even more. I love the magic system in this game.

@PogueSquadron

Can you give me a hint on where to go next? I assume we're taking the boat? I can at least get started later tonight, even if you throw the week up afterwards.

Djinn checklist will be a welcome read, too! I saved all the way up in Ice Country, figuring I could get anywhere from there decently enough. As for Summons, don't they use a mixture in this game, too? I thought I saw something like that..

Is there a best CLASS we should be shooting for? Is an Apprentice better than a Seer for instance, or whatever? Soldier over Brute? Are these just lateral moves? I wish there was a better way to tell.

Week 5

Come Sail Away

Objective:
Save Hammet.

In this week you will:
1.) Board the Tolbi bound ship.. Tons of talking in this section for some reason.
OPTIONAL DURING THIS SECTION:
1a.) Pick the right rowers to go to the secret dungeon Crossbone Isle. You don't have to do this yet. You can also enter this dungeon from Sunhalla Desert.
The right order according to a FAQ:
- The lady with the green skirt
- The lady with the blonde hair and a brown skirt
- The old, bad guy
- The Merchant who is not near the staircase.
2.) Head to Tolbi. Compete at Colosso
3.) Head back to Lunpa and save Hammet.

And with that, you're done for the week. Depending on how things go, we could either finish the game up in week 6, or make week 6 a two weeker (leaving ample time to do the major side dungeon in the game if you haven't done it, polish off any loose ends, and do the last couple areas). I'll update hopefully with where you should be with Djinn before the ship, but I think you're probably all okay. I don't really remember any curveballs outside of the ones that are in the World Map (of which there are two so far I think - Vine and Corona).

Regarding classes, I honestly don't know. You can see how your characters' stats go up and down upon equipping certain Djinn. I suppose you could look at each character's base stats to see how you want to approach them (for instance, Ivan is the fastest I think, so you'd have to decide if you want him to be faster or if you want to help someone else get faster).

I think the most newly acquired Djinn you should've had after last week up until this point are:
Zephyr
Quartz

Mist
Corona
Spritz

Smog

Vine
Scorch
Kite

@PogueSquadron

Wow, I don't think I have Vine OR Corona. Do I?? Confused as buns. I should get you a list of the guys I DO have, but Nikki's laptop is a freakin' jerk right now. Maybe I can still let you know later. I'll see what I can do tonight, I'll probably hold off on Step 1 of Week 5 until Wednesday.

Yes, Ivan is my fastest, too. By a bunch.

Confirmed: missing Corona and Vine. Little help? (I saw one up on a ledge in Boat Town, but I didn't know how to get there. Is that one of 'em? Tried going through one of the caves nearby, but a guy stopped me. I don't remember what the other cave had.. I don't recall seeing any others that I couldn't reach.)

And I already have Sap, woo. Thanks.

Vine is directly west of the Lamakan Desert. There's this little thing of land surrounded by a crescent of water. Just walk in that area for a while until you have a random encounter with Vine.

Corona is north of Xian I think. There's a strip of land that runs vertically at some point, and Corona is a random encounter at the top.

There should be a Mercury Djinn west of Tolbi too, I think. I haven't gotten to this part yet. Have to refresh myself on where it is.

Really dumb that they did this. I'm pretty sure I missed out on these my first playthrough. I felt pretty ripped off so in my playthrough of The Dark Age I just used a password for all the Djinn.

@PogueSquadron

Well THAT was annoying. I see what you mean, pretty darn cheap to do it that way. Do not like, no sir.

I picked 'em up though, and now that I see which pieces of land you were talking about, I feel like I might find some on my own next time. Interestingly, when I was going to look for Vine, I was in the area but got attacked by someone who WASN'T him. C'mon, thats pretty rotten. How would you even know to look there??

Thanks though, I'll be boat bound next outing.

@Mr_Mustache Yeah it's ridiculous. It should just be that when you walk onto a certain part of the map, it should trigger the encounter with the Djinn immediately. (Or in a sane world, not have Djinn there at all)

@PogueSquadron

I wouldn't mind something "fizzy" over there to prompt your inspection, or if they're going to do that, why not just have him sitting on the map like the very first one was? Blah. In any event..

...why can't I get on this ship?!

EDIT- To clarify, apparently we're waiting for some Travel group. I've checked a few towns hoping that triggered something, but no. I really don't know what to do. I've obviously bought a ticket. talked to everyone on the ship, read minds, etc. I saw some guys who were looking for mercenaries but act like I'm not even there. Clueless. Help?

