* * * * * 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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URL to share (right click and copy)

I'm just waiting on us to start SOMETHING, whether Xenoblade, Virtual Console, UnEpic, or even Baten Kaitos.

@Dark Weres

Whats fun on the VC? Suggestions?

Y'know I'd always wanted to get into Nobunaga's Ambition, but I'd really need a guide on how to best enjoy it. That might be a prime candidate in the months leading up to Ogre Battle 64.

Then again, if the two are of similar genres, it might not be the best idea to get into two games with political (although fantasy political) flavour, back to back.

Perhaps now that Bloodstained has a Wii U version in development, running through the GBA Castlevanias on VC might be good. They're short individually, but all three might consist enough substance to provide for a round of Epic Center.

@Dark Weres

Such a tough game! Maybe we can wrangle mookieghana to help us out with that one. He's a big fan of those types of games.

And I don't think Nobunaga's Ambition and Ogre Battle are alike at all! NA is more like ROT3K; I think Ogre Battle is closest to Fire Emblem, actually (though I seem to be in that camp alone..).

--Is Bloodstained an RPG?! I didnt' know!

I hope I'll be able to stick with it if we do Nobunaga's Ambition. I'd really like to get behind the eyes of someone who really enjoys it.

The only difficulty I see in doing the Castlevania Wii U GBA trio would be that Harmony Of Dissonance was a real chore for me. I just couldn't stick with it the way I could the other two.

Kicked around a bit in the "Chrono Trigger is 20 years old!" thread.

Seems like there is ample interest. How would a September (and some October?) run of Chrono Trigger work out for you guys? I wouldn't want to RUN this one (someone has to know it like the back of their hand on here..), and we'd probably just go for the best single ending (and a path that gets us Magus!), even though the game has multiple endings. (Question: would playing New Game + alter anything? I never got to enjoy my New Game + file!)

So yeah, whats'a goin' on?

EDIT- And the Golden Sun sequel dropped on the VC last week, too, but we only had TWO people finish Golden Sun here (despite the tidal wave of hype), so I'd probably advise against that..

I think that when Ogre Battle 64 hits, Mr_Mustache needs to play it on this.

I'm down for a Chrono Trigger run.

@DrFinkelstein

Very cool custom console!

Chrono Trigger would be fun! A bit on the easy side for me, since the adventure is almost second nature at this point. Totally wouldn't fill the four months until Ogre Battle but it'd be an awesome diversion.

I'd do a run of CT. I could play it on DS...

It might work, if I could procure a copy of the DS game.

@DrFinkelstein

Ahhhhh, what is THAT awesome thing?!

@GameDadGrant

Would you like to RUN the Chrono Trigger deal? If you're that familiar...yeah? If you're not super-up for it, I could help you out, or someone else could lend a hand I'm sure. I just haven't touched it in YEARS, I'd be like "...oh, I remember this part!" But not from memory, not even close.

And as for filling the 4 months, remember that we've got NewGameBer in November (we generally try not to run against that here), and Backlaugust is finishing up, and Shocktoberfest is soonish, too. So, basically, it'd just squat in September (and a little bit of August or October), and that'd be that! Right?

@ludist210
@Mop it up

I understand the DS game doesn't waver too far from the original, but they added some extra stuff that feels tacked on or whatever?

@Mr_Mustache

How does one "run" an EC? Basically just give goals for the players to achieve? Plot points to get to, bosses to defeat? Stuff like that?

@GameDadGrant

Yeah! If you want to talk it out with me (or someone else) prior, thats fine. Generally, we figure out what to break the game up into (sixths? eighths? Pretty sure quarters would be far too lengthy..right?) in terms of LENGTH of game and yes, PLOT points. Ogre Battle was easy (for me) because there were numbered stages, its a little different with a game like this. I'd guess 6 weeks would PROBABLY be a good length, but we could stretch it to two months if you think that'd be better.

The idea is that everyone plays along together, though that proves to be difficult for some people. They just get antzy and want to finish the game, and other people fall behind and have trouble catching back up. The thing to do here is to find that happy medium. Whenever I do things, I like to find a place to stop after some sort of notable event, but also before it gets too hairy, so players who WANT to explore can do so, or grind, or go back and do something else. Does that make sense? (And obviously, you can review our past titles and see how those went. The one for OB is pretty complicated, I'd suggest looking at something else that someone did, maybe for Earthbound or Golden Sun?)

Thanks for even considering, man. I/we appreciate it.

Oh, okay. I think breaking up Chrono Trigger into bite-sized chunks would be easy enough. The game kinda does this on its own, in a way. So yeah, I can do an EC run of it. Thankfully this game doesn't require a huge time sink nor a ton of grinding, so banging this out in less than two months should be fine.

Mr_Mustache said:

@ludist210
@Mop it up

I understand the DS game doesn't waver too far from the original, but they added some extra stuff that feels tacked on or whatever?

There's an extra ending and some more dungeons, but you can't unlock those until you've finished the game once. So this wouldn't affect EC.

@Mr_Mustache

I've never even touched an Ogre Battle 64 cart, but I think this might be my favorite N64 mod ever. It's brilliant and so well done.

@GameDadGrant

Alright, awesome! When do YOU think we should get going on this thing? End of August or Start of September?
I'll get the "OP" dressed up once we figure it out.

@ludist210

Excellent. Thanks for the info!

@DrFinkelstein

It looks great!

Yeah, end of the month should work. It'll be a nice way to move into the end of summer/fall season!

@GameDadGrant

Cool beans. 8/30 it is! (Backlaugust should be essentially done then, too!) What're you thinking, 6 weeks?