* * * * * 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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Just got kicked out of Zeal.

@GameDadGrant
Thanks for the info. The positional stuff is cool, I guess. It'll be interesting to test how much control I have over it.

@Mr_Mustache
I'm just waitin' for the worms, man. My ear canals are open and ready.

Oh crap, doing the Suken Desert as soon as you can is a good way to level up easily

Made it through the Mountain of Woe and even though I haven't grinded, I feel like I'm progressing pretty fast. Maybe not though. Marle already has her final ability and Chrono is but a few TP away from getting Luminaire.

Finished week 4

Goodnight sweet prince

@Anand I think the best music comes later in the game, though I do quite like the Fair theme.

@DapperDave Sometimes, you just have to guess, pretty much. If an enemy seems to have an unusual number of turns, it's probably counterattacking. However, if you have the battle mode set to "wait" instead of "active," you can tell more easily then. If you have two characters with their turns ready, have one attack, and then have the other sit on the Tech or Item menus during that attack. If the enemy strikes when you're on such a menu, it's a counterattack, because enemies can't otherwise move during those menus.

I'm done with week 3. A little behind still, but I'll catch up.

I, too, am a bit behind. Currently about halfway through week 3. Barely played last week. Hope to be better. Still actually loving the game, though I can't tell you how often I've lost my place already. Probably because I'm playing in relatively small chunks, usually 15-30 mins at a time. Heck, for the life of me I could not find the entrance to the Denadoro mountains, even though it was right in front of me. I just wasn't seeing it. Oh well. Onward and upward!

Is Grant giving us a bye week? Maybe we could use a bye week.... I (we) better pound the S out of this game tonight.

I was just going to wait a bit for Week 5, just so people have some time to catch up. Seems several of us are behind. If a "bye" is preferred, we can make that happen too.

FINALLY finished Week 1 w/ Nikki. I had her control most of it; it was funny seeing her do the Trial stuff: "Did I steal something?..-- Did I eat that guy's lunch?!" Oh man, awesome. "I figured it out a second too late!" Pretty funny stuff. And I waited for Lucca to let me out, something I'd never done before. GRIM "dead man walking!" moment on the way to the guillotine. Chilling! She dropped the Dragon Robot dealio w/o any (physical) help from me, so that was cool.

Working on Week 2 now, those F'n Rats from Lab 16? keep stealing all my Tonics! What a bunch of jerks! Saved in Arris Dome and called it a night, maybe more tomorrow. Fun stuff out there.

@GameDadGrant

I certainly have no objections.

@Mr_Mustache

Alright, we can use this week for "catch up" for anyone who is behind. I'll post Week 5 later...

Just finished Week 2! Good, funny stuff. I like the writing / translation? (ie: 'hang onto your shorts!" and "that guy just got creamed!")

EDIT- Did they change something from the SNES version to the 3DS version? In the Sewer, there is a memo. I read about it, and I was expecting it, and the one I read isn't what its supposed to say at all. And we DID save Fritz. I don't get it. Did we miss it??

Just finished week 4! I thought I would give the Lavos battle a shot but didn't remember he would kill me so easily

@VofEscaflowne

No way could I successfully win that one right now...Magus gave me problems, so I can't imagine winning at that low of a level.

I was actually playing this on my own before I found out there was a club. I'm on 600AD, right before entering Magus's Castle.

@sirmastersephiroth

So whats it gonna be, boy? Yes? Or no?

EDIT- And how didn't you know about the Epic Center Game? I bought advertising on the front page of NW for a month!

@Mr_Mustache Working 60 to 70 hour weeks man. I try to sneak in a little NW browsing during breaks. I'll keep playing and posting my progress, so YES.

@sirmastersephiroth

Haha, thats kinda? what I was asking. We're kinda..slower here. But, I whipped through Week 2 in like 2 hours this morning. PRE-SHOWER. Thats how quick I got through it. --Oh, actually..I forgot what the beginning of Week 2 was, HAHA. Yeah, 2 hours today, and like an hour and a half to two hours last night. WHATEVER.

I wanna get to a point so I can grind it up like bonzo. Right now I"m stuck in story stuff so I can't do it without m'lady absent. If you wanna pump the breaks a little bit though, or hang on for a sec after you finish your current mission (I believe thats the end of our Week 4), you can join us mid-stream, and it'll be a scream.


Scream Stream
Stream Scream

Either or.

@Mr_Mustache Where can I see what we're supposed to do per week?