EDIT2- Alright, apparently there is a Travel Group in the Inn at Kalay that you've got to talk to. I spent the night just in case that mattered. Thanks, Tim.

Hey, Pogue,
Not sure what happened, but I followed the FAQ order up there to a 'T', and totally didnt' go where intended, haha. My only guess is that "the woman in the green skirt" should actually be "some warrior looking guy in a green skirt." And I figured you meant "old, bald guy." We had the weakest people of the group rowing, I figured that would do it.. but yeah. Any idea what happened?

Depending on how long Colosso is, I should be able to finish up tonight.

Why don't you break down what you had for Week 6 into 2 weeks (or 1 Weeks with a "Finishing Up" Week afterwards); not sure how other people are doing (...) but I definitely missed that side-dungeon somehow. Blech.


Speaking of "Finishing Up," what should we do next? WHEN should we start the next game? Do we wait all the way until August? Do we get into one Mid-July? Is there something coming up / already out on the VC that requires attention? When is that Lufia action landing? I wouldn't mind doing another smallish game again, I don't feel ready for OB64, Final Fantasy __, Chrono Trigger, etc.

I believe the idea is to have the stronger rowers on one side with the weaker ones on the other.l so that you ever off course. Either way I don't think it matters because I think you can go back there later.

@PogueSquadron

Just a bit of a bummer is all. I like to do stuff ASAP in games like this, especially SIDE QUESTS, WOO!! --Do you think anyone else is really playing? I know missypissy was a bit behind, and others were like "we're coming!" but..sorry if you did this entire thing for me. In any event, I very much appreciate it.

We should do Arc Rise Fantasia next. That would be a scream. Muramasa? HMMMM.

..Alright, Pogue, time for a chat. First off, I don't think you've steered me wrong, so let me get that out of the way.

Now...I've finished Colosso, fast forward 2 hours and I'm standing in the Venus Lighthouse blocked by a..block I don't recognize when Garet tells me that I should use some Psynergy to get by. I haven't been to Lunpa..its like...YEARS back the other direction. I don't recall being prompted to go that direction at all. Stupid Babi was so anxious about me going somewhere else.

Also, on my way to where I am, I couldn't find a girl in the Desert; Iomed asked me if we should continue, I said "yes" thinking "yes, lets continue looking for her" which he took as "yes, lets continue on without her." I said "NO" out loud, went back to look for her, found some footprints, fought a NASTY Lizard thing inside of a Pink Tornado, and then -NOTHING-. *sigh* I imagine there was supposed to be a girl around here somewhere. I have no idea whats going on. If there WAS no girl there, why else would you fight the pink tornado? Just LOOKING for the girl and then being like "oops, she's not here."


So yeah, did I take a wrong turn somewhere? I really, REALLY feel like I messed something up. I found the downed ship as well, but couldn't lift it..and the Black Orb looks just like Babi's Orb which I didn't take, and now I feel like I should've taken that Orb, too. Whats happeninnnnnnng.. (And someone said this game cuts off -- Gui, maybe? -- well before you're ready. I feel like this game is looking to end reall soon. I've got 24 Djinn out of a possible 28? Just a guess, but yeah. Little scared I'm gonna crap this up. I'm done for the night, suspended in the "Weird Block Room;" the next room looks like the Well of Souls from Raiders of the Lost Ark where I put my medallion on a stick and the sunlight shows me where the Ark is buried.

I really like this game, but there has certainly been too much left field confusion.

Sorry, I've been swamped! I haven't even gotten there myself yet. I don't think you did anything wrong. I believe the girl you're looking for can't be found in the desert (I think you eventually figure out where she is and why, if you haven't already).

The Yes/No questions in this game....I don't think they really matter, do they? It sounds like you're doing fine. I'll be able to make a formal update tomorrow.

The Djinn you should've been able to find this week are:

Smog (Lamakan Desert)
Vine (World Map)
Scorch
Sap
Kite

Ember
Hail
Ground
Squall


I THINK that was all last week. I need to finish it up myself. We can take two weeks on the last part of the game. I'm not sure how much 'finishing up' there will be to do, but that can all be done in the next couple weeks.

*I like this game a lot too. I think the next game is worse with "direction giving" but on the whole the game is probably better